I'm working out properly but not losing weight

havingitall

Diet is sort of OK. I indulge a little here and there but usually I'm not too bad.

Breakfast: I don't usually have anything. I know I should but I'm never up early enough to have time before work.

Lunch: Usually have a couple of wraps with tuna mayo (light mayo). Maybe snack on some fruit during the day too.

Dinner: Straight from work I go to the gym, then afterwards I go home and usually grab a sandwich while the GF cooks a dinner. Something out of a jar usually, as we're not very domesticated.

I could be doing a lot better for dinners, but the way I see it I can afford to go off the rails a bit by dinnertime as I've only had about 700-900 cals for the day at that point so I've got plenty to spare.

What you eat makes up 80% of your weight loss. The gym doesn't do as much for you although it does burn calories and tone muscles. I can work out like a fiend (and I do) but if I don't eat the right calories and the right foods ( lean meats, whole grains, fruits and veggies) then I gain as well.

If neither of you are great cooks. Invest in the Clean Eating and Clean Eating 2 cookbooks. None of the recipes are complex, they are all usually ready in half an hour or less and they taste amazing. My husband and I both enjoy them.

You should be eating 5 - 6 times a day and you need to have breakfast. Even a whey protein shake in the morning helps start the day right..... and dinner should be less calories.

Good luck with this.

EuroDriver12

as others said diet plays a big role...

even when bulking i eat clean...

if ur cutting but u eat like ****... u will most likley end up "bulking"

if ur bulking but u eat like ****... u will put on fat instead of lean muscle mass..

eat 3 meals a day of chicken breast n mixed veggies (tuna instead of chicken once in a while or fish fillet)

3 protein shakes between meals with a snack like apple, or almonds..

no carbs at all after 6-7PM

u can also try a keto/anabolic diet which works very good!

also lift heavier... aim for 12-15reps at 12 u want to be pushing the weight so hard that ur about to crap urself... after ur workout MINIMUM is 15min cardio.. preferrably more...



ps. there is no such thing as "im workout properly but not losing weight"

tigersword

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.

This is just flat out not true, and ridiculous. The only thing that puts on weight is a calorie surplus. You can't be in a calorie deficit and gain weight from eating one type of food. That's physically and biologically impossible.

Huffdogg

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

Entirely, patently untrue.

Huffdogg

ps. there is no such thing as "im workout properly but not losing weight"

Unless you're working out properly to gain weight lol.

ninerbuff

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

You don't HAVE to eat breakfast. If your total calorie intake is close to your recommended deficit, it really doesn't matter when you eat to fulfill it.

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

carriedavis77

I've found cardio was key to my weight loss... started at a high of 350 and down to 197 now. I do 45mins of cardio 5 days a week and strength train 3 days.

sargeca

Perhaps you should be looking at caloric intake. I am 6'1" and 208lbs. I have gone to a 1600 calorie per day diet and am losing a pound a week. I never count exercise or any activities because they will give you bonus calories to play with. I work with a personal trainer 3 times a week for 1 hour per session. My goal is to get to 190, but it will be by calorie reduction, not exercising. Once I achieve my goal, I will up my calories for maintenance. Hope this helps.

MaximalLife

Change your workout totally.
Do an hour of nothing but cardio 3 days each week
And do a full body resistance session 3 days each week. Rest one day.
And eat back your exercise calories.
Simply stated MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week. That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up. Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories. Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be? In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more. Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.
Be efficient. Exercise hard and eat back the calories. The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.

Set your weight loss at one lb per week, eating lean meats, whole grains, nuts, low fat dairy and fruits and veggies.
Weight yourself AND check body fat.

You can check body fat here: http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

If you are not losing weight each week, lower daily calories 250, then check it again a week later. The instant you register a loss, hold your calories to that amount.

Good luck.

HolleeERL

Muscle DOES NOT weigh more than fat!!! How can 5lbs of muscle weigh more than 5lbs of fat? Fat is thicker than muscle but does not weigh more!! That is an old myth!!

5 lbs of ANYTHING weighs the same as 5 lbs of ANYTHING ELSE! What a maroon!!!! Try weighing 1 cubic inch of fat vs 1 cubic inch of muscle andyou will see that muscle weighs more.

HolleeERL

I'll just tell you about my workouts and weightloss/gain. I am generally a runner and do half marathons so LOTS of cardio. I lost 10 lbs over the course of 7-8 weeks. Now that I'm not in training, I have been doing Boot Camp (3 days a week) which is mostly weight training and core fitness workouts. I also try to get in 30 minutes of running on those days. I have gained ALL 10 lbs back since being out of training and my eating hasn't changed that much (a little worse over the holidays). I am VERY strong and have great muscle tone, but my belly hangs over my pants...AGAIN! UGH! So I'm back at the cardio.

StrongGwen

check out the Body For Life challenge at bodyforlife.com for efficient workout plan and solid (though uninspired) nutrition plan. You don't have to join the challnenge but you can follow the program to see if it makes a difference for you.

love22step

Keep logging your calories. Calories are a huge part of this, more so than exercise. You have to be redistributing inches with your workouts, however. I suspect you're looking great! You might want to ignore the scale.

rachelhohenbrink

You need to be eating every 3 hours. Also you need to change your routine on a regular basis. Your body adjusts to the same routine. If you don't eat every 3 hours your metabolism is not going to keep humming along. Also you should try doing a calorie zig zag. You not eating breakfast is really bad for your metabolism.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

I don't know what your food diary looks like so this is the best advice I have. If you are keeping in line with the fat , sugar & carb intake and doing good exercise you should loose the weight/fat.

stormieweather

I read every post and looked at your diary.

From experience, I would tend to think that you are NOT actually eating at a deficit. Weigh, measure and log every bite you put into your mouth. Double check your activity level settings on MFP (active, lightly active, sedentary, etc.) . Overestimate the cheats if you don't have actual numbers.

Your workouts seem ok, all the busy advice about when to eat, and what macros, etc. aren't as important as how MUCH you are eating.

To lose 1 pound a week, you need 3500 deficit, cumulatively, for the week. It is useless to have a 500 per day deficit and then blow it all on a 4000 calorie excess come Friday night out with the guys having beer and pizza.

Good luck!

Stormie

Bentley2718

Diet is sort of OK. I indulge a little here and there but usually I'm not too bad.

Breakfast: I don't usually have anything. I know I should but I'm never up early enough to have time before work.

Lunch: Usually have a couple of wraps with tuna mayo (light mayo). Maybe snack on some fruit during the day too.

Dinner: Straight from work I go to the gym, then afterwards I go home and usually grab a sandwich while the GF cooks a dinner. Something out of a jar usually, as we're not very domesticated.

I could be doing a lot better for dinners, but the way I see it I can afford to go off the rails a bit by dinnertime as I've only had about 700-900 cals for the day at that point so I've got plenty to spare.

If you're not consciously restricting calories, your body will naturally try to maintain your body weight by eating more when you exercise.

Di3012

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?

Watch your food.

I just looked at your diary, it consists of much whey protein. Then you have lots of bread, spread and other stuff high in carbs. Why do you not have chicken, fish, vegetables, fruit and other real food in there?

To burn off fat, you also need to have a deficit in your calories. Calories in versus calories out, so that your body has to burn fat for energy.

Unless you are veggie?

vjrose

http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/muscle-to-fat.html

Ok, as a scientist I can't let this myth perpetuate, MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGH MORE THAN FAT. 1 lb is 1 lb. Density however is the key, muscle is more dense per pound than fat. So, if you are building muscle on a special diet for that then perhaps you are gaining muscle. However, if you have been working out frequently and eating a poor quality diet for fitness then perhaps you have sent your body into what I prefer to call Conservation Mode, others call this starvation mode but most of us aren't going to starve, lol. However when you are active and eat little or not really good calories your body will go into a mode where it conserves every calorie since it is programmed to react that way as if there is a shortage of good calories available. Hence, you gain instead of lose. You need to rethink the process, reexamine your diet and then match your diet up to your activity level. Approach yourself and your issue as a problem that has not had a good answer, time for a real answer. This mode doesn't happen overnight it takes awhile but if you've been doing this since September it is likely that is where you are at.
The link above has a graphic picture of fat vs muscle volume. That is the key.

MrsLawsonNavyBrat2B

muscle DOES NOT weight MORE than fat!!! 1lb of fat is THE SAME as 1lb as 1lb of muscle. NOW, I do believe that your muscle weight IS REPLACING your fat weight....which is GOOD.

TAKE MEASUREMENTS!!! I have not lost a lot of lbs BUT i have lost 8 inches in the past month!!! So take your measurements bc THAT is where you will see the BIGGEST DIFFERENCE!!!!

chevy88grl

Dont forget muscle weights more than fat so it could be down to that.

Muscle DOES NOT weigh more than fat!