Thread: Workout advice and help.. PLEASE

I had a workout buddy that was having the SAME PROBLEM a few months back- working out diligently, eating the right foods, and no weight loss. We are blessed to work for a fitness-conscious business so she asked the on-staff nutrionist and fitness instructor what the problem could be. The nutritionist/fitness guru told her there are a number of reasons this could happen, but the three most common are:

1. If you are only a few weeks into the fitness training and healthy eating, your body could be in a kind of "shock" and is going to need time to adjust to the new lifestyle. Once your body catches up to your inner motivation, you will begin to see results.

2. You are gaining muscle and losing fat, which will keep your weight higher than what you would think it should be from all the hard work. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you lose the fat but are gaining muscle from working out 5x's a week, you will not necessarily see significant weight loss. Scales are not always the best way to measure success. Have you tried measuring yourself - Waist, arms, thighs? Taking weekly measurements might be a better way to keep track of your progress, because even if you do not lose weight, it is quite possible that you are progressing by losing inches.

3. With the challenging workout regime you are doing, you may not be getting all the calories in your body that you need, causing your body to go into "starvation mode" and store as much fat as possible. Women need a MINIMUM of 1200 calories per day just for normal daily activity. Add in the extra strain of cardio and weight training and you will probably need over 2000 calories per day to stay healthy and still lose weight. If your body is not getting a safe amount of calories, it will hang onto every drop of sugar/carbs/fats that it gets as a way to compensate for the too-wide calorie deficit. Try a website like "Calorie Count" where you can calculate what your daily caloric intake is and what your daily caloric expenditure is and see if the gap is too large for your body to handle.



Not sure if this is it or not, but it might be the first place to look... you could also consult your doctor to see if they have any suggestions/tips/advice for you.