I haven't seen the scale move in two weeks :(

Jessicarenelaw
Jessicarenelaw Posts: 19 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
All this last week and a half I feel like I have really pushed myself at the gym, not to mention religiously logging all of my meals and staying under my calorie goal but the scale does not move! I am feeling so discouraged :( I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I am 21 yrs old' 5'11", 218 lbs, BMR of 1838. I normally consume between 1500-1700 calories a day plus some of my calories that I've burned from working out. I go to the gym three or four times a week and try to keep my heart rate above 160 which is 83% of my maximum heart rate, for a solid hour. Am I not getting enough exercise?

Replies

  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
    I would say you're doing the correct thing then. Apart from a miscalculation on calories consumed or burned this should be working. Are you doing any strength training with this? That generally helps out quite a bit and it also helps to maintain the muscle you have while you lose.

    Keep going and don't quit. You're going to see results from this .It's not always a steady drop. Some times it's nothing for two weeks and then a sudden drop. Just keep doing what you know is the right thing to do.
  • Jessicarenelaw
    Jessicarenelaw Posts: 19 Member
    I just started some light strength training with some five pound free weights. As for calculating calories burned, I have been using an online calculator that takes height, weight, age, and average heart rate, minutes performed and then tells me how many I have burned. Maybe it's not right?
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    The eat more folks will be along shortly to tell you to eat at least your BMR.

    Where I differ from the eat more advocates is that eating more does not make you immune to plateaus. They are just a fact of life and we have to keep doing what we know is right. A week and a half isn't even a particularly long stretch to stall out for!

    If you are feeling particularly frustrated, figure out your maintenance calories and eat at that level for a week or so. It helps your body to relax about weight loss while helping you feel like you are doing something.
  • amyloudonlon
    amyloudonlon Posts: 6 Member
    For me 1700 calories would mean i would maintain my weight not paticularly loose. Maybe you need to drop a few hundred?
    Im on 1200 and it feels like a diet (if you get me) and i manage it. Just a thought! x
  • sweetzoejane
    sweetzoejane Posts: 153 Member
    At your height and weight, I'd say your total calories per day should probably be around 2,000. That's with 3-5 hours a weeks of moderate/vigorous exercise. This is better calculator, and actually shows you should maybe eat around 2200 calories per day - http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Other than that, the method you are using to count how many calories you burn during exercise is fairly inaccurate. I would just eat a total amount of calories per day and stop tracking the calories burned. It usually works out in the end. Some days you eat more, some less, but as long as you are consistent most of the time, you're good. Oh, and get a food scale for more accurate calorie tracking if you don't already have one.

    The other thing I suggest is lifting heavier weights, at least 2x a week. Full body lifts are best (barbell squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and overhead presses). Continue with cardio or whatever else you enjoy doing that is active.

    The last piece to all of this is patience, persistence, and commitment.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Couple of things to consider....

    1. I actually think you're overkill on the cardio...HR doesn't have to be that high for an hour three or four times per week to get a good cardio workout in. This could be causing your body to retain a ton of water to aid in repair. Unless you have a very specific fitness goal that would require that level of training, it is completely unnecessary...particularly as you already have a substantial weight loss deficit built into your diet.

    2. Depending on how many of your exercise calories you eat back and how big your build in calorie deficit is, you may flat out not be eating enough. There is a fine line between eating too much and not eating enough to lose weight. Yes...in fact, you need to eat enough to lose weight...just not so much that you maintain or gain. If you don't eat enough, your metabolism stalls out and you start storing rather than burning fat...you also burn more muscle for fuel. Essentially, your new diet calorie intake becomes your new maintenance. Very common for individuals doing the 1,200 calorie thing.

    3. Calorie creep...it's easy to do. If you aren't religiously weighing and measuring all of your food and ingredients, I guarantee you will have significant calorie creep. Eyeballing stuff just doesn't work. When I went from eyeballing to actually weighing and measuring food, I found about 300-400 or so calories that routinely creeped into my diet daily because my portions were over what I was logging.

    4. Add resistance training to your workouts...stop with the cardio forever nonsense. More than 45 minutes or so of aerobic cardio and you reach a point of diminishing returns...your body starts burning muscle and lactic acid for energy rather than oxygen and your fat calories. The only reason you should be doing more is if you have particular endurance goals...but do so with the understanding that you are burning up muscle. Also, in the absence of resistance training coupled with calorie deficit, you're going to burn up muscle and ultimately reach a goal weight but be at a higher BF% than you otherwise would have been had you taken measure to preserve LBM. Resistance training and get your protein. I don't do anymore than 30-45 minutes of cardio 3x weekly....I lift weight...I eat at a modest calorie deficit and i've lost 30Lbs.

    5.) Realize that weight loss isn't linear. You have to consider water retention/release, hormones, food in/out, fluid in/out, waste, etc. When you're talking about calorie deficits that are supposed to give you 1/2 - 2 Lb weight loss per week it can be hard to actually see the weight loss over such a short time as two weeks. Consider this...I'm currently eating to lose 1/2 Lb per week...but I can easily fluctuate 2-5 Lbs per day with water and waste alone...pretty hard to see 1/2 Lb or even 1 Lb over such a short period of time as a week or two. I have to plot data points and observe trends over a much longer period of time, as well as take measurements to get the whole story.
  • FrnkLft
    FrnkLft Posts: 1,821 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/941507-best-way-to-weigh

    How are you weighing yourself?
  • __RANDY__
    __RANDY__ Posts: 1,036 Member
    :flowerforyou:
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Where I differ from the eat more advocates is that eating more does not make you immune to plateaus. They are just a fact of life and we have to keep doing what we know is right. A week and a half isn't even a particularly long stretch to stall out for!

    Funny...30 Lbs...6 months...no plateaus eating at a moderate calorie deficit rather than being overly aggressive.
  • FrnkLft
    FrnkLft Posts: 1,821 Member
    Oh, have you adjusted your calorie goals? With the loss of fat comes a lower TDEE.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    A week and a half is not a stall. Keep doing what you're doing. Especially considering you're a woman and your cycle will affect water retention.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    I HATE it when that happens!
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    Where I differ from the eat more advocates is that eating more does not make you immune to plateaus. They are just a fact of life and we have to keep doing what we know is right. A week and a half isn't even a particularly long stretch to stall out for!

    Funny...30 Lbs...6 months...no plateaus eating at a moderate calorie deficit rather than being overly aggressive.

    Anecdote =/= data

    Plenty of people who are eating the right amount experience stalls and plateaus. Perhaps fewer than on a very restricted diet, but I suspect that even that is just anecdotal, as it is easier to stick with the plan.
  • barbiegirl052
    barbiegirl052 Posts: 46
    I have the same issue how much water are you drinking and are you using the bathroom?

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