On paper, I'm doing everything right...so why aren't I losing weight?

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

MadeOfMagic wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

MadeOfMagic wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

MadeOfMagic wrote: »

How much do you weigh and what is your height? How are you measuring your exercise? How are you measuring all your food?
The only accurate way to measure food is with a scale and measure liquids as well. The most accurate way to measure calorie burn is using a heart rate monitor with chest strap. Do not trust gym equipment estimates and fit bit can be inaccurate for many people. Just looking at your tyson chicken breast logged food the amount is always the same, chicken pieces never come in same sizes, your weight would vary which leads me to believe you are not using a scale to measure your food. Every little ounce counts and can be the difference between you losing and not losing weight. Same goes for a lot of the other foods you log they are all the same weight.

Your exercise calorie burns seem extremely high, unless you are extremely obese like I am and exercising for 2 and half hours of hard cord weight training/cardio then your calorie burns aren't right especially the one logged for yesterday of amount of 2,392! And your others are 1,000-1400. These kind of calories burns are pretty unusual, I will burn 1100 calories with my HRM if I do 45 mins of hard cord weight training (with heart rate range of 155-175, resting is 62) followed by hard core cardio for another 45mins (with heart rate range 165-185 from resting 62), and I weight 240lbs. Please describe what activity you are doing, you heart rate measurements, your weight, and duration.

Next...you didn't log Friday, Saturday or Sunday. You seem to skip weekend logging quite a bit. What are you eating on those days? You have to log every day! Every bit!

a chest strap HRM is not 100% accurate either and is only good for steady state cardio. its going to be off for other types of workouts.weight training also doesnt burn a crap load of calories either.

Of course it's not 100% accurate, but it's as accurate as it can possibly get. I also have a fancy heart rate monitor that has much more complex algorithms than most which takes into account VO2max, resting and max heart rate, age, weight, gender, etc. which I update on regular basis (which applies to cardio based workouts). Weight training for most people won't burn a lot, but for someone obese (240lbs, 5'7, 27yrs old) like myself it does because I am lifting weights as well as my body weight and I do combination of whole body weight training (including lunges, push ups, etc that use large muscle groups which do burn higher amount of calories than other weight training exercises) followed by specific muscle groups. When I weight train I weight train for hour and half and my heart rate gets as high as when I do cardio, I break almost same amount of sweat as I do when I do cardio and I work just as hard. Now I know weight training can't be measured same way as cardio with HRM (because of oxygen expenditure) and because it's not 100% accurate I don't eat any of my exercise calories back, I eat extremely clean and make sure to eat well above recommended protein goals to maintain muscle mass. Exercise in my regimen is used to improve my fitness level and preserve muscle mass-not to earn calories so I can eat more.

ok but sweat doesnt mean you are working just as hard. sweat is not an indicator of calories burned either. its just your body's response and you sweat to cool your body down,I can walk a few miles and sweat more than I do when doing weight lifting or cardio,doesnt mean Im burning more calories. .as for being obese you may burn more calories than someone overweight. but its still not going to be a high number like you think. I was obese and burned just a little more calories than I do now, being just slightly overweight. same with cardio. heart rate also doesnt mean that you are burning more calories either though. I can get my heart rate up while weightlifting too but its never going to be as high as it is when doing cardio. not to mention once you keep doing the same exercise for awhile your body will get stronger and you wont have to make as much of an effort to do those things so you will burn less calories. the only thing about not eating your exercise calories back is its creating a bigger deficit.

I was looking at your diary,on some days you have logged you are burning 12-1300 calories a day through exercise alone. not counting what you burn by being alive. but you are only eating 1200-1300 calories a day(on those big burn days) and most days you are netting way under 400 calories,you dont eat any of your exercise calories back? what you are doing is dangerous and too aggressive.being 5'7(Im 5'6 1/2), 1200 is too low of a caloric goal as it is,also with your weight you could eat more and you need to be eating more. netting so little is not healthy.

Okay let's not measure by sweat but how intense a workout is-as in by how out of breath one is, some of my sessions leave me out of breath, I am not just obese I am morbidly obese technically. I have tracked my calorie burns with same HRM when I weighed 160(overweight) and 200 (obese) and there were significantly lower than they are right now. The intensity of my workouts are almost equal to intensity of my cardio. Regardless I don't eat those calories back because I have no idea how much I actually burn from weight training and since it's majority of my training I focus on my body's response instead. I am constantly changing what workouts I do so my muscles don't get use to working same muscle group unfortunately viewing my diary can't demonstrate that unless you are logged in as me, I have almost every beachbody program there is and I do different ones on different days. I know what I am doing seems aggressive but I am not losing weight aggressively. I listen to my body carefully, if I feel my workouts are suffering at all I up my calories, I had to do that 2 weeks ago but now I am getting enough and have ton of energy during my workouts. I also eat quality foods with quality nutrition, I go well and above my daily requirements for protein and other nutrients, I always eat quality protein after my workouts and hydrate like crazy (drink way more water than my diary logs). More than half my workouts are weight training so cut those calories in half at very least, it's not as aggressive as it appears, I just log what my HRM says so I have history of my workouts and how it affects my performance.

Only days when I do cardio after weigh training do I really create a higher deficit but my workouts are composed of mostly weight training. I did quite a bit of research and found study where obese people had 800 cals a day with 3 a week weight training sessions 1 hour each and they didn't lose any muscle mass, I am eating above that and my deficit from exercise isn't as high because weight training doesn't actually burn that much. When I get to "overweight" I will re-evaluate my goals, exercise and nutritional needs.

ok so even if you were to cut the 1200-1300 burns in half that would be 600-650 calories, subtract that from your 1200-1300 calories and that leaves 600-650 net. that is too aggressive and even though you are considered obese you still should be eating more.MFP is made to eat calories back so you arent netting below your calorie goals. also with what you are burning by being alive,and not counting your exercise? that makes it an even bigger deficit.your muscles dont get used to the same workouts, they just adapt better and you will have to work harder,there is no such thing as muscle confusion. when you are losing weight you still lose lean muscle mass,its a given. sure you can weight lift and eat enough protein,to prevent some of the loss, but there is still going to be a loss no matter what your size is. as for obese people eating 800 you are eating above that,but you are burning most of that off according to your exercise log. so no you really arent even eating that much. But hey its your body.

lorrpb wrote: »

The same VOLUME of muscle DOES weigh more than the same volume of fat. Just like a gallon bucket filled with nails weighs more than a gallon bucket filled with feathers. But a pound of nails weighs the same as a pound of feathers. Duh. OK?