What am I doing wrong?

delilah47

I just Googled P90x. Looks, suspiciously, like an extreme weight loss fad to me. By now all of us should know fast weight loss never works in the long haul. As soon as you get tired of the rigorous exercise and calorie control, you will quickly gain back those hard-lost pounds. This just gets you one step closer to being a typical yo-yo dieter. I know, been there done that with other fad diets (years ago). Each time you end up failing, you gain back even more than you lost. I now have a back injury which severely limits my ability to get good cardio exercise, but 15 years ago got into doing low impact aerobics and eating sensibly and never had a problem with weight gain. You need to do something you can live with in the long-term. Thanks for reading my response and hopefully, something here will make sense to you.

amyofftherecord

P90X is designed to build muscle, which is more dense than fat. There's a good chance you're losing fat and replacing it pound-for-pound with muscle. If your measurements have gone down, then that's probably what happened. As for your calories, unless your 300 kcal deficit puts you in the 1200-1500 kcals/day or less range, you're probably fine. Anything below that and you might be starving yourself, which will hinder weight loss.

veganbaum

Thank you for that! I am not hungry at all, so when I hear that I need to eat more, I simply can't do it!

A body adjusts to eating less, so while one might not feel hungry, that does not mean that they are getting everything they need nutritionally. Take a look at your BMR (rough tool, but one many of us have to use). If you are not eating at least your BMR calories your body is not getting what it would need even if you just stayed in bed all day and did nothing at all. If you are eating under that and think you're not hungry, that's a good sign that your body has adjusted to the food you give it and you really need to work up to eating more, especially doing such an intense workout program.

PeekABooGirl

I agree with the others....you need to try to eat closer to your calorie allowance. OTherwise, your body will think it's going into starvation mode and hold on to weight. You say you don't want to eat more because you're not hungry. But perhaps try adding just a bit more to each meal? (IE add 1/2 serving more cereal in the morning or an extra piece of fruit in the afternoon.) Don't aim to add the extra 300 in one sitting but just spread it out a bit more? Also, muscle weighs 2x the amount of fat so you could be adding muscle. Using your measurements will help you see the difference, I'm sure!

You're doing great!!!

CoraGregoryCPA

Yeah, if you are going to ask for help, then you should open your diary. Were you under 300 cals one day or consistent for weeks? Where do your calories come from-sometimes that is important? How many calories are you eating a day? Are you eating your exercise calories? How often do you work out? How long have you done this routine- 1 week, 3 weeks, 1 month?

Lots of questions for you too. I don't believe in eating your exercise calories, but I do advocate that your daily allowance shouldn't be 1200. I recommend closer to 1450 and not eating your exercise calories. Right now, I'm in a challenge at work to lose 10lbs in 10 weeks so I lowered my cals to 1200. Normally, I wouldn't do this.

engineman312

your body will take longer then a week to change. i promise, just keep it up, and you will see a difference/.

cgrout78

It's hard to tell without seeing your diary, but you're probably just fine. Give it a couple weeks, maybe you have a higher sodium intake or maybe you should be using measurements rather than the scale? Are your clothes fitting better?

bpurc22

You should try to stay under your goal by about 100, not 300. It seems paradoxical because weight loss is founded on the theory that you need to burn more calories than you consume, but your body is more complex than that. If it's not getting what it needs, it will save more and use more energy coming from lean body mass (since our body likes fat more than muscle) to burn energy, which is exactly what you DON'T want. You want your body to burn fat, and to do that you need to be careful - stay on a reasonable caloric deficit. MFP already factors in a deficit percentage (if you ate exactly the amount of calories it sets your goal at, you would still be burning a good amount more than consuming - around 10-15% I believe).

There are also other factors that go into your weight...as said before, water retention (high sodium leads to water retention, as does the beginning stages of intense weight lifting)...you can also be putting on muscle mass, which weighs more by density than fat. You have to look at your progress by month rather than by week, which is annoying but necessary.

FlabulessFam

Thank you to everyone that replied to me! I am new to this site so had no idea I could open up anything to the public! I appreciate all of the positive (and negative) feedback. This is only my 2nd week and day 7 of P90x, so I think I am going to keep going and see what happens! Also, the P90x is really intense and it is a 90 day program, but the program can be done again and again. So, after the first 90 days, I will be on round 2 of P90x. I really enjoy the intensity and have seen a difference with what I can do physically already! Again, thank you and good luck to all of you!!

meerkat70

Thank you for that! I am not hungry at all, so when I hear that I need to eat more, I simply can't do it!

Try a handful of nuts after exercise. Or a protein shake. Or a spoonful of nut butter.

Dashal

It's very hard to offer advice without also knowing when you started your diet and what your current calorie goal is / how much you would like to lose.

If you've recently started a week is nothing and you will see no difference no matter how much exercise you do and water you drink. Put it this way - when you go on holiday you eat and drink more. Yet when you come home and weigh yourself you're still the same. Weigh yourself in two weeks and you'll have gained weight. Your body has a bit of a delay when it comes to weight loss and gain. It's also a cumulative effect.

And please do not listen to people who immediately tells you to eat your calorie deficit back as you're in starvation mode if you don't. How many pounds have you set yourself to lose and what is your daily calorie goal?

FlabulessFam

It's very hard to offer advice without also knowing when you started your diet and what your current calorie goal is / how much you would like to lose.

If you've recently started a week is nothing and you will see no difference no matter how much exercise you do and water you drink. Put it this way - when you go on holiday you eat and drink more. Yet when you come home and weigh yourself you're still the same. Weigh yourself in two weeks and you'll have gained weight. Your body has a bit of a delay when it comes to weight loss and gain. It's also a cumulative effect.

And please do not listen to people who immediately tells you to eat your calorie deficit back as you're in starvation mode if you don't. How many pounds have you set yourself to lose and what is your daily calorie goal?

My daily calorie goal is set to 1970 in order to lose 1 lb a week per MFP. I am eating 300 calories below that plus exercising. I started 2 weeks ago with eating the "right" food and this is day 7 of P90x.. I would like to lose 76 lbs.

mountainluv

I did p90x a couple years ago. I lost some weight, not a lot, but my body was much more toned. I lost inches, Problem is, I did the 90 days, then quit, went back to my old ways of eating. gained the weight I lost and gained inches. I had the best luck with weight watchers. Again, I did well, but went back to my old habits.

Dashal

It's very hard to offer advice without also knowing when you started your diet and what your current calorie goal is / how much you would like to lose.

If you've recently started a week is nothing and you will see no difference no matter how much exercise you do and water you drink. Put it this way - when you go on holiday you eat and drink more. Yet when you come home and weigh yourself you're still the same. Weigh yourself in two weeks and you'll have gained weight. Your body has a bit of a delay when it comes to weight loss and gain. It's also a cumulative effect.

And please do not listen to people who immediately tells you to eat your calorie deficit back as you're in starvation mode if you don't. How many pounds have you set yourself to lose and what is your daily calorie goal?

My daily calorie goal is set to 1970 in order to lose 1 lb a week per MFP. I am eating 300 calories below that plus exercising. I started 2 weeks ago with eating the "right" food and this is day 7 of P90x.. I would like to lose 76 lbs.

Then keep doing your thing lady you'll see the results! When I first started I honestly saw no difference for 3 weeks and I was gyming 6 times a week, eating healthily and really going for it. Then I started seeing the difference. Aim to weigh yourself every month.

If you feel full and are 300 calories under then don't feel like you have to eat them back. Why? MFP gives you two weight-loss options - one to lose a pound a week (which is what you and I are doing), the other to lose 2 pounds a week. To lose 1 pound, MFP reduces your calorie deficit by around 200, for 2 pounds around 400 calories. I like to keep 100 calories under anyway because you can never be sure of the accuracy of the diary.

Therefore if you're eating 300 less on a setting to lose 1 pound a week, this is actually 100 under the 2 pound a week setting! If you look at it like this I can't see anyone advocating you eat those calories back! As long as you're eating above the generally accepted level of 1000-1200 calories then you're fine!

Keep at it and best of luck!

ninerbuff

I am doing P90x, eating right - staying under my daily calories by about 300 - and drinking lots of water. My body feels better but the scale shows that I lost no weight this past week!!! I am frustrated and discouraged! I don't know what to do differently! Please help and give me suggestions!!

You're expecting too much. If you're new to exercise, your body will retain water to rebuild muscle and store glycogen to ensure you have energy for future exercise sessions. Fitness isn't all about weight. Just continue and you will start to see results in few weeks.


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

IronSmasher

My new pic is handy. I don't even have to say anything.