Exercising, Eating Right, and Not Losing Weight

biscuittrisha

Need a little advice. First a little history. I am 34 years old, and 5'7". I use to weigh 275 and almost five years ago made a decision to make changes in my life and get healthy. I started counting calories and exercising and after a while began running. I have been running for almost four years with a few breaks for injuries and I gained about 20 pounds back. Now that I am injury free I started training to run a full marathon in the Spring. I have a desk job so during the day I am not very active; however, with the exception of 1 day a week I am exercising at least an hour and up to 2 to 3 hours a day (this includes weight training, running, volleyball, and cross training such as the elliptical machine).

Last week my work started a Fitness Challenge and I looked at it as a way to drop the extra pounds to help me with my marathon goal. The first week I lost 7.2 pounds by continuing my normal fitness activities and counting calories. Three days so far into this week I have gain .2. Now I know people would say I shouldn't weigh myself so frequently; however, I do it just to keep my self accountable. I am trying to determine if maybe I am not eating enough. Below is a summary of my nutrition, fitness, and water intake:

Eating roughly 1,500 calories a day. On a typical day my sodium intake is a little high; however, I run and crave salt and this has never been an issue before. I am usually under or right at goal for my fat intake. I am usually over in both protein and fiber. And right on track with carbs. I drink at least 10 if not more glasses of water a day. I take vitamins daily and do not want to take any sort of weight loss supplements or anything like that.

My activities are:
Monday - 45 minutes elliptical and 2 hours of volleyball
Tuesday - 20 minutes elliptical, 30 minutes weight training with a trainer, and 45 minutes to an hour of running
Wednesday - 1 hour of activity (either elliptical, zumba or some other class)
Thursday - 20 minutes elliptical, 30 minutes weight training with a trainer, 45 minutes to an hour of running, and 1 hour of volleyball
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Long runs that are currently 2+ hours
Sunday - Run 30 - 45 mins and 1 hour of Yoga

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And thanks for reading this entire thread. I am sure I am not the only one that has had this problem before.

notworthstalking

you might need to eat a bit more. Even though you sit down at work, you do a lot of exercise. Do you eat back any of your exercise calories?

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Seems most likely that it's just water.

That said, do you weigh/measure your food? Eat back your exercise calories?



Edited to correct early morning grammar

auddii

I agree that it's probably just a slight fluctuation in water weight, and as daily weigher (only long once a week), I understand the trying to stay on track. And since you're craving salt, you might find you're more susceptible to water weight changes if you're always going over.

Are you eating a steady 1500, or are you eating back exercise calories? That is a TON of exercise if you are only grossing 1500 calories.

ms_leanne

Are you measuring your waist and hips etc? You could be building muscle which is replacing any fat you had and actually losing inches?

WendyTerry420

If your aren't losing, then you aren't eating right. I agree with the others: eat more!

I'm losing with very little exercise and eating 1900-2000 calories a day. You are exercising a LOT!

DeanR321

Try weighting all your food just be on the safe side as you might be eating to many carbs and not knowing it.

check your diet what you consume and see what it is

low carb and high protien diet also your body might be getting used to the exercise that you are doing if you have done it for a while now. so maybe you need to change it up your routines go heavier on weights run faster etc as our body can get used to an exercise so it is reccommended that we change it every week to keep our body guessing

threeohtwo

I think you are eating way too little for the amount of exercise you are doing. Your body won't let go of any weight. On the day you do the elliptical and volleyball you really need to eat more to fuel your body. Good Luck!!

88meli88

my vote is that you are not eating enough. You are probably burning 800 to 1000 kcals a day on average and eating at your BMR or even slightly below. Up your food slightly, chug water like crazy and see how you do...

Alisha_countrymama

are you losing inches?

ChristyRunStarr

I'm with everyone saying eat more...

RainRach

I feel that you are exercising too much, that's not good let alone weight

keldan81

Something else to think about is the amount of sleep that you are getting at night. The body has a tougher time loosing fat when you don't get enough shut eye. Just a thought.

Bssh

You need to eat more. Eat back all your exercise calories or work out your TDEE (which will include strenuous exercise if you tick the option) then eat at a % cut of that. I think your body is holding onto lbs as it thinks you're not feeding it enough (and never will).

TDEE calculator here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

biscuittrisha

Thanks everyone for your response. I know I exercise a lot; though I do most of it not to exercise but because I like doing it.
Following are the answers to your posts:
Not of the time I do not eat back my exercise calories which is why I was thinking I should eat more. I weigh/measure all of my food. I actually prepare my food ahead of time to make it easier to know what and how much I am eating. I am measuring my waist and hips; however, hasn’t been long enough to see a drop.
Because I know that the body gets use to regular activities I have been changing my routine up somewhat to try and shock it. Surprisingly it hasn’t made a difference.
I am going to increase my calorie intake and see if it helps. I will update you in a few days. Thanks so much!