Frustrated!

[ZSNJ]

At the end of August I decided that it was time to get on a regular exercise/diet plan and started working out 4-5 times a week immediately. My week consists of 1 day for a sport league that is 3 hours of weights/moderate cardio and the other days I'm doing 30 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of strength training. I'm also keeping track of what I eat through a free nutrition website (1300 cals). I have only lost 1 lb and I cannot understand why--I'm female, 28, 5'4 and weigh 168. Is it possible that I am losing weight but building muscle which is making it even out? I feel great physically but I just see no change in my weight or how anything fits. What gives?

[scorpio1980]

When you first start strength training muscle builds fast. Muscle weighs more than fat. So you may be losing fat and replacing it with muscle. If I were you I would throw out the scale. If you start feeling better, and noticing that you are looking better who cares what you weigh. Good luck.

[Solluna]

Originally Posted by scorpio1980

If I were you I would throw out the scale.

Maybe not necessarily throw it out since it is a useful tool, but not rely on it or else you will drive yourself crazy. I find it best to weigh yourself once a week.

I'm not an expert but from experience I've noticed that increasing the minutes you do cardio helps with the problem you are having. 40-45 min if feasible. What kind of cardio are you doing? I ask because interval training did wonders. Also, toning exercises like yoga make a big difference. Good luck!

[ZSNJ]

I go to the gym directly from work and have a train to catch so I can be a little pressed for time. I'm doing the elliptical for 30 minutes 3 days a week--I'm always adjusting the resistance, treadmill once a week if I can fit it in, and my sport league once a week. I'm eating right though, taking vitamins, etc. I guess in time I'll see results. I did some more googling and a lot of people said it took them 2 months before they say any physical changes.

[Clint Cora]

You are starting out great. Just have some patience. If you notice better muscle tone, it's also a good indicator. For days that you are not officially working out, maybe even throw in a walk outside while the weather is still pleasant.

Also, try to keep the foods you eat as low in fat as you possibly can. What you eat is a big part in this.

Strive for permanent changes in your lifestyle. Good luck with these.

[lycan]

Originally Posted by ZSNJ

At the end of August I decided that it was time to get on a regular exercise/diet plan and started working out 4-5 times a week immediately. My week consists of 1 day for a sport league that is 3 hours of weights/moderate cardio and the other days I'm doing 30 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of strength training. I'm also keeping track of what I eat through a free nutrition website (1300 cals). I have only lost 1 lb and I cannot understand why--I'm female, 28, 5'4 and weigh 168. Is it possible that I am losing weight but building muscle which is making it even out? I feel great physically but I just see no change in my weight or how anything fits. What gives?

It's been a month. You are small (your lean body mass is small) and female, so your baseline calorie expenditures are also small. Add possible errors in your tracking and it becomes quite possible that you are not getting any deficit from diet, leaving you only with the deficit from exercise. Exercise burns few calories and people tend to compensate for them by being less active the rest of their time. This means your actual deficit is quite small which means your fatloss is quite slow. If you are also gaining lean body mass, then it may look even slower. Here is a radical idea... eat less.

[lycan]

Originally Posted by Solluna

Maybe not necessarily throw it out since it is a useful tool, but not rely on it or else you will drive yourself crazy. I find it best to weigh yourself once a week.

When I had to lose weight, I would weight myself four times a day in six hour intervals and write the numbers on a journal. It gave me great satisfaction to see new lows being reached on a consistent basis. I got bored and settled for once a day but that is nonsense advice. It will only drive you crazy if you are not actually losing any weight, in which case, give thanks to the scale for letting you know. If you hit a wall, stop eating until you break through a new low. It will not kill you. You are significantly overweight, if you take the slow and steady approach, odds are that you will fail. You will need to seek a sustainable lifestyle at some point, but you cannot lose weight through one. If you could, it wouldn't be a sustainable lifestyle!

[Peppermint]

For me I found strength training 5 days a week and still doing something light on the other 2 days, like yoga helped me. It didn't work alone though I did 3 days a week of cardio interval training. I really believe interval training is better than just regular cardio. I started out with a program called Peak 8 and saw great results. I've now replaced that with spin though which also gives me good results. I think 1300 calories sounds great. I guess my only advice would be to experiment with interval training and on your days off, still do something light.

[InterfaceLeader]

I really recommend the bodyrocker.tv website for workouts you can do at home in addition to what you already do. They are usually only 4-12 minutes long, but they they really help. Plus she shares good eating tips

[Benton]

As far as I know, if you're really strength training (and I'm not sure that 20 minutes a week counts) it doesn't work on 1300 calories a day.

You might find this interesting. Basically Rippetoe is saying to clean up your diet, take in plenty of protein and your metabolism will eventually go through the roof.

Look into Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. It's a great, very easy program, only six lifts, one day on, one day off, alternating an A and B schedule. Day A is squats, bench press and dead lift, and day B is squats, overhead press and power cleans. You'll be amazed how fast your body changes if you follow the program (lots of food, lots of sleep, consistent workouts that push the weight you can pull or push).

What are your overall goals? Weight loss? Strength gain? Weight is lost in the kitchen, strength is built in the gym. If weight loss is the goal, you might check out the keto diet.

[Havard]

I would take a look at some of the other factors that can make it hard to lose weight.

Make sure you get enough sleep and eliminate as much stress as possible. You say you are pressed for time, sounds like a hectic day. If you experience a lot of stress that can make it tough to lose weight.

Other than that I would start experimenting with what you eat to see what keeps you back. A lot of the time people think they eat right when in reality they could eat a lot better.

Hint: Eating boxed foods that are marketed as 'healthy' or 'fat free' etc. is not your best bet. I do best on whole foods and lots of vegetables myself, but you need to find out what works best for you.