Lost 74lbs once, why is it more difficult now?

MariaChele85

Hello all,
In 2011 I lost about 74 lbs and then maintained for two years. Mainly cardio/ Zumba/ some weights, The fat seemed to just melt away. I was so unhealthy and out of shape that all I could do at the time was walk on the treadmill for an hour. I went from 312-237lbs. Once I got healthier, faster and stronger I picked up heavy weight training/powerlifting and fell in love. Heavy weight training & powerlifting requires more food to fuel your body, so it's no surprise that I gained about 20lbs back, but I was in the best shape ever. MUSCLE BABY! I completed several 5k runs and even a 5 mile run. My other love is Cycling. I completed a 44 mile bike ride in the Texas summer heat and on average would bike 35-45 miles every weekend ( when i was consistent).For 2013-2014 I stayed very active as I joined a boot camp class. Some of my max stats:
SQUAT : 255LBS DEADLIFT: 225LBS LEG PRESS: 650LBS BENCH PRESS: 135LBS
But a combination of holidays, vacations and moving all around the same time I gained about 10 more lbs.Before I knew it the scale had creeped back up. I am well over 265lbs, my clothes fit me tighter than before and I have lost a lot of my strength. So early Feb, I decided to get back serious and fix my diet and stay consistent with my workouts. So my question is......
Why is it now that I am doing 10x more than the first time, am i having a difficult time just to lose 5lbs? I am doing 5-6 boot camp sessions per week, adding in some additional weight training. Should I add in more cardio, switch back to all heavy weight traning, opt for light weights/ more reps.... I just dont know what else to do?
As far as my diet goes, I dont or havent logged my food consistenly. After 4 years of MFP I have a vast knowledge of what i should and shouldnt eat. And what ever i log in on monday, I pretty much eat the same *kitten* the entire week.lol Breakfast, and lunch are usually always the same. The only thing that will differ is my dinner. Here's a typical food day.
BREAKFAST:
Bread - Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin, 2 slice
Bananas - Raw, 1 medium (7" to 7-7/8" long)
Smuckers - Sugar Free Grape Jam, 1 Tablespoon
Kroger - Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, 1 Tbsp(32g)
SNACK:
Lara Bar - Key Lime Pie, 1 bar (51g)
LUNCH
Broccoli - Raw, 100 g
Bolthouse Farms - Baby-cut Carrots - Ready to Eat, 100 g (3 oz)
Spinach - Raw, 1 cup
Mighty Minis Sweet Mini Peppers Correct - Sweet Mini Peppers (Orange, Yellow, Red) Net Carbs, 2.5 pieces (3 oz)
Generic - Roma Tomato, 1 Medium
Lentils - Cooked, boiled, with salt, 1 cup
Salad Dressing - Bolthouse Ranch Yogurt Dressing, 4 Tb
Mangos - Raw, 1 cup, sliced
SNACK:
Kettle Brand - Jalapeño Chips, 2 oz
DINNER/AFTERWORKOUT:
Priano (Aldi) - Spinach Pasta Nests, 2 nests
Priano - Spicy Red Pepper Sauce, 1/2 cup
All Natural - Lean Ground Beef (93/7), 4 oz
Lentils - Cooked, boiled, with salt, 1 cup

I am willing to take any ideas on how i can get past this rut. If I had lower body fat percentage or closer to my goal weight, then I wouldnt be on here, but as i said earlier I am still wayyy overweight with lots of access fat to lose. As much as I work out, I should be melting away the pounds.
**just a side note, I got my body fat tested with (hydrostatic )and my RMR was about 2200 cal. Thats pretty much what I aim to eat, plus or minus 200 cals.

Laurend224

You answered your own question whn you said you haven't logged consitently. Start doing that, you will see the difference.

SezxyStef

Laurend224 wrote: »

You answered your own question whn you said you haven't logged consitently. Start doing that, you will see the difference.

Yup...get a food scale or dig it out and start logging...you know this tho if you've been here before...

MariaChele85

Thank you ladies, I do have two food scales, one digital and one with the spring. I got to a point where i was obsessed with wanting to weigh and measure everything. Even now I pretty much measure or weigh 90% of my food.

girlviernes

Congrats on your success, you are still down quite a lot. You obviously have a great exercise ethic which is super for your health. However, the most effective and efficient way to lose weight is always going to be to log and weigh everything. Can I ask, what are your reasons not to log?

MariaChele85

girlviernes wrote: »

Congrats on your success, you are still down quite a lot. You obviously have a great exercise ethic which is super for your health. However, the most effective and efficient way to lose weight is always going to be to log and weigh everything. Can I ask, what are your reasons not to log?

Laziness for the most part . I eat the same stuff over and over, so I feel like i know how many cals i eat etc. IT gets repetitive after a while. Example if i eat the exact same thing i did from the previous day, in my head I know how many cals/ fat/ protien/ carbs I have eaten for the day.

girlviernes

I think if you were to log for a week or two you could see for yourself more exactly where you are at, plus it would be easier for us on the forums to help you to troubleshoot.

segacs

It actually is harder to lose weight the second, third, fourth time around. A few reasons:

1. You're older. As you get older, your metabolism slows down and it actually requires fewer calories for your body to sustain the same weight. Maybe the difference is slight, but over time, you'll notice that it's a LOT harder to lose weight.

2. You lost LBM. Crash dieting, extreme dieting, VLCDs, not exercising, basically anything that leads you to lose a significant amount of lean body mass along with your weight loss will do this. With less LBM, your body requires fewer calories at rest to keep itself going. Then when you regain the weight, you're gaining fat, not muscle. So the next time you try to lose weight, you're starting from a higher BF% even if your starting weight is the same.

3. You gained LBM. The opposite of #2 above, this one sounds like it applies to you more. Even though you're still technically overweight, you've trained yourself to the point where your body fat percentage is lower than it was, because you've gained muscle when you stopped eating at a deficit. So now it's harder to lose weight because your healthy weight sweet spot is actually going to be higher on the scale. How do your clothes fit? Better, worse or the same as last time?

4. Your body got used to the exercise. Last time you were going from basically inactive to active. You saw a dramatic change in a short period of time, because all the exercise you were doing was hard for you at the time. But over time, your body trained and got into better shape, and your exercise routine got easier for you. Your exercise calorie burns have gone down, even though your exercise routine is the same. The human body is wonderfully adaptive that way, much to our eternal chagrin.

jenncornelsen

if your wondering...u are taking in approx 2000 cals a day if u ate exactly the same thing every day. if it was all measured perfectly. theres a good chance since u aren't keeping track that theres a few snacks or such in there your missing.

quiksylver296

Are you vegetarian? Are you hitting your protein macros?

jenncornelsen

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Are you vegetarian? Are you hitting your protein macros?

she had ground beef for dinner..... so probably not vegetarian lol! though the protein does seem low

quiksylver296

jenncornelsen wrote: »

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Are you vegetarian? Are you hitting your protein macros?

she had ground beef for dinner..... so probably not vegetarian lol! though the protein does seem low

Missed that. Oops.

AgentOrangeJuice

It also seems like eating the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day isn't working because well, you're getting the wrong gains.

Looks like you're hitting your protein goal except you've replaced them with carbs.

Dozer91

I had this problem for 2 years, after I hit 35 years old and 197 pounds it seems like nothing could help me lose the weight. I was hitting the gym for hours at a time and changing my calorie/macro intake. Finally, I switched to a full paleo diet and took special supplements to combat my hormone imbalance that comes with female aging. It took a couple months to get my body adjusted to it but I am finally down 10 pounds. Hopefully you will find your answer too. Good Luck.

quiksylver296

Trying to offer realistic suggestions, but need more info. How tall are you? What is your TDEE? What is your current calorie goal?

BWBTrish

momo2009 wrote: »

Thank you ladies, I do have two food scales, one digital and one with the spring. I got to a point where i was obsessed with wanting to weigh and measure everything. Even now I pretty much measure or weigh 90% of my food.

In order to know how much calories you consume you have to weight EVERYTHING. That is not being obsessive. that is being accurate as possible about your calorie intake.

Here a short video about the difference between foods you measure or weigh, hundreds of calories difference and that only for two kinda foods.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

SezxyStef

Dozer91 wrote: »

I had this problem for 2 years, after I hit 35 years old and 197 pounds it seems like nothing could help me lose the weight. I was hitting the gym for hours at a time and changing my calorie/macro intake. Finally, I switched to a full paleo diet and took special supplements to combat my hormone imbalance that comes with female aging. It took a couple months to get my body adjusted to it but I am finally down 10 pounds. Hopefully you will find your answer too. Good Luck.

when I started here when I was 40 currently 42...don't blame your age...

CICO and based on the sample the OP gave us the scale and logging isn't being used enough

MariaChele85

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Trying to offer realistic suggestions, but need more info. How tall are you? What is your TDEE? What is your current calorie goal?

I am 5'6.5'', my TDEE is approx 2900, my calorie goals is to eat around 2200 cal. I had my body fat tested, so all this is really acurate information . ( not 100%, because of course nothing is 100%)

MariaChele85

jenncornelsen wrote: »

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Are you vegetarian? Are you hitting your protein macros?

she had ground beef for dinner..... so probably not vegetarian lol! though the protein does seem low

Lol, no I'm not vegetarian, I do however try to eat an abundance of veggies ( usually for lunch). My macros i have set for 40% carbs/30% protein/20 fats.... I do hit them on a regular...ok maybe like 85% of the time.

PAV8888

momo2009 wrote: »

I am 5'6.5'', my TDEE is approx 2900, my calorie goals is to eat around 2200 cal. I had my body fat tested, so all this is really acurate information . ( not 100%, because of course nothing is 100%)

Assuming your TDEE is correct, then obviously you are eating more than you think (or you have some undiagnosed illness!) :wink

I realize that you may not want to go back to logging everything tediously; but, if you've done it before, you sure can do it again for just a week? Right?

So just for a week record everything!
By grams.
Bananas are sold by weight not size, right?
Mustard doesn't really have 0 calories even though the fictitious portion on the back of the bottle claims that at 4.99 calories it is legally equal to zero.
Peanut butter can be weighed.
So can jam.
I only checked a couple of days, but I didn't see drinks, or coffees, or milk, or condiments, or mints!

Forget the macros for a week, just figure out how many calories you're really consuming!

BTW: great job on the initial weight loss and impressive physical training!

MariaChele85

PAV8888 wrote: »

momo2009 wrote: »

I am 5'6.5'', my TDEE is approx 2900, my calorie goals is to eat around 2200 cal. I had my body fat tested, so all this is really acurate information . ( not 100%, because of course nothing is 100%)

Assuming your TDEE is correct, then obviously you are eating more than you think (or you have some undiagnosed illness!) :wink

I realize that you may not want to go back to logging everything tediously; but, if you've done it before, you sure can do it again for just a week? Right?

So just for a week record everything!
By grams.
Bananas are sold by weight not size, right?
Mustard doesn't really have 0 calories even though the fictitious portion on the back of the bottle claims that at 4.99 calories it is legally equal to zero.
Peanut butter can be weighed.
So can jam.
I only checked a couple of days, but I didn't see drinks, or coffees, or milk, or condiments, or mints!

Forget the macros for a week, just figure out how many calories you're really consuming!

BTW: great job on the initial weight loss and impressive physical training!

Thanks for the compliment
I will go back to logging everything!
As far as drinks, water water water water and even more water. Thats all i drink. Occasionally i will drink a cup of coffee with a tablespoon of sugar free creamer. Its so minute that i dont even log it. ( 15 cal) But i guess i should. I have actually been reading other possiblilties of why I am not losing weight, medical stuff. When I get a chance to take a day off during the week, deff getting all that checked out by a medical professional.

Camo_xxx

Over time we tend to slack off our dedication to accuracy and let habits like eating about the same amount of the same thing, the problem is this leads to calories creeping back up.

About the same amount isn't the same as the same amount. If you are trying to lose fat it is easiest if you actually weigh and log every bite so you know for certain how many calories you eat. Knowing how many calories you eat is the easiest way to create your desired deficit