I only lose when I DON'T exercise

spartangirl79

the way i understand it is that exercise does a couple of things - first of all, muscle weighs more than fat. so you'll be losing inches, but not necessarily weight at first. and as you build that muscle, you begin to burn more calories at rest - so you should still see loss, it will just be slower (but you'll be losing the inches).

AND, exercise causes the muscles to retain water. so some of that could be water weight too from your body repairing the muscles. make sure you are including a rest day or two to allow those muscles time to recoup... good luck!!! (i've had the same issue by the way).

Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat. Muscle is more dense than fat, but a pound is a pound is a pound. A pound of muscle takes up less physical space than a pound of fat, but muscle doesn't "weigh more" than fat.

shelbynicole32

For some reason that is how it seems to be going for me.
I think what happens for me is that I am barely eating all of my calorie recommendation
that by the time I work out I have that PLUS what I havent eaten....

Therfore I think my body may be going into starvation mode.

PeaceCorpsKat

This happens to me... It doesnt' happen when I just walk.

MJ7910

I started on mfp in Jan 2012 - it set me to 1200 cals, and I lost happily 2lb per week for the first mont. Then I decided to add in some exercise (running) and I plateaued. Did some reading and upped my cals, then upped them again. I am now on 1600, which is just a little over my BMR of 1550ish.

I dropped miniscule amounts over the next few weeks, then due to various circumstances, I had to stop exercising for a few weeks. I immediately started losing again (about 1 - 1.5lb per week.)

I'm ready to get back to my running now, but don't want to stop losing weight again - anyone got any helpful hints? I'm pretty sure that 30mins cardio a day and occasional 30DS is not building muscle to counter the fat loss. I have plenty of fat to lose.

I would've thought that adding the exercise in ought to make me lose quicker - it should speed up my metabolism and help with fat burning rather than muscle loss?

My diary is open:)

here is my guess at what happened. at 1200 that was really not enough but a lot of people do lose with that amount so it didn't surprise me that you lost weight. but probably it slowed your metabolism down a little. then when you ate more and exercised, your body was in shock, a lot of times when you start exercise you either maintain or gain because of the water retention in the muscles as they are sore and trying to repair. then you said after a few weeks you stopped. that water was expelled, causing the weight loss to continue again. but, what happened was your metabolism may have been a little higher due to the exercise and it was still possible to lose weight. this is my best guess at what happened. so just like others say, continue to exercise and if you have sore muscles, expect a slight gain. over time, your muscles get used to exercise and function properly, not retaining as much water. exercise helps with your metabolism so over time you will get a weight loss, you just have to be patient with it. i always gain weight when i start any new exercise. i am used to it now. within 4 weeks i start losing again and i can eat more because i have helped keep my body going and raising my metabolic rate and preserving lean body mass through exercise.

erickirb

This happens to me... It doesnt' happen when I just walk.

That is because when you do intense workouts your muscle retain water to aid in recovery and to protect them from the damage inflicted by the exercise. If you keep with it or stop exercising your muscles shed this water. the problem with this is it is not fat gain or loss, it is just water, so when engaging in exercise stay off the scale for 2-3 weeks until your body is use to it.

bagge72

the way i understand it is that exercise does a couple of things - first of all, muscle weighs more than fat. so you'll be losing inches, but not necessarily weight at first. and as you build that muscle, you begin to burn more calories at rest - so you should still see loss, it will just be slower (but you'll be losing the inches).

AND, exercise causes the muscles to retain water. so some of that could be water weight too from your body repairing the muscles. make sure you are including a rest day or two to allow those muscles time to recoup... good luck!!! (i've had the same issue by the way).

Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat. Muscle is more dense than fat, but a pound is a pound is a pound. A pound of muscle takes up less physical space than a pound of fat, but muscle doesn't "weigh more" than fat.

Muscle does weigh more than fat. Nobody is saying a pound of muscle weighs more than a pound of fat... That would be like saying steel weighs the same as a feather because a pound of steel is the same as a pound of feathers. What they are sayingis if your body hasn't changed in size, but you have lost fat, and replace it with the same amount of muscle it is going to weigh more. Something being more dense means when you compare things the same size it weighs more.

Eleisabelle

You said you were eating barely above your BMR, and exercising, before you had to stop? You still weren't eating enough. If your BMR is 1550, and you're eating 1650 but working out to burn 300, you're actually only netting 1350, which is 200 below BMR and might cause your body to slow your metabolism and store fat.

You should net no less than your BMR. Eat your exercise calories back.

Otherwise, the comments from others about water weight is true. The weight you lost when you didn't exercise? Water weight from your muscles.

It's good that you're changing up your exercise. You should do that frequently to keep your body guessing so it doesn't get too efficient. A good mix of strength and cardio, plus flexibility training and definitely including rest days, is helpful to keep the game changing.

I hope you find your way out of the plateau--but don't fear exercise. Just know that you'll put on water weight to start with--for at least a couple of weeks or so. Go by measurements and body fat analysis. rather than weight if you want to see what changes your body is making.

macylane4

Exercise is never bad for you...if the scale isn't showing you results then quit weighing!!! Eating 1200-1500 calories a day of good calories, and exercising...you will lose weight!! You were just dropping water weight, and maybe fat, but you weren't gaining muscle not working out. You want muscle built so you burn more calories just sitting around!!!
I don't weigh in as often as I used to...I've lost 14 inches on my waist...that's way more impressive then the scale numbers!!!

therealangd

I dropped miniscule amounts over the next few weeks,

This was just your body getting used to the exercise. Your body retains water while it's getting used to all the exercise and repairing muscle and all that wonderful healthy stuff. If you had left it for a few more weeks, you would have seen bigger results. Either lost more than miniscule amounts of weight or you would have seen a decrease in measurements.

Plus there really is nothing wrong with only losing miniscule amounts of weight. The slower you lose it, the easier it will be to maintain it once you hit goal.

Exercising is good for you for soooo sooo many reasons. Keep up the exercise.

em9371

First of all -
If you are eating just above BMR, this is not enough, you need to NET above BMR after exercise and other activity has been accounted for
Your diary seems high in sugar and low in protein / vegetables / fruit. You can't out-exercise a bad diet.

I lose more when i dont exercise as i found out recently following an injury but i think there are several reasons behind that:
You are also losing muscle weight as well as fat when not exercising, as you are not doing any weight training to preserve the muscle
exercise uses glycogen which has to be restored and causes water weight gain
there is the possibility of over/under estimating your exercie calories and eating more or less than you need to - you dont want to eat more than you burn, but also you have to make sure your body has enough fuel for the extra work it is being asked to do -
You will lose inches rather than pounds sometimes, so its very important to take measurements. You may not always lose 1 or 2lbs neatly every week, you could lose none for a few weeks then a chunk all at once.

Overall, exercise has many health benefits other than losing weight, so i would stick with the exercise, sort out your eating and soon enough the lbs will start to go down. The loss may be slower, but you will be healthier, fitter and will have a better chance at maintaining your loss :-)

bagge72

You said you were eating barely above your BMR, and exercising, before you had to stop? You still weren't eating enough. If your BMR is 1550, and you're eating 1650 but working out to burn 300, you're actually only netting 1350, which is 200 below BMR and might cause your body to slow your metabolism and store fat.

You should net no less than your BMR. Eat your exercise calories back.

Otherwise, the comments from others about water weight is true. The weight you lost when you didn't exercise? Water weight from your muscles.

It's good that you're changing up your exercise. You should do that frequently to keep your body guessing so it doesn't get too efficient. A good mix of strength and cardio, plus flexibility training and definitely including rest days, is helpful to keep the game changing.

I hope you find your way out of the plateau--but don't fear exercise. Just know that you'll put on water weight to start with--for at least a couple of weeks or so. Go by measurements and body fat analysis. rather than weight if you want to see what changes your body is making.

I thought your BMR is what your body is going to burn on average in a 24 hour period, so to lose weight you would want to deduct from that point, and then eat back any extra calories over your BMR you have burned already? Maybe she meant her TDEE?

efarrar13

Are you Hypothyroid? Liver issues? Read up on Reverse T3. If you endocrine or adrenal system is messed up this will happen. I trained and ran a marathon last year and barely lost anything. Its how they diagnosed my hypothyroid as well as the other things screwed up with my endocrine system.

Basically for me I need to do short/intense workouts rather than longer drawn out ones. In laymen terms, if I do long runs or biking my body goes into "Oh *kitten*" mode and the Reverse T3 will prohibit weight loss or sometimes I would even gain.

MrsAgi

something looks weird with your sodium. I'm pretty sure sausage has more than 1mg sodium. watch that - be sure to log it accurately because sodium makes you retain water. also, you seem to have extremely light breakfasts and then heavy dinners - eat more calories and protein at breakfast. aim for like 30g of protein for breakfast. and for dinner - high protein, no starchy carbs is best.

and drink more water.

I try to log as accurately as possible. I know sausages are pretty iffy generally, but those particular sausages have the following nutritional value:

Typical Values 2 grilled sausages (119g) contain
Energy 1445kJ (350kcal)
Protein 21.3g
Carbohydrate 6.4g
Sugars 1.1g
Fat 26.0g
Saturates 10.7g
Mono Unsaturates 9.8g
Polyunsaturates 4.3g
Fibre 1.2g
Sodium* 0.5g
*Salt Equivalent 1.3g

My sodium intake is very low most days as most of my food is home made.....

em9371

I thought your BMR is what your body is going to burn on average in a 24 hour period, so to lose weight you would want to deduct from that point, and then eat back any extra calories over your BMR you have burned already? Maybe she meant her TDEE?

BMR is what you would burn if you were in a coma. You need to factor in activity and exercise to get TDEE, and work your deficit from that.
With the amount OP has to lose based on ticker, I would say the number was her BMR.

MrsAgi

Just want to add:

I have absolutely no intention of not going back to the exercise:) I started this in an attempt to get healthier, rather than lose weight (though that is obviously a lovely bonus). So I ill be starting the running again next week. I'm aiming to do 3miles in my 30 mins by the Autumn (only at about 2miles atm).

But scale movement would be nice too.

atjays

You tend to retain fluids when exercising, it's not uncommon to drop several pounds quickly over a rest week of no exercise yet still eating correctly.

bagge72

I thought your BMR is what your body is going to burn on average in a 24 hour period, so to lose weight you would want to deduct from that point, and then eat back any extra calories over your BMR you have burned already? Maybe she meant her TDEE?

BMR is what you would burn if you were in a coma. You need to factor in activity and exercise to get TDEE, and work your deficit from that.
With the amount OP has to lose based on ticker, I would say the number was her BMR.

So we said the same thing... just in a different way.

psuLemon

The reason you didn't lose weight was due to water retention. When you start working out, your body will store additional water in order to repair the muscle. And as it seems, you didn't work out previously, so your body needs time adjusting. On top of that, you are also eating more calories, which also requires your body to adjust. Give it more time and your body will adjust to both the calories and exercise. The biggest piece of advice I can tell you, is start doing heavy weight/resistance training as that will provide the best benefit for fat loss. Also, over extending your goal can make it more difficult to lose weight. I suggest estimating your TDEE (see link below) and cutting 20%. This way, you will increase the chances of maintaining lean muscle mass.



http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

jaymek92

the way i understand it is that exercise does a couple of things - first of all, muscle weighs more than fat. so you'll be losing inches, but not necessarily weight at first. and as you build that muscle, you begin to burn more calories at rest - so you should still see loss, it will just be slower (but you'll be losing the inches).

AND, exercise causes the muscles to retain water. so some of that could be water weight too from your body repairing the muscles. make sure you are including a rest day or two to allow those muscles time to recoup... good luck!!! (i've had the same issue by the way).

Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat. Muscle is more dense than fat, but a pound is a pound is a pound. A pound of muscle takes up less physical space than a pound of fat, but muscle doesn't "weigh more" than fat.

Muscle does weigh more than fat. Nobody is saying a pound of muscle weighs more than a pound of fat... That would be like saying steel weighs the same as a feather because a pound of steel is the same as a pound of feathers. What they are sayingis if your body hasn't changed in size, but you have lost fat, and replace it with the same amount of muscle it is going to weigh more. Something being more dense means when you compare things the same size it weighs more.

just saying, if you're comparing equal masses, then, yes, steel/feathers/muscle/fat all weigh the same. muscle is more dense than fat, just as steel is more dense than feathers.
because weight is a value based on density and volume, you can say any two materials weigh the same: i weigh the same as a part of the empire state building, for example. a pound is a pound, no matter what it's made up of. a pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of steel weighs the same as a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle.
while they're not saying that a pound of muscle weighs more than a pound of fat, they are saying that muscle weighs more than fat and, without a given volume, that's just not true.

ANewLucia

I started on mfp in Jan 2012 - it set me to 1200 cals, and I lost happily 2lb per week for the first mont. Then I decided to add in some exercise (running) and I plateaued. Did some reading and upped my cals, then upped them again. I am now on 1600, which is just a little over my BMR of 1550ish.

I dropped miniscule amounts over the next few weeks, then due to various circumstances, I had to stop exercising for a few weeks. I immediately started losing again (about 1 - 1.5lb per week.)

I'm ready to get back to my running now, but don't want to stop losing weight again - anyone got any helpful hints? I'm pretty sure that 30mins cardio a day and occasional 30DS is not building muscle to counter the fat loss. I have plenty of fat to lose.

I would've thought that adding the exercise in ought to make me lose quicker - it should speed up my metabolism and help with fat burning rather than muscle loss?

My diary is open:)

You stopped losing because your body isn't getting enough calories....you must fuel your body to lose weight. You can lose to a degree low caling, but the moment you eat more, your body will hold everything and the gain begins. Your body didn't have to conserve its resources when you stopped working out because it probably received at least BMR in calories...you started working out, you are way under you BMR and the metabolism slows down to a halt bec it thinks it is starving.

Please take a look at the group Eat More to Weigh Less, over 1700 people have joined in the 7 wks I started it. It is not a drop it quick low cal diet...but a rewarding way of eating to fuel the body to allow it to trust you to start letting go of the fat...you don't have to starve to lose weight! I am a living witness and there are sooooo many others that will tell you the same. Please take a look at the group. Read the topic on TDEE and BMR in the sticky, then what to expect when UPPING your calories....you will not regret it. I don't think I have met a person yet that didn't agree for the regaining of energy alone, they can't imagine going back to starving...