Not losing weight even after good diet and a lot of exercise
onlyruchi20
Posts: 6
Hi all,
I am a woman in my early 30s.
I started off 2 years ago on my weight loss journey at 220 lb.
I joined a gym and work with a personal trainer. I started to do intermediate level weight training along with a lot of cardio every day 5 days a week.
The first year I lost 26 lb.
However in the last one year I have only lost 8 lb, and now I am at a plateau.
I exercise : alternate days intermediate level weight training , and 5 days a week cardio burning about 600-900 calories on average.
I eat about 2000-2200 gross calories.
Please help me.. what can be the cause of my plateau and how can I break it ?
btw, I also did one week of keto , eating about 1600 net calories, but I actually ended up gaining 1 lb !
I am a woman in my early 30s.
I started off 2 years ago on my weight loss journey at 220 lb.
I joined a gym and work with a personal trainer. I started to do intermediate level weight training along with a lot of cardio every day 5 days a week.
The first year I lost 26 lb.
However in the last one year I have only lost 8 lb, and now I am at a plateau.
I exercise : alternate days intermediate level weight training , and 5 days a week cardio burning about 600-900 calories on average.
I eat about 2000-2200 gross calories.
Please help me.. what can be the cause of my plateau and how can I break it ?
btw, I also did one week of keto , eating about 1600 net calories, but I actually ended up gaining 1 lb !
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Replies
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Can you open your diary? Are you using a food scale?0
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How long has it been since you stopped losing weight?0
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How long has it been since you added heavier weights to your routine? If you're still lifting the same weights you were before, that's just maintenance. And if you're still doing the same cardio (same type, same speed, same intensity) then your body is probably burning fewer calories per session because you've adapted to it. You need to continue to push yourself a little further every week until you're ready to maintain. It may be time to switch things up!0
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I havent lost anything since last 4-5 months.
@malibu: sorry I was using mydailyplate app to track, only just switched to myfitnesspal, so not much in my diary. I do not weigh my food, but I am sure I am not over eating. I am a vegetarian and do not drink and do not eat fatty foods.
@kikichewie: yes I have been doing almost same amount of workout. But its already quite a bit, I do almost one hour cardio, and quite high level of weights with my trainer.
Do you think my body is used to it ? I am not sure I can increase my exercise level more than this !!
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onlyruchi20 wrote: »I do not weigh my food, but I am sure I am not over eating. I am a vegetarian and do not drink and do not eat fatty foods.
This is most likely the problem. Start weighing everything. First weigh out what you'd normally eat for a day to see if your estimates are accurate or not. If you're still not losing after you've started weighing everything, you'll have to think about reducing your calorie intake.0 -
1. if you dont weigh and measure your foods you can't be sure you are not over eating
2. how are you estimating your calories burned for cardio. What are you logging for burns for your weight training?
3. the cause of your plateau is just that you are not creating the deficit you think you are, it might be you are eating more than you think, or burning less than you think, or a combination of the two0 -
Either you are eating more than you think ... burning less than you think ... or both.
600-900 calories per workout is quite a bit ... about a 7.5 mile run for a 185 pound person.0 -
What I do not understand is :
I am eating about 2000 calories. I am burning about 1500 calories,
Still why am I not losing weight
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onlyruchi20 wrote: »What I do not understand is :
I am eating about 2000 calories. I am burning about 1500 calories,
Still why am I not losing weight
If you are not weighing and measuring your food, you have no idea if you are eating 2,000 or not.
Where are you getting the 1,500 calorie burn number from, by the way? 600-900 seems a bit high for a workout.
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onlyruchi20 wrote: »What I do not understand is :
I am eating about 2000 calories. I am burning about 1500 calories,
Still why am I not losing weight
The last two posters explained that: you're either eating more than you think, or burning less than you think.0 -
onlyruchi20 wrote: »What I do not understand is :
I am eating about 2000 calories. I am burning about 1500 calories,
Still why am I not losing weight
Possibilities
1. You are not weighing your food so you aren't eating 2000 calories - you are eating more
2. Machines overestimate your calorie burn, so you probably aren't burning 1500 calories
One of those or both of those combined would cause you to not lose weight.
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I'm not suggesting you spend more time on cardio. But switch it up, and maybe try HIIT for less time. Or any kind of cross-training with cardio exercises you don't do all the time. Just because they're different will make them harder! Plus cross-training is good to avoid over-use injuries. Oh, and don't forget, cardio is optional if you want to be able to eat more daily calories and still lose, but it's not a requirement for a weight loss deficit.
As for the weights, it's all relative. What's a challenge for me may be easy for you. But if you're still lifting the same weights a year later, you're not challenging your muscles any more. Let's say you've been doing 12 pound bicep curls, just as an example, for a year. It's tough. But it's been a year. Pick up the 15s. If you can't do a full set, that's a good thing. Stick with 15s until you can do your full sets, then increase again. Are you doing that kind of thing? It will not make you bulky or hurt your weight loss. But if your trainer is taking you through routines again and again at the same levels of resistance without increasing them over time, you should fire him/her. (I was, once upon a time, a certified personal trainer.) It's hard to know what you mean when you say intermediate or a high level of weights. Some women think that a 10 pound dumbbell is the mix they could ever lift. If you say intermediate, that implies to me that you know proper form and what works for each muscle group, but not how hard you're working....0 -
onlyruchi20 wrote: »I havent lost anything since last 4-5 months.
@malibu: sorry I was using mydailyplate app to track, only just switched to myfitnesspal, so not much in my diary. I do not weigh my food, but I am sure I am not over eating. I am a vegetarian and do not drink and do not eat fatty foods.
@kikichewie: yes I have been doing almost same amount of workout. But its already quite a bit, I do almost one hour cardio, and quite high level of weights with my trainer.
Do you think my body is used to it ? I am not sure I can increase my exercise level more than this !!
You can't be sure of that if you don't weigh your food. Buy a food scale (you can find them for less than $20) and start using it. It'll be an eye-opener as to what you have been eating compared to what a serving is.0 -
Thanks all... I am going to weigh my food and check.
Also, I plan to take a 2 week break from my gym and just eat 500 deficit calories.
Let s see what happens...
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onlyruchi20 wrote: »Thanks all... I am going to weigh my food and check.
Also, I plan to take a 2 week break from my gym and just eat 500 deficit calories.
Let s see what happens...
I think you still need to look at how you are calculating your exercise burns too, don't ignore that side of the equation0 -
4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »onlyruchi20 wrote: »Thanks all... I am going to weigh my food and check.
Also, I plan to take a 2 week break from my gym and just eat 500 deficit calories.
Let s see what happens...
I think you still need to look at how you are calculating your exercise burns too, don't ignore that side of the equation
Agree with this. 1500 calorie burn days as you stated are pretty unlikely.0 -
Have you adjusted your calories down for each ten pounds you've lost? As we get smaller, do do our calorie needs.
Where do you get those exercise burns from? How long are you exercising? Your burns seem pretty high, and it's common for us to overestimate. If you are using MFP, phone apps, internet resources, or gym machines for those readings, they will be too high.
Do you weigh your food, log everything you eat and drink (drinks with calories), and ensure that you are choosing correct entries? The MFP database has a lot of inaccurate entries. I laughed the day I saw an entry for salmon that was about 30 calories per ounce. Since it's really about 58, that difference can kill a deficit pretty quickly. The USDA website is a good place to start, as well as reading packages. It's all estimates, but you want to strive for accuracy.
Finally, if you want concrete advice, you will need to open your diary.0 -
Ok, I will log everything from now, and open my diary.
I workout on elliptical machine till it shows 1000 calories. I know it shoes moer, so I count it as 700. Then I do quite heavy weights. Even if I choose low value, lets say I burn 300 due to weight lifting.
So total burnt =1000 calories.
I have a very simple vegetarian diet. I have to actually push myself to eat to 2000. Some days I eat only 1700 or so.
Even if I am underestimating my eating, lets say I actually am eating 2500 when I think Im eating 2000. then minus burnt : 2500-1000 = 1000 deficit.
Even if I tak half of this 500 cal, I should still lose SOME weight !!!
But the scale doesnt budge:(
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Is it possible, that due to high level of exercise my body is used to it, and my metabolism has slowed down?
I could not explain weight gain on my keto diet eating just 1600 calories.0 -
onlyruchi20 wrote: »Ok, I will log everything from now, and open my diary.
I workout on elliptical machine till it shows 1000 calories. I know it shoes moer, so I count it as 700. Then I do quite heavy weights. Even if I choose low value, lets say I burn 300 due to weight lifting.
So total burnt =1000 calories.
I have a very simple vegetarian diet. I have to actually push myself to eat to 2000. Some days I eat only 1700 or so.
Even if I am underestimating my eating, lets say I actually am eating 2500 when I think Im eating 2000. then minus burnt : 2500-1000 = 1000 deficit.
Even if I tak half of this 500 cal, I should still lose SOME weight !!!
But the scale doesnt budge:(
Elleptical machines are famously unreliable for the actual burn. I think it may be up to 42% inflated, so even counting 700 may be too much. Even if you are choosing heavy weights, weight lifting doesn't burn calories (in the moment) like cardio does -- the main benefit is from being able to increase your muscle mass.
You keep stating how many calories you eat, but if you aren't weighing, I don't know how you are sure of that.
Bottom line: whether it is from inflating your calorie burns or underestimating your food, or a combination, you aren't in a deficit. You keep returning to that 1,000 burn -- I don't think your time in the gym is burning what you think it is.
You can keep insisting that you're right (and stay at the same weight) or consider that you might be wrong and take some of the advice in this thread.0 -
Well, for starters, I would think your burns are more in the 5-700 range total. Hour on an elliptical (4-500), weight training (1-200).
Elliptical machines notoriously overestimate burns. It just makes people feel better and is a marketing trick.
As for weights, I don't know where you are getting those burns as it is pretty hard to determine lifting calories burned. Most lifters only add 1 calorie in for lifting sessions.0 -
I'd say weigh your food and be diligent for the next month and only count half your exercise cals in there and see if you lose. I started weighing my food about 3 weeks ago and it's shocking how off we can be using measuring cups or eyeballing portions.0
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DaniCanadian wrote: »I'd say weigh your food and be diligent for the next month and only count half your exercise cals in there and see if you lose. I started weighing my food about 3 weeks ago and it's shocking how off we can be using measuring cups or eyeballing portions.
And by half exercise calories, I recommend cardio only. Don't count calories for weight loss -- it has lots of benefits for body composition and well-being beyond the calorie burn.0 -
onlyruchi20 wrote: »Is it possible, that due to high level of exercise my body is used to it, and my metabolism has slowed down?
I could not explain weight gain on my keto diet eating just 1600 calories.
your body will burn slightly less with the same exercise over time as it adapts, that does not mean your metabolism is slowing just that your body has gotten more efficient at that particular exercise
as for the keto, trying a diet for one week is not enough time to truely judge any results, so you can just throw that data out the window
I workout on elliptical machine till it shows 1000 calories. I know it shoes moer, so I count it as 700. Then I do quite heavy weights. Even if I choose low value, lets say I burn 300 due to weight lifting.
So total burnt =1000 calories.
A HRM is the best estimate of calories burned in steady state cardio. If you don't have that option I would find an online calculator where you can input your weight, time of the exercise, and distance covered.
Burns from weight lifting are not as impressive as one would think and IMO you are logging too many calories for that. Unfortunately, when it come to weightlifting there is just not a very reliable way to measure the burns form it. FWIW I weight lift for about 45 minutes at a time (full body compound lifts routine) and log it as 50 calories burned.Even if I tak half of this 500 cal, I should still lose SOME weight !!!
I know it is frustrating but tighten up your logging for intake and exercise and hopefully you will see things get back on track.
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If you are not losing any weight for that period of time I would suggest the following:
1. Tighten up logging, make sure you are weighing everything.
2. Bring your calories down by a couple hundred, wait a month see if anything happens. If you start losing you weren't really eating at a deficit before.
I know my fitbit overestimates my exercise burns and MFP even more. I spent a long time tracking and seeing how much I lost and determined my "real" TDEE is about 1700 and if I cut to 1450 I lose about 0.5 lb a week.
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Nothing was working for me. For years. I got a Fitbit 3 weeks ago and lost 5 lbs since. I try and make sure I get AT LEAST 10,000 steps a day and stay within calorie limit. The Fitbit tells me whether or not I am under, over, or "in the zone" for amount of calories consumed (I sync it with myfitnesspal). I now workout 2-4 times a day. The Fitbit makes it fun because you can compete with other people. I truly believe this is what is going to get me to my goal.0
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Perhaps your overall activity is less than you think. in my experience not being able to lose is a function of daily activities. Doing chores, walking instead of driving, planning activity on the weekends, getting up from my desk.
The average desk sitting adult who drives to work and to the store and gym and spends a fair amount of time in front of a computer isn't getting much over and above their exercise in activity.
How many times did you take the dog for a walk, spend an hour ironing or carry 15 pounds of groceries home from the store?
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OP, don't get discouraged by your plateau or a slight weight gain. In my experience, water weight is usually the culprit. As long as you are eating and exercising right, you are doing just fine.
Besides waiting it out, I suggest reducing your intake slightly just to see how your body responds over time.
I went a good month barely losing anything, and then a bunch of pounds seemed to melt off over night the next month! I was so upset and ready to quit, but eventually my body let go of those pounds. I also decided to lower my calorie intake by 50 calories (hard at first, but it got easier), which definitely helped in the long run.
Don't be afraid to play around with your calorie intake. You gotta be flexible.
Also, might I suggest getting a Heart Rate Monitor to get a better estimate of your calorie burn? I used a Polar FT4, and I love it. I do leave a margin of error, though, so I only log 85% of what calories the HRM says I burn. The HRM is going to tell you how hard your body is working during a workout, with the added bonus of giving you a much more accurate (though not 100% correct) calorie burn estimate.0 -
Onlyruchi20,
An easy way to get fairly accurate calorie counts is to purchase an inexpensive heart rate monitor that can bluetooth to your cell phone. I use the Wahoo TICKR and it works great (about $60 on Amazon). If you download a free app like Digifit, it will upload your daily calorie burns to MFP automatically.
If you do this while actually measuring your food and calories, you would get a pretty solid answer for your true CICO numbers. It has worked great for me (I'm down a steady 11 lbs in 30 days).
Keep up the good work, just tweak your recordkeeping!! Good luck!0 -
onlyruchi20 wrote: »Ok, I will log everything from now, and open my diary.
I workout on elliptical machine till it shows 1000 calories. I know it shoes moer, so I count it as 700. Then I do quite heavy weights. Even if I choose low value, lets say I burn 300 due to weight lifting.
So total burnt =1000 calories.
I have a very simple vegetarian diet. I have to actually push myself to eat to 2000. Some days I eat only 1700 or so.
Even if I am underestimating my eating, lets say I actually am eating 2500 when I think Im eating 2000. then minus burnt : 2500-1000 = 1000 deficit.
Even if I tak half of this 500 cal, I should still lose SOME weight !!!
But the scale doesnt budge:(
If you consume 2500 calories and only burn 1000, you are not consuming a deficit. That is unless there is something I am missing...0
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