HELP! Added exercise and now I am not losing any weight

If you want a more accurate calorie burn during your runs you need to get a heart rate monitor with a chest strap. During the winter I was doing 30DS when it was too crappy and cold to leave the house since I am temporarily working at home and lost a crap load of inches but very few pounds and according to my heart rate monitor I burned very few calories doing it, I know it wasn't the most accurate method of counting but at least I wasn't completely guessing.

When I compared my heart rate monitor to MFP or the machines I would see the machines and MFP were as much as 400 calories higher than my heart rate monitor.

It is my experience that the Treadmill over estimates calories burned and the elliptical underestimates my calories burned. Try getting a Heart Rate Monitor to accurately track your calories. Also when you up exercise or change your exercise you will normally gain weight or stay the same at first. Give it time. Even if you are not necessarily gaining a lot of muscle your body is still holding on to excess water to rejuvenate those muscles used when working out. Make sure that you are eating enough to keep up with your workouts! Workout, take measurements, and take pictures. I know that when I was feeling discouraged about the scale I would look at my month to month pictures and it really helped.

It just takes time for your body to get used to all the changes. And you don't have too eat your calories back. That is an option if you want them.
I have very seldom eaten back my excersice calories and I am not hungry or deprived and perfectly healthy.

just don't eat back 100% of the exercise calories. when the weather is decent (which is most of the time around here except the last few weeks) i run at least 6k (3.6 miles i think?) a day or walk 7 or 8 km instead if there is ice/snow, and up to 12k depending on how much time i have. i also used to do the 30 day shred (can't be bothered these days. i don't really enjoy hearing that woman talk) for several months too and i lose both weight and inches. Exercise doesn't prevent you from losing weight.

I don't think I am overestimating my exercise calories. I am running on a treadmill and put my weight it and it records calories burned. It matches the MFP exercise calculator.

Both exercise machines and MFP overestimate calories burned by 100-150 calories. I know this because my heart rate monitor comes up with 100-150 less calories than machines and MFP and I lost weight consistently with exercise.

Hey, I know your pain. I started really exercising in late Jan/early Feb and my weight loss stalled. Here is the thing though - you need to get out of your head and stop focusing on numbers. Weight is not a great indicator of health. And your goal needs to be getting healthy. Weight is a piece of that puzzle! An important and easy to measure piece, yeah, but only a piece. You have to stop focusing on a particular number. BMI is crap. It doesn't account for any number of things - like muscle or bone density. It doesn't take into account the state of your arteries or the fat around your organs.

Moderate exercise is really important to overall health. It helps your body function more efficiently and smoothly, it relieves stress, helps oxygenate your body, helps you sleep better . . . on and on and on. It will help you be toned and strong, and look good. You are already seeing fantastic progress with inches - good for you! Keep going, and your metabolism will adjust to the new demands you're putting on your body and will let up and start burning fat again.

I'll tell you something. My first goal weight still has me obese under BMI standards. My second goal weight puts me into overweight category. My final goal weight still has me in the overweight category. And honestly, I will never have a normal BMI, ever. EVER. Because I have crazy large bones (my bone density is way above my husband's, for example) and I've built some pretty powerful muscles hauling around 300+ lbs for years. I'm not built for what my height says I should weigh - I would be grossly gaunt at that weight. My friend who is a crossfit trainer? At her ideal weight (120lb for her), she was thin and flabby. She started crossfit and now has the body she wanted - super strong, super toned - and she weighs 160 lbs. That is 40 lb of pure, compact muscle she's put on.

You cannot only rely on the scale as the indicator of fitness and health. Please don't give up exercising! It will do wonderful things for you, I promise. Eventually the scale will catch up to you.

I am not a Dr. or professional, but I have chosen to not eat my exercise calories. I do not know if this is something I should be doine per the medical professions however I can tell you I am getting stronger, loosing weight, and my diabetes is under control. So for me it's working.

It depends on A) how much you eat normally how much you burn off and C) how much you have to lose.

A person with a lot of weight to lose can get away with not eating back exercise calories longer than someone who has little weight to lose. If I didn't eat back exercise calories, I'd be netting somewhere around 12-1400 calories.

MFP uses a NEAT format. When it calculates how much you need to eat in order to meet your weight loss goal entered, it doesn't add exercise to the equation. It's how much you'd need to lose in a normal day without exercise.

If not eating them back works for you....great, but be advised, the closer you get to your goal weight the more you'll need them. Throwing out I don't eat my exercise calories and I'm losing isn't always the best or safest advice to post. Everyday people post on here who have unrealistic weight loss goals and are already eating VLCD's who see that and think they should try the same thing.

In my previous experience ( I lost 90lbs with exercise alone 2 years ago) the scale isn't necessarily your friend. I was weighing myself and not seeing much progress, and so I stopped weighing myself so often and just trusted the amount of exercise I was doing, and ended up dropping from a size 26 to a 12. When I lose weight just by changing my eating, I see it on the scale, but (to me) my body doesn't look much different, but when I exercise my body looks so much better but the scale doesn't always reflect my numbers as quickly. Just a thought.

I don't think I am overestimating my exercise calories. I am running on a treadmill and put my weight it and it records calories burned. It matches the MFP exercise calculator.

I have a BodyMedia Fit, which measures calories burned 24/7. Last week, when I did my 5 mile jog/walk, I entered all my stats in the treadmill. When I finished, the treadmill said I burned 701 calories. The BodyMedia Fit? 462. Chances are the numbers on your treadmill and MFP are too high.

Your Dr wanted you to lose weight to become healthier. Becoming healthier means dropping fat. If you are doing that by exercising, and thereby retaining muscle but still losing fat. That's great. Perfect. You ARE becoming healthier, which is the goal. Do not confuse losing weight, with losing fat. Here's a visual representation for you: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=lb+of+muscle+&+lb+of+fat+picture&biw=1680&bih=820&tbm=isch&imgil=E24mn00bHN5lNM%3A%3Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcSnMvGW-LgPwc8CTyFti-54Jy3W6AZxfxrFL8Bd0R0yvLm3Pbco2A%3B590%3B295%3B0RsQ_1TjiXgdfM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fhealthyshakeoutlet.co.uk%252Fhelp-why-am-i-gaining-weight-after-i-exercise%252F&source=iu&usg=__pdWzIDklpjanaN-BFDu09efRwRY=&sa=X&ei=CTMfU43dHM2u7AbG5IHQDw&ved=0CDoQ9QEwBQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=E24mn00bHN5lNM%3A;0RsQ_1TjiXgdfM;https%3A%2F%2Fhealthyshakeoutlet.co.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F09%2Ffat-vs-muscle.jpg;http%3A%2F%2Fhealthyshakeoutlet.co.uk%2Fhelp-why-am-i-gaining-weight-after-i-exercise%2F;590;295

As for calories for exercise on MFP, it's a rough guide. Everyone's calorie burn will be different depending on age, sex, height, weight, current fitness level & intensity. For some, that average will be too high and for others too low. The only way to know more accurately, the calorie burn for YOU, is to get a heart rate monitor, with a chest strap, as someone else suggested. If you get one with bluetooth connectivity, you can connect it to an exercise app (such as Endomondo) directly, which can also then link directly into MFP. I currently use a Polar FT4, and have a bluetooth chest strap on order to upgrade it so I can link it directly to Endomondo and MFP. As an example, I power walked the 5 miles into work today. MFP's calorie estimation was about 600 I think. But I had a heavy backpack on, which meant I actually burnt 936 calories according to my HRM. Without that, it would've been less I'm sure.

Also, eat back some of those calories. They are important, for all the reasons people have already said. Aiming for an overall calorie deficit of 20-25% is the best bet.

And keep up the measuring and progress pics. Progress pics, over a month, will definitely help you to see the difference, when the scales aren't showing it. The scales are really, the least important and least accurate indicator of your FAT loss.

However, if it helps, there are some scales like these: http://www.omron-healthcare.com/eu/en/our-products/weight-management/bf511 which will help you to see the fat shifting, when the overall weight hasn't changed.

Hope that helps x