Why am I not losing weight?

[Psychobarb]

I am more active than ever; have increased my steps to 13K a day.  The trainer indicated I went from lightly active to active.  Still no weight loss.  It's up and down.  Infact, since starting with Fitbit, I weight three more pounds!

Yeah, it's summer and I'm drinking more alcohol.  But my calories are about 1400/day and I have a defict of about 371.  Could I be retaining water, I am craving more salt and drinking tons of water in the heat.

[trainer]

Start paying attention to your measurements. Do your pants fit differently? You might be burning fat but replacing it with lean mass, which is actually a very healthy way to do it. Muscle is more dense than fat so you can get smaller in terms of measurements but remain the same weight on the scale. You ARE getting more healthy with this approach so don't worry. Once your body gets more lean mass your metabolism will increase, which means you will burn more calories if you hold everything the same as you are now (in terms of calories in vs calories out). Some people just naturally do it this way vs losing fat, weighing less but not adding lean mass. It is probably genetic or something *shrug*

[Algenon]

To add on what trainer said:  You should also remember that not everyone loses weight the same way and fitbit is set to what is "average"  If you are not losing, you might need to increase your steps and/or decrease your calories.  You might have a slower metabolism than the next person.  Do not give up!  the weight will come off if you keep on working.  

[carl669]

i'm a firm believer of the phrase "weight loss happens in the kitchen, not in the gym".  and, that doesn't necessarily mean cutting calories.  can you give an example of a typical daily menu for you?  how long have you been eating like that?  sometimes it does take a bit for weight loss to kick in.  if you've been eating the same way for a while, maybe it's time to change things up?  i did the low fat thing with absolutely no success.  once i switched over to low carb, the weight just dropped off on its own.

 also, you mentioned you are drinking more alcohol lately.  i've found alcohol (more than a drink a day) will bring my weight loss to a screeching halt.  so, you may want to experiment with that.

finally, how much weight do you have left to lose?  the less you have to lose, the slower (almost painfully) the process will be.

[SunsetRunner]

I'd add that you might want to look at how much you are drinking.  I measured what my "average" Gin gimlet had and found that it came to about 350 calories and expect that my various bourbon drinks are more.  I decided to hold back on a mixed drink to once or twice per week and have a glass of wine otherwise.  The wine comes in at less than 100 calories.  Also, when you are having your drink are you having something to snack on at the same time?  I was enjoying some cheese and crackers along with the gimlet and have largely switched to chopped vegetables with hummus.  Still good but much different from a calorie/nutrition point of view.

[Heybales]

You weighing on valid days to minimize known water fluctuations?

Morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels, not sore from last workout.

Any other invalid day is just noise, and you need at least a month of noise to see a direction.

Otherwise, find the valid weigh-ins, and know that a new workout is going to retain water even when not sore if it's resistance training.