HELP!!!!
Guchick18
Posts: 17
Ok so I have been working out good, I workout at least 4 days out of the week Im single mom, full time employee and full time student, so my schedule is tight but no matter what I work out those 4 days. I eat healthy, dont drink soda or anything like that In fact all I drink is water. Despite all my work I am not loosing weight. I lost 12 pds but have been stuck in the same weight for months!! whats going on? im staring to get really discouraged especially when I see other people eat whatever they want and workout once every so often and they shed the pounds like crazy!! Im not into diet pills so I don't do them. What else should I do? Please help!
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Replies
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have you been doing the same workouts? if so your body is used to them and needs to do something else.0
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in order to help, we need to know some information first.
weight, height, activity level, what you are eating, what your deficit is at right now, what your goal is, how long (exactly) has it been since you stopped losing weight...etc. everything you can think of that might help.0 -
No I actually try new things, I love doing weights, but every work out is different.0
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Well with all the weight that I have lost I have hit many plateaus. Can you give me some more info. How many calories you eat a day, how many you are supposed to be eating. How many calories are you burning while you workout and how long have you been losing weight?0
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i work out 4x out of the week for about 1.5 hour, im 5'5 and weigh 230. i ve been stuck for about 5 mths. i actually gain two or three pounds then go down to 230 again. my goal is to lose at least 50 pds. of course I would love to lose more but that is my main goal.0
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i work out 4x out of the week for about 1.5 hour, im 5'5 and weigh 230. i ve been stuck for about 5 mths. i actually gain two or three pounds then go down to 230 again. my goal is to lose at least 50 pds. of course I would love to lose more but that is my main goal.
what is your deficit set at? And can you set your diary public so we can see what you're eating? Remember, DIET is the big change maker, exercise is great, but it's not going to be the major motivator for change, it's all about diet.0 -
Im suppose to be eating 1310 a day but, I eat about 1000-1200 Im usually always below and i burn about 500-600 a work out. I completely changed my my eating habbits last june and started working out as well, I lost 20 pds then stopped working out for a while i started back lost 12 pounds and have been stuck since.0
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It could be stress that is holding you back...Are you getting enough sleep? Here is a link to an article I read on about.com about stress and weight....
http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/weightgain.htm0 -
yea i will do that,0
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Have you been checked to see if you have any metobolic health issues such as PCOS or thyroid disease? If you have one of those you could need extra medical management to help you lose weight.0
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Im suppose to be eating 1310 a day but, I eat about 1000-1200 Im usually always below and i burn about 500-600 a work out. I completely changed my my eating habbits last june and started working out as well, I lost 20 pds then stopped working out for a while i started back lost 12 pounds and have been stuck since.
There in lies the problem. You need to eat more, much more. I'm guessing the 1310 is to loose 2 pounds per week which sets you at a caloric deficit of 1000/day and you eat about 200 less and exercise for about 500, In total you are at an average caloric deficit of 1700 (1000+200+500) on days you work out and 1200 every other day. you should eat the 1310 and most of the extra calories earned through exercise.
It is counter intuitive, but you have to eat to loose weight. I eat around 2000 calories per day and weigh 140ish and don't gain weight.0 -
OK well, 5'5" and 230, and I'll assume lightly active, your maintenance calories is about 2400 or so. Which means that if you're only eating 1100 calories a day, AND adding 500 calories on for exercise, you're creating a 1800 calorie a day deficit. WAAAAY to big IMHO. You MAY (and I stress may) be able to get away with 1100 or 1200 calorie deficit, but very few people can continue long term with a deficit that large and not severely impact their metabolism.
If it were me, I would, over the next 6 weeks or so, slowly begin eatiing back your exercise calories. Start at 100 for a week or so, but then bump it up to 150 the next week, and so on, and so fourth.
Why? Because your body needs to know it's ok to burn fat. If you create a giant deficit, your body's going to think it's starving and will slow down your metabolism and store extra fat to compensate. Not only that but it will begin to canabalize your protein stores which means less muscle, which means even higher percentage of body fat, which means less lean tissue to burn calories, which means even slower metabolism (it's a vicious cycle). I would shrink your deficit (eat more) to a more reasonable size, never more than 1000 calories a day (including exercise calories) and see where that gets you.
look at it this way. What you're doing now isn't working for you anyway, you might as well try the method that works for a large majority of the folks on MFP right? And a side benefit is, if you do follow this method, you'll have tons of people here that have already done so and are currently doing so. That means lots of support and people to share experience with.
anyway,
Best luck to you.
-Banks0 -
OK well, 5'5" and 230, and I'll assume lightly active, your maintenance calories is about 2400 or so. Which means that if you're only eating 1100 calories a day, AND adding 500 calories on for exercise, you're creating a 1800 calorie a day deficit. WAAAAY to big IMHO. You MAY (and I stress may) be able to get away with 1100 or 1200 calorie deficit, but very few people can continue long term with a deficit that large and not severely impact their metabolism.
If it were me, I would, over the next 6 weeks or so, slowly begin eatiing back your exercise calories. Start at 100 for a week or so, but then bump it up to 150 the next week, and so on, and so fourth.
Why? Because your body needs to know it's ok to burn fat. If you create a giant deficit, your body's going to think it's starving and will slow down your metabolism and store extra fat to compensate. Not only that but it will begin to canabalize your protein stores which means less muscle, which means even higher percentage of body fat, which means less lean tissue to burn calories, which means even slower metabolism (it's a vicious cycle). I would shrink your deficit (eat more) to a more reasonable size, never more than 1000 calories a day (including exercise calories) and see where that gets you.
look at it this way. What you're doing now isn't working for you anyway, you might as well try the method that works for a large majority of the folks on MFP right? And a side benefit is, if you do follow this method, you'll have tons of people here that have already done so and are currently doing so. That means lots of support and people to share experience with.
anyway,
Best luck to you.
-Banks0 -
ok thank you Banks I appreaciate your time.0
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Yea im actually pretty healthy for my weight.0
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Im suppose to be eating 1310 a day but, I eat about 1000-1200 Im usually always below and i burn about 500-600 a work out. I completely changed my my eating habbits last june and started working out as well, I lost 20 pds then stopped working out for a while i started back lost 12 pounds and have been stuck since.
There in lies the problem. You need to eat more, much more. I'm guessing the 1310 is to loose 2 pounds per week which sets you at a caloric deficit of 1000/day and you eat about 200 less and exercise for about 500, In total you are at an average caloric deficit of 1700 (1000+200+500) on days you work out and 1200 every other day. you should eat the 1310 and most of the extra calories earned through exercise.
It is counter intuitive, but you have to eat to loose weight. I eat around 2000 calories per day and weigh 140ish and don't gain weight.
Ok yea i never thought about that. Im always worried about going over THANK YOU0 -
OK well, 5'5" and 230, and I'll assume lightly active, your maintenance calories is about 2400 or so. Which means that if you're only eating 1100 calories a day, AND adding 500 calories on for exercise, you're creating a 1800 calorie a day deficit. WAAAAY to big IMHO. You MAY (and I stress may) be able to get away with 1100 or 1200 calorie deficit, but very few people can continue long term with a deficit that large and not severely impact their metabolism.
If it were me, I would, over the next 6 weeks or so, slowly begin eatiing back your exercise calories. Start at 100 for a week or so, but then bump it up to 150 the next week, and so on, and so fourth.
Why? Because your body needs to know it's ok to burn fat. If you create a giant deficit, your body's going to think it's starving and will slow down your metabolism and store extra fat to compensate. Not only that but it will begin to canabalize your protein stores which means less muscle, which means even higher percentage of body fat, which means less lean tissue to burn calories, which means even slower metabolism (it's a vicious cycle). I would shrink your deficit (eat more) to a more reasonable size, never more than 1000 calories a day (including exercise calories) and see where that gets you.
look at it this way. What you're doing now isn't working for you anyway, you might as well try the method that works for a large majority of the folks on MFP right? And a side benefit is, if you do follow this method, you'll have tons of people here that have already done so and are currently doing so. That means lots of support and people to share experience with.
anyway,
Best luck to you.
-Banks
I completely agree. I am in the same position as you are Guchick 18. Even though my calorie deficit is a lot bigger I am in my first week of upping my calories. My doctor told me to stay away from the scale for a month, he says I will gain weight the first few weeks until my body realizes that it is no longer starving. If you need support we can do this together. Because believe me it is going to be super hard to up your calories and not feel guilty or think you need to work out more. You have to get to the point where you realize that its not just about losing weight but about being a healthy person0 -
Couple of things.
1. If you are doing resistance training, ie weights, then you could be at point were the fat you lose is equal to the muscle you are gaining, not many people can do this but it is not uncommon. Try taking measurements to see if you are losing inches. If you are losing inches this is good and don't worry about scale. How do your clothes fit are they looser around you neck, arms, or hips?
2. You could be at a point where you body has become more efficient. You body is smart when it gets used to a routine it will become efficient and use less fuel, see you lose a ton of weight in the beginning because of a poor metabolism so your body starts to burn mad calories to help fuel itself. Once it gets used to a routine it starts to figure out how to use less to accomplish more and you will be at what is called a plateau. Try changing your routine, if you do more cardio then weight training increase weight training while cutting back to 20 to 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week. Take a week off from exercise, you would be amazed at what happens when you start back. Remember cardio will help you lose bodyfat but you will burn more fat if you have muscle (don't worry about getting bulky unless you take steriods or somethin similar you are female and it won't happen) try doing free weights get away from machines. Try doing body weight execises like push-ups, pull-ups, free standing squats. Change up to multi-jointed exercises deadlifts, squats, flat bench, lat pulldowns, are a few. Women tend to concentrate on shaping rather than building, and you can't shape if at first you don't build.
3. Look at your diet, is it higher in carbs or protein, cut back on non-fiber filled carbs and increase low-fat proteins this may help but I would look into my 1st two items before doing this.0 -
Your body has plateaued. It is used to the exercise that you do. So now, switch it up. Running is an amazing exercise. Find something to do that is hard for you like stairs or weights. Every 2 months you should switch up what you do so your body doesn’t adapt.0
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\i work out 4x out of the week for about 1.5 hour, im 5'5 and weigh 230. i ve been stuck for about 5 mths. i actually gain two or three pounds then go down to 230 again. my goal is to lose at least 50 pds. of course I would love to lose more but that is my main goal.
Are you going to a gym? If so 1.5 hours is alot. When i was training way back in the day a fellow PT told me that if you are in the gym for more than an hour working out you are not working out hard enough. Try accomplishing what you do in 1.5 hours in an hour, this increase in intensity should give you a boost. I was also told unless you are training for a marathon or triathalon more than 45 minutes of cardio is too much, cut back on that also to about 20 minutes but increase intensity.
example: Cardio normal 45 minutes 3 miles, try say 30 minutes 2.5 miles (these may not be your numbers but you get the idea)
Weight training if you do say a total of 20 sets in 60 minutes, do 20 sets in 40 minutes, it will boost the cardio and help with the muscle
when it comes to weight training, more is not more, but moderate is more. Try keeping to multi-jointed exercises with about 2 -3 exercises per body part and 3 -4 sets for each exercise and stay in the 10 -15 rep zone. Isolation exercises like Flys or dumbbell curls should be no more than 2 sets with no less then 15 reps per set.0 -
Are you going to a gym? If so 1.5 hours is alot. When i was training way back in the day a fellow PT told me that if you are in the gym for more than an hour working out you are not working out hard enough. Try accomplishing what you do in 1.5 hours in an hour, this increase in intensity should give you a boost. I was also told unless you are training for a marathon or triathalon more than 45 minutes of cardio is too much, cut back on that also to about 20 minutes but increase intensity.
example: Cardio normal 45 minutes 3 miles, try say 30 minutes 2.5 miles (these may not be your numbers but you get the idea)
Weight training if you do say a total of 20 sets in 60 minutes, do 20 sets in 40 minutes, it will boost the cardio and help with the muscle
when it comes to weight training, more is not more, but moderate is more. Try keeping to multi-jointed exercises with about 2 -3 exercises per body part and 3 -4 sets for each exercise and stay in the 10 -15 rep zone. Isolation exercises like Flys or dumbbell curls should be no more than 2 sets with no less then 15 reps per set.
I disagree, There is no proof that working out harder for shorter periods is any better than working longer at less intensity. There have been plenty of studies done on this, and basically they always come back with the same results, you can work shorter and harder or longer and easier, and long term results for calories burned are about the same (assuming calories/session are about the same).
I also disagree with 45 minutes of cardio being some kind of hard limit. That's totally dependent on the person. Everyone is different. It depends on your genetic makeup, your predominant muscle type (fast twitch vs slow twitch) and your level of cardiovascular fitness. For some people 30 minutes is plenty, but others require a full hour or more to meet their needs.
Also, I don't think this is an exercise issue at all. I truely feel that her settings for calorie deficit are wrong. And eating more and adding back some of her exercise calories will jump start her weight loss again.0 -
\i work out 4x out of the week for about 1.5 hour, im 5'5 and weigh 230. i ve been stuck for about 5 mths. i actually gain two or three pounds then go down to 230 again. my goal is to lose at least 50 pds. of course I would love to lose more but that is my main goal.
Are you going to a gym? If so 1.5 hours is alot. When i was training way back in the day a fellow PT told me that if you are in the gym for more than an hour working out you are not working out hard enough. Try accomplishing what you do in 1.5 hours in an hour, this increase in intensity should give you a boost. I was also told unless you are training for a marathon or triathalon more than 45 minutes of cardio is too much, cut back on that also to about 20 minutes but increase intensity.
example: Cardio normal 45 minutes 3 miles, try say 30 minutes 2.5 miles (these may not be your numbers but you get the idea)
Weight training if you do say a total of 20 sets in 60 minutes, do 20 sets in 40 minutes, it will boost the cardio and help with the muscle
when it comes to weight training, more is not more, but moderate is more. Try keeping to multi-jointed exercises with about 2 -3 exercises per body part and 3 -4 sets for each exercise and stay in the 10 -15 rep zone. Isolation exercises like Flys or dumbbell curls should be no more than 2 sets with no less then 15 reps per set.
yes im going to a gym0 -
I want to thank you all, I really did not think there would be this much support on MFP. Once again thank you all!!!! I really am shocked to see all the support thank you!0
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