Why am I not losing weight?

[BrattyTiger009]

For most of my life I've been through a process of starving and bingeing. It got a little better as I got older, though it's held my weight captive for years. I became quite heavy due to this, and spent many years in recovery.
Two months ago, I made my final break through, and started hour cardio sessions (where I left dripping with sweat) and a few rounds of weights per week. I haven't binged, I haven't snacked, and I've stuck to low calorie meals and cut out all juices and sodas. I've slipped up a few times, let's say 20% out of the 100% given, though I've always stayed active throughout this - compared to before, when I wouldn't even get 4,000 steps a day in.
Though I am not shifting weight on the scale at all. If anything, I've gone up a few pounds - and I'm speechless. Even if I were a hundred calories or so over my deficet, my diet is vastly different to the multitude of food I would binge previously, and factoring in the exercise - I don't know what's going wrong.
I'm taking preworkout at the gym, and it doesn't have creatine in it. I'm trying so damn hard. What's going wrong?

Are you tracking every single thing that goes in your mouth? Weighing food? The exercise or pre workout won't be stalling your weight loss (Creatine is fine to take too) How long has your weight been the same? Do you weigh every day? Can you see a difference in how you look/how your clothes fit?

Sorry for all the questions!!

Thank you for responding!

I'm not tracking everything, per se. But I'm tracking about 80%, and although I know I could be stricter, I'm just shocked at how imp,enting exercise and cutting down junk food, takeaways, fizzy drinks wouldn't even bring me down a pound.
My weight has been the same for 5 weeks, and this week I've gone up a pound. I weigh every week on a Saturday before food or drink.
I can feel a slight muscle difference in my legs, but my face if anything has puffed out.

I've had some form of disordered eating my entire adult life and I have to say the only thing that really works for me is My Fitness Pal.
It's free (if you haven't heard of it before) and while it might seem overwhelming to start with, logging all your food etc... you'll soon find that you tend to eat the same stuff so you can speed up the logging process.
I find it quite addictive (in a good way) to try and ensure I'm on track with my macros rather than calories. Getting the correct amounts of fibre, protein, carbs and fats each day is just as important as watching calories in my opinion

Weigh daily and take the lowest weight of the week, that way you'll see how crazily it can fluctuate. It may be your metabolism is a bit fucked or the 20% you're not tracking is calorific. Your hour cardio may be counterproductive due to increased hunger being greater than cals burned. Have a look at Emma Story-Gordon. She's done a post lately about eating in a deficit without calorie counting which might help given your past binge restrict cycles

Muscle is heavier than fat so it's not unusual for weight to increase despite following a structured plan.
I have found using scales that estimate my percentage of body fat much more helpful and a better indicator that I am becoming healthier. Might be worth a try?

Try measuring your bust, waist and hips instead of weighing yourself.

You need to weigh everything you eat and keep track.

If you're peri or post menopausal, without a serious uptick in your weights workouts and an adjustment to your diet, you'll be likely to gain weight.

Try low carb eating and intermittent fasting.

You can eat healthy food but still be eating as many calories as you were eating junk food.

you say a few rounds a week? How many times are you doing this? Once a day or 3 x a week

What do you mean when you say you're 'taking preworkout' - is that some kind of protein powder?

If so, maybe cut that out. If your goal is to lose weight then you don't need it. Just have a sensible meal an hour or two before your workout, and a small snack afterwards.

If you focus a lot of your training on strength/ building muscle then you might not lose weight for a while. Your body composition is changing.

Are you able to shift your midset about the number on the scale? I mean, how do you feel - does your body feel better, do you have more energy?

If you can get away from the scale and you're feeling good, then keep doing what you're doing and give it a bit more time.

I've mentioned dozens of times on threads like that, years ago, I went on a fitness kick and started running and doing the 30 day shred as well aa watching what I ate. Initially, I lost 2 or 3 pounds and then, for the next 8 weeks, lost no weight but did go down a dress size. I then went down 4lbs in one week before gradually losing another 2 or 3 pounds. It was a real lesson for me that weight loss is not linear and that the number on the scales doesn't always matter.

I’m similar I was working out a lot and under eating. You think you’d lose weight but my body got high cortisol. I need to watch the high cardio stuff as that makes it worse. So me it’s a very delicate balancing act. I’m now trying something different- eating and weights . Weight is slow but cm is coming off so I’m sticking with this as I’m really enjoying it.

When I stopped dieting after years of disordered eating, I gained weight for a while! Maybe a few months. Then it stabilised. I’m now losing.

I would recommend getting scales with fat % because sometimes that drops even when your weight doesn’t, especially if you’re gaining muscle as a pp suggested. Weight is such an arbitrary number. Focus more on your fitness, stamina, how you look and feel - how do your clothes fit? Has your resting heart improved? (At my unhealthiest mine was 90+, now it’s down to about 75). So many other factors to consider rather than weight.

I say just keep going it will start to shift at some point!

I have just been through similar, started a real gym kick, cut out wine & snacks etc. Got weighed at the gym, 4 weeks later got on the scales, exactly the same weight. A week later got on the scales 6 pounds down.
Haven't been back on the scales yet but yesterday wore a pair of jeggings that I couldn't get passed the top of my legs 2 months ago!

You are doing a really good thing for your health, well done & keep going!

I also don't know what you mean by pre workout? Honestly for the level of exercise your doing you really don't need to take anything other than lots of water.
The exercise itself won't make a huge difference to your weight especially if you are eating more afterwards because your more hungry. But it is extremely good for you so I'm not trying to put you off it, just don't expect it to be a magic solution to weight loss. For me the only thing that truly worked was strictly calorie counting and I mean everything! I found once I'd lost the weight I was able to keep it off with a sensible diet and a high level of exercise (which I enjoy anyway).

Probably because you say you slipped up 20% of the time and then of the 80% you've been on track you haven't been tracking. It's really easy to overeat even when you think you're not unfortunately. I've found the only way to track 100% of the time. It's really difficult. I started again yesterday and it was a bit of a shock how few calories I can eat.

I feel you OP. I’ve been binging and dieting on and off for years (with some starving thrown in) and I truly believe it’s messed up my metabolism. I’m now trying to lose weight in a healthy way and it’s painfully slow! In the beginning I didn’t lose anything and it’s so disheartening. I think it took 2-3 weeks to lose 1 lbs. I was also training for a 10 k run so plenty of exercise.

What I’ve learnt so far for me is:

• exercise doesn’t have much impact on weight loss for me. But it is great for toning up, muscle definition and overall health. So exercise is purely for health benefits and not weight lose for me

• Some foods triggers overeating and binging for me. I’m better off not having those food as they cause massive cravings for me that don’t go away for days and it’s such a mental struggle to cope with

• count calories but don’t limit too much. Going down to 1200 calories is just silly and too little food to function properly. I can eat a lot more, lose weight and still function properly

I actually think for many when they restrict to 1200 calories a day, they’ll usually underestimate & eat 14001500 so it’ll be fine

Stop weighing yourself! It's such a destructive and demoralising habit. Give your bathroom scales to a friend to keep for at least 6 weeks.

As someone who lost 3 stone in 2017 and has kept it off, let me share something that might help change your mindset.

If you are in a calorie deficit and exercising regularly, you WILL be losing fat and gaining muscle. If you lost 7lb of fat and gained 5lb of muscle you'd look very different. Your clothes would be looser, you'd have more energy. But you'd probably be disappointed with the number on the bathroom scales.

The day I managed to get into my size 10 wedding dress, 20 years after I first wore it, I weighed 7lb more than on my wedding day.

A benefit of muscle gain is that muscle burns LOADS more calories than fat. Even when you're just sleeping! The more muscle you have the faster your metabolism.

I'm not suggesting you turn into a body builder but please please stop focusing on your weight. It's simply the amount of gravity you are exerting on the planet! It has no bearing on your body composition or fitness.



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Stop lying. Muscle is not heavier than fat. A pound of muscle weighs exactly the same as a pound of fat. The difference is that a pound of muscle is going to be smaller than a pound of fat.

OP:
how tall are you
How old are you
What do you weigh now?

"Stop lying" lying? This is harsh and logically incorrect.

Muscle is heavier than fat per unit area.

Which is the same as saying muscle is heavier than fat.

As you pointed out, a pound of anything weighs a pound. Lead is still heavier than feathers.

No one said anything about the relative volume or weight of fat vs. muscle, and we are specifically talking about weight, not volume.

The point stands.

You are putting on weight because you are building muscle which is heavier than fat.

Trust me, keep faith and keep going and it will start to fall off. There's a tipping point and it all comes good but it takes a while particularly if you've been on and off in the past which is why most people give up.

Essentially by building muscle and normalising healthy eating habits your metabolism will speed up and then you'll start to see really decent results. But it can take 3 months to reach that point with a little loss on weight.

Start measuring your waist, bust and bum weekly. You will see you are getting slimmer even if the scales say nothing as changed.

Ok OP you've had a bunch of really conflicting, some incorrect, information here.

Yes you are working out - but building muscle takes years of dedicated resistance training so I'm afraid the likelihood that your weight loss stalling is due to a large increase in muscle volume is low. Think of your exercise in terms of health benefits and body recomposition rather than weight loss.

You must weigh yourself every single day and take the lowest weight of the week. You'll then see how much your weight will fluctuate over the week. Measurements are also a great way to see progress.

A pre workout is basically just caffeine and isn't a problem unless it's high in calories - worth checking and tracking if so. If you like coffee then that will be more enjoyable and do the same job.

Your 20% of untracked food is very likely to be your issue so I would do a couple of weeks of weighing and logging everything you eat. BE HONEST and you'll most likely see that you aren't eating in the deficit that you expected.

Don't lose heart and keep up the exercise if you enjoy it!

I do feel for you, its not easy! I’ve been dieting since around April and have gone down four dress sizes and lost around three stone. I write down everything I eat. Sometimes however, despite keeping to the diet I can put on a pound or two! It is demoralising I know, but I think how your clothes fit is a better indicator of weight loss than scales, though I admit I am addicted to weighing myself! You will get there. Tell yourself how well you are doing. You are doing this for you which is the best reason. Take care. Ps I still have at least two stone to go!