Why am I not having great results?

Stephie

Stephie

Cathlete
Hi Cathe,

I don't want this to sound whiny but I'm kind of bummed. I keep reading about how everyone else is melting off the inches with STS. While I love the format of STS and love how strong I feel using the heavy weights I'm really seeing no difference in my body. I've gotten the old tape measure out and everything's still the same as before I started STS. I haven't really changed my diet at all, not that it was clean before by any stretch but it hasn't gotten any worse. I'm on week two of mesocycle two and have really been working to failure on everything. So, what's up with my body? Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steph
 
If I were you, I'd work on my diet which you describe as not clean at any stretch. I checked out a couple of books from the library and are using those ideas. I'll just go ahead and post some meal ideas that I mostly got from Tosca Reno's Clean-Eat Diet book, but I've modified some:

Breakfast ideas
1 cup oatmeal
4 egg whites
½ cup mixed fresh berries
Can add 1 piece dry toast plus one tablespoon nut butter

4-6 egg whites scrambled with spinach and chopped tomato, basil, tiny bit of feta
1 slice Ezekiel toast maybe with a bit of fruit-only preserves

Whole-grain tortilla filled with pico and egg white scramble

½ cup muesli with low-fat soy milk or skim milk
½ cup mixed berries
1 slice Ezekiel toast with 1 T nut butter

Kashi go-lean cereal with ½ sliced banana
3-5 hard-boiled egg whites

¾ cup plain yogurt with berries and flax, wheat germ

½ cup dry millet cooked with 1 cup water topped with flax mix, ½ banana and 5 scrambled egg whites

1 cup cooked cream of wheat with flax mix and ½ cup berries

Lunch ideas

1 can tuna
1 ½ cup spinach, grated carrot, balsamic vinaigrette (I mix balsamic and olive oil)

¾ cup low fat cottage cheese with ½ chopped apple, some grapes, 2 Kavli Crispbread

Grilled chicken on whole-grain wrap with tomato, spinach
½ cup lowfat plain yogurt with chopped apple and banana

1 can salmon with ¼ cup each green onion, red pepper and cucumber
2 Kavli Crispbread
½ cup lowfat cottage cheese

5 oz smoked salmon on 1 slice Ezekiel bread with hummus and cucumber

Veggie soup (Martha Stewart's Big Batch Vegetable soup), legume soup, spinach salad (spinach, apples, craisins, nuts, balsamic vinagrette), brown rice salad, quinoa made into tabbouli

Dinner ideas

Fish with veggie and brown rice
Chicken with veggie and sweet potato
Whole grain pasta with sauce and turkey meatballs

Snack ideas

Apple with 1 T nut butter
Raw veggies with low-fat hummus
Protein smoothie
Piece of fruit plus small handful of unsalted nuts
½ cup plain yogurt with ½ chopped apple and ½ cup muesli
Plain popcorn
Edamame
 
Steph,

When I first started STS I wasn't really anywhere near eating clean either. I wasn't seeing results right away either. I then cleaned up my eating (still not 100% clean - but pretty close) and started to see the scale and tape measure making changes. My only suggestion is for you to make some dietary changes and you will probably see results.

Hang in there!
 
I agree, I can see results when my eating habits have changed to smaller meals about every 3 hrs. You burn calories more as your metabolism works to digest good protein. Also dont forget you Veggies!
 
Gotta agree with the others-you can't outwork a bad diet. Also, are you incorporating cardio with STS? Cardio is the third piece of the body improvement puzzle. If you're doing STS 3 days/week, try doing HIIT cardio 2 days, and then 2 days of moderate intensity cardio. I think if you get all three areas working, you're sure to start seeing some changes!
 
I too was reading these posts going...I'm not seeing any changes, but I'm lifting heavier and doing my cardio, and I have cleaned up my eating....I'm doing the 6 mth rotation and wasn't going to take measurements/weigh until I was done, but I took them 6 weeks in and nope, nothing....but then last week I was able to get into a pair of pants that used to not button....so I think changes are being made, I'm just not seeing them....

As for the diet, I am in week 2 reading the Beck Diet Solution and it's really helping me....if you need help motivating your brain with the eating, I highly recommend this book.
 
know what ya mean, steph. but my diet is not too good either. it used to be so good and the last couple years i have gone donwhill bad.
thanks for posting those eating tips, i am trying to clean it up. cuz i want to see results from all this hard work and i am not.
cathy
 
ITA with this:

jansherman said:
Gotta agree with the others-you can't outwork a bad diet. Also, are you incorporating cardio with STS? Cardio is the third piece of the body improvement puzzle. If you're doing STS 3 days/week, try doing HIIT cardio 2 days, and then 2 days of moderate intensity cardio. I think if you get all three areas working, you're sure to start seeing some changes!
Click to expand...

I decreased the amount of food I was eating - I was totaly over eating before even if it wasn't junk. Now I pay attention to how much and what goes in my mouth.

I agree with the cardio as well. I do this weightlifting every other day as prescribed and then I add cardio on the other days. I take one day off.

Cardio schedule:
#1 Short intverals on treadmill
#2 Long intervals on treadmill
#3 Walking intervals on treadmill

I interchange these based on when the leg day is scheduled. Feel free to PM and I can elaborate on those intervals. I also take STS to the gym with me so Iuse the treadmill there.

I would agree with the others though: diet is key. I know it is tough because I like my brownies and wine too, but the results will come. I have not lost lbs, but I have lost inches and that is enough to make me push harder.

Good luck!
 
Thank you!

Wow! Thanks for all for all of the replies. Although, you didn't say what I wanted to hear. :-( I'm going to print out the diet suggestions and I think I'm going to check out the books you mentioned geomom and asudaizy. I guess it is a little silly to put all of this time and effort into exercising and then ruin it with eating. Bummer! And double bummer that wine & brownies aren't considered "clean".

I've got the cardio down fine, I follow one of Cathe's suggestions two days a week and then my dh and I run a trail near our home on Fridays so that's not a problem.

Thanks again, you've re-inspired me to watch what I put in my mouth.

Steph
 
Steph,

Someone posted this on another forum(see below). It was in response about results and what you see in the mirror. I think it makes valid points and will change your perspective. Think of the changes on a cellular level. Nutrition is key to this change, so think of it anytime you eat something. I think it helps to think....will this support my goals? Hey, I'm struggling with the Easter Jelly beans right now:eek: But I keep thinking about the hard work I'm putting into the STS workouts. It will pay off!!!
""I wanted to pass along information, courtesy of www.hussmanfitness.org, about the science behind beginning a weight/cardio program and the frustration that's often experienced because results are not being seen fast enough in the mirror. Below is part of the explanation given on the website by John P. Hussman, Ph.D. (taken from http://www.hussmanfitness...g/html/TSInsideOut.html): It turns out that the idea of changing from the inside out is literally true as well.
From the notes I've received from some of you, the most common concern seems to be that your fat loss seems too slow. After starting a serious fitness program including cardiovascular and weight training, nearly everyone feels better and more energetic almost immediately (aside from the perpetual soreness). But even after several weeks, some people do not see a noticeable change in the mirror, so far as fat is concerned. And the scale! You've busted your bottom for weeks, and there's no change! Of course, if you've really been half-hearted about following your program, it's clear why this may happen, but it can also happen when you have honestly been experiencing intensity every day, and have been careful about limiting your portions. I've received messages from people literally in tears at the frustration. Kid, the road to Easy Street runs through the sewer. You gotta get tough (words spoken to me by my favorite teacher, Father Arnold Perham).
Here's what's going on. Fat is stored in several places, within the muscle as intramuscular fat (which is why pork is "the other white meat"), around the organs as "visceral fat", and under the skin as "subcutaneous fat". If you're inactive as you get older, the fat starts depositing in the muscles first - the muscle tissue gets "marbelized". After the intramuscular stores are full, the fat spills over to subcutaneous stores, which are more noticeable. Well, now take that process in reverse. Exercise (and specifically interval training and progressive weight training) tends to draw significantly from the intramuscular stores early on, so instead of seeing a major change in the mirror, you may instead feel your muscles getting firmer and less "mushy". That's a good sign. Don't give up! The subcutaneous fat loss becomes more evident once the intramuscular stores are whittled down a bit.

(continued)
If you were able to look inside of your cells and see your "good" enzymes increasing, your energy-producing mitochondria multiplying, your cholesterol falling, your arteries clearing, your blood vessels becoming more efficient, your muscles strengthening, your bone-density improving, and all of the remarkable changes that this program triggers, it would be clear that the scale and calipers are just insufficient ways of measuring success. As these internal changes become significant, your external progress accelerates. Some people just start out needing more internal changes than others, because of their prior lifestyle, long-term yo-yo dieting, and other factors. Please understand that if you're following the daily intensity and carefully limiting your portions, the progress is happening, whether it's obvious or not. I've just seen too many individual cases to think any different.
So don't force the numbers. They'll come. Here is your job today: adhere to a winning pattern of action that you know will produce results if you follow it consistently. That's all. And if you do that today, congratulate yourself as a winner. If instead, you insist on measuring your success by whether or not the scale or caliper show progress today, you're creating a game you can lose. In Steven Covey's words, you're putting yourself in the position of trying to manage consequences rather than actions. You'll never get a reliable sense of confidence that way. Look, you're following a program that works. Do troubleshoot. Do review your workouts, food choices, portion sizes, and meal plans. But make every day a game you can win."

Don't quit - write down the positives you've gotten from this program already - Do you feel stronger? Do you feel it from the inside out? Do you enjoy them? Is it helping you push play?
 
Cynthia, thank you for that article! It was a great read and something I needed to hear today.....I know changes are being made, but when they are slow, and you see yourself in the mirror daily, it's so hard to notice the hard work and this was a nice reminder that I am doing great things and I need to be proud that I've stuck to the routine and made strides.....thanks again for the post!
 
I also wanted to say thanks for the article Cynthia. I guess it's more of a mental thing, thinking about what I'm eating, etc.
 
Stephie said:
Hi Cathe,

I don't want this to sound whiny but I'm kind of bummed. I keep reading about how everyone else is melting off the inches with STS. While I love the format of STS and love how strong I feel using the heavy weights I'm really seeing no difference in my body. I've gotten the old tape measure out and everything's still the same as before I started STS. I haven't really changed my diet at all, not that it was clean before by any stretch but it hasn't gotten any worse. I'm on week two of mesocycle two and have really been working to failure on everything. So, what's up with my body? Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steph
Click to expand...

Hi Steph!!!

Your body sounds like my body! I noticed this exact same thing about 2 weeks ago...and really got disgusted with myself. I did notice great increased muscle tone and perhaps more girth around my thighs...which just muscle up quickly for me.

So, I took a hard cold look at my diet and truthfully that is my problem...I am terrible.

I have heard many educated exercise folks say that abs are built in the kitchen and that 80% of your results are from diet!

I have really gotten dedicated to eating CLEAN...I have been visiting Tosca Reno's forums...talking to the gals there...reading all of Tosca's books...and MOST IMPORTANTLY...IMPLEMENTING the recipes and techniques. I removed all junk food from the house.

You know, today, my pants feel LOOSE!!!! :D

So, please don't get discouraged!

There are many people out here to support you!

Check out Jennifer Nicole Lee's website: www.fitnessmodelprogram.com She is just very very motivational...she is a weight loss success story also... WOW...I want that body!

Take care!!!
Denise :)
 
I do love the egg commericals now...

If you want to look incredible, you have to eat incredible!!!!

So true!


xx, Denise :)
 
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