Not losing weight with exercise....

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OK, I was doing everything right. Eating my allocated calories and exercising. I was walking at a fast pace to get my heart rate right under 85% mhr. I was walking an average of 1.5 hours a day. I wasn't losing any weight. I stopped working out but kept eating my allocated calories and I lost 16 lbs so far. Now I am stuck. I want to go work out...but want to see the results too! Any suggestions?

I would love to have some friends on here who has their food diary open so I can get some ideas of meals. I would love some friends who want to encourage me and I can encourage back! Blessings!!

Melissa Spencer

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  • Smokey19
    Smokey19 Posts: 796 Member
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    You probably weren't eating enough calories, so when you stopped working out you got out of the starvation mode. I would go back to working out, but increase your calorie intake everyday. Please feel free to add me. I am on here everyday and love to answer messages/questions. I have an open diary.
  • haleighallen
    haleighallen Posts: 209 Member
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    had you been eating back you exercise cals? If not, I'd say start working out again and try it and see how that works for ya :) Regardless, exercise builds muscle and refines your body composition. You could lose nothing, yet look completely different. So I would also ditch the scale but for maybe weighing twice a month and replace weekly weigh ins with a tape measure and keep track of your inches. You'll see your true progress that way :flowerforyou: Good luck!
  • Kris1997
    Kris1997 Posts: 241
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    I had the same thing happen. When I started trying to lose, I was not working out and only eating my allotted calories, was losing, added working out and STOPPED losing. Even tho I was eating back my exercise calories.That sent me off track and i've not got back on yet. I'm interested to see the answers you get.
  • c8linmarie
    c8linmarie Posts: 358 Member
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    I walk 6-10 miles per day. I eat 1800-2100 calories. My diary is open to friends and I log in everyday. Feel free to add!
  • LeggyAmericanGirl
    LeggyAmericanGirl Posts: 285 Member
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    Limit exercise to 30 minutes a day with 2-3 rest days.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    You may have just been overdoing it a bit. Like others said, don't overexercise and under eat.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
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    OK, I was doing everything right. Eating my allocated calories and exercising. I was walking at a fast pace to get my heart rate right under 85% mhr. I was walking an average of 1.5 hours a day. I wasn't losing any weight. I stopped working out but kept eating my allocated calories and I lost 16 lbs so far. Now I am stuck. I want to go work out...but want to see the results too! Any suggestions?

    I would love to have some friends on here who has their food diary open so I can get some ideas of meals. I would love some friends who want to encourage me and I can encourage back! Blessings!!

    Melissa Spencer

    Hi Melissa, I'm Bobbie and my diary is open. I'm small, have a low RMR, and am older so don't compare my calorie intake but others seem to get idea. I pretty much don't eat out and eat simple home prepared foods. I don't plan much and I just eat what I feel like eating, but others seem to like watching it for some reason.

    For me I found you can't out exercise too many calories. I only exercise to make my lean body mass pretty. I ignore exercise calories (especially when I needed to lose fat) but now that I'm maintaining pretty lean I pretty much ignore it still, but eat a bit more in the evening if I feel I need it. Of course there is calorie burn but not near as much as the HRM's and whatnot say.

    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.

    You might just have had water retention for DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) but there are so many other things that make your water fluctuate.