Why am I experiencing no weight loss at all?

letjog

My personal opinion, is that if you reduce the fat in your diet (but keep the total calories the same) you will see the weight loss. Your fat is reasonably high, as in like a "normal maintainance" diet. You do need fat but when you're trying to lose weight 70-90g/day is too much.

And quit with the reeces peanut butter cups!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I am working out four to five days a week: I take three or four 60-minute cardio-based classes such as Zumba, hip hop or step aerobics, and I take one 60-minute strength training/sculpting class (which has some cardio but not enough to bring my heart rate up to cardio class levels).

Zumba and stuff like that is pretty much worthless, in my experience. Go jobbing, start running, you're not going to change your body by jumping around for a few minutes a day dancing.

That's quite patronising. 60 minutes a day of cardio is plenty. How do you know how much effort she's exerting in her zumba class? It can be a very good cardio workout.

OP - look at it this way, you've lost 3.5 lbs since you started in December. I know it's frustrating as hell to gain back some of what you originally lost, but you have made some progress over the last several weeks.

I noticed that some of your diary entries seem a bit generic. For example, "peperoni pizza", "homemade cake pops", "pound cake" - are these entries that you have added yourself? If not, then there could be quite a variation between the nutritional content of what you have eaten, and what is in the database, so things could be amiss there.

It looks to me like you've only just started eating back exercise calories? If so, then there is more food/waste in your system than there was before, and that will show up on the scale. (I think this is a likely culprit, especially as you say you are constipated.) Also, when you increase food intake, if you increase carb intake at the same time, that will make you gain a little water weight, as carbs hold onto water. Keep eating those exercise calories though, otherwise you're not giving your body nearly enough fuel for those workouts.

As you are already aware, starting a new exercise programme, or increasing intensity will make your muscles hold onto water as they repair themselves.

I would say - give it more time. Give it several weeks for your body to get used to the change in exercise and food, and you should start to see the fat loss on the scales.

Give measuring a go anyway - you probably won't see changes very quickly, but it will help motivate you further down the line.

Regarding the constipation - try tracking your fibre in your diary to see if you're getting enough. Also, if you are not getting enough fluids, that can effect things too.

With only 30 lbs to lose, you may benefit from eating even more. A very large calorie deficit can be counter-productive the closer you get to a healthy weight. For now though, I would try for several weeks at the level you are now - making sure to eat at least a portion of exercise calories back - and see how you get on.

This is good advice.

My first thought was inaccurate logging as well; I was pretty guilty of this in the beginning.

Often when you first start to eat more you'll see some scale weight gain, you just have to trust that if you're accurately measuring and weighing you won't gain fat in a deficit.

Ignore the advice regarding carbs/Gary Taubes, unless you have a medical condition. Reduction in carbs will result in loss of water, but no greater loss of fat.

midgetracer

Ignore the advice regarding carbs/Gary Taubes, unless you have a medical condition. Reduction in carbs will result in loss of water, but no greater loss of fat.

I'm not sure you fully understand how carbs work, or biochemistry for that matter. If you have any factual data that backs this claim, I'll gladly research it, but the majority of validated science leans towards low carbs = low insulin = mobilization of fat = actual weight loss.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Ignore the advice regarding carbs/Gary Taubes, unless you have a medical condition. Reduction in carbs will result in loss of water, but no greater loss of fat.

I'm not sure you fully understand how carbs work, or biochemistry for that matter. If you have any factual data that backs this claim, I'll gladly research it, but the majority of validated science leans towards low carbs = low insulin = mobilization of fat = actual weight loss.

http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=319

http://weightology.net/?p=265

ETA: I don't think low-carb is necessarily bad. I just don't think it's necessary. And there are adherence problems with it for a lot of people. If it's something the OP wants to try I don't think it would be bad or unhealthy for her, but I don't think she ought to be led to believe that low-carb is the only, or even the best, option.

KenosFeoh

I think dance aerobics like Zumba is terrific exercise for fat burning. Get some resistance/weight training into your schedule, too. More muscle will help you burn more fat.

It's hard work for the body to switch over from fat storing to fat burning, especially as you get older, so try to hold your diet steady at the recommended calories and keep the faith. The only way you fail is to give up. You may have to make some adjustments because the numbers you are given for BMR, TDEE, and calories burned during exercise are estimates/averages and may not be accurate for your body.

midgetracer

That is a very compelling article, and it may very well be true. However, it states near the end that "In fact, if you truly wanted to keep insulin as low as possible, then you wouldn’t eat a high protein diet…you would eat a low protein, low carbohydrate, high fat diet. However, I don’t see anybody recommending that." But that is the exact diet recommended by most sources I have researched. I completely agree that it isn't the only way to make it work. I've yo-yo'd with weight my entire adult life, and you're absolutely correct that many people have trouble sustaining it. I would agree to disagree on your point about it not being the best... but that is irrelevant and only time and more research will answer that question. I can say, however, that the 16 lbs I've lost in the past 3 weeks has been far easier than any of the other times I have lost substantial weight in my life, with less hunger, more energy, and faster results using low-carb/high-fat and high intensity weight training. There a 1,000 roads to the destination, this one just seems to be the shortest and least hilly for me. I was simply trying to give the OP another source of information to take from whatever she wants. Thanks for the links!