Am I working out too much?

You should take at least 1 day off a week. Otherwise your muscles will stay fatigued and will retain water all the time trying to repair themselves. If you're lifting weights, and still doing it 6 days a week, you will need to alternate muscle groups to give other muscles time to heal. You're likely building some muscle, but more likely retaining water if you're working out every day.

Are you eating back all of your exercise Calories? If so, how are you calculating those Calories? MFP's numbers can be quite a bit off for some members.

Gotcha. Any time you start a new exercise program, you can see some initial water retention that can mask weight loss or even cause a little increase on the scale. That's totally normal. However, after 6 weeks, you'd expect to see that resolve itself, so it's not likely to be just water retention at this point.

Next question...how are you measuring your intake? Are you eyeballing your portions, using measuring cups/spoons, a food scale, etc.?

Use your food scale for all solids. Measuring cups and spoons for liquids only.

alsprincess wrote: »

Thanks for the tip I will do that for now on. The arc trainer says I burn 450 calories in 35 minutes could this be true?

I'm not familiar with the Arc Trainer but it's possible. I use a Bowflex M5 in the winter and on rainy days and cranked up to its max 35 minutes will net me around 500 calories. Here's the catch though, I calculate the calories burned based on m heart rate and an app I trust, the machine itself tells me I burn 600+. If you really want to know how much you burn with some degree of accuracy, try an app on your phone paired with a heart rate strap. I use Endomondo, but there's several others, many of which will sync with MFP automatically. But measuring by volume is never accurate unless its a liquid. Solids should be weighed, you'll be surprised how much difference there is in weight vs volume.

Hi @alsprincess, good for you for wanting to work so hard!

You're definitely going to want to start taking a couple of days off a week. That much work is too taxing on the system and could lead to a few joint issues as well depleting nutrients that can/will lead to immune issues.

That being said; If I understand you correctly, you're eating 1200/cals a day plus doing cardio and not eating any of your "earned" calories? If this is correct, you're only consuming 800 cals a day? Something is off for sure.

I would measure all your food as others have mentioned and keep a detailed log of everything you eat. I'd be willing to wager you're eating more than you think. Also, what's you water intake like.

As for the concern about gaining too much muscle - I can assure you that, that is not an issue. Gaining muscle as a man w/ lots O' Testosterone is difficult at best. So it's considerably harder for a woman. Not that it wont happen, but it's a non-issue for you at this stage. I train w/ a couple of Pro's who are ladies, who are also "enhanced" and they'll back me up on this.

As I said; my guess is that you're eating more than you think.

TR0berts wrote: »

Something is very much wrong here, then. If you're truly eating 1200 Calories, you won't be building jack for muscle, so that's not the problem. After a month and a half, you probably aren't retaining much - if any - extra water. How, exactly, are you measuring your intake?

In any case, can @psulemon or someone move this to the right forum?

Done.


OP, there are a lot of variables that can affect weight loss. And without having an open diary, we can't evaluate that component. Also, how long has weight slowly been creeping up? Also, do you have any medical issues (PCOS, IR, etc..)?


Personally, I would reconsider a few things, after we worked out the initial issues. I think 1200 calories tends to be rather low for someone working out 6+ days a week. And I think you can optimize your workouts through a little restructuring. I would personally follow a 3 day full body lifting routine (see link below). These routines are focused on compound muscle groups (multiple muscle groups at once) and are progressive in nature (meaning you will be adding weight each week). StrongCurves and NROL4W tend to be huge favorites. They go from super beginner and progressively get harder through each phase. And there is a plethora of resources to learn about them. And then on the 3 days you aren't lifting, I would suggest HIIT/Cardio/Flexibility training.


http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1