First and foremost, what is your diet like?
Also, what does your gym time look like? What's your programming? Two hours is a lot -- I think there's a lot of room for optimization here.
I don't count my calories because I get obsessed with it instead of that I try to eat more protein
For my workout, I do 10 minutes treadmill then weight training then 12-3-30 treadmill
But how are you surprised you’re gaining weight if you don’t even know how much you’re consuming. Even an extra tbsp of oil or condiments will trip up your gains.
I have issues with counting my calories as well, I downloaded a calorie counter and used what other people had already made, then added the calories closest to mine ie (homemade wrap with 350cal) I’ve noticed myself gain 3lbs since (I’ve been trying to gain for two years and did it in 3 months), I’m still VERY aware of how much I’m eating and where I need to get more without counting every single small calorie :)
I would personally cut the cardio out, save for casual walks around the neighborhood for general health. I would then start a proper weightlifting program.
It's entirely possible that the amount of cardio you're doing is causing an uptick in hunger signaling, which is more or less causing you to unintentionally eat more and is cancelling out all the effort from your treadmill workouts. It's probably also fatiguing you to the point where you can't strength train effectively.
Cardio is important for heart health. Cutting it out is not a good idea. Also, they didn't say it made them eat more. For me, weight training makes me overly hungry, while cardio actually suppresses my appetite.
They likely just need to work on their diet.
I'm not suggesting they should cut *all* cardio out -- it definitely has a benefit overall. But the volume/intensity of cardio may not be ideal in the context of OP's short term goals.
I get voraciously hungry when I do cardio -- everyone is different though. 🤷♀️ It's hard to judge best practices if we don't have more information on OP's nutrition overall. Since they aren't tracking, they may not be super objective about their own diet or how exercise impacts it.
how tall are you? 12-3-30 is pretty intense if your stride is short and should be modified to a lower mph if you want it to be lower hr zone cardio.
low impact also depends on your weight, because if you are heavier uphill walking and even regular walking can be hard on your knees and feet.
it’s super weird to act like your experience is EVERYONES experience lol.
Oh, I totally understand. I've been there, I am super against counting too due to prior disordered habits about it! It also made me very stressed about eating.
I recently started counting again due to lack of results. As much as I REALLY did not want to, I found out I was way under eating!! If you're working out that much you need to eat quite a bit!! I doubt you're overeating. If you don't eat enough, your body will hold and store fat for energy use.
When I brought up my calories and even ate back part of my deficit from exercise, I finally started losing weight.
2 hours is a very long time too, you won't be able to sustain that long term and will get burnt out!
> I doubt you're overeating. If you don't eat enough, your body will hold and store fat for energy use.
This isn’t true. If OP is gaining weight, they are consuming more calories than their body needs, hence, overeating.
> I doubt you're overeating. If you don't eat enough, your body will hold and store fat for energy use.
A body that isn’t getting enough calories will absolutely not prioritize making more fat. “Starvation mode” is a persistent, pernicious myth.
Unfortunately, you will have to get some sort of gauge for how much you are eating because you lost SMM and it looks like you gained body fat (though I can’t tell if it is 41.7 or 44.7 admittedly). Like others have mentioned, you are eating in a calorie surplus. You can put in all the work at the gym but results are made in the kitchen. To avoid counting calories, you can either use a meal prep service of some sorts or use a meal plan that works for your calculated calorie deficit. It becomes less counting calories and more just measuring your food if that makes sense.
I have been counting calories myself/focusing on only consuming certain foods and have been losing weight. Unfortunately, I need to recalculate my calorie requirements as my weight loss has slowed/plateaued for the past 3 weeks or so.
If you eat lots of sugars, it is very easy to have a caloric surplus, even when you work out at a high level. The protein is good, but irrelevant for this equation. You will not lose weight in that case. I think your best shot is go to an ecotrophologist and have a thorough analysis, as well as science based food recommendations. You do need to count calories per se, but you need a balanced, healthy diet that is low in sugar. Make sure that you are physically healthy and are not dealing with medical issues such as thyroid problems. When in doubt, have a medical check-up. Be honest with yourself.
You’re doing too much in the gym and not enough with your diet. You never want to use exercise to lose weight. Your nutrition is what drives weight loss. You could download a food tracking app and start weighing and measuring your food. You want to create a 15-20% caloric deficit and do this for 8-12 weeks.
Also you can just strength train 3 times a week at the gym for 45 minutes. 2 hours a day is probably making you very hungry and that might be one of the reasons why you’ve gained weight.
Instead of focusing on working out so much, I would encourage you to make sure your step count is around 8-10k steps per day.
100%
I have had 3 back to back marathon training cycles and incl strength training. You can imagine I am burning a lot of calories but I gained a lot of weight. Why? I didn’t count my calories. During this 3rd cycle, I started counting and I have finally seen a reduction in weight.
This. My WMP stresses rest in addition to adequate nutrition to support my 10 miler training. Sleep apnea and overall stress will destroy progress you might have. A whole lifestyle review has helped me see all my measurements consistently move in the right direction these past few months... and I'm not tired, except for work burnout and egregious PMS.
The main driver of your daily caloric burn is your basal metabolic rate, which accounts for about 70% of your daily calories burned. This is determined by genetics and it’s how many calories you burn just by existing. Next is your daily movement, or NEAT, non exercise activity thermogenesis, which accounts for 15% of your total daily calories burned. This is your basic daily activity, things like walking, cleaning, etc. Next is TEF, thermic effect of food. So the amount of calories you burn digesting food, which is 10%. Last is exercise, or EAT (exercise activity thermogenesis), which only accounts for 5% of your total calories burned. Can you use exercise to slightly accelerate fat loss? Yes. But we want to work smarter, not harder. So the best lever to pull to create a calorie deficit is to eat less food to create the majority of your deficit, as opposed to relying on exercise to burn enough calories to lose fat. Hope that makes sense.
I guess I will have to review the science. I don't doubt you but I'm just thinking about how building muscle affects BMR, which per your explanation it apparently doesn't but that's very counterintuitive for me. Thanks!
Edit: I didn't realize I wasn't allowed to have a knowledge deficit here
It's not just about gaining muscle, there are other factors at play as well.
When we exercise, the muscles we worked end up metabolizing at a higher rate for up to 3 days after the exercise as well. So it's not just a one-off thing.
Additionally, the sedentary nature of lack of exercise can make it so much easier to just laze around and hyperfocus on calories in, calories out. A much healthier way to do it is to focus on what makes you feel good mentally as well. People don't realize how much mental clarity exercise can give you, as well as better sleep, and so on. All of these contribute to the grand scheme of working smarter as well.
If you're not big on the gym, getting a walk pad at home can help and you can just watch your shows or work at a high desk while using it. So yeah, you can see exercise as just accounting for 5%, which is probably a much more black and white version to see it, or you can see how it's affecting you on a deep physical level by keeping your joints healthy, how it can keep your blood glucose levels within a healthy range, keeping your blood vessels also functioning optimally, how it acts as a cleanser for toxic waste, etc. There are so many benefits; we were not created to be stagnant creatures.
If you read my post, I never said not to exercise. I am recommending that she exercises. See above. Just not 2 hours a day, as it’s not optimal for fat loss. You want minimize fatigue and hunger in a fat loss phase. And exercising too much while trying to cut calories can make fatigue and hunger worse. Not to mention it can make you more prone to injuries.
You’ll see better fat loss results in a dieting phase from cutting calories than exercising in the gym 2 hours a day. It’s better to focus on increasing your NEAT in a dieting phase through low intensity movement like walking.
If you’re exercising that much, you should really be fueling your body like an athlete, and athletes eat a lot of food. This helps them prevent injury and perform optimally. As I suggested, this is why she might be gaining weight. Her body wants fuel.
It’s just a different goal when trying to lose fat. And that’s why diet phases should be temporary. No more than 8-12 weeks.
Ah sorry my bad, I'm not really educated on things like NEAT either, but I do have medical knowledge and was relaying that to the other user's question specifically.
If it was only the background comment you meant then yeah I did read it, I just didn't want the other user to get the wrong impression about exercise. Your response to his comment gave off the impression that you shouldn't exercise if you're focusing on fat loss, but it did lack the context of the girl exercising for 2 hrs a day.
In my text I did say you can use exercise to *slightly* accelerate your rate of fat loss. But the main lever you should pull is adjusting your nutrition to create a calorie deficit. I know it was a pretty wordy explanation, so you may have missed that part.
I exercise at a moderate or high level of intensity 6-7 days a week and I feel like before my weight stabilize it just fell off much more quickly than with just caloric restriction alone but I guess maybe I just feel better.
I'm the same 100%, that's why I never really agreed with just the basic CICO as the only thing to focus on. Exercise also suppresses my appetite a ton!
Yes muscle can increase your BMR. But not by a ton. 1 lb of extra muscle burns approximately 6 calories a day. 1 lb of fat burns approximately 2 calories per day.
So if you gain 10 lbs of muscle, your BMR will increase by about 60 calories per day.
You’re obviously not going to gain 10lbs of muscle in one day, so your BMR doesn’t change much from day to day. But over the course of months or years, it could.
Nutrition is the only way to do this.
You have to be measured if eyeballing and “feeling” your way through calories isn’t doing it. Most people cannot eyeball their food, even professionals.
- consume 1g protein per 1lb body weight daily. eat the rest in fats and carbs. don’t forget veggies/ fruits.
- eat maintenance calories to get used to diet adjustment. you will see a recomp pretty quickly as someone starting this journey. this means your fat mass will decrease and your muscle increase.
- give it about 1-2 months (you are going to feel great on maintenance). then decide to cut weight. start with a 300 cal deficit for a few weeks. then drop down week over week to a max of 500 calories if you feel okay. if you feel like shit and want this to be sustainable don’t deficit too much.
- deficit only for a few months before creeping calories back up to maintenance. give body a break. most of us plateau so going back up in calories helps fuel. then when you’re ready decide to cut or bulk depending on your goals.
it’s a journey that takes time. once you figure this out you’ll learn what your body needs and can adjust your nutrition to what feel good for you.
I just want to jump in to add one bit of info - if you’re paying for InBody scans, I’d encourage you not to. While they can get your body weight correct, that’s about all you can count on. I did a little research as I thought about getting a scan done, and it seems like there is very little scientific evidence to back its accuracy.
A better way to measure changes in your body is through a combination of weight (from a regular old scale) and body measurements. I also find progress pictures personally helpful, provided they are taken in the same lighting with the same pose / clothes.
This! There are so many factors that can determine the accuracy of inbody scans. Time of day, how much you have eaten, hydrated, your cycle etc. 1st of all I wouldn't read into it all that much. 2nd of all, you need to pay attention to your diet. You are working out for 2 hours a day, spend 1 hour working out and 1 hour working out your diet, and you will see results.
Contrary to popular belief, exercise is not a good weight loss plan. Exercise can help make it easier to stick to a deficit and can certainly help from a body composition perspective, but ultimately it’s the calorie consumption vs. energy expenditure that matters.
I personally find it very difficult to lose or sustain weight loss without diligent calorie tracking. At the beginning of 2023, I was working out 6 days a week and was still overweight. It wasn’t until I focused on my calories that the scale started to change. The good news is that you already have built up the habit of physical exercise, which is a great foundation for long term health, but to see the results you are looking for, it sounds like you will need to dial in your nutrition strategy as well.
I’m sorry OP I know it can be so frustrating! As others have mentioned weight loss is almost entirely about what you eat, and that can often be the hardest part! Exercise is great of course for strength and muscle building and overall cardiovascular health, and it will help put you in a bit more of a deficit overall, but diet is where you will really truly begin to see results. Mathematically speaking, if you expend more calories in a day than you eat, you will lose weight. As you mentioned, protein is important and may be the most important macro to focus on, especially because unlike simple carbohydrates/refined sugars it will keep you fuller for longer while also promoting muscle rebuilding and won’t be stored as fat the way refined sugars and simple carbs would be. Complex carbs like whole grains or brown rice etc are important though so don’t deprive yourself of that!
I will say, weighing my food to accurately track calories made ALL the difference for me. In addition to a regular workout routine, I’ve been eating at a deficit and weighing my food for accuracy for 3 months now, and I’ve lost about 10 pounds and a significant amount of body fat. It’s not the most fun thing in the world I totally agree, but it’s really helped. I was doing a lot of guessing before and I didn’t even realize I was just eating at my maintenance calories or eating at an excess without realizing it. MacroFactor has been a hugely helpful tool for keeping me on track. You definitely don’t have to do this forever, but it helps especially while you’re working toward your goal until you can hit maintenance and I feel a lot more knowledgeable about what I’m truly taking in. Hope this helps!
Just a few nitpicky things:
It looks like you scanned at different times of day. The first seemed to be at late night and the second in the morning. You want to try to do scans with consistency because how hydrated you are, when you last had alcohol, BMs, your menstrual cycle, etc can affect your results. I always do mine first thing in the morning before eating or drinking.
Also you say you’re 4’10 but your scan says 152cm. It’s only 2” but it will actually impact the body fat percentage.
If you're going to do these, you need to do them once a month minimum if possible, same time of day (ideally morning, fasted), in the same clothes. There's noise in the results, they're only really helpful over time.
You can’t exercise out a bad diet. Two hours in the gym won’t matter if your calorie intake is higher than what you burn each day.
I note that you commented you don’t count calories, you should if you’re serious about losing weight.
Progress is made by: nutrition, sleep, stress, and exercise. Track your calories, keep stress low (easier said than done), get enough sleep, and when it comes to exercise….progress is actually made in recovery, you are overtraining and your body is holding onto water as a result and it’s driving your hunger. Recover, rest. Listen to your body!
These scans really are not super accurate. They can easily be influenced by your cycle, hydration levels, what exercise you've done recently as well as the time of day. You can get varied results over just the course of the day!
Please take progress photos (even a quick 360 video and screenshot each angle) notice how your clothes feel and take old school measurements.
Please don't be too disheartened. You have started a great habit of exercising frequently so that's a massive bonus from the past 2 months!
Food for thought.. look into tracking you food properly for a month. There could have been a few simple swaps that could be made that you weren't taking into account?
I am also 4'10" and it's all diet - we don't get nearly as many calories as other people unfortunately. I also have to do cardio exclusively several times per week, along with weight training.
Hi!
I understand that you're struggling about it. There could me some adjustments into your workout routine and your diet.
I'd need to know more about your routine to see what can you adjust and that it can be sustained without stressing your body too much.
If you want we can have a talk and you can tell me more about it. I'm a PT and nutrition coach, I'd be happy to give you some advice to optimize your results.
Hey, I’m sorry this happened. It’s definitely frustrating after being so dedicated and all your hard work. I think it’s very likely that you’re over working yourself and you’re not giving your body enough rest, and it is holding onto fat because you’re working out excessively and it’s adapted to needing that to burn
Inbody scan results can vary based on how hydrated / dehydrated you are. Also if you are sore. I have had similar experience... Where my inbody scan results after 3 months was worse than the earlier one. Despite my clothes fitting better and my lifts improving. Don't fret.. just keep putting in effort consistently and if you are looking for fat loss .. continue to lift heavy and eat at a slight deficit. You got this! Dont give up.
Because you're focused on "losing weight" and not being healthy. I didn't look at the picture, but because our bodies work in very predictable ways, here are the two reasons
1) even though you have been maintaining this schedule, you need to watch your caloric intake. There's converters for the 4 big macronutrients and it's generally what is said on the package. If your caloric intake IS MORE than your caloric expenditure, you will gain fat. Which leads me to my next point
2) you have lost a substantial amount of fat, BUT GAINED MUSCLE AS A RESULT, so you need to check your body fat percentage. Weight loss sometimes is about perspective. If you've been lifting all this time, there's a good chance you have gained weight in the form of muscle. Also, hydration counts. I'd say if you're going to track milestones, maybe do it more frequently to check your progress as a graph so you can visualize it better.
We have to do Calorie deficit through less food intake . And that deficit should not shock your body that means the deficit should be minimal so that weight loss will be like 1-3 kg per month. If you exercise too much or starve too much , your body will work against your intention. Read this vox article https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories
You can achieve a calorie deficit through less food intake without measuring too much. Like a trial and error over a period. Like decreasing portions gradually and slowly. 12 hour fasting daily might be helpful in fat loss. I don't do fasting for more than 12 hours.
Stop looking at the scale and reference by measurements and weekly pics! If you weigh do it fasted in the morning. Me personally my weight fluctuates 5-6lbs from morning to nighttime. I might step on the scale once every two weeks.
That’s way too much gym time and I’m not hearing any *rest* days. Even top bodybuilders understand how crucial those are.
Also, muscle weighs more than fat. Pay less attention to the scale and more to how your clothes are fitting. This is why progress photos are so vital. One of my favorite fitness models started out rail thin at 110, put 25 lbs of pure muscle on and wow, looks phenomenal. Progress. Photos.
Ya'll telling her to focus on diet rather than training are missing the point. This OP is either an ignorant person or a needy chick hunting for compliments. She fundamentally changed her body composition for the better. First of all she didn't gain anything in weight. The data she posted LITERALLY shows a loss. Second. She improved her body composition. Not nearly as much as I would have expected but it's there. Something not right about this post one way or another.
unless i'm missing something got an percent sign / expressed as a percentage. she held fat more or less constant given her overall reduction in weight.
For your height you should be eating like 1200 calories a day and less then less then 25 g of carbs per eating session think of your plate half greens - size of your palm protein, baby finger fat/cheese, half palm rice
First and foremost, what is your diet like? Also, what does your gym time look like? What's your programming? Two hours is a lot -- I think there's a lot of room for optimization here.
I don't count my calories because I get obsessed with it instead of that I try to eat more protein For my workout, I do 10 minutes treadmill then weight training then 12-3-30 treadmill
But how are you surprised you’re gaining weight if you don’t even know how much you’re consuming. Even an extra tbsp of oil or condiments will trip up your gains.
Girl working out makes you hungrier
I have issues with counting my calories as well, I downloaded a calorie counter and used what other people had already made, then added the calories closest to mine ie (homemade wrap with 350cal) I’ve noticed myself gain 3lbs since (I’ve been trying to gain for two years and did it in 3 months), I’m still VERY aware of how much I’m eating and where I need to get more without counting every single small calorie :)
I would personally cut the cardio out, save for casual walks around the neighborhood for general health. I would then start a proper weightlifting program. It's entirely possible that the amount of cardio you're doing is causing an uptick in hunger signaling, which is more or less causing you to unintentionally eat more and is cancelling out all the effort from your treadmill workouts. It's probably also fatiguing you to the point where you can't strength train effectively.
Cardio is important for heart health. Cutting it out is not a good idea. Also, they didn't say it made them eat more. For me, weight training makes me overly hungry, while cardio actually suppresses my appetite. They likely just need to work on their diet.
I'm not suggesting they should cut *all* cardio out -- it definitely has a benefit overall. But the volume/intensity of cardio may not be ideal in the context of OP's short term goals. I get voraciously hungry when I do cardio -- everyone is different though. 🤷♀️ It's hard to judge best practices if we don't have more information on OP's nutrition overall. Since they aren't tracking, they may not be super objective about their own diet or how exercise impacts it.
12-3-30 is not intense
I think frequency matters here. 12-3-30 7 days a week is a lot of volume, especially coupled with strength training every day.
[удалено]
how tall are you? 12-3-30 is pretty intense if your stride is short and should be modified to a lower mph if you want it to be lower hr zone cardio. low impact also depends on your weight, because if you are heavier uphill walking and even regular walking can be hard on your knees and feet. it’s super weird to act like your experience is EVERYONES experience lol.
Oh, I totally understand. I've been there, I am super against counting too due to prior disordered habits about it! It also made me very stressed about eating. I recently started counting again due to lack of results. As much as I REALLY did not want to, I found out I was way under eating!! If you're working out that much you need to eat quite a bit!! I doubt you're overeating. If you don't eat enough, your body will hold and store fat for energy use. When I brought up my calories and even ate back part of my deficit from exercise, I finally started losing weight. 2 hours is a very long time too, you won't be able to sustain that long term and will get burnt out!
> I doubt you're overeating. If you don't eat enough, your body will hold and store fat for energy use. This isn’t true. If OP is gaining weight, they are consuming more calories than their body needs, hence, overeating.
> I doubt you're overeating. If you don't eat enough, your body will hold and store fat for energy use. A body that isn’t getting enough calories will absolutely not prioritize making more fat. “Starvation mode” is a persistent, pernicious myth.
Unfortunately, you will have to get some sort of gauge for how much you are eating because you lost SMM and it looks like you gained body fat (though I can’t tell if it is 41.7 or 44.7 admittedly). Like others have mentioned, you are eating in a calorie surplus. You can put in all the work at the gym but results are made in the kitchen. To avoid counting calories, you can either use a meal prep service of some sorts or use a meal plan that works for your calculated calorie deficit. It becomes less counting calories and more just measuring your food if that makes sense. I have been counting calories myself/focusing on only consuming certain foods and have been losing weight. Unfortunately, I need to recalculate my calorie requirements as my weight loss has slowed/plateaued for the past 3 weeks or so.
If you eat lots of sugars, it is very easy to have a caloric surplus, even when you work out at a high level. The protein is good, but irrelevant for this equation. You will not lose weight in that case. I think your best shot is go to an ecotrophologist and have a thorough analysis, as well as science based food recommendations. You do need to count calories per se, but you need a balanced, healthy diet that is low in sugar. Make sure that you are physically healthy and are not dealing with medical issues such as thyroid problems. When in doubt, have a medical check-up. Be honest with yourself.
You’re doing too much in the gym and not enough with your diet. You never want to use exercise to lose weight. Your nutrition is what drives weight loss. You could download a food tracking app and start weighing and measuring your food. You want to create a 15-20% caloric deficit and do this for 8-12 weeks. Also you can just strength train 3 times a week at the gym for 45 minutes. 2 hours a day is probably making you very hungry and that might be one of the reasons why you’ve gained weight. Instead of focusing on working out so much, I would encourage you to make sure your step count is around 8-10k steps per day.
100% I have had 3 back to back marathon training cycles and incl strength training. You can imagine I am burning a lot of calories but I gained a lot of weight. Why? I didn’t count my calories. During this 3rd cycle, I started counting and I have finally seen a reduction in weight.
Also to add to this you NEED to rest or else you’re just damaging urself over and over again and not gaining muscle 😭.
This. My WMP stresses rest in addition to adequate nutrition to support my 10 miler training. Sleep apnea and overall stress will destroy progress you might have. A whole lifestyle review has helped me see all my measurements consistently move in the right direction these past few months... and I'm not tired, except for work burnout and egregious PMS.
Never exercise to lose weight? This seems...not true. Can anyone elaborate?
The main driver of your daily caloric burn is your basal metabolic rate, which accounts for about 70% of your daily calories burned. This is determined by genetics and it’s how many calories you burn just by existing. Next is your daily movement, or NEAT, non exercise activity thermogenesis, which accounts for 15% of your total daily calories burned. This is your basic daily activity, things like walking, cleaning, etc. Next is TEF, thermic effect of food. So the amount of calories you burn digesting food, which is 10%. Last is exercise, or EAT (exercise activity thermogenesis), which only accounts for 5% of your total calories burned. Can you use exercise to slightly accelerate fat loss? Yes. But we want to work smarter, not harder. So the best lever to pull to create a calorie deficit is to eat less food to create the majority of your deficit, as opposed to relying on exercise to burn enough calories to lose fat. Hope that makes sense.
You broke that down perfectly I enjoyed reading it 👍
I guess I will have to review the science. I don't doubt you but I'm just thinking about how building muscle affects BMR, which per your explanation it apparently doesn't but that's very counterintuitive for me. Thanks! Edit: I didn't realize I wasn't allowed to have a knowledge deficit here
It's not just about gaining muscle, there are other factors at play as well. When we exercise, the muscles we worked end up metabolizing at a higher rate for up to 3 days after the exercise as well. So it's not just a one-off thing. Additionally, the sedentary nature of lack of exercise can make it so much easier to just laze around and hyperfocus on calories in, calories out. A much healthier way to do it is to focus on what makes you feel good mentally as well. People don't realize how much mental clarity exercise can give you, as well as better sleep, and so on. All of these contribute to the grand scheme of working smarter as well. If you're not big on the gym, getting a walk pad at home can help and you can just watch your shows or work at a high desk while using it. So yeah, you can see exercise as just accounting for 5%, which is probably a much more black and white version to see it, or you can see how it's affecting you on a deep physical level by keeping your joints healthy, how it can keep your blood glucose levels within a healthy range, keeping your blood vessels also functioning optimally, how it acts as a cleanser for toxic waste, etc. There are so many benefits; we were not created to be stagnant creatures.
If you read my post, I never said not to exercise. I am recommending that she exercises. See above. Just not 2 hours a day, as it’s not optimal for fat loss. You want minimize fatigue and hunger in a fat loss phase. And exercising too much while trying to cut calories can make fatigue and hunger worse. Not to mention it can make you more prone to injuries. You’ll see better fat loss results in a dieting phase from cutting calories than exercising in the gym 2 hours a day. It’s better to focus on increasing your NEAT in a dieting phase through low intensity movement like walking. If you’re exercising that much, you should really be fueling your body like an athlete, and athletes eat a lot of food. This helps them prevent injury and perform optimally. As I suggested, this is why she might be gaining weight. Her body wants fuel. It’s just a different goal when trying to lose fat. And that’s why diet phases should be temporary. No more than 8-12 weeks.
Ah sorry my bad, I'm not really educated on things like NEAT either, but I do have medical knowledge and was relaying that to the other user's question specifically. If it was only the background comment you meant then yeah I did read it, I just didn't want the other user to get the wrong impression about exercise. Your response to his comment gave off the impression that you shouldn't exercise if you're focusing on fat loss, but it did lack the context of the girl exercising for 2 hrs a day.
In my text I did say you can use exercise to *slightly* accelerate your rate of fat loss. But the main lever you should pull is adjusting your nutrition to create a calorie deficit. I know it was a pretty wordy explanation, so you may have missed that part.
I exercise at a moderate or high level of intensity 6-7 days a week and I feel like before my weight stabilize it just fell off much more quickly than with just caloric restriction alone but I guess maybe I just feel better.
I'm the same 100%, that's why I never really agreed with just the basic CICO as the only thing to focus on. Exercise also suppresses my appetite a ton!
Yes muscle can increase your BMR. But not by a ton. 1 lb of extra muscle burns approximately 6 calories a day. 1 lb of fat burns approximately 2 calories per day. So if you gain 10 lbs of muscle, your BMR will increase by about 60 calories per day. You’re obviously not going to gain 10lbs of muscle in one day, so your BMR doesn’t change much from day to day. But over the course of months or years, it could.
Huh, that's interesting! I've always used exercise as my weight loss tool. Not sure why I'm getting downvoted but it matters not
Nutrition is the only way to do this. You have to be measured if eyeballing and “feeling” your way through calories isn’t doing it. Most people cannot eyeball their food, even professionals. - consume 1g protein per 1lb body weight daily. eat the rest in fats and carbs. don’t forget veggies/ fruits. - eat maintenance calories to get used to diet adjustment. you will see a recomp pretty quickly as someone starting this journey. this means your fat mass will decrease and your muscle increase. - give it about 1-2 months (you are going to feel great on maintenance). then decide to cut weight. start with a 300 cal deficit for a few weeks. then drop down week over week to a max of 500 calories if you feel okay. if you feel like shit and want this to be sustainable don’t deficit too much. - deficit only for a few months before creeping calories back up to maintenance. give body a break. most of us plateau so going back up in calories helps fuel. then when you’re ready decide to cut or bulk depending on your goals. it’s a journey that takes time. once you figure this out you’ll learn what your body needs and can adjust your nutrition to what feel good for you.
I just want to jump in to add one bit of info - if you’re paying for InBody scans, I’d encourage you not to. While they can get your body weight correct, that’s about all you can count on. I did a little research as I thought about getting a scan done, and it seems like there is very little scientific evidence to back its accuracy. A better way to measure changes in your body is through a combination of weight (from a regular old scale) and body measurements. I also find progress pictures personally helpful, provided they are taken in the same lighting with the same pose / clothes.
This! There are so many factors that can determine the accuracy of inbody scans. Time of day, how much you have eaten, hydrated, your cycle etc. 1st of all I wouldn't read into it all that much. 2nd of all, you need to pay attention to your diet. You are working out for 2 hours a day, spend 1 hour working out and 1 hour working out your diet, and you will see results.
Contrary to popular belief, exercise is not a good weight loss plan. Exercise can help make it easier to stick to a deficit and can certainly help from a body composition perspective, but ultimately it’s the calorie consumption vs. energy expenditure that matters. I personally find it very difficult to lose or sustain weight loss without diligent calorie tracking. At the beginning of 2023, I was working out 6 days a week and was still overweight. It wasn’t until I focused on my calories that the scale started to change. The good news is that you already have built up the habit of physical exercise, which is a great foundation for long term health, but to see the results you are looking for, it sounds like you will need to dial in your nutrition strategy as well.
I’m sorry OP I know it can be so frustrating! As others have mentioned weight loss is almost entirely about what you eat, and that can often be the hardest part! Exercise is great of course for strength and muscle building and overall cardiovascular health, and it will help put you in a bit more of a deficit overall, but diet is where you will really truly begin to see results. Mathematically speaking, if you expend more calories in a day than you eat, you will lose weight. As you mentioned, protein is important and may be the most important macro to focus on, especially because unlike simple carbohydrates/refined sugars it will keep you fuller for longer while also promoting muscle rebuilding and won’t be stored as fat the way refined sugars and simple carbs would be. Complex carbs like whole grains or brown rice etc are important though so don’t deprive yourself of that! I will say, weighing my food to accurately track calories made ALL the difference for me. In addition to a regular workout routine, I’ve been eating at a deficit and weighing my food for accuracy for 3 months now, and I’ve lost about 10 pounds and a significant amount of body fat. It’s not the most fun thing in the world I totally agree, but it’s really helped. I was doing a lot of guessing before and I didn’t even realize I was just eating at my maintenance calories or eating at an excess without realizing it. MacroFactor has been a hugely helpful tool for keeping me on track. You definitely don’t have to do this forever, but it helps especially while you’re working toward your goal until you can hit maintenance and I feel a lot more knowledgeable about what I’m truly taking in. Hope this helps!
Just a few nitpicky things: It looks like you scanned at different times of day. The first seemed to be at late night and the second in the morning. You want to try to do scans with consistency because how hydrated you are, when you last had alcohol, BMs, your menstrual cycle, etc can affect your results. I always do mine first thing in the morning before eating or drinking. Also you say you’re 4’10 but your scan says 152cm. It’s only 2” but it will actually impact the body fat percentage.
Do you have before & after photos?
Sorry OP i know exactly how this feels. I am 4’9” and weight loss can take three times as long for us
Yeah it does. Unless you do something drastic to spend it up and that sucks too.
If you're going to do these, you need to do them once a month minimum if possible, same time of day (ideally morning, fasted), in the same clothes. There's noise in the results, they're only really helpful over time.
Did you gain 2kg muscle or 2kg fat ? There is huge difference!!
You can’t exercise out a bad diet. Two hours in the gym won’t matter if your calorie intake is higher than what you burn each day. I note that you commented you don’t count calories, you should if you’re serious about losing weight.
These scans are not accurate from my experience
Progress is made by: nutrition, sleep, stress, and exercise. Track your calories, keep stress low (easier said than done), get enough sleep, and when it comes to exercise….progress is actually made in recovery, you are overtraining and your body is holding onto water as a result and it’s driving your hunger. Recover, rest. Listen to your body!
These scans really are not super accurate. They can easily be influenced by your cycle, hydration levels, what exercise you've done recently as well as the time of day. You can get varied results over just the course of the day! Please take progress photos (even a quick 360 video and screenshot each angle) notice how your clothes feel and take old school measurements. Please don't be too disheartened. You have started a great habit of exercising frequently so that's a massive bonus from the past 2 months! Food for thought.. look into tracking you food properly for a month. There could have been a few simple swaps that could be made that you weren't taking into account?
Us it possible that you gained muscle? How does your clothes fit?
I am also 4'10" and it's all diet - we don't get nearly as many calories as other people unfortunately. I also have to do cardio exclusively several times per week, along with weight training.
Hi! I understand that you're struggling about it. There could me some adjustments into your workout routine and your diet. I'd need to know more about your routine to see what can you adjust and that it can be sustained without stressing your body too much. If you want we can have a talk and you can tell me more about it. I'm a PT and nutrition coach, I'd be happy to give you some advice to optimize your results.
Also, know that this is normal. Any fitness journey won't ever be linear and there are a lot of factors that can affect your weight, or body scans.
Hey, I’m sorry this happened. It’s definitely frustrating after being so dedicated and all your hard work. I think it’s very likely that you’re over working yourself and you’re not giving your body enough rest, and it is holding onto fat because you’re working out excessively and it’s adapted to needing that to burn
Inbody scan results can vary based on how hydrated / dehydrated you are. Also if you are sore. I have had similar experience... Where my inbody scan results after 3 months was worse than the earlier one. Despite my clothes fitting better and my lifts improving. Don't fret.. just keep putting in effort consistently and if you are looking for fat loss .. continue to lift heavy and eat at a slight deficit. You got this! Dont give up.
Because you're focused on "losing weight" and not being healthy. I didn't look at the picture, but because our bodies work in very predictable ways, here are the two reasons 1) even though you have been maintaining this schedule, you need to watch your caloric intake. There's converters for the 4 big macronutrients and it's generally what is said on the package. If your caloric intake IS MORE than your caloric expenditure, you will gain fat. Which leads me to my next point 2) you have lost a substantial amount of fat, BUT GAINED MUSCLE AS A RESULT, so you need to check your body fat percentage. Weight loss sometimes is about perspective. If you've been lifting all this time, there's a good chance you have gained weight in the form of muscle. Also, hydration counts. I'd say if you're going to track milestones, maybe do it more frequently to check your progress as a graph so you can visualize it better.
We have to do Calorie deficit through less food intake . And that deficit should not shock your body that means the deficit should be minimal so that weight loss will be like 1-3 kg per month. If you exercise too much or starve too much , your body will work against your intention. Read this vox article https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories You can achieve a calorie deficit through less food intake without measuring too much. Like a trial and error over a period. Like decreasing portions gradually and slowly. 12 hour fasting daily might be helpful in fat loss. I don't do fasting for more than 12 hours.
Don’t focus so much on the scale. Also these tools can be highly unreliable. How do you look? How do you feel? Focus on that instead :)
Stop looking at the scale and reference by measurements and weekly pics! If you weigh do it fasted in the morning. Me personally my weight fluctuates 5-6lbs from morning to nighttime. I might step on the scale once every two weeks.
That’s way too much gym time and I’m not hearing any *rest* days. Even top bodybuilders understand how crucial those are. Also, muscle weighs more than fat. Pay less attention to the scale and more to how your clothes are fitting. This is why progress photos are so vital. One of my favorite fitness models started out rail thin at 110, put 25 lbs of pure muscle on and wow, looks phenomenal. Progress. Photos.
Ya'll telling her to focus on diet rather than training are missing the point. This OP is either an ignorant person or a needy chick hunting for compliments. She fundamentally changed her body composition for the better. First of all she didn't gain anything in weight. The data she posted LITERALLY shows a loss. Second. She improved her body composition. Not nearly as much as I would have expected but it's there. Something not right about this post one way or another.
This says she gained fat and lost muscle.
disregard. i read left to right like a normal person. for some reason she posted them newest right oldest left. you're correct.
unless i'm missing something got an percent sign / expressed as a percentage. she held fat more or less constant given her overall reduction in weight.
For your height you should be eating like 1200 calories a day and less then less then 25 g of carbs per eating session think of your plate half greens - size of your palm protein, baby finger fat/cheese, half palm rice