Extremely slow weight loss
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coolcoci_115
Posts: 57 Member
I think it's been officially two months since I began this process. I really (re)started exercising 3 months ago, but started counting my calories and inputing daily weigh-ins with MFP exactly two months ago. Right now there is about a 4 pound difference between when I started and today (187.4 --> 183.2). That averages a loss of 0.5 lbs/week. Now I'm not ungrateful, but I'm also very frustrated. Almost everywhere I read on the internet, there is a quick and fast weight loss at the very beginning followed by a plateau. I never experienced this. Or if they don't see quick weight loss at the beginning they begin to see inches drop off. While I don't have hard and fast measurements, I can say that I still fit in the same clothes and have not changed my size (maybe slightly less tight).
I began this journey by doing some math, I'm a very numbers/Type A kind of person so I need concrete things to work with.
- At a height of 5'8'' and an estimated start weight of 190lbs my Basal Metabolic Rate is: 1688 kcal per day
- Daily Metabolic Needs based on sedentary lifestyle is: 2011 calories per day
- To establish a 2 pound weight loss you need a weekly caloric deficit of 3500*2 = 7000, or essentially 1000 calories per day.
- I divided the deficit into 750 from food since it is much easier for me to cut down on food than it is to exercise and 250 from exercise. So my daily calorie intake from food should be roughly 1200-1250 calories per day.
Diet: I dd not eliminate any foods, everything was acceptable as long as it fit my calorie count. However, I'm very well aware that eating high fat content and lots of carbs will not help my situation so I resorted to figuring out meals that were filling, help avoid snacking, but still have some room for a snack or two in mid-afternoons and evenings.
- Breakfast (225 calories): this has been the most consistent thing I've done for the past 2 months because of its ease in preparation, and ability to take with me in a car >>> One hard boiled egg, one Sargento mozzarella string cheese, one large mandarin or tow small clementines, coffee w/ splenda and creamer. It's not a lot but amazingly it holds me over for the most part to lunch
- Lunch: this may be the hardest thing to control because I don't prepare a lunch and take with me. I worked at a hospital for a month that put the calorie counts on their food which was very convenient and I would choose a protein with a vegetable side that amounted to approx 400 calories and then had a diet coke. But I have had times where I would visit McDonald's or Chik-fil-A for ONLY grilled chicken sandwich that ranged b/w 350-450 calories. If I craved fries I would order the small and eat half of it.
- Dinner: I've begun to utilize meal preparation as this is both fast, convenient and requires the least amount of thought when your hungry after driving for 1+ hours through rush hour traffic. My meals are pretty much the same throughout: 4 oz precooked chicken breast or 10 cooked shrimp (appx. 150-160 calories) with one tablespoon of light bleu cheese or ranch dressing on the chicken (35 cal) + 1 cup of cooked rice with lime juice and cilantro (170 cal) + side of vegetables (green beans, or mixed corn/peas/carrots, etc.) which varies between 35-80 cal.
- Snacks: i love popcorn and its a snack that you can eat alot of without too many calories. I purchased a large bag of Kettlecorn which I divided up into 1.5 cup sandwich baggies for a 100 cal snack when I feel like snacking. For a sweat treat, I purchased Fudge pops that are 40 cal and ice pops (50 cal) which have no nutritional value but sometimes you need something to keep you busy.
I'm not going to lie, I have not stuck to the above hard and fast every day for the past few month. I had weddings, birthdays, Friday night outings, weekend getaways where it is just too difficult and time consuming to try and figure out how to enter your food into MFP. So I would estimate my average calorie intake to be more around 1350 -1400 rather than the 1250 that I calculated.
Exercise: i HATE exercise... did I say that I hate exercise. I would rather eat less than go exercise. Hands down, any day. People tell me it energizes, makes you feel better, clears your head. B**S***. I never felt energized after a workout or cleared my head. I have felt sweaty, exhausted and defeated. But never the less I have been trying to go jogging/walking for 30 minutes most days of the week. I started the C25K program but fell of around week 4/5 because I could not run for 20 minutes straight. I eventually just revised the plan to 5 minute warm up walk at 3.5 mph, followed by a 10+ min run, followed by 4 min walk 3.0 mph, 5 min run (5.0 mph), rest and than last 2-3 min run. I try to increase that first bout of running from 10 min to 11 min, to 12 min every workout. There was one week, I don't know what happened, I actually ran 19 min straight, 19 MINUTES!!. I didn't run the weekend, and bam I was back down to 10-11 min and that's where I'm stuck now.
Thinking maybe I was not working out hard enough, I purchased a heart rate monitor to keep track. I average a heart rate of 170-175 which is 86& to 88% of my maximum heart rate which falls underneath high intensity. I max out my heart rate for bout3-4 minutes total. So I maintain high intensity for about 20+ minutes of the workout. Some guy at an Orange Theory when I joined a free trial class told me that this is wrong and I should be in the fat burning zone, something like 60-70% of my heart rate. Well the problem is that within maybe 1-2 minutes of beginning to run I'm past this zone easily. So what am I supposed to walk at a comfortable pace for 30 minutes?? That doesn't feel like a workout.
Anyways excuse the rambling, but I'm at a point of utter frustration. You can see that I have put a lot of thought into trying to figure this out. Every time I go to the mall, I'm still picking up the same size of the rack, clothes still fit tightly over the same annoying spots. People have commented I lost weight but I certainly don't see it, I don't see any change in my physique, in my energy levels. It just feels like endless torture or at least the exercise does anyways.
Please help. Thanks for reading this far
I began this journey by doing some math, I'm a very numbers/Type A kind of person so I need concrete things to work with.
- At a height of 5'8'' and an estimated start weight of 190lbs my Basal Metabolic Rate is: 1688 kcal per day
- Daily Metabolic Needs based on sedentary lifestyle is: 2011 calories per day
- To establish a 2 pound weight loss you need a weekly caloric deficit of 3500*2 = 7000, or essentially 1000 calories per day.
- I divided the deficit into 750 from food since it is much easier for me to cut down on food than it is to exercise and 250 from exercise. So my daily calorie intake from food should be roughly 1200-1250 calories per day.
Diet: I dd not eliminate any foods, everything was acceptable as long as it fit my calorie count. However, I'm very well aware that eating high fat content and lots of carbs will not help my situation so I resorted to figuring out meals that were filling, help avoid snacking, but still have some room for a snack or two in mid-afternoons and evenings.
- Breakfast (225 calories): this has been the most consistent thing I've done for the past 2 months because of its ease in preparation, and ability to take with me in a car >>> One hard boiled egg, one Sargento mozzarella string cheese, one large mandarin or tow small clementines, coffee w/ splenda and creamer. It's not a lot but amazingly it holds me over for the most part to lunch
- Lunch: this may be the hardest thing to control because I don't prepare a lunch and take with me. I worked at a hospital for a month that put the calorie counts on their food which was very convenient and I would choose a protein with a vegetable side that amounted to approx 400 calories and then had a diet coke. But I have had times where I would visit McDonald's or Chik-fil-A for ONLY grilled chicken sandwich that ranged b/w 350-450 calories. If I craved fries I would order the small and eat half of it.
- Dinner: I've begun to utilize meal preparation as this is both fast, convenient and requires the least amount of thought when your hungry after driving for 1+ hours through rush hour traffic. My meals are pretty much the same throughout: 4 oz precooked chicken breast or 10 cooked shrimp (appx. 150-160 calories) with one tablespoon of light bleu cheese or ranch dressing on the chicken (35 cal) + 1 cup of cooked rice with lime juice and cilantro (170 cal) + side of vegetables (green beans, or mixed corn/peas/carrots, etc.) which varies between 35-80 cal.
- Snacks: i love popcorn and its a snack that you can eat alot of without too many calories. I purchased a large bag of Kettlecorn which I divided up into 1.5 cup sandwich baggies for a 100 cal snack when I feel like snacking. For a sweat treat, I purchased Fudge pops that are 40 cal and ice pops (50 cal) which have no nutritional value but sometimes you need something to keep you busy.
I'm not going to lie, I have not stuck to the above hard and fast every day for the past few month. I had weddings, birthdays, Friday night outings, weekend getaways where it is just too difficult and time consuming to try and figure out how to enter your food into MFP. So I would estimate my average calorie intake to be more around 1350 -1400 rather than the 1250 that I calculated.
Exercise: i HATE exercise... did I say that I hate exercise. I would rather eat less than go exercise. Hands down, any day. People tell me it energizes, makes you feel better, clears your head. B**S***. I never felt energized after a workout or cleared my head. I have felt sweaty, exhausted and defeated. But never the less I have been trying to go jogging/walking for 30 minutes most days of the week. I started the C25K program but fell of around week 4/5 because I could not run for 20 minutes straight. I eventually just revised the plan to 5 minute warm up walk at 3.5 mph, followed by a 10+ min run, followed by 4 min walk 3.0 mph, 5 min run (5.0 mph), rest and than last 2-3 min run. I try to increase that first bout of running from 10 min to 11 min, to 12 min every workout. There was one week, I don't know what happened, I actually ran 19 min straight, 19 MINUTES!!. I didn't run the weekend, and bam I was back down to 10-11 min and that's where I'm stuck now.
Thinking maybe I was not working out hard enough, I purchased a heart rate monitor to keep track. I average a heart rate of 170-175 which is 86& to 88% of my maximum heart rate which falls underneath high intensity. I max out my heart rate for bout3-4 minutes total. So I maintain high intensity for about 20+ minutes of the workout. Some guy at an Orange Theory when I joined a free trial class told me that this is wrong and I should be in the fat burning zone, something like 60-70% of my heart rate. Well the problem is that within maybe 1-2 minutes of beginning to run I'm past this zone easily. So what am I supposed to walk at a comfortable pace for 30 minutes?? That doesn't feel like a workout.
Anyways excuse the rambling, but I'm at a point of utter frustration. You can see that I have put a lot of thought into trying to figure this out. Every time I go to the mall, I'm still picking up the same size of the rack, clothes still fit tightly over the same annoying spots. People have commented I lost weight but I certainly don't see it, I don't see any change in my physique, in my energy levels. It just feels like endless torture or at least the exercise does anyways.
Please help. Thanks for reading this far
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Replies
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Be patient. Keep doing what you're doing.
Do some more math. .5 lbs lost X 52 weeks = ?0 -
Have you been using a food scale?0
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that is my pace too... it feels slow but on the other hand, I think it is easier to keep it off. When I feel stuck and am losing nothing, it helps me to change up my diet. While I know tons of others say CICO is all that matters, for me having a week or 2 of only light dairy, lean proteins, fruits and veggies will get the scale moving again. For the most part, it looks like that is how you are eating already, other than the rice and occasional fast food. keep on reading, consider all of the advice you receive and try something a little different!0
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shadowfax_c11 wrote: »Have you been using a food scale?
This.
This chart is for people who are experiencing a plateau, but most elements of it apply to you, too. Have a peek:
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You listed quite a few exceptions to sticking to your diet (weddings, birthdays, Fridays, weekends) and not logging those. There's certainly nothing wrong with having fun at social events (one of the reasons I chose 0.5/week loss is so I could), but if you don't log it, you really can't know that it's averaging out to 100-150 extra calories per day. I know when I log an estimate of my food at a social gathering, I easily end up 1,000+ calories over that day. If I have two such days in a week (you mentioned Fridays and weekends... that's almost half your week!), it could put me above my maintenance number for the entire week.
My suggestion would be to keep enjoying yourself, but attempt to log your social eating. It won't be exact, but it may solve your mystery and end your frustration.
Personally, I think 0.5/week is an ideal pace for people who don't need to lose for reasons of medical urgency. I've lost 12 pounds in just under six months, which is exactly on track with what I intended to do, and I enjoyed many social events involving food in the process.0 -
I kind of go to the end , but im off to the gym now.
1. The fact you take an interest and use paragraphs is a big plus.
2. Initially the fact you are losing .5lbs a week is a reflection your actual calorie deficit is closer to 250 calories a day rather than 1000.You shouldnt go any lower than 1500 for a man as thats the min you need for nutrition.
3. The exercise fatigue is either not drinking and fueling it enough, needing to catch up with fitness levels or overdoing it.
Honestly you are overcomplicating it and overstressing. Tighten your logging because you are eating more than you realise and burning less. Get scales weigh and log. Eatback 50% of burned calories.
Exercise cna be fun or sedate, you dont have to kill yourself at the gym, go for a walk or swim. Lower pace means you burn fewer calories but you cna sustain it longer and recover faster.
If you arent lifting then do some resitance work /lifting 3x a week.
Keep doing the right things and be patient. You have scope to increase your rate of loss to say 1lb a week if you take on board what other people will tell you in the following replies, but its mostly down to you and consistent accurate deficits.
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shadowfax_c11 wrote: »Have you been using a food scale?
No I do not own a food scale but most of what I eat is prepackaged. The only thing that would probably do some good weighing is the chicken or shrimp. The way I have gotten around this is when I purchase the frozen pre-cooked chicken I utilize the weight of the entire bag, count the number of pieces of chicken inside and then divide the entire weight by the number of pieces. While some pieces are bigger than others, over time it adds up tto the weight of the bag.
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coolcoci_115 wrote: »shadowfax_c11 wrote: »Have you been using a food scale?
No I do not own a food scale but most of what I eat is prepackaged. The only thing that would probably do some good weighing is the chicken or shrimp. The way I have gotten around this is when I purchase the frozen pre-cooked chicken I utilize the weight of the entire bag, count the number of pieces of chicken inside and then divide the entire weight by the number of pieces. While some pieces are bigger than others, over time it adds up tto the weight of the bag.
You need to weigh your food. You said 1 cup of cooked rice, that could be anywhere from 150g - 250g for me, that's over 100 calories difference. It all adds up. Especially when you aren't losing.
Get a good digital scale and weigh everything in grams. Log everything, even social engagements, to the best of your ability. The above poster is right, you could be way over eating on the weekends and not realizing.0 -
Sorry I couldn't read your whole post but made it through most. My advice: weigh your food, if you're losing .5 lbs per week, you are overestimating your calorie burn, underestimating your caloric intake, and only in a deficit of about 250 calories per day. You need to tighten up.
I would also stop trying to get that 250 calorie burn from exercise and create your whole deficit with diet. If you exercise, eat back half the calories burned.0 -
Common theme here: log everything.
You really do not know what is going on unless you do. And if its not in the MFP, use something fairly 'similar'. But log everything that goes in your body
And--loss is loss. Just keep at it.
Pre-packaged food aren't really the best for you either. A lot of sodium (sodium = water retention).
Speaking of water, drink at least half you body weight (in oz) of water daily. Stay hydrated.
And, working out CAN be fun. I quit the 'nomal' gym(weight training) in the beginning of the year and joined an MMA gym. Kickboxing, boxing, etc. etc. All burn TONS of calories.
And check around the community for activities. I just started a once weekly, 6 week boot camp offered at a park by one of the local gyms. And its free.
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Log like its your job bro! Increase the calorie deficit if you need to. And for me a big one was...learn the difference between being hungry and being thirsty (sounds silly but it mattered to me). I got used to eating when I was thirsty so my body stopped knowing the difference. Now, I go for some water first.0
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Truth right herejsmestflowers wrote: »...learn the difference between being hungry and being thirsty.... Now, I go for some water first.
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good work keep it up0
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Truth right herejsmestflowers wrote: »...learn the difference between being hungry and being thirsty.... Now, I go for some water first.
Yeah I completely agree. And if I'm tired of water, I'll have zero cal iced tea, or hot tea, etc...0 -
Be patient. Keep doing what you're doing.
Do some more math. .5 lbs lost X 52 weeks = ?
If only I had the luxury of time. In about 9 months from now I'll become a resident with a 80+ hour work week. Attempting to find time to meal prep and work out will be extremely difficult. Hence my want to whip up into shape before that.0 -
arditarose wrote: »Sorry I couldn't read your whole post but made it through most. My advice: weigh your food, if you're losing .5 lbs per week, you are overestimating your calorie burn, underestimating your caloric intake, and only in a deficit of about 250 calories per day. You need to tighten up.
I would also stop trying to get that 250 calorie burn from exercise and create your whole deficit with diet. If you exercise, eat back half the calories burned.
I have actually been underestimating my calorie burn for most of my workouts up until the last week because the gym machines didn't base it off my heart rate. I know all forms of measuring calorie expenditure except through direct measurement of oxygen consumption will be a bit off, but with my heart rate monitor i lose 400+ calories, compared to 260ish according to the machine. I didnt get the monitor until recently.
On days that I'm religiously logging, I log everything! A starburst I might have had, those two peanuts I ate, the tablespoon of coffemate I used, etc.
But where I agree might need a change is weighing, since everything is an estimation. My biggest problem is what happens if you go out somewhere and eat food that you have no idea how to record. You can't weigh because you can't carry a scale everywhere and sometimes you just have no idea how it was prepared. You try to look stuff up on MFP but it comes up with a hundred different options all with different calorie counts.
For example, friends went out to an all you can eat wings place. I wanted to join them but not eat 30 wings so I order a single plate of 10 wings. I have no idea how to determine what is the nutritional value of each wing?? It can vary so much on how it is prepared. So how many do I eat? I dont know. I knew not to add the bleu cheese dressing on the side, and avoiding the skin but then what? Another time I'm at a party with ethnic food and that is really tough to figure out cause you can't even search an equivalent. Do I stand around hungry, or say I'm not going to celebrate this event with you just because I have to find somewhere else to get food?
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I look at it this way...Its not a race. I didn't lose the first week and a half. Then boom at the end of five weeks I lost 8 pounds. Everyone is different. Keep up the good work. It will happen if you count every single calorie oh and condiments are crazy high..count them too.. Dont drink your calories.. keep your weight loss goals low. It will work. Keep it up!!!0
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coolcoci_115 wrote: »Be patient. Keep doing what you're doing.
Do some more math. .5 lbs lost X 52 weeks = ?
If only I had the luxury of time. In about 9 months from now I'll become a resident with a 80+ hour work week. Attempting to find time to meal prep and work out will be extremely difficult. Hence my want to whip up into shape before that.
There's a reason why people say long-term weight loss & maintenance is a lifestyle change. You seem to be thinking that, if you can just get all your weight loss done now, in 9 months when life become extremely busy and you will no longer have time to bother with calories or workouts, somehow the weight will still magically stay off
Unfortunately, being mindless about how much we eat is how all of us end up gaining weight.
This is where patience comes in. 0.5 lbs x 52 weeks is an excellent and sustainable pace for weight loss. In the process, you will be learning about and becoming very good at eating at caloric deficit/maintenance, finding the kinds of food that satisfies you, so that when life kicks up a notch as it always does, to all of us, you will be able to adjust easily.0 -
sunandmoons wrote: »I look at it this way...Its not a race. I didn't lose the first week and a half. Then boom at the end of five weeks I lost 8 pounds. Everyone is different. Keep up the good work. It will happen if you count every single calorie oh and condiments are crazy high..count them too.. Dont drink your calories.. keep your weight loss goals low. It will work. Keep it up!!!
That's what I thought. I might be one of those people that don't see a change and then "boom" lose a bunch. That's what I was told before... be patient. It may take a couple weeks. I stuck it out, week after week after week.... I do not drink any of my calories. Only diet cokes, nothing with actual sugar, no juices, no added sugar to coffee, nothing.0 -
coolcoci_115 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »Sorry I couldn't read your whole post but made it through most. My advice: weigh your food, if you're losing .5 lbs per week, you are overestimating your calorie burn, underestimating your caloric intake, and only in a deficit of about 250 calories per day. You need to tighten up.
I would also stop trying to get that 250 calorie burn from exercise and create your whole deficit with diet. If you exercise, eat back half the calories burned.
I have actually been underestimating my calorie burn for most of my workouts up until the last week because the gym machines didn't base it off my heart rate. I know all forms of measuring calorie expenditure except through direct measurement of oxygen consumption will be a bit off, but with my heart rate monitor i lose 400+ calories, compared to 260ish according to the machine. I didnt get the monitor until recently.
On days that I'm religiously logging, I log everything! A starburst I might have had, those two peanuts I ate, the tablespoon of coffemate I used, etc.
But where I agree might need a change is weighing, since everything is an estimation. My biggest problem is what happens if you go out somewhere and eat food that you have no idea how to record. You can't weigh because you can't carry a scale everywhere and sometimes you just have no idea how it was prepared. You try to look stuff up on MFP but it comes up with a hundred different options all with different calorie counts.
For example, friends went out to an all you can eat wings place. I wanted to join them but not eat 30 wings so I order a single plate of 10 wings. I have no idea how to determine what is the nutritional value of each wing?? It can vary so much on how it is prepared. So how many do I eat? I dont know. I knew not to add the bleu cheese dressing on the side, and avoiding the skin but then what? Another time I'm at a party with ethnic food and that is really tough to figure out cause you can't even search an equivalent. Do I stand around hungry, or say I'm not going to celebrate this event with you just because I have to find somewhere else to get food?
The entire point (for me) of logging as accurately as possible when I can is to make it matter less on those occasions when I am using an educated guess. When I eat at a party, I don't have to worry about whether or not it is going to throw me off too much because I feel very confident that the rest of the food I ate that day is accurately logged.0
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