PLEASE HELP I AM STARTING TO FEEL DEFEATED

I tried Zumba for a couple of months - I have some questions:

a. Why is the room so crowded - how is this conducive to exercise/dance?
b. Why does everyone else in the room know the steps except me?
c. Why is the woman on a LOUDSPEAKER? This just raises my stress levels!

I love this I went a few times and was always at least a step or two behind everyone else!

All who are telling me how many calories I am burning are false, may not know all aspects of my work out, considering how much I weigh currently.

Alternately, some of us could have a very strong understanding of the issue because we've already had to sort these issues in our own lives, and are answering your plea for help with excellent information.

I can guarantee you that you aren't burning anywhere close to the calories you think you burning. That doesn't mean you aren't putting in one hell of an effort - it means you are starting from a place of very low fitness. And unfortunately "calories" don't care how hard the work feels to you, they only care about how far and fast you go. It sucks, but there you have it, that's the universe we live in.

But in the end, you'll have to make your own decisions on what you choose to believe, and how you act on it.

Good luck!

Hi All and thank you for even reading my post. 58 days ago I began my weight loss journey, 1370 cals a day. I also started going to Zumba, and according to my Nike Fuel band I am burning close to 800 cals a day at Zumba alone. I havent lost anything. My diet is good, low cal, low carb, i put everything into mfp. what am I doing wrong? My diary is open please help!

Overestimating your Zumba cal burn.

Fitbit is not going to give you an accurate burn, HRM will come closest. Measure your food and input is accurately.

Hello OP.

I know that this is extremely frustrating. But I just re-read over all the threads. I have seen a great number of experienced people who have been through the rigors of figuring out the puzzle of health and fitness.

When I was new to the board I was defiant about my beliefs and I took great offense to what some people said when I asked for help. I realized later that they were right.

There is a theme. And I feel people have been expressing this as diplomatically as possible:

1. You need to get more accurate about what you are eating.
2. You are most likely overestimating your calorie burns.

Please hang around the forums, find positive groups, and read, read, read... there are a lot of practical, helpful people out here who can really help you out..... if you let them.

Good luck to you on your fitness and health journey - The fact that so many of us are taking time to write means we actually do want to help. :flowerforyou:

Yes, I've done Zumba. And I've done higher paced, higher impact dance workouts. And I'm an overweight smoker (which means my cardiovascular system works harder than most). The most I ever showed buring on HRM in any sort of dance class was 765, and that was an 80 minute class of nearly non-stop dancing at a higher cardio level than Zumba. Even then, it likely wasn't super accurate because the algorithm is designed for steady state cardio, not stop and start. I still think you're overestimating your calories burned and a FitBit is not going to be close to accurate. It counts steps not level of exertion, and given a lot of the moves in Zumba, I'm willing to bet that it will count a LOT of false steps.

Also, I still don't understand what you are talking about with the quick calories. Why not just find or enter those snack packs on the data base (I assume they have a label) so that you can get a complete picture of what you're eating? I understand that you don't want to hear that you just have to work harder and be more on top of things to lose weight, but it is true. No one is judging you or thinking badly of you, we're just trying to help.

Thank you all for your POSITIVE information and helpful tips. Defensive, I am not, frustrated I am. Wore a fitbit and the Nike fuel band to Zumba last night and Nike Fuel band said 887 calories and fitbit said 732.. I really dont care about the exact number, I am just glad I am burning calories doing something I love. Even if it was only 500 calories, its more than I would be burning sitting on my tush eating chips. Also, about my being honest on my food input.. None of this has anything to do with anyone else, so why would I lie to myself, I am too old for that, however, logging my food into mfp is new to me, and I am learning how to do it. My diary is open to my friends. I really appreciate the all who have actually spent the time to personally write to me and add me as a friend, I look forward to pushing forward on our journeys together!! Best of luck to all of you.

I think some of us are just trying to actually help you, but you might not like the brand of help.

You said you haven't lost any weight in two months of following plan, I asked why your tracker said you've lost 33 pounds.
You said you never eat fast food, your diary, when open had mcdonalds, Dunkin donuts, Starbucks, five guys, carls jr and several Chinese takeout. (And I only went back about a week, sorry man, but that's probably more fast food than I've eaten in two years, not that you cannot eat ff on MFP, because you can.)
You said your diet plan required you to eat three 100 cal packs a day. I'm just really curious what plan this is because my personal trainer thinks those packs are 100 Cals of useless (very little nutritional value, just make me hungrier) and would rather I eat a piece of fruit and cheese.

I think a few of us were actually trying to help you, but now it's clear, you're just a special snowflake.

Looking at your ticker it says that you need to lose 140 lbs. If this is true and you are eating 1370 calories you are not getting nearly enough calories! And I too believe depending on your weight you may be over estimating your Zumba Calories burned.

I did Zumba for the first 6 months of my life style change. I weighed between 290 and 270 lbs for most of that and the most I ever burned at high intensity was no more than 600 Calories for 60 minutes according to my heart rate monitor. I am not saying that you are not working your Butt Off, but 1 MFP way over estimates most calorie burns, and a lot of websites over estimate Zumba Calorie burns.

Suggest you get a Heart Rate Monitor and up your calorie intake. Log CONSISTENTLY. It does not help to do this for months and not see any movement. You should be seeing some movement whether on the scale of in the way your clothes are fitting. I have noticed when I eat processed meals, and items with lots of salt I do not see the scale move as much that week. Don't get me wrong I still eat out, and do not make everything from scratch.

I recommend upping your calories, and do not eat your exercise calories back for a while and see what difference it makes.

When I first started around 290 lbs, I was eating around 1700 calories, and exercising about 300 calories a day. The first 30 lbs dropped off kinda quickly. I researched a good bit and found that I was not eating enough and I have stalled. I calculated my TDEE, and started eating closer to 2000 calories, and exercising about 500 calories most days, and the weight started coming off again. I just recently dropped my calories to get through my most recent stall, but will increase them again shortly.

I am just telling you what has worked for me. Everyone is different, and many would say I am still not eating enough, but we do what works for us.