Exercise = No More Losing?

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mrslynch
mrslynch Posts: 90 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
When I first started with MFP I was not exercising, just counting cals, and I lost pretty quickly and steadily. Then I added exercise and I pretty much stalled on my weight loss... I haven't measured yet, but I haven't noticed an inches loss either. I'm not eating my exercise cals back, but I do eat a lot more on the weekends. What gives?

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  • 89nunu
    89nunu Posts: 1,082 Member
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    When did you start the exercises? If it's a recent thing it could be water retention. Also if you do the mfp way, eat back at least half the exercise calories! You could be undereating for your new more active lifestyle!
  • wham55
    wham55 Posts: 44
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    Thats how i am, but its only because since i started dieting my metabolism slowed down. You may be gaining muscle :)


    https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=les;&gs_rn=5&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=nDt3xabk9MEjPsCgPjhFIw&cp=8&gs_id=u&xhr=t&q=fat+vs+muscle&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43287494,d.dmg&biw=1241&bih=584&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=5Dg-UaiaHars0QHsn4DwDQ
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    Try this little experiment a day or two before you weigh do not exercise. Give your body time to heal and repair especially after strenuous exercise. I've read a few posts on here, but cant actually find the physiological studies to back it up, that with exercise comes minute muscle tears, with muscle tears come inflammation, with inflammation come water as a protective mechanism, with water come weight gain or maintenance.

    Focus on the measurements and don't let it get you down. The cardiopulmonary and muscular improvement far outweighs a brief stall in the scale.
  • ajhugz
    ajhugz Posts: 452 Member
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    I would eat a little more on the days I exercise and see if it breaks your plateau. It could also be water retention in your muscles. What time of day do you weigh yourself? Also did you add vigorous exercise or exercising everyday? How long have you stalled? Sometimes our bodies need to adjust so if its only been a week or two I wouldn't be too concerned.
  • AllergicToExercise
    AllergicToExercise Posts: 434 Member
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    This happens to me too, I start a new exercise routine and automatically gain 2-3lbs and then struggle to keep motivated to exercise. I'm pushing through it this time and ignoring the scales.

    http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/help-why-does-my-workout-cause-weight-gain
  • garyinmi
    garyinmi Posts: 2
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    Your building muscle and muscle adds weight.
  • Eleanorjanethinner
    Eleanorjanethinner Posts: 563 Member
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    Could be lots of things:

    *are you measuring (if not, start). How are your waistbands? Getting looser? Then you're on the right track, so celebrate and ignore the scale.

    *Not eating enough (especially protein) if you're exercising lots and not eating back your cals.

    *Weightloss tends to slow down after the first little while anyway.

    Best of luck!
  • 89nunu
    89nunu Posts: 1,082 Member
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    It is very unlikely that you have gained muscle while eating 1200 cals a day!

    Have you tried the road map yet? Dan really knows his stuff so finding out your bmr and tdee is the way to go.

    But if you wanna stick to mfp that's fine too. Just have a look that when you overeat by a lot at the weekends it is going to ruin the hard work of the week! Also your sodium seems to be quite high on some days letting you retain more water. You protein is very low most days, eat more lean protein to preserve the muscle mass you have to not let your metabolism stall, which can happen very quickly on a 1200 cals diet!
  • __RANDY__
    __RANDY__ Posts: 1,036 Member
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    Your building muscle and muscle adds weight.

    no
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
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    I'm not eating my exercise cals back, but I do eat a lot more on the weekends. What gives?
    This might be the problem.
  • LauraS1018
    LauraS1018 Posts: 8
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    I had a similar issue when I increased my exercise from 90 minutes a week to 180 minutes a week. For weeks, everybody told me that I had to be sure to eat my exercise calories, so that my net calories were at least covering my basic calorie requirement (PS MFP's caluations are way off. It tells most all women to eat 1,200 calories. I tried 4 other calculators and they all said my base daily calorie requirement is 1380 to 1425 ). Anyway, for almost a month, I didn't listen to the eat more advise and I continued to plateau and basically loose and regain the same 2 pounds over and over. Finally, I listened to the advise and upped my calories to a net of 1700-1800 a day for 3 days to reboot my metabolism, then I started to make sure my net comes in at around 1350-1420 per day. I've been doing the eat more approach for over a month now and I have returned to losing about 1-2 lbs a week. Of course, I make sure the "more" calories are good calories - sunflower seeds on my salads, an extra half an ounce of nuts after a work out, an extra few ounces of lean protein at meals. Hope this helps. Best of luck.

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