Ugh!!! Frustrated!!!

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I have been working out with a trainer for strength training for 8 weeks now at 3X per week. I also work out on my own on the other days for cardio. I get 5-6 days of exercise in a week for at least 60 minutes per session. I have also been very careful with what I eat. Rarely eating out, not fried food. No processed food. I cook everything from scratch. I keep my calories to no more the 1200/day. I eat only whole grains and lots of fresh veggies, fruits and I use lean meats. I have been tested for metabolism and have been diagnosed with a very slow metabolism. I am also quite short 5'1" so that doesn't help either. I don't think that my diabetes helps either. Anyways, after 8 weeks I have NOT lost even 1 measly pound! In fact, I've gained .5. I did lose 3% body fat and 4" the first four weeks but the last for weeks. Nada... nothing....zilch! I really feel that I am working as hard as I can. My workouts are strenuous. I am eating right. I am not sure what else I can do!!!! I am at 29% body fat so I do have plenty to lose. I am just rambling now. I needed to vent. It's just frustrating to work so hard and not have anything to show for it! It makes me question why work so hard since I can maintain my weight without all this work. It's hard to stay motivated when results are not happening!!!

Replies

  • yamit
    yamit Posts: 1
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    LOOKS LIKE IM ON THE SAME BOAT WITH YOU! I TRY TO ATLEAST BURN 700CALS IN MY WORKOUTS 4X A WEEK AND I EAT REALLY HEALTHY BUT I DONT SEEM TO BE SHREADING THE POUNDS. LOOK AT THE BRIGHT SIDE WE'RE DOING SOMETHING THAT IS HEALTHY FOR US NO MATTER WHAT!! BUT I KNOW HOW U FEEL. :( JUST KEEP PUSHING ONN, THE WEIGHT HAS TO COME OFF WITH INCHES :)
  • ausbrah
    ausbrah Posts: 7
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    Aloha, I am feeling a little that way also. However, you sound like you are doing better than me with everything. I have only lost 4lbs and have been doing everything way better than what I have ever done before. I have never been checked to see what my metabolism is doing, how does that get done?? I am not sure of your age but that can have a lot to do with it also.
    Please don't give up, you must be feeling so much better than what you were just losing inches. Keep up the GOOD WORK!!! You can add me if you like and we can chat together..Julie:smile:
  • Kalieh7
    Kalieh7 Posts: 2
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    I really feel your pain! I spent 6 months with a personal trainer, eating 1200 calories per day, working out 6 days a week, every single week and did not lose a single pound. Everyone was dumbfounded. I was incredibly frustrated and considered giving up entirely. Then I decided to try something new. I went on the Atkins diet. Well, a modified Atkins diet since I don't generally eat much meat. I did a lot of research beforehand and learned a lot about a "low-carb" diet and wanted to see if it made sense. It did. So, three weeks later, I had lost 13 lbs. I was skeptic; thought perhaps it was all somehow "water weight", but here I am, several weeks after that and it is still gone. I hesitate to say that an Atkins diet will solve your problem, but I would like to present it as an option. I really hope that you can find your perfect balance of the right foods to eat! Breads, pasta, rice, sugar, and alcohol (hehe) were my favorite things, but I have to say that I like losing weight much better!

    The Atkins website has many useful tools....let me know if I can help at all! and GOOD LUCK!!!
  • Elzecat
    Elzecat Posts: 2,916 Member
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    I've had several trainers at my gym suggest "interval" cardio workouts...supposedly it helps the metabolism? Maybe ask your trainer about it?
  • pkgirrl
    pkgirrl Posts: 587
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    Hey guys!

    Sounds like you're all working your butts off! (Which can be quite discouraging for the amount of results you're not seeing) It also sounds like you're not eating nearly enough. If you're burning that much with exercise, try eating at LEAST half of your exercise calories back to start with. Up it a little at a time until the scale starts moving.

    If you don't eat enough ( at least net 1200cal) you're body will start to cling on to whatever it can. I know it doesn't seem fair, but try to look on the bright side, eating more will definitely improve your workouts, and if you're not seeing any results with what you're doing, it can't hurt to try changing it up a bit.

    I hate eating back an enormous amount of exercise calories, so I average how much I usually burn and spread it out across the week. Typically I burn about 400+ 3x a week with dance, but I take classes at night, so stuffing in an extra meal afterward doesn't work too well for me. So instead of 1200cal +exercise on certain days, I try to eat 1350-1400 every day, which cause my weekly net to be around 1200 per day.

    Just a thought. Great work on being so dedicated ladies! You've encouraged me =)
  • inskydiamonds
    inskydiamonds Posts: 2,519 Member
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    Out of curiosity, are you eating 1200 net calories a day? Or is the 1200 calories your input not including what you burnt at the gym?
  • zacherybinx
    zacherybinx Posts: 215 Member
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    I think the biggest issue most people in general have with working out/losing weight is having the desired results visually. I've lost 15 Lbs myself now, which I really don't notice but I know the first couple of days when I started and how low of times/effort I was able to put into something without running out of steam. Now I feel better in general and can go an hour on the elliptical no problem where when I started 5 minutes was an issue. So I'd try and recommend to everyone to dwell on how you feel/ physically improve while performing certain exercises/workouts rather then how you look since the looks are the hardest to view especially by yourself when everyone has a skewed view of how they perceive themselves.

    Best of luck!
  • zacherybinx
    zacherybinx Posts: 215 Member
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    Hey guys!

    Sounds like you're all working your butts off! (Which can be quite discouraging for the amount of results you're not seeing) It also sounds like you're not eating nearly enough. If you're burning that much with exercise, try eating at LEAST half of your exercise calories back to start with. Up it a little at a time until the scale starts moving.

    If you don't eat enough ( at least net 1200cal) you're body will start to cling on to whatever it can. I know it doesn't seem fair, but try to look on the bright side, eating more will definitely improve your workouts, and if you're not seeing any results with what you're doing, it can't hurt to try changing it up a bit.

    I hate eating back an enormous amount of exercise calories, so I average how much I usually burn and spread it out across the week. Typically I burn about 400+ 3x a week with dance, but I take classes at night, so stuffing in an extra meal afterward doesn't work too well for me. So instead of 1200cal +exercise on certain days, I try to eat 1350-1400 every day, which cause my weekly net to be around 1200 per day.

    Just a thought. Great work on being so dedicated ladies! You've encouraged me =)

    Very interesting advice as far as using up calories in advance/knowing a weekly intake...I'll definitely have to look into trying this more as I've also noticed the closer I get to consuming my workout calories the more I actually seem to consistently lose.
  • vpcamas
    vpcamas Posts: 5
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    Thanks for the encouragement! It's nice to know that I am not along in this journey!
  • vpcamas
    vpcamas Posts: 5
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    Thanks everybody!!! With regards to eating more calories, I spoke with my trainer and he doesn't want me to eat more calories to make up for the exercise because he wants me to create a bigger (intake vs. output) deficit. Since it takes just 1100 calories to maintain my weight, if I were to eat back the exercise calories, I would not have a deficit. One positive thing is that I feel that I am healthier than many people even with my extra weight. I have more energy, I have more strength, I do not get all the colds and flu that goes around and I even work in a school so there's a lot of germs hanging around. I just have to keep on trucking and hope that one day the weight will come off. It's hard for me to envision my self not being overweight as I have always been heavy my entire life (ok, after the age of 4). It baffles my parents as they said they fed us all the same and I am the only heavy person in my entire family - extended family included. Go figure.