Im working out but....nothings happening

Hey guys. I have a question thats semi-ignorant imo, but Ive never really worked out until now.

Background Information: 21 y/o, 6'0 tall, 252 lbs (weight this morning), 37"-38" waist.

Ive been working out before and after work, heavily. I dont dreain myself of all energy, but I do enough to where I feel that Ive done enough physically in all areas of my body.

What do I do? 30 minutes on the elliptical machine doing a weight loss pre-set program with a 5 minute cooldown period. After that, I hit up a few machines. (I dont know the names of the machines so Ill describe the excercises. Sorry, Im so new to this).

Machine 1: The ab/crunch machine, where you hold onto two bars behind your head, put your legs behind this cushions under you, set the weight youre using ( I set it at about 70-80), and start the rep. I usually do about 20-30 in each rep.

Machine 2: The arm/chest machine, where you grab onto the handles and push the "bars" out. I usually set this weight at about 90-100 lbs. I do about 20-30 in this rep, but lately Ive only been able to do 15-20 b/c my arms and chest are so sore.

Machine 3: The pulling arm machine, where you sit facing the machine and pull the weights up by holding onto the handles above you and pulling them down. I usually set this weight at about 90-100lbs and do about 20-30 in this rep, but similar to the last one, Ive only been able to do 15-20.

Machine 4: The open leg machine, where you set your weight (usually 100 lbs), sit on the machine with your legs spread, your knees resting on the cushions. You push your legs in, lifting the weights up, repeat motion. I do 50 of these in a rep.

After all that, I head back to the elliptical for 30 more minutes for the fat burning program and 5 minutes cooldown. Everytime on the elliptical I do at least 2.00 miles (Im guessing its miles) and even though it hurts like hell, I love it. After I finish the elliptical again, I head back to the machines and do a second set of reps.

I drink water the entire time, I sweat, I feel my muscles being used, I feel tired when I go home. Sometimes I do this routine twice a day, once in the morning and once at night.

What am I eating? I eat cereal in the morning, Raisin Bran w/skim milk, only one bowl. For lunch, I eat a wheat bread sandiwch (on the smallest bread possible believe me) of turkey and american cheese (one slice of each) with a bottle of water. If I get hungry inbetween lunch and dinner, I'll eat a banana or some type of fruit. No candy, cold drinks, or anything like that. For dinner, I usually am not hungry, since I consume so much water, but if I am I'll eat something light like grilled chicken or a salad.

My question is, I dont understand why Im not losing weight. People have told me that Im gaining muscle, which is why Im gaining weight. I weighed myself last Saturday and I weighed 250.0 exactly. Now my weight is 252 exactly.

I dont know what else I should be doing to lose weight, what im doing wrong, if Im working out too much, etc. Any insight you guys could provide would be awesome.

Sounds like your work out may be wrong for you right now, If the main thing for you is to loose weight then first you must be doing lots of cardio stuff,

So the bikes, running machines, rowing machines,
But you need to do it in a steady manner so that you build it up to suit your cardio rate,

Im guess you are in the Gym? If so have a word with one of the workers there about what you want to achive and im sure they can give you the best plan,

Good luck and im sure it will drop of soon, Hang in there

Duuh get steroids.....

Lol just joking.

Listen to Asala.

So I shouldnt be doing the machines to build muscle? I think I do more cardio than anything, I just dont see any changes after these few weeks of sticking to eating healthy and working out.

I ate about 1500-1600 calories today. Im pretty sure if I step on the scale tomorrow, Ill have gained 1-2 lbs. So depressing.

The book "Body for Life" is a great plan to follow. There is also a web site that provides lots of information that could help you.

People typically always gain weight when they first start to work out, like you said muscle weighs more than fat, but when you stick with it it will all fall off.

Good luck!!

I'm not really an expert, but I don't see much wrong with your routine, maybe your overtraining?

www.buzzle.com...

Check out this link, has a little bit about what happens when you overtrain.

I could be wrong.


Also if your trying to lose weight, lifting some weights is good, but I would focus a lot more on cardio.

Do you jog or sprint? if you don't you should, it's probably the best way to lose weight.



wiki.answers.com...

Also check out this link, similar question to yours, with some pretty good replies.

[edit on 19-9-2008 by _Phoenix_]

If you are working out twice a day you are working out too much

Muscles require time to heal, healing makes them stronger. If you do chest on Monday then don't do it again till Friday. Also if you are able to do 30 reps at a given weight then it is too light. Better off to use a weight where you can complete 8-10 reps with the last couple being "all you have left" Rest 30-60 seconds add more weight and go again . If your new and you diet is crap more that 45 mins of hard lifting is doing you now good.

If your going to do cardio do it after you lift or better yet set two or three days to cardio exclusivley

Cardio: do not stay in a steady state while doing cardio, read up on interval training or HIIT, it will boost your metabalisim and have you burning calories long after your through on the elliptical.

Eat right , use a website like the daily plate to help you monitor your intake.

reply to post by confusedone


First, congrats for taking those first steps.

Second, you're not over-training.

Third you're probably eating a lot more than 1600 calories per day. For one thing you're not counting condiments and seasoning. IOW, are you using sugar on your cereal (which is probably full of sugar and corn syrup additives). Can you switch to health food store type Oatmeal?

You're also not reporting what you drink. Milk? Whole milk? Soft drinks with sugar? Are you drinking beer or alcohol? Do you binge on weekends?

I'd suggest you get a free account on Fitday.com and record everything you eat and drink as you do it (eat at your PC if possible for the first week).

If you'll make an open link to your account I'll be glad to look it over (you can U2U me if you like).

Finally, it probably took you years to gain that extra weight. It won't come off over night. Working out is only about 10% of fat loss. What is your target weight and waist size?

Good luck!





[edit on 19/9/2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by Badge01


Thanks for the support everyone.

To answer you bagde, Im not drinking anything besides water or milk, skim milk, which is only in the cereal. I dont use condiments (i.e. ketchup, sugar,etc) unless its already on the food. Otherwise, you wont find it on there.

The 1500-1600 calories a day has been for the past week. Fruit, vegetables, grilled chicken, oatmeal, more water,salad with no dressing, if I eat a sandwich, its on wheat bread. Ive givene up everything, even the diet coke...thats hard to do. I dont really crave food when I know I have fruit around so I guess thats positive.

I dont really have a target weight loss amount or a waist size, I just want to be healthy and feel better about myself, if that makes any sense.

reply to post by confusedone


Badge01 has a lot of good advice. That guy slimmed down a ton in short order, and he's a taller guy as well. I'm shorter than the both of you, but I was once a chubby guy. The thing that helped me the absolute most was diet, but it seems that you're spot on with that. I was at a caloric intake of 1000-1500 and was burning approximately at least 2000 per day. It was all fairly intense and I was a superset monster. If you're really looking to slim down I would recommend:

Supersets (lightweight, high intensity, high repetitions)
Cardio (moderate speeds long distances)
Rest (Recover fully before you go slave away at the gym again)

After that, you're set. Not one training regimen is going to be "it" for someone. It's going to take some tweaking for you to learn exactly what works for you and why. It's going to take a lot more than a week to see results as well! I would give yourself a realistic time line of 3 month intervals for wanted results.

"In three months, I'm going to get here."

"Cool, I did it. In three more months I will be here."

It's all about commitment, persistence, and integrity. Don't cheat yourself and go all out!

Good luck!

Hi there...

There is a shed load of good advice here already for you, but from my experience I would like to add a little. I'm not that much into excercise, although I did weight train a lot when I was youger, but from a dietary point of view I find that taking the dairy products....sadly especially cheese.... out of your diet makes a huge difference. It's incredibly fattening, even a little, and you will feel so much better without it. Try making your own hounous or bean pate if you need that savoury thing. (I have fab recipies of you need them!)

Cait

reply to post by caitlinfae


I would also agree with Cait.

For some people (me, too) dairy can be a problem. However, the calcium in Dairy is important, and some studies show that low-fat dairy can help lose weight. (search pubmed?) Be sure you supplement Calcium, Potassium and Magnesium. Many diets which cut certain food groups can cause you to be below requirements.

I also add Fish oils (Omegas) and a multi-Vitamin (Iron-free for adult men), and maybe additional Vitamin-D (be careful because D is fat-soluble).

For me, Dairy always cause me to gain weight, partly because I seem to 'crave' milk. Only after cutting out liquid cows milk for a week do these cravings go away. I have a pet theory that we sometimes crave thing to which we are 'allergic'. I use that word in a non-scientific sense, though. Food allergies are not really proven that I'm aware.

Anyways, my pet theory goes like this. We react to a food by putting out endorphins. These are in response to our 'allergy' and the result is we feel good. This (or just the taste, who knows) make us want more and soon we are overconsuming calories.

So just look at the calories and fat content of the Dairy you are considering and at least choose the lower fat versions. Provoline and Meunster cheeses are low fat. Low fat or skim milk, maybe even butter substitutes (Omega Plus Buttery Spread is one). Only 80 calories per tablespoon, 9g of fat.

Good luck and hope this helps. Remember, research your own experience, keep good journal records, and track your food in a good online food tracker like Fitday for optimal results.

if your not working out for two hours atleast then there is a problem. plus 9 bottles of water.

Originally posted by Osama Bin Laden at Area 5
if your not working out for two hours atleast then there is a problem. plus 9 bottles of water.

Two hours a day!? If so, that's not needed, trust me.

reply to post by Osama Bin Laden at Area 5


Woah, I don't think working out for 2 hours a day is beneficial. Especially since he's a beginner at it. 30 minutes or so should be plenty of time to work out.

Although I'm not sure why you're not losing weight, could it be the carbohydrates in the bread or something?

-Will

[edit on 22-9-2008 by Basilis]

reply to post by confusedone


It might take a while for the weight to start coming off.

Remember, a gain of 2 pounds is really nothing. It could be scale inaccuracy (I used to have a scale that weighed as much as 3 lbs different depending on which direction it was pointed), or it could be water retention, etc.

Is it possible that in decreasing what you're eating you've also decreased your output? In other words, is it possible that the new diet is causing mild constipation that means you're weighing waste product as well as yourself? (no need to answer, just something to think about )

Firstly stop using the machines they are vastly inferior to free weights as machines are taking the act of stabilising the weight out of the exercise, stick with the big compound weights as these use more of your muscles.

For an example of this bench press on a machine then try to (safely) bench press using free weights, you won't be able to achieve the same weight.

A weekly workout could appear as follows (should take around 40min):

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

Squat 3 (sets) x 8 (reps)
Deadlifts 3x 8
Bent over row 3 x 8
Bench press 3 x 8
Dips 3 x 8
Shoulder press 3 x 8

Tuesday/Thursday (and the weekend if you really want)

Cardio/HIIT

Though it sounds like a dream come true you need to be eating more throughout the day letting your metabolism slow down between meals is a no no.

Your food for the day should consist of:

Breakfast (eg oats and skimmed milk)
Snack (eg. cottage cheese on a wholemeal cracker)
Lunch (eg. wholemeal sandwich with turkey and low fat cottage cheese)
Snack ( eg. handful of mixed nuts - non salted)
Dinner (eg. a lean meat with vegatables)

Regimes which see change quickly are unhealthy and the weight is going to quickly re-emerge, take your time and the results will be long term.

Originally posted by confusedone

I dont really have a target weight loss amount or a waist size, I just want to be healthy and feel better about myself, if that makes any sense.

Well, how do you feel ?

When just starting out it is important to remember that your weight can, and usually will, fluctuate up (or down) 2 lbs in a single day.

I have been monitoring my weight and BMI since I started working out and this is evident in that.

UKWizard is spot on in that you may need to keep your metabolic rate up by snacking on healthy foods in between meals.

I am kinda at the same place you are myself actually. Although I don't go to the gym every day, I do some form of moderate exercise/yoga etc... every day and when I plateu I get a bit upset lol

I will definitely be seeking out the knowledge of a trainer once we move and are settled in. To at least get an idea of what I should be doing to drop the weight I want to and to work on the areas that need it more than others.

Maybe you could try one for a month ?


I wish you well

[edit on 22-9-2008 by ImJaded]

Congrats on taking the first step. At least you've made a decision to change your life, now you just need the tools to be successful.

Badge01 and UK Wizard are always giving great advice, so listening to them would be to your advantage.

I have a few questions for you first:

Have you been tested for food allergies? If not, you can do one of two things. You can get tested or you can stop eating wheat. I'm willing to bet that you have Coeliacs disease. If you do get tested, make sure that they test for it, it's also known as Gluten Intolerance.

Do you have to drink milk? I don't recommend drinking milk at all, unless you're around 1 foot tall. If for some reason you have to drink milk, don't drink low-fat or skim milk. Low-fat and skim milk cause weight gain, regardless of dietary fat content. Honestly, if you're gunna drink milk, drink whole milk.

Have you noticed any difference in your body composition? Sometimes the scale can be misleading and if, for some odd reason, you did gain muscle and lost fat, you'll probably have a weight increase.

Are you working doing this program everday? Are you only doing steady state cardio(elliptical)?

Is there a specific program you're following and do you have any goals set? You can't just be mindlessly going through motions, push some weights here, run on an elliptical there, without rhyme or reason. You need a specific 3 month goal and you need to adopt a workout plan that compliments it.

Of course, Jade sweeps in with some great advice. As far as exercising goes, you need to get a trainer for at least 3 months. The trainer will teach you proper form and technique. You just want to get a good foundation started, that's all most are good for. Once you learn a few things, hands on, you'll be ready to do it alone. Remember though, body composition change is 80%-90% diet.

You're workout really has no direction at all. I'll agree with UK Wizard here, leave the machines alone, they're just there for decoration. UK Wizard has a nice program lined out here but don't jump into doing that workout. You need to let someone teach proper technique. Once you do, you'll get better results quicker on them free weights.

IMHO, losing weight quickly or slowly is completely up to the dieter. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. What the dieter does upon completing the diet is what determines the ultimate outcome. You can't expect to keep any weight off if you go back to the same bad habits that got you fat in the first place. :shk:

Ran out of time, I gotta go. Answer those questions and we'll go from there.

-Dev

cut your calories in half, you gotta get rid of the fat first or you wont see the muscle youre trying to build anyways.