Run 4x/week for 2 months - No improvement
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swagoner94
Posts: 220 Member
I'm confused.
On December 28th, I decided - starting from a fairly sedentary lifestyle - that I would start to run. I didn't have a weight loss goal in mind or even a distance/pace goal in mind. It started as simply a goal to run. Eventually I added more parameters: I want to run at least 4 times a week... no end date.
It's now February 16th, and I haven't failed to do this for any week. I use the Nike+ Run Club to do guided speed workouts/long runs. They're super helpful and I like to hit certain points where I think, "If I weren't on a guided run, I'd be walking or ending this run right now."
I started out in December at 158lbs. That's dangerously close to my highest weight.
So, two months of running 4 times a week and I'm.......
158.4
How does that make sense? No, my diet isn't poor. It can always be better, but caloric intake has been lower than burned. Ever since getting a FitBit I've in general been more active than before and I'm regularly working out. Even if my diet was poor... It still shouldn't just be maintaining my weight. I was at 158 and holding prior to working out at all!
On December 28th, I decided - starting from a fairly sedentary lifestyle - that I would start to run. I didn't have a weight loss goal in mind or even a distance/pace goal in mind. It started as simply a goal to run. Eventually I added more parameters: I want to run at least 4 times a week... no end date.
It's now February 16th, and I haven't failed to do this for any week. I use the Nike+ Run Club to do guided speed workouts/long runs. They're super helpful and I like to hit certain points where I think, "If I weren't on a guided run, I'd be walking or ending this run right now."
I started out in December at 158lbs. That's dangerously close to my highest weight.
So, two months of running 4 times a week and I'm.......
158.4
How does that make sense? No, my diet isn't poor. It can always be better, but caloric intake has been lower than burned. Ever since getting a FitBit I've in general been more active than before and I'm regularly working out. Even if my diet was poor... It still shouldn't just be maintaining my weight. I was at 158 and holding prior to working out at all!
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Replies
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How many calories are you eating a day? Are you counting calories carefully? Do you use a food scale to weigh everything?1
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Are you actually logging or otherwise tracking calories. It's fairly common for people to start exercising and subconsciously eat more...it really doesn't take that much more calorie wise to void exercise calories burned and that's usually why people think they're eating the same...they're eating a little more, but it's not super noticeable so they don't realize they're doing it.
If you're maintaining, you're eating maintenance calories.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Are you actually logging or otherwise tracking calories. It's fairly common for people to start exercising and subconsciously eat more...it really doesn't take that much more calorie wise to void exercise calories burned and that's usually why people think they're eating the same...they're eating a little more, but it's not super noticeable so they don't realize they're doing it.
If you're maintaining, you're eating maintenance calories.
I typically track my calories within the FitBit app itself. To @Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink, I'm not logging religiously - I did used to do this even if I took a bite of something. And I don't use a food scale.
I also go off of my FitBit's calorie gauge. So rather than say, 1,200 strictly, I more so focus on consume less than I've burned in the day's course - which is almost always in the 1200 - 1400 range.
In the last two weeks, I've been trying intermittent fasting to see if it would budge the scale - it hasn't. Really, I'm eating two meals a day lately. Dinner is healthy and nutrient rich 9/10 times. Lunch is a coin toss because I don't bring food to work usually and I'm at the mercy of what foods are available in the breakroom (not much).1 -
Sometimes when people start a new exercise program, it makes them subtly hungrier. Not OMG I'm starving, just a little bit. And if you aren't carefully weighing/measuring portions, you could be subtly eating just enough more to offset the extra calories you're burning.
If you aren't using a food scale, that's where I'd start. Even just a couple of weeks using it will get your portions back in line.
Alternatively, are you eating back your exercise calories? If so, it's possible that either Fitbit or MFP are over-estimating the calories burned, and you are eating a little too much.
Congrats on sticking to your schedule! It can take some time and tweaking to get your food and exercise working together to get the scale moving to where you want, but you'll get there :drinker:
ETA after reading your response: calories are king for weight loss, regardless of eating healthy or meal timing. I'd bet focusing more on your logging will get you moving in the right direction!1 -
Your issue is that you aren't tracking well. A good rule of thumb is to halve whatever calorie estimate that a tracking app gives you, and you definitely need to be tracking everything you eat with MyFitnessPal - weight loss is 90% diet, 10% exercise.0
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I mean.. I don't think the only people that ever lose weight are calorie counters. I've logged religiously enough in the past to have a pretty accurate understanding of how many calories I'm consuming and I'm nearly certain that I'm not exceed what I burn. In fact, there are days where I'm sure I'm under eating! At 4 times a week running 3+ miles of sprints at 30+ minutes... It just sounds doubtful to me that that's my issue.5
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swagoner94 wrote: »I mean.. I don't think the only people that ever lose weight are calorie counters. I've logged religiously enough in the past to have a pretty accurate understanding of how many calories I'm consuming and I'm nearly certain that I'm not exceed what I burn. In fact, there are days where I'm sure I'm under eating! At 4 times a week running 3+ miles of sprints at 30+ minutes... It just sounds doubtful to me that that's my issue.
No, calorie counting is not required for weight loss. But weight is lost when we eat fewer calories than our bodies use over the course of a day. Short of manipulating water weight or seeking medical treatment for something, that's the only way we lose weight. So if you haven't lost weight over a period of time (we usually say 3 weeks just to rule out things like ovulation or increased exercise leading to water retention) then you're eating more than your body burns. How you choose to correct that is up to you.6 -
Congrats starting your running habit! My wife loves to run as well... me, less so but I do run from time to time. Just like your goal to start running takes planning and effort, so too will a goal of losing weight. From an energy balance standpoint, regardless of exercise, if you're not losing weight than energy input = energy output. Start logging well, get a food scale to log accurately, eat at a deficit, and you'll lose weight. I suggest not setting a calorie goal right off the bat since you've effectively found your maintenance level at your current activity. Get 2-3 weeks of good solid calorie data and cut back from that requisite to the amount of weight you have to lose and a loss rate at which that will support. You can keep trying to do IF if you want, I losely follow a 16:8 protocol and find it easier to plan for two meals instead of three and like being able to eat more for dinners, just know it's not going to magically cause weight loss if you're still eating too many calories.
Good luck pounding the pavement!1 -
Do you come home and just splurge on a big meal because you finished a run? Could be that.0
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swagoner94 wrote: »I mean.. I don't think the only people that ever lose weight are calorie counters. I've logged religiously enough in the past to have a pretty accurate understanding of how many calories I'm consuming and I'm nearly certain that I'm not exceed what I burn. In fact, there are days where I'm sure I'm under eating! At 4 times a week running 3+ miles of sprints at 30+ minutes... It just sounds doubtful to me that that's my issue.
I don't calorie count and I'm cutting my winter weight at the moment...I'm pretty good at guestimating my calories, but when I need to cut weight I generally have to make some modifications regardless of what I think I'm eating.
The bottom line is that if you're maintaining, you're eating maintenance calories...that's the nature of the beast.2 -
Just wondering....how are your clothes fitting....any change there?
With your increased activity, you may be swapping weight lost for muscle which is heavier than fat.
As your body changes, your clothes may show where/how its changing.
Keep it up!
PS....I highly recommend using a food scale, eating something for breakfast (plain yogurt for me), taking my lunch to work, and being sure that I get as much protein as I can.1 -
Congrats starting your running habit! My wife loves to run as well... me, less so but I do run from time to time. Just like your goal to start running takes planning and effort, so too will a goal of losing weight. From an energy balance standpoint, regardless of exercise, if you're not losing weight than energy input = energy output. Start logging well, get a food scale to log accurately, eat at a deficit, and you'll lose weight. I suggest not setting a calorie goal right off the bat since you've effectively found your maintenance level at your current activity. Get 2-3 weeks of good solid calorie data and cut back from that requisite to the amount of weight you have to lose and a loss rate at which that will support. You can keep trying to do IF if you want, I losely follow a 16:8 protocol and find it easier to plan for two meals instead of three and like being able to eat more for dinners, just know it's not going to magically cause weight loss if you're still eating too many calories.
Good luck pounding the pavement!
EDIT: I creeped on the pictures on your profile, and it doesn't look like you have much weight to lose so it may take more of an overhaul of your diet to make significant physique changes. Depending on your aesthetic goals you may also be better served starting resistance training rather than just doing cardio.0 -
Running doesn't actually burn massive amounts...
Bodyweight x 0.63 x distance in miles
So 30 minutes of running 4x a week isn't burning millions of calories, add in the runger, inaccurate logging and it's easy not to lose...5 -
tirowow12385 wrote: »Do you come home and just splurge on a big meal because you finished a run? Could be that.
Nope! I don't even keep snacks at home. I run midday at work. Usually I eat a sandwich or some kind of bar. That's it. Until I get home and my lovely sister who works from home usually has cooked dinner. She's pretty healthy and a vegetarian so it's almost always a huge salad or some kind of quinoa type dish.1 -
I agree with the above but I'll say this too... you only gave us 2 data points. If you're not logging your food, we don't know your expected rate of loss. If it's .5lb a week you're going for then this week could just be masking water weight due to TOM or a high sodium meal.
8 weeks at .5lb a week would be 4lb loss. When I eat pizza, I easily can be up 3-5lbs the next day although it's not fat. If you're really serious about losing weight, you'll need to capture a trend versus just comparing two data points.
But a healthy diet can still mean you're consuming more calories than think. So take out that food scale!3 -
rhondawroberts wrote: »Just wondering....how are your clothes fitting....any change there?
With your increased activity, you may be swapping weight lost for muscle which is heavier than fat.
As your body changes, your clothes may show where/how its changing.
Keep it up!
PS....I highly recommend using a food scale, eating something for breakfast (plain yogurt for me), taking my lunch to work, and being sure that I get as much protein as I can.
Thanks for the tip! My clothes fit about the same or slightly larger. I normally buy a large pair of workout pants from Fabletics. My recent order of large pants were falling off of me on the treadmill! But that could simply just be because it's different material than some of the other pants I've purchased.0 -
Congrats starting your running habit! My wife loves to run as well... me, less so but I do run from time to time. Just like your goal to start running takes planning and effort, so too will a goal of losing weight. From an energy balance standpoint, regardless of exercise, if you're not losing weight than energy input = energy output. Start logging well, get a food scale to log accurately, eat at a deficit, and you'll lose weight. I suggest not setting a calorie goal right off the bat since you've effectively found your maintenance level at your current activity. Get 2-3 weeks of good solid calorie data and cut back from that requisite to the amount of weight you have to lose and a loss rate at which that will support. You can keep trying to do IF if you want, I losely follow a 16:8 protocol and find it easier to plan for two meals instead of three and like being able to eat more for dinners, just know it's not going to magically cause weight loss if you're still eating too many calories.
Good luck pounding the pavement!
EDIT: I creeped on the pictures on your profile, and it doesn't look like you have much weight to lose so it may take more of an overhaul of your diet to make significant physique changes. Depending on your aesthetic goals you may also be better served starting resistance training rather than just doing cardio.
Very insightful, thank you! And I'm glad you creeped because it clearly influenced the kind of tips you suggested! I have been thinking I might need to back off on some of the running and add in some sort of strength element.0 -
Fitbit straight up overestimates calorie burns. A lot. I've had to disconnect mine.2
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swagoner94 wrote: »I mean.. I don't think the only people that ever lose weight are calorie counters. I've logged religiously enough in the past to have a pretty accurate understanding of how many calories I'm consuming and I'm nearly certain that I'm not exceed what I burn. In fact, there are days where I'm sure I'm under eating! At 4 times a week running 3+ miles of sprints at 30+ minutes... It just sounds doubtful to me that that's my issue.
If you are managing to eat exactly the same as you always have by eyeballing portions, then for some reason your TDEE has gone down rather than up. Regardless, if you'd like to lose weight, you need to eat less or burn more. The easiest way to figure it out is to log more accurately, but if you don't want to do that, then you need to find a different way to get into a calorie deficit.
One of the reasons people tend to gain back lost weight is because when you stop paying as much attention, your consumption slowly increases over time, not enough to notice but enough that over time you gain a lb here and a lb there. Saying you are subtly eating more without realizing it isn't a criticism, it's just what often happens. I personally know that I will spend several weeks over the course of each year weighing and accurately logging, probably for the rest of my life, or I start to veer off track. Whatever you decide to do, best of luck.2 -
swagoner94 wrote: »I mean.. I don't think the only people that ever lose weight are calorie counters. I've logged religiously enough in the past to have a pretty accurate understanding of how many calories I'm consuming and I'm nearly certain that I'm not exceed what I burn. In fact, there are days where I'm sure I'm under eating! At 4 times a week running 3+ miles of sprints at 30+ minutes... It just sounds doubtful to me that that's my issue.
If you are managing to eat exactly the same as you always have by eyeballing portions, then for some reason your TDEE has gone down rather than up. Regardless, if you'd like to lose weight, you need to eat less or burn more. The easiest way to figure it out is to log more accurately, but if you don't want to do that, then you need to find a different way to get into a calorie deficit.
One of the reasons people tend to gain back lost weight is because when you stop paying as much attention, your consumption slowly increases over time, not enough to notice but enough that over time you gain a lb here and a lb there. Saying you are subtly eating more without realizing it isn't a criticism, it's just what often happens. I personally know that I will spend several weeks over the course of each year weighing and accurately logging, probably for the rest of my life, or I start to veer off track. Whatever you decide to do, best of luck.
That makes sense. I've gone in and out of regularly logging and have noticed a similar trend.1
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