Not losing weight like expected

timfenton2
timfenton2 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all. Looking for some advice based on MFP diary for why I am not losing weight/body fat. I workout fairly hard 5-6 days a week. Doing mostly HIIT style workouts for 20-30 minutes with some weight training mixed in. Have been on a whole 30 type diet for 9 days now and haven’t lost a pound. I have had a calorie deficit everyday since starting to track in mfp. Any advice appreciated.

Replies

  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    Did you just start the HIIT/weight training workouts as well? Those can cause slight water weight gain, which can mask any actual weight loss. It usually goes away in a few weeks.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Weight loss takes more time than that, you'll have to be in a calorie deficit, and you're probably retaining water from exercise.
  • timfenton2
    timfenton2 Posts: 5 Member
    thanks everyone. I've actually been on this type of workout routine for 2 years now. put on a few holiday pounds that just won't budge. does anyone have a macros ratio recommendation for an active workout regime? not really sure what to look for. is it possible I'm not eating enough? I will try to cut back on sodium, not something I've ever paid attention to.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I would assume you lost a little fat but it is being masked by the water retention in your muscles from the exercise you are doing. give it time and your body will adjust and you will see the scale move down, assuming you are in an actual deficit.
  • timfenton2
    timfenton2 Posts: 5 Member
    I am tracking everything, not weighing, but usually overestimating everything I enter. 1990 calorie goal.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Also, how tall are you and how much do you weigh? And I assume you're male?
  • pogiguy05
    pogiguy05 Posts: 1,583 Member
    Here is another I just started ??? days ago and have not seen any weight loss. The weight I have put on has been over 25+ years and I cannot expect it to just melt off.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    The most likely culprit by far and the first thing to look at when you're not losing as expected is in your calorie intake. Tighten up your logging. Start weighing solid foods on a scale. You might think you're overestimating, but the story of your actual results suggests otherwise. That's where you should start. Good luck!
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    Definately should weigh everything to get accurate results. You might be surprised. Also one thing I always wonder about are people who work out that put in active when calculating their required calories then also eat back exercise calories. I might be wrong but I really think the activity level is more for your daily activity for example someone who waitresses would be more active than someone who sits at a desk all day. I walk for exercise but use sedentary then eat back part of my step calories. This way I'm only counting the exercise burn once. Just my opinion.
  • timfenton2
    timfenton2 Posts: 5 Member
    5'9"
    181lbs
  • paxbfl
    paxbfl Posts: 391 Member
    Remember, ultimately it comes down to the math - calories in and calories burned. HIIT is great for weight-loss, but only if you're burning enough calories. Your intensity matters a lot! 20-30 minutes is ok if you're really pushing yourself and getting your heart-rate up. I'm a little unsure what you mean by "weight-training mixed in". If your total workout is 20-30 minutes that includes HIIT and lifting, I'd say you're not working out long enough or hard enough. At least that wouldn't get it done for me. When I do HIIT for 30 minutes, I'm literally shaking with exhaustion when I step off the elliptical or treadmill. Sometimes I'll go even longer but I ramp back the intensity a little - otherwise I wouldn't be able to finish.

    Also consider mixing in a long, slow burn (45 minute to an hour or more) once a week for a really good calorie burn. I usually do this on Saturday mornings to kick off my weekend on the right track. In a little over an hour I can burn about 1,000 calories on the elliptical (measured with a HRM, not the machine itself). This really helps move the scale in the right direction. Good luck!
  • timfenton2
    timfenton2 Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks. what I meant is that I do HIIT with weights and also 2xs a week I will do an additional weight lifting routine with a cardio of some sort. that's usually a 45-60 minute day. my HIITs are like :45 on and :15 off of exercises like rowing, KB swings, box jumps, pull ups, burpees, battle ropes... for 25-45 minutes. been using the Nike+ training app for some workouts as well, usually sticking to the 30-47 minute workouts. usually pretty smoked at the end of my workouts. I just ordered a chest HRM, hopefully that will shed more light on my actual calorie burn.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    9 days isn't enough time ... 4 weeks would let you see progress of some sort.
  • paxbfl
    paxbfl Posts: 391 Member
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    Regret to inform you that unless you weigh over 300 lbs you're not burning anything like those calorie estimates.

    That's from my HRM, not the treadmill/elliptical. The machines read quite a bit higher. I am a big guy, not over 300 though. I push myself hard and get my heart rate pretty high (upper 140s, which for my age is around 85% of my max heart rate).

    Regardless, even if those numbers are a little high, I'm eating right around my TDEE before exercise - so whatever calories I do burn goes to burning fat. Generally, I don't eat those calories back. So the weight is coming off for me with that level of exercise.

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    timfenton2 wrote: »
    Thanks. what I meant is that I do HIIT with weights and also 2xs a week I will do an additional weight lifting routine with a cardio of some sort. that's usually a 45-60 minute day. my HIITs are like :45 on and :15 off of exercises like rowing, KB swings, box jumps, pull ups, burpees, battle ropes... for 25-45 minutes. been using the Nike+ training app for some workouts as well, usually sticking to the 30-47 minute workouts. usually pretty smoked at the end of my workouts. I just ordered a chest HRM, hopefully that will shed more light on my actual calorie burn.

    Sounds like you need a food scale and a properly designed program. Don't just make up your own program, either get an experienced trainer or look at beginner programs such as stronglifts or starting strength.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    edited January 2018
    paxbfl wrote: »
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    Regret to inform you that unless you weigh over 300 lbs you're not burning anything like those calorie estimates.

    That's from my HRM, not the treadmill/elliptical. The machines read quite a bit higher. I am a big guy, not over 300 though. I push myself hard and get my heart rate pretty high (upper 140s, which for my age is around 85% of my max heart rate).

    Regardless, even if those numbers are a little high, I'm eating right around my TDEE before exercise - so whatever calories I do burn goes to burning fat. Generally, I don't eat those calories back. So the weight is coming off for me with that level of exercise.

    HRMs don't measure calories burned. they measure HR. Many watched us that info to estimate calories burned based avg HR vs your Mac HR to estimate oxygen uptake, but they are only good estimates under certain circumstances and inputs are correct. Better estimate if you put in your Height, weight, age, adjusted max hr to match your real max hr, not the 220-age number, even better if you can adjust V02Max. then if all those are correct, the estimate would be pretty good for steady state cardio. any other type of activity (intervals, HIIT, strength training) will be way off.
  • paxbfl
    paxbfl Posts: 391 Member
    erickirb wrote: »
    HRMs don't measure calories burned. they measure HR. Many watched us that info to estimate calories burned based avg HR vs your Mac HR to estimate oxygen uptake, but they are only good estimates under certain circumstances and inputs are correct. Better estimate if you put in your Height, weight, age, adjusted max hr to match your real max hr, not the 220-age number, even better if you can adjust V02Max. then if all those are correct, the estimate would be pretty good for steady state cardio. any other type of activity (intervals, HIIT, strength training) will be way off.

    Thanks for the advice about "adjusted max hr" - I always used the 220-age number which I'm now reading is probably wrong (and I always suspected it was wrong because I can reach 90% of that number way too easily).

    I think we both have the same philosophy, which is that you should push yourself - and most people probably don't push themselves hard enough (and therefore don't burn the calories they could). I've always used the HRM more as a gauge to how hard I'm working (even if the calorie counts aren't quite right) - comparing one workout to another to see how they measure up.

    This was my point to the OP - the workout he described sounds decent but you have no idea what the intensity is. The formulas and HRM aren't perfect but at least they give you some idea of the level of effort and (probably inaccurately) the calories burned.

  • DebLaBounty
    DebLaBounty Posts: 1,169 Member
    The cheap food scale I started using made success possible for me. I was eyeballing portions of cheese, for example, and found I was grossly underestimate how big a piece equaled one ounce. It was an eye opener.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    OP you don't have much weight to lose, so the most you should be expecting is @ 1 lb per week. It's very easy for 1 lb loss to hide behind normal day to day weight fluctuations. A lot of what you are worrying about is just noise. Be more patient, get a food scale, and hang in there :)

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