A question for anyone who exercises alot

[Kim2BSlim]

For the past 4 weeks or maybe a little longer, I have been doing pretty strenuous exercising at least an hour a day. I walk 1-2 miles, do crunches, some exercises with weights, and also the Wii Fit. I am still taking in around the same calories (about 1200 a day)

I have not lost an ounce!! Everyone keeps telling me I am gaining muscle, but come on..shouldn't I be losing some weight too? I am not ready to stop losing yet..I still have 40 lbs to go.

I know MM works out pretty intensely too and she is still dropping weight. Do I need to quit working out so much?

[bigali]

Don't stop working out. That is the best thing for your health and body. What I recommend (and it's only my opinion) is to lower your calorie intake. My sister and I work out like crazy and when ever we finds that we are not losing weight, we lowers our calories, or we plays around with our food to fool our bodies. I got banded not so long again and I do not eat 1200 calories a day I consume around 900 to 1000 and I'm losing constintly about a 2 to 3 pounds a week and when I find that I don't lose weight I intake more water. Hope this helps a little.

Alexandra

[cckcsharp]

Kim,

as no expert here, I can only add this. If you have been doing the same thing for a month and not lost weight, then it won't hurt to try something different. The tricky part is what to do different. This is where I think weight loss is somewhat trial and error. I also agree that you have to trick you body. Try the technique of zigzagging your calories. Eat 1000 one day and the 1400 the next. Alternating your calories every day, you will still eat the same amount at the end of the week as if you had eaten 1200 per day. But you are confusing your body and tricking it. This technique is suppose to be great for avoiding platuaes. You can also try to lower your calories by a little, or even try upping them by a little. Try more water or try more protein. It's just so darn tricky. But you have to play around with it a bit to see what works for you. Just pick the one thing that seems most reasonable to you and try it for a week or two. If it doesn't work, try the next option. I am sure this is so frustrating, particularily when you are working so dang hard and the scale isn't moving. The bottom line is that if what you are doing isn't working, then it won't hurt to try something else to see if that scale starts roaring for you. I am pulling for you and hoping that you find the answer you need. Best wishes.

[erin2796]

I have a friend that body builds and is a fitness model. She tells me that you have to track your measurements because you are losing fat and gaining muscle. A pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle the difference is the amount of space it takes up. A good example of this would be if you weight a pound of steel next to a pound of feathers. The pound of steel would be a lot smaller than the pound of feathers.

Keep measuring because you should see this go down as the muscle develops and forms.

[lock27]

Hey , Its funny that you post this questions since for the last month and half i have been struggling as well. i am a workoutholic my whole life, but lately i have being pushing it even more. i decided to try to trick my body with various calories per day and then see what i have. However, i went to the doctor's office, and according to their records i lost 13 pounds in a month. sometimes it also depends on your scale, and apparently my is off. let me know if anything helps since i will be trying different things as well.

[GirlBarb]

Hi Kimmie,

I don't know if this is a help, but I was at the doctors today for a fill AGAIN! The PA didn't want to give me more, but I got her to give me .2 so that I am up to 1.7 The 1.5 gave me NO restriction. I was blown away when she said it may take up to 6 fills to get to the sweet spot. I told her some people get there much faster. She tried to scare me and said that too much could cause the stomach to ulcer around the band.

After that I went to talk with the nutritionist and physch person. I was told that the amount calories you take in only works if you know your basic metabolic rate, which could be anywhere from 800, which means the 1200 I'm on is too high, or the hour a day of exercise is making higher 1600 and I am not getting enough! Geez She said it costs around 50 bucks and gets done at gyms such as Baily's

The physch lady said do not count on exercise to loose weight and told me I would enjoy reading the book "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wansink, PH.D. She also invited me to join the monthly meeting of lapband patients. I can't go this Wednesday because I am having my cat declawed and want to be around to care for him. Maybe in sept. It is a good thing that they don't charge you for the extra help.

Please let me know how you do on Friday, I hope you get the fill that will take you to your sweet spot.

Your friend Barb

[Kim2BSlim]

Thanks for the replies. I am just so frustrated. I have been working out 7 days a week, but I am gonna lower it to 3-4 days a week and eat even less cals and see what happens.

[mom12]

Kim, maybe it is how you are working out. I know everyone is different but for me High Intensity Interval Training 3 days a week seems to bring the best results. I have tried the 7 days a week for an hour or more, I have tried the 5 days a week for 45 minutes, I have tried various combinations of those but the only time that I seem to be able to keep my metabolism working for me is when I do Interval training 30 sec. of hard (heart rate 180 work) followed by 90 sec. of really low interval getting my heart rate back under 140. I also walk and do WII fit but I don't push it on either of these. I do the HIIT Monday, Wed, and Fri and try to go for a leisurely walk daily and do some WII fit just because it is so fun, for about 1/2 hour a day but I do things like Yoga and Balance games more than the Aerobics part of it on my off days.

Sundays I give my body a complete break from everything. I don't know if any of this will work for you but hopefully it will give you some change up ideas to see what will work best for you.

[lynzz]

Hi Kimmy,

I have struggled with the same thing from the beginning and you know I am an exercise junkie (usually workout in day and run in evenings, 5 days a week, and hike on Saturdays)........in the last 4 months the only thing that has broken my plateaus (and I have had several) has been to decrease my calories. I have tried exercising more, then less, eating more calories/protein, more cardio, more weight training, interval training, but still, decreasing my calories was the most effective for me. I know others may not agree, but when all else fails......

And, really keep track of your measurements. I didn't keep track of them too much when I started out, but now when the scale doesn't move, I usually see a difference in my inches and it makes me feel much better. It does make sense that as you are building muscle that you didn't have before, you would not lose weight. Your legs and arms will probably become more muscular and get bigger....mine did.

I have been at this for 4 long months now, and I am just starting to reap the benefits of all my effort. I feel much healthier and stronger. Just a few minutes ago, I ran 5K which I would never of dreamed of doing just a few months ago. I bought a 50lb bag of dog food today and, without any effort, tossed it in my trunk (surprised me!!), and last Saturday I did a 12 mile hike that was labeled "strenuous"....so just hang in there--the weight will eventually come off and, in the meantime, you will become much healthier and stronger!!!!

[Kimmy in MD]

Hi Kim,

Just adding my 2 cents. The routine you descibed would definetly add tone to your body, but does not sound so much like it burns many calories. To burn calories you need to increase the aerobic part of your workout.

Ultimately you do want to do some weight training because you will tone muscles, which will help you to burn more calories round the clock, but if you are looking for calorie burn right now you might need to kick up your walking. This is especially important once you hit the big 40.

I would suggest trying interval training. There are some pretty easy ways to introduce the intervals. Increase your walk to a full hour, try to walk at a pace of a 12-14 minute mile and at every five minutes kick it up more for 1-2 minutes i.e. run for 1-2 minutes, jump rope for 1-2 minutes, then go back to the slower walking pace for another 5 minutes and repeat the 1-2 minute intensity. At the end of that workout, if you allow a 5 minute warm-up and a 5 minute cool down you should be able to get in 7 intervals of the slower walking and 6 intervals of the high intensity stuff. The idea of this is to continually shock your body and keep it adjusting. This workout is really easy on a treadmill but can easily be done anywhere.

Another trick I have heard about, but never actually tried, is to wear a weight vest when walking. It will distribute about 10-20 lbs. evenly around your torso and as you do your walk, hike, jog whatever your body will be moving a force that it interprets to be your own weight. As we know the heavier you are the more calories you burn all other things being equal.

The biggest thing is to just keep plugging along. You are at a plateau, your body is fighting you on this loss and it is also getting to the time of the year when your body starts holding onto energy and calories in preparation for winter (yeah it is getting to be fall, believe it or not). You have done so great! 60 lbs is AMAZING and it will continue, if you persevere and you will.

Let us know how it works out.

PS Plus I think your next fill, with the new doc is going to make a HUGE difference!

[mona-camille]

Kim, don't stop what you are doing. The answer is simple - it just takes a little while for your efforts to show up!! I have been a walking fool for the past 2 months but it has only just recently began to show up in my weight and body. It just takes a while, but when your body catches up, you will drop tons overnight! So, don't give up, you are doing the right things just give it more time to show itself!

[Kim2BSlim]

Thanks so much everyone!

Kimmy that makes so much sense.