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Nothing is changing in my body toning/weightloss journey

Back in early November, I started working out. I was really unhappy with my body and decided I needed some excercise. Everything was going great for about a month and a half. I was losing inches and gaining muscle so quickly even though I wasn't doing cardio or paying a ton of attention to what I was eating. Over winter break however, my mom was sick and I don't have a lisence so I didn't go to the gym for about two weeks. However I was probably eating less than 900 calories a day and it was probably 50% apples and canned fruit. When January rolled around I went back to working out however this time my results were a lot slower. I didn't mind because I was still seeing a change even though it was smaller. Then in late January I joined track at my school. It started out as conditioning after school, doing build ups, distance and muscle building excersises for the season beginning in March. Three weeks into February, I got injured. I did some muscle damage to my calf, making it painful to run. Fast forward to now. I've healed for the most part and only deal with occasional pain/soreness and usually it's shin splints rather than the muscle damage. However, I've been noticing something strange. I'm not losing fat. I eat pretty healthy, I hate junk food and I only ever eat red meats once a month. Obviously I'm doing high level workouts everyday and I drink a little over half a gallon of water a day. However my body basically stopped changing.My biggest concern is around my stomach. In late October when I started working out, my lower stomach was 34 inches around. It quickly dropped to 32, then 29. But now it's stuck between 30 and 31 inches depending on the day. Nothing I do, no matter how few or many calories I eat, whether it's a recommended mix of good carbohydrates or 90% protein nothing happens. No matter how much water I drink or how hard I work out, nothing changes. I've been keeping measurements based on bi-weekly increments since early March and I'm starting to become worried. I never used weights back in November, I didn't do cardio, I only went about three times a week and I didn't drink much water. Now I do cardio everyday, I still don't really use weights, it's mostly resistance and floor work when it comes to muscle development and I drink 68+ oz of water everyday. So what happened? And what do I do to get back into losing body fat?
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Avatar universal
Actually, most of our diets should be carbs.  I know high protein diets are a fad, but most people keep confusing people by grouping different carbs together.  As antioxidant rich veggies and some fruit and complex carbs such as whole grains and grain-like fruits such as quinoa and buckwheat provide the long lasting energy that is essential especially for a long distance runner.  It's the simple carbs such as sugar and white flour that stores quickly as sugar and then fat that are usually meant here, but it's important especially when young people write in that the difference is emphasized.  As for fat, well, actually, low fat diets are the ones that have held up the longest over the centuries.  While it's important to get the essential fatty acids, especially for athletes, these are most found in foods we don't associate with high fat, such as fish and flax seeds and other seeds even though they do contain the important fats.  As for this poster, we don't really know how tall you are or how heavy you are or what age you are.  Body shape is often tied to your family heritage in part, though you can alter it by toning.  Resistance training does not require weight lifting -- using your own body as the weight, which is what it sounds like you're doing, will work.  Resistance bands work.  It's also going to be hard to get your body to a good metabolic rate if you keep switching your diet up.  If you're going to be running a lot, you're probably going to keep your weight down, but if you eat too little, as it sounds like you are, you won't have the proper nutrition to stay healthy, to have the energy to keep going, or the protein necessary if you want to build muscle -- that isn't really necessary to be healthy but if you want to do that it does take more protein but it sounds like you keep going overboard in one direction and then another.  If you can settle on a good, balanced, nutritious diet and just stick with it for awhile your body will do what it's programmed to do.  Perhaps you might want to consult a sports nutritionist who can help you understand that once you decide you're going to be doing an intensive training and exercise program you need to eat more, not less, and how to do that.  Be wary of fad diets -- you will pay down the road if you skimp on the foods that provide energy and antioxidants.  And as for the shin splints, they may in fact be related to your injury -- if you're not completely healed your body will compensate by putting the pressure elsewhere, which is a reason so many athletes keep getting injured.  
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I fortunately haven’t been taking up fads when it comes to health. My mom has always been a healthy person so that passed down onto me. We make our own bread and often times she makes it with complimentary proteins because it holds me a lot longer. I’ll be sixteen at the end of the month, I’m 5’3 and last time I was weighed I was 126lbs. I’m a sprinter in track and they never really went over what kind of diet to have as a sprinter, it was just for long distance
Sorry, thought you said you were doing cross country.  Sprinting is basically interval training at a high level, and it requires a lot of starting and stopping.  This does require muscle.  I doubt anyone at your basic school knows anything really about diet.  If your parents can afford it, there are those who specialize in sports nutrition -- every pro athlete has one -- but of course they don't agree.  Nobody agrees on diet because there's a difference between eating for health and other purposes.  My guess is, if you keep running, you will not only lose weight, but sprinting will also give you a muscular body.  You're young, give it time.    
134578 tn?1693250592
Well, for one thing, "eating pretty healthy" might not be doing you the good you think it is. Recent research has suggested pretty strongly that when people avoid certain foods when watching their diet, they tend to avoid fats, thinking "fat makes you fat, right?" but what happens is that "lo-fat" diets often contain more carbs to increase their tastiness (because the tasty fats are gone), and it is in fact the carbs that cause the weight around the waist. Try adding a tablespoonful of olive oil every day, it's great for you in lots of ways and it also helps you get the benefit of your fat-soluble vitamins, and delete one source of carbs, especially sweet things. Don't avoid fats, only avoid highly processed meats. See if that helps.
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