I am also a marathoner, and a triathlete. I do not work in the summer, so I run about 5 miles a day and swim for an hour, and typically bike for an hour as well, or take my stand up paddle board out. I also do strength training. That is where I come up with 1000 cals per day. A two hour workout is minimum every day. I am trying to get ready to finish an ironman, and I won a triathlon two weeks ago. I don't think my calculations are that far off. I don't use gym equipment that inflates calories, I am outdoors all day.
My question was, why has the scale neither gone up NOR down after switching to my "summer mode" coming off of 9 months of relative inactivity and poor diet. If it were true that my diet is poor (which it is not) then I would be gaining weight. Same if I was gaining muscle. The fact is, it has not changed at all.
I was hoping to come here for some anwers about why with all this the scale has not fluctuated at all. I am not looking to lose a lot of weight,just the 20 that I put on over the last 9 months. I don't like how it looks, and for my frame it is bordering on overweight.
Yikes...feeling a little hostility here. The fact is, I am working REALLY hard, and though I enjoy what I do anyway, I would not mind being able to fit into my summer clothes from last year!
When you are looking at a smaller calorie deficit and smaller amount to lose (ie. you are 130lbs, not 230lbs), it can take a long time. I'm dealing with the same thing right now (my extra pounds are from my pregnancy).
So it could be down to these things...
- We are trying to lose the last little bit that the body resists (the body does not wish to be 230lbs, but being 130lbs is very reasonable and just harder to get off)
- Water retention
- 6 weeks isn't a long time to start seeing results at your size. This is very common with already athletic women in figure/fitness competitions - 6 weeks is usually the minimum amount of time given to start seeing scale/physical changes when a diet plan is altered. You are more in this category rather than others here who might be able to lose 2-3lbs per week just from a basic calorie deficit.
Bottom line is that the last 15lbs for someone who is already "slim" and athletic is a heck of a lot harder and slower to lose than someone who is obese.
Sacha, that makes sense. I am a healthy size, but I could be healthier.
It is hard to find support for weight loss when you don't have much to lose.
Have you checked out the featherweights section here under support groups? Also, the weight training section has a couple of ladies who are very into fitness (ie Crossfit), perhaps you can relate more? I also hang around bodybuilding.com and oxygenmag.net at times...
I burn around 1000 calories in exercise a day. Often quite a bit more. And that is using estimates that are much lower than most conventional estimates. (i.e. I only am credited about 75-80 calories/mile). I would consider today a moderate day and I'll be over 1000
If I calorie count I can lose and if I dont I cant. If I create a fairly large deficit I will lose slightly faster than it predicts, if I create a small deficit I will lose much much slower than it predicts. I havent figured out exactly how to tweak the equation to account for that.
Anyway, I think the 1000 is NOT out of the question, but think it might be time to track exactly what you are eating to be sure. Even if calorie counting is not in your overall game plan, calorie count and measure portions for a few weeks.
I actually tend to eat MORE when I eat healthy foods and cut out junk unless I watch it. If I eat junk food I always seem to think I ate SOOOOOOO MUCH and will trim elsewhere. But I can eat a huge plate of healthy roasted veggies without even blinking an eye.
MTA: and also my base metabolism I have to use sedentary as a starting point. One of the unfortunate side effects of endurance training aka ironman is an incredibly efficient metabolism which often equals a very slow metabolism. There are things you can do to fire it back up, but endurance athletes often eat quite a bit less than you would expect.
My question was, why has the scale neither gone up NOR down after switching to my "summer mode" coming off of 9 months of relative inactivity and poor diet. If it were true that my diet is poor (which it is not) then I would be gaining weight. Same if I was gaining muscle. The fact is, it has not changed at all.
I was hoping to come here for some anwers about why with all this the scale has not fluctuated at all. I am not looking to lose a lot of weight,just the 20 that I put on over the last 9 months. I don't like how it looks, and for my frame it is bordering on overweight.
Yikes...feeling a little hostility here. The fact is, I am working REALLY hard, and though I enjoy what I do anyway, I would not mind being able to fit into my summer clothes from last year!
I am sorry if you've been offended by anything I or anyone else has said. Truly. You said you were hoping for some answers, given that we are not experts and don't even know you, the only answers we can give you are the ones that we know through our own experience.
I think you DID get some answers as to why you may not be losing and some of them pretty darn good ones. Therefore, I'm just not so certain what KIND of answers you were looking to find.
Sorry robin, but I have to go with the OP here. Without asking what her workout was you agreed that she isnt burning what she says she is. I WOULD find that offensive.
Thanks, all. I guess I needed to provide a little more background info, because I am not exactly typical. I did find a lot of wonderful answers here, but many things were based on assumptions (again, I should have included more info) and didn't fit me. I think the answer that does fit is that I just have not put in enough time yet. I am going to keep on going with what I am doing and see what happens.
When you ask a question on 3FC, you're going to get a lot of responses, and some you may not like. But no one is trying to be deliberately offensive--it's not allowed here. And I don't think anyone is being hostile.
Do check out the Featherweights Forum! You're not alone just because you don't have many pounds to lose.
And also, keep in mind that no one here can give you an exact answer for what is going on with you. We're not doctors or specialists, we're just folks who have lost or are trying to lose weight and keep it off.
I do want to say that one of the things I love about these boards is that people will give honest opinions: part of the reason it's hard to get good information about dieting is that people (especially women) won't give dissenting advice:
For example, among work friends, people tell me how they are going to get skinny not eating foods with the letter "P" in the name or they will complain that weight loss is impossible for them because they "eat their emotions" or they will wonder why they don't lose weight while they eat french fries by the handful. At work, at parties, at social gatherings, dissenting opinions are rude, whether or not they should be, so I keep my mouth shut--most people do. And so no one learns any better. I am glad people can be honest here, and think that generally we all do a good job of not using "honest" as an excuse to be mean or tacky.
kwinkle, i don't know all the intricacies of the science of hard core athletes and what happens to the metabolism, etc., but it sounds like there are lots of others with experience on that, yourself included. but just wanted to mention that i have a friend who was recently in a similar situation and it turned out something was off with her thyroid. if what is going on is very unusual for you, and tweaking things doesn't seem to produce a result, then it may be helpful to just have a quick checkup to make sure everything is swimming along. but hopefully you're already in the process of figuring out what works for you and things are moving again. good luck with it, sounds like you're rocking the workouts! and congrats on winning the triathlon!
Hi kwinkle, I would say definitely keep track of your calories. I can only eat about 1600 calories a day to lose one pound a week! It sucks, and I wish I could lose faster but I guess I just have a slow metabolism.
kwinkle - as we age, our metabolisms certainly do change. I haven't read her blog for a while but I used to read Selene Yaeger's blog when I was interested in doing triathlons myself. (I've since discovered a paralyzing fear of bike riding...) Anyway, when she was training for the Ironman, she definitely found herself struggling to keep her body fat down because she was inadvertently eating too many calories.
Also, I initially asked about your 1000 calorie burn because we do get a lot of people that overestimate their calorie burn. I wasn't trying to say that you didn't burn that many calories but that it was possible to overestimate.
Kwinkle - Nothing new to add but wanted to say very impressive you finished and won a triathlon! I agree that your body is fighting for homeostasis so it will take longer to see weight loss.
RR - 1,000 calorie burn in 2 hours isn't unlikely at all (unless my bodybugg is inaccurate) and I am definately a normal person not a kick *** triathlete... though I can dream....
I'm usually the first to scream in increase your cals when I hear I'm exercising like crazy but not losing, but by the looks of your sample menu your cals are too high. Your lunch from chipotle alone is about 500-800 cals depending on what's in it and if you're eating out for dinner you're likely consuming a lot of cals there as well. I would highly recommend actual calorie counting if you are really looking to drop weight. Good luck!
Wow, okay...feeling a bit like fleeing.
But no one is trying to be deliberately offensive--it's not allowed here. And I don't think anyone is being hostile. 
good luck with it, sounds like you're rocking the workouts! and congrats on winning the triathlon! 
