Working out 4-5x a day still no weight loss?
Replies
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do cardio after you so strength workout....not before0
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Honestly it sounds like a personal trainer is a good idea, since you don't really seem to have a solid objective at the gym. You go, do a ton of cardio (it's not really necessary), then do some leg machines.
Using machines for leg workouts are pretty ineffective.
You're not overweight so what you're really trying to do is a body recomposition - replace fat with muscle, essentially. It's probably going to come down to eating more calories and lifting heavy weights. Get off the leg machines, they're doing nothing for you. Also unless you really enjoy running on a treadmill, that's not doing much for you either. Read up on the New Rules of Lifting for Women, and/or hire someone to teach you how to use the free weights and do bodyweight exercises.
Lifting like you know how to lift will make a big difference in what your body looks like.0 -
I would suggest eating more and maybe trying different exercises. When you do the same thing over and over your body gets used to it. Have you ever tried any of the Jillian Michael's workouts? I would recommend 30 Day Shred, then 30 Day Ripped and there are some others that I haven't tried but I tried the other ones before I got pregnant with my youngest and had really great results. It's a combination of 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio and 1 minute abs and then starts all over again.0
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do cardio after you so strength workout....not before
This doesn't make any sense/difference. My best body was when I was doing kickboxing right before an hour of weight training.0 -
do cardio after you so strength workout....not before
This doesn't make any sense/difference. My best body was when I was doing kickboxing right before an hour of weight training.
It does, it just such a small impact, its not worth worrying about. Judging from the info provided, OP needs to tackle the real obstacle, food.0 -
Hi guys
I'm new here to this message board!
So I'm 5'7 and I'm at my height at weight of 160. 2 years ago I was at 141 and now that I got a full time job (desk job) It took me over a month to figure out how I'm going to incorporate the gym into my schedule. I leave my house at 7am and I don't get back until 7:30pm. For the past three weeks I've been driving straight to the gym after work. I don't do any extensive workouts. I run AT LEAST 3 miles at a 5.1-5.4 mph speed (so a total of about 40-45 mins cardio) then I do some leg machinese and I switch off every day wether to focus on arms or abs.
The thing is is that I think I'm seeing improvement on my stomach but nowhere else. My thighs are my biggest problem and I've been thinking that if I don't see an improvement by beginning/mid December that I might get a personal trainer.
I originally was going to consider seeig a nutritionist by mid November if I don't see any improvements but I think it takes this long to just get back into the swing of things, with gaining an endurance and re gaining my strength back wether it be arms or abs or legs.
Also I eat less than 1550 calories daily. An example of a typical day:
Fage 2% plain Greek yogurt
Banana
Coffee
Cheerios 1 cup in snack bag
Cut up cucumbers + grape tomatos with single serving size of sabra hummus
1 cup of organic soup
Nuts, roasted almonds, walnuts or peanuts
GYM
2-3 slices of turkey breast
I'm thinking of going to GNC today to see if there's anything that I can eat to replace what I'm eating. And I only drink one day, if that, on one day of the weekend.
Does anyone have any suggestions? All the help I could get would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Your RMR might be lower than you think. You could go to a lab and get this tested.
Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.
Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.
The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.
To say eat more is wrong.
To say eat less is wrong.
To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.
All that matters is calories. A healthy balanced diet within a calorie budget for a deficit that is right for YOU is all that matters for weight loss. Don't make it complicated.
Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).
If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.
Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You cannot out exercise too many calories.What is the exact number of calories for you?
We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.
In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.
This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.
-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)
The good thing is you don't have to worry about the starvation mode myth if you are fat. Only skinny people have to worry about starvation mode. It does not mean you have the capability to eat at a large calorie deficit if you have emotional eating disorders or other issues going on, but at least you don't have to be afraid of it anymore.
The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.
At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].
-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)0 -
it just such a small impact, its not worth worrying about.
Yeah I don't think I made myself clear, but this is what I was going for0 -
Hi guys
I'm new here to this message board!
So I'm 5'7 and I'm at my height at weight of 160. 2 years ago I was at 141 and now that I got a full time job (desk job) It took me over a month to figure out how I'm going to incorporate the gym into my schedule. I leave my house at 7am and I don't get back until 7:30pm. For the past three weeks I've been driving straight to the gym after work. I don't do any extensive workouts. I run AT LEAST 3 miles at a 5.1-5.4 mph speed (so a total of about 40-45 mins cardio) then I do some leg machinese and I switch off every day wether to focus on arms or abs.
The thing is is that I think I'm seeing improvement on my stomach but nowhere else. My thighs are my biggest problem and I've been thinking that if I don't see an improvement by beginning/mid December that I might get a personal trainer.
I originally was going to consider seeig a nutritionist by mid November if I don't see any improvements but I think it takes this long to just get back into the swing of things, with gaining an endurance and re gaining my strength back wether it be arms or abs or legs.
Also I eat less than 1550 calories daily. An example of a typical day:
Fage 2% plain Greek yogurt
Banana
Coffee
Cheerios 1 cup in snack bag
Cut up cucumbers + grape tomatos with single serving size of sabra hummus
1 cup of organic soup
Nuts, roasted almonds, walnuts or peanuts
GYM
2-3 slices of turkey breast
I'm thinking of going to GNC today to see if there's anything that I can eat to replace what I'm eating. And I only drink one day, if that, on one day of the weekend.
Does anyone have any suggestions? All the help I could get would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Have you forgotten to add one of your meals in here? Doesn't seem like very much food to fuel your exercise?0 -
thats all you eat?!
This. Eat more, and change your cardio to strength.
Im confused. Surely cardio is what burns the fat (and weight) -- strength just tones and tightens....
Am i completely wrong?0 -
Defo eating too little by the looks of it.. the post where the guy posted the numbers for you makes the most sense...
p.s. weight training also burns fat and increases lean mass/muscle. Cardio burns fat, sure, but results can be slower than doing strength training...0 -
My guess is you are gaining heavy muscle and losing the fatty parts. I would starting measuring inches too. I bet you are making progress with toning but the scale doesnt say that.
Gaining muscle from RUNNING?0 -
Your RMR might be lower than you think. You could go to a lab and get this tested.
The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.
To say eat more is wrong.
To say eat less is wrong.
To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.
This!0 -
thats all you eat?!
This. Eat more, and change your cardio to strength.
Im confused. Surely cardio is what burns the fat (and weight) -- strength just tones and tightens....
Am i completely wrong?
Eating at a deficit burns fat, you don't need cardio to lose weight. Cardio is good for other reasons, so there's no reason to leave it out, but if you really want to lose weight, start lifting.0 -
try and eat more fibre x0
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I looked it up online thank you!
What bothers me the most is that my BMI is in the overweight section. It's such a damper on my mood and it almost hurts emotionally even more knowing that I'm working out and nothing is changing. Well maybe measurements but that's it.
Girl, BMI is not the best indicator of health or fitness. It's a statistical measure, meaning it works well for those in the middle part of the curve, but starts failing for those on the outsides of the curve. I am 5'10, and at my fittest (and smallest) playing college soccer, I was still considered "overweight" on the BMI scale. I learned quickly not to set my goals by it.0 -
thats all you eat?!
This. Eat more, and change your cardio to strength.
Im confused. Surely cardio is what burns the fat (and weight) -- strength just tones and tightens....
Am i completely wrong?
Eating at a deficit burns fat, you don't need cardio to lose weight. Cardio is good for other reasons, so there's no reason to leave it out, but if you really want to lose weight, start lifting.
mmmmm i am really confused now - can you elaborate... this means my whole strategy is incorrect!!! HELP PLEASE!0 -
Eating at a deficit burns fat, you don't need cardio to lose weight. Cardio is good for other reasons, so there's no reason to leave it out, but if you really want to lose weight, start lifting.
mmmmm i am really confused now - can you elaborate... this means my whole strategy is incorrect!!! HELP PLEASE!
i'll give that a shot in very broad terms...
a) eating at a deficit (i.e. less calories in than you use to live/breath/move/exercise) will cause you to lose weight because the extra calories the body needs, it'll find by converting either muscle or fat into energy. this is the heart of the MFP concept.
b) doing any exercise (strength or cardio) takes energy so if you exercise, you can affect your daily calorie balance.
c) what i think people above are saying is that you don't *have* to do the cardio exercise if your daily calorie intake is already in deficit, and cardio alone does not magically burn fat. it is all down to the fact that if calories in < calories out, the body will use its stored resources to make up the difference and you lose weight.
doing cardio is a reasonably way to increase your daily calorie expenditure so you can afford to eat more (and feel fuller/happier) while still using more energy than you eat.
c#2) on the negative, if you do *lots* of steady state cardio (most evident in long distance running but to a lesser extent stuff like 30mins 3-5xweek steady running on a treadmill will have the same effect) is actually training the body to become more efficient at doing that stead state activity and to an extent all similar activities like walking around. The body will train itself into needing *less* calories just to exist so you'll end up having to do more exercise to maintain the same calorie deficit.
(this also doesn't happen over night but it is a risk if all you do is cardio)
c#3) however, there are other great benefits to cardio like better heart and lung function so cardio is A GOOD THING, just not directly for pure weight loss
d) on the other hand, strength training is aiming to build more muscle mass and muscle is naturally a much more 'active' substance than fat and other body structures. This means that just by existing, it needs more calories to do it's job even when not exercising. the more muscle you have, the higher your daily calorie needs and the easier it is to maintain a calorie deficit.
does that make sense? There is lots and lots more info floating around these boards and many people who can better tell you the science behind these board statements. everything above is very much in layman's terms and thus probably subtly incorrect in places but the general idea i think is sound.
- no given exercise can "cause" you to lose weight
- losing weight is all about calories in v's calories out
- doing exercise effects what your body can do (run faster/longer/stay in breath longer etc) and what it looks like (muscles under a smaller layer of fat = smooth 'shapely' - western ideal - bodies)0 -
mmmmm i am really confused now - can you elaborate... this means my whole strategy is incorrect!!! HELP PLEASE!
using a couple of common cliches on here:
eat less, move more
eat less = daily calorie deficient by eating under your TDEE
move more = cardio
exercise to look good in clothes, lift weights to look good out of clothes
look good in clothes = cardio
look good out of clothes = strength training
all 3 components are part of the journey. try to do all.
both eating under your BMR/TDEE and cardio burn stored fat
strength training increases your metabolism, which increases your fat burn throughout the day (and also burns some calories while actually doing the strength training), and tones your body so you look good at the end of your journey.0 -
look good in clothes = cardio
look good out of clothes = strength training
To expand on this... Resistance training is more effective at cutting fat as it raises your metabolic rate and forces your muscles to repair themselves. While cardio is good for the heart, it also burns a ton of calories and if you do a lot of cardio, you will burn through your fat stores and will start to pull energy from your muscles (also seen in those who have large calorie deficits). This is why people lose lean body mass during weight loss and even more so in those who do NOT weight train.
There is a difference between fat loss vs weight loss. A good read below.
http://www.metaboliceffect.com/topic/38-nutrition-lifestyle.aspx0 -
Do you track your food on here? I don't see 1550 worth of calories in that list!0
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The food you listed doesn't seem like it would equal 1500. Maybe your soup is really hearty? Six slices of thin cut turkey is 50 calories. So your post workout dinner is less than that? I would suggest eat more too... Up the protein to feed muscle growth. More muscle burns more calories.0
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With what you listed for food, that is no way close to 1500, you need to eat more, start tracking if you aren't already and you will be surprised at how little you are eating, especially on the days you exercise.0
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