Working out HARD no weight loss?

HELP! I work out REALLY hard. I do cardio 5-6x per week, 1-2 hours at a time. I do weights and strength training 2-3 days per week. I have gained muscle but HAVE not experience and significant loss in weight. Actually I have NOT lost any weight and I have been going strong since December….what I am I doing wrong. My daily calorie intake is about 1700 calories a day and I burn about 700 working out……what do I do?

Are you looking at just the scale to judge weight loss, you could be putting on enough muscle to make any fat/weight loss not show since muscle is heavier?

Also, if you are pushing workouts hard, make sure you get enough calories. I read something that the average person needs 1200 calories to function, below that you start hurting your metabolism and halt weight loss. Stay in calorie deficit, but as you burn calories make sure you also up the amount you bring in. Otherwise your body will think you are starving.

That is at least as I understand it. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

How accurately are you measuring your calorie intake? Are you using the food journals and such? I can’t see your nutrition log, if you are using it, so it’s harder for people to give advice

About how much do you have to lose? If it’s not a lot, then it can be really tough to get the scale to move. That’s when what you eat becomes very important and you should really know your exact (as possible) calorie in take.

Have you been doing the same exercise routine for a long time?

Lisa … I am in the same boot. I see my body toning but no weight lose ont he scale…. going to get blood work done and see if it’s hormones. IF anyone looks at my diet please not todays. I usually dont eat like today as my log will show but it was a birthday. I’ve been good formonths until now. With that said I need to lose the last 15 lbs and it’s not happening!

Hi, As TheAng says, without being able to view your food journal, it’s very difficult to give advice. Assuming that your calorie intake is accurate, my guess is you are eating way too little to fuel those intense workouts, which means your body is hanging on to every little calorie it can get. It’s like your body goes into starvation mode if you don’t eat enough – which sounds odd when you’re trying to lose weight, but eating too little can actually be counter-productive.
You may need to redo your diet goals…..you are definitely in the category ‘very active’, and as you’ve probably seen, you can enter both your actual and your goal weight and DB will calculate your required calorie intake, as well as the proportion of macro-nutrients (which you can modify at any time. Note: fats and carbs a re not necessarily your enemy – you need the fats from nuts and olive oil for instance, and complex carbs like wholemeal bread, oatmeal are great too). Try eating at this level for one or two weeks, and see what happens.Also, the scale is just one element – have your measurements decreased, are you taking a smaller size in clothes…..?

Do you feel better? Are you working as hard as you can? Are you sticking to a healthy diet? If you are why worry about what the scale says? I have encountered the same situation I have been actively working out for quite awhile and have lost maybe 2 pounds if that, but I have gained strength, balance flexibility and I have never felt better in my life and oh yeah I have lost 4% body fat, I decided to let the scale tell me what it wants but thats not going to determine how successful I have been. Scales are just statistics, YOU know how you are doing..in your gut. Thats where it matters anyway! Good luck, and don’t let the stats get you down :)

I wonder if any pros out there could look at my log and make suggestions – I’ve been stuck for 6 weeks now. I’m tracking religiously and exercising fairly regularly because I’m training for a triathlon. I weigh 172 and am 5’6.

I think it also depends on how close you are to your goal weight. From the looks of your picture your face looks very lean. If you aren’t really overweight then it will be much harder to lose weight.

AND the scale doesn’t always matter. I had a goal weight too, but my body was looking lean and seemed to be at a “happy weight”. I got my bf% done in a bod pod and it turned out I was at 15%. Very lean for a women, so in the end, losing 3lbs to get to my “goal weight” wasn’t really that realistic. It totally comes down to lean muscle mass. Women need at LEAST 12%fb to do women functions (menstrate). Men can be much leaner.

Also, for that amount of exercise and depending what your height/weight/age/BMR are, you may not be eating enough, as TStarnes mentioned. When I first started out with DAilyBurn i cut back on calories too much (I exercise, exactly as much as you do, LOL) and i talked to my naturopathic doctor about it and she recommended that I eat a little more. I did and I started losing. She also thought that I needed to do a detox, so I ended up taking some liver detox supplements and doing a colonic (yeah, TMI), but between eating a little more and detoxing I started consistently losing about 1-1.5 lb a month.

i am having the same problem. it’s really frustrating. i am at net minus 6000+ cals this week and gained a half pound :-(

It’s been theorized (thus not proven) that if the body is at too much of a deficit calorie wise for too long it will start storing more fat instead of burning. While I’m not sure there’s some magic number of calories burned vs. calories eaten besides the standard 3500 calories = 1lb, but the body does not like operating on a low amount of calories/high amount of calorie burn. Small gains and losses are generally also only water/fluid based and that’s why you have to watch for the big picture.
Sometimes the body sticks on a plateau and just won’t budge – that’s when you can do things like changing your routine or eating patterns. Basically, if what you are doing now isn’t working then something needs to change.
Have you looked into HIIT? A lot of people on here use it and love it.

So, the question is. HOW do we stay out of starvation mode (or whatever one wants to call this apparent metabolic slow down that happens when calories get too low?)

I’ve been trying to lose weight for about five years now. Nothing works, but after trying something for 3-6 months, I move on to try something else. I only stop trying something when NOTHING happens, meaning NO WEIGHT loss.

Currently, I am trying to eat around 2250 a day (I’m 6’5" and 245) AND I fast for 1-2 days a week, which nets out about 2/3 of a day actually not FULL day. I KNOW what I eat, but I DON’T know what my body needs. RMR tests put me at 2500 (so MUCH MORE if I get up and move around or god forbid, lift, run, play tennis, hike, bike, swim, etc.) so, I’m putting my MAYBE NEEDS at ONLY 2850 a day. My size, this is most likely higher but we NEED a target. At that level, on a weekly basis, with the 2250 target AND the fasting 1-2 days a week I’m reducing at least 6500-7100 cals a week. SHOULD be a lb. at least.

IF for example, my NEEDS are actually much higher them BOOM I might be considered totally under-nourishing. How do we know if the body is not happy with intake?

I know my RMR, I know my LMB, I know how much fat I have and I will test this again in another month (had it done 2 months ago last) so I am certain to lose SOME LBM while trying this diet. But, I really wish there was some way to KNOW what the NEEDS are – then we can do the math on the rest.

@tivoboy – I personally have been down this road a few times, and every time the same math has worked for me. I generally start out looking at my basal metabolic rate and modify it for a lightly active lifestyle and work from there. I keep a spreadsheet and track every calorie I eat on DB, then transfer it over to my spreadsheet. I maintain a month to month calendar and add up the deficits for each day and week and run the numbers to see where I actually am in my weight compared to where I was supposed to be based on my caloric intake and my understanding of my metabolism. I then ADJUST the following week based on what I see, and eventually I get to a pretty good number where I can more or less predict what I need to eat a week to week basis for a 1-2lb per week weightloss.

I guess maybe I’m just lucky that my body works as advertised?

Why are you fasting for 1-2 days per week?

@tivoboy, what are you specifically looking to accomplish? At 6’5", 245 lbs, depending on your frame you may be looking to lose only 10 – 15 lbs (possibly more if you’re narrower in frame).

Without knowing more specifics I’d put your BMR at ~ 2300 calories/day and I think you’re probably at between 2600 – 2800 calories/day based on your activity level. If you’re only consuming 2250 calories/day my assumption would be that you’d be losing weight. If you’re not, I think you need to start looking at what you’re consuming. I would also limit whole grains to your first meal of the day and post workout meal

Ultimately, all calories are not created equal. It may not be a fair analysis, but in looking at the 2 days you have logged in to your nutrition log (well below 2250 calories, both days) your diet is devoid of any fruit and vegetables, low in lean quality protein and you tend to snack on fat dense food (nuts are great, but in moderation).

My recommendation would be to increase lean protein and add 1 – 2 servings of fruit and vegetables at every feeding opportunity.

Personally, I’m not a fan of intermittent fasting although I know there are others on DailyBurn who are big proponents. With that said, if this is something you’ve been doing for a while and you’re still not losing weight … my suggestion is to stop. Clearly, you need to change something. I don’t believe it’s the number of calories you’re consuming so try losing the fasting and changing your food consumption pattern.

Hope this helps.

Susan
www.CatapultFitnessBlog.com

@susan,

thanks for the replies. I think the last week of DB is going to be way off since I didn’t put much in there since 6/8/10, one has to go further back where I have the past six xmonths+ of data in there. Was using FW before. But like having the iphone app and more user friendly foods in the database.

That said, I am a big vegetable consumer, in omlettes, with salads, eat a lot of brocoli, tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, some carrots, some corn, cucumber, peas, beans etc. Mostly, that will come in the form of salads (with chicken at lunch) or with dinners, usually with some form of meat, a lot of chicken, burger, beef, turkey, etc. not a lot of pork. If one cannot see back in time in DB then you won’t see anything like that from the past week, I didn’t put any data down while on vacation – but maintained most of my regular eating habits. I hadn’t been eating a lot of fruits other than some raspberries with LF yogurt and apples and bananas 3-5 days a week as a snack or with breakfast.

Ok…. just reading some other post on DB and calories etc for weight lose. I want to make sure I understand this … even though BD sets your calorie goals … you should consum more on work out days so your total def is only 500 cals? Or is it ok to have a calorie def of more than 500 on work out days?

It’s fine to have more than 500 cals per day deficit IMHO. I also believe that if your intention is to achieve super low body fat (less than 10%) then in that case you want to limit it to 500 calories per day and take it slowly to preserve your lean body mass and metabolism as much as possible. Fact is, the safest and healthiest way to lose weight is slowly, 1-2 pounds per week (closer to 1 being ideal). It’s less shocking and damaging to you overall.

First year body builders, or strength trainers, can gain as much as 16 lbs in muscle.. nearly 1.4 lbs per month. Gains are greater early on. In my case, I am working out six days per week, 1/2 hour cardio and 1 1/2 hours of weight training per day. After three months, I only have 9 lbs of loss to show for it. However, I have dropped 6" on my waist and increased my arms, chest, and leg. Today, I discovered that my bodyfat is 27%, so I still have a lot of work to do.

Bottom line is that you need to measure your progress in more than one way…. Simply looking at how much you way may keep you from seeing real progress. Ultimately, if you control your diet and continue to exercise, the pounds will shed.

Thank you all for your input and all is considered. I am a first time weight user so that can be one problem but I’ve been doign it for 6 months now with a cal def of at least 500 and just staying the same. I was just told by a friend in the medical field that my body does nto require the 1200 cal a day because I had a historectomy and less organs to fuel. True or not I’m going to experiment the next couple of weeks and drop my cals to see what happens. The worse thing that will happen is I will stay the same weight and I’ve been doign that for 6 months. @pmdonnelly at least you’ve lost 9 lbs in 3 motnhs. I’d be happy with that! :) I’m not askign for instand results but I do need to see some.

According to me you have to take protein supplement with work out to lose your weight….

lisabc,

The scale certainly doesn’t paint the whole picture. pmdonnelly made a good point about measurements, especially your waist line. An increase in muscle mass can also temper a decrease in fat with regards to that number on the scale.

For me, the one big thing that stands out is the 5-6x per week, 1-2 hr cardio sessions. From my experience those types of sessions are not optimal for fat loss. In many cases they can even be counter productive. I’d swap those out for 20 minute metabolic conditioning sessions several times per week.

I am getting frustrated with this as well. I have about 45 pounds to lose (I’m 5’4 and 192). I lost about 15 pounds or so when I started 4 months ago waitressing. In the last month, I have really kicked it up…I work out 5-6 days a week. I am up to 20 mins (cardio setting) on treadmill, 20 on bike or recumbent bike, 20 mins on elliptical – back to back.

I then either do a whole upper body plus abs workout or a lower body plus abs workout. I also walk 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, waitressing at a busy restaurant…so I think I would consider myself very active.

I have had to punch 3 new holes in my belt, and I can see the changes in my body. My pecs are getting hard, waist, legs, arms, thighs and butt getting smaller, stomach shrinking, breasts getting smaller, face looking thinner…but the scale hardly budges!!!

I try not to weigh myself that often and when I do, I do it at the same time of day on an empty stomach. I have started taking a thermogenic, along with multivitamins and a protein shake for breakfast. Those seem to give me even more energy and make me sweat more and work out harder, but the scale? Nothin!

Should I be worried? Is there a point where I should be concerned? Doesn’t it HAVE to come off at some point if I am burning more calories than I am taking in? Should I be doing ALL cardio and forego the weights until some of the weight comes off?

Anyone with a clue and can help, I can really use some advice!

@inspireddesigner,

what exactly are you worried about? You said it yourself – you can see changes in your body. The fact that your belt size is decreasing and your breasts are getting smaller is PROOF that you are losing body fat. This is exactly what you are working for, and it’s working.

if your body fat is decreasing but your weight stays the same, then
a) your muscle mass is increasing
b) you were dehydrated before, and now aren’t and the new weight is water
c) all of the above

The number on the scale is only one indicator, not the be all end all. It isn’t even the most important.

Can anyone comment on what RISKS I should look for with reducing my calories significantly?

I’ve been eating between 2100-2300 a day, (i’m 6’5" 248lb and workout 3-5 days a week) AND I have been doing intermittant fasting 2 days a week, not eating Bfast and Lunch two days a week which actually brings my total daily to about 1850 a day. and yet, for the past 10 weeks I have lost nearly NOTHING 2lb at most. this makes no sense, but I can only imagine that even though I am BIG and even though I lift 2x HARD and do tennis and walking and biking, etc., I STILL have too much going in and my body gets enough and needs LESS to lose weight.

I’m concerned, not so much with “starvation mode” but with just NOT getting enough nourishment. I know when I FAST it is VERY hard and my body starts to shake by the end of the 24 hour period, and I get very anxious and angry and short tempered and then I finally eat at hour 24:01.

I need, want to lose weight. I’m 30% body fat and don’t know why. But I don’t want to kill myself (and I mean that literally, I’m concerned about kidney or liver damage or completely screwing myself through diet)

What is the lowest amount that isn’t too risky, and what should I watch out for.?

Regarding not seeing the weight drop, I finally got to the point where I have hid the scale and pulled out the tape measure. I would do measurements of waist, hips, etc. I’m guessing you have lost inches even though you aren’t necessarily seeing it on the scale.

Regarding calorie intake, you really don’t want to go too low or you definitely won’t lose any weight at all. When your body needs fuel and it can’t get it from food, it will take muscle before it takes fat. For some reason your body thinks it needs to hold onto fat more than muscle.

anyone have any comments on the tivoboy post up two?