exercising, but can't lose weight, help!

marge602

Hi guys, i'm marges wife. and i'm thoroughly fed up. I've been dieting for over 2 years and lost over 4 stone
but...
am increasingly having gains when i increase my exercise.
i use my cross trainer about 4 times a week for between 30 / 40mins and walk lots. we go out on the tandem, so far has only been a short ride cos it's sooo frickin cold. i also walk lots an my job is quite active. also, like to use the wii.
anyhow went to weigh in today feeling like wonder woman and came away feeling like shit with a pound and a half gain, was a half pound gain last week. i just don'tknow what to do.
i'm not very good on a bicycle on my own, balance, steering issues so doing the rides hubby, so i keep it indoors til we get out together on the tandem.
someone please help me, even to tell me the same thing happens to them.

asdfhjkl

It all comes down to diet, not exercise. Don't get me wrong, exercise helps, but it won't compensate for poor nutrition.

What do you eat? How many calories? Do you know how much you should be eating?

rhyko7

this is simplifying it somewhat, but to lose weight you have to be burning more energy than you are consuming, if you are not losing weight then you either need to consumer less energy or burn more, dont forget its not just calories, look at fat content and carbohydrates too.
perhaps increase your cardio sessions from 30-40 mins to 50-60 mins

also ignore the weight, go by how you look, or measure your waist, or use body fat analyser or fat callipers, because muscle weighs more than fat, you may have put on a bit of muscle and lost fat and therefor would have put on weight.

marge602

thanks for the replies.
i'm following the slimming world plan, have been for the past 2 years and as soon as i up the exercise i gain, not convinced that i'm putting on muscle, but my clothes are getting looser.

supersonic

I would say muscle gain was causing some of this - which is a good thing.

BMI can be a poor indicator for muscular people, as can ideal weight.

ride_whenever

Go by how you look naked. Take pics of yourself if you really struggle.

you'll find your weight will increase (as others have mentioned) due to increased muscle bulk. Don't sweat it, just work on the fitness.

Also try to keep yourself well hydrated all the time, you can easily get fluctuations in weight caused by water levels.

tlw1

its always a balance between food & excercise

I am a bugger for "treats" after excercise - so I need to sort that out!

Splottboy

Used to fight at 69,5 kgs. Then went to 12.1lb in 2008 using wts/circuits.
Due to injuries, and blasting the wts recently, went up to 13st 1lb.

Now, back into really hard riding, and it's going down to 12.10 or so.
BUT...Although I wasn't as fast at 13 stone, I could still climb all my local very hilly stuff.

Don't know whether it's a mental thing, but I just refused to let the idea of weighing more bug me. So, I think it's a mental thing overall.
Look at rugby players, bigger, heavier and bulkier that 10 - 15 yrs ago, but Boy, can they run, and bloody fast too...

I know that at 12.7 or less, my clothes fit better, but not letting it bother me to a point of getting stressed about it, at 53!

OwenBird

Don't get caught up on what weight you are. Skeletons are light but they can't do any work, look terrible and are rubbish lays.

Eat properly, train hard, judge on appearance/performance.

Surely these are the reasons you wanted to 'lose weight' in the first place. Unless you're a jockey/fighter/astronaut/F1 driver and your actual specific mass is a problem?