Exercise and no weight loss

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RubinaKochar
RubinaKochar Posts: 43 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Over the past 8 years, I have tried to lose weight thrice and constantly struggled to maintain it. I create a caloric deficit and I lose weight but I feel that my muscle mass is very poor as I have almost never exercised on a regular basis for a long time. With this thought almost always lurking in my thoughts, I have tried to get to various types of exercises including walking, gym, home dvd workouts etc.
The problem is as soon as I start exercising, I stop losing weight and I get discouraged by exercise and I stop exercising thinking. I'll exercise when I have reached my happy weight. The longest I've lasted is 5 weeks in the gym doing 5 days of hard aerobics and weight lifting around 1-2 hrs a day. Didn't lose more than a pound in the entire weeks.
Please tell me why or at least prevent me for being discouraged to exercise this time.
I know the water retention concept but it can't be lasting more than a month. I need to start losing on the scale if I'm creating a 300 calorie deficit and not eating my exercise calories back..

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  • RubinaKochar
    RubinaKochar Posts: 43 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    How are you measuring your calorie intake? How are you measuring your calories burned from exercise? How much do you have to lose?

    I log everything I eat in here, I have a kitchen scale to weigh my food. I don't know how much I burn but I do not compensate my exercise in eating in any form. I eat 1300 calories a day. My tdee is 1650. I have 30ish pounds to lose.
    I was cutting calories for some time now and losing weight but I added workout a week ago and no loss this week. It's so disheartening.
  • RubinaKochar
    RubinaKochar Posts: 43 Member
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    mkculs wrote: »
    Once you are sure you are creating the deficit you think you are (by careful measuring), consider that you might be adding some muscle, especially since you notice this "stall" early into a fitness plan. It's not unusual for the scale to stop changing after a few weeks, but your size may get smaller b/c muscle has built up a bit even though you have lost some fat. Measure arms, thighs, waist, hips, etc., and see if those decrease when the scale stalls. And remember that plateau is a normal part of the process, so you need those "non-scale victories" (NSVs) to keep you motivated when the plateaus seem endless--measurements smaller, fitting into a smaller-sized outfit, etc.

    And remember, while they seem endless, plateaus are temporary--you just have to push through, being careful with weighing food, logging, exercising, etc., and having faith.

    I'll try to stick to the process and be diligent with my food weighing, measuring and logging. Therefore I'll atleast be sure I'm not making a diet related mistake!
  • RubinaKochar
    RubinaKochar Posts: 43 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    So one week without a loss? That's normal, whether it was caused by the increased exercise or not. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

    The thing is if I eliminate exercise from the equation, I lose like I should. But with exercise, the scale gets stuck.
  • RubinaKochar
    RubinaKochar Posts: 43 Member
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    SCoil123 wrote: »
    If your calorie deficit is 300 a day that’s close to what 1/2 lb per week goal would be. At 5 weeks you would expect to lose around 2 1/2-3lb if logging was 100% perfect, but with normal weight fluctuations from water, food intake, hormones, and time of day a loss that size could easily be masked. 1-2lb is a normal daily fluctuation.

    I'll hang in there and see how this goes.
  • RubinaKochar
    RubinaKochar Posts: 43 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    When I was losing at 0.5lbs a week there were **multiple occasions** when I weighed more on the last day of the month than I did on the first day of the month. And yet I was still losing weight at that rate.

    What matters is the weight trend, not the daily weight. And any two or three or five or even 10 weigh ins in a given month may be well above or below the trend.

    Most people fluctuate at least 2lbs. Many fluctuate 5 or more lbs. This is even more true of women. A half lb a week loss comes to 2.5lbs in a month and can be easily masked by a fluctuation.

    Thanks for the insight. I'll hang in there.
  • RubinaKochar
    RubinaKochar Posts: 43 Member
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    Thank you all for helping me stay the path at a vulnerable point. I'll keep exercising and I will be even more careful with eating. :)
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    To exercise while losing is a good thing and you shouldn't be thinking that you wont lose if you do exercise. If you stick with it, tracking your calories, keeping a calorie deficit and exercising it will pay off. It just takes time. Any so called 'gain' because you are new to exercise is only temporary, your body holds on to extra water to repair muscles, its normal but its not going to hinder your true loss. Use a weight trending app, track your weight and month on month the trend of loss should be downwards - and of course it will be if you are eating less than you burn, its the whole CICO (calories in/calories out) thing, and it works :smile:

    You mention going hard at the exercise, you don't have to even do that, 30 mins a day might be more appropriate. Doing too much too soon is sure fire way of setting yourself up to fail or for momentum to wane. Sometimes less is more.

    Be patient, count your calories and weight loss will happen.

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