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I know how hard this is but I need to be blunt - I don't think you ARE doing all the right things. Diet is so much of what weight loss is - more than exercise - and until you take that into account, you're not going to see significant change unless you're working out like they do on Biggest Loser. Even if you just try tracking calories and not changing your diet for a week, it may open your eyes.
I think you can make this change, and I wish you the best of luck!
I have to agree with tee22. I learned this the hard way...I thought if I worked out I could eat pretty regularly...but to me regularly was too many calories!
You can do it, I recommend following weight watchers points! Great program.
I feel your pain! I am constantly trying to do something to either lose or maintain my weight. That being said, I have tried MANY ways to accomplish said goal. I am by no means an expert, a doctor, or trained in nutrition, but here are a few things that I have learned along the way...
1. Don't get discouraged by the scale! If you are working out that much, you are gaining muscle weight which actually weighs more than fat. I understand that this sounds counterproductive, but higher muscle weight actually aids in fat burning. Use other methods to measure your progress. Are you clothes fitting any better? Take measurements using a measuring tape (both arms, waist, hips, both thighs). Do you notice a decrease in inches, that better reflect your hard work? Take before and after pictures along the way. You will notice that you probably see less "flab" and more muscle definition.
2. Exercise alone cannot get you to your goal. You don't have to do a strict serious diet, but if just cutting out sweets is not working for you, perhaps you need to evaluate other foods that may be causing problems. Try writing down everything you eat and drink. You will be surprised how this awareness will help. Also, don't forget that there are often a lot of calories in drinks also. Water is always the best, but stay away from drinking your calories. This includes diet sodas. Most dieticians believe that these don't aid in weight loss, and in fact may have the opposite effect.
3. If you are willing to cut other things out of your diet, start with white carbs- potatoes, breads, pasta, etc. These turn to sugar in our bodies and make it very difficult to lose weight. Maybe try replacing these things with high fiber, high protein foods such as black beans and lentils. Also, try adding vegetables to each meal. These will also help you feel fuller.
4. Get plenty of sleep. There are many studies that show that lack of sleep leads to weight gain.
Again, I am not expert, but I have certainly been around the diet block, so to speak. I wish you the best of luck. Try not to get too discouraged. You are doing a great job!
If you're able to do 30-60 minutes of cardio and zumba, you're probably not that big of a girl to start with (I'm plus-sized, so please forgive my bluntness/choice of words). How much weight are you trying to lose, or rather, what size are you trying to get to from where you are? If you're working out so much, you might be actually losing weight and gaining muscle--try measuring key body areas for changes instead of going by the scale. Your legs, arms, and waist may all be getting smaller. Your gym should have someone to help you track your progress. At the very least, start a little notebook of your measurements.
That said, try doing a nutritional analysis journal of your food and activities---fitday.com has a good method for tracking where your exercise cancels out your food taken in and you don't have to do much to keep your journal going.
Good luck, and I'm sure you're already beautiful JUST AS YOU ARE!!!!
Exercise can only do so much. Try tracking your food. For me, the trick was learning to control the size of my portions. Also - watch your sodium intake, that causes water retention.
It sounds like you're doing everything right as far as exercise is concerned. Does your scale just show your weight, or does it measure body fat % too? You could be getting leaner/smaller and just not losing weight since muscle weighs more than the fat you are burning.
If you are just gaining weight and not getting smaller, you might want to try keeping a food diary. Figure out what's a healthy amount of calories for you to eat and try to get as many of your calories as you can from nutritious sources like lean meat, fruits/veggies, yogurt, egg whites, whole grains, etc. Try eating more protein and less carbs too--I found that this helps a lot with weight management for me, especially in the stomach area.
Also, 4 lbs isn't that much. I can go up 4 lbs just from eating a salty meal and PMSing. Good luck!
I have been engaged for 17 months and have been working out consistently that entire time. I started out with 3 days a week and then transitioned to 4 or 5. I started slow but for the past year have been doing classes like Zumba, Spin, Body Conditioning, Cardio Interval, etc. I am a big girl and could easily stand to lose 50-70 pounds. Easily. To be on the high end of what experts say is my "ideal" weight for my height, I'd have to lose 90. So yes, I have a lot to lose and adding in intense exercise should make me lose wouldn't you think? Do you know how much weight I lost in the first year? 5 pounds. Yep. 5 pounds. And that came after the six month mark. My body has certainly changed and I have much more muscle then I used to, so I know I have replaced fat for muscle and have done so many other beneficial things for my body. But it's still only 5 pounds which is disheartening!
I would say if weight loss is your goal then you really do need to add in the diet portion of it. I've recently started eating "clean" because I was tired of not seeing the scale move and I knew it was diet related. Fruits, veggies, protein and complex carbs (sweet potatoes, brown rice, couscous, beans, etc) are the basis of my diet now and I limit dairy, cheese, alcohol and sugar. It's been tough but I try and stick to it 80% of the time (5 small meals a day so 1 time a day I eat a little something non-clean). I've lost 12 pounds in the past 2 months and feel great! My energy level is amazing and I have seen improvments in workouts. Seriously I did not know I could feel this good. I'm in my late 30's and I feel like I have back the energy I had in my 20's! I know you are frustrated - I totally understand. Remember that this is a marathon and not a race. Consistency and longevity are key. I keep reminding myself that when I slip or have a bad week. Sure, we all want to look good for our wedding and that's a great motivational tool. Use that motivation to combine the diet with the exercise and you'll see the results.
@kayp23: I followed a strict eating plans AND did the precursor to P()X - Power 90 for almost 3 straight months (vefore I fell off the wagon). It took my scale till day 60 to budge... BUT I was losing inches off my waist, hips and thighs.
Don't just look at the scale. Muscle is more compact than fat. Exercise builds muscle. You might 'weigh' more but I bet you're losing inches and not realizing it. I still weigh myself, but I also use a measuring tape and notice my clothes fitting loser. I couldn't get into a size 12 last year before May without it being too tight. Now, even though the scale hasn't moved a lot, my size 12s fit fine and are getting lose, because I've been building muscle, watching what I eat for the most part using WW points and a food diary (it's a little hard to get into, but once you've written is all donw for at least a week it gets to be a habit) and now my smart phone has several free apps to help me keep up with my food log, AND can help me look at the nutrition data for most restaurants (you'd be surpirsed how bad a chicken burger can be compared to a hamburger - it's nuts).
#1 - keep up with the cardio - it's great for your heart, and exercise is about having a strong body, not just being 'thin'.
#2 - I've realized my 'thin' will never be the like the williwy Cameron Diaz - I will also be at best a Kim Kardashin, and I'm okay with that. My BF likes my body shape, I just want to feel better in my work clothes and feel less of a jiggle in swimwear. I've lost weight from illnesses and extreme dieting before, and was horrified by how sick I looked at my lowest weight, which would still be high by most ladies' standards on here (I'll give - my lowest weight since college is 155 - I'm aiming for 165 becaue I'll look okay and not sick, I am 5'6" and carry the weight all over, and am hourglassy, so it's not just in one spot). I am a compactly built brick house, and I have to accept that when my hip bones and ribs are the markers of the width of my hips and torso, I'm not getting any smaller. Look at your body - are you 'big boned'? Believe me, it DOES exist. Find what is good for you personal build. just because a lot of women can look great and get down to an impossible for me 130 doesn't mean I need to care about that. I want to shrink my waist a bit, tone up the bat-wing (arms) and thighs. So look at your goals and make sure they are ones that fit you, not your best friend, not some model or actress, just you.
#3. Don't let you feeling of accomplishment be measured only by the number on the scale. It can only tell what you weigh, and that can vary from morning to night by 5 lbs for some people based on food and water intake and .... outtake. Use a measuring tape, and measure once a week, every two weeks. You'll probably be happy with what it shows you.
#4 - Log your food AND your exercise - it's amazing what we eat AND drink and don't realize. Many people are suprised by how bad a simple cup of coffee or a milkshake can be. in WW points, a milkshake equals some people's daily allowence of food! PM me if you'd like some links to WW info from the older system I'm still on. I've never been able to pay for the program, but have found ways to do it myself, and lost 30 lbs in 4 months once by doing that and dance-exercise 2 times a week. Look into things that might work on your phone or through the interenet that can help you calculate the propoer amount of food in addition to showing you approxiamtely how many calories you are burning with your exercise regimen.
#5 - Don't starve yourself - your body will kick into 'starvation mode' if you drop your calrie intake too drastically too quickly. It'll sense famine or danger thanks to evolutionary traits, and to keep you alive, it will stop burning calroies and wll even attack the muscle in itself to provide you with energy, since muscle takes a higher metabolism to run than fat. This is why WW and other programs gradually lower your food intake, so you can avoid plateaus and so you won't negate all your hard work.
I have loads of info, and have had success with exercise and dieting (when I'm not hit by the flu and respiratory infections, taking me out of exercise for all of winter). PM me if you'd like any info :)
#6 - Give yourself a break. You're going for a strong, healthy body for the long haul, not just to fit in a swimsuit or go to a party (although they are both good short term motivators). Making your body change takes time, so give yourself plenty.
I don't think it's that you're not doing the right things.
If you ramped up your exercise to an hour 5 days a week, you're going to put on a lot of water weight. You're building glycogen stores to fuel your muscles and that's going to store up a ton of water too.
Just keep doign what you're doing. Maybe count calories/weight your food for a week so you know you're not out of control on that front. But basically ignore the scale for a while. Exercise and weight are going to give you a distorted picture of what's going on with your body.
You may have gained some muscle weight. But also you should try to alter your diet a little more than just giving up sweets if you really want to see results. I use myfitnesspal.com to track my calories and it's really helpful. Also I'm not sure what you are eating, but try eating more natural food (fruits and veggies instead of processed stuff). Stay away from frozen foods and cook your stuff the natural way. Also try substituting ground turkey for ground beef. It's a lot healthier and I think it fills you up earlier so you don't overeat.
Also, if you work out, don't eat more just cause you burned calories. If you keep those extra calories off that will really help too!
keep up the hard work it sounds like your doing great!! and dont let the weight gain bring you down alot of time that has to do with gaining muscle from the workouts your doing... but your still burning fat.. the weight will go down dont be so hard on yourself. :)
Depending on what your current weight is you could probably loose weight by changing your diet alone. Just cutting out sweets isn't going to cut it. Excercise is absolutely great for your health, but portion and quality control is really the key to your weight loss.
I agree with pp's. A LOT about weight loss has to do with what goes in. Start a food diary.. I found that really helped with my weight loss.. sometimes you don't realise how many calories are in what you are eating or how much you are really consuming in a day.
I read somewhere that 90% of weight loss has to do with a change in diet. That may be your first problem. I know it was eye-opening for me when I was first losing weight to write down everything I ate. It was a lot more than I thought! I'd try that, adjust your diet and continue with your excellent exercise routine!
i lost 70 lbs, and it was mostly due to diet. i still track everything i eat-- i use an app on my phone, but i agree with PP that you should start a food diary.
It sounds like you might have been eating more because you've been hungry after all that exercise! The same thing has happened to me- I actually gained 5 lbs when I trained for a marathon last year because I just felt so hungry all day. Start a food journal and track calories. Google calorie calculators so that you can find out how many calories to aim for based off of height/ weight. Sadly, I can't lose more than a pound each week unless I cut down to 1200-1300 calories and exercise over an hour each day (I'm shorter). It's all about doing the math and taking back the control- you'll get there!
I agree with everyone else. With weight loss, diet is really key. Exercising will certainly improve your health but won't necessarily help you shed weight. I would start tracking your calories using sparkpeople or myfitnesspal.
I don'tknow if you ever use Jillian Michael's DVDs but she always says you can eat yourself out of any workout. So true! And that doesn't mean you're pigging out either. Running a few miles will burn about 300 calories but it will be lost with one simple candy bar or even eating too large of a portion at one meal during the day.
Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I just got really emotional this morning. It is so stupid that what the scale says can do that to me. I'm only trying to lose about 15 lbs. However, as a child and teenager, I was obese, and I think everytime I see a little weight gain, I all of a sudden have all of those feelings of not being as good as everyone else (even though, of course, I was and it helped me focus on who I am inside) and all the being teased. I think the most frustrating thing is that I was maintaining my weight before I started exercising, and I have been very careful to not eat more, so I am shocked that I gained. As some of you guys have said, I hope that is muscle and water. I am definitely noticing that I am more toned. I'm going to set myself on a structured diet though...I don't want to take any chances with my dress getting to small!
Thanks again ladies!
@thriftybride
I love what you say about taking control, and that it is possible. After all, the lack of control is probably what bothers most ladies about not being the weight they want to be.
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I have been going to the gym for 5 days a week for the past month. I do 30-60 minutes of cardio (half the time that is intense zumba), and I'm very diligent about keeping my heart rate up. I also do strength training, and I have not made a drastic change to my diet but have been cutting out sweets. I stepped on the scale this morning and I have gained 4 lbs. I could cry right now. This is heaviest I've been in my relationship, and I think it upsets me more than it should because I was a really overweight child. I lost 50lbs in high school, so I feel like I haven't had enough time of getting to be skinny and comfortable in my body. I really don't want to go back to being what I was, but I don't know how to stop it this time. I am doing all of the "right" things.