Been working out 4 months with little weight loss

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rh4d
rh4d Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, about 4 months ago i decided that i would stop being overweight and start working out and eating better/less. When i started out, i was around 195 pounds. Since then i have started doing kick boxing 3 times a week and i have been eating much better and way less and i have only lost 5 pounds after all this time. Why haven't i lost more weight? I have been working the hardest i ever have at anything. At boxing i give it 110% and am completely drenched in sweat afterwards. I have noticed myself getting stronger and i am starting to see the muscles in my arms and legs where i couldn't before. But why haven't i lost the pounds? Why am i still overweight? I have never worked harder in my life and it is really discouraging when i look down at the scale to see so little improvement. Any help with this would be great. I really want to start seeing results.

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  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
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    How many calories are you eating?
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Would you be comfortable opening your diary for us to take a look?

    Are you tracking everything you eat? Including things like cheat days, veggies, sauces, cooking oils, etc?

    How are you measuring portion sizes? A food scale? Measuring cups? Eyeballing portions?

    Are you eating back any of your earned exercise calories? If so, what method are you using to estimate your burns (MFP estimates, gym machine readouts, HRM, etc)?
  • cookmtn
    cookmtn Posts: 156 Member
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    1. If you're seeing physical results that's great! Start measuring yourself weekly and taking pictures. The scale can be unreliable for many reasons: water retention from sodium or in muscles, time of the month, etc. Track your calories, weighing solids, measuring liquids, picking the correct entries in the database, eat at a deficit and be patient. Good Luck!
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
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    Hi, about 4 months ago i decided that i would stop being overweight and start working out and eating better/less. When i started out, i was around 195 pounds. Since then i have started doing kick boxing 3 times a week and i have been eating much better and way less and i have only lost 5 pounds after all this time. Why haven't i lost more weight? I have been working the hardest i ever have at anything. At boxing i give it 110% and am completely drenched in sweat afterwards. I have noticed myself getting stronger and i am starting to see the muscles in my arms and legs where i couldn't before. But why haven't i lost the pounds? Why am i still overweight? I have never worked harder in my life and it is really discouraging when i look down at the scale to see so little improvement. Any help with this would be great. I really want to start seeing results.

    Try harder, how much you put in you will get back out.
  • bm1409
    bm1409 Posts: 1,715 Member
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    You should take a "before" picture of yourself. Even though your not losing pounds, you may be losing inches. Muscle weighs more then fat, so you may not see it on the scale as fast as you will be seeing your body change. Keep at it. Look over what your eating, make sure your not snacking a lot.
  • kwiltzius
    kwiltzius Posts: 1 Member
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    You have gained muscles, which is heavier then fat. My daughter reminds me constantly that it is actually 80% diet effort and 20% exercise. maybe, you're like me, I can exercise like crazy, It's the food that is my biggest challenge. Don't give up. Youare also a LOT healthier then when you started.
  • granadan
    granadan Posts: 5 Member
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    Throw out the scales, your body composition will be changing from fat to muscle. And muscle is far denser and so heavier ;) I do know how much of a boost that weight dropping off is - but before and after pics will tell you more. Hang in there, if you're seeing muscles and definition, then the muscles ARE appearing and the fat has to be dropping off. Sounds like you are doing amazingly well.
  • bobbyguns
    bobbyguns Posts: 33
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    If you are weight training, it's simple. You are increasing LBM (muscle- for all intents and purposes), while losing fat. If you've never weight trained before, this is about the only time one can gain muscle and lose fat simutaneously. Once you've become "intermediate", it's virually impossible to do both at the same time. Relish your "newb" state and enjoy the gains! What I'd give for those days!
  • binniesmart
    binniesmart Posts: 74
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    I feel exactly the same. I have gotten heavier despite doing decent exercise, seeing muscle definition and strength gains, but my BMI is depressing....
  • MJDuley
    MJDuley Posts: 47 Member
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    You should take a "before" picture of yourself. Even though your not losing pounds, you may be losing inches. Muscle weighs more then fat, so you may not see it on the scale as fast as you will be seeing your body change. Keep at it. Look over what your eating, make sure your not snacking a lot.

    ^This! You may be trading muscle for fat. The number on the scale is only one indicator of overall health and it can be very misleading.
  • rh4d
    rh4d Posts: 4 Member
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    I feel exactly the same. I have gotten heavier despite doing decent exercise, seeing muscle definition and strength gains, but my BMI is depressing....

    I'm with you there... Even though i am gaining muscle, i am overweight according to the BMI scale.

    Will this get better? Because you need to lose weight to go down on the BMI scale. According to that, 150 is on the high end of the 'normal weight' and i am 190. Also, should i start weight training along with kickboxing 3 times a week? will that help me see improvements? Because all i really want right now is to see that all of my effort is somewhat paying off, then i will get motivated again.

    I'm not great with my eating habits, but i am much better than i was before. The only vegetable i can stand is corn, and that isn't great for you. Will cutting my portions of everything i eat in half help? Because i have heard from some people that even if you are eating much less, unless you are making better food choices it wont help anything. Is this true? I'm just ready to stop being fat and to get my health together.
  • mayfrayy
    mayfrayy Posts: 198 Member
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    you probably eat to much. 4 months working out in a deficit you would still have lost more weight.
  • bobbyguns
    bobbyguns Posts: 33
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    So, you're not currently weight training? Then disregard my previous post. And after seeing your last post, you're lack of weight loss is most likely due to eating too much. If you're not tracking on MFP, start doing so. How can you gauge progress if you don't know how much you're eating? Also, MANY people underestimate their caloric intake and overestimate their energy expenditure. You may think you're burning 400 calories doing an hour of kick boxing or cardio, but you must take into account what you'd be doing if you weren't doing that activity. In other words if you were working, or shopping, or even sitting watching TV for an hour, you'd still be burning calories. So you have to subract those calories from your exercise. Start logging and tracking ALL of your food intake, and figure out your BMR, TDEE, etc. Then you will have a much clearer picture of where you stand. This cannot be done hit or miss if you want to succeed. Best of luck....
  • rh4d
    rh4d Posts: 4 Member
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    Thank you for the advice and support guys. I am almost certain what i eat and how much i eat is what is limiting my weight loss. I took 2 'before' pictures and i will take more every 2 weeks and I will make some big changes to my diet; halving all of my portions and trying new vegetables to hopefully find one i can tolerate. I am also thinking about starting weight training, only problem is that i have no idea how and i would like to do it with a friend, but their schedules are all full.
    Anyways, wish me luck on changing my life for the better.
  • Supertact
    Supertact Posts: 466 Member
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    Simple, You are eating too much.
  • angelrn99
    angelrn99 Posts: 1 Member
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    I know this is a dumb question but- I am new to MFP. Am I supposed to be eating back my exercise calories? I wasn't sure.
  • Mykaelous
    Mykaelous Posts: 231 Member
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    I know this is a dumb question but- I am new to MFP. Am I supposed to be eating back my exercise calories? I wasn't sure.

    That choice would depend on a lot of factors such as how much are you really working out, how are your energy levels, how many calories are you already eating, and what your goals are. My general recommendation, since calories burned estimates are highly optimistic, is to not eat back your calories. For a newbie I would recommend setting your weight loss goal to be 1 lb a week and then to burn 500 additional calories a day by exercising.

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