I'm Not Losing A Pound

kaileyannice
kaileyannice Posts: 2 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi. I have a question.
I have been exercising on my elliptical for three weeks six days a week for 20-30 minutes. Each exercise I make sure that I'm adding something harder & longer so I don't plateau. I've been eating normal, like I always have, by keeping my calories under 1200.

Instead of losing weight, I've gained 3 to 5 pounds. I can't describe the frustration I've felt at the seemingly uselessness of sweating & pushing myself to workout every night.

Is there any reason why this is happening? Help, ideas, anything would be greatly appreciated!

Replies

  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    How accurate is your logging? Do use a food scale? Your calorie burns, how do you know if they are accurate?

  • kaileyannice
    kaileyannice Posts: 2 Member
    Well, I don't watch my calories in detail. But before I started exercising & for the past two years I've been eating pretty much as I do now without exercise & maintaining a good weight. I decided that I wanted to really start shedding the pounds by exercising but ever since I started exercising I've gained instead of lost.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Opening your diary so that we can take a look or giving us some more details might help to get you more specific advice, if you're comfortable doing so.

    Otherwise, these are my really general tips. Maybe you'll find some of them useful.

    1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Especially if you've started a new exercise routine. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

    2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

    3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

    4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

    5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

    6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

    7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

    8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

    9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    How do you know you are eating 1200 calories?
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,706 Member
    edited September 2015
    OOps, my whole post just disappeared.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,706 Member
    edited September 2015
    There are several reasons why you could gain weight. The most obvious one is because you eat more than 1200 calories. Actually you would have to consistently eat over maintenance to gain real weight. Then there are hormones, TOM , meds and other reasons.
    Another reason is that if you are new to exercise, your muscle tissue will need time to repair itself. For that the tissue needs water, which it usually gets by retaining it. That looks like a weight gain.
    You could do something, like drinking more liquid to flush it out, but your body will just keep retaining water until it's used to repair it's muscles efficiently. This might take a few weeks and is the reason why so often after several weeks pounds just fall off. Some of it is water weight and some of it is real weight loss, that was masked by the water retention.
    This will happen each time you push yourself when exercising, because it's the science behind muscle repair.
    Also people who have a lot of weight to lose ( like 100 pounds or more ) often lose a lot in the beginning, while people who only need to lose vanity pounds will have a much more difficult time of it.
    If losing weight is your main concern, you have to pretty much weigh, measure and accurately log your calorie intake, because losing weight is primarily done by eating at a deficit and only secondarily by exercising. By just guessing this is next to impossible to do.
    Also, unless you are like I under 4' 11" and going on 70 there is no reason for you to eat less than 1200 calories. It is not healthy, zaps all your energy and in general is not such a good idea, unless you are really tiny and weigh 100 poundsor less.
    Be patient and things will start to move.
    Good Luck !

    Opening your diary is helpful if you want specific advise...:o).
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