Posts by justjane88

Thanks for the helpful anecdote.

So, my situation in more detail...

I do the elliptical faithfully, 6-7times a week, 90min on average. I started several years back at 20min/day, but today, if I just do 60min, it doesn't feel like I have done much.

Recently, I have noticed that my quad muscles have seriously enlarged to the point that they bulge outwards. More specifically, I am referring to the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis. When I flex them, they get huge. They are less noticeable when I am lying down and not flexing them. Although I do have fat over these muscles, I know that my muscles have enlarged because I am able to flex them to change their size/shape. To everyone who keeps saying that women cannot build muscle on the elliptical, I have to say from personal experience that they CAN. Maybe the average women will have trouble building muscle, but it seems like I can easily build muscle.(but since I rarely use my arms and do not do weight training on the upper body, my arms are TINY. Basically, my upper body does not match my lower body).

Another thing is that I have noticed that women on the elliptical do have larger legs than those on the treadmill at the gym...I know it could be that women with larger legs prefer the elliptical to the treadmill...but does anyone have personal observations on this?

So I am guessing that the best thing to do will be to create a calorie deficit to avoid building muscle and to burn fat.. I know that losing fat is a gradual and slow process and that I need to be very patient about it. But is there a good way to speed things up a bit?

I know everyone says that the average woman or even man cannot build muscles from the elliptical...but I am sure there are always deviations from the average for any scenario...(I see men with muscular(but NOT fat)/defined legs doing the elliptical as well as men with no muscle tone whatsoever (birdlegs) doing the elliptical. I have seen men who can build muscle easily as well as those who cannot build muscle at all no matter how much they try through exercise and diet).

Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you everyone for the helpful input.

Specifically for oldguysrule:

Are you suggesting that maybe the workout was very intense, thus resulting in the sustained elevated heart rate for several hours following the end of the run? And that it would be very bad for my body if I did 2 runs like this in a row? 

So, do you think that there is usually a lag between when you start exercising and when you start to lose weight??

My clothes are fitting more tightly and my legs are visibly chunkier and so i've been avoiding the scale like the plague...although I'm not sure whether that is a smart choice...but last time I checked, I was approx 137-138lbs. This was like 1.5months ago. I am 5feet 8in tall, female and 21 yrs old. Last year around this time, I was only around 125lbs (which is a healthy weight). During the summer, somehow I gained (but I didn't do anything significantly different...no traveling, etc...) and I've been over 130lbs since. I don't know why I am not losing any weight. Even if I underestimate my calories eaten, I probably still eat around 2000-2200 calories/day max( I log around 1800), and with my level of exercise, shouldn't I be losing SOME weight?

Have you recently lost any weight? Body fat is an important contributor of estrogen (as estrone) which helps induce the LH surge necessary for ovulation and subsequent menstruation. If you do not have adequate body stores of fat, you will not get your period.

I have not read any scientific papers suggesting that low fat diets affect periods, but I have read that you need a certain amount of calories/day to get periods. Once you fall below this threshold, you can stop having periods, even at a healthy weight.

Oh. And I forgot to add. Eating close to bedtime is linked to acid reflux/GERD.

Are you sure that you are only eating 1000 calories? It may be possible that you are underestimating what you are actually eating, because with the additional activity you mentioned, it would be nearly impossible for you not to feel hunger. Maybe you are snacking throughout the day; even if they may be small, they do add up. Also, you did not mention whether you have lost any weight from this diet and exercise. You can definitely be in starvation mode from eating only 800-1000 calories/day, but you might just be underestimating, which is often the case. Also, how long have you been exercising? I have noticed that some people do have a lag period before they start seeing any results.

Thanks for the tips thus far.

The problem is that I've never been this heavy my entire life. In high school, I was an athlete and weighed 115lbs. :( And I was healthy. I just don't like the way my clothes fit.

The reason why it's hard for me to believe that I am not eating enough is that I think I was over eating this past summer and gained so many pounds. :\. So I gained and so I increased my physical activity, but this led to no weight loss. I am so confused.

But for the past 3 months, I have been eating 1600-1800 calories a day (for sure. I have been a calorie counter for 4+ yrs), and burning 500-700 extra calories at the gym thru cardio (HR monitor data, not the gym machines). But I have not lost one pound. What can explain this?

The thing is, I have been eating 1600-1800 with 90 min of cardio for the past 6 months with no weight loss. Actually, I gained. I think a component of that was eating more than I was conscious about, but I still can't believe I gained. the 90min ends up being around 500cal extra burned per day, according to the HR monitor. Would doing HIIT instead help?