Confusion over calories

[Appleshape]

Hi. I joined a gym a month ago in the hope of losing some weight and gaining some muscle. I'm 5'4, female and weigh 132lb. The trainer who interviewed me said in order to maintain my current weight I would need to consume 1300 calories so she recommended that I took it down to 1200. The problem is, it doesn't seem to make sense to me if I'm burning 400 calories a session doing CV work 3-4 times a week. Shouldn't these calories come off the total? I'm even more confused as after a month I haven't lost a single pound!

I am extremely careful about what I eat, I take in high protein, low to medium carbs and low fat. I make sure I drink plenty of water too.

Where am I going wrong? Any help would be really appreciated.

My workouts consist of the following:

Day 1. 45 mins CV done with heart rate level to maximise fat burn
2 x 15 rep pec dec
2 x 15 rep inner thigh
2 x 15 rep outer thigh
2 x 15 rep lat pull downs
3 x 15 rep stomach crunches
2 x press up burn outs

Day 2

45 mins CV done with heart rate level to maximise fat burn

Day 3
5 mins CV warm up
2 x 15 rep bicep curls
2 x 15 rep tricep extensions
reistance band 2 x 15 tricep extensions
2 x 15 bicep curls
2 x 15 pullups
2 x 15 dorsal raises


These 3 days are repeated in rotation.

[MostMuscle]

There are a few things you have to take into consideration.

• Calculation of your basal metabolism leaves alot of room for error. It is an estimate at best. If you are not achieving the results you desire, feel free to increase you intake. Or change your nutrient ratios (CAR/PRO/FAT) but don't change both at the sametime. You will not know what is working and what is not.
• Most people over estimate caloric expenditure. You state you are burning 400kcals a session.......that is alot especially for a female of your size. If you are using the computers on the treadmills etc to track your calories, keep in mind that most of those are based on an 150lb male (who will burn more calories than you at the same work rate). Even the ones that you program you weight into still don't take into account gender or bodyfat percentage. An example of 500kcal using the 150lb male is 1 hour of full court basketball ......Cursor could tell you that is a workout for sure!
• Also since you are weight training, remember that you will add muscle mass. So you could have lost 5lbs of fat and gained 5lbs of muscle during the past month and step on the scale and it would tell you that you have not lost any weight. This is true, but you body composition will be much improved. The scale is not an honest measure of progress many times.
• Speaking of your weight training, I would like to see more compound/multi-joint movements. These use the larger muscles in the body and in turn will burn more calories than working on smaller more specific muscle groups.

I am sure others will chime in with some more great ideas!

[Octagon]

In the first place, yes you would subtract calories expended while working out when determining you calorie defecits. Your trainer appears to be shooting for a daily defecit of around 500 calories (eating 100 fewer calories than you burn plus the 400 or so you burn working out) which would ideally result in a loss of one pound of fat per week (there are ~3,500 calories in one pound of fat).

The thing is, as MostMuscle has pointed out, you have to remember that these estimates are all exactly that: estimates.

Other things to keep in mind?

You say you're careful about what you eat. Does that mean you measure and log everything? Strict logging isn't exactly necessary but it can be really helpful and if you're not doing it you should give it some thought.

Also, forget about targetting your heart rate to any so-called 'fat burning zone'. While the whole 'work less hard and burn more fat' thing looks good on paper it doesn't really withstand closer scrutiny and you're really just cheating yourself by not working out harder during those cardio sessions.

And yeah, don't get too caught up in scale readings. Scale weight can be a half-useful measuring stick but it doesn't account for fluctuations in water weight or changes in body composition. There's nothing wrong with keeping an eye on your weight but also pay attention to other indicators like how your clothes seem to fit and how you look/feel.