Lifting Weights and Boxing, not losing weight...

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aliciamarieUF
aliciamarieUF Posts: 226 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I switched up my exercise routine and have been weight lifting, doing TRX, and boxing. I work out between 5 and 6 days a week. However, the weight on the scale has stayed the same. I have cut down on the amount that I eat and don't overdo it.

I can't figure out why I'm having such a hard time losing weight after bringing up my exercise and after bringing down my calorie intake. What could I be doing wrong?
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Replies

  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    Well for starters if you increase your exercise you should increase your food not the opposite. You need to fuel that exercise and minimise muscle loss. Also if you've increased your exercise initially you will retain more water which is why the scale often doesn't move or you gain temporarily. So patience and eat enough
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    How long have you been doing this for? Lifting weights can make you retain water as your muscles need to repair.

    Give it a few more weeks and you should see weight loss.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    You retain water when you start exercising, so it's normal.

    Also make sure you're tracking your food properly, logging everything, weighing your food etc.
  • lisalsd1
    lisalsd1 Posts: 1,520 Member
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    Eating enough protein should help too. I typically get about 150 gram on lifting days. Losing weight and lifting at the same time is a slower process then strictly doing cardio to lose weight; BUT, there are benefits aside from just weight loss that should keep you lifting.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Water retention is normal when you start weights. Look at how your clothes fit, not the scale.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    How long have you been doing this for? Lifting weights can make you retain water as your muscles need to repair.

    Give it a few more weeks and you should see weight loss.

    I was going to say the same thing

    any new workout, weight training especially, can cause water retention in the muscle that can mask weight loss on the scales. You need to also observe whether you're losing inches, clothes getting looser, etc.. that kind of thing. Loss of inches is a sign of fat loss regardless of what the scale says, and if you have a significant amount of fat to lose the weight loss will catch up after a while.
  • aliciamarieUF
    aliciamarieUF Posts: 226 Member
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    Thanks to everyone who replied. I started 3 weeks ago and have only seen a weight loss of about 2 pounds. It has been stagnant for the past 2 weeks. My bras do seem to fit a tiny bit looser but it's not a huge difference.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    that sounds like really good progress to me... you lose fat slowly. Seems like you're expecting it all to change quickly.... the human body does not lose fat quickly.... fast weight loss is mostly not fat loss, it's water weight loss and maybe muscle and bone density loss too.... you want to lose 100% fat... that will happen slowly. Unfortunately all the fad diets out there give people unrealistic expectations.

    you've probably lost a bit more than 2lb of fat, because of the water weight gain in your muscles offsetting it. Your bra being looser is a good sign. Just be patient.

    If you're still not losing any weight at all after another couple of weeks, maybe recalculate your calorie goal. Also, make sure your logging is accurate - inaccurate logging can slow things down somewhat
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    It does take a while, but I find after a good 3/4 months of doing it, I suddenly notice a big change.

    I lost 66lbs after my 2nd child, and I was doing 2 PT sessions a week with a lot of weights work, plus working out on my own. I lost 2lbs in the first month and I was so upset, but I lost a lot of inches. I was only a few weeks post partum so that may have made a difference. At some point the weight really started to come off....actually, it was when I increased my calories to 1500.

    I'm now 4 months post partum with baby no.3 and I've been working out with weights since 6 weeks pp, but my weight loss is still quite slow. I'm hoping after a few weeks it'll suddenly kick in again.

    As others have said, protein is good. Also I've found weighing my food helps. I <3 my food scale lol.
  • PokernuttAR
    PokernuttAR Posts: 74 Member
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    Weight lifting and TRX will only help you lose weight if you have short rests (60 seconds or less) between sets, keeping your heart rate elevated. I'm doing boxing and really burning the fat off. Are you in a boxing class or doing it on your own?

    Be sure to calculate the amount of calories you need and end each day in a 300-500 calorie deficit. That is the only way you lose weight.
  • bunniestookover
    bunniestookover Posts: 5 Member
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    I started lifting weights instead of doing straight cardio, and I can't tell you how long its been, its been a couple weeks now maybe 2-3 weeks, and the number on the scale doesn't change much, but I am taking progress pictures weekly, like full body pictures so I can track any differences, and I've noticed my body is leaning out and I'm seeing definition in certain spots that I didn't see before.

    Don't get discouraged, because you're definitely not doing your body wrong!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    Well for starters if you increase your exercise you should increase your food not the opposite. You need to fuel that exercise and minimise muscle loss. Also if you've increased your exercise initially you will retain more water which is why the scale often doesn't move or you gain temporarily. So patience and eat enough

    All of this. It seems that most people take the "Move more, eat less" thing to mean do both to extremes. You need a deficit that reflects your activity level, so that if you are exercising more your deficit is still about the same percentage-wise, but you are overall eating more because your body needs more calories to sustain itself.

    A good starting point would be for you to log all your exercise and eat half the cals back or more, and stick to the same caloric value you were eating. So if your reasonable 1lb/week goal was to eat 1900 calories WITHOUT exercise, then that's what you eat on rest days, and then on exercise days you eat say.. 2100 because that's about half of waht your exercise cals allows you.
  • aesch11
    aesch11 Posts: 1
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    Well for starters if you increase your exercise you should increase your food not the opposite.

    Oh my God, no. You are eating too much. Your body can't create energy out of air. Part of losing weight is overcoming this kind of thinking.
  • aliciamarieUF
    aliciamarieUF Posts: 226 Member
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    This is really frustrating. I'm thinking maybe too much salt intake? It seems almost impossible that I am going on 4 weeks of working out almost everyday and significantly decreasing how much and what I'm consuming and still haven't lost much weight.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    This is really frustrating. I'm thinking maybe too much salt intake? It seems almost impossible that I am going on 4 weeks of working out almost everyday and significantly decreasing how much and what I'm consuming and still haven't lost much weight.

    First, you need to change your expectations of fast weight loss as already noted above. Second, open your food diary. Third, do you use a food scale?
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    From your ticker it looks like you have ~15 pounds left to lose. .5-1 pound per week is reasonable. Though you really need to give it more time.
  • aliciamarieUF
    aliciamarieUF Posts: 226 Member
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    It shows you lost 20 lbs. Since when did you lose that? Time frame? It took me about 5 months.
    What was your starting weight? I was fluctuating between 167 and 170.
    What was your starting weight when you switched up your workouts? 149
    What is your current weight today? I am fluctuating between 147 and 149.
    Have you dropped sizes in your clothes? If so, what are those numbers? Unfortunately not.
    How many calories are you actually eating and do you actually weigh and log all your food? I have not been logging or weighing my food, but I definitely don't go over. I eat mostly veggies and chicken, some milk and a cereal bar in the morning, sometimes I'll have pasta for dinner (I live in Italy, so at least once a week). Food here is very carb heavy but I try to take in as many veggies as I can instead of pasta or bread.

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