Busting my butt but the scales not moving

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  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
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    Just to clarify. No eating disorder.

    I'm not trying to be mean or rude but this type of behaviour can start a disorder. Exercising everyday burning off more than you consume is a disorder.
    I know I am building muscle.

    Muscle is built in a calorie SURPLUS situation. Not such an extreme calorie deficit situation. Such an extreme deficit causes muscle LOSS, no growth. Losing muscle will cause your metabolism to slow making it that much harder to lose weight and that much easier to gain. Losing muscle means possibly damaging your heart and other organs.

    You need to be eating more, much more. You are not eating enough to properly fuel your body. Best bet would be to figure out your TDEE and take a cut off of that. Either lay off the exercise or eat more... much more. Even at 1200 you are most likely eating far too little.

    You are pretty much telling your body to give you the results you want without providing it any fuel. Eating only 1200 is low, and most likely already a few hundred under your BMR... exercising off 2000 cals on top of that putting you at negative net calories is a dangerous thing. You risk injury, burn out, and a large amount of muscle loss (your heart is a muscle as well). You need to think about properly fueling your body. Your heart, lungs, and all your other organs need calories to function. You cannot expect to see results when you are treating your body so badly.
  • dare2love81
    dare2love81 Posts: 928 Member
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    You're eating way too little. Seriously. Eat more. Your body will thank you. And, FWIW, eating more will help fuel you through your seemingly intense workouts. When I *finally* realized that eating more worked, I was happily surprised to see that I didn't drag through my workouts - instead I was actually able to work harder.

    Listen to lacurandera1, she's provided some useful info for you. DO IT.
  • LPJackson76
    LPJackson76 Posts: 67 Member
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    My god. I bet your period is seriously messed up as a result of this. With that type of retarded deficit, you're going to gain all that weight back if you try to eat a normal amount of calories, but end up with far more fat mass. I am sure that sounds promising.

    ^^ That ^^

    And incredibly impressed to have that particular piece of insight from a guy...

    Bravo to you GeekyJock!

    cartoon-network-gif-bravo-day_large.gif
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
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    OP, you DID mention ">1200"... my first thought is more along the lines of "How much above 1200?," particularly when you said you go out to Chinese weekly.

    I understand you said you needed to vent, but you DID propose a problem, and we as a supportive forum want to help you with solutions. Would you open your diary so we can view your calories in vs. calories out to help you figure out why the scale isn't moving?

    Otherwise, if you are truly only eating around 1200 calories, and truly exercising around 2000 everyday, your scale stopped moving because your body's trying to hold on to what it can. You cannot sustain a healthy body like that. I did **** like that for years and was a horribly weak, muscleless, always sick, hair falling out mess. I'm also a recovering anorexic.

    I'd hate to see that happen to a mother who wants to be a healthy inspiration to her kids.
  • purpleipod
    purpleipod Posts: 1,147 Member
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    And yeah, if I were a muscle I would have no interest in growing on your body right now. So no, you are not gaining muscle.
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,377 Member
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    If you won't listen to them, please read these:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing
  • Maddalen101
    Maddalen101 Posts: 307 Member
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    you're not eating enough.
    your body thinks your starving.
  • StaceySuperfly
    StaceySuperfly Posts: 101 Member
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    By the way, muscle and fat weight the same. I don't know why people keep saying muscle weighs more. Muscle does light up your metabolism and you burn more calories at rest with more muscle mass. Eat girl, you have to eat to lose!
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    I am 29. 5'2" and 157 lbs. I eat >1200 calories a day and exercise three times a day burning approx 3000 calories but the scale has only moved three pounds since 1/17. I have lost approx 11 inches over all ( thrilled!!) but why isnt the number on the scale dropping?

    Somebody may have said this already, but that's more than a pound a week. Great job on your loss!
  • rjmudlax13
    rjmudlax13 Posts: 900 Member
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    I wrote my original post without considering your calorie intake. And yes, I agree with most people. You need to eat more!

    Step 1: Focus on eating enough calories to break even with what MFP tells you. This includes eating back all your exercise cals

    3000 calories of exercise a day is insane! You would be doing the exercise of a world class athlete if that is true!
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
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    By the way, muscle and fat weight the same. I don't know why people keep saying muscle weighs more. Muscle does light up your metabolism and you burn more calories at rest with more muscle mass. Eat girl, you have to eat to lose!

    People say it because it's true. It's more accurately stated as muscle is denser than fat, but it's taken as read that it's referring to the same volume of each. One cubic inch of muscle weighs more than one cubic inch of fat.

    I'm assuming you are coming from the one pound of fat weighs the same as one pound of muscle, perspective? Which is, of course, completely correct. But one pound of fat will also take up significantly more volume, and hence look worse on your body, than one pound of muscle.
  • tylerjay7897
    tylerjay7897 Posts: 2 Member
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    By the way, muscle and fat weight the same. I don't know why people keep saying muscle weighs more. Muscle does light up your metabolism and you burn more calories at rest with more muscle mass. Eat girl, you have to eat to lose!

    Thank you for saying muscle and fat weight the same. 1 lb = 1lb, no matter what the product is. Muscle is just leaner, which means it takes up less space. Less space = inches lost!!
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
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    By the way, muscle and fat weight the same. I don't know why people keep saying muscle weighs more. Muscle does light up your metabolism and you burn more calories at rest with more muscle mass. Eat girl, you have to eat to lose!

    Thank you for saying muscle and fat weight the same. 1 lb = 1lb, no matter what the product is. Muscle is just leaner, which means it takes up less space. Less space = inches lost!!

    Can people really not figure out that when someone says "muscle weighs more than fat" they mean for the same volume of each? Must everything really be spelled out?
  • Gerald_King
    Gerald_King Posts: 2,031 Member
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    Maybe you've added a lot of muscle mass.

    NO. You will only gain significant amounts of muscle eating at surplus. Which clearly you are NOT. Am I correct in understand that you are netting in the negative everyday? You are not eating enough. That's why you haven't lost much weight. Your body isn't going to shed pounds if it's afraid it may not get to eat tomorrow, or all week, or goodness knows when.

    I suggest you ALWAYS net at 1200 or above. Prepare for possible health issues and an almost certain protein deficiency if you don't (splitting/cracking/peeling fingernails, bad hair and skin)

    PS. Eating at such a large deficit plus your steep exercise deficit is actually going to cause you to LOSE lean body mass.


    ^^^^^^^^this you are not eating enough
  • rjmudlax13
    rjmudlax13 Posts: 900 Member
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    By the way, muscle and fat weight the same. I don't know why people keep saying muscle weighs more. Muscle does light up your metabolism and you burn more calories at rest with more muscle mass. Eat girl, you have to eat to lose!

    No!!!! Muscle has a higher density than fat! Therefore if you put fat in a 1 liter bottle and muscle in a different 1 liter bottle the muscle one would weigh more. This is science. It's irrefutable.

    Honest to God. This forum drives me crazy!
  • twinketta
    twinketta Posts: 2,130 Member
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    I am 29. 5'2" and 157 lbs. I eat >1200 calories a day and exercise three times a day burning approx 2000 calories but the scale has only moved three pounds since 1/17. I have lost approx 11 inches over all ( thrilled!!) but why isnt the number on the scale dropping?

    Three pounds in 2 weeks is an amazing weight loss for a woman your weight! And congrats on the inches lost as well. You're well on your way to your goal.

    Now, as to your numbers. You should maintain a calorie deficit of ~400 calories a day. That's not quite a pound a week of weight loss, but trying to lose weight more aggressively than that will likely damage your metabolism.

    Secondly, you should eat your exercise, but I don't believe you can be burning 2000 calories a day. I'm close to your weight, and it would take me about 5 hours of all-out cardio to burn 2000 calories. Where are you getting your numbers for how much you're burning?

    I am with this reply
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
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    By the way, muscle and fat weight the same. I don't know why people keep saying muscle weighs more. Muscle does light up your metabolism and you burn more calories at rest with more muscle mass. Eat girl, you have to eat to lose!

    No!!!! Muscle has a higher density than fat! Therefore if you put fat in a 1 liter bottle and muscle in a different 1 liter bottle the muscle one would weigh more. This is science. It's irrefutable.

    Honest to God. This forum drives me crazy!

    People like to believe that other people are stupid, and so when someone says "muscle weighs more than fat" they hear "one pound of muscle weighs more than one pound of fat", instead of "muscle weighs more than an equal volume of fat".

    I don't think there is a single person on MFP that would believe that one pound of anything would weight more than one pound of anything else. But people don't like to let that get in the way of a good nitpick.
  • run2bfree
    run2bfree Posts: 108 Member
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    Amen, your measurements are way way way more important than the number on the scale!!!!
  • eAddict
    eAddict Posts: 212 Member
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    I don't think there is a single person on MFP that would believe that one pound of anything would weight more than one pound of anything else. But people don't like to let that get in the way of a good nitpick.

    Unless the weight itself is changing! Ahh! Run away! :tongue:

    http://mentalfloss.com/article/31122/not-so-perfect-kilogram-and-why-metric-system-might-be-screwed
  • marsha3x
    marsha3x Posts: 8 Member
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    Muscle weighs more than fat. As long as you're loosing inches in the waist line, don't sweat what the scale says! Perhaps if you feel like you're building too much muscle, focus on "toning" exercises rather than "muscle building" exercises. - If you still feel that you're not loosing enough inches in the waist line, and start gaining weight despite your diet and workout plan, consult a doctor - it might be a hormonal or thyroid issue.

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