Lifting weights, but no real fat loss

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    So that's saying I need 1900 calories? I eat less than that every day.

    Do you weigh all your solids and measure all your liquids consumed? If not I bet you are eating at least 25% if not more than you think you are.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    So that's saying I need 1900 calories? I eat less than that every day.

    I would strongly suggest that you get a food scale and start weighing pretty much anything that can be weighed and using measuring cups/spoons for anything else. My guess is that you think you're eating 1600 calories or whatever...but in reality you are eating more. This is pretty easy to do.

    For example...before I started using a scale I would log my chicken breast @ 4oz...because that's what my chicken package says..."one chicken breast 4 oz"...but in reality, 1 chicken breast is far closer to 8 oz...I was consuming roughly 50% more calories right there than I was logging. Same thing with my almonds...I was just grabbing a handful of almonds and logging 1 oz because that seemed about right...once I started weighing it I noticed that my handful was closer to 1.5 oz...so I was logging 160 calories for that but consuming 240.

    The list goes on and on, but with just those two things which are staples of my diet I was eating roughly 200 calories more per day than I initially thought I was. That doesn't even include my condiments that I wasn't logging, my guestimations of cooking oils and salad dressings, etc. In the end, I was consuming, on average, 550-600 calories more per day than I thought I was with my crappy guestimations.

    Also, if you eat out a lot, this can really mess with your numbers...restaurants are given a lot of leeway with their estimated calorie representations when the provide nutritional information. I believe they are allowed about 20% error.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    I'd also vote that you really aren't eating 1500 calories a day. Do you weigh and measure everything? Do you log every single day without fail? Are you having any cheat days? What about the holidays?
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
    You do have to remember that TDEE calculations may not work for everyone. If you are accurately measuring your portions and your calories are where they should be according to the TDEE calculator and you are not loosing weight, that simple means you need to reduce your calories.
  • Smashley1947
    Smashley1947 Posts: 129
    It seems to me like you are doing everything correctly.

    Personally I don't focus on how much I'm eating, but what I am eating.

    I would suggest visiting a doctor, you could have some underlying medical issue which is causing you to gain weight. My family has a history of thyroid issues which can cause a person to gain weight, also certain medicines can cause someone to gain as well.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    The only reason why you're gaining fat is because you're eating too much. Eat less and measure everything.
    This. If you're gaining weight you're eating too much. Period.
    Unless it's water weight, which it sounds like.

    How much do you eat, in calories?
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    The only reason why you're gaining fat is because you're eating too much. Eat less and measure everything.
    This. If you're gaining weight you're eating too much. Period.
    Unless it's water weight, which it sounds like.

    How much do you eat, in calories?
    It's not water weight, water weight doesn't last for 6 months.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    No, not usually. When I started lifting, though, I bet it lasted 4. With Crossfit, they keep changing things up to newly challenge the muscles. I could see it causing those effects over and over for a while. But yeah, there has to be an end.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Water retention doesn't have to do with specific exercises. It's about the work in general. The body adapts and regulates it's ability to repair itself. Untrained muscle receives relatively major damage, hence large amounts of water to cushion and protect while repairing. Trained muscle needs far less water for cushioning, as the damage is on a far smaller scale, as trained muscle is more efficient at doing the work, once the CNS has adapted to utilizing all the available tissue.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,211 Member
    you need to also do cardio to lose fat
    Untrue. Fat loss is happens when calorie deficit is instituted. It's been well documented that one can lose weight with no exercise at all as long as calorie deficit is present.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Water retention doesn't have to do with specific exercises. It's about the work in general. The body adapts and regulates it's ability to repair itself. Untrained muscle receives relatively major damage, hence large amounts of water to cushion and protect while repairing. Trained muscle needs far less water for cushioning, as the damage is on a far smaller scale, as trained muscle is more efficient at doing the work, once the CNS has adapted to utilizing all the available tissue.
    But Crossfit specifically cross trains to reach untrained muscles and challenge trained muscles in new ways to minimize adaptation.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    Well, there's a quick(ish) way to figure out if it's water weight from new exercise with Crossfit. Stop doing Crossfit for a couple of weeks. If a bunch of weight drops off quickly, that's it.

    I'm with tigersword, though. I have a hard time believing that after 6 months that is the problem. But I'm no expert on Crossfit, either.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Yeah, food mis-estimation is probably more likely. Though I wonder if she's been doing Crossfit non-stop 3x a week since July or stopped over the holidays and just got back to it and is re-experiencing water retention. And if there's been more of a body change than she's really aware of. Sometimes it's hard to tell without before/after pics AND someone objective to look at them.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    My pants WERE starting to fit better, but not anymore. That's why i believe I'm not losing. I think I have issues with water weight as well, since a lot of it is in my stomach.

    I've always had issues with this, though. Even when i was running tons. In 2012 I ran a half marathon and gained 15 lbs - and it wasn't muscle.
    You might be one of those who just retains a lot of water from intense exercise. Does Crossfit still feel intense? Do you get muscle soreness? Would you be willing to just walk for two weeks and see what happens? Are you positive about your starting weight or just guessing?
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Water retention doesn't have to do with specific exercises. It's about the work in general. The body adapts and regulates it's ability to repair itself. Untrained muscle receives relatively major damage, hence large amounts of water to cushion and protect while repairing. Trained muscle needs far less water for cushioning, as the damage is on a far smaller scale, as trained muscle is more efficient at doing the work, once the CNS has adapted to utilizing all the available tissue.
    But Crossfit specifically cross trains to reach untrained muscles and challenge trained muscles in new ways to minimize adaptation.
    Sigh... That's the old "muscle confusion" myth. And that's all it is, a myth. It's marketing, not biology. The body works on a fairly simple basis. Is the muscle overloaded? Then adaptation is needed. Whether that overload cmes from exercise A, B, or C, is irrelevant to the equation. They constantly change exercises because that's how they maintain business. And if they are intentionally neglecting muscle groups in their routines just to do them in another routine later then that's just (forgive my bluntness) incredibly stupid.
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