dieting and working out~still no weight loss

Hey guys, I have been working out and watching what I eat for 3.5 weeks, and still no changes on the scale. Its pretty discouraging... I am 5'6" and 153 lbs, a size 6 in jeans and i'm 24 years old... any tips? Ex. of my meal plan... either egg whites for breakfast or a half of a peanut butter banana sandwich on whole wheat bread, fruit for a snack, lunch.. chicken, beef or tilapia and side salad, yogurt for snack and chicken, beef, tilapia or shrimp and side salad or sweet potato for dinner... I am doing strength training as well as walking on the treadmill at 3.5-4.0 speed and an incline. I know muscle weighs more than fat, but I still want to be lighter on the scale.. Thanks for any help!!:flowerforyou: I've also been drinking several bottles of water throughout the day, and when I workout, as well as Green Tea and Black Tea

Replies

  • kaervaak
    kaervaak Posts: 274 Member
    Open your diary please
  • how do you do that? I haven't been logging in with MFP since I started, but i'm downloading it on my phone now
  • chubby_checkers
    chubby_checkers Posts: 2,352 Member
    How much are you wanting to lose? How many pounds a week are you set to lose on MFP? Do you log your food? If not, start. Measure/weigh everything. Do this for a minimum of one month. Keep track of all of your exercise. Pay attention to any and all changes on yourself: measurements, appearance, energy, strength etc. Improvements will not be on the scale all of the time. If absolutely nothing changes after about a month, then start making changes.


    As a side note, muscle does not weigh more than fat.
  • I am wanting to try and lose at least 1 lb a week, 2 would be awesome! I'm starting today with tracking all of my foods, Thank you for your help!
  • krisiepoo
    krisiepoo Posts: 710 Member
    i see that you started tracking your food today, that's a good start because it really helps a person really see what they are eating.

    do a forum search for the roadmap 2.0. It's really helpful and informative.

    Take measurements, I see many more results from that then the scale
  • Thank you so so so much!! I most definitely will look it up! :)
  • sharmrp
    sharmrp Posts: 18 Member
    I am exactly the same. I have 2 personal training sessions each week, and go to betwen 4-5 classes in my gym per week and work out with kettlebells in the house. My PT is saing i'm not actually eating enough, and gave me a sheet with a typical day's food on it with the protein/carbs/fat worked out and I've been following that, and I'm not losing at all. I've cut out as much sugar from my diet as I can - go used to looking for fat/carbs on nutritional info, now on the sugar!

    I know how you feel, it's really discouraging. I'm losing cms from my waist and hips, but the weight itself just isn't moving. It's doing my head in!!

    One of the other trainers said I need to cut out sugar all together - stop eating fruit, stop taking my protein shakes, stop eating roasted veg but I think that is just going beyond as I wouldn't be able to do that consistently long term. I just wish it was even just a wee bit a week, but it's not happening yet...
  • I know how you feel! I can't live without my fruit, and I don't think that is healthy to cut out all fruits. It is really discouraging but we've gotta try to keep our heads up and keep on working out. I didn't measure before I started working out..I know I should have,I regret it now, cause I would love to know if i've lost any around my waist.. but kuddos on the cm's lost!
  • mamasmaltz3
    mamasmaltz3 Posts: 1,111 Member
    http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=68


    ^^^^^my vote would be this is what is happening. Don't be discouraged you will start to lose. 1200 does sound a little low to me too especially if you are not eating back some of your exercise calories. Food=Fuel. You are asking your body to do more you need to give it the proper fuel.
  • 2hobbit1
    2hobbit1 Posts: 820 Member
    Hi,
    at 5'6 154 you do not have a lot to loose to hit your happy weight. At 1200 calories you will hold on to your weight since you are not eating enough. MFP may give you that as a target when you click on the loose 1-2 lb a week but it is an unrealistic calorie target. Check out this link to get a good discussion of what you TDEE vs BMR and calorie targets for activity level should be.

    then weigh and measure you foods and log them. Take your measurements and look at them not at your number on the scale - you need to tone up not necessarily to loose weight.


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12?hl=dans+roadmap
  • AWESOME!! Reading that makes me feel better!! Thanks a ton!!
  • As well as eating a little more..it takes some time to start losing too. I fell into the trap of thinking that 1600 was going to be enough. However, after about 3 or 4 weeks of not really losing even an entire pound despite water, exercise, and saintly behaviour....I increased the calories just a little bit for about a week or two. It helped and stopped me from feeling so terrible and deprived....It also helped to fiddle my macro percents. (40% carbs, etc Settings>goals).

    It's only been this past week that I've lost a full 2 pounds. Happened quite suddenly too. It does work. Just might take time to catch up with you.

    PS: Point I was trying to make before I fell asleep with my eyes open is that you have to experiment and tweak to see what works for you. What works for one...doesn't work for another.
  • obmckenzie
    obmckenzie Posts: 75 Member
    Keep at it, logging is the best way to see if you really are eating what you think you are.

    Have you lost any weight? Have you noticed yourself rubber banding at all? One week you'll drop 2-4 lbs and suddenly the next week you'll bounce back up? Might be TMI but do you have a regular cycle?

    You might want to talk to a GYNO/Lady doctor about PCOS (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001408/). It typically a quick ultrasound to know if thats the problem or not. It could be messing with you progress, I know it really messes with mine. I was working out at least 3 days a week and on JC food and I would rubber band from 215 to 220 for 3 months before I saw a doc and another 3 months to figure it out.. It was really disheartening to lose all that time.

    Now, I watch my sugar intake very very carefully, take my meds, and I'm down 6 lb since the end of July when I really kicked it back up a notch. Good luck!
  • thanks everybody, I looked up and the roadmap 2.0 says that i'm eating way to few of calories.. around 1200-1500 and i should be eating 2265 a day, so I'm gonna try that and see how it works!! :)