Burning calories, exercising etc, but no weightloss?

It's actually pretty hard to gain muscle mass that makes a changenon the scale in the timespan of a week. More than likely, the sudden increase in activity is causing you muscles to retain water-- which is causing the gain. Keep yourself hydrated, keep on track with eating, keep exercising and you should see the scale go down next week.

I'm experiencing something similar in that I have never bothered to exercise while losing weight before, I've always just cut food. This time I'm doing 5 workouts a week and the weight loss is slower than ever. I thought the same about increasing muscle but when I mentioned it to my doc he said unless I was doing heavy duty weight training I wouldn't be building enough muscle to make a difference! So now I'm confused - which is right?

Hi! I lost weight quickly at first then stopped or even gained. You probably did plateau and what you need to do is make sure that you don't give up. Just keep eating your necessary calories and keep up the exercise and you will push past that plateau. My biggest problem with my weight is that I don't eat enough calories. That means that every time I do eat my body thinks it has to store it since it doesn't know when it will get food again. So you have to make sure you don't eat too little because you aren't losing. It also helps to do a different kind of cardio exercise now and then. Our bodies are designed to adapt so it will get used to one particular kind of cardio and you will level off from that, too, so change it up to keep your body guessing! There is a great book about that called "Sculptint Her Body Perfect" and it was written specifically for women. Hope this helps and keep going. You will get there!!! Good luck! :happy:

When I altered my excercise routine to be a bit more intense, I was either not losing weight at all or actually gaining. But, people were noticing I was losing weight and my clothes were getting loser even without pounds coming off. I definatley agree that it's probably a bit of muscle gain. Have you tried measuring as well as weighing in?

Hmm - I just looked at your diary, and I think you aren't getting enough nutrients when you exercise. Your body needs more than M&Ms and doritos to work out. It needs protein and some slightly more complex carbs that pure refined sugars. I am not a nutritionist or anything but I think you might have been putting your body in a kind of starvation mode -- not that you weren't eating enough pure calories, but that so many of your calories had little to no nutritional value.

For the record, after college I lost a LOT of weight - 20 - 30 pounds - eating basically a soy latte, a pack of madeline cookies, and a pastry or cheesecake. Probably like 1200 calories a day or less. (I was sleeping or vegetating a LOT so I didn't feel hungry beyond that stuff) I looked ok actually - I was 143 and had more fat to lose but I looked cute. But I would never have been able to get really slim because all I had on me was LESS fat.

You can lose weight eating 1200 calories of junk per day, but if you want to really look good you need to build strength and if you want to be healthy you need cardiovascular health. And I think you just cannot workout on junk food.

I am not anti-junk food, I love my treats and I lose weight eating potato chips (one ounce at a time and not every day) successfully. But since I have started working out seriously I have found that a) I need to eat a lot of protein and some carbs and b) I ALMOST look better now at 181 than I did at 143, seriously. I *WILL* look better at 170 or 165 than I did at 143, I am sure of it. Muscle looks SO much skinnier than fat does. Oh and I guess c) I'm never ever too tired to workout or go shopping or go to the zoo anymore. Sometimes I don't WANT to work out, but I'm never too tired anymore.

Thanks for that tip! I am actually attending Rosemary Conley classes and they give a special tape with little markers to chart your inch-loss progress so I am doing that but the inches aren't really changing either. Its quite annoying!

Has your non-exercise activity lowered?

you're eating a lot of processed food and junk food.

try changing to more healthy options like lean meats and veggies.

i also think MFP is probably over estimating the calories you burn. wii bowling and walking at a 2mph pace aren't really going to burn that many calories.

I don't often look at people's diary's, but I did just take a look at yours... and Wow... sweetie, that's a lot of junk. And you NEED to be eating breakfast every single day. It's what gets your metabolism going in the morning. It literally means "BREAK the FAST" - breakfast! Eat it. Every day.

I see you eating only two meals most days - lunch and dinner - with a junky snack thrown in. Try making some healthy substitutions... swap in almonds for the Doritos, raisins for the M&M's, grapes for the Skittles.

You are getting in adequate calories, but the nutrients are sorely lacking.

Congrats on your loss so far, but you really do need to treat your body right by fueling it properly.