Eating healthy, exercising, but 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!

MostlyWater

You might want to incorporate weights into your workout. Just walkling,even if it's 2 miles, isn't that much exercise. I walk 2 miles each way just on my way to and from the gym.

diannethegeek

You're unlikely to be gaining muscle at such a calorie deficit, but you may be retaining extra fluid because of the exercise. It's not uncommon to see no change or even a gain on the scale when we start a new exercise routine because our bodies flood sore muscles with water to help them heal. That will go away as your body gets used to the routine.

Are you logging your exercise and eating back the calories burned? If you are, are you using a heart rate monitor or MFP's estimates to determine how many calories you're burning? If you aren't, you may want to start eating some of them back. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but a lot of us find that we don't drop any weight when our calorie deficit is too big. Eating back some of your exercise calories may help.

cwolfman13

three weeks isn't very long...

abbyrae1

have you tried other methods besides just weighing yourself? (i.e. measurements and photos?) I would get a baseline with this and try updating weekly or every 2 weeks. Also, add some sort of strength training to your routine if possible. No gym membership--use your body weight and do different exercises (such as push ups, tricep dips, plank, etc.) and try to up the amount you are walking.

lastly, how accurately are you tracking your calories? do you measure or weigh your food portions? are you preparing at home or eating out? I know in the past I used to struggle with being honest (with myself) about some of my portion sizes, which caused me to underestimate what I was eating, which obviously didn't help me lose anything. I now measure out all my protein and other foods.

jzammetti

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.

You identified your own problem - you are not eating enough to support that level of activity. You are causing metabolic damage, loss of LBM, and a slowing metabolism.