why i cant lose weight with diet and exercise

Helloitsdan

Open your diary.

MaximalLife

(i just felt healthier with all the exercising so kept it up even without any results). I really dont want to do this again with ZERO results.

One of these things is not like the other. Scale weight and inches lost are not the only way to measure results.

How tall are you? Are you overweight by your current standards?

Do you eat back your exercise calories? Because if you don't and you're exercising that much and only eating 1200 calories you're under eating.

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.

Dauntlessness

I would get an HRM and see how many calories your burning and then eating them back to 1200 net per day and see how that goes.

RAFValentina

a) you're not logging accurately enough
b) you're underestimating calories in, or overestimating calories out or both.

It's that simple. Nothing to do with eating back exercise calories or anything else.

You need to work out harder and eat less. That is it.

TourThePast

How are you measuring the food you're eating?

It's okay to estimate stuff like lettuce and cucumber, but if you're not weighing everything with a substantial amount of calories you're probably underestimating. Also, are you logging absolutely everything you eat? Those small things (eg the piece of cheese that falls off the block as you cut it) really do add up.

trilvr

I second the HRM suggestion, MFP - tends to way overestimate number of calories burned- in some cases at least - so I always type mine in from my HRM.

Dont get discouraged- Rome wasnt built in a day- just stay the course and treat each day as a new challenge and you will get there. Also it helps tons if you have friends who actually look at your diary and give you feedback - Shout out to SassyCalli : )

JBorg039

You should use online calculators to calculate how many calories you should be eating depending on your gaol. There are many online but I find http://www.fatcuda.com to be the most accurate as it is highly customizable.

mallory3411

I'm not a fan of http://www.fatcuda.com ... for me it's telling me to eat almost 3000 cals a day to lose weight... I'm 5' 6" and weigh 195 at the moment

rockerbabyy

I'm not a fan of http://www.fatcuda.com ... for me it's telling me to eat almost 3000 cals a day to lose weight... I'm 5' 6" and weigh 195 at the moment

im 5'6 and weigh about 243, its telling me to eat 2206. with my activity setting as lightly active (since it says to not include exercise in daily activity). thats pretty close to what i eat on exercise days after i eat my exercise calories.

psuLemon

Beachbody recommends at least 1800-2000 calories on these programs, usually more. Lets put in some perspective.


My wife is 5'2" and 145. if she did turbo fire or insanity, here is her caloric requirements based on Katch McArdle


BMR = 1336
TDEE = 1336 * 1.725 = 2304
Caloric needs = 2304 *.8 = 1843


That means, my wife should be eating 1850 calories a day, even if she doesn't exercise. As I factored exercising into the equation. So eat up!!! Food is fuel.

3dogsrunning

Are you not getting results or not getting SCALE results? I went a whole month with no change on the scale when I started a more intense exercise regime, however, I lost inches all over and you can see the difference in the pictures I took.
The scale is one of the least accurate ways to measure your progress. It doesn't measure only the fat loss and a number of things can affect the reading, from the time of day you weight, to the time of month and fluctuations in water weight.
Here is a good explanation of the problems with using a scale alone to measure progress
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/350212--why-scales-lie

You may also want to read this article that talks about issues that can arise when we add in lots of cardio and cut way back on calories (if you are only eating 1200 calories and not consuming your exercise calories, your net could be low).
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

Another thing I would consider if this was me is how accurately I am logging. Are you logging everything, and I mean everything? Are you measuring everything? Are you comparing your labels to MFP options you choose?

ETA- I also wanted to mention - I took my measurements on my waist, hips and bust. My trainer took more but I took those. I saw very little results in those three spots that I measured, however, I lost in my face, my neck, the area between my waist and hips, my arms, my legs.

psuLemon

I'm guessing you aren't eating enough. It doesn't sounds like you are even eating your exercise calories, which you probably should be doing at only 1200 net calories per day. From my experience, Turbo Fire and Insanity burn a ton of calories, and intense cardio programs like those really do require more fuel. I would set your MFP goal to lose no more than 1 lb per week, and eat all of your exercise calories.

Here are some helpful links:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/439140-refeed-diet-break-or-cut-calories-lower-a-plateau-discussi

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395881-people-who-lost-weight-eating-more

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/403565-research-behind-eating-more-to-lose-more

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395948-caloric-intake-results

And, the most awesome group on MFP: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/17-women-eating-2-000-calories-per-day

Great threads, especially the one on caloric intake results

jeclpi

Great suggestions above - also though may be worth getting some digital scales that measure body fat if you don't already - this may be a better and healthier measure - and show changes a bit quicker than by checking inches lost....

Lesa_Sass

Never mind, I see you have been to the dr.

grinch031

I have run 2 full marathons and 4 half marathons. Every single time I train for a race, I gained weight. Then in between races I'd go on a calorie-restricting diet where I'd lose 10 lbs while exercising less and then go back to my training and gain weight again.

For me it was poor diet. I was eating mostly carbohydrates, because that's what I was told I'm supposed to eat while physically active. Turns out its a lie and that I am slightly insulin resistant (was 20 lbs overweight at my peak).

I was eating 3500-4000 calories during my training weeks, probably 70% carbohydrates. Exercise clearly doesn't help you lose weight if your diet is poor.

Anyways I cut carbs to under 50g/day and I'm 1 month into a marathon training plan. I am eating 2500 calories and more satisfied after meals, losing weight, and am 15 lbs lower than I was at my last race 2 months ago. I have more energy for my runs because I'm no longer burning primarily glucose, but instead burning mostly fat.

Check your diet. Eat mostly fat, then protein, and really lower that carb intake and you will see results. I don't need to restrict calories at all. Its much better regulated by my body now.

caroldot

I'm glad you asked this question as I'm in the same boat as you - about same height & weight. I did MFP once before and just didn't see any results so got discouraged. I just started again about 2 weeks ago and haven't really lost anything yet. (1/2 lb) The consensus seems that eating more calories is the answer so I'm going to try (reluctantly) and see if I get better results.

mastens2003

You aren't eating enough calories with those hardcore workouts and you are probably in too high of a Heart rate to burn fat and are actually just burning the carbs off of your muscles instead. Guess I learned alot from the New Leaf Metabolism testing I did at my local YMCA!!!! You need to figure out how YOUR body burns fat.

30yearssincebikini

I am pretty sure that it's because you are building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. The first few weeks are the hardest because you won't see a significant change on the scale, so you think nothing is happening, but really you are getting leaner and more muscular. You may not see a big change for a couple months, but it will happen for sure, it will be worth it. Take measurements and track those instead of the weight. Good luck.

psuLemon

I am pretty sure that it's because you are building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. The first few weeks are the hardest because you won't see a significant change on the scale, so you think nothing is happening, but really you are getting leaner and more muscular. You may not see a big change for a couple months, but it will happen for sure, it will be worth it. Take measurements and track those instead of the weight. Good luck.

It's not possible to gain muscle on large deficits. If you have a minimal deficit (20% off of TDEE), then it can be possible but not when your 800-1000 calories away from your TDEE

breeanreyes

You're not eating enough. The hardcore workout plans require a lot more from your body, I'd add another 300 calories/day to your diet and see where that gets you. 1200 calories is the target calorie goal for sedentary people, not highly active ones (even for weight loss).