Help please!!

Momma2fourunder5
Momma2fourunder5 Posts: 98 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Feeling a little frustrated this morning....need some advice from my MFP friends!! So I've been on a very strict diet and workout routine for a month now...I've lost about 3 lbs, which is some, but not really what I would have expected after 45-70 minutes of Zumba every day and a VERY strict diet. One of my dear friends (who isn't on MFP) told me this morning that she has realized (after losing 30 lbs!) that doing moderate to high intensity workouts, like Zumba, create cortisol and eats at your lean tissue for energy. That I should be doing strength training instead...any thoughts on this?

Replies

  • Zakth
    Zakth Posts: 37
    Well your friend could be correct but that all depends. Are you eating back the calories you burn from doing your exercise? Are you positive your diet is not too restrictive? After doing a lot of research I discovered that I was eating too few calories for my level of activity which was causing me to retain weight. Another thing to consider is water weight. If you are doing Zumba it could be possible that you are gaining lean muscle mass which is causing your scale to not move or even increase. Instead of relying only on your scale you should acquire a measuring tape to take measurements and perhaps a body fat scanner.
  • penguinlally
    penguinlally Posts: 331 Member
    Well your friend could be correct but that all depends. Are you eating back the calories you burn from doing your exercise? Are you positive your diet is not too restrictive? After doing a lot of research I discovered that I was eating too few calories for my level of activity which was causing me to retain weight. Another thing to consider is water weight. If you are doing Zumba it could be possible that you are gaining lean muscle mass which is causing your scale to not move or even increase. Instead of relying only on your scale you should acquire a measuring tape to take measurements and perhaps a body fat scanner.

    ^^^^^^^ don't trip on the scale - measure and listen to your body -
  • MysticRealm
    MysticRealm Posts: 1,264 Member
    From the couple of days you actually logged your food, you are not eating enough. If you do 800-1000 cals worth of exercise you need to eat at LEAST 1200 PLUS 800-1000 cals. 1200 cals has already got your deficit built in so exercising is for health/tone not so much for weight loss. I NET 1500-2200 cals a day and in my first month I lost 10 pounds and have been losing weight steady (except Christmas time haha) since then.
  • jcramer1227
    jcramer1227 Posts: 85 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm

    (I hope the link works. If not, just copy into your browser.)

    I took a look at your diary and it seems that you must log your foods elsewhere. The days you did log here, you were netting very few calories. So you could be retaining weight by not eating enough to fuel your body. This calculator in the link I posted was extremely helpful for me and it has helped a couple of my friends, too. It'll give you an idea of how much you should actually be eating.
  • lovemitch125
    lovemitch125 Posts: 257 Member
    I'm sorry, I'd help you but you don't log, so I don't know your diet. There were only 2 full days in the past 2 weeks, but from those days I see you exercised a lot and ate about 1200 calories. Eat back at least some of your exercise calories. It'll help. Your body needs energy.
  • Momma2fourunder5
    Momma2fourunder5 Posts: 98 Member
    Thank you for your responses!!! Unfortunately I can't log my food daily on MFP, as much as I would like to, because I live in Mexico in a very small village, and we don't have internet access available daily. I log things on my iPad in a calorie counting program that I have, but it doesn't sinc with MFP. But the two days that I DID log are very similar to what I eat every day here. We don't have many different options in our village, so it's basically eggs and juice for breakfast, chicken and veggies for lunch and then fruit or ham slices for dinner.

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