Weight loss stopped when exercise started

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jrwill228
jrwill228 Posts: 11
in Health and Weight Loss
OK... so I went from 205 to 183 without exercise (fairly easily, actually). Once I hit 183 I started 30 minute circuit at Planet Fitness. Now the weight loss has stopped completely. Been stuck there for weeks (still exercising) until this weekend when I went to D.C. for a conference and could not exercise (other than some walking). Got back last night and weighed this AM and I'm down a pound and that's without paying a whole lot of attention to what I ate this weekend and with no exercise. I need to drop another 8 pounds.

I do not understand this. I need the exercise but I need the weight off also (MD says...). So what gives? How do I fix this. My job is fairly high stress and I need the exercise but it's rather frustrating when everything else stops dead in it's tracks. :grumble:

Thanks.

Replies

  • grouch201
    grouch201 Posts: 404 Member
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    Maybe eat more? They say it takes calories to burn calories, so maybe the increase in activity is leading to a calorie deficit in your diet. Also, make sure your drinking enough water.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    Could possibly be building more muscle which is heavier than fat.
  • FitnessTim
    FitnessTim Posts: 234 Member
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    I doubt very much that exercise is the cause. How accurately are you tracking your caloric intake? Are you possibly eating more to compensate for the workout? If so you may be gaining muscle. Or it could be you were going to hit a wall in your weight losss anyway and just need to give it time.

    If you are not tracking your calories accurately it is easy to eat more than you are burning even if you are exercising. It's typical for someone who starts an exercise program to overeat because they think they will just burn it off exercising. Doing a 30 minute circuit a couple times a week does not burn all that many calories.
  • millermichellelea
    millermichellelea Posts: 226
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    Could possibly be building more muscle which is heavier than fat.

    I agree, you may be converting right now. I did that for almost 3 years and it is frustrating. You need to see what you are eating and make sure you are taking vitamins, and drinking enough water. Try to mix up you workouts - don' t over do it and stay in your fat burn zone! You may not be eating the right foods, etc. It is a balanced combination that is the secret.

    I work out less than I used to, take vitamins, drink twice the amount of water and am losing weight without effort. Don't get frustrated, get to know your body - it makes all the difference.
  • JStarnes
    JStarnes Posts: 5,576 Member
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    When you start a workout plan your muscles will hold on to extra water & your weight loss will slow until your body gets used to the exercise. No worries - the losses will return. Same thing happened to me - and still does when I stop working out for a while & go back to it, I always stall or even gain in the beginning. This is when measuring comes in handy - the scale might not show a loss but the measuring tape will!

    Keep on keepin' on, you're doing great! :flowerforyou:

    And, muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. It's more dense, it takes up less space then the same poundage of fat. But, 1lb fat = 1lb of muscle. A pound is a pound.
  • grouch201
    grouch201 Posts: 404 Member
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    And, muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. It's more dense, it takes up less space then the same poundage of fat. But, 1lb fat = 1lb of muscle. A pound is a pound.

    Thanks for pointing that out. There was a post about this earlier this weekend, and now seeing this statement again just pricked my ears.
  • alantin
    alantin Posts: 621 Member
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    Could possibly be building more muscle which is heavier than fat.

    I doubt it since building additional muscle is all but impossible while losing weight and for a man it takes rigorous diet with plus calories and hard weight training to build 2 pounds of muscle in a month!

    For a woman, hormone treatment is also needed to build muscle like that.
  • jrwill228
    jrwill228 Posts: 11
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    Thanks for the responses. I thought I was tracking it pretty close but I'm thinking that on the days I'm working out, I am hungrier and maybe I am eating more (or just not the right stuff). I try to get more protein on those days but like the man said, circuit training for 30 minutes a couple of times a week really isn't THAT much exercise.

    I don't think I'm building muscle either (I could in my younger days when training for martial arts - those days are long gone) but what I do have seems to be firming up. Maybe that's what's happening and I just need to give it more time.... but it is a PIA.

    I have also noticed that when I follow the recommendation on MFP, and eat the calories they want on the days I exercise, my weight starts to climb. If I ate what they suggested (yep, I tried it initially), I would be way past 183 and heading back to 205.... don't want that....

    Again, thanks for the replies and I'm going to make sure I track EVERYTHING especially on the work out days.
  • alantin
    alantin Posts: 621 Member
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    Thanks for the responses. I thought I was tracking it pretty close but I'm thinking that on the days I'm working out, I am hungrier and maybe I am eating more (or just not the right stuff). I try to get more protein on those days but like the man said, circuit training for 30 minutes a couple of times a week really isn't THAT much exercise.

    I don't think I'm building muscle either (I could in my younger days when training for martial arts - those days are long gone) but what I do have seems to be firming up. Maybe that's what's happening and I just need to give it more time.... but it is a PIA.

    I have also noticed that when I follow the recommendation on MFP, and eat the calories they want on the days I exercise, my weight starts to climb. If I ate what they suggested (yep, I tried it initially), I would be way past 183 and heading back to 205.... don't want that....

    Again, thanks for the replies and I'm going to make sure I track EVERYTHING especially on the work out days.

    I have these problems too. Might help eating only half of the exercise calories that the site suggests. I ended up maintaining having 700 Kcal deficit calculated and eating all of the exercise calories. Now I have concluded that maintenance calories for me means 400 Kcal less than the site suggests and half of the calories, it tells me, is pretty close to what I burn.
  • Sweet13_Princess
    Sweet13_Princess Posts: 1,207 Member
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    Are you clothes fitting better? If so, and the scale hasn't moved, then you've probably gained muscle weight. That's a good thing! It keeps your metabolism zipping along so that you burn even more fat when you workout. If your clothes fit basically the same, you may indeed have to tweak the calories you consume. Try adding 200 less or 200 more and see what happens in two weeks. Move on from there.

    Good luck!
    Shannon
  • alantin
    alantin Posts: 621 Member
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    Are you clothes fitting better? If so, and the scale hasn't moved, then you've probably gained muscle weight.That's a good thing! It keeps your metabolism zipping along so that you burn even more fat when you workout.

    Unlikely if he is consuming less than he burns and isn't taking some mean hormone cocktail..
    A sad thing is that as the body gets fitter as a result of training, it gets more efficient at using energy, which means that it takes less calories to perform the same things as before. When you add a body, that's getting lighter, to the mix, you get more efficient energy usage..
    No. More fat burn during the same workout isn't gonna happen Its always less than before, which pushes us to cycle workouts and do all kinds of funky stuff to get the results we want..

    The human body is sometimes way too effective for my taste.. :grumble:
  • alantin
    alantin Posts: 621 Member
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    ***** ( Double post due to some hiccup ) *****
  • electromg
    electromg Posts: 70 Member
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    When you start a workout plan your muscles will hold on to extra water & your weight loss will slow until your body gets used to the exercise. No worries - the losses will return. Same thing happened to me - and still does when I stop working out for a while & go back to it

    I was going to say this as well
  • alantin
    alantin Posts: 621 Member
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    I'm thinking water retention too but he said he has been working out for weeks now.. :huh:

    Trying to wiggle around with your calories, like Sweet13_Princess said, might be a good idea.
    I got off a similar plateau by lowering my calories.

    Edit:
    Drinking a lot of water and checking your sodium consumption might help too!
  • garedds
    garedds Posts: 251
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    When you start a workout plan your muscles will hold on to extra water & your weight loss will slow until your body gets used to the exercise. No worries - the losses will return. Same thing happened to me - and still does when I stop working out for a while & go back to it

    I was going to say this as well

    This is what happened to me as well. I had lost 26 pounds quite easily, started exercising 5 days/week and suddenly no weight loss for a month. Now I lost again (2.5 pounds) and hopefully it will continue.
  • jrwill228
    jrwill228 Posts: 11
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    Thanks again for all the replies. One thing I have found out through all of this is that I am hyper sensitive to sodium. I found this out when I discovered that popcorn (low fat) was an acceptable snack (in most diets). However, low fat does not mean low sodium. I discovered that when I ate this for a snack, i put on 2 to 2.5 pounds overnight (just one serving) and felt really dehydrated the next morning - and that's with 12 to 15 glasses of water per day. So, I've cut the popcorn for now.

    According to my MFP diary, I'm averaging between 1300 and 1400 cal per day. And that was the amount I was losing at since the beginning of this. Think I'll drop that for a week and see if something happens. If it helps, I'll leave it there until I either reach goal or it stops working. IF it doesn't help,.... I'll be sad.....:cry:

    On the bright side, I guess I've got a starting point if I ever get to maintenance.....

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