2 hrs of workout no loss?
Foodorlife
Posts: 111 Member
Brief explanation, I am 265 lbs, have very sedentary life(3k steps max), recently started hard core exercise and clean food(about 85-90% clean), count my calories. I do an hour on elliptical, then about 20 mins weights and finish with an hour of treadmill fast walking. I do not eat the calories I burn back . I have my own way of counting, I would rather undercount than over, ex.I do not enter my weight and work with generic numbers, so if elliptical tells me I supposedly lost 700 cals I log 400 as burned .
So for past 5 days I've been going daily and .... lost only .3 of a pound! How is that possible? I totally "flipped" my life upside down and this is the result? I must be doing something wrong but I eat regular food, will open my diary if anyone wants to check it....what you think is going on?
P.S. Also I sleep in until 10-11 sometimes so that's why sometimes I have skipped meals.
So for past 5 days I've been going daily and .... lost only .3 of a pound! How is that possible? I totally "flipped" my life upside down and this is the result? I must be doing something wrong but I eat regular food, will open my diary if anyone wants to check it....what you think is going on?
P.S. Also I sleep in until 10-11 sometimes so that's why sometimes I have skipped meals.
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Replies
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Five days is not a plateau, especially if you are losing. Most likely you're retaining water from starting a new exercise routine.27
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It's only been 5 days. Give your body a little time to catch up with all the changes you've made :flowerforyou:15
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diannethegeek wrote: »It's only been 5 days. Give your body a little time to catch up with all the changes you've made :flowerforyou:
I have been eating "weight loss style" since the 2nd though, I only now incorporated the workout and all of a sudden weight loss stopped.Five days is not a plateau, especially if you are losing. Most likely you're retaining water from starting a new exercise routine.
Hmm, interesting, you can retain water from exercise?5 -
5 days isn't really flipping your life. It's 5 days. What were you expecting to happen in 5 days?24
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Foodorlife wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »It's only been 5 days. Give your body a little time to catch up with all the changes you've made :flowerforyou:
I have been eating "weight loss style" since the 2nd though, I only now incorporated the workout and all of a sudden weight loss stopped.Five days is not a plateau, especially if you are losing. Most likely you're retaining water from starting a new exercise routine.
Hmm, interesting, you can retain water from exercise?
You retain water for muscle repair. It can be quite a lot of water, in fact. Are you sore? Because that's a good (though not absolute) indicator that you're retaining fluid for this purpose.17 -
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Foodorlife wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »It's only been 5 days. Give your body a little time to catch up with all the changes you've made :flowerforyou:
I have been eating "weight loss style" since the 2nd though, I only now incorporated the workout and all of a sudden weight loss stopped.Five days is not a plateau, especially if you are losing. Most likely you're retaining water from starting a new exercise routine.
Hmm, interesting, you can retain water from exercise?
Your body floods sore muscles with extra fluid to help cushion and repair them. It can disguise weight loss for a few weeks until you get used to the new routine. It's always a good idea to wait 2-3 weeks after making changes to your exercise routine before assessing whether or not they're working13 -
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5 days isn't really flipping your life. It's 5 days. What were you expecting to happen in 5 days?
Let me explain, I did 2 weeks of cutting calories and absolutely zero activity and bam! 5 lbs gone each week, here I am doing everything the same eating wise and MAJORLY incorporated exercise. I mean, don't you see why I am confused?
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Foodorlife wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »It's only been 5 days. Give your body a little time to catch up with all the changes you've made :flowerforyou:
I have been eating "weight loss style" since the 2nd though, I only now incorporated the workout and all of a sudden weight loss stopped.Five days is not a plateau, especially if you are losing. Most likely you're retaining water from starting a new exercise routine.
Hmm, interesting, you can retain water from exercise?
Yes. I am always up at least a pound, often more, after a run. After a half marathon? Easily five.7 -
Foodorlife wrote: »5 days isn't really flipping your life. It's 5 days. What were you expecting to happen in 5 days?
Let me explain, I did 2 weeks of cutting calories and absolutely zero activity and bam! 5 lbs gone each week, here I am doing everything the same eating wise and MAJORLY incorporated exercise. I mean, don't you see why I am confused?
No, I don't. Weight fluctuations happen. Increasing exercise means increasing water retention. It'll hang around for a while and hide any losses that you might have.
Besides: A 5-pound loss per week, unless you weigh 500 pounds, is not a reasonable expectation.
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Foodorlife wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »It's only been 5 days. Give your body a little time to catch up with all the changes you've made :flowerforyou:
I have been eating "weight loss style" since the 2nd though, I only now incorporated the workout and all of a sudden weight loss stopped.Five days is not a plateau, especially if you are losing. Most likely you're retaining water from starting a new exercise routine.
Hmm, interesting, you can retain water from exercise?
Yes. Also from sodium and carb intake, your menstrual cycle, stress, lack of sleep, etc. You aren't going to lose weight every single day, or even every week. Look at the long term trend rather than what's going on right now. If you do weigh every day, you may want to look into downloading a weight trending app that will let you see past these fluctuations.13 -
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diannethegeek wrote: »Foodorlife wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »It's only been 5 days. Give your body a little time to catch up with all the changes you've made :flowerforyou:
I have been eating "weight loss style" since the 2nd though, I only now incorporated the workout and all of a sudden weight loss stopped.Five days is not a plateau, especially if you are losing. Most likely you're retaining water from starting a new exercise routine.
Hmm, interesting, you can retain water from exercise?
Your body floods sore muscles with extra fluid to help cushion and repair them. It can disguise weight loss for a few weeks until you get used to the new routine. It's always a good idea to wait 2-3 weeks after making changes to your exercise routine before assessing whether or not they're working
I'll keep trying. Thanks.
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Foodorlife wrote: »5 days isn't really flipping your life. It's 5 days. What were you expecting to happen in 5 days?
Let me explain, I did 2 weeks of cutting calories and absolutely zero activity and bam! 5 lbs gone each week, here I am doing everything the same eating wise and MAJORLY incorporated exercise. I mean, don't you see why I am confused?
I totally understand your confusion. Cutting calories lets you burn fat and you can see that on the scale. Exercise can up your calorie burn and will help with overall fitness, but new exercise almost always leads to water retention for a few days. Keep it up, and in a couple days you're likely to see a whoosh as your muscles recover and drop the protective water and thus the subsequent weight.
If it makes you feel any better, I just recently started squatting again and my thighs retained so much water those first 2 days that my work pants were tight. Pants that that otherwise loose in the thighs! They're back to normal now though
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diannethegeek wrote: »
Just came here to post that link, you beat me to it.
OP, exercise doesn't make you stop losing weight. But it can make you retain water/glycogen (and many other things can affect your scale reading too, as outlined in the thread linked above).0 -
Thaks yall! I truly didn't know about the water retention due to exercise. I thought that it would be the opposite as you sweat out. Thanks for explaining it to me
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Last time I started to exercise regularly (almost everyday) the water stuck for a whole month. Then I had to stop exercising for health reasons and on the third day dropped 3lbs overnight, which for me is alot (I'm around 135lbs and lose 1-2lbs a month tops).
So be very, very patient and trust the science.4 -
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If you only just started calorie counting/restricting a few weeks ago, that explains the quick loss. It is normal to lose pretty quickly in the first few weeks, because you are losing mostly water weight. It is not realistic to expect that quick rate of loss to continue past the first week or two.
How many calories are you consuming, compared to your TDEE? What rate of loss have you selected on my fitness pal? THAT is the rate of loss you should expect, and chances are it’s only about a lb a week.
And even then, you can’t expect to lose *exactly* that amount each week. Maybe you don’t lose any weight one week, then you lose 2 lbs the next week.
I invite you to start using a weight trending app like Happy Scale or Libra. That has helped me focus more on the big picture than the little fluctuations.
Remember, you’re in it for the long haul. Noticeable change happens over months and years, not days.5 -
Its 5 days...that's not enough time. Have patience.0
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I’m not sure you’re going to have as much success by using general numbers. Weight loss via diet is simple math and if you aren’t inputting the numbers correctly then it won’t work out. Yes the machines tend to be off on their calorie counts though so some recommend putting it in on MFP and only eating 2/2-2/3 back. Your exercise regiment seems unsustainable. 2 hours a day will exhaust you esp as someone who is new to it. Weights are great and then 30-45 minutes of cardio 3/5x a week. Fat loss comes from a caloric deficit achieved through diet and/or cardio. But you can overdo the cardio and over stress your body increasing cortisone. Weight training will help you maintain your lean body mass. I suggest you read the stickies on here to get started. Best of luck. Slow weight loss tends to be more successful over time.6
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Trust MFP - enter your weight, sedentary lifestyle and to lose 1lbs per week. Eat that amount then eat back at least half of your exercise calories. Weigh your food on a food scale and continue to eat "clean" if that works for you. I enjoy jogging and do so at least 4 times a week. When I take a break from exercise for 2 day that is when I drop weight on the scale. I retain water when I run daily. Hope this helps.1
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Foodorlife wrote: »
Let me explain, I did 2 weeks of cutting calories and absolutely zero activity and bam! 5 lbs gone each week, here I am doing everything the same eating wise and MAJORLY incorporated exercise. I mean, don't you see why I am confused?5 days isn't really flipping your life. It's 5 days. What were you expecting to happen in 5 days?
Congratulations on your losses and starting a fitness program! I understand your frustration. Weight loss is largely math. I know we all hate math but it is just about calories ingested vs. calories burned. If you plug your stats into a BMR calculator you will get an estimate of what your body needs just to exist. I don't know your height or age so I did a really unscientific estimate and came up with 1930. Remember that I guessed you are female, 40 and 5'6" tall. This could be way off. If you exercise at 400 calories a day that means to maintain your weight you need 2330 calories a day. If you are eating 1200 only you save 7910 a week which at 3500 for a pound works out to 2.26 pounds lost a week. So if you lost 5 pounds a week you might have lost some water which is very normal at the beginning of a weight loss program of any sort. There are scientific reasons for that but I am not going to try to explain it since I'm not a scientist. Now eventually the water level in your body adjusts and your fat loss although it continues is masked. Adding exercise will cause you to retain some additional water as explained already. Keep going kiddo you are doing great! Don't depend only on the scale it lies sometimes. Your weight loss will catch up and you will be so glad you didn't quit.
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Foodorlife wrote: »5 days isn't really flipping your life. It's 5 days. What were you expecting to happen in 5 days?
Let me explain, I did 2 weeks of cutting calories and absolutely zero activity and bam! 5 lbs gone each week, here I am doing everything the same eating wise and MAJORLY incorporated exercise. I mean, don't you see why I am confused?
That loss was most likely water weight lost. Now, exercise is needing the water and your muscles are using it, not shedding it. relax.1 -
You defiantly are retaining water with new exercise. You may also be retaining water because of stress. You seem to be eating only 1500 calories. Eat back a few of those exercise calories and don't rush things so much. Use a trending app for your weight as mentioned are try for 1.5 to 2lbs per week. 5lbs/week, although likely was some water weight is not sustainable.0
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Thanks for all responses, I am not new to work out or eating better, last year I lost 25 lbs without gym or very very light exercise (but through out years I've done various exercises: pilates, bodyflex, regular squats/crunches/etc., elliptical). However, I am new to working out intensively, but you've explained why it takes time I get it. 4
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You'll get there And hey, keep up with this and I'm sure you can change your username to something more positive, once you found out how to eat food you like (in moderation) and life well. 1
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Trust the process. Also, find a few other ways of tracking any losses. For example, I'd highly recommend taking weekly measurements of several areas of your body, plus take front, back and side photos in similar outfits and stances.
An example of why this is so important - this last week, the scale didn't budge an inch from where it was last week for me. Not even 0.1 pound down. My measurements, however, showed I lost 1/4" off ALL of the areas where I have fat to lose (my body stores fat in a very "apple" shape, but I have a few measurements I track for muscle gain as well, especially in my atrophied leg).
The measurements showed things were working, even if the scale didn't. Scales are fickle. You need a few data points.1 -
Finally got a shift! -.5 lbs8
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