Hi everyone. I'm new to this website, but I stumbled upon it and thought I'd voice a concern of mine. So I had been jogging every night for the past few months and I lost 8 lbs before January 1. I joined Gold's Gym on the 1st and I've been working out at about 5 days a week. I usually go on the elliptical in the cardio zone and keep my heart rate up to about 165-170 the whole time for 45 minutes, and then I usually do about 20 - 30 minutes of strength training. One day I'll do legs, the next arms, abs, etc, rotating the different muscle groups. I have been eatting very healthy, consuming about 1,200 to 1,300 calories a day. Since I started working out pretty steady in the gym I have not lost even a pound. I am confused by this a little. I am 5' 6" and I weight 180, female by the way, and I am pretty muscular too. Has anyone experienced this before? I know muscle is more dense than fat, and so if fat is turning to muscle then there could be no weight loss/maybe a weight gain. But then again I thought the only way to build musicle was if you were eatting excess calories and I am not. Please, any input would be great. Thanks!

what is you % bf ??

if it is low you shouldn't want to lower your weight !

also increase your calorie intake, since you are eating healthy .. I think you are eating to little for someone who does 45 cardio + strength training ! eating too little can make your body turn those few calories into fat !!

and fat will never turn into muscle....

also the body gets "used" to if you only do one type of cardio .... try switching like one day bike other day run a little !!

I used to cycle every day .... and once I tried runnning and almost died ... so now I try to run and swim more often !!

The body can do funny things when you first introduce it to resistance training. Beginners can actually add muscle while in a caloric deficit. That said, how certain are you that you are eating 1200-1300 calories per day? If you are certain, then how consistently do you eat 1200-1300?

And the above post is correct, fat does not turn into muscle.

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A calorie deficit is a calorie deficit. Basic thermodynamics state that if adequate energy is not provided to the body so it can carry out living and activity, it will make up for the energy deficit by utilizing its existing tissues. Sure you can invoke the starvation response mechanism. However, this plays more a role in body composition more so than body weight. If she is not losing, she is either adding muscle or she is eating more than she thinks, which I often find the case, no matter how adamant the individual is about her energy intake.

Secondly, your body gets used to all forms of steady state cardio. Sure, switching it up can break boredom.... but I would much rather see her institute some HIIT if fat loss is the main priority right now.

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I would give it a little whole longer, do some measurements, weight can really bounce/not move/drop/gain and all kinds of funny things in the beginning of aggressive training.

That being said I don't think staying at that low of a caloric level is good, it will most likely drop your BMR and that is something you don't wont.

Also if you would like more detailed suggestions post your daily diet in detail.

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Thanks guys. I ususally eat something along the lines of the following:

Breakfast: Oatmeal
Snack: Orange or apple
Lunch: Chicken/greenbeans, or a turkey sandwich on low carb bread
Snack: Orange or apple
I usually eat a banan or balance bar before working out
Dinner: Whole wheat pasta w/ marinara, or chicken with vegetable, some kind of protein and vegetable.

What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training. See my journal if you want a detailed explanation. I think I made a very detailed post about it on this page:

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weigh...ination-4.html

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I'm also a newbie. My thought as a professional dancer is that you might want to try adding more veggies, especially leafy veggies and cucumber to your diet. You'll add some calories, but you'll also supplement vitamin intake. I also use a protein drink called "Alive" which I like quite a lot. I use half a scoop and have these shakes twice a day. At least you can rule out vitamin deficiencies.

The other thing you might check into is if you have any food reactivity. There's a great book that talks about food elimination diets - I'll get you the name if you're interested. I found out I was allergic to wheat, dairy and soy by using it, and that helped me lose some weight a few years back. Many women have food sensitivity or allergies, so it's worth considering.

If you find anything that starts to work for you, please let me know! I teach many classes a week AND work out, and eat very healthy. But hormones apparently are not my friends

Good luck!
Jana

I agree with the previous commenters to get your BF% checked. If the goal is fat loss, it's best to actually measure fat loss and not weight loss.

The gym should have a hand held body-fat monitor laying around. If they want to charge you for the test, walk away. You can buy your own Omron Fat Loss Monitor for $20-$25 on ebay.

As well, the suggestion of HIIT training is a great idea.

Cardio is best at improving your aerobic system, not melting fat

HIIT training is best at developing your anaerobic energy system and is better than cardio in melting fat

Resistance training is best at toning various properties of muscular performance - strength, power, endurance,etc.. It can be effective for weight loss if performed in a circuit training method

And finally, diet is still going to be your most effective tool. It's much easier to eat 500 calories than to exercise away 500 calories. Sad but true

Hope this helps

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Loosing weight is all about your metabolism, but also about what you eat. Basically, if you want to loose weight you got to increase your metabolism right? The way to increase your metabolism is to gain muscle, it's the only sure fire way that I know of to do it.

-To loose weight, you need to increase your metabolism.

Women are often afraid to gain muscle because they think they will look bulky, but it's impossible without the aid of steriods sense women don't produce enough testosteron naturally to look bulky. Muscle on a women is defentally sexier than fat.

If you want to loose weight than I suggest you start to do full body weight training workouts.

If you don't know how to identify processed foods, you should learn how to do that too. South Beach Diet and Slim Fast do have foods that are bad for you, and you know Keloggs? Keloggs is very bad for your body.

Nope. When you lose weight your metabolism falls.

If you want to lose weight you have to be in a caloric deficit.

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