Why isn't it working?

stephen77

have you done before and after photos?


They can help show you the differences you have made. Better than the scales for showing difference.
try doing them once a week say on a sunday morning. be consistent with same poses and time so everything is equal. Hopefully over time your start to see the differences.

stephen77

spookalili wrote: »

My average meal consists of white meat or fish, with either potatoes and vegetables, rice or salad. I count all my calories and weigh food when I can. I do drink, but tend to go for low calorie drinks where I can, only drink on a weekend and take note of the calories I am drinking. My average calorie intake is 1200 a day and I use My Fitness Pal to track this.


Any advice?

Can you post a accurate breakdown of your diet?


though I may be looking at reducing potato & rice for more green veggies / salad. May be more lean meat as well.

Pollycat

stephen77 wrote: »

have you done before and after photos?

They can help show you the differences you have made. Better than the scales for showing difference.
try doing them once a week say on a sunday morning. be consistent with same poses and time so everything is equal. Hopefully over time your start to see the differences.

When I was dieting and exercising, I had a dress that I wanted to fit into. I hung it on the front of the wardrobe. Every few weeks, I tried it on and the difference in the fit of it reassured me that I was on the right track and gave me encouragement to persevere.

I stayed away from the scales except for a once-a-month weigh-in.

stephen77

dixon-bainbridge wrote: »

2) Your schedule is very cardio heavy (which isn't a bad thing of course). Maybe consider upping the strength exercises. This has the dual benefit of burning cals and toning.

3) Try to mix it up a bit so your body does not get used to it. If you run 5k one week try a bit further or a bit faster the next week. If you can do 5 push-ups, aim for 6 your next week out etc.

4) .

2) I would 2nd doing some resistance training. Build some lean muscle to help increase your metabolic rate.


3) for cardio. Can also go down the interval/fartleck training routine. Eg run 1k at a nice pace. walk for 1 minute. then run as fast as you can for 1 minute, walk for 1 minute, run as fast as you can for 30 seconds. walk for 1 minute. then run at a nice pace for 2k, walk for 1 minute. sprint for 30 seconds. walk for a minute, then run 500k at a nice pace.
Plenty of variations on the above.

stephen77

Pollycat wrote: »

When I was dieting and exercising, I had a dress that I wanted to fit into. I hung it on the front of the wardrobe. Every few weeks, I tried it on and the difference in the fit of it reassured me that I was on the right track and gave me encouragement to persevere.

I stayed away from the scales except for a once-a-month weigh-in.

seems a good motivation technique as well.


Or for the OP. Keep some trousers that fit before you started the diet. Then see how much baggier they become over time.

jenniewb

OP it works like this (spoken from experience). When you use your muscles, they require fluid to get rid of all the lactic acid which builds up when using them, the lactic acid can eat into the muscle so it's very important from your body's point of view to get rid of the lactic acid and it does this via the fluids you take in as you exercise.
You will no doubt be able to see that post exercise you look a lot more toned than you did when you first woke up or even first started your work out. The reason for this toned (or if you are a guy; "ripped") look is due to the fluids in your muscles which are working to rid you of the toxins (lactic acid) and you will remain like this for some time afterward, if you are exercising every day with the exception of a rest day a week it is likely you will have some inflammation or pumped muscles for a lot longer than someone who just exercises on a once-a-week basis.


Hence when you take your weight, you are not just looking at your muscle build, your bones (which will be able to build extra calcium and is not a bad thing!) but you are also looking at your extra fluids, which can be kilos and will vary person to person depending on muscles, your build and your water intake (this is not an indirect message to stop or reduce your fluid intake).


It really isn't about weight once you exercise with some real gusto, it's about lean muscle, about build, about size. You really can't do the exercise thing to a full 5-6 days a week thing and then be wanting your weight to reduce unless you stop working on your muscles (eg focus on things like meditative forms of yoga and slower forms of swimming). If you don't use it you lose it, the same goes with muscles and it works vice versa; if you are using your muscles, your body will keep ensuring they are building and becoming stronger and larger and hence they will take on more mass and take on more water.


Take your measurements from someone else using a set of callipers or measuring your waist line and so on, but if you only look at your weight it's going to feel demoralising unless you know what that weight really is and if it's fat gain or muscle gain.

parking_question_chap

You still have not posted an average days food.

Conrad

I've been an excercise nut for my adult life and thus have seen a lot as it were. I've come across this many times and in the end if you burn more energy than you intake, just like a bonfire, mass will decrease and the whole universe works on this principle, nothing that dies and stops taking in energy increases its mass.

Of course I cannot be sure in your case but in those cases I've known personally it was down to people sort of kidding the selves as to thier true intake, often for example leaving out that hoovering up of thier kids leftovers when doing thier daily count. Water is all you need although I drink beer every night and three teas in the morning.

Cutting out a good deal of carbs especially processed stuff like bread and pasta I've seen make a critical difference but I would guess you know this.

Now sweating buckets can suggest hard excercise but not always, some people just sweat at the slightest effort. Can you be sure you really train hard.?

Large guy at my martial arts makes this claim, but he really does take it easy. For example he cups his head when doing sit-ups and he does not send his bum to the floor when doing squat type movements. No one has the heart to tell him, so he just moans about lack of weigth loss.

Good luck, you will get there if you are doing it right, nothing in the Uniberse will alter that

mintster

How tall are you and how much do you weigh? Sounds a very low kcal amount to me and where are your dietary fats?

We tend to be too quick to drop kcal low and our body (being the smart thing that it is) can make adjustments to account for this. You may find that by simply increasing your kcal intake and including some fat in your diet may be enough to trigger further weight (ideally more specifically fat) loss. Make kcal increases (say 100 - 200 a day for a week, and then increase again the following week) while monitoring your body composition using measurements/photos and the scales. If you start gaining fat you have found your 'caloric ceiling' - how much you can eat each day without gaining or losing weight.

Scales can be a useful tracking tool but that is about it - there is a saying "the number on a set of scales is merely a representation of your relationship with gravity!"

I hope that makes sense - trying to keep it very brief!

Feral_Moon

Can I just dispel the myth that muscle weighs more than fat? It doesn't, it weighs exactly the same, in the way a pound of feathers weighs exactly the same as a pound of iron.

The difference is in DENSITY. Muscle is far more dense than fat, therefore has less volume. Hence why a well toned person could weigh exactly the same as a fat person but be several clothes sizes smaller.

Ditch the scales and use a tape measure if you want to monitor body change. Or just go by how well your clothes fit you.