Not losing weight-- what am I doing wrong?
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If your net calories are minus or only up to 500, you need to eat more. Then you won't feel rubbish. Don't overexercise either, it won't help.
^^^^^^^ Agree - you need to eat enough to keep up your energy. My net calories are never below 1000 (unless I'm sick or something) - I've lost over 81 lbs in a year. Make this a lifestyle that you can continue. I've done the diets that I could never stick to for the rest of my life because I end up weak, disgusted, and frustrated causing me to gain it all back.0 -
I'm just now seeing this (and by no means am I an expert) but you're tracking everything... burning 1,200-1,800 calories a day and your food intake is between 1,200-1,800 calories a day if I'm understanding correctly? From what I understand, that's not very healthy because you're burning everything that you've eaten. I know your body goes into starvation mode and starts holding onto fat when you're not getting enough calories and from what I'm reading, it looks like you definitely need to up your calories by a lot if you're burning that many per day.. that also might be the reason why you're feeling light-headed.0
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If you are really on such a low calorie diet (not overestimating burn/underestimating intake), and you do lots of exercise, this article may be of interest to you:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html0 -
One thing that stuck out to me in this thread is how you said you feel hungry and light headed all of the time. That makes me think you're not getting proper nutrition. It has nothing to do with fat burning, but eating foods higher in protein and fat will keep you fuller, which in turn allows you to eat less food. That could be crucial to decreasing your calories enough for a reasonable defecit. Otherwise, your diary is locked so we can't evaluate how accurate your logging is, but if you want the help you came here for, I'd start there. (The exercise burn overestimation has been beaten into the ground already, and while it's probably true I won't bother elaborating as others already have.)0
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You should have kept reading. Because starvation mode, NO.I'm just now seeing this (and by no means am I an expert) but you're tracking everything... burning 1,200-1,800 calories a day and your food intake is between 1,200-1,800 calories a day if I'm understanding correctly? From what I understand, that's not very healthy because you're burning everything that you've eaten. I know your body goes into starvation mode and starts holding onto fat when you're not getting enough calories and from what I'm reading, it looks like you definitely need to up your calories by a lot if you're burning that many per day.. that also might be the reason why you're feeling light-headed.
Well like I said, I'm not an expert.. just going by what I THINK I understand (and I may not understand it at all) from reading.. but regardless, burning all the calories that you eat isn't good, right?0 -
For the past month and a week, I've been working out 5-6 days per week. I do various exercises each time but I usually start with a 30-40 minute 12% incline, 3.8mph treadmill walk OR a 30-40 minute intense crossfit workout. Then I always do 10-15 minutes of moderately intense to intense row machine work. After this I'll spend another 20-30 minutes doing various weights, abdominal exercises, etc etc (I have a personal trainer and I mostly utilize the various exercises she has shown me). At the end of the day I usually end up burning anywhere between 1200-1800 calories from workouts, depending on how intense the workouts were and how much I walked that day (usually 30min-2 hours of walking daily).
My daily calorie intake is around 1200-1850 calories (1850 would be the bad days, usually 1 a week). I have a food scale and religiously weigh and record everything.
Problem is.... not only have I not lost weight since I started working out again, but I've gained 2 pounds. This isn't the first time I've tried to lose weight. In the fall I lost around 15 pounds in a month and I wasn't being nearly as good with my workouts (3-4 a week).
I figured that maybe I had a thyroid issue so I asked one of my nurse friends. She says that was good thinking, but considering I was just recently losing weight, chances are the thyroid problems wouldn't kick in so quickly and perhaps the complete lack of weight loss is due to hormonal issues due to stress (ironically I'm the MOST stressed out about not losing weight....very helpful).
Has anyone else had any issues such as this before or have any insight or advice that could point me in the right direction?
So you are aiming to net zero calories? (1200-1800 exercise burn with only 1200-1800 calorie intake?). That would make your deficit HUGE and that cannot be healthy.
Couple things. The workout you described is about 75-90 minutes long so there is no way you are burning that many calories. An 1800 calorie burn for someone your size would be running a marathon. You are probably burning closer to 600 calories (not 1200). My guess would be that you are putting your body under a lot of stress coupled by the mental stress of wanting desperately to lose weight but not doing so. Elevated stress plus physical exercise will up your water retention by a lot which can offset any fat loss on the scale.
My recommendation would be to eat more than you are eating if you are going to workout that regularly (1800 every day not just sometimes). Try to not kill yourself here.
If you eat 1800 and burn 600 and you weigh 200 pounds you will shed weight rather quickly. There is no reason at all to try to net zero calories.0 -
Oh and my net calories range from -310 to around 500.
Do you think that is healthy for your body? It isn't.0 -
Oh and my net calories range from -310 to around 500.
This is your problem.
Your net should be at least 1200 calories.0 -
ok. i'm a dumbass. please stop replying so i can bury my head in the sand now.
Relax. You are clearly stressing yourself out way to much over this. Honestly I think you should take your 3-4 hour workouts down to 1 hour, eat a more regular diet (not ranging that many calories), try to relax and give it time. You are treating your body like something to be beaten into submission and that is not going to work for you.
If you are truly only eating 1200-1800 calories and consider 1800 calories to be a "bad day" implying that you normally aim to eat less AND you workout 3-4 hours a day AND you are 200 pounds then yeah you are undereating and causing your body a ton of stress which can result in a lot of additional water retention. You are also going to break yourself down both physically and mentally doing that to yourself.
Are you angry at yourself? Filled with self-loathing? Why would you want to beat yourself up like that. Just go for walks, lift weights like 3 times a week for 50 minutes at a time full body and other than that chill and eat at a reasonable level. You are overdoing this and it won't be sustainable.
I weigh less than you, I work out for about 50 minutes a day and I eat about 2200 calories a day and I'm losing 1.2 pounds per week. If I worked out 3-4 hours a week including running, crossfit, rowing etc I would probably have to be eating at least 4000 calories to maintain and I would be losing weight quickly eating 3400 calories per day. If I tried to eat 1800 doing that I'd probably be stressed, broken down and frustrated too.0 -
Instead of actual weight loss in pounds, have you, or are you measuring yourself with a tape measure? It could very well be that you are building muscle.0
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Instead of actual weight loss in pounds, have you, or are you measuring yourself with a tape measure? It could very well be that you are building muscle.
It could be that she is retaining water but she isn't building muscle eating that little.0 -
ok. i'm a dumbass. please stop replying so i can bury my head in the sand now.
Honestly I think you should take your 3-4 hour workouts down to 1 hour.
Agreed. Working out 3-4 hours a day is going to wear you out very quickly. You are overtraining. There's absolutely NO reason to be working out for 3-4 hours a day.0 -
Instead of actual weight loss in pounds, have you, or are you measuring yourself with a tape measure? It could very well be that you are building muscle.
As pointed out a handful of times.......nope, at least not at the level that it would cause weight gain.
If anything, it's water or tracking.0 -
How much of your workout, exercise calories are you eating back? I saw in a previous post that your net calories could be anywhere from -300 to 500 and if that is the case you may not be eating enough if your spending so much time moving and being active. If your not eating enough calories to fuel your workouts your body will start to go into starvation mode and will hold onto everything to protect itself. I personally find that if my net calories fall below consistently fall below 1200, I stop losing weight. I'm also finding that if I work out too hard too many days in a row, I also stop losing no matter how much I eat or don't eat.I'm not just walking 2-3 hours. I'm doing that in addition to being at the gym for an hour or 2. In an average day I'm up and moving around 4 hours.
But like everyone seems to be saying, I guess I'm eating too much. I already feel like I'm starving and light-headed all day so Idk how eating even less is supposed to make me healthy... but apparently I need to.
Please don't tell me I'm making "excuses". I'm trying VERY VERY VERY hard. It's all I think about and all I've been focusing energy on. I'm not making excuses. I'm very frustrated, hurt, and confused. No sass is necessary. I'll just see my doctor.
As my youngest son recently commented, this whole dieting and eating healthy this is really hard. Especially knowing what you should be eating and how much you should be working out. It's a delicate balance, and there is no formula that works for every single person out there. Hang in there! Even if the scale isn't moving in the direction you want, you're out there exercising and making better food choices and doing good things for yourself. If your health plan allows and your still frustrated, maybe meeting with a nutritionist could help as well, they could look at what you're logging and your work outs and provide insight.0 -
MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGH MORE THAN FAT. If I see that one more time I'm going to lose my mind!
1lb of muscle = 1lb of fat ... because ONE POUND EQUALS ONE POUND
That being said, one pound of muscle may be leaner than one pound of fat. So, rather than seeing a change on your scale you may see a change in your body shape (although you mentioned an inch off of your waist and a half an inch off of your hips - if I am quoting you correctly, apologies if those numbers are off) so that doesn't seem to be what's going on.
I hope you find a schedule for working out and a mindset that make you happy and less stressed! best of luck with the rest of your journey!0 -
MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGH MORE THAN FAT. If I see that one more time I'm going to lose my mind!
1lb of muscle = 1lb of fat ... because ONE POUND EQUALS ONE POUND
That being said, one pound of muscle may be leaner than one pound of fat. So, rather than seeing a change on your scale you may see a change in your body shape (although you mentioned an inch off of your waist and a half an inch off of your hips - if I am quoting you correctly, apologies if those numbers are off) so that doesn't seem to be what's going on.
I hope you find a schedule for working out and a mindset that make you happy and less stressed! best of luck with the rest of your journey!
You don't gain muscle at the same rate that you lose water/fat, so noob muscle gain for the OP wouldn't stall the scale.
Increased water retention due to exercise however....0 -
MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGH MORE THAN FAT. If I see that one more time I'm going to lose my mind!
1lb of muscle = 1lb of fat ... because ONE POUND EQUALS ONE POUND
That being said, one pound of muscle may be leaner than one pound of fat. So, rather than seeing a change on your scale you may see a change in your body shape (although you mentioned an inch off of your waist and a half an inch off of your hips - if I am quoting you correctly, apologies if those numbers are off) so that doesn't seem to be what's going on.
I hope you find a schedule for working out and a mindset that make you happy and less stressed! best of luck with the rest of your journey!
You don't gain muscle at the same rate that you lose water/fat, so noob muscle gain for the OP wouldn't stall the scale.
Increased water retention due to exercise however....
True.
My rant was more about the ever quoted "muscle weighs more than fat" line. 0 -
Pretty sure OP left a while ago due to frustration with the answers she recieved. I only hope she decides to stop beating herself up so much and relax. Workout far less, stop treating food like the enemy.0
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Oh and my net calories range from -310 to around 500.
Pretty sure you might be dead soon. Just saying.0
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