Is exercise slowing down my weight loss?
Now that I've been at this for almost 6 months I started to look at the trends with my weight loss and I found something very interesting.
The weeks where I got minimal exercise but controlled my diet, I lost 1.5 -2 pounds a week. In the weeks where I got a lot of exercise and controlled my diet, I lost between 0.5-1 pound a week. I lose about 1 pound per week when I do one day of intense exercise and two days of lower impact. That keeps me right about on par with MyFitnessPal's weight loss projections.
I know exercise is good for me, ultimately will increase my metabolism which eventually will result in weight loss but I find it to be less than motivating! If I can lose the 43 pounds faster being a bump on a log, why do I spend all the time sweating it out on a run or at the gym? Every time I lose less than a pound I feel a little bit defeated that even though my diet was perfect (and the same as many weeks before it) I didn't manage to drop the full pound.
So, today I did a little reading online. I wanted to see if anyone else had encountered the same thing or if my mind was playing tricks on me and I was in fact just failing in the food department on those lower weight loss weeks. I found out I am not crazy. From what I've read, exercise can cause you to retain water which masks any weight loss because you're carrying around extra fluid. Also, a well known fact, muscle tissue weighs more than fat tissue. The more exercise you do, the more muscle you gain and ultimately less pounds come off. Now with that said, with exercise and proper diet you will still lose inches and the body shape will change; you just might not see the dramatic shift on the scale.
I guess this week with only a 0.8 loss (26.3lbs lost, 16.7lbs to go!) I shouldn't get too disappointed and focus on the fact that I'm getting fit and that ultimately I am doing my body good by staying active and eating right. It is important that I reach my goal the healthiest way possible which includes getting off the couch and moving. I just need to try really hard not to let it get to me and continue to get back into strength training as I have been over the last few weeks.
Slow and steady wins the race, right?
The weeks where I got minimal exercise but controlled my diet, I lost 1.5 -2 pounds a week. In the weeks where I got a lot of exercise and controlled my diet, I lost between 0.5-1 pound a week. I lose about 1 pound per week when I do one day of intense exercise and two days of lower impact. That keeps me right about on par with MyFitnessPal's weight loss projections.
I know exercise is good for me, ultimately will increase my metabolism which eventually will result in weight loss but I find it to be less than motivating! If I can lose the 43 pounds faster being a bump on a log, why do I spend all the time sweating it out on a run or at the gym? Every time I lose less than a pound I feel a little bit defeated that even though my diet was perfect (and the same as many weeks before it) I didn't manage to drop the full pound.
So, today I did a little reading online. I wanted to see if anyone else had encountered the same thing or if my mind was playing tricks on me and I was in fact just failing in the food department on those lower weight loss weeks. I found out I am not crazy. From what I've read, exercise can cause you to retain water which masks any weight loss because you're carrying around extra fluid. Also, a well known fact, muscle tissue weighs more than fat tissue. The more exercise you do, the more muscle you gain and ultimately less pounds come off. Now with that said, with exercise and proper diet you will still lose inches and the body shape will change; you just might not see the dramatic shift on the scale.
I guess this week with only a 0.8 loss (26.3lbs lost, 16.7lbs to go!) I shouldn't get too disappointed and focus on the fact that I'm getting fit and that ultimately I am doing my body good by staying active and eating right. It is important that I reach my goal the healthiest way possible which includes getting off the couch and moving. I just need to try really hard not to let it get to me and continue to get back into strength training as I have been over the last few weeks.
Slow and steady wins the race, right?
Comments
Post a Comment