Do I need to change my diet?

akindc
akindc Posts: 84 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Just some background:

I gained a lot of weight in middle/high school, and went low carb my senior year of high school and lost a bunch of weight. Went to college and lost even more weight (completely backwards, right?) and got down to about 140lbs. I looked great.

Fast forward to getting a desk job, I gained almost all of it back, to 170 lbs. I tried dieting, counting calories, nothing worked. I avoided working out because I hate it. I finally started weight watchers, did 30 day shred, and got to about 155, though I didn't see a single change in my body.

I have gained about 5 of those pounds back, but if I am religious about tracking calories, I lose them pretty easily. UNLESS I'm working out, then my body seems to hold on to every pound!

I am now doing almost only weight training, though I mix it about it with a few cardio videos and will start going to the gym for cardio on Monday. I burn about 400 calories during circuit training, 3 times a week.

This week, I actually gained a pound, despite staying with MFP's calories. Is there something in my diet that I'm not doing right? Should I just be working out more? Why aren't I losing weight faster! :(

Replies

  • akindc
    akindc Posts: 84 Member
    bump!
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    Working out can cause water retention - muscles hold water to repair themselves, which can show up on the scale...but it's only temporary. Could be that you're actually not eating enough. Looking at your diary, some days you are on target, other days you're under....food is fuel, eat too little over a period of time and you're giving your body a reason to store fat rather than burn it. Might be why as you said, our body seems to want to hang onto every pound when you're working it - it wants more food!

    I have had great success eating according to the info and settings in this topic: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Steady fat and inches lost over the past year, and I've recently reached goal weight - a number I haven't seen in probably 18 years. But more important than the scale is the drop in sizes, the loss of the fat and inches, the muscles I can see now, and how I feel, which is better than ever. I eat well, enjoy my favorite foods, birthdays, dinners out, pizza, beer, burgers, bacon, ice cream - it fits in and makes life and fitness much more enjoyable.

    Give it a read and run your numbers through the tools linked there - it's great info, and it works. :smile:
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    Are you taking measurements?

    You have very little to lose really. You should be set to .5 lbs per week.

    If you are active you may need to eat a bit more.
  • ripemango
    ripemango Posts: 534 Member
    i need to second taking measurements. I gen eat w/in my caloric allotment, but I don't see the amt of loss on the scales that I FEEL like I should be seeing.
    However I am running and doing multiple flights of stairs at work. My body is changing. I can see it, DH can see it. So, I've started taking measurements so I can track that progress. Besides, what I want is a smaller body not nec a number on the scale.
  • akindc
    akindc Posts: 84 Member
    I'll take measurements tonight, thanks for that tip. I know I should be going by measurements, but I honestly don't see changes in my body, even when I worked out a lot and ate right for almost 6 months last year. It's really demotivating.
  • cmeyers54
    cmeyers54 Posts: 16
    Are you eating back the calories you are burning during workouts?? I was at a 2 week plateau and someone suggested that to me and I lost 3 pounds this week!!
  • akindc
    akindc Posts: 84 Member
    Mostly, yes. Though I'm really confused at what the point of working out is if you're just going to eat back those calories, but I'll take any excuse to eat more ;)

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