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First, take your measurements. You may be getting slimmer and not realizing it because the number on the scale is pretty distracting. I wish I had more advice but since you're already eating healthy, that's pretty much all I've got.
Ok first start measuring yourself (waist, bust, hips, arms, thighs) to see if you are losing INCHES! You could be building muscle so you now weigh more. Stop looking at the number on the scale.
Second, you might not be eating ENOUGH. If your are burning a ton of calories but not putting enough into your body, your body goes into starvation mode and will hold onto whatever it has. Thus weight gain.
Third, start watching every calorie you put in your mouth. Weight loss is all about diet, exercise is about toning after the weight is lost.
Good luck!
How long have you started this new diet-exercise plan? It often takes a while to start seeing results. One thing that I found was I actually needed to eat MORE calories when I was working out a lot-- otherwise my body was clinging to everything it got!
Also, are you drinking enough (64+ oz) of water every day? A lof of weight loss just has to do with fluid retention and how your body adjusts. You'd be surprised how much it helps!
Also, if you're looking for more guidance, try sparkpeople.com's fitness and nutrition trackers. They're a lifesaver!
I fought against this for several years. I tried to eat really healthy and go to the gym all of the time but never lost weight. I decided to get "drastic" back in January and just try something I hadn't before and committed to WeightWatchers. No kidding, the weight melted off. I lost 25 pounds in about three months. For me, my biggest issue had apparently been portion control. Now that I relearned how much food my body really needs, it has been easy to maintain my new weight. You may want to look into a program that operates through portion control--eating a lot of healthy food is still a lot of food.
The other bees have had really good advice. Also, make sure that you're not making excuses for eating too much extra... sometimes when I exercise I get really hungry, but it's a lot easier to eat too much than to exercise those calories off.
When I start a new exercise regime, it takes me about two weeks to actually start slimming down, I usually gain a little in muscle first.
I agree with the other posts about measuring yourself (you may be converting bulky fat to lean muscle) and making sure your nutritional needs are met (although it sound like the most likely are).
If you do the same exercise routine every day, you sabatoge your weight loss. Your body needs challenge, which means you need to switch up the pattern so that you use different muscle groups. Varying the length and intensity of your workouts might help too. For example if you are running for an hour on the treadmill, try walking for 10 minutes to warm up, then alternate runnning at 10mph for 2-4 minutes with jogging at 5mph for 4-6 minutes. Just an example, but you get the picture!
I had the same 'problem' you had and completely agree with the other girls. The scale isn't the end all of fitness. If I don't workout I might lose a bit of weight but I can tell my stomach and arms are more flabby and jeans are tighter, weird but true. If you're a fairly petite girl already this might be the case. People are usually pretty surprised when I tell them how much I weigh (since sometimes people like to share their opinions and sometimes their opinion is that I'm too skinny)....but it's what happens if you're working out more than other people, you have more muscle and thus more weight but not necessarily a bigger pants size.
I am alternating my cardio, one day I will do elliptical one day i'll run and one day I'll do interval training. I'm using the livestrong app on the iphone to monitor my caloric intake, I'm at about 1300 calories when I don't work out, and if I say burn 600 calories I eat 1900. I will measure myself and see if I do any progress that way. Thanks ladies
There is no such thing as "muscle weighs more than fat." Think about...how can 1 lb of muscle be more than fat? They are both 1 lb. That being said muscle is leaner than fat & muscle is heavier in volume than fat.
So even though you may be gaining weight, you may actually look smaller because someone who is 150 lbs of muscle is going to look leaner, defined etc. A 150 lb person of fat is going to look lumpy, heavier. (I just used 150 lbs as an example)
The # on the scale shouldn't be your measure. It should be your % of body fat, measurements & how you feel.
lol troubled, that's me! I'm 5'3 and I weigh 125 usually wear a size 4. I know I'm not big by any means, but I would like to be slimmer and more toned. I'm a bit too curvy for my comfort.
Reading your last reply, you're eating the calories you burn! You're completely negating all of your workout by eating the 600 calories you just burned off. That's why nothing is happening for you. If you want to lose weight, you simply have to restrict calories.
Ribbons- The livestrong app is set to help me lose 2 lbs. a week and when I input my workout it adds those calories to my daily caloric allowance. I also thought that was a bit strange but I figured I'd follow it.
Oh weird. I would try to restrict calories every day even with the work outs and see if anything changes.
Chances are due to your body type (since your on the smaller side) it's going to take a while to see results. The only way I can really lose weight is to cut out carbs completely (and even then it's just temporary but it takes me a while to gain back).
Once you start gaining muscle your body will burn more calories than it does now. So make sure to do weight training - most women skip it because they don't want to bulk up but it's vital for gaining muscle tone.
Also you need to track what you're eating daily because it makes you very conscious of what you eat. I use sparkpeople.com and dailyburn.com
Ah. we are similar, I'm between 5'3 and 5'4 and fluctuate between 115 and 120 depending on how much I'm working out. @ 115 people seem to think I look tooo skinny but in the summer it's just what happens with all the outdoor fun and fresh fruits and veggies, though if I'm really lifting and not just running and biking it will go up to closer to 120 and definately 120 in the winter when I'm lifting more and hungry constantly.
I think sometimes those machines overestimate a bit on the calories, I could be wrong but for me I just never have really trusted them to be that accurate, so I donno if I'd plan your diet around them. It might be a good gauge but I'd say if you're not hungry don't force yourself to get down a certain amount of calories. Best advice I think to staying healthy is listen to your body. Eat slow so it has time to let you know when it's full and if you're really craving something it might be a signal you're missing some nutrient.
I recently started working out with a trainer and was surprised with what he told me. To lean up (and lose fat) you have to give your body a chance to rest between workouts. It seems to me you should focus on weights and less cardio (since you are pretty small to begin with). Give yourself a rest day between toning - and... here's the big thing - make sure you are getting enough sleep. I didn't think sleep made a difference, but now that I try to get at least 8 hours a night - I'm seeing insane results. The other thing is make sure you are eating some healthy fat (so your body has something to burn - like nuts, olive oil, avocado).....
From a trainer standpoint, you're doing way too much cardio.
Cardio is great, but you don't need an hour of it, especially not every day. I'd also say that if you're able to do a full hour of cardio 5 days a week and then weights on top of that, you're not doing a very intensive cardio session. Amp up the difficulty and you'll spend a lot less time, and get your heart rate faster and achieve better results.
Instead of walking, run or skip on the treadmill. Walk on a steep incline.
I like to do 10 minutes walking on an incline, 10 running or elliptical, and 10 on a fast paced stairclimber.
Follow that with 30-45 minutes of weights. 8-12 exercises with 10-15 reps per.
Try not to lift super light. Powderpuff dumbbells aren't going to do much for you. If you aren't sweating through your workout, you aren't working hard enough.
3500 calories = 1 pound, you need a deficit of 3500 a week to lose that pound.
@ribbons: you are never supposed to let yourself go below 1200 calories (unless directed by a doctor) because that is what you need for your body to run. I am slightly smaller than myrag (5'0, 104 lbs) and on an average day with no exercise I need 1800 calories to maintain my weight. If I want to lose weight I knock 500 calories off that and eat 1300. It doesn't matter if I knock those calories off through diet OR exercise, I just have to reduce my calories by 500. It is much easier for me to exercise so I can eat a little more than to strictly eat 1300 calories. All the "weight loss" apps and programs work that same way!
that happened to me; working out extra, lifting, eating extra healthy for 3-4 months and the scale went up a few lbs! I was annoyed - until the comments from people I hadn't seen for a while ("WOW, you've lost weight!", etc) and my first fitting this past weekend made me realize I am losing inches - which really is the whole point. I mean, who cares how much you weigh if you go down a size?!
I should say though that I was not overweight at all when I started (I went from a borderline 4/6 to a solid 4) - I just wanted to tone up a bit. I think it's a lot harder to lose significant weight when you're at a good weight to begin with.
You definitely need to shake things up. Throw in some fat-burning intervals. I've been told you should only do long stints of cardio (45-60 min a week) two days a week. Intervals melt the fat off. They suck, though! Your body is probably just used to what you've been doing with it and you've platuead. Try kickboxing and other "high energy/shock" type work outs. I do think 1.5 hours 5x/week is probably overkill, though.
I was having trouble losing weight a few months ago, after the wedding. I STOPPED working out for about 2-3 weeks. I was not seeing results. I continued to eat healthy. Then i started working out again. Poof, 5 pounds is gone. My measurements are down, too. Maybe you need a break? it was HARD to make myself take one, but maybe your body needs to recover a couple weeks.
Babyboo, that's not really true. To maintain your weight sure, you need at least 1300 calories. But if you want to lose, you have to either work out or restrict calories. That's just basic math. Obviously if you restrict too much your body begins to conserve. What she did, consuming all of the calories she estimated that she burned, was a perfect way to gain weight. I'm sure she's a lot stronger and has more muscle mass, but if she just wants to lose weight, it obviously didn't work.
@ ribbons: are you saying that she should be eating 1300 on days where she is burning 600 calories?! That doesn't sound very healthy to me...
You're gaining muscles. Muscles weigh more than fat. That's my hypothesis. Of course, you can only prove or disprove my hypothesis by dumping yourself in water & measure your density before you started ur regimen and your density now. Futile scientific exercise aside, just measure your waistline. I have heard that is one good indication of how fit one is. Good long lasting changes always take a while to see the effect. Your body is just adjusting now. After 4 months or so, you should be able to feel or see the difference. Good luck!
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you're already within the normal BMI and trying to lose the so-called last 5 lbs. It's quite difficult. I don't think we have figured that out as human beings how to do that efficiently. Easier if you have Oprah Winfrey's cook and Madonna's trainer.
@ peanutlovespumpkin: I think what ribbons is trying to say is that essentially what MyraG is doing is maintaining her current body weight by eating the calories that she's burning. If you ADD 600 more calories to your day just because you just burned 600 off at the gym, you will maintain your current weight. That's just math. However, if Myra adds, say, 400 calories after the gym to her 1300 daily, she has a deficit of 200 calories.
I don't have any advice for you Myra, except to perhaps to look at what you're eating. Even if it's healthy, it might not be the right balance for your body. I have a very similar height/body size to you and I'm trying to lose the same amount of weight; I've found that what helps me is to limit breads/wheat/rice, increase protein and fiber from veggies, and do intervals of cardio (20 minutes of 2 minutes at a good pace with 30 seconds of sprints- it sucks but you get to run for less time but it's actually more effective at burning fat and calories). You might try visiting a nutritionist to help you devise a good weight-loss strategy.
I think that counting calories is helpful, to a point. It can make us conscious of what we eat, but, in my experience, it is VERY easy to sneak in calories and not know it (an extra bite of cake here, a taste of dinner there neither worth 'counting' but the calories still add up). So you set a goal, say 1300/day and track 1300/day but still eat more and then get upset when you don't lose weight. It's the opposite with exercise. It seems like everything over-estimates how much you've burned. So then you tell yourself you have to make it up, but you end up making up more than you actually burned. I'm not saying you CAN'T lose weight by exercising and counting calories. Of course, that is how many people are successful. I'm just saying beware of these traps. They're easy to fall into. I agree that you should pay attention to what your body tells you, and feed it healthy foods when it is hungry, while staying active and not looking for short cuts.
as far as basic math goes, I don't see how 1300 + 600 - 600 could lead to gaining weight. Doesn't an average woman burn 1800 - 2000 calories a day? 1800-1300 = 500, and 500*7 = 3500 - which is one pound. I took a nutrition class in college, that's what I remember ... we had to do all these worksheets and stuff on it. What do I know, I hate counting calories anyways :)
@peanut: thats what I'm trying to say! If she was trying to maintain weight she should be eating 1800-1900 calories without exercise. If she wants to lose weight she should not EVER dip below 1200 calories, whether that be through diet or exericse. She is still restricting her calories, but the exercise is allowing her to eat more. If she was supposed to eat 1300 calories, and burn 600, she would be surviving off a VERY DANGEROUS 700 calories a day!! She may lose weight, but that is called an eating diorder. I was a nutrition major for a while before I switched to biochemistry ;)
Babyboo - a person needs to eat what they burn a day, which is determined by your basal metabolism. 1200 is just an arbitrary number; doesn't apply to everyone.
I'm 5'8, I weigh 125, and I'm 27. My basal is about 1400. I need to eat that just to maintain my weight on a light day of little to no exercise. If I wanted to lose weight, say a pound a week, I'd have to knock about 500 calories a day off of that.
Of course a person needs to factor in exercise. Try a calorie counter/ heart rate monitor while you're working out to estimate how many calories you're burning. Add that to your basal metabolic rate and then subtract 500. That's how many calories you need to cut to lose weight. It's really very simple math.
It's also suprisingly easy to do if you eat high water content foods such as fruits and vegetables and nice lean proteins like tuna, turkey and chicken breast. Do yourself a favor and buy Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet book. It's great nutritional information. Diet makes the biggest difference as far as weight loss, off the top of my head, I believe it's 80% of the job.
Calculate BMR (basal metabolic rate) - http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
Tosca Reno's book - http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Clean-Diet-Fat-Loss-lasts-Forever/dp/1552100383
Oh, and STAY AWAY from BMI calculators. Those things that take your height and weight and tell you how obese you are. They are extremely inaccurate and disheartening. They don't take into account muscle tone or body composition. If you want a real look at how you're doing fitness wise, have a trainer at your gym do a body fat measurement. Good Luck!
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Hi ladies!
So I've been waiting to start a new job and I have been working out at least 1 and a half hours at least 4-5 days. I haven't really changed my eating habits (actually I started cooking healthy homemade meals for FI and I with tons of veggies and lean meats). You would think I would have started getting super fit and losing tons of weight, however my body has been doing the opposite. My workout is 1 hour of cardio, 30 minutes of light weights and calisthenics. I don't get it! what am I doing wrong??? I'm gaining weight, yet I'm not eating more, I'm actually burning more calories. This is super frustrating because I only needed to lose 5 pounds to be at my ideal weight, now I need to lose 10.
In terms of my actual body, I haven't seen any change in terms of clothing fit.
Help!!!