Having to work harder now...

nickiw68

Hi all,

I have almost lost two stone now and now am finding that I am having to work harder and longer at the gym to burn off a decent amount of calories. Is this becuase I have plateaued or does it actually become harder the more weight you lose?

thefuzz1290

You may be gaining muscle mass and evening out your weight. Don't use the scale only to measure success. I can be 210lbs with a 44" waist or I can be 210lbs with a 34" waist...I weigh the same, but look better in the latter. I measure my waist, hips, thighs, calves, upper arms, forearms, chest, shoulders, and neck to see how I'm doing.

Akjenn89

Hi all,

I have almost lost two stone now and now am finding that I am having to work harder and longer at the gym to burn off a decent amount of calories. Is this becuase I have plateaued or does it actually become harder the more weight you lose?

I've heard that if you do the same kind of exercise consistently, your body gets used to it, thus making it harder to burn as many calories... not sure if this is your case or not, but figured I'd throw it out there. Maybe try switching it up and confusing your body a bit?

nickiw68

But when I used to put my "heavier" weight into the machine - I could burn 200 calories in about 20 mins (on the cross trainer) - and before anyone says it, I know these aren't always totally accurate...but now as I put in my "lighter" weight, it is taking me longer to burn that amount of calories...

melaniecheeks

Its more that your body had to work harder when it was heavier, so you burned more calories.

fteale

Its more that your body had to work harder when it was heavier, so you burned more calories.

This. And the fitter you get the less calories you burn, but most it's just about size. It takes less effort to move a 10 stone body than a 12 stone one for instance.

workerbee2011

Its more that your body had to work harder when it was heavier, so you burned more calories.

Exactly this - the more you weigh the harder you have to work to move your body, so as you lose weight the number of calories you burn in exactly the same workout will go down compared to when you were heavier. For example, an hour of aerobics if you weigh 130 pounds burns 384 cal; whereas if you weigh 180 pounds it burns 531. So the smaller you get the less you eat when you're trying to keep losing.

nickiw68

Great, thanks for all your thoughts and advice xx