I WaNa Be SkInNy!!!!?

Question

I'm going to the gym 4-5 times a week. Doing a minimum of 2 hours each time. I do cardio, weights and yoga. I'm watching what i eat and i'm just not losing anything. I have been doing this for 1 month now and nothing! Why?!?!? Not even a pound! :(

Answer 1

your fat could be turning to muscle,and muscle weighs heavier

Answer 2

Could be several things going on.

1.) Your present calorie intake and exercise expendature is what it needs to be to mantain your present weight.

2.)Your are already skinny and just don't realize it. You aren't going for the new anorexic look are you?

3.)You could be gaining muscle and losing fat, but the scale stays the same. You will know this is the case because you will be getting smaller even though the numbers are the same. This is okay because muscle is heavier than fat, and your goal is to lose FAT, right? Not WEIGHT, but FAT.

4.)Exercising so much could increase your appetite. You could be overestimating your intake. I suspect this might be the case because all you said was watching what you eat, not something specific, like eating only so many calories or following a certain plan. Just write down what you eat so you can get a clear picture of how much you are eating.

5.)Are you exercising hard enough? Do you sweat? Get out of breath or almost out of breath? When you lift weights, do you fatigue your muscles? If you want improvement, intensity is where it is at.

6.)Finally, if you cut your calories too low, and exercise too much, you could be wearing out your adrenal glands. Adrenaline has a big factor in the whole fat loss equation. To know if this is the case ...are you tired all the time? Have a hard time waking up? Get sick frequntly? Get cold easily? If this is the case, be more moderate, get lots of sleep, and be patient.

Answer 3

If you're training for 5 days a week, two hours each time and after 4 weeks you notice no difference then there can be a number of reasons for this.

1) You say you "do cardio"... I see a lot of people in January "do cardio" very ineffectively, not a bead of sweat in sight!!

2) You say do do "weights"... Muscle is heavier than fat! It could be that you are losing fat roughly at the same rate as you're building muscle, showing no weight difference on an ordinary scale.

3) Your diet is quite poor and you put all the calories you burn at the gym back in your mouth.

Solution for number 1) Simple. More effort is required!! Do a mix of aerobic and anaerobic cardiovascular exercises. Aerobic you do for 30 mins + at a manageable speed where you should be able to talk. This builds endurance. Anearobic you do speed intervals where you go flat out and then have recovery breaks where you let your heartrate come back down and go again. That builds stamina. You can do this while running, cross trainer, rowing, cycling. Both aerobic and anaerobic cardio burns fat, just in different ways. You'll also develop you slow twitch as well as you fast twitch muscle fibres that way.

Solution for no. 2) Go on a body fat scale. It will tell you what percentage of your body is lean mass, and how much is fat. "Weight" alone is too crude a measurement to ascertain whether you're making any progress. You may still weigh the same but have lost 5% body fat?

Solution for no 3) Eat a healthy diet containing lots of fruit and vegetables; starchy foods such as porridge oats, wholegrain bread, brown pasta and brown rice; and protein in the form of chicken breast or fish. Your foods should be unprocessed, low in fat (especially saturated fat), salt and sugar. Cut out processed foods. No pizza, microwaveable meals, burgers etc.

Answer 4

Using weight as a measure of how well your doing is not the best method, you should look at waist measurement or some form of fat measurement. These should give a fuller picture of how your actually doing.


Also you are spending a long time down the gym, 2 hours is too long to be in the gym, you should try to spend less time but increase the intensity if you want to increase your fitness.

In addition you should look at what you are drinking, you should try to cut back on alcohol and any high sugar drinks. Also limit the number of fruit drinks, 1 or 2 a day are good as they provide essential vitamins and minerals but they can contain a surprising number of calories so if you are drinking a lot of them this could be hindering your progress.


Finally you do not say what your weight started at, if your body was already at a low weight loosing further weight will be difficult and potentially damaging.

Answer 5

You say you're watching what you eat but how closely and are you following any particular plan? I joined weightwatchers because I felt more structure to my diet was required. I was amazed after keeping a food diary of all those calories I was consuming without realising with poor portion control and forgetting the odd treat!

I'm wondering how much you're looking to lose too - I find it hard to lose too much too quickly as I'm not fat in the first place - just conscious of keeping my weight how I like it. On the flipside, if you've been quite overweight and inactive, it may just be that your metabolism is taking a while to get kick started.

Regarding your exercise, it's all well and good doing a minimum of 2 hours but are you using that time effectively? I would seriously recommend booking a session with a personal training from your gym specifically to help you plan a fitness regime especially to acheive the results you are looking for.

You can do weightatchers online now with no need to attend meetings. http://weightwatchers.co.uk/

Answer 6

You need to get your trainer to weigh you on body fat scales - thats the best way you can tell what you've really lost as like other people have said, muscle weighs more than fat. Your weight might stay the same unless you stop doing weights so if your body fat goes down you know your doing something right!

Im exactly the same as you - i've been going to the gym nearly a year now and was a 8/10 when i started and im exactly the same weight now even though im a size 6 now so you really cant go by weight! (And no im not a skeleton im just healthy and toned to perfection!)

Answer 7

You need to count calories. The only proven way to lose weight is to use more calories then you consume. Keep a food journal for a week and write down everything you eat and how many calories. You should aim for 1200-1300 per day. You may be eating more then you think. Also if you are exercising a lot...you are gaining muscle, which weighs more then fat. If your clothes feel looser then that is probably what is happening. Good luck.

Answer 8

I agree with the others here, you could be turning fat into muscle. Why not measure yourself with a soft tape meausre and keep records monthly. Try using body fat analyzers to, it measures how much body fat you have, by sending a small electronic signal through your body, it very cleverly knows the difference between bones, tissue, organs, muscle and fat. Or keep an item of clothing to try on intermitantly, this will help you see the results, that you may not think are happening.

Remember though, Keep an eye on your food intake, as to weither its healthy or not, how many calories your consuming a day and how much fat and saturated fat.

hope this helps

Answer 9

Also, don't forget that your body will try to match your muscle percentage to your fat percentage for optimal hormone production. this means that if you are lifting weights and gaining muscle, it's only natural that you will gain fat right along with it.

Check bodybuilding.com

You can either maintain your muscle percentage and try to burn the fat off. Or you can forget about the fat percentage, and build big muscles. I just keep building the muscle, because I feel INCREDIBLE when I lift hard and heavy.

Answer 10

Measure yourself, you will see results that way if you don't see them on the scale. You are developing muscles and they weigh more. Try switching up your routine, keep your body guessing!

Keep up the good work and try not to get discouraged!

Answer 11

remember that muscle weighs alot more then fat so it might be that you are losing inches but gaining muscle also do look at the weigh so much and focus on how you feel