Why is the weight not coming off?

For the last 3 weeks I have been training for a half marathon, running 5 to 6 km 5 days of the week, and 13km plus on Saturday. Burning 500 to 700 calories at any given time. I can't seem to lose much weight at all it is getting very frustrating I knew the weight loss would be slow but 2lbs in 3 weeks. What am I doing wrong?

What are you eating?  How many calories? 

I agree are you eating enough?

if you're not then your body is probably storing anything you do eat mroe than it usually would so it doesn't matter hwo much exercise you are doing. you need to eat enough to fuel your body to carry out it's normal tasks

for men i think thats no less that 1500 cals a day!

I eat 3 regular meals a day plus a snack mid morning and mid afternoon. If I go for my run before supper I usually have a banana, or a peanut butter sandwich. After my run I will have a small snack ie. granola bar piece of fruit. My usual intake of calories usually ranges from 1800 to 2100. Also I drink about 2 to 3 750ml bottles of water per day.

I guess you could be gaining muscle, especially in your legs since you're running regularly.  Pay attention to how your clothes fit in your waste or is your face thinner?

Maybe try looking at the breakout of what you're eating.  I typically have a tougher time losing when a lot of my calories come from carbs.  Also, make sure your food measurements are right on.  My b/f would estimate 4 or 5 ounces when he really ate 8 to 10 oz!

Good luck!

 

Agree with the above post -- try adding a bit more protein to your meals and focus more on vegetables and whole grains for your carbs.  I didn't check your profile, so forgive me if this is asking you to repeat information, but how much are you looking to lose?  If you don't need to lose much, your body will fight like h*ll to hold on to your weight -- it can be very difficult to lose those last 10 pounds. 

well muscle weighs more than fat so all that fat is getting changed into muscle

i think.. because when Mrs. Garcia somthing(the American lady that was kidnapped in Phillipines) came back to America she had not gotten lighter at all despite the fact that they had walked several miles and ate almost nothing everyday. but she was stronger

Original Post by cowsoy:

well muscle weighs more than fat so all that fat is getting changed into muscle

 NOPE - I won't even get into the symantics of one thing weighing more than another (dead horse, but remember the ol' pound of bricks and pound of feathers). But fat does not magically turn into muscle any more than lead can be tranmuted into gold. They are different tissues, and they do not switch back and forth.

Plus it's really hard to put on muscle when in a caloric deficit, and if you manage to, it would be from weight lifting, not from training for a marathon.

cbrad - how much do you burn in a day, total (exercise plus just living)? Make sure your deficit isn't too large (500-1000 is recommended - over 1000, weight loss can slow). Plus, remember that sometimes the weight loss just takes time to register.

If I had to guess - you aren't eating enough calories.

It is a fine line between deficit with weight loss and too much deficit and your body holding on to everything for all it is worth.  Try eating 2100 to 2200 calories per day for a week.

If still no/slow loss, add in another 100 calories per day for a week.

A big reason why you're probably not losing the weight is because you're training for cardiovascular endurance.  This means that your heart rate is probably very high while you're running which does burn off a lot of fat but rather burns off the food that you have eaten throughout the day.  If you would rather burn off more fat that your body has already stored keep your heart rate lower by not going as fast.  Here is a simple understanding of how your body burns off fat.  When your heart rate is at 65% of its total not only means how fast your heart is beating but also tells you where the calories you're burning are coming from.  For example if your heart rate is at 65% of your total that means that 65% of the calories you're burning are using up the food you ate and the remaining 35% of the calories are burning off fat that your body has stored. 

In other words if you burn off 100 calories at 65% heart rate.  65 calories of the food you ate were burned off and 35 calories of fat that is stored on your body were burned off.

Original Post by jaydenscherer:

A big reason why you're probably not losing the weight is because you're training for cardiovascular endurance.  This means that your heart rate is probably very high while you're running which does burn off a lot of fat but rather burns off the food that you have eaten throughout the day.  If you would rather burn off more fat that your body has already stored keep your heart rate lower by not going as fast.  Here is a simple understanding of how your body burns off fat.  When your heart rate is at 65% of its total not only means how fast your heart is beating but also tells you where the calories you're burning are coming from.  For example if your heart rate is at 65% of your total that means that 65% of the calories you're burning are using up the food you ate and the remaining 35% of the calories are burning off fat that your body has stored. 

In other words if you burn off 100 calories at 65% heart rate.  65 calories of the food you ate were burned off and 35 calories of fat that is stored on your body were burned off.

 That's not even close to being acurate.