STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

NCshopper · Hermes

How long should it take to lose weight? *Update!*

Teresa · Kate Spade

How long should it take to lose weight?

NCshopper · Hermes

I didn't do a body comp--all I did was take a tape measure and measured my biceps, thighs, calves, waist, hips and bust.

When I first started working out, doing 10 minutes on the elliptical at a level 1 was HARD and now I got through 20 minutes at a level 7, so I know good things are happening. I just want to see some actual results now!

Kitty · Hermes

It usually takes me about a month to notice the difference from working out (clothes fitting better, weighing less, etc.).

Maven · BCBG

I suggest that you keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. (I assume you aren't keeping one.) It doesn't take much to cancel the calories burned in exercise. Exercise alone doesn't work for me unless I am cutting back on calories too. If I am trying to lose and nothing happens I start up the food diary and get out the Weight Watchers scale and start measuring. In the first few days I am usually surprised to find out how many calories I am eating.

Another suggestion is to vary the intensity and duration of your workout.

AllieGurl · Marc Jacobs

well it depends on a few things.

1. How much do you need to actually loose? Are you already a really healthy size or do you have a signifigant amount to loose?
- The less you have to loose the longer it will take to come off.

2. Diet plays a HUGE factor. So are you eating the appropriate amount of calories each day , and watching your carbs and fat intake? Remember it takes 3,500 calories to loose a pound. So if your maintaing your normal diet and working out, then you need to be burning at least an addl 3,500 calories at the gym to loose a pound.

3. Are you doing workouts that are reving up your metablism ? For example, weight training will increase your metablism and shed inches, while cardio will burn calories. So maybe try do more weight training.

4. Lastly - meet up with a trainer if only for one session and have your measurements taken, body fat measured and talk about your food. You might have lost alot of body fat, or maybe your diet is off but talking to a profesional will help you be on the right path..

For me personally, I work out 5x a week - one hour weights and 30 min cardio a day, watch my diet and STILL I only loose about 1lb a month. YEAH SUCKS. That is because 1. my body fat has decreased by 7% , I have lost inches and I dont really have to loose that much weight so since I am only 10lbs from my goal weight its taking longer to come off.

HTH!

Elle · Hermes

I've started a similar schedule recently NCShopper - we got an elliptical machine and I've been using it 4-5 times a week for 45 minutes or so and we haven't changed our diet (because it's good to begin with!). I'm also feeling a ton stronger and just better in general, but no weight loss to speak of yet.

I am (finally!) starting to see a more toned appearance in my thighs, but not enough to look any different in clothes yet. It's a little disheartening.

BUT, I refuse to suffer through a salads-only diet and workout for 2 hours everyday to be a little thinner than I am. It doesn't make me happier, and it's not maintainable over any length of time. So I'm trying really hard to be okay with weight not falling off, really. I haven't yet started employing my diet tricks, so I might do that a bit to kick start things. They're just small though - egg whites and grapefruits for breakfast, drinking tea instead of snacking, eating one of those 100-cal packs of popcorn when I feel the need for carbs, fat-free fudgesicles for dessert, etc. Fun stuff, I tell ya.

But back to your question - I think if you don't have a bunch to lose and your body carries what you do have pretty well, it's very very hard to lose. Because all you've got is that 'last 15 lbs' that everyone talks about being the hardest! Since you don't have to do a Mega-Weightloss stage, you skip right to the Fine-Tuning stage. Consequently it's the stage where the changes are small and hard won - aren't you lucky! I'd expect maybe 1 or 2 lbs a month at that stage if you're pretty diligent

.

Now that you've got some stamina back though your body might appreciate some more variety, even if that's doing a different program on the elliptical each day. And personally, I've always had way better results from pilates than from lifting weights. Maybe replace one of your weight sessions with a pilates class?

-- Edited by Elle at 10:41, 2008-01-23

brazilian · Dooney & Bourke

I actually just read somewhere that if youre going to use a cardio machine, use a treadmill to lose weight faster, not the elliptical.

NCshopper · Hermes

Thanks ladies! And Elle, it's good to know I'm not alone in this frustration.

Right now I'm 150 and would love, love, love to be back at my college graduation weight of 128, although I'd definitely be happy at 135, which is probably much more reasonable.

I've been varying my workout a bit--most days I do 20 minutes of the elliptical and the last 10 on the bike or the treadmill. Three weeks ago I started doing an hour spinning class every week and oh. my. god. Best thing ever. I think I will also start taking a pilates class once a week instead of doing cardio and weights. When I've done pilates before, it's done wonders.

I guess I just need to be patient and fine tune my diet a bit. I eat a lot of fruits and veggies and I generally eat healthy, I just think I eat a lot. But like you, Elle, I refuse to starve myself or massively deprive myself, so it's a matter of balance.

I'll keep you all posted!

BargainQueen · Marc Jacobs

AllieGurl wrote:

2. Diet plays a HUGE factor. So are you eating the appropriate amount of calories each day , and watching your carbs and fat intake? Remember it takes 3,500 calories to loose a pound. So if your maintaing your normal diet and working out, then you need to be burning at least an addl 3,500 calories at the gym to loose a pound.

This is so true and frustrating! It takes a lot of work.

esquiress · Marc Jacobs

Maybe you need to mix things up a bit more. My trainer says your body gets used to anything in about two weeks so that if you do the same thing, your body will get used to it and plateau and you won't see results. In terms of cardio, maybe your body's gotten used to the elliptical and spinning. Have you tried running hills?

Also, HIIT is awesome (High Intensity Interval Training) and if you search you should be able to find some super-educational posts by jen about it.

Miss Mabel · Kenneth Cole

NCshopper wrote:

Thanks ladies! And Elle, it's good to know I'm not alone in this frustration.

Right now I'm 150 and would love, love, love to be back at my college graduation weight of 128, although I'd definitely be happy at 135, which is probably much more reasonable.

I've been varying my workout a bit--most days I do 20 minutes of the elliptical and the last 10 on the bike or the treadmill. Three weeks ago I started doing an hour spinning class every week and oh. my. god. Best thing ever. I think I will also start taking a pilates class once a week instead of doing cardio and weights. When I've done pilates before, it's done wonders.

I guess I just need to be patient and fine tune my diet a bit. I eat a lot of fruits and veggies and I generally eat healthy, I just think I eat a lot. But like you, Elle, I refuse to starve myself or massively deprive myself, so it's a matter of balance.

I'll keep you all posted!

I am in this boat as well. I gained some weight over Christmas and am having a hard time losing it, so stick with it!

I will add, as a little bit of encouragement, that for me diet *does not* play a huge role. Once I get to the weight my body likes to be, I can eat pretty much anything I want and not gain weight (as long as I'm sticking to my exercise routine, which is pretty active). For me "anything I want" adds up to between 1700 and 2000 calories a day. But to lose weight faster I try to be around 1600 on most days. So, I think that if you don't want to deprive yourself, you should just keep doing what you are doing and maybe try to cut out only 100 to 200 calories from your current intake. You will get to where you want to be.

And I second what collegegirl said about muscle. It sounds like you're working out hard and likely gaining a lot of muscle. Eventually that muscle will be working your metabolism harder and you'll start seeing loss, I'm sure. smile

NCshopper · Hermes

How long should it take to lose weight? *Update!*

jah · Dooney & Bourke

NCshopper wrote:

*Update!*

I just got back from the gym, where I weighed myself today and I've lost 4 pounds since I posted this! I went from 153 to 149 and I weigh myself on the manual scale, which means I got to move the big weight down a whole notch! Wheeeeeeeeee!

My workouts have pretty much stayed the same, but I've tweaked my diet ever so slightly and I think that's made the difference (plus I think the muscle I've built up is started to do its job more). Anyway, as far as my diet goes, all I've done is just be a bit more concious of it: like if I want a beer during dinner, then no dessert and vice versa and I limit myself to only 1 beer. And if I want a Coke during the day, then no beer or dessert at night. Small little tradeoffs have really helped.

Anyway, I'm really excited and just thought I'd share.

Congrats!!

Kitty · Hermes

Congrats!

wicked · Coach

Good job, that's awesome!

squishy · Coach

congrats, nc!!!

Elle · Hermes

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Congrats NC, I'm pround of you

.

Miss Mabel · Kenneth Cole

Yay! That's awesome. That's a big loss, too! Congrats!