Scale has never budged in a year of trying- what gives?

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

Weights and protein, not cardio & carbs.
I feel like you want to get the look on the right in this below example- correct? That's more muscle and lower body fat percentage. Also note the scale weight is actually more for the leaner look, so might not want to worry about what the scale says...
(This is not me, it's someone I follow on Instagram)

carbs help build muscle too not just protein

That's true, you need to consume adequate protein and increase carbs for significant muscle growth- what I meant was a lot of women do cardio like crazy and eat what they think is healthy- a lot of fruits and veggies- but actually way under eat protein and way over eat carbs so they don't really put on muscle and they keep their fat stores. But to get muscle you have to do strength/resistance/weight training. To cut body fat and keep muscle you need to keep the protein high and cut the carbs lower to be in a caloric deficit. So it depends if you're trying to bulk/add muscle, recomp (lose fat and gain muscle at the same time), or cut (keep existing muscle, lose body fat).

RMSchmidt17 wrote: »

So here's the situation.
I've never been overweight by medical standards. My BMI has always been comfortably in the normal to low end of normal just by living a reasonable lifestyle (I love salad, don't eat fast food, and walk a ton). But I was definitely "skinny fat" and couldn't even run a mile.
Three years ago I began working out with a trainer to help with muscle tone after bed rest from my son. Twice a week. Then a year and a half ago I ramped it up- decided to run a half marathon, joined a gym, and was running 4 days a week. I decided to eat even healthier- and started swapping potatoes for cauliflower mash, and kale salads.

Here's the deal, throughout the past few years, the scale has not budged. And before you start the whole "muscle weighs more than fat" conversation, let me lay out the facts-

-I get body scans and pinch tests every 3 months for the past 18 months. My muscle and fat composition has only changed negligibly (gained 3 lbs of muscle, lost 2 lbs of fat)
-I have logged my food daily since college and am not undercounting calories. I have two scales in my kitchen and weigh my food meticulously. I eat mostly whole foods with no sneaky calories (I make my own salad dressing, etc)
-My measurements have only changed negligibly (1/2 inch here and there)
-My macros are 40% protein, 30/30 fat and carbs, with only low glycemic carbs (quinoa, veggies, sweet potatoes)
-I had a physical and also follow up extensive blood work to check for hormonal abnormalities, thyroid issues, etc. Nothing.
-I'm 37 and have one child. I am 5'6" and weigh 126 lbs
-I workout for one hour or more five days a week- 3 hours weight training (2 with a trainer), 2 hours med intensity steady state cardio (jog), 1 hour private pilates and maybe a yoga class as well
-I wear a Fitbit and average 10-16k steps a day.

The good news is I am stronger and healthier, and I FEEL better, but it would be nice if the outside matched. I feel like I'm working very hard to not look worse.

Any suggestions?

kgmqt wrote: »

Have you done any blood tests, specifically blood sugar? If you are eating carbs after workouts your body will convert it to sugar in the blood, and if it doesn't need it gets stored as fat. You can get a glucose tester cheep at CVS. Test a different times during the day (after meals, workouts, etc) and see if you have times where your blood sugar spikes.

You could try reducing carbs, specifically after your workouts. It doesn't matter if it is low glycemic if you are not active after you eat it - it will be converted to sugar, just more slowly. Don't replace carbs with more protein because if your body doesn't need the protein it also gets converted to sugar also.

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

Weights and protein, not cardio & carbs.
I feel like you want to get the look on the right in this below example- correct? That's more muscle and lower body fat percentage. Also note the scale weight is actually more for the leaner look, so might not want to worry about what the scale says...
(This is not me, it's someone I follow on Instagram)

carbs help build muscle too not just protein

That's true, you need to consume adequate protein and increase carbs for significant muscle growth- what I meant was a lot of women do cardio like crazy and eat what they think is healthy- a lot of fruits and veggies- but actually way under eat protein and way over eat carbs so they don't really put on muscle and they keep their fat stores. But to get muscle you have to do strength/resistance/weight training. To cut body fat and keep muscle you need to keep the protein high and cut the carbs lower to be in a caloric deficit. So it depends if you're trying to bulk/add muscle, recomp (lose fat and gain muscle at the same time), or cut (keep existing muscle, lose body fat).

actually in a deficit you will lose fat,it doesnt matter what your macros are,to keep muscle you dont have to cut carbs lower and keep protein high to be in a caloric deficit. I eat more carbs than I do protein and get plenty of protein. I get on a good day over 100g on a slow day I still get 80-90 grams. very rarely do I eat less protein unless not feeling well. most days I go over my carbs. to get a decent amount of muscle you have to eat in a surplus of calories,.you can gain some in a recomp but its not going to be like a bulk.a person could eat say 30% protein 30% fat and the rest carbs and still lose fat.

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

Weights and protein, not cardio & carbs.
I feel like you want to get the look on the right in this below example- correct? That's more muscle and lower body fat percentage. Also note the scale weight is actually more for the leaner look, so might not want to worry about what the scale says...
(This is not me, it's someone I follow on Instagram)

carbs help build muscle too not just protein

That's true, you need to consume adequate protein and increase carbs for significant muscle growth- what I meant was a lot of women do cardio like crazy and eat what they think is healthy- a lot of fruits and veggies- but actually way under eat protein and way over eat carbs so they don't really put on muscle and they keep their fat stores. But to get muscle you have to do strength/resistance/weight training. To cut body fat and keep muscle you need to keep the protein high and cut the carbs lower to be in a caloric deficit. So it depends if you're trying to bulk/add muscle, recomp (lose fat and gain muscle at the same time), or cut (keep existing muscle, lose body fat).

actually in a deficit you will lose fat,it doesnt matter what your macros are,to keep muscle you dont have to cut carbs lower and keep protein high to be in a caloric deficit. I eat more carbs than I do protein and get plenty of protein. I get on a good day over 100g on a slow day I still get 80-90 grams. very rarely do I eat less protein unless not feeling well. most days I go over my carbs. to get a decent amount of muscle you have to eat in a surplus of calories,.you can gain some in a recomp but its not going to be like a bulk.a person could eat say 30% protein 30% fat and the rest carbs and still lose fat.

I meant eat more protein than she is eating now, NOT more protein as in higher proportion than any other macronutrient.. I only eat 25% protein and about 90 to 100 grams per day but it takes me really focusing on getting in my protein to consume that much each day. Most women I know way under eat protein, especially when in a caloric deficit and trying to lose weight. They don't understand it's important to get ADEQUATE protein. Many even try to go vegetarian or vegan or at least cut out red meat and dairy in hopes to get leaner but end up eating even less protein and losing even more muscle, which is counterproductive to weight loss (less lean mass = lower BMR).