Weight lifting doesn't burn fat
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Regardless what her activity monitor says, a TDEE calculator puts her at around 2500 calories if you use moderate, and 2300 if you use light activity. Going by either choice, she should be losing weight on 1800 calories if her logging is accurate.
Something is amiss, and an open diary might help.
This is what I'm thinking. Which is why I asked my questions. Hopefully, she comes back to answer. It's frackin frustrating to work so hard and not get anywhere.6 -
Danicandothis wrote: »That's what my doctor told me. I went in for a wellness check. I workout. I eat reasonably well and I'm not losing weight. She told me to increase cardio and do less weight lifting. I think she wrong.
Some background: i'm 5'1, currently 230lbs. 40 years old. I work out 4-5 days a week 3-4 days of weight lifting. An hour per session. 3 cardio sessions (Zumba) per week. I eat 1800 calories a day. I measure everything.
My math has me at about a 4,000 calorie deficit per week.
What am I missing?
Typically we don't need to worry about the calorie burn with lifting and cardio - both of course provide some calorie burn. When we have excess fat we instead rely on the calorie deficit - too low isn't good either - it's a fine line, just under your TDEE but not over, and it's best to eat up to TDEE at least one day a week.
When you get within 15-20 pounds to your goal you have to consider calorie burn more - base it on how you feel more than the highly inaccurate HRM's.
You are not missing anything. Workout for health. Use the calorie deficit as your corrective action (medicine) to lose the excess body fat that is a health concern. Give it 30-90 days of consistency to start seeing results (that is probably what is missing - most people don't give it time and consistency enough - they get impatient and want instant gratification - or they try to eat back calorie burn and then are not in a deficit after all.)1 -
HarlemNY17 wrote: »No she's right actually and I'm gonna tell you why . When I first started losing weight I did cardio only and it was the best thing to drop weight fast . A whole year later now I've combined both . I have a body analysis scale and sometimes my weight stays the same and my muscle percentage goes up . Also you should never weight train for a hour if you're losing weight what you're doing is over working your muscles. Muscle is what burns calories which is why you're probably not losing weight. Only body builders really do that or ppl that's trying to bulk up and trust me you need a lot of protein to recover those muscle after that intense section . You're a beginner so You should only be lifting weights 2 times a week before cardio sections and you only need about 2 sets or 3 of 10 reps if you're trying to tone up
those scales are not accurate for one and two there is nothing wrong with working out a few times a week as long as she is getting enough protein and getting in rest days there is nothing wrong with lifting weights. I did it 4-5 times a week while losing and it changed how my body looked for the better,it also helps you to retain any lean mass you haver already while losing weight so telling someone they are overworking their muscles doing it more than 2-3 times a week is bad advice and an hr is too long? who says? some people train longer than that and have no issues and Im not talking about body builders.
if she were in a true deficit she would be losing weight. too much muscle doesnt stop you from losing. even body builders do cuts to lose weight. to do a bulk you need a surplus of calories and when you bulk your weight will go up as you will be gaining fat as well. also lifting weights doesnt cause you to tone. you cant tone muscle you get the toned look by losing fat over any existing muscle you already have.5 -
Danicandothis wrote: »Are you eating your exercise calories back? Fitbit doesn't work for many people. Hey, it gave me the same calories for a 14km run as for a 14km walk! And the running was already too high by about 350kcal! Running burns more than twice the calories as normal walking. Thus please be careful if you're eating your exercise calories back.
I don't eat back any of my exercise calories
you should eat back at least 25-50% if you are following mfp method of weight loss.2 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »1) how long ago did you start lifting?
2) are you using a food scale to weigh your portions (everything, including prepackaged foods and oils; liquids like water and milk in measuring cups)?
3) how long since you started eating in your deficit?
4) are you measuring yourself and taking progress pictures?
5) start weight and current weight?
I've been lifting since January
Yes I use a food scale and measure
I've been eating in deficit since January also. Started around 1200-1300 calories. Went up to 1500 then 1800 because I was told I wasn't eating enough compared to my workouts.
I don't measure or take progress pics. I should.
Start weight was 235. I hover around 230 currently just maintaining.4 -
Danicandothis wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »1) how long ago did you start lifting?
2) are you using a food scale to weigh your portions (everything, including prepackaged foods and oils; liquids like water and milk in measuring cups)?
3) how long since you started eating in your deficit?
4) are you measuring yourself and taking progress pictures?
5) start weight and current weight?
I've been lifting since January
Yes I use a food scale and measure
I've been eating in deficit since January also. Started around 1200-1300 calories. Went up to 1500 then 1800 because I was told I wasn't eating enough compared to my workouts.
I don't measure or take progress pics. I should.
Start weight was 235. I hover around 230 currently just maintaining.
then 1800 may be your maintenance. drop to 1600 and see if you start losing again give it awhile. and also eat back some of your exercise calories to fuel your body and workouts. give it a month or so and see what happens. weigh all solids and semi solids on a scale and measure all liquids. if you dont lose weight you can drop a little further or see a dr to rule anything out.2 -
Danicandothis wrote: »Yes. And I use my fit bit heart rate monitor to track my calories burned from workouts
I always found that when I was using a Fitbit, the calories it said in burned, and the calories mfp said I burned were very different; the Fitbit would say I burned a lot more calories than mfp. I think fitbits and other wearables are better for a ballpark idea of how much you move and shouldn't be considered gospel. What I ended up doing is changing my lifestyle to lightly active because of my job. Then I log my exercise separately in mfp and eat 50%-75% of those calories back.
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science says this isn't possible unless there is something wrong with your body. for your wellness check did they run a thyroid test?5
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Danicandothis wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »1) how long ago did you start lifting?
2) are you using a food scale to weigh your portions (everything, including prepackaged foods and oils; liquids like water and milk in measuring cups)?
3) how long since you started eating in your deficit?
4) are you measuring yourself and taking progress pictures?
5) start weight and current weight?
I've been lifting since January
Yes I use a food scale and measure
I've been eating in deficit since January also. Started around 1200-1300 calories. Went up to 1500 then 1800 because I was told I wasn't eating enough compared to my workouts.
I don't measure or take progress pics. I should.
Start weight was 235. I hover around 230 currently just maintaining.
Your height and weight are similar to me (where I started), so I'll use myself and my numbers to compare.
I can lose 2lbs/week while eating 1700 calories per day when: I walk 7000 steps at work, go swimming 60-90 minutes 5 times per week, weight lifting 2 times per week, plus kickboxing 2 times per week.
If your only activity is weightlifting (I can't remember how many times per week) plus zumba once per week, 1800 calories at 5'1" might be too high for you to lose anything more than .5-1 lb/week. When you were eating at 1500, we're you losing then? 1200-1300 sucks. Can you increase your activity levels? It doesn't have to be running, there are plenty of great activities.2 -
also op since you are petite then like I said above 1800 may be your maintenance calories.2
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nutmegoreo wrote: »Danicandothis wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »1) how long ago did you start lifting?
2) are you using a food scale to weigh your portions (everything, including prepackaged foods and oils; liquids like water and milk in measuring cups)?
3) how long since you started eating in your deficit?
4) are you measuring yourself and taking progress pictures?
5) start weight and current weight?
I've been lifting since January
Yes I use a food scale and measure
I've been eating in deficit since January also. Started around 1200-1300 calories. Went up to 1500 then 1800 because I was told I wasn't eating enough compared to my workouts.
I don't measure or take progress pics. I should.
Start weight was 235. I hover around 230 currently just maintaining.
Your height and weight are similar to me (where I started), so I'll use myself and my numbers to compare.
I can lose 2lbs/week while eating 1700 calories per day when: I walk 7000 steps at work, go swimming 60-90 minutes 5 times per week, weight lifting 2 times per week, plus kickboxing 2 times per week.
If your only activity is weightlifting (I can't remember how many times per week) plus zumba once per week, 1800 calories at 5'1" might be too high for you to lose anything more than .5-1 lb/week. When you were eating at 1500, we're you losing then? 1200-1300 sucks. Can you increase your activity levels? It doesn't have to be running, there are plenty of great activities.[/quote
I weight lift 3x a week also Zumba 3x a week. I wasn't losing at 1500 but I wasn't as religious on my tracking as I have been the last 3 months.1 -
Maybe try the 1500 again for a while, but be make sure you are on.point with it, or increase activity.
ETA: the random period between on point was a typo, but I find it entertaining, so leaving it in.7 -
cmriverside wrote: »Danicandothis wrote: »Are you eating your exercise calories back? Fitbit doesn't work for many people. Hey, it gave me the same calories for a 14km run as for a 14km walk! And the running was already too high by about 350kcal! Running burns more than twice the calories as normal walking. Thus please be careful if you're eating your exercise calories back.
I don't eat back any of my exercise calories
None of what you are saying makes any sense.
Please open your food diary here so we can take a peek and help you. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
at the bottom, click "Public."
Made it public.
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Bodybuilding and powerlifting aren't the only ways people lift weights...just sayin'...totally off topic however. Some of us do olympic lifting because it is fun, and I find the movements assist me with feeling strong and mobile.
I'm 4'11" and 81.8kg (180.5 pounds), I'm having a few weeks of eating to maintain just because I want to, life is a little stressful right now. Fitbit has been directing me to eat about 2600 calories per day, I have been, and I have maintained within a 400g weight range every day. I don't think all short people should eat like rabbits.1 -
Danicandothis wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »Danicandothis wrote: »Are you eating your exercise calories back? Fitbit doesn't work for many people. Hey, it gave me the same calories for a 14km run as for a 14km walk! And the running was already too high by about 350kcal! Running burns more than twice the calories as normal walking. Thus please be careful if you're eating your exercise calories back.
I don't eat back any of my exercise calories
None of what you are saying makes any sense.
Please open your food diary here so we can take a peek and help you. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
at the bottom, click "Public."
Made it public.
Ok. I just looked at today's log so far and it isn't accurate at all. So much so, that I didn't bother looking at other days.
Weigh your avacado. I know you can't do it now - just for the future. One medium could be off by quite a few Calories.
Also weigh your bread. Two slices could be anywhere from 20-40 grams, and thus, not 120 Calories.
I have no idea what 1 serving of that Taco Pasta is. As such, it's likely that Calorie count is off, too.
Seriously, weigh everything you can. For liquids that you can't weigh - at least not reasonably so - use measuring cups/spoons. It'll likely be a real eye-opener.12 -
Danicandothis wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »Danicandothis wrote: »Are you eating your exercise calories back? Fitbit doesn't work for many people. Hey, it gave me the same calories for a 14km run as for a 14km walk! And the running was already too high by about 350kcal! Running burns more than twice the calories as normal walking. Thus please be careful if you're eating your exercise calories back.
I don't eat back any of my exercise calories
None of what you are saying makes any sense.
Please open your food diary here so we can take a peek and help you. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
at the bottom, click "Public."
Made it public.
Okay great. I just took a look at your logs for the past week and I have some questions.- You said you weigh your food right? How come you have entries like "1 medium apple", "1 bar", "1 tablespoon", "1 cup", "13 pieces", etc.?
- Entries for things like "Caprese", "egg, whole, cooked, fried, 1 large", and "Taco Pasta". Did you put that in yourself using the recipe builder or are you using random entries you find in the database?
- Your Nature's Own bread is 120 calories every time. It's extremely rare that slices of bread match the grams listed on the package, are you weighing them every time?
I'm sorry OP, but like many people who come here, I know you're trying to log with the best of intentions but you're not as accurate with your logging as you'd like to believe. I can guarantee you are eating much more than you think.15 -
Devices & calculators give calorie goals that are based on averages of groups of people in a research study. Most people are close to the average. (In statistical terms, the standard deviation is relatively small.) But a small number of people are farther from average (in either direction), and a very small number are quite far from average.
Is this part/all of what's going on with OP? I don't know. But what I do know is that a large fraction of the replies on this thread are implicitly assuming that calculators and devices give accurate calorie goals.
Calculators (including those built into devices) don't calculate. They estimate. Many estimates are correct, or close enough. Some are not.
If one meticulously adheres to a calorie estimate, and loss-rate results differ, it is not the results that are inaccurate. Could be the meticulousness, could be the adherence, could be the estimate.
https://examine.com/nutrition/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-people/
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OP, it's private on my end.0
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Maxematics wrote: »Danicandothis wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »Danicandothis wrote: »Are you eating your exercise calories back? Fitbit doesn't work for many people. Hey, it gave me the same calories for a 14km run as for a 14km walk! And the running was already too high by about 350kcal! Running burns more than twice the calories as normal walking. Thus please be careful if you're eating your exercise calories back.
I don't eat back any of my exercise calories
None of what you are saying makes any sense.
Please open your food diary here so we can take a peek and help you. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
at the bottom, click "Public."
Made it public.
Okay great. I just took a look at your logs for the past week and I have some questions.- You said you weigh your food right? How come you have entries like "1 medium apple", "1 bar", "1 tablespoon", "1 cup", "13 pieces", etc.?
- Entries for things like "Caprese", "egg, whole, cooked, fried, 1 large", and "Taco Pasta". Did you put that in yourself using the recipe builder or are you using random entries you find in the database?
- Your Nature's Own bread is 120 calories every time. It's extremely rare that slices of bread match the grams listed on the package, are you weighing them every time?
I'm sorry OP, but like many people who come here, I know you're trying to log with the best of intentions but you're not as accurate with your logging as you'd like to believe. I can guarantee you are eating much more than you think.
Yeah, I agree with this. Always 4 ounces of deli meat (that's the default package serving) always "pieces" or "cups."
But she is staying under her goal by quite a bit. My guess is 1. A lot of food is not getting logged (or logged incorrectly) or 2. There is a medical problem.
There should be weight loss if you've been eating like this consistently and you've been honest. If there is guessing going on, all bets are off.
Also, try to up your protein, it's really low. It's possible to lose weight eating most of the stuff you're eating, but get in basic nutrition while you're at it. Makes it much easier. I find it hard to believe you are eating that low on protein and with so many sweet carby things and are not hungrier since you're not even allowing for exercise calories.10 -
singingflutelady wrote: »scarlett_k wrote: »Are you eating your exercise calories back? Fitbit doesn't work for many people. Hey, it gave me the same calories for a 14km run as for a 14km walk! And the running was already too high by about 350kcal! Running burns more than twice the calories as normal walking. Thus please be careful if you're eating your exercise calories back.
You expend the same amount of calories whether you walk or run the same distance, so that isn't wrong, although the calories may be inaccurate.
No running burns quite a bit more than walking.
I was interested in this, as I also thought the burn was the same (there used to be an old healthy living advert here that said so). After briefly looking at it, it seems the difference isn't so much between running or walking, but about speed. The faster you walk, the more you burn per mile. Same with running. But at say 12min/mile, it seems like running and walking burn about the same.
As I say, just a quick Google, but interesting nonetheless. I have to say, it seems to me that any generalised calorie burn for running and walking could be quite far out, as it'll vary massively with weight, fitness and training. An experienced walker or runner with good form will burn much less per mile than someone who is overweight, unfit and clumping along any old how.5
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