2hours at the gym 5x a week and weight not shifting!!

[NiceFaceShameAboutTheBigBum]

I am really trying to shift 4 stone and would like to do it over the next 4 months which I think is realistic. For the last 2 weeks I have being going to the gym for 2 hours a day Mon-Fri (1 hour cardio and 1 hour on the weight machines). Thankfully my kids are now all school age and I am trying to sort myself out. I think I am pretty much reaching every bloody muscle in my body!! I am burning around 600-700 calories at each session and am challenging myself (and very much enjoying it) but my weight has not shifted and has stayed exactly the same .

I am also swapping breakfast and lunch for slimfast bars (which I love!) and eating quite a bit of fruit and raw veg in between with a normal meal in the early evening, and grapes and cottage cheese with linseeds in the evening and I have been so good (except for the bagel with houmous that I just ate out of anger!!). Have also stopped drinking normal tea with sugar and drink at least 5 mug fulls of herbal tea with at least 3 litres of water.

Someone please tell me what am I doing wrong before I lose the will to carry on?!!

It depends on what kind of weights you are doing. High repetition low weights is great for fitness and weight loss, however low repetition heavy weights will make you bulk out a little if you are doing it weekly over a long period of time.

However RUNNING is no doubt the best way to lose weight overall.Use the treadmill and when the weather gets better go outside.

I still think that some women have a tendency to bulk up even with a moderate level of exercise not involving that much weights - I do, and this was confirmed by instructor at gym. If I have a weekend where I do a lot of walking or am on the go constantly but don't eat any more than normal, by Monday I have gained 2-3 pounds.

I then lose weight during the week when I am sedentary at work!

But I am probably talking bollocks!

I doubt that, so must be something else then!

You say you are burning 600-700 calories each 2 hour session that you work out, now I don't know how you are getting to that figure. I know if you wear a heart rate moniter and band then you can measure your workout in all sorts of ways and one is calories burnt. You can at some gyms borrow a heart rate moniter strap which will then read on the machine - this will give you a reasnably good gauge of what you are using .

600-700 calories over a two hour session sounds low, if you are more than 64kg (which I think you are) you would be using more than that amount of calories if you are working up a sweat when training at the gym.

If I go to the gym in the moring for half an hour - I do 30 mins running and 10 mins on the rowing machine and go home, in the gym I have used 400 calories in 40 minutes and for the next 30 minutes I will burn at least another 100 calories - as my heart rate is still raised.

If you did 10 mins on the rowing machine, 10 mins on the bike going flat out and then ten mins on the tread mill this would use around 3-400 calories and then go back in the eve and do 30 mins of cardio and 20 minutes of weights.

excersising twice a day will not hurt you and will raise your heart rate twice in a day and your body will continue twice to use up calories when you have finished.

it may work to get you starting to shift some weight.

Just remember it took a lot longer than two weeks to increase your weight and you have to look at long term to be happy with one pound a week.

3500 calories is equal to one pound.

hope you keep at it and it starts to work

Thanks Ivykaty. I go to a 'Technogym' where you insert a key into all the machines(including the weights) and it supposedly calculates how many calories you are using up from your height and weight and gives you a total when you finish. Probably not accurate but gives me an inducement to beat the previous days record!! I am doing 20 mins on the bike as a warmup, then about an hour using nearly all the weight machines, then 20 mins crosstrainer, 10 mins on this arm spinning thingy machine, and another 20 mins on the bike again. I have been surprised that my stamina has increased quite rapidly on the machines considering that before that I was breathless just going upstairs.

I have been trying to exercise in the the evening as well (have a cross trainer and trampette at home) but have yet to find the inclnation . Will definitely reduce the weights to 5-10 kilos though and have porridge for breakfast with an egg salad for lunch after reading all the replies.

I am with you - the tecnogym bit Ask if they have heart rate moniters to put around you whilst you do your work out - if they do then this will give you a better idea of what you are really burning.

As or the weights - I wouldn't lower the weights but thats me, I have increased the weights over time (18 months) and now do nearer 45 kilo on two leg weights and 80 kilo on the leg press. I can assure you I do not have big bulginh muscles... I also spin and cycle outside a lot (thus I do the leg press to help with hill climbs [winks]

I was meaning twice a day but shorter sessions - not effectivley doing more training.

Do they have spin sessions at your gym? if so book yourself in - you will be fine and it will be far better than the 40 minutes you are doing on the gym bike. Cycling in a group and to music and doing pretend hill clims etc for 45 -60 minutes is far more enjoyable and more demanding - plus in 45 minutes you can use between 400-700 calories depending on your fitness and weight.

keep at it though and try to enjoy what you are doing.

listen if you come back to me and say i like spending 2 hours a day in the gym instead of one hour of proper exercise and then going home to have a cup of tea, read a magazine, watch TV, surf the internet with the second hour then fine but honestly if you are spending an hour wandering around weight machines mon-fri then you are not exercising properly.

I am not any type of expert in this, but thought I would give you my experience. I'm 3 stone overweight and have been going to the gym for 4 sessions of 1 hour each, every week for the past 8 weeks. I have had weeks where I have tried to eat less, and weeks were I couldn't be botherd I had a few personal trainer sessions in the first month and with his recommendation I do about 40 mins of 'cardio' work ie. walking uphill (and now jogging) on a treadmill, step machine, crosstrainer or bike (usually I choose 3 out of the 4 and always do the walk/jog) and I use a few fixed weight machines (2 for legs, 3 for arms) and some bosu ball stuff.
I measured my waist, hips etc after the first session and regularly since then.
I have lost only 8 lbs in the 8 weeks which did disappoint me as I am used to doing diets where you can lose 5lbs or so in the first week! However, by doing the measurements I can see that I have lost 3 inches from above and below bust, 5 from my waist, 4 from my hips, 1 from thighs...so I can see the results - it's just not weight loss (and I guess it must be that I am putting on muscle).
The other thing that I have noticed is that when I got a bit obsessive about my diet I stopped losing any weight but when I got more relaxed again it started falling off.
I also read a personal trainer's comments (on mumsnet) that with exercise, it takes 6 weeks before the weight starts really dropping - and so I stuck with it and she was right (in my experience).
It is hard to keep going when the scales are moving but I keep reminding myself that the exercise is making my heart healthier, cutting my diabetes and cancer risks, and building muscle which will sit there eating calories when I'm at my desk (on m'net) later.

Hi, I haven't read all the answers, just your OP. I think it is a little strange that your weight hasn't gone down at least a little with all that work you're doing.

A friend of mine had this problem and it turned out she had an underactive thyroid. Give yourself a month or so, but if things don't improve it might be worth having a check to rule that out.

Message withdrawn

Thank for your replies. I will keep on with the weights. I think I must be getting addicted, I am feeling crotchety as I have not been to get to the gym this weekend!! I am not going just for weightloss, I find it's stress relief too.

I have tried to blame my fatness on an underactive thyroid for years but the doctors will not believe me and I have all the symptoms. Although saying that when I lived abroad, I found a sympathetic doctor who gave me some thyroxine to try (even though my bloods were normal but she said sometimes it does not show up) and I did feel very much better after a few weeks but when I ran out after coming back to the UK, I went to my GP here and he would not give me anymore and I did argue with him .

I probably will not a size 10 by July but I I'll settle for a 14 at least.

I did think of something - do you cross train with the weights?

By this I mean on one day do upper body and the next give the upper body their rest and do lower body and then change?

This way the muscles have 48 hours to repair, which is what they really need.

Otherwise do weight one day and then the next day leave the weights and do cardio only.

I have a strong feeling if you do weights every day it will not increase as they don't have their repair time.

bloss - you're spot on with the weights advice - I have absolutely NO idea why women faff around with pink 2kg dumbells and think they'll end up looking like Arnie!

OP -

i) it doesn't sound like you're eating anywhere near enough. Try eating "clean" (google it) - you'll have a job eating 2-2500 a day clean!

ii) Alternate your weights - 3 times a week is fine.

iii) lift as much as you can. I do about 20,000kg a session and I take HUGE pride in lifting more than men. Am I in danger of growing a penis? Not yet.

iv) Try HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) for cardio. Nobody needs to do 2 hours in the gym, it's a waste of time. IMO I see so many women on the cardio machines barely moving that they may as well be sat on the sofa. HIIT means that you have bursts of intensity (which raise your metabolism!) spaced with rest periods. E.g., set your treadmill for 30 minutes. At around minute 10, run (jog) for a minute, then walk, then run etc until you get to 20 minutes. I find it easier to run "uphill" so try putting it on a hill programme.

I have similar issues with the speed of weight loss, but have invested in scales that calculate the % of fat in your body and seeing that go down and clothes get looser, even if lbs don't come off, is really motivating

Regarding weights - I do Body Pump twice every week and the biggest weight I use is 10kg on the squats. I only use 7.5kg on the chest / bicep / tricep /shoulder tracks but even so, the muscle definition is amazing - it really makes me feel good, without bulking up !

I adore my studio classes and do as many different ones as possible - work permitting, I do 9 classes over 5 days every week. The cardio classes are 45 mins, others are 60 mins. When I'm really in weight loss mode, I do all 9 (or more) but have been doing at least 5 every week for a number of years

I work harder at classes than on the machines - it is more varied and demanding and much more fun - can't recommend them highly enough

Body Balance x 1
Body Pump x 2
Legs Bums Tums x 1
Body Attack x 1
Body Combat x 2
Dance Aerobics x 1
Spin x 1

you are exercising TOO much, you need to give your body a break. 4 stones in 4 months is very unrealistic unless you compromise your health and go on a 'no-food' diet. You must eat breakfast and cut down on sugary fruit and carbs, e.g. cottage cheese and grapes do not go together. One or the other, but not together. Read about food combining, which might be something that would help.