5 months of working out, 0 weight lost

Just read and implement the suggestions on these links...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Exercise calories

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

Logging accuracy

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

And join the group as their information is solid...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

"I know muscle weighs more than fat, but I feel like I should have at least burned off some of the fat before I started gaining this extra muscle weight."

A pound of muscle weighs exactly the same as a pound of fat. The difference is volume.

So if I may be eating too much, does anybody have any suggestions on how many calories I should be eating if I want to lose fat?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

I've been working out 6x a week for 5 months strait. I do 3x a week weight lifting with 15 minutes of cardio, and 3x a week pure cardio. I range from burning 300-500 calories a day and eat 1700 calories a day. I'm 22, 5' 6" and started out weighing 142, and I now weigh 148. I've dropped a couple inches, but hardly any from my waist (around where my pants come up to). I know muscle weighs more than fat, but I feel like I should have at least burned off some of the fat before I started gaining this extra muscle weight. I thought I would just be further along than this with as much effort as I've put in. Any suggestions on why I can't lose weight or inches around my waist??

When you say lifting weights, what's the regimen? How many sets/reps? What's the intensity level?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

This made me giggle

So if I may be eating too much, does anybody have any suggestions on how many calories I should be eating if I want to lose fat?

Since we can't see your diary, we can't see how accurate it is.

Some things to think about:

1) Are you weighing all of your food? Every last bit? You will want to weigh your food on a digital scale to get the most accurate calorie count.

2) Are you logging the correct foods? Make sure that when you are entering your food you enter the food that matches the NI for the food YOU are eating. Boneless skinless chicken breast is a good example. Some entries list it as 50 calories for 4 oz and some list it as 200+ for 4 oz. You will want to choose the entry for the NI from the package that YOU are using.

3) Use the raw weight for meats. Cooking methods and preferences can really change the weight of your food. If you have two raw 8 oz steaks and cook one rare and the other medium, the cooked weight may be 6 1/2 oz on one and 4 oz on the other, but they both have the same calories since they started at the same weight. Chicken breast? Cook it dry, it may shrink from 4 oz raw to 2.5 oz cooked but boil it and it may be 3.5 oz cooked.

4) Weigh pre-portioned items and log them by weight. Someone the other day posted about a granola bar. The packaging said 1.7 oz was a serving for X calories. The item actually weighed 2 oz.

5) How often do you eat out at restaurants? Even if you order "healthy" and even if the restaurant posts NI, you aren't guaranteed to get what you think you are getting.

6) How often do you have "cheat" meals or do you go off plan or binge? Really be honest with yourself in these situations and track everything. We like to think that we've been "good" for 6 days so one day won't hurt, but when your calorie deficit for the week is only 1500-2000 calories, it's really easy to eat up all of that and then some.

Most of these suggestions are a bit excessive, but if you aren't losing weight and have been working at it for a while, then being as accurate as possible is the first step to discovering your problem. If you are being as accurate as possible with your tracking and are really meeting your calorie goal, then perhaps it's time to see a doctor. Perhaps you have a thyroid issue?

I do do 3 reps of each exercise, I try to get my heart rate up and alternate between 2 exercises. So I'll do rows, then an ab exercise for example until I do 3 reps of 10-12 each. Normally dumbbells on arms day, 12.5 pound weights normally for my arm exercises. I do a lot on the yoga ball. I use the kettle bell a lot as well, and do ALOT of squats (different variations).

I reiterate

OP when responding to a reply it is best to use the quote button, you will see it below the dialogue box (sometimes under the ticker if the person you want to quote has one visible) it helps with context.



ETA: Ah all is well in the world now, I mean besides pizza dooming America :laugh:

I do do 3 reps of each exercise, I try to get my heart rate up and alternate between 2 exercises. So I'll do rows, then an ab exercise for example until I do 3 reps of 10-12 each. Normally dumbbells on arms day, 12.5 pound weights normally for my arm exercises. I do a lot on the yoga ball. I use the kettle bell a lot as well, and do ALOT of squats (different variations).

Sure hope you aren't using your HRM for weight lifting. They are terribly inaccurate for weight lifting and will over estimate your burn dramatically.

I lost a lot of weight using MFP, and then switched to maintenance. I found that the maintenance goal MFP gave me was too high, and I was slowly gaining weight back. I manually adjusted the goal down by a couple hundred calories, and now it's perfect for me. MFP makes an educated guess, but if that doesn't work, tweak it.

No I don't.

OP when responding to a reply it is best to use the quote button, you will see below the dialogue box (sometimes under the ticker if the person you want to quote has one visible) it helps with context.

Okay! Thanks! First time on the website....

There you go, the web version is best I do highly recommend you check out the links I provided as they are extremely well researched and lack the pseudoscience of a lot of the main threads...also they will provide you with the tools you will need to figure out your own path as it were armed with tried and true techniques.

I do do 3 reps of each exercise, I try to get my heart rate up and alternate between 2 exercises. So I'll do rows, then an ab exercise for example until I do 3 reps of 10-12 each. Normally dumbbells on arms day, 12.5 pound weights normally for my arm exercises. I do a lot on the yoga ball. I use the kettle bell a lot as well, and do ALOT of squats (different variations).

Sure hope you aren't using your HRM for weight lifting. They are terribly inaccurate for weight lifting and will over estimate your burn dramatically.

Well maybe that's the problem then too... I use my HRM every time I workout. I do some cardio between reps, like burpees and heisman shuffle. How do I track how many calories I burn then if I don't use my HRM while weight lifting?

This is also the first time I've actually tried to workout and eat healthy and expect results. I've also been active with sports and now that I don't have that anymore this gym thing is all new to me.

Hit pause when you weight left and then start back up when you do cardio. HRMs are only accurate for steady state cardio. They are somewhat accurate for HIIT and really not even close for weight lifting.

I recommend you submit your info on this page...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/910257-the-new-and-improved-asking-questions-about-your-intake

The moderators are champions and very helpful but while you await their response I reiterate read the links I provided and maybe go over these ones, as they shatter a lot of misconceptions and also may help you realize a better plan of attack...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

Are you eating more on lifting days? Have you done your BMR/TDEE calculations? Me, I only lose weight when I strictly stick to eating at BMR.... allowing an extra 150 on lifting days to accomodate my protein shake.

Curious why are you only eating at your BMR? BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate. What you expend on your essential functions, basically the energy expenditure you would have at complete rest...for the uninformed.

Note that what you actually net to should be looked at over the whole week and not individual days. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a net below your BMR on exercise days when you use a static number to eat to. You will just be having a higher net the following day for example when you do not exercise, and as we all should know by now, our bodies do not ‘reset’ at the strike of midnight.

Unless you are prescribing to the methods laid out in this thread...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1058378-oh-noes-i-am-eating-below-my-bmr

But I imagine you have miscalculated your BMR as only an extra 150 cals on lifting/exercise days would most likely been quite insufficient for a reasonable deficit. Also the part I bolded in the quote seems well dangerous and unnecessary if your are truly eating at your BMR.

Already posted it but info was sourced from ETP thread...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1058378-oh-noes-i-am-eating-below-my-bmr

Then you are eating at maintenance or above (you won't gain muscle at a deficit). I'm not positive, but I think it's pretty hard for anyone to gain 6lb of muscle in 5 months

I think you are right about that.

OP, another thing is that you could be holding water too.

Are you eating more on lifting days? Have you done your BMR/TDEE calculations? Me, I only lose weight when I strictly stick to eating at BMR.... allowing an extra 150 on lifting days to accomodate my protein shake.

Do you mean TDEE? Eating at your BMR means you are only eating enough to survive if you were in a coma.