Dropping calories and exercising and not losing weight issues

topsnowboarder01
topsnowboarder01 Posts: 1 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I excercise 5 times a week (cycling and peleton) i also practise 16 and 8 fasting and i have a calorie deficit of calories of around 500 cals per day but i`m not seeing any real weight loss...

I must admit i`m starting to thinks whats the point !!!

I have belly fat and thats it,i weigh 81 kgs so i`m not massively overweight but want to shift the belly fat.

Any advise welcome.

Replies

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    If you don't have a lot weight to lose it will be slow. So for how long are you trying to lose weight and how often (and when) do you use the bathroom scale? How tall are you? I assume you're male? Are you using a kitchen scale to track your food intake?
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    Could also still be water retention if they started exercising 2-3 weeks ago.
  • HillaryIsAJoy
    HillaryIsAJoy Posts: 11 Member
    I’m curious—you said you’re not seeing any real weight loss and you’re beginning to think what’s the point?

    What is the point? I mean that in the most compassionate way—remind yourself why you started. Actually answer the question—what is the point of this weight loss endeavor for you?
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,222 Member
    It can take a month to see results of fatloss on the scale. If no loss in that timeframe then you aren’t in a weekly calorie deficit.
  • williamsonmj1
    williamsonmj1 Posts: 85 Member
    The two main reasons why weight loss doesn't happen when you think you are doing everything right are (i) errors measuring calories, (ii) your metabolism 'slowing down' to compensate for reduced calorie input.

    What number (ii) looks like is that subconsciously you will just find yourself moving less. Without realizing it you will spend more time resting. When you at a desk you will get up less often. You will put off chores. You may fidget less. This is actually a huge deal because for most people the energy spent in the day on non-exercise movement and activity is a lot more than the energy spent in the day on exercise. So, e.g. your daily energy requirement might be, say, 1000 calories basal metabolic rate, 600 calories non-exercise energy expenditure and 400 calories energy expenditure. Mechanisms like the one I described just now could easily cause your non-exercise energy expenditure to drop from, say, 600 to 300. Now your 500 calorie deficit is 200, which is much smaller.

    One of the reasons why the '5,000 steps' or '10,000' steps thing is good is because it forces you to maintain a baseline of activity, and reduces the extent to which this may impact things. You should also look to do other things to make sure your non-energy exercise expenditure is not reducing- e.g. make a point of walking or cycling to work, make sure you aren't skipping chores etc.

    Another point is that if you are dieting severely and only doing cardio you will certainly be losing muscle mass. And so your basal metabolic rate will also be reducing. When you are dieting you should be trying to maintain your protein levels and do strength work to avoid loss of muscle mass.

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