Training and no results

bsbbaby3
bsbbaby3 Posts: 8 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
at the start of December I begain training for a lot of endurance events this summer (a few 5k, 10k, sprint, olympic tris), and increased my normal once a day training to normally one am session and one PM session with 2 days where I do the longer more intense training (6-8mi run/3200yr swim). When I first started training I lost around 7lbs the first week and then anoth 6lbs the second week and knew I had to do somthing about my nutirtion (I was losing weight but that quickly I didn't feel was safe and I was not eating enough to maintain my energy needed to complete my training).
I however in the long run of this training was still hoping that I would shed a few lbs - however I am still at the same (if not more) weight at this point 6 months later. I track all my food and workouts (I have a heart rate mointer and have taken a fit test to know the zone I should be training in). I know that my body fat has dropped down almost 5% since I started training - but would muscle really cause me to not lose any weight? I also have recently in the past 2 months had a lot of comments on how great I am looking.
I am not sure if I just have toned up so much from my strength training/tri training and dont realize it because I feel/look the same, or if I am doing everything wrong with my diet?
Any ideas - or good resources? I have gotten a few books on endurance athlete training meal plans and I don't want to deprive myself of the carbs/protein/fat I need to get my through my races/long workouts - but I was hoping I would see some kind of results.
Any ideas???

Replies

  • cajuntank
    cajuntank Posts: 924 Member
    at the start of December I begain training for a lot of endurance events this summer (a few 5k, 10k, sprint, olympic tris), and increased my normal once a day training to normally one am session and one PM session with 2 days where I do the longer more intense training (6-8mi run/3200yr swim). When I first started training I lost around 7lbs the first week and then anoth 6lbs the second week and knew I had to do somthing about my nutirtion (I was losing weight but that quickly I didn't feel was safe and I was not eating enough to maintain my energy needed to complete my training).
    I however in the long run of this training was still hoping that I would shed a few lbs - however I am still at the same (if not more) weight at this point 6 months later. I track all my food and workouts (I have a heart rate mointer and have taken a fit test to know the zone I should be training in). I know that my body fat has dropped down almost 5% since I started training - but would muscle really cause me to not lose any weight? I also have recently in the past 2 months had a lot of comments on how great I am looking.
    I am not sure if I just have toned up so much from my strength training/tri training and dont realize it because I feel/look the same, or if I am doing everything wrong with my diet?
    Any ideas - or good resources? I have gotten a few books on endurance athlete training meal plans and I don't want to deprive myself of the carbs/protein/fat I need to get my through my races/long workouts - but I was hoping I would see some kind of results.
    Any ideas???

    Kinda hard to tell without additional info on intake, etc...but it all boils down to calories in vs calories out. If you are burning 1000 calories a day in exercise and it takes 1500 calories just to maintain your body function, then eating 2500 calories a day will cause you to stay at the same weight...it's that simple. If you want to lose more weight, then the simple answer is reduce your daily caloric intake by 50-100 calories and give that a few weeks...then adjust from there.
  • lrmall01
    lrmall01 Posts: 377 Member
    I track all my food and workouts (I have a heart rate mointer and have taken a fit test to know the zone I should be training in).

    Please expand upon this and perhaps open your diary if you have been using MFP to monitor your food so we can see what you've been eating and how much.
  • JustAnotherGirlSuzanne
    JustAnotherGirlSuzanne Posts: 932 Member
    Do you have before/after pictures or measurements? You must be losing inches for people to be commenting on your results.

    Are your clothes fitting better? I'd imagine so.

    If your goal was to get healthier and to build your endurance, have you succeeded at that? Sounds to me like you did.

    Your body fat dropped by 5%!! Do you know how difficult it is to do that?

    I'm willing to bet that you are seeing results, but you're just not seeing it on the scale. Weight is only one way to measure our health and it's oftentimes not the most reliable at that.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    weight loss comes from a calorie deficit ...you are not in a deficit and if you are gaining you are in a surplus. it's like the old saying says...you can't outrun a bad diet...

    however if you are dropping BF that's a good thing...

    Don't rely on the scale solely to guage results..

    Is your running improving? are you getting better at the other endurance exercise? If so combine that with BF% going down and it sounds to me like you are doing great.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    Firstly, how do you know you have dropped 5% bf?

    Secondly, if that is accurate and you have also progressed in your training schedule (ie. faster times or better endurance) then you have improved two metrics simultaneously. Sounds like a result to me! Even if you have progressed in athletic metrics alone and maintained your bf, then that is something to be applauded/cheered.
  • bsbbaby3
    bsbbaby3 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks for the feedback, that helps. And yes my times have dropped - I just did my first tri and (even though extremly hard bike trail) I did great overall compared to last year.

    I normally burn between 1200-2500 cal a day depending on what training I am doing and eat around 1300-1500 so pretty much I always end up in a deficit. I did have one nutritionest say that I may not be eating enough causing my body to store fat from what I am eating so it can find it to use when I am training at higher/longer intensites.

    I have a BF scale along with the coaches at my gym to monitor that - it was reccomend by a few coaches when I started my training as they said I would see more results with muscle gain and it would be a good way to monitor as my weight may increase (which I know is what my question is based on). I have been watching that, and following diet plans to work with my traning/race schedules. I was at a 32% bf and currently around a 26%. I guess I need to stop focusing on my weight and focus on my progess in my race results!

    thank you all again, hearing feedback from other instead of my own mind helps me greatly.
  • lrmall01
    lrmall01 Posts: 377 Member
    I normally burn between 1200-2500 cal a day depending on what training I am doing and eat around 1300-1500 so pretty much I always end up in a deficit. I did have one nutritionest say that I may not be eating enough causing my body to store fat from what I am eating so it can find it to use when I am training at higher/longer intensites

    Burning more calories than you actually eat is typically not a very good idea. It's OK every once in a while but if you've been doing it for a while you will start to suffer.

    That being said, something here seems a little off. If you really are at a net of 100 to -1000 calories a day you should be dropping weight rapidly.
  • bsbbaby3
    bsbbaby3 Posts: 8 Member
    I have met with a few nutritionist's and they say the same thing. It's frustration - today for example I have my meals planned and already did my morning workout, I am 706 cal+ but I also will be going for a 3.5mi run after work for training and that will be around 450-500 cal burn so I'll be around 206 cal for the day... Then I feel like I should be eating more? I am so confused at this point.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    At the end of the day you have to prioritise the goal that means the most to you. Often trying to increase several metrics simultaneously leads to doing nothing particularly well.

    If you want to improve your times, etc. then focussing on eating your total energy expenditure less a modest amount (say -10%) will lead to better athletic performance but a slower weight loss (but with a higher proportion of that weight loss being from fat stores).

    Alternatively you could modify your diet and training completely and forget athletic performance and focus purely on fat loss.

    A final approach is to keep going as you are. I guarantee athletic performance gains stalling and an above-average loss of lbm (i.e an unacceptably low ratio of weight loss is from fat stores). This is a recipe for demotivation and demotivated people often fall by the way-side. Don't be that person!

    Going with the first approach and fuelling your workouts properly will ultimately lead to a better body-comp and more satisfying performance gains in the long run. Focusing on the PB aspect of training and training towards performance goals will ultimately lead you to the fat loss/body-comp you desire and make you happier about the process.
  • lrmall01
    lrmall01 Posts: 377 Member
    I'll be around 206 cal for the day... Then I feel like I should be eating more? I am so confused at this point.

    I'm thinking that you really aren't at 206 cal for the day, even though your numbers suggest this is true. You would be easily losing 2lb per week if you truly did net 206 calories for the day. Your food calculations could be off, your calorie burns could be off, but either way something has to be off because the numbers just aren't adding up.

    Are you logging all these things in MFP? If you want to open your diary I'm sure you'd get some feedback. If you don't want to share it with the world feel free to PM me a code and I'd be happy to take a look and give you my thoughts.

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