For the past 3 weeks or so I've been on a fairly regular workout plan and in that time I really haven't lost any weight...at all.

I work out about 30-45 minutes 5 times a week on the elliptical machine and I consume around 2250 calories a day.

I'm 6'2" and have staid right at 200lbs the entire time.

Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong?

I am far from being an expert, but everything I have read on here and from talking with the trainers at the gym says that weight training is the holy grail of weight loss. Muscles burn calories throughout the day, and having more muscle mass means more calories burned.

I saw a flyer at the gym that I need to pick up and post on here, but essentially it said that weight training burns more calories throughout the day than a cardio workout. I will pick one up tomorrow and give you the details.

Another thing to remember is that when you start an exercise routine, especially in the beginning, you will be replacing a lot of your fat with muscle. Since muscle weighs more than fat, it is likely that you will not see much change in your weight at first. Judge your results in the way you look and feel, not only by how much you weigh.

At your weight, If you eat 2000 calories and do not exercise, you will maintain weight.

If you are eating 2250 calories per day... you must exercise enough to at least burn off 2250 calories to maintin weight.

If you want to lose weight, you must eat less than 2000 calories and/or your intake minus your exercise must be less than 2000 calories.

For every 3500 calorie deficit, you will lose one pound.

Good Luck!

This might sound a tad extreme, but due to a recent medical development I had to give up dairy products entirely starting about 6 months ago(I discovered that I'm allergic to milk). Since then I've dropped about 12 pounds, with only a mild workout (plus plenty of missed workout days). I'm no doctor but I have two ideas about why this seems to have helped. One is that I've cut out what for me was the single largest source of fat in my diet - there are also a lot of non-obvious food products (including lots of snack foods) that have milk and milk derivitives in them. The second idea of mine has something to do with the health effects of milk - it seems like along with the milk stoppage my body seems to go through a lot more calories than it used to (don't think I'm a vegan...i love meat). So the lack of milk products could have done something to increase my metabolism, but I'm no doctor and I don't have any good data to back it up.

I guess my main point is that if you make a serious commitment to get rid of dairy products in your diet you'll cut out a lot of empty calories from snack food, and a significant amount of fat from secondary sources.

I've also read that frequency is important, how often you eat. IIRC, eating every two to three hours, before you actually become hungry, keeps your metabolism up. You will be eating less per meal naturally.

I agree Leo, that is a very good point. I eat 5 small meals a day.

I don't know what is with milk either, but I agree, i've stopped drinking alot of milk and it has helped. Type of fat in milk? I don't know maybe our bodies don't process it well? I don't know, but if you look to nature, not too many animals drink milk after they are weaned from their mothers. So maybe humans should stop drinking milk (not after we wean from our mothers, but) when we reach post-toddler/puberty/late adolescence/I-don't-know-when? just a thought.

Josh, my take on your sitauation is that you're eating too much and not exercising enough. I'm 5'9" and I was 20 pounds overweight. I would ride my bike to work everyday (which is 45 minutes of cardio) and consume about the same, or slightly less calories than you and my weight didn't change. I started running 6 miles every other day and I cut my calories to about 1800. Then I started losing weight (down 13 pounds in 7 weeks). I just now started weight training mostly, I read it helps, be it bores me. Good luck.

There is a lot of "hidden" fat in dairy, meat, eggs... and a lot of hidden dairy in processed foods.

I am a vegan, and I found a cute tag line: "How can you find a vegan in a grocery store? look for the person reading the ingredients lists!"

This is a good idea for anyone interested in better nutrition. Read the label. Not just the big box with calories/fat/sodium (based upon a set calorie level), but take a look at the actual ingredients. Learn all the many names for sugar, and fat, and anything else that you might be wanting to reduce/eliminate in your daily intake.

I work out on the elliptical a lot... and, I'll admit, I don't push it very hard, mostly due to some physical limitations. I have a slow, long road ahead of me... but the ones that I see that are losing, are the ones that are doing some serious pushing of themselves, usually in an interval training fashion, and not just chugging along at one basic speed and effort level.

My 2 centavoes, YMMV.

Rae (newbie... real newbie)

Josh P hit me up with exactly what you are eating per day and i'll see if I can spot any problems.

Hang in there man....3 weeks is a blip in time. I'll bet it took alot longer than 3 weeks to collect the fat, so it's gonna take some time to work it off. Stick with your program, be a bulldog. You will probably see it in your waistline before you see it on the scale. Hang tough & good luck!

Mark

I think this is just the ol' fat-converting-to-muscle fun. It should end soon and you'll start to see more in the way of results. You can accelerate the process by increasingly your physical activity and/or cutting back on your diet a bit more, but that's probably not sustainable. One thing I'd try to do is try to get more of your exercise and calories early in the morning. That seems to push up your body's metabolism throughout the whole day, so you get more burn than just the workout itself.

Keep in mind that you are already pretty close to your ideal weight. I can't explain why, but I find as people approach their ideal weight, their bodies start to hold on to the fat more.

I am now a firm believer in when you eat food and how often. When I first started out I just tried to eat my caloric requirement in the same day. That meant if I had consumed 600 calories throughout the day (as an example) that I would eat 900-1000 calories for dinner. Unfortunately, it doesnt work like that. So, now I try and eat most of my carbs and lots of calories early in the morning. The studies show the earlier you can eat the majority of your calories in the day the faster you'll lose weight.

Also, eating the right amounts of carbs, fat, and protein is important. I would probably lower that amount down to 1800 calories for faster results.