Eating right, Working out but NOT losing weight

[little1sk]

I was wondering if ANYONE has any advice for me.  I have been trying to lose about 5-10lbs over the last year. I am 31 years old , 4'8" and weigh 101 lbs. I used to weight between 89 and 94lbs at the most!
I am pretty atheltic. I ran a marathon a few years ago and shortly after that is when I gained the weight. I have been training for half marathons (I ran one in April 2006) so I have been keeping the cardio up with running 3-4 days during the week and then 5-10 miles on the weekends.  
Recently I got so frustrated that I went to a dietitican. She claimed that I needed to rev up my workouts by doing interval training and then eating more protein and more times of the day.

For the last two months, I have been eating 5 times a day (about 1000-1200 calories) Each meal has protein and carbs and I get my 5 a day fruits and veggies.
I do cardio 5 days a week (3 days are interval training for 45 min--60 seconds at 65% target heart rate and 60 second 85% target heeart rate) The other 2 days of cardio are a 45 minute dance class and then a weekend long distance run that lasts between 1-2 hours. I also weight train 3 days a week. 1 days lower body and two days upper body.

My body fat has increased and my pants size has increased. Why can't I lose the weight or at least the body fat? Does anyone have advice for me?

[CuteNsweeT]

It doesn't sound like your body is "broken", lol, it just sounds like you go into starvation-mode easily. On the times where you ate junk and did little exercise, your body was relaxed and was confident that the next meal or snack was never far away, so it didn't bother holding onto any extra fat in case it needed it.
On the times where you reduced your caloric intake to really low levels,(plus adding in exercise) your body panicked, wondering when it would next get the fuel it needed, so it slowed everything right down (metabolism) to conserve energy, and also started stockpiling any calories it DID get as bodyfat. I know it doesn't make sense mathematically (calories in minus calories out) but it's been proved to be true so many times.
Also, looking through the lists of food you gave above, it seems like your protein and fat intake is much much higher while you aren't dieting. Protein and fat (natural fat like cheese) are essential to healthy body functioning, so that could be another reason that you found you lost weight whilst supposedly "eating bad".

[CuteNsweeT]

At 5'8 125lbs would be UNDERWEIGHT. 140 is a healthy weight for you, and considering how active you are, a good percentage of that weight will be pure muscle. As an athlete, you NEED that muscle to power you through what you do. Have you taken body-fat percentage readings? I think that would be a better way for you to judge if you're "overweight" or not (you're not, but if you need reassurance the BF% will give that to you) as a bathroom scales takes no notice of your composition-- it tells you how heavy you are, but not how much of that is healthy muscle. An example of this would be a rugby player; on a height-weight chart he could be classed as obese, but obviously he's not. He's healthy and active and just muscle-heavy.

[tennisforjesus]

All of this is very interesting... I am 19 and just finished my first year of college.  I am a college athlete and constantly workout.  Unfortunately despite this I gained the usual 15 pounds at college.  I am 5'8'' and weigh 140 lbs.  I have been working very hard this summer to lose the weight and am having no luck.  I would like to be 125 lbs or less.  I play tennis at least 3 hours a day, do P90x weight training at least twice a week and Insanity workouts 3 times a week plus I run stadiums or go running in my neighborhood a few times a week.  I eat pretty healthy, I don't eat sweets and eat often to try and keep my metabolism up.  I have lost maybe 2 pounds since I've been home in May and I'm getting quite frustrated with myself.  If anyone out their has any more suggestions than what has already been said, I would very much appreciate it!  Thanks!

[Siz2741]

I am not a professional or anything, but I do understand your problem. Track & field +cross country and I was gaining weight instead of losing it.

All I can say is what helped me. Make sure you are getting good restful sleep because your body will need it, especially if you are doing 90min of exercise six days a week. Make sure you stay on that high protien idea but just you know switch it up and enjoy it. (Go for spinich I love it :) ) Mix up your workouts, like try doing soccor or something to switch up your cardio. It can be a ton of fun to do that.

Don't get discouraged! Oh, and stay hydrated. So many people forget how important it is to stay hydrated and if you are sweating it out 90 min a day and are on the go you probably need to keep a water bottle with you all the time if you are not already. Also, I don't know if 1200 calories is enough? I'm not a professional but your body could be storing that food as fat possibly because it thinks you are starving it while working out? I dont' know for sure (and please no one hurt me for saying it I'm just saying it is possible).

Good luck :)

[sexywomaninhibernation]

Hi everyone,

I thought I would google, "exercising more and not losing weight" and this thread of communication came up so I thought I would write in and see if anyone has information that can help.

I started Weight Watchers on Jan. 3rd of this year after being diagnosed a type 2 diabetic. I was 232 lbs at only 5'3"!!! My A1C was at a 7 and my blood sugars were well over 140. I am happy to report that I am down just under 50 lbs in 6 months and am feeling pretty darn good about my A1C getting down to 5.6!!:) My blood sugars are also down ranging at about 90-120. So, I'm handling my diet well. I just had my physical and no thyroid or hormonal issues and everything seems good (or better than before). SooOOooo, I thought I would try adding exercise into my lifestyle.

My fiance is an avid cyclist so I thought I would get a bike and start peddling. I go out 4-6 times a week and ride 20-25 miles at about 14-16 mph. I LOVE it. It feels so good to get outside and do things I couldn't do before. BUT..........and this is a big BUT.........I've maintained my weight for the last 8 weeks with only fluxuating +/- 0.2 lbs??!! I admit, I mostly just bike ride but about 1-2 times per week I will jog/walk on the treadmill  for about 30 min at 3.8/5.5 mph intervals. I know that maybe this doesn't "seem" like much but at my weight.....I sweat, I gasp, I use an inhaler and always get my heart rate up. I seriously am at a loss with what to do. On one hand, I don't want to get too upset because I've managed to lose just shy of 50 lbs and I don't know of a lot of women my age (40yrs old) and weight who can bike ride at my speed and distance so I'm pretty excited about where that can all lead. My fiance says that if I can learn how to change a tire and degrease/relube my chain and get up to 17mph- he'll buy me a good road bike next year to ride with him:) My clothes are fitting better so I think that I've lost inches but at only 5'3" tall and 182 lbs........I would think that I would be losing weight too. Like I said, I do Weight Watchers so we count "points" and not calories but I get all my pts in for the day plus use some extra that I earn with exercising. I've switched out to all nonfat or low fat dairy, lean meats, whole grains and watch my carbs like a hawk since being a diabetic. I don't know all the exercise "lingo" so I'm not sure what is anaerobic/aerobic exercise etc but would love any information on what I should do.

Thanks so much for reading and your comments:)

[myboyz333]

I am 35 years old, 5'7" and weigh 160.  I haven't weighed this much since I had my last son 9 years ago.  I was happy when I weighed 140.  I started gaining weight about 2 1/2 years ago when I went back to school and wasn't as active as I used to be.  All I was doing was working (full time) going to school 2 nights a week, I also take online classes so I'm in front of the computer a lot, and taking care of my boys, doing regular mom stuff.  When my clothes started to get tight and some not even fitting I decided I needed to become more active.  I've never really had to diet before so I figuered my weight gain was due to inactivity since I started school.  So I started going to the gym.  For the past 2 months I've been going doing some weight training and cardio,  I workout 4 to 5 days a week for an hour to an hour and a half.  I cant do much more cause I have kids.  I started watching what I eat and counting my calories keeping them between 1200 to 1400 daily,  I also started taking vitamins.  I have not lost any weight!! I'm super discouraged.  

Cany anyone help me???