Loosing weight..... not according to the scales!

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I have been doing some fat burning programs on the treadmill and elliptical for 4 weeks - 40 mins 5 times a week. I know I have lost some belly fat and some on my face and back too but the scales say I weight the same as I did four weeks ago. I am male, 85kg and 48 years old. I have altered my diet - eating light and healthy, no booze with healthy snacks twice a day between meals and I just cannot understand why i have not changed on the scales. Any thoughts?
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Replies

  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
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    Get a food scale and concentrate on how much you are eating because when it comes to fat loss, calories are all that matter. Healthy snacks don't matter if you're still eating too much.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Zaskar60 wrote: »
    Congratulations, you've gained muscle! Sometimes a scale isn't the best way measure your fitness progress. Your mirror is! If you are gaining muscle and losing fat, your weight may stay about the same until muscle gain plateaus. But, like you've noticed, the appearance of the guy looking back at you in the mirror is improving! That's what it's all about!

    Sorry, but he isn't gaining muscle

    OP, how are you measuring your calorie intake?
  • Annamarie3404
    Annamarie3404 Posts: 319 Member
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    Maybe too much cardio? When I was losing, I did cardio all the time and did not see results. When I changed my routine and added classes as well as weights and excercises using my body weight, I dropped more weight. Also, sometimes if you eat the same thing over and over, you won't lose.
  • caroldavison332
    caroldavison332 Posts: 864 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Zaskar60 wrote: »
    Congratulations, you've gained muscle! Sometimes a scale isn't the best way measure your fitness progress. Your mirror is! If you are gaining muscle and losing fat, your weight may stay about the same until muscle gain plateaus. But, like you've noticed, the appearance of the guy looking back at you in the mirror is improving! That's what it's all about!

    Sorry, but he isn't gaining muscle

    OP, how are you measuring your calorie intake?

    Why would it be that he isn't putting on muscle which is "heavier than fat"?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Zaskar60 wrote: »
    Congratulations, you've gained muscle! Sometimes a scale isn't the best way measure your fitness progress. Your mirror is! If you are gaining muscle and losing fat, your weight may stay about the same until muscle gain plateaus. But, like you've noticed, the appearance of the guy looking back at you in the mirror is improving! That's what it's all about!

    Sorry, but he isn't gaining muscle

    OP, how are you measuring your calorie intake?

    Why would it be that he isn't putting on muscle which is "heavier than fat"?

    First, he is not putting on muscle by doing just a treadmill.
    second = fat is not heavier than muscle, it is just more dence.
    third - if you want to add muscle you need a progressive resistance program, coupled with a calorie surplus..

    caveat - one can have newbie gains but those wont come from a treadmill exercise only...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    MommyL2015 wrote: »
    Get a food scale and concentrate on how much you are eating because when it comes to fat loss, calories are all that matter. Healthy snacks don't matter if you're still eating too much.

    this
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    Maybe too much cardio? When I was losing, I did cardio all the time and did not see results. When I changed my routine and added classes as well as weights and excercises using my body weight, I dropped more weight. Also, sometimes if you eat the same thing over and over, you won't lose.

    what????

    you don't need exercise to lose weight it's all int he calorie deficit.


    And why wouldn't you lose eating the same thing?
  • Dove0804
    Dove0804 Posts: 213 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Zaskar60 wrote: »
    Congratulations, you've gained muscle! Sometimes a scale isn't the best way measure your fitness progress. Your mirror is! If you are gaining muscle and losing fat, your weight may stay about the same until muscle gain plateaus. But, like you've noticed, the appearance of the guy looking back at you in the mirror is improving! That's what it's all about!

    Sorry, but he isn't gaining muscle

    OP, how are you measuring your calorie intake?

    I second this. He isn't accidentally gaining muscle while doing cardio.
    There MAY be some water retention from increased exercise.

    OP- you haven't said anything about how much you're eating- one thing you'll quickly learn on My Fitness Pal:
    it's not about WHAT you eat, it's about how much. You can eat "healthy" food all day long, but still be eating too much for weight loss. How much you eat is going to be the #1 reason whether or not you lose weight. - you can literally not exercise and still loose weight by limiting your daily calorie consumption. Exercise still has lots of great benefits though, so keeping up with it is great.
    If it's been 4 weeks, you probably might want to start calorie-counting. Try to use a food scale if you have one, and be honest about everything you're eating.
  • RobD520
    RobD520 Posts: 420 Member
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    Maybe too much cardio? When I was losing, I did cardio all the time and did not see results. When I changed my routine and added classes as well as weights and excercises using my body weight, I dropped more weight. Also, sometimes if you eat the same thing over and over, you won't lose.

    1. Is it because of too much cardio? no
    2. Will eating the same thing over-and-over prevent weight loss? no

    OP, four weeks is not really enough to tell what is happening. But if you are not losing, it is because you are not eating at a deficit.
  • Annamarie3404
    Annamarie3404 Posts: 319 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    Maybe too much cardio? When I was losing, I did cardio all the time and did not see results. When I changed my routine and added classes as well as weights and excercises using my body weight, I dropped more weight. Also, sometimes if you eat the same thing over and over, you won't lose.

    what????

    you don't need exercise to lose weight it's all int he calorie deficit.


    And why wouldn't you lose eating the same thing?

    Because everybody is different, and maybe, just maybe eating the exact same thing, exercising the exact same way doesn't work for us. Did that ever occur to you?
    :o
  • Annamarie3404
    Annamarie3404 Posts: 319 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    Maybe too much cardio? When I was losing, I did cardio all the time and did not see results. When I changed my routine and added classes as well as weights and excercises using my body weight, I dropped more weight. Also, sometimes if you eat the same thing over and over, you won't lose.

    what????

    you don't need exercise to lose weight it's all int he calorie deficit.


    And why wouldn't you lose eating the same thing?

    And when exactly did I say that you didn't need to exercise to lose weight? Did you even read my post? Or did you make an assumption based on the first sentence? SMH
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    Maybe too much cardio? When I was losing, I did cardio all the time and did not see results. When I changed my routine and added classes as well as weights and excercises using my body weight, I dropped more weight. Also, sometimes if you eat the same thing over and over, you won't lose.

    what????

    you don't need exercise to lose weight it's all int he calorie deficit.


    And why wouldn't you lose eating the same thing?

    Because everybody is different, and maybe, just maybe eating the exact same thing, exercising the exact same way doesn't work for us. Did that ever occur to you?
    :o

    CICO applies to everyone as it is basic math and science.
  • Dove0804
    Dove0804 Posts: 213 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    Maybe too much cardio? When I was losing, I did cardio all the time and did not see results. When I changed my routine and added classes as well as weights and excercises using my body weight, I dropped more weight. Also, sometimes if you eat the same thing over and over, you won't lose.

    what????

    you don't need exercise to lose weight it's all int he calorie deficit.


    And why wouldn't you lose eating the same thing?

    And when exactly did I say that you didn't need to exercise to lose weight? Did you even read my post? Or did you make an assumption based on the first sentence? SMH

    Bottom line is- too much cardio is not the problem. That's your anecdote, but you were probably eating too much when you weren't seeing results. It wasn't because you were doing cardio all the time. Maybe you had some water retention or something, but doing cardio is not going to stop anyone from losing weight.

    Also- if you eat the same thing over and over, and maintain a deficit, you will lose. If you eat the same thing over and over but are eating too much for weight loss (no calorie deficit) you won't lose weight. What you eat doesn't matter- it's how much.
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    Maybe too much cardio? When I was losing, I did cardio all the time and did not see results. When I changed my routine and added classes as well as weights and excercises using my body weight, I dropped more weight. Also, sometimes if you eat the same thing over and over, you won't lose.

    what????

    you don't need exercise to lose weight it's all int he calorie deficit.


    And why wouldn't you lose eating the same thing?

    And when exactly did I say that you didn't need to exercise to lose weight? Did you even read my post? Or did you make an assumption based on the first sentence? SMH

    I think you should re-read hers...SHE said you don't need to exercise to lose weight, it's all in the calorie deficit, because that is fact. CICO. You can lose weight by adjusting your eating, you don't have to exercise.

  • Annamarie3404
    Annamarie3404 Posts: 319 Member
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    I didn't change my calorie intake, I changed my diet. No processed foods, very low carb, no sodas, no red meat, etc. It worked for me. The point is, everybody loses differently. I eat a near vegetarian diet, and do yoga, swimming, weights, cardio (treadmill, bike, fx), zumba. IT worked for ME.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I didn't change my calorie intake, I changed my diet. No processed foods, very low carb, no sodas, no red meat, etc. It worked for me. The point is, everybody loses differently. I eat a near vegetarian diet, and do yoga, swimming, weights, cardio (treadmill, bike, fx), zumba. IT worked for ME.

    no everyone loses because of a calorie deficit, how they achieve that deficit is different.

    you chose to exercise more and eat the same...grats. CICO proved again...gotta love science.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited July 2016
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    I didn't change my calorie intake, I changed my diet. No processed foods, very low carb, no sodas, no red meat, etc. It worked for me. The point is, everybody loses differently. I eat a near vegetarian diet, and do yoga, swimming, weights, cardio (treadmill, bike, fx), zumba. IT worked for ME.

    so you replaced high calorie foods with low calorie foods and created a calorie deficit. So CICO worked for you, congrats.

    Yes that is what she did.. so if you consider:

    She went low carb lost a lot of water weight, cut out processed foods hense lower sodium, and if she by chance was cutting calories enough to be in a deficit, then yes weight was lost.

    That weight could be fat, water and muscle and muscle depends on how aggressive the loss rate.

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    edited July 2016
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    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    I didn't change my calorie intake, I changed my diet. No processed foods, very low carb, no sodas, no red meat, etc. It worked for me. The point is, everybody loses differently. I eat a near vegetarian diet, and do yoga, swimming, weights, cardio (treadmill, bike, fx), zumba. IT worked for ME.

    so you replaced high calorie foods with low calorie foods and created a calorie deficit. So CICO worked for you, congrats.

    Yes that is what she did.. so if you consider:

    She went low carb lost a lot of water weight, cut out processed foods hense lower sodium, and if she by chance was cutting calories enough to be in a deficit, then yes weight was lost.

    That weight could be fat, water and muscle and muscle depends on how aggressive the loss rate.

    i am assuming if she truly went low carb that it was a cut in calories as low carb foods tend to be less calorie dense...but yes I agree that the loss was fat, muscle, and water...