Not Losing...

KTNemo
KTNemo Posts: 100
edited September 24 in Fitness and Exercise
So I am only on day 15, but have been pretty great about eating the majority of my calories, not going over, not coming in under by more than 200 calories, etc., and I am not losing.

I exercise pretty vigorously, 4 days a week of spinning and one or two days a week of moderate strength training. I am wondering if I am not logging enough exercise calories. The database has Spin pretty low for calories burned. It is only 568 for an hour of Spin class. Every other calculator that I have used has it between 650 an 1000. I wear a HRM, and I am staying between 10 and 20 beats/minute over my high target HR, so I know that I am probably burning at least 650 in that hour.

So am I not eating enough then? It's super frustrating to not see the scale even budge and ounce, and in fact I went up a half pound from last week's weigh-in. I am doing measurements too, but I am only doing them once a month. Help please!

Replies

  • deannarey13
    deannarey13 Posts: 452
    Does your HRM tell you how many calories you are burning?

    You may actually be eating too FEW calories. This will stop weight loss as well.
  • atldietgirl
    atldietgirl Posts: 1
    I am definitely not a fitness or nutrition expert, and can only give you feedback based on my experience so far. I had the same problem a few weeks ago, I was being really diligent about staying in my target calorie range and was exercising 5 times a week (walking / jogging for about 1 hour - burning 575 calories). My heart rate monitor showed that I burned almost twice the amount of calories as the exercise tool on here said. I think this is mainly because I input my weight into it - the heavier you are, the more calories you burn doing the same level of exercise, and the exercise tool on this site seems to account for exercise calories based on normal weights.

    For a couple of weeks, I lost no weight, and actually gained a pound, even with that much exercise. The last week and a half, I haven't been able to jog because I hurt my knee, but have maintained my diet at the same calorie consumption level. I've lost more weight in that time than the two previous weeks when I was exercising 5 times per week! I don't know if there is any truth to this - but my guess would be that both of us were not eating enough when burning so many calories exercising, so creating a large enough calorie deficit that our bodies would "cling" to fat in more of a starvation mode vs. losing at a normal rate. I wasn't logging my exercise calories on here, because I didn't want to "eat" them, so I basically was ending each day with a 600 calorie deficit, which I thought would help me lose weight faster. Turns out that was wrong!

    Anyway - I don't know if this is helpful at all. I know how different everyone's bodies are but I though it may help you to share that feedback. Best of luck to you!
  • KTNemo
    KTNemo Posts: 100
    Does your HRM tell you how many calories you are burning?

    You may actually be eating too FEW calories. This will stop weight loss as well.

    My HRM does not show calories burned, which is kind of a bummer. But I have checked about 5 different online exercise calorie calculators and based on my weight, I am not logging enough exercise calories. I am probably putting my body in starvation mode because of it.
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  • mini_girl7
    mini_girl7 Posts: 32 Member
    I am definitely not a fitness or nutrition expert, and can only give you feedback based on my experience so far. I had the same problem a few weeks ago, I was being really diligent about staying in my target calorie range and was exercising 5 times a week (walking / jogging for about 1 hour - burning 575 calories). My heart rate monitor showed that I burned almost twice the amount of calories as the exercise tool on here said. I think this is mainly because I input my weight into it - the heavier you are, the more calories you burn doing the same level of exercise, and the exercise tool on this site seems to account for exercise calories based on normal weights.

    For a couple of weeks, I lost no weight, and actually gained a pound, even with that much exercise. The last week and a half, I haven't been able to jog because I hurt my knee, but have maintained my diet at the same calorie consumption level. I've lost more weight in that time than the two previous weeks when I was exercising 5 times per week! I don't know if there is any truth to this - but my guess would be that both of us were not eating enough when burning so many calories exercising, so creating a large enough calorie deficit that our bodies would "cling" to fat in more of a starvation mode vs. losing at a normal rate. I wasn't logging my exercise calories on here, because I didn't want to "eat" them, so I basically was ending each day with a 600 calorie deficit, which I thought would help me lose weight faster. Turns out that was wrong!

    Anyway - I don't know if this is helpful at all. I know how different everyone's bodies are but I though it may help you to share that feedback. Best of luck to you!

    I agree with this assessment -- as for me and calories burned, I don't have a HRM -- I put my weight/age/etc in the treadmill or elliptical each time I use it and it gives me calories burned. Interestingly enough, when I go to MFP and enter my exercise, MFP usually reports my exercise calories burned higher than what the machine at the gym says. I always go with the lower number.

    Just another thought bec I'm in the same boat as you -- I have always been an exerciser -- just love to do it. But, like you, my body does not really reflect that. Remember that a lot of people on MFP have never exercised when they begin this program, so when they start the exercise and the food changes there is a big difference in their lives! Their body is suddenly moving more and eating a healthy diet. The loss is more dramatic and expected.

    So, try feeding your body more and keep up with the weights, as well. I read that listening to your hunger cues is very important -- if you're hungry it's telling you your metabolism is up and working, so feed your body to keep it going -- obviously with smart food choices. Yesterday, I ate around 2500 calories and I am very hungry today, as well!

    Spinning is a tough nut to crack -- it is so intense, it would be nice if there were some way to put your info into the bike, like on other fitness machines. Just relax, you'll figure this out :wink:

    BTW I grew up in WA state -- i didn't realize there was a Greenwood, WA -- I currently live in Greenwood, IN, but all my family still lives around Everett/Mukilteo -- we're making the BIG drive out this summer for a family reunion!!!
  • KTNemo
    KTNemo Posts: 100
    BTW I grew up in WA state -- i didn't realize there was a Greenwood, WA -- I currently live in Greenwood, IN, but all my family still lives around Everett/Mukilteo -- we're making the BIG drive out this summer for a family reunion!!!

    It's Seattle. It's just a neighborhood in Seattle.

    Thanks for the advice and encuragement. I am also wondering if I am not starting out with enough calories to begin with. When I started MFP, I wasn't working out as much as I am now (no where near) and I think I put in that I am moderately active, if not sedintary. I am going to go check out my settings. MFP started me out at the lowest possible daily intake you can eat without starving yourself. I might need to recalculate that!
  • dawnna76
    dawnna76 Posts: 987 Member
    hey woman!

    I think you may not be eating enough. If your are working that hard but staying at the calories they set for you, you may be creating a defficit and by eating some healthy snacks in there and weating back at least half (if not all) of your exercise calories back you may see the scale start to move.

    give it a try for a few weeks and see what happens.
  • KTNemo
    KTNemo Posts: 100
    hey woman!

    I think you may not be eating enough. If your are working that hard but staying at the calories they set for you, you may be creating a defficit and by eating some healthy snacks in there and weating back at least half (if not all) of your exercise calories back you may see the scale start to move.

    give it a try for a few weeks and see what happens.

    Thanks, Dawn. I just went back into my settings and saw that my initial setup was for 3 days/week of exercise and a sedintary lifestyle. As you know, that does not fit my life. I work out at least 5 days/ week. I sit a lot, but I also play, run around, and move a lot. I changed my base calories from 1200-1620. I think this will help a lot!
  • luv2paddle
    luv2paddle Posts: 3
    #1. Stay committed. Or re-commit as the case may require. #2 Before, you conclude that you have cut your metabolism down, as some have suggested, with under eating, challenge your body. I’ve seen lots of other comments on your frustration. There are always lots of unknowns. While some may speculate that your metabolism has been shutting down due to lack of caloric intake, which is possible, your body type is unknown to all of us.
    If you’re 5’8” and 140lbs, skinny as a stick figure you may not have the weight to lose. On the other end, maybe you don’t quite fit that profile, you may have the weight to lose but your body may have adapted to your workouts. If you have a routine workout that you do somewhat regularly your body has adapted. You may need to change your workout. Get away from the bike machine and the treadmill for the local High school stadium with stairs. Even getting on a real bike is different enough that it will challenge your body in different ways. The main idea is to challenge your body. For people that are comfortable in a gym finding the motivation can be hard. Its mentally hard to do something out of your comfort zone and do something new and challenging. I can’t tell you how or where to get the motivation to incorporate diversity but I think diversity is a strong candidate for what you need.

    Best of luck.
  • KTNemo
    KTNemo Posts: 100
    #1. Stay committed. Or re-commit as the case may require. #2 Before, you conclude that you have cut your metabolism down, as some have suggested, with under eating, challenge your body. I’ve seen lots of other comments on your frustration. There are always lots of unknowns. While some may speculate that your metabolism has been shutting down due to lack of caloric intake, which is possible, your body type is unknown to all of us.
    If you’re 5’8” and 140lbs, skinny as a stick figure you may not have the weight to lose. On the other end, maybe you don’t quite fit that profile, you may have the weight to lose but your body may have adapted to your workouts. If you have a routine workout that you do somewhat regularly your body has adapted. You may need to change your workout. Get away from the bike machine and the treadmill for the local High school stadium with stairs. Even getting on a real bike is different enough that it will challenge your body in different ways. The main idea is to challenge your body. For people that are comfortable in a gym finding the motivation can be hard. Its mentally hard to do something out of your comfort zone and do something new and challenging. I can’t tell you how or where to get the motivation to incorporate diversity but I think diversity is a strong candidate for what you need.

    Best of luck.

    Thanks luv2paddle. In my case, it is probably totally a calorie thing. I workout 5 times a week, at least. I do 4 spin classes (3 of them with a different instructor each time, and one on my own using a workout I downloaded onto my iPod), strength training, and I am going to start doing Zumba on Friday. I also run twice/week outside (but haven't in two weeks because my son has been ill). There is a lot of diversity in my workouts, even in the spin classes because the instructors use a different workout each day, targeting different muscles and working on different skills: speed, endurance, etc.

    I went into my settings and discovered that I had myself on sedentary (which any stay-at-home mom will tell you isn't accurate), and only working out three times per week for 60 minutes. I changed those settings to moderately active and 5 days/week for 60 minutes, which gave me another 500 calories a day. So in actuality, I was at a deficit of 1,000 calories without working out. My spin workouts burn a ton of calories, as do all my other activities. It is no wonder I am stalling. I am also starving all the time. Now I know why.

    Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. I really appreciate it!
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