Eating healthy, running/exercising, and seeing no change.

courtney1189

I am a 23-year-old female, 5'5; 149 lbs. When I graduated college, I went from 140 to 149 lbs. simply because I am not walking as much (I probably walked 2 miles or more on campus every day). While I used to not have to worry about my weight, it is more of an effort now to maintain. I have been focusing on eating 1200 calories a day (healthy calories) and trying to exercise almost every night.

I am not much of a runner (I can only run 1/2 mile right now), but I have been walking at a very brisk pace (4.0 mph), and combining it with running - typically 2 miles five or six days a week.

I am just getting so frustrated, because I have been doing this for 3 weeks and see no real changes. I lost 5 lbs in my first week, but gained it back somehow (?), and now I am seeing no change to the scale or my body. I don't understand why my weight never really fluctuated in college, and I was eating more and exercising less then; but now I seem to gain weight the more I try to lose.
I have read online that it is probably muscle growth (and muscle weighs more than fat). But I don't feel like I am getting more muscular, and I just want to make sure that I am doing everything correctly.

Has anyone else had this problem? Or know what I am doing wrong? Any advice for clueless me over here would be so helpful!

ndj1979

First, if you are eating in a deficit and just walking with no weight lifting then it cannot be muscle growth. And fat and muscle weigh the same, so jettison that idea as well.

do you log everything you eat every day all the time? If not, you could be thinking you are eating 1200 and really eating 1500..

Have you ever considered a weight lifting program built around compound lifts? I would think three days of total body weight lifting mixed in with two days of cardio would really help the pounds and body fat% decrease...

Also, it typically takes your body about four weeks to adapt to any change that you make and then another two to four weeks for the changes to be visible...I notice with my own routine that my body is constantly breaking itself down and rebuilding (so to speak) every four to six weeks...

Francl27

Eat more. 1200 minus your walk is probably 1000 calories, which is nowhere enough for your body to function unless you're 4'8" and 100lbs or something.