I'm working out properly but not losing weight

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  • FittingIn
    FittingIn Posts: 162 Member
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    I had a similar problem. Nutrition matters more than exercise. The most effective diet I found can be read here http://teamripped.com/my-nutritionsupplements/my-sample-diet
  • WildFlower7
    WildFlower7 Posts: 714 Member
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    What are your eating habits like? Are you sticking to a 1200-1500cal diet and how's your water intake? I'm assuming a majority of it is muscle, if your wanting to lose weight I'd switch up your cardio and weights. Spend more time doing workouts that elevate your heart rate, then instead spend 15min doing weights.
  • WildFlower7
    WildFlower7 Posts: 714 Member
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    Well holy moly, I just looked at your diet and 2500cals a day could be one of your problems. Although I'm not sure what your workout cals vs. your regular calorie allowance a day is. But 2500cals and only 4 glasses of water per day could be part of your problem. Just a suggestion.
  • david_swinstead
    david_swinstead Posts: 271 Member
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    Its only 2500 cals today because Ive eaten back my exercise calories from a monster gym session this morning.

    4 glasses of water was only up to date when I logged it a few hours ago. I'm up to 6 now and thre's still 4 hours left i nthe day :)
  • janesmith1
    janesmith1 Posts: 1,511 Member
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    I agree that you're eating way too many calories. You need to reduce your calorie intake. One thing that MFP did for me was put me on 1700 cals per day. I did not lose weight on that cal count. I made it 1300 cals per day and I lost weight. I also do a lot of exercise and cardio. BTW, I would suggest adding cardio in on the days that you do your strength training. Now my 1300 cals per day does not include the extra cals I get from doing a workout, that's extra but I try to keep it in the 1500 range when I do work out (which is most of the time).
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
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    I've been working out now since September. I go to the gym at the very least 3 times a week, usually 4 or 5 times, sometimes even more.

    I spend most of my time lifting weights via the smith machines, doing medium weight for a medium amount of sets/reps (around 3 sets of 15 reps, with a weight to match that). I do these in a circuit with minimal rest inbetween to keep my heart rate high and my blood pumping.

    I also do some cardio (though perhaps not as much as I should, but at least 15 minutes per gym session). Mostly I do this in interval training, so I'll sprint for a minute then jog/powerwalk for 2 mins, or do the equivalent on the bike.

    From everything I read in Men's Health every month, as far as I can tell this is an almost perfect workout regime for fat loss. It's designed from the ground up to not only burn calories in the gym, but also get the metabolism boosted through resistance work to keep burning calories over the next 48 hours. It's pretty much in keeping with all the latest research I think

    Why am I not losing weight? I've gone from 227lbs to 244lbs in that 3 months. I've gained 17lbs.

    I'm well aware that of course muscle is heavier than fat so all the resistance work I'm doing has led to me gaining muscle and therefore gaining weight. Of the 17lbs I've gained, I expect that around 14lbs of it is muscle weight, and the extra 3lbs is a little Christmas weight that I'll lose pretty quickly now my eating/drinking habits have returned to normal (after an indulgent Christrmas period).

    But nonetheless, aside from gaining muscle weight I should be losing fat. I'm not. So I suppose my initial question of 'why am I not losing weight' should actually be 'why am I not losing fat?'.

    My body fat percentage according to some Weight Watchers scales (which, for the sake of my manhood, I will claim are the property of my girlfriend) put me at 28%, which hasn't budged throughout.

    Can anybody help? :/
    You DON'T gain weight from calorie deficit. So you're not losing weight because you're eating too much. Not that there's anything wrong with gaining muscle.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • maryjay51
    maryjay51 Posts: 742
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    i am in a body fat loss contest right now so i have been really trying hard to research and talk to folks in regard to what do i eat and drink that will help me accomplish my goal... based on my research, what has worked for me in the past and what successful trainers have told me water is key in helping to lose body fat .. its also the one thing we all dread to drink.. i simmer four green tea bags in the morning and pour it into a gallon jug of water and add a half of squeezed lemon to it..i drink that baby all day long as much as possible . green tea and lemon juice is noted to help battle body fat.. i am seeing if that is true now.. first week of march we will see but so far so good

    also for food i read some of your menus and personally i think you eat way too much fat in your diet. try to cut out the condiments . try to eat more fresh food. research food that cuts down body fat and you will find a list out there .. i eat protein and a good carb every morning. i typically stick to plain oatmeal with cinnamon and a double egge white omelet with veggies ,herbs and no cheese. sometimes i have a bagel thin breakfast sandwich using the omelet. other times just a protein shake..i prefer myoplex lite in the morning .sometimes i put plain whey in my oatmeal .. it varies

    i also have found that eating smaller meals six times a day helps too.. for me it works anyway. keeping that body metabolism is hard to do but eating those smaller meals more times a day seems to work . its what my trainer does too and he is 5% body fat coming from 35% body fat at one time in his life so im inclined to take his suggestion.

    food with good fat in it contains omega 3s.. mayo is not good and neither is butter ..although i indulge rarely now in that. i take flax seed pills with omega 3s and ALA .. my trainer said that 1500mg of ala a day is good for you so i take that to substitute for the fat i dont eat

    lean meats and fish is the way to go. for awhile stay away from processed food. some people say processed food is fine ,but for me i just cant lose weight or body fat eating it besides it is loaded with sodium.

    are you digesting the proper nutrients before and after workouts? thats really important to do .

    hope this helps ..good luck and keep moving forward!!!
  • WildFlower7
    WildFlower7 Posts: 714 Member
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    Its only 2500 cals today because Ive eaten back my exercise calories from a monster gym session this morning.

    4 glasses of water was only up to date when I logged it a few hours ago. I'm up to 6 now and thre's still 4 hours left i nthe day :)

    Ok well in that case great job!! I figured that waas the deal. Now how about measurments. You keeping track of those?
  • WildFlower7
    WildFlower7 Posts: 714 Member
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    I've been working out now since September. I go to the gym at the very least 3 times a week, usually 4 or 5 times, sometimes even more.

    I spend most of my time lifting weights via the smith machines, doing medium weight for a medium amount of sets/reps (around 3 sets of 15 reps, with a weight to match that). I do these in a circuit with minimal rest inbetween to keep my heart rate high and my blood pumping.

    I also do some cardio (though perhaps not as much as I should, but at least 15 minutes per gym session). Mostly I do this in interval training, so I'll sprint for a minute then jog/powerwalk for 2 mins, or do the equivalent on the bike.

    From everything I read in Men's Health every month, as far as I can tell this is an almost perfect workout regime for fat loss. It's designed from the ground up to not only burn calories in the gym, but also get the metabolism boosted through resistance work to keep burning calories over the next 48 hours. It's pretty much in keeping with all the latest research I think

    Why am I not losing weight? I've gone from 227lbs to 244lbs in that 3 months. I've gained 17lbs.

    I'm well aware that of course muscle is heavier than fat so all the resistance work I'm doing has led to me gaining muscle and therefore gaining weight. Of the 17lbs I've gained, I expect that around 14lbs of it is muscle weight, and the extra 3lbs is a little Christmas weight that I'll lose pretty quickly now my eating/drinking habits have returned to normal (after an indulgent Christrmas period).

    But nonetheless, aside from gaining muscle weight I should be losing fat. I'm not. So I suppose my initial question of 'why am I not losing weight' should actually be 'why am I not losing fat?'.

    My body fat percentage according to some Weight Watchers scales (which, for the sake of my manhood, I will claim are the property of my girlfriend) put me at 28%, which hasn't budged throughout.

    Can anybody help? :/
    You DON'T gain weight from calorie deficit. So you're not losing weight because you're eating too much. Not that there's anything wrong with gaining muscle.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Agreed ^
  • Cathleenr
    Cathleenr Posts: 332
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    eat breakfast, no matter how early mate. Your body will store your first meal at lunch as fat if not because its been starved from the night before.

    huh?
    so wrong.

    anyway. doing 'medium weights for medium reps' is just...medium. i agree that you aren't in a calorie deficit and that is why you have gained weight, and it's most likely not all lean muscle. strength train progressively, meaning, up your lifted weight each session, or there won't be any progress. you'll just be conditioning the muscle tissue to remain able to lift a medium weight.
    and you will have to pay attention to your food, logging it and learning what a serving size quantity looks like. go do some research on macros and bmr so you can set those levels accurately. if you don't feel like eating in the morning, don't eat, but you do have to get all your food in everyday.
    15 minutes of cardio probably isn't going to do anything but warm you up, even intervals need to be high intensity for a period and then low...not powerjog....for about double that....for about 20 minutes or more. in HIIT, you need to raise your hr to about 80% of your max and then allow it to come back to a resting rate. the calorie burn comes from the change in the hr.
    a hrm will let you see and feel what it's like to be at both ends.
  • david_swinstead
    david_swinstead Posts: 271 Member
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    I guess when I say medium weight, I mean it relatively. I lift progressively, more and more as often as I can, but what I mean is just that I don't just lift my 1-rep max, I aim to set the weights I use so that I can do 3 sets of around 8-15 reps.

    For example a few weeks ago I was pressing 75kg, and when I found myself able to do more than 15 reps of that I bumped it straight up to 85kg.

    By medium I just mean "not my 1 rep max" and "not the kind of low weight that you'd associate with a high rep semi cardio workout"
  • david_swinstead
    david_swinstead Posts: 271 Member
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    Ok well in that case great job!! I figured that waas the deal. Now how about measurments. You keeping track of those?

    I wasn't ... I am now :)

    Just now I had my GF log my measurements for the first time. Bit shocked at the size of my hips haha!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    eat breakfast, no matter how early mate. Your body will store your first meal at lunch as fat if not because its been starved from the night before.

    I didnt eat breakfast for 12 years, i couldn't do that now, it kick starts your body and metabolism, best way to burn fat and add muscle is by having your body working to its best, which you need to be eating breakie to do achieve :smile:

    Absolutely not true. Your body doesn't store lunch as fat if you skip breakfast. Your body doesn't even differentiate between breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks. Your metabolism also doesn't need a "kickstart" in the morning, as it doesn't stop at night, it runs constantly 24/7. The ONLY thing that really boosts your metabolism is moving, exercising, getting up to take a shower, any physical activity over and above laying in bed. Then your metabolism picks up because you're using more energy above and beyond your BMR. As for eating, yes, digestion uses energy, but all it does is redirect energy from other sources to your digestive track, you don't actually burn any extra calories just from eating and digesting food. It's a completely debunked myth.

    Now, for the OP. I would say your issue is listening to "Men's Health" magazines. Those workouts are pretty notorious for being useless. If the routine was that good to produce great results, why would you need to buy the new magazine, to get the next workout? Your best best on strength training is to go all in. Heavy weights, low reps. And use free barbells rather than smith machines if possible. A barbell will always give you a better workout, due to a more natural range of motion, and since you don't have the smith machine to balance and stabilize the weight for you, you get the added benefits of working all the stabilizing muscles. Try a 5x5 compound routine, like Rippetoe's Starting Strength, or StrongLifts. You'll get much better results than lots of reps with lighter weights, which really, don't do whole heck of a lot.

    Also, if you go from a Smith machine lift to a free barbell lift, mind the weight, since the smith machine balances the weight for you, you're probably able to lift more than you would with a free bar.
  • janesmith1
    janesmith1 Posts: 1,511 Member
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    I just looked at your food diary again and you could technically cut down on cals by not doing so much whey protein. I understand you did a huge monster workout but what if you set your daily cals to 1800 say, and saw what happened from there? I have no idea what cal counts you're set at by MFP but what I found is that each body is different and then there's the male/female differences as well. Like I said in my previous post, MFP set it way too high for me. Try lowering your daily cal count and drink less whey which would automatically cut your cal counts.
  • LisaDunn01
    LisaDunn01 Posts: 173 Member
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    Though muscle weighs more than fat, diet plays a HUGE role in all this. What are you eating exactly? Sugar and carbs such as breads and pasta will put on weight. If you eat either, you need to eliminate these from your diet.
  • WildFlower7
    WildFlower7 Posts: 714 Member
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    Ok well in that case great job!! I figured that waas the deal. Now how about measurments. You keeping track of those?

    I wasn't ... I am now :)

    Just now I had my GF log my measurements for the first time. Bit shocked at the size of my hips haha!

    Lol, we all are at first!!
  • StrongGwen
    StrongGwen Posts: 378 Member
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    You probably need to start eating breakfast, especially if you workout in the morning. Look at your daily carb intake and try loading more in the earlier part of the day and less later. 3 high-protein meals and 3 snacks with protein each time is a solid plan. Also take an honest look at how hard you work. Each time you do cardio, you ought to be able to push yourself a little harder than the time before. If you're not gasping for breath at the end of the highest intensity portion, you may not be pushing yourself to do what you are actually capable of.
  • Cathleenr
    Cathleenr Posts: 332
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    I guess when I say medium weight, I mean it relatively. I lift progressively, more and more as often as I can, but what I mean is just that I don't just lift my 1-rep max, I aim to set the weights I use so that I can do 3 sets of around 8-15 reps.

    For example a few weeks ago I was pressing 75kg, and when I found myself able to do more than 15 reps of that I bumped it straight up to 85kg.

    By medium I just mean "not my 1 rep max" and "not the kind of low weight that you'd associate with a high rep semi cardio workout"

    understood.
    still, those are pretty high reps and it sounds like you are doing it consistently. meaning, every set is 15 reps? you might try some alternate routines such as the ones you can find here:
    http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=115643271
    or try graduated sets: start out at the mid weight of your last session and do 12 reps, or to failure, then increase the weight and do 8 reps or to failure and increase the weight and do 6 reps, or to failure. at the end, you shouldn't feel like you could do another set. lifting to failure stimulates the tissue to be able to handle the increased load, and add more lean tissue for the next time. proper rest periods between body parts is important, as are overall rest days.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    I guess when I say medium weight, I mean it relatively. I lift progressively, more and more as often as I can, but what I mean is just that I don't just lift my 1-rep max, I aim to set the weights I use so that I can do 3 sets of around 8-15 reps.

    3 sets of 8 reps and 3 sets of 15 reps are pretty drastically different workouts. Also...that kind of variation in your rep counts shows (no disrespect) a lack of focus in your workout. High reps builds endurance and can, at times, be done in a way that's essentially a cardio-style workout. That's about all it's good for. 15 reps/set is high. 8 reps/set for 3-5 sets is in the "meh" range. If you can do it 8 times, is it really heavy enough to challenge your strength limits? Conversely, if you can ONLY do it 8 times, is it really testing your endurance limits?
  • revren10
    revren10 Posts: 116
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    you gotta eat breakfast get out of bed one hour before you gotta go to work. Eat eggs, plain oatmeal 8 oz glass of fat free milk

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