I'm working out properly but not losing weight

I had a similar problem. Nutrition matters more than exercise. The most effective diet I found can be read here http://teamripped.com/my-nutritionsupplements/my-sample-diet

Well holy moly, I just looked at your diet and 2500cals a day could be one of your problems. Although I'm not sure what your workout cals vs. your regular calorie allowance a day is. But 2500cals and only 4 glasses of water per day could be part of your problem. Just a suggestion.

I agree that you're eating way too many calories. You need to reduce your calorie intake. One thing that MFP did for me was put me on 1700 cals per day. I did not lose weight on that cal count. I made it 1300 cals per day and I lost weight. I also do a lot of exercise and cardio. BTW, I would suggest adding cardio in on the days that you do your strength training. Now my 1300 cals per day does not include the extra cals I get from doing a workout, that's extra but I try to keep it in the 1500 range when I do work out (which is most of the time).

i am in a body fat loss contest right now so i have been really trying hard to research and talk to folks in regard to what do i eat and drink that will help me accomplish my goal... based on my research, what has worked for me in the past and what successful trainers have told me water is key in helping to lose body fat .. its also the one thing we all dread to drink.. i simmer four green tea bags in the morning and pour it into a gallon jug of water and add a half of squeezed lemon to it..i drink that baby all day long as much as possible . green tea and lemon juice is noted to help battle body fat.. i am seeing if that is true now.. first week of march we will see but so far so good

also for food i read some of your menus and personally i think you eat way too much fat in your diet. try to cut out the condiments . try to eat more fresh food. research food that cuts down body fat and you will find a list out there .. i eat protein and a good carb every morning. i typically stick to plain oatmeal with cinnamon and a double egge white omelet with veggies ,herbs and no cheese. sometimes i have a bagel thin breakfast sandwich using the omelet. other times just a protein shake..i prefer myoplex lite in the morning .sometimes i put plain whey in my oatmeal .. it varies

i also have found that eating smaller meals six times a day helps too.. for me it works anyway. keeping that body metabolism is hard to do but eating those smaller meals more times a day seems to work . its what my trainer does too and he is 5% body fat coming from 35% body fat at one time in his life so im inclined to take his suggestion.

food with good fat in it contains omega 3s.. mayo is not good and neither is butter ..although i indulge rarely now in that. i take flax seed pills with omega 3s and ALA .. my trainer said that 1500mg of ala a day is good for you so i take that to substitute for the fat i dont eat

lean meats and fish is the way to go. for awhile stay away from processed food. some people say processed food is fine ,but for me i just cant lose weight or body fat eating it besides it is loaded with sodium.

are you digesting the proper nutrients before and after workouts? thats really important to do .

hope this helps ..good luck and keep moving forward!!!

I've been working out now since September. I go to the gym at the very least 3 times a week, usually 4 or 5 times, sometimes even more.

I spend most of my time lifting weights via the smith machines, doing medium weight for a medium amount of sets/reps (around 3 sets of 15 reps, with a weight to match that). I do these in a circuit with minimal rest inbetween to keep my heart rate high and my blood pumping.

I also do some cardio (though perhaps not as much as I should, but at least 15 minutes per gym session). Mostly I do this in interval training, so I'll sprint for a minute then jog/powerwalk for 2 mins, or do the equivalent on the bike.

From everything I read in Men's Health every month, as far as I can tell this is an almost perfect workout regime for fat loss. It's designed from the ground up to not only burn calories in the gym, but also get the metabolism boosted through resistance work to keep burning calories over the next 48 hours. It's pretty much in keeping with all the latest research I think

Why am I not losing weight? I've gone from 227lbs to 244lbs in that 3 months. I've gained 17lbs.

I'm well aware that of course muscle is heavier than fat so all the resistance work I'm doing has led to me gaining muscle and therefore gaining weight. Of the 17lbs I've gained, I expect that around 14lbs of it is muscle weight, and the extra 3lbs is a little Christmas weight that I'll lose pretty quickly now my eating/drinking habits have returned to normal (after an indulgent Christrmas period).

But nonetheless, aside from gaining muscle weight I should be losing fat. I'm not. So I suppose my initial question of 'why am I not losing weight' should actually be 'why am I not losing fat?'.

My body fat percentage according to some Weight Watchers scales (which, for the sake of my manhood, I will claim are the property of my girlfriend) put me at 28%, which hasn't budged throughout.

Can anybody help?

You DON'T gain weight from calorie deficit. So you're not losing weight because you're eating too much. Not that there's anything wrong with gaining muscle.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Agreed ^

eat breakfast, no matter how early mate. Your body will store your first meal at lunch as fat if not because its been starved from the night before.

I didnt eat breakfast for 12 years, i couldn't do that now, it kick starts your body and metabolism, best way to burn fat and add muscle is by having your body working to its best, which you need to be eating breakie to do achieve

Absolutely not true. Your body doesn't store lunch as fat if you skip breakfast. Your body doesn't even differentiate between breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks. Your metabolism also doesn't need a "kickstart" in the morning, as it doesn't stop at night, it runs constantly 24/7. The ONLY thing that really boosts your metabolism is moving, exercising, getting up to take a shower, any physical activity over and above laying in bed. Then your metabolism picks up because you're using more energy above and beyond your BMR. As for eating, yes, digestion uses energy, but all it does is redirect energy from other sources to your digestive track, you don't actually burn any extra calories just from eating and digesting food. It's a completely debunked myth.

Now, for the OP. I would say your issue is listening to "Men's Health" magazines. Those workouts are pretty notorious for being useless. If the routine was that good to produce great results, why would you need to buy the new magazine, to get the next workout? Your best best on strength training is to go all in. Heavy weights, low reps. And use free barbells rather than smith machines if possible. A barbell will always give you a better workout, due to a more natural range of motion, and since you don't have the smith machine to balance and stabilize the weight for you, you get the added benefits of working all the stabilizing muscles. Try a 5x5 compound routine, like Rippetoe's Starting Strength, or StrongLifts. You'll get much better results than lots of reps with lighter weights, which really, don't do whole heck of a lot.

Also, if you go from a Smith machine lift to a free barbell lift, mind the weight, since the smith machine balances the weight for you, you're probably able to lift more than you would with a free bar.

Though muscle weighs more than fat, diet plays a HUGE role in all this. What are you eating exactly? Sugar and carbs such as breads and pasta will put on weight. If you eat either, you need to eliminate these from your diet.

You probably need to start eating breakfast, especially if you workout in the morning. Look at your daily carb intake and try loading more in the earlier part of the day and less later. 3 high-protein meals and 3 snacks with protein each time is a solid plan. Also take an honest look at how hard you work. Each time you do cardio, you ought to be able to push yourself a little harder than the time before. If you're not gasping for breath at the end of the highest intensity portion, you may not be pushing yourself to do what you are actually capable of.

I guess when I say medium weight, I mean it relatively. I lift progressively, more and more as often as I can, but what I mean is just that I don't just lift my 1-rep max, I aim to set the weights I use so that I can do 3 sets of around 8-15 reps.

3 sets of 8 reps and 3 sets of 15 reps are pretty drastically different workouts. Also...that kind of variation in your rep counts shows (no disrespect) a lack of focus in your workout. High reps builds endurance and can, at times, be done in a way that's essentially a cardio-style workout. That's about all it's good for. 15 reps/set is high. 8 reps/set for 3-5 sets is in the "meh" range. If you can do it 8 times, is it really heavy enough to challenge your strength limits? Conversely, if you can ONLY do it 8 times, is it really testing your endurance limits?

Diet is sort of OK. I indulge a little here and there but usually I'm not too bad.

Breakfast: I don't usually have anything. I know I should but I'm never up early enough to have time before work.

Lunch: Usually have a couple of wraps with tuna mayo (light mayo). Maybe snack on some fruit during the day too.

Dinner: Straight from work I go to the gym, then afterwards I go home and usually grab a sandwich while the GF cooks a dinner. Something out of a jar usually, as we're not very domesticated.

I could be doing a lot better for dinners, but the way I see it I can afford to go off the rails a bit by dinnertime as I've only had about 700-900 cals for the day at that point so I've got plenty to spare.

What you eat makes up 80% of your weight loss. The gym doesn't do as much for you although it does burn calories and tone muscles. I can work out like a fiend (and I do) but if I don't eat the right calories and the right foods ( lean meats, whole grains, fruits and veggies) then I gain as well.

If neither of you are great cooks. Invest in the Clean Eating and Clean Eating 2 cookbooks. None of the recipes are complex, they are all usually ready in half an hour or less and they taste amazing. My husband and I both enjoy them.

You should be eating 5 - 6 times a day and you need to have breakfast. Even a whey protein shake in the morning helps start the day right..... and dinner should be less calories.

Good luck with this.

Though muscle weighs more than fat, diet plays a HUGE role in all this. What are you eating exactly? Sugar and carbs such as breads and pasta will put on weight. If you eat either, you need to eliminate these from your diet.

This is just flat out not true, and ridiculous. The only thing that puts on weight is a calorie surplus. You can't be in a calorie deficit and gain weight from eating one type of food. That's physically and biologically impossible.

ps. there is no such thing as "im workout properly but not losing weight"

Unless you're working out properly to gain weight lol.

I've found cardio was key to my weight loss... started at a high of 350 and down to 197 now. I do 45mins of cardio 5 days a week and strength train 3 days.

Change your workout totally.
Do an hour of nothing but cardio 3 days each week
And do a full body resistance session 3 days each week. Rest one day.
And eat back your exercise calories.
Simply stated MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week. That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up. Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories. Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be? In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more. Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.
Be efficient. Exercise hard and eat back the calories. The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.

Set your weight loss at one lb per week, eating lean meats, whole grains, nuts, low fat dairy and fruits and veggies.
Weight yourself AND check body fat.

You can check body fat here: http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

If you are not losing weight each week, lower daily calories 250, then check it again a week later. The instant you register a loss, hold your calories to that amount.

Good luck.