HELP! I work out a lot but must be eating something I should

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kasandra3233
kasandra3233 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! I work out 4-5 times a week. I usually take my dog on a 30-60 min walk everyday. I also do P90x work out or go to the gym for at least an hour. At the gym I go to the group fitness classes so I know that I will stay on track. I have tried the counting calories. I have tried the low carb diets... it just seems like nothing is working! It must be something I'm eating because I burn off a lot of calories in one day. I also coach high school sports. So for two hours a day I run practice and I'm walking/standing the whole time. Any thoughts?

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  • APirc
    APirc Posts: 6
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    You could be just be building a lot of muscle, hence no move on the weight number. As long as you feel good and you see it in your clothes, forget the scale! :)
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
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    If you tried counting calories and it did not work, you did not count calories properly. You are either underestimating the number of calories you are eating or overestimating the number of calories you are burning.

    Simple thermodynamics. Barring water retention, weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you eat.

    Get a heart rate monitor. That will eliminate the possibility that you're overestimating your calories burned during exercise. Pay careful attention to what you eat and monitor the calories in your MFP diary. Don't just estimate. That's where your error is coming from.

    If you're precise, you will lose weight.
  • ThinningDownChick
    ThinningDownChick Posts: 95 Member
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    WHAT are you eating, what are you burning per day and what's your current stats?
  • armadiloes
    armadiloes Posts: 10 Member
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    Try this site

    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
  • kasandra3233
    kasandra3233 Posts: 5 Member
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    I think my food diary is open? If you wanted to check it out. I burn at least 500 calories a day with the workouts, coaching, and walking- possibly more. That's great advice to be more precise. I think writing food down in MFP is going to help me a lot with watching my calories.
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,738 Member
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    Try counting calories again. Don't put yourself on a diet, just really track what you are eating. Then, adjust downward a few hundred calories.

    A rule of thumb is that you cannot out exercise your diet. It's just so easy to eat 3000 calories and so hard to burn them off.

    With that said, you also need to be sure you aren't eating too little.

    It's a balancing act.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,695 Member
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    Practically every person I've done an evaluation with who says they've tried "everything" to lose weight had one main issue...............they really had no idea how many calories they were eating everyday. When we sat down and actually added them up on an open honest basis, they were either slightly above maintenance, or over a lot.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • kasandra3233
    kasandra3233 Posts: 5 Member
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    According to the calorie counter calculator site:

    CALORIES/DAY
    Fat Loss 2020
    CALORIES/DAY
    Extreme Fat Loss 1680

    This may seem like a dumb question but if it's all healthy calories that is obviously going to burn off more? What foods burn off the quickest? What can I eat to help my "sweet tooth"?
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
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    It is something that you are eating for sure....log your food...and exercise...if you burn more calories than you take in you will lose weight.
  • josephine_x
    josephine_x Posts: 90 Member
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    Your diary isn't open at the mo so can't tell, but often active people aren't eating nearly enough which would definitely cause a plateau. How many cals have you been eating per day?
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
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    According to the calorie counter calculator site:

    CALORIES/DAY
    Fat Loss 2020
    CALORIES/DAY
    Extreme Fat Loss 1680

    This may seem like a dumb question but if it's all healthy calories that is obviously going to burn off more? What foods burn off the quickest? What can I eat to help my "sweet tooth"?

    Healthy calories don't necessarily burn off faster, there was a guy that did an experimental 'twinkie diet' and lost a large amount of weight b/c his calories were low even though he was eating nothing but crap. You have to have your calories in vs. calories out under control in order to lose weight.
  • kasandra3233
    kasandra3233 Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks for the posts. This all makes sense. My caloric intake is usually around 1600-1800 depending on the day. Or at least I "think" it is. I'm going to start logging everything and hopefully that will make a difference.
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
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    Logging everything really does help, it's amazing how little things here and there can add up. Also, if you have newly intensified your workout routine, keep in mind you could be retaining water which would be reflected on the scale. And if you haven't already taken measurements, go ahead and do that, b/c you should be able to see results in measurement changes sometimes when you don't see that difference on the scale that you were hoping for.

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