WHY AM I NOT LOSING??? :(

ArroganceInStep

I'm trying really hard to stay positive and remain focused but I'm getting pretty frustrated!!! I have been doing the 30 day shred everyday for the last 18 days (I'll be on day 7 tonight of level 2. I did 12 days of level 1), I'm drinking 8 or so glasses of water a day, trying REALLY hard to eat mostly healthy stuff, and sticking around my calorie limit of 1200 calories a day (some days I eat some of my exercise calories back but not all). Most days I've also been fast pace walking 30 to 45 minutes after I do the shred. I can tell in inches (I haven't measured since day 1 of the shred, but I can tell in my shirts) that there is a bit of a difference (I'm staring to lose my love handles) BUT today I weighed in and had GAINED a pound!!!! I'm very frustrated!! I think is even more frustrating that the shred is kicking my butt everyday and I'm giving it my all to make it through the workout and then not losing anything?!! UGH!!! What do I do??? PLEASE GIVE ME SOME POINTERS!

If you're losing inches, why would you worry about the weight on the scale? Be happy with the inches, weight will come soon enough.

UponThisRock

water weight?

morganadk2_deleted

Are you eating enough? Are you eating your exersise calories?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficit

Go to the tools section and figure out your BMI:

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).

This is just a part of it! please read the link above

kailyamie

Are you using a digital food scale to accurately measure and log everything you eat and drink? Most people drastically underestimate food portions. Are you logging everything that goes into your mouth, even those things you use to cook with (oils, butter, etc.)? Are you wearing a quality heart rate monitor during your workouts to accurately measure and log your calorie burn? MFP's default exercise database is way off most of the time. Are you getting enough sleep? Are all of your settings correct, especially your activity/lifestyle setting?

Make sure you're tracking your body measurements. Go to My Home>>Check-in. I take my measurements on the 1st of every month and it's very motivating to see a change in your size, rather than focusing on weight all the time.

Read the "guide to calorie deficits" link in my signature. I think it will help you. Good luck!

o_0 is she a person or a science project...? LOL

ecarlste

Hey DK,

Watching your scale can be a very good thing but it can also be a very bad thing. When you check day after day, while busting your *kitten* doing Jillian workouts... and yet you see no loss of weight... the frustration can easily set in. Just keep in mind that you are losing weight!!! Your scale just doesn't know it. If you are doing Jillian workouts you are most certainly gaining muscle mass. Chances are if you are actually gaining weight then you are building more muscle than you are burning fat.

However, just because you gain 1 pound in a week doesn't mean you are gaining weight though in the long run. I am currently on 2700 calories myself to simply maintain my weight. I do 3 High Intensity Interval Training workouts a week for 20 minutes and I spend 3 days at the gym pumping iron. I always eat the right balance of macro nutrients (carbs, protein and fat). I always drink enough water (anywhere from 10 glasses to a gallon depending on the day). I also do 1 hike a week at around 6-15 miles roundtrip with 2-4k feet of elevation gain. Even with all of the exercise I do and very meticulous nutrition setup, some days I still gain up to 2 pounds.

So, if you see weight fluctuations per day don't even bother putting any thought into that. When you weigh yourself once a week rather than once a day you'll most likely see a more stable graph representing your weight loss. But again, even if you are gaining 1 pound a week it is definitely not fat.

To stay motivated just remember that it is how you feel and how you look that is more important than the actual number of pounds you carry around with you during the day. If you feel more energetic and happy, less irritable... then it's working... and it doesn't matter if you gain or lose weight.

As far as determining your calorie intake, take what this program gives you with a grain of salt. 1200 calories is tiny compared to what any adult SHOULD be eating. Now, you can definitely get away with eating that, but your body does repair itself on off days too not just on workout days. In your case this might not be a problem since it sounds like you do your workouts 7 days a week. When my girlfriend was eating only 1300 calories as this program suggested she was actually losing some hair. She switched from losing 2 pounds a week to .5 pounds per week and that stopped. So just be careful and do as much reading on nutrition and fitness as you can. You'll be surprised how much good info there is out there that will help you be more in charge of your own fitness. This program is a great tool, but it's not the end all be all. Sometimes eating too few calories will actually tell your body that it needs to store nutrients for later use since there is not a good supply of food available. This is one reason why it's far better to eat 5-6 times a day instead of 3 or less. Your body never thinks that it is starving and never thinks it has to store nutrients rather than simply using them.

I know that was a mouthful :-)

Anyways, keep up the hard work and just stick with your plan. Make small changes as you see fit but just stick with the lifestyle and the rewards will come you'll see! Give it 3 months and see how you feel about it. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

poisongirl6485

with the shred you are losing inches, plus you are toning and developing muscle. Remember, muscle weighs more than fat Keep at it and don't give up; the pounds will eventually come off as well! Good job so far!

*sigh* muscle does not weigh more than fat. 5 lbs of muscle and 5 lbs of fat are both 5 lbs.

Muscle is DENSER than fat, so the same volume of muscle will weigh more than the same volume of fat.

morganadk2_deleted

Are you using a digital food scale to accurately measure and log everything you eat and drink? Most people drastically underestimate food portions. Are you logging everything that goes into your mouth, even those things you use to cook with (oils, butter, etc.)? Are you wearing a quality heart rate monitor during your workouts to accurately measure and log your calorie burn? MFP's default exercise database is way off most of the time. Are you getting enough sleep? Are all of your settings correct, especially your activity/lifestyle setting?

Make sure you're tracking your body measurements. Go to My Home>>Check-in. I take my measurements on the 1st of every month and it's very motivating to see a change in your size, rather than focusing on weight all the time.

Read the "guide to calorie deficits" link in my signature. I think it will help you. Good luck!

No signatures any more they have all gone !

imungal

Sometimes it's not the calories we need to pay attention to. The program also lists the maximum fat, protien, carb/surgar daily intakes as well. It's more imptortant to stay under those numbers than it is to stay under the calorie count. Input amouts of salt used on food, peeper, oil, etc.
Also, if you are pumping iron, you're bound to gain muscle weight. Per square inch muscle weighs more than fat. The weight may stay the same, but you'll notice a difference in shape, which is what most of us are looking for. Keep up the good work!

jacksonpt

The less you have to lose, the harder it is.

True.

You are just putting on muscle more than likely, and if you take your measurements I bet you'd see how much smaller you're really getting. :-) It's not all about the number on the scale.

Putting on muscle, as in gaining/building new muscle? At 1200cal, not likely. The comment about the number on the scale is good though.

Could be that you are gaining muscle and that is a good thing.

Not at 1200cal she's not.

This is very interesting. Today I took some progress pics and I actually look slimmer but dammit, I gained like 2lbs. The scale has to go for a while. I'll just take pics

This is actually a very good idea. While the scale is the easiest way to see "progress", it rarely tells the whole story. People place WAY too much emphasis on what the scale says.

Without seeing your diary, it is hard to give specific answers, but the 2 biggest possibilities I see with the information you have given us are...

1) You are eating too few calories. Many people (including myself) will testify that often adding more calories for a few weeks will break a plateau.

2) You are losing fat and gaining muscle. remember, your goal is not to "Lose Weight", it is to "Lose Fat." Exercising can swap fat for muscle, and you will lose inches, but gain wight as muscle is more dense than fat.

Keep it up. remember, this program is not a diet. You never stop this, you just adjust your calorie deficit to 0 when you reach your goal. Also remember that any muscle cells you have will burn fat everyday without you doing any exercise.

I agree with point #1 (especially if you are grossing 1200, not netting, which it sounds like is the case), not with point #2... at least not with the putting on muscle part. I do agree with the rest of it.

If you're losing inches, why would you worry about the weight on the scale? Be happy with the inches, weight will come soon enough.

+1

froggy15

bump

Tujitsu56

Why do you have a weight loss goal???? TO LOOK BETTER? If the answer to this is yes, then you are accomplishing your goal if you are GETTING SMALLER, RIGHT? So pay more attention to the inches loss and not weight. Weight is just one unit of measure and unless you wrestle or do something that requires you to be in a specific weight class, pay more attention to your physical appearance and inches loss.

tiggerbounce411

GIRL..remember that you are going to gain muscle doing 30DS because you are toning what wasn't there. Don't freak you are losing inches so it's doing what it is supposed to. You are exchanging the poofyness if fat for the density of muscle. Your still going in the right direction, stop freakin yourself out, it's ok girl!! You are making great progress if inches are coming off, that is the whole idea. 30DS isn't going to necessarily make you lose WEIGHT, it is meant to shed FAT. In return, it gives you muscle tone. You got this girl!!!!

jacksonpt

GIRL..remember that you are going to gain muscle doing 30DS because you are toning what wasn't there

No, she's not. If it wasn't there before, it sure as hell isn't there now, 2 weeks later on a 1200cal diet. This mythical toning is actually just burning fat to reveal the muscle that was there from the beginning.

dkueter94

OK, LOTS of good info here! It sounds like most of you think I need to intake more calories since 1200 isn't very much....right? I think I'm going to change my goal to 1 lb a week and try that rather then 2 since I haven't hardly lost anything in the 5 weeks I've been logging my food intake and watching my calories. I know toning and losing inches is a HUGE bonus and really is my goal. I just thought I'd lose weight during the process and it really hasn't happened yet. I think I'll finish the shred (I'll probably do it another 2-3 weeks at least) and see where I'm at then. I want to do something else after to change it up a bit....maybe 6 week 6 pack or TurboFire...?
I REALLY appreciate all your responses!! I LOVE the support on here! Thanks to all of you! You help keep me going!

Sambo004

Hi. Haven't had a chance to read all the posts, but I have just finished a second round of 30DS. I lost 42 cm all round but only a few kgs so don't stress too much. And in the last week of Level 3, I did gain a little, but finished on Saturday and am already back down , so I think it's more water retention. I was also concerned and read a few comments about your muscles retaining water when they're over-extended.

Anyway, all I can say is keep at it! Seriously! I would never have dropped as many cm's in 2 months if I hadn't done this program. I highly recommend it. Even though your actual weight on the scale might not drop, those inches really will.

Sambo004

Oh, I also hit a 6 week plateau the first time round and I was freaking out, and then finally, dropped 2.5 kgs in 2 weeks suddenly. Hang in there. If you're working out and eating properly it has to come off eventually.

Dragn77

I read a lot of great resonses, heres my cliff notes thoughts

1. You need more calories. Doing an intense workout you are burning more calories and you need to eat that back so that you are at the net 1200 your body needs to function. Your body needs that as fuel so that it can function properly. If you dont eat enough calories, your body will hold onto what you eat.

2. Though this program will help with toning, you still need to incorporate cardio into your routine so that you are burning fat and actually be able to see the benefits of the toning going on underneath it.

3. Dont stress over the scale! It only tells part of the story, and the tape measure tells the rest.

Hope that helps!

maceycarey

i see this post alot... most people lose a ton of inchs but not much weight

good luck keep up the great work

dyeager01

Same here. It's the Shred not what your eating. I have gained/lost the same 4 pounds ever since I started the shred. Day 16 for me. However, my clothing size is shrinking steadily. That's why I am never going to tell people how much I way...only what size clothing I where....haha.

devins13

Do not eat all your exercise calories back! That's the biggest bunch of BS peddled around here. What's the point of exercising with the goal of losing weight if you're just going to eat it all back? It's just an excuse to eat more. There's anecdotal evidence and there's science. Don't over-complicate the issue. Your body can't just "hold on" to fat when faced with a consistent caloric deficit. Your brain and vital organs would shut down and you would eventually die if that were the case. There is energy in stored fat and your body will tap into those stores when it needs it. Stick with your program and the losses will come. Eat a balanced diet and take a multivitamin if you're worried about it. Work hard, stay focused and remain disciplined. Be patient and you will succeed.