Working out hard for two months with no loss!!

embree1978
embree1978 Posts: 2 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Working out hard 4 mornings a week for two months, and I've only gained a couple pounds. I need to lose weight so bad. I am not drinking water hardly and eating things I shouldn't. Why can I do good on one thing, but not the other? I'm only sabotaging myself. I need friends for support? And what's the best exercises to lose weight, especially in the abdominal area?

Replies

  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Two months isn't enough time to build muscle--it takes a lot longer. When you plugged your stats into MFP what daily calorie goal did you get? Are you weighing and measuring everything you eat and drink on a digital food scale? Are you within your goal everyday? If not, start there.
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,867 Member
    Well, you know what they say... you can't outrun a bad diet. Working out is absolutely vital for your wellbeing, fitness, stamina, muscle preservation while losing fat. For weightloss, however, you should be in a caloric deficit. In other words, what you eat < what you burn (at rest and through purposeful exercise).

    Get your stats in MFP. Select your goals (i.e. lose 1 lb per week) and activity level, without purposeful workouts - you'll log those separately. This gets you a number of cals which you should eat per day. Make sure you get enough protein and dietary fat. Weigh what you eat and log it accurately. Log workouts, and eat back the exercise calories (or maybe about 75% of those, since they are usually overestimated). Keep doing this. If you slip up one day, make up for it during the next days. Rinse, repeat.

    The muscle gains are probably less than you think for 2 months... it just doesn't get put on that fast. As far as muscle „weighs 3x more than fat”, that is completely wrong. First, a lb is a lb. And second, muscle is about 18% more dense than fat, and it burns marginally more at rest. However, it DOES make things look much better when it replaces fat :)

    Good luck!
  • jer029
    jer029 Posts: 10 Member
    edited November 2018
    r0wana3 is basically correct. I believe food is almost the only factor - not only what you eat but how much (portion control). For me, it's always been a matter of simple math (calories), and a lot of willpower of course. I would suspect that you're eating the right foods, but in the wrong portions and taking in too many calories.

    Simple math - eat more calories than you burn and you gain weight. Eat less calories than you burn and your body will burn fat to consume those calories burned because it can't find it in the current food being consumed.

    Measure everything and log it in the your myfitnesspal log and food diary. Watch the calorie count and keep it below what is recommended for your your age/height.

    As for exercise - besides keeping you toned and in good cardiovascular health, it helps expedite the calorie burning - and utlimately the weight loss. This is especially true if you don't treat those exercise calories burned as an excuse to eat more food, but to use that to drop your daily calorie intake even further than had you not exercised. I find it best to exercise after a light breakfast or lunch, when I'm feeling satisfied from a meal and feel like I have extra energy after eating.
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