Two weeks in 0 pounds lost.

Patience is a virtue.

Two weeks isn't enough time to determine whether or not what you're doing is working since weight loss isn't linear, but as Lis pointed out, you may need to clean up your logging.

haleygray913 wrote: »

I have been logging religiously for over two weeks and I have been is a deficit everyday, and I have not lost any weight.
I am a triathlete so I do a lot of training (13-15 hrs a week, sometimes, more) and I have had some trouble getting my calories to balance out at the end of the day. I am 5'4" 160 lbs and have a good deal of muscle (strengh train 3-4 times a week). I am suppose to eat just under 2000 calories a day and I usually burn 1200-1800 more calories per day. I have been eating about 2400-2600 per day to make up for the calories I have been burning. I don't feel hungry and I feel like I eat plenty (eating all the time!) so I don't feel like I should be eating an additional 1200-1800 calories to make up for what I burn in order to net the 1980 calories. I suspect that maybe the calories I burn from exercise are off, I wear a HR monitor but the two figures are mostly similar. I am hitting my macros pretty much spot on every day (50% carbs 30% fat and 20% protein) I need some advice, am I eating too much? If you got a second, check out my logs and maybe give me some advice as to what I am doing wrong!

i'm a triathlete myself. my weight stayed pretty stagnant for a long time, until i read the book Racing Weight and learned a few things about nutrition timing, and appetite control. it's a good read, pick it up. i dropped 18 pounds in the last 3 months by implementing some of it's tips.

also, i'm not sure what level of training you are doing, or what kind of race you are preparing for, but a lot of triathletes have too many hard days. burning 1200-1800 calories a day sounds like you have a lot of hard days. your body might just be holding on to fat as it is trying to save itself. i know that i only have two long 90+ minute) workouts a week, and then all the others are about 60 minutes.

you might want to cut back on the strength training. for most endurance athletes, the concentration is to put on lean supportive muscle. it may also cause you to retain a lot of water that your body is using to repair. twice a week is good enough.

you seem to go over your sodium a lot, but that can be a fault in the database system, especially if you are entering food that is in the database even though you've cooked them yourself. i also see you're tracking sugar, which you go over, but that's because you're eating a lot of fruit mostly. stop tracking sugar, and start tracking fiber instead, which you want plenty of to help you stay regular. you don't need GI issues on your long runs.

Capt_Apollo wrote: »

your body might just be holding on to fat as it is trying to save itself.

Hmm..

I would also add that weight by itself can be an inaccurate gauge of progress and a stable weight is not necessarily indicative of no fat loss. You may be holding on to more water so make sure you are not wildly varing carb and salt intake from day to day. And make sure you are weighing at the same time of day in as similar conditions (before or after toilet, same hydration level etc.) as possible.

If you are in a reasonable calorie deficit and are weighing yourself accurately, you should be able to see your weight decrease by a small degree everyday.

i found the whole book useful. every part. everything from the chapter on nutrient timing, to intuitive eating, to what kind of staple foods you should have on the regular.

do you have a HRM? you probably do, but if you don't get one. a good one. i have a Garmin 910xt with the triathlon kit. worth every cent.

i understand wanting to have a social life and staying on track. it can be hard. i go out once a week with friends to a bar. i try and pre-log some foods and beverages. i stick to IPAs or stouts, higher calories, but more filling so that i'm not pounding beers. also, i try not to eat at the bars, as the food isn't all that healthy, but if i do, no big deal.

and i used to say to myself, "i work out so i can eat more" and that works for a while, but until i started putting in the right kind of food into my body, that is when i started losing weight.

btw, i took a look at my weight loss graph for the last few months. when i started to be more disciplined, logging everything and cooking more and avoiding packaged and processed foods, it took almost a solid month for the weight to come off. i stayed pretty much the same weight for about 40 days, and then bam, it all started melting off. so stick with it longer.

i lost a lot of weight when i first started too, dropping down to about 209, but gained it back over that first winter when i stopped doing as much cardio and lifting. i spent about two years at about 220-230 pounds.

back at the end of december i started eating more fruits and veggies, and i started having a post workout protein shake almost every time. i also seriously cut back on my alcohol consumption. i drink 2-3 times a week now, tops, and no more than 2 drinks a day (sans holidays like yesterday).

as far as training goes, i've started to learn the benefits of slow and low (zone 2-3) cardio. they don't all have to be super speed workouts. the slow and low cardio can force your body to tap into it's fat stores to burn, instead of the muscle. the muscles are an easier energy source for your body, so when you push hard, it want the quickest energy source possible. when you're going slow, it will take from the fat.

like i said, i've lost 18 pounds in the last two months, but it all started with changes i made a three months ago.

Chrysalid2014 wrote: »

Capt_Apollo wrote: »

i'm a triathlete myself. my weight stayed pretty stagnant for a long time, until i read the book Racing Weight and learned a few things about nutrition timing, and appetite control. it's a good read, pick it up. i dropped 18 pounds in the last 3 months by implementing some of it's tips.

Any chance you could post a little nutrition timing summary or maybe start a new thread about it? I'm very interested in this and have posted on MFP about this subject before and been told it doesn't matter what time you eat or whether it's before/after a workout.

it's nothing super complicated. i guess i'll write what i remember...

- have a protein shake within 30-60 minutes after your workout. for some reason your body responds to nutrition after your work out to help replenish itself.
- have some kind of protein filled meal within 2 hours after your workout.
- the best time to have your shake is after your work out. the second best time is to have it in the morning for breakfast.
- of all the triathletes he studied and documented, the ones that did best ate some kind of breakfast within a couple of hours of wating up.
- carbs are good. they are the primary source of energy for the endurance athlete. best time to have them is in the morning and early in the day.
- there is no perfect all encompassing carbs/fats/protein ratio


honestly, you should pick up the book. lots of great info in it, even if you're not at iron man status yet (i'm not).