Why aren’t I losing weight?

[Cigarettessuffragettesandboys]

I’ve recently taken up exercise again - doing 4 HIIT sessions a week and 3 kettlebell workouts (so about 25 mins of exercise per day). I’ve also started eating healthier meals and completely cut out snacks.

I did this last year (minus kettlebells) after having baby number 2 and lost 1lb a week and got really toned. This time around however it’s taken me a whole month just to lose 1lb!! I feel slimmer in myself and my clothes aren’t feeling quite so tight but there is absolutely no reflection on the scales (or very slow progress).

Anyone know what I’m doing wrong? I’m starting to wonder if I’m imagining feeling slimmer. It’s a lot of effort for not much of a result.

Anyone know what I’m doing wrong?

A significant factor in answering that is what your weight/BMI currently is.

If your BMI is 24 and you're looking to get down to 21, it's going to be much slower going than if your BMI is 40. Generally speaking, the lower your % body fat, the slower weight loss will be.

Exercise isn't really that great for losing weight because of the sheer amount needed to burn relatively few calories. It's mainly about diet.

Plus if you're doing weights and stuff, if you build muscle you're not going to see lbs going down

You're probably gaining more muscle through the weight based exercises you're doing which weighs more than fat. If you're keen to loose weight mix it up with some cardio.

I noticed a big difference when I was doing more cardio based exercises like spin, boot camp, body attack then I started to mix it up with weight based exercises such as body pump and HIIT.

Also are you looking at your calorie intake?

Don't be disheartened it will take some time (at least a month) to notice a difference.

Good luck!

You’re not in a calorie deficit.
Work our your daily TDEE, you’ll want to be 500kcal a day under this to sustain a 1lb a week loss (although my TDEE is only 1600kcal, so 1100kcal a day is unsustainable, therefore I am for 0.5lb a week loss at 1350kcal) Use myfitnesspal to track calories.

I’m not really looking at my calorie intake to be honest - just being really careful with what I eat. Tracking calories just doesn’t appeal to me but if another month goes by and still no improvement I will go down that route.

I really hope it’s muscle gain like people have suggested. I’ve never done weights before but have noticed a big improvement with toning already.

Thanks for the replies - espcially the one about bmi hadn’t even thought of that. I had just had a baby last year when it was 1lb a week so was a stone heavier than I am now...it makes sense weight loss wouldn’t be as fast

Calorie counting for a week is really useful for getting your perspective in place. How many people have large work colleagues who insist they don't eat much but consider Nando's 4 chicken thighs with 2 sides a normal portion? It doesn't have to be long term logging, just enough to make you visually know what a portion looks like.

I’m not really looking at my calorie intake to be honest -

^^

That's why

I have been careful with what I’m eating though - I can recall absolutely everything I’ve eaten this week because I plan what I’m going to eat every day on Sunday night and stick to it. I have a Fitbit app that calculates calories so will do this for the week gone by later to see how much I have had. However what I find harder is calculating calories burned. Any advice on this? Two of my hiit sessions are on a treadmill so that’s easy but the other two hiit sessions are customised so no idea how many calories I burn. I also don’t know how much my kettlebells workouts burn (I am using fitness blender beginner kettlebell workout if anyone’s used that?)

Shouldn't your Fitbit also be working out the calories you're burning though? That's why mine does

I think I’ve got quite a basic Fitbit - it doesn’t do heart rate or anything like that. The only reason I can calculate food calories is the app I’ve got but there’s nothing that would accurately workout the HIIT sessions/kettlebells for me

I would concentrate on how you feel and stick with the weight training. You may well be getting smaller without losing weight. Have you taken your measurements? Before photos? Ditch the scale or maybe look at it once a month. It's only one indicator.

I would second the muscle thing.

I have not been able to do any exercise for a month since a horse riding accident apart from 1 hour of walking a day for the last 2 weeks. Usually I would run, swim or gym 4-5 times a week.

I have lost 7 pounds. I am being careful with what I eat, but not THAT careful. So I can only put it down to muscle wastage.

Just an update on this incase anyone has a similar question - I ended up having to ditch the kettlebells due to an injury (physio advised to stop) and then started losing weight. Still very slowly but I can see a massive difference in my body and the way clothes fit. Didn’t change my diet at all. That makes me think it was muscle that was preventing weight loss even though I was seeing results physically.

Also didn’t see the bmi question before - my bmi is on the low side in the normal weight range so I think that’s another reason it’s come off slowly.

Oh just realised name change fail! Oops

I found last time I lost weight it took a month to start to lose anything. But then it was regularly dropping every week. I think it might have been due to Homeostasis

This might shed some light:

Snap! Last year I ate well before holiday and lost 3 lbs a week roughly!

Started 2 weeks ago eating well and exercising, running 5 miles every other day and I've lost nothing ☹️

I've been eating low carb around 1,200 calories a day.

Help!

Typical day is:-

Late breakfast - 2 egg omelette with tiny bit of grated cheese

Dinner - bare naked noodles with quorn meatballs and chopped tomatoes as a sauce

Snacks - fridge raiders or a banana if I'm going for a run.

Alternative days I loose the noodles and have lots of vegetables instead.

Last year I did a lot of kettle bells too. This year I'm running more. Maybe that's it.