Weight not dropping

nessjen
nessjen Posts: 11 Member
edited September 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Question for enyone. I have been doing a low calorie diet and doing an hour of Zumba a day, or walking for 30 minutes and doing 30 minutes. I do this faithfully everday and my total calories equal 1300. I've gained 2 lbs instead of losing which really pisses me off. When does the weight start coming off with a low calorie diet like that?
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Replies

  • EDBENAGLIO
    EDBENAGLIO Posts: 424
    WHAT IS YOUR HEART RATE DURRING WORK OUT. MIGHT HAVE TO UP YOUR GAME DO YOU HAVE A HRM
  • Naomi91
    Naomi91 Posts: 892 Member
    are you weighing and measuring your food?
    How does your sodium and water intake look?
  • How long have you been doing it? It takes me about 2-3 weeks once I start really watching my calories and exercising before it drops off, and then it goes like mad...3-5 pounds per week! Hang in there--it will happen! :)
  • cklbrown
    cklbrown Posts: 4,696 Member
    Keep track of your measurements. You may be gaining muscle mass, but you still will be losing inches. Sometimes the scale is not your friend. :smile:
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    let me guess you are not eating back your exercise cals are you? If not then that is your problem you should not be below 1200 net a day for a woman, and 1500 net a day for men unless you are exceptionally short.
  • Naomi91
    Naomi91 Posts: 892 Member
    are you weighing and measuring your food?
    How does your sodium and water intake look?
  • I lost weight during my first three months, but as your fitness improves I really think you need a good Heart Rate Monitor. I have reached the plateau stage and I know I might not be calculating my workout calories correclty. It seem to me, you are already getting a good workout so a HRM might help you know where you truly stand. Sounds like you might be burning more calories than you think. Good luck!
  • Naomi91
    Naomi91 Posts: 892 Member
    Keep track of your measurements. You may be gaining muscle mass, but you still will be losing inches. Sometimes the scale is not your friend. :smile:

    It takes a lot to build muscle and normally requires you to eat more than you are taking in. Zumba and walking isnt going to put on muscle mass.
  • jreneanderson
    jreneanderson Posts: 6 Member
    As much as it sucks to hear, I think you are gaining muscle. You seem to be exercising enough and cutting calories so I would imagine you are toning and building muscle. Do you measure your inches? You might find your inches going down even though you've gained two pounds. I was in the same situation, did my measurements, and found I lost 9 inches! I was really amazed. Good luck. I'm sure you're doing a great job!! :o)
  • Hi My name is Deborah by the way. I recently had a Personal Trainer and they said when that happens it can be that our body if building more muscle. Which weighs more but the good thing about that is when we gain more muscle we burn more Fat! Or if your not eating enough calories frequently throughout the day your body will think your starving and store everything you eat. my trainer said the more often we eat our metabolism begins to speed up!
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    change things up, do different workouts, add strength training, eat more some days and less others, check your sodium and water intake.

    so many factors can determine weight loss or gain.
  • jkees4854
    jkees4854 Posts: 10
    If you have access to a "Tanita" scale (some Dr's offices will have one,) I suggest stepping on it. You'll get a readout of exactly where all of your weight is. You'll see what's fat, what's water, what's muscle. It can also calculate your BMI and different percentages too.

    I agree with other posts too, sometimes it just takes a while for the weight to start coming off, then it will drop like crazy. It's those 1st few weeks with no results that make starting a new routine so difficult. It's why we generally don't stick to it, but I know you will!
  • pinkgigi
    pinkgigi Posts: 693 Member
    It took me a couple of weeks of being absolutely honest before I saw a weight drop.

    GG
  • julsofdenial
    julsofdenial Posts: 225 Member
    How long have you been doing it? It takes me about 2-3 weeks once I start really watching my calories and exercising before it drops off, and then it goes like mad...3-5 pounds per week! Hang in there--it will happen! :)
    I hope this is true for me! I always expect the first weeks to be the most drastic!
  • hamsmash
    hamsmash Posts: 41 Member
    Depends how long have you been at it, you could be carrying some extra water weight if you just started working out just keep at it and hopefully you will start seeing some progress.
  • sgeorgia
    sgeorgia Posts: 66 Member
    without a little more detail i can only guess but i would image that two things might be going on.
    1. you're not eating enough - eat back your calories...it's key!
    2. if you are eating enough you may just be gaining muscle. My training had me by a really tight pair of jeans and while i didn't lose pounds i was definitely getting smaller - i finally reached a point where i wasn't building muscle and started to lose pounds again...but all the time i was/am getting smaller.

    (side note: you won't gain a ton of muscle with just cardio so i would be you're not eating enough)

    good luck.
  • missdei
    missdei Posts: 1
    Muscle weighs more than fat, instead of a scale, try measuring your loss in inches.
    The scale is what caused me to give up a few months ago. Changed my strategy from "Am I losing weight" to: "Do I fit into this outfit? : ) For instance if you were say, I size 16, make your goal to fit into a size 14, and so on. I'm just starting over, so I can't tell you if this will actually work, but it's sure worth a shot! Sounds logical to me, anyway. lol! Good luck! : )
  • janesmith1
    janesmith1 Posts: 1,511 Member
    Question for enyone. I have been doing a low calorie diet and doing an hour of Zumba a day, or walking for 30 minutes and doing 30 minutes. I do this faithfully everday and my total calories equal 1300. I've gained 2 lbs instead of losing which really pisses me off. When does the weight start coming off with a low calorie diet like that?

    1. How long have you been doing this?

    2. Can you open your diary here scroll down to PUBLIC and click that.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    3. I am not sure that 1300 calories a day is enough for you when you're doing an hour of Zumba, or walking for 30 mins. If you feel "hungry" you need to up your cal count to 1500 or 1550 or 1600. Check my diary for my counts, it may help you.
  • vjenelle
    vjenelle Posts: 23
    Similar thing happened to me a few years ago. I was exercising and doing my best to watch my portion sizes despite the fact that I was constantly hungry. Then I found out I was pregnant:noway:
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    Muscle weighs more than fat
    No it does not a pounds of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, it takes up a lot less room though which is why you can still weight the same and be much smaller than when you started.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,329 Member
    Since you have not given us that much information it is hard to say what is up. As asked, how long have you been doing this? I notice this is your first post and you have only been a member since April 2011. If you just started and were very sedentary before, but now exercise fairly intensely your muscles can retain water to hold more glycogen (the fuel that muscles use when you use them) that will often result in a weight gain for a while after you start a new or very different workout routine. You could be eating too little, although if you just started it is likely that whether you are eating too little or not that would not be affecting your weight loss. It takes a while before the body starts reducing metabolism due to extreme caloric deficit. If you have been doing this for a while, then it may be that you are eating too little or not working out hard enough, just because you do an exercise, if you don't do it intensely you will not burn a lot of calories. Please open your diary and tell us how long you have been doing this. Also, I find from my completely unscientific examination of the messages here on MFP that often women will take a couple of weeks to start losing weight, although I have seen a few men struggle with that as well.
  • How long have you been doing zumba?? I go to hiphop and zumba classes about twice aday. When I was only doing it once a day I wasn't really losing so now that I have began going twice a day I have lost about 30 pounds since July. And just recently I have began walking a mile or two before or after class. So try to increase the number of classes you go to or maybe try a belly dancing class I know it sounds funny but, it really works your abs and you use muscles you don't normally use. Just a thought!!!! I would also recommend HipHop classes. They are the best and you really leave there all HOT AND SWEATY!!!!:smile:
  • nessjen
    nessjen Posts: 11 Member
    To answer all questions.

    I'm a new member on here but have been on a low calorie diet since Oct 17th. I lost 20 lbs and have stopped since. And no I didn't stick to excerising everyday so I thought maybe that was my problem of not losing more. I have been faithful to sticking to my calorie count and my work out since March 15th.

    I'm also a type 2 diebetic, and yes I'm eating around 2100 calories a day and burning anywhere from 600-900 calories from exercise. So it puts me at 1500 -1200 a day.

    I hardly use salt. Less than a tsp a day and have 1 diet pop a day.

    I have measured myself and have lost 6.3 inches in 2 weeks. However what I want is to lose weight to be off my diebetes medication. My goal is to be healthy. I understand I will always be a diebtic and always have to watch myself but to lose the weight to be around longer would be nice.
  • nessjen
    nessjen Posts: 11 Member
    My heart rate has been around 200 & 220 and I've been sweating my butt off with the Zumba.

    I also switch every couple of days what I do. Today I walked the dog 40 minutes and then did an hour of Zumba. (cause it's fun) and then tomorrow I will walk, box and step on the WII and then 30 minutes of Zumba. I use to only do Zumba but I heard walking is very healthy and helps in losing weight with everyone.
  • summalovaable
    summalovaable Posts: 287 Member
    Sometimes if you're eating too little and burning too much your body actually goes into a starvation mode. If I were you calculate the numbers needed to burn about 2 lbs a week( with exercise) and remember to eat at regular intervals. Also what time of day do you eat most? After a certain time alll things convert straight to fat. I know this is all basic weight loss facts ..but it reallly is that easy
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,329 Member
    To answer all questions.

    I'm a new member on here but have been on a low calorie diet since Oct 17th. I lost 20 lbs and have stopped since. And no I didn't stick to excerising everyday so I thought maybe that was my problem of not losing more. I have been faithful to sticking to my calorie count and my work out since March 15th.

    I'm also a type 2 diebetic, and yes I'm eating around 2100 calories a day and burning anywhere from 600-900 calories from exercise. So it puts me at 1500 -1200 a day.

    I hardly use salt. Less than a tsp a day and have 1 diet pop a day.

    I have measured myself and have lost 6.3 inches in 2 weeks. However what I want is to lose weight to be off my diebetes medication. My goal is to be healthy. I understand I will always be a diebtic and always have to watch myself but to lose the weight to be around longer would be nice.

    Based on all that, I would just keep doing what you are doing. You will start to lose weight if you are losing inches, and the losing of inches will help with your Type-II diabetes as well. It is the extra fat that is part of your problem with insulin resistance. Keep it up and trust that they day will come when you start losing actual weigh numbers again.
  • nessjen
    nessjen Posts: 11 Member
    I work for a Brokerage at the US/Canadian border so I always bring munchies. I eat most at work. So I bring Cottage cheese and fruit, a salad, a yogurt or baked chips for munchies. I try to eat a yogurt a day since I don't drink milk.
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    I would ditch the chips and in its place a can of tuna and some whole grain bread. Chips baked or not are a food that turns to fat.
  • janesmith1
    janesmith1 Posts: 1,511 Member
    To answer all questions.

    I'm a new member on here but have been on a low calorie diet since Oct 17th. I lost 20 lbs and have stopped since. And no I didn't stick to excerising everyday so I thought maybe that was my problem of not losing more. I have been faithful to sticking to my calorie count and my work out since March 15th.

    I'm also a type 2 diebetic, and yes I'm eating around 2100 calories a day and burning anywhere from 600-900 calories from exercise. So it puts me at 1500 -1200 a day.

    I hardly use salt. Less than a tsp a day and have 1 diet pop a day.

    I have measured myself and have lost 6.3 inches in 2 weeks. However what I want is to lose weight to be off my diebetes medication. My goal is to be healthy. I understand I will always be a diebtic and always have to watch myself but to lose the weight to be around longer would be nice.

    1. I'm not a diabetic, so take my advice with....a grain of salt and/or consult your nutritionist/doctor/physician/primary/etc.

    2. You're eating 2100 calories a day. Personally, I would say that is way too high. When I started at MFP they put me way up there in cals too, even though I exercise 4x per week with a pretty hard cardio wo, the number was still too high. I changed my weight loss to 1.5 lbs per week and that gave me 1350 per day to deal with and then my wo which is usually about 300 per time.

    3. Based on that, and you can check my food diary, I do not eat more than 1550 per day usually. Most of the time I'm under 1400 cals per day. A "normal" person is supposed to eat 2000 daily...you're eating 2100. The 2000 cals a day thing maintains your weight.

    4. Again, I am not a dr, but I think you are probably eating way too many cals. I would change up to 1.5 lbs per week instead of 1 lb per week to lower your daily counts. But again, due to your medical issues you probably need to talk to a nutritionist, etc, and get their professional opinion.

    5. Your snacks are wonderful...and really healthy and great.
  • T_William
    T_William Posts: 147 Member
    Muscle weighs more than fat
    No it does not a pounds of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, it takes up a lot less room though which is why you can still weight the same and be much smaller than when you started.

    Haha this made me laugh, thats like saying a ton of feathers is the same as a ton of bricks so fathers and bricks are the same weight, yes if your measure the same WEIGHT they will be the same WEIGHT!

    You've proven fat does weigh more as a smaller size weights more then the same size of fat!
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