I hope there is something wrong with me...

jillybeanpuff

I'm going in for blood work to check my vitamin levels as well as my thyroid and I'm hoping they find a problem, because if they can't find anything that means my body just hates me. I've been eating at my TDEE-20% for over a month, working out 5 days a week, and eating healthy well balanced foods. I do go over on my sodium a lot, which could also be my problem, but I'm not sure. Anyways, I've only lost 5 pounds, but then I gained 3 back. I'm not sure if its just too soon to tell, if I'm retaining water because of sodium or exercise, or if I can't lose weight because of a thyroid issue or vitamin deficiency. I'm just really frustrated and don't understand what the problem is. My doctor tried to give me phentermine which I refused, because I don't have an eating problem, I just have a fat problem. Any kind words or constructive criticism would be appreciated!!!

chrlsjones

Going to have mine checked also! I want to do it the healthy way but it gets frustrating after 6 weeks and no loss! I joined a gym in January and will get re-measured soon but I can't tell any difference in my clothes!! Good luck!!

Peanutbutterx

hey, trust me you dont want somethin wrong with you.. my mom had to have surgery on her thyroid when i was really little and its a very stressful surgery. they cut your neck open and if they mess up they can hit your vocal cords thank God that didnt happen with her; but the recovery is intense no matter what, so you really dont want that i hope your healthy and theres nothing wrong! I know when i was trying to loose weight i would weigh myself every day and would eat a certain number of calories each week and if i didnt loose weight, i would lower the calories until i found the right # to loose weight with and it worked hopefully that helps if you want to try that

Mads1997

I would run all your numbers again. BMR, exercise etc.
Personally TDEE-20 didn't work for me I just gained.
I went to a dietician and found out my BMR was way lower than any online calculator was giving me. My dietician has me eating under my BMR and I have seen weight loss I am lifting weights 3- 4 days a week only at the moment.

krickeyuu

You lose water first and can retain that back due to soduim and/or exercise. You might just need to be more patient. Weight loss is not linear--you don't automatically lose 1 lbs or 2 lbs a week, but over time you should expeirience a loss. If you are averaging a number between your BMR and TDEE every week weight should start losing over a month's time. As Peanutbutterx said, I hope there is nothing wrong with you that time and consistency won't fix. Don't give up just because it isn't happening as fast as you would like!

AlexT29

I tried TDEE-20% for a month and I gained. I've recently lowered my calories a bit and will change up my exercise routine in the next week also. Sometimes you have to just keep trying until you find what works for your body. It can be frustrating, but there are other benefits from eating healthy and exercising, besides losing weight. I hope your tests come back with happy results, and good luck working past your plateau.

Pixi_Rex

Trust me... you do not want thyroid issues. That is all I am going to say on this topic.

When you calculated your TDEE were you honest with the amount of working out you were doing? It has only been a month, you lost 5 and gained 3 you are female... you have a period... you couldbe just retaining fluid due to that. I know I gain weight 2 weeks before my period, than i maintian my weight gain the week before and during and than woosh its gone... fact of life. *kitten* sucks. Hoping for a medical issue is dumb...

also even if you do have a thyroid issue it isn't a magic bullet...

PriceK01

Two pounds lost in one month is nothing to shake a stick at. Keep at it!

I hope you blood work comes back fine

marjoleina

If there is something wrong, you may have a lifetime of meds, and that only complicates matters. I agree with others, it takes time. (unfortunately). You might getyour BMR calculated though, it could be lower than you think.

imtrinat

Would it be easier to just place the blame on something outside your control? I'm sure people with actual health problems would adamantly disagree with you on this. You are losing about a half pound a week. It's progress!

CaddieMay

Congrats on refusing the Phentermine!

I just had my blood drawn for several reasons, including the few that you mentioned. It's a smart thing to do. I am hoping that the results show something as simple as a vitamin deficiency. I am always so tired, as well. If the results are all good, then I'll just have to work harder. Hang in there. So many of us have more difficulty losing weight and staying on track because we don't see instant results. We can do this!

lpina2mi

:grumble: This WAS me too...for decades. My bloodwork showed nothing, but I was called pre-clinical by my Mother's endocrinologist. It has been a long road, and do not regret all the futher refinements I did to make my whole food diet even cleaner and better balanced. It gave me excellent blood work and urine results! Still, the fat remained.

To cut to chase--drinking filtered water and taking enteric coated digestive enzymes (both with my carbs & proteins and at night on an empty stomach) with a good quality multi-vit&min, as well as consuming more fat (the good ones ~60g/day) has been key. Ask your doctor and read about digestive process that takes place in the small intestine. :bigsmile:

cwolfman13

I would imagine your gain is water...in reality, you've probably lost closer to 3-4 Lbs of fat in a month. That would put you right at about pace for TDEE - 20% as it is roughly 1 Lb per week for most people (not linear). Remember, you're going to have natural weight fluctuations...I can fluctuate 2-3 Lbs day to day.

I hope your blood work comes back ok. I seriously doubt it's a thyroid issue...I think you'd be having much bigger problems. Always good to see if you're vitamin deficient though...for numerous reasons, not just weight loss. I found out I was vitamin D deficient. Who knew...I get plenty of sunshine so I always thought I would be ok in that department.

DebbieLyn63

BMR calculators can be off at least 10% in either direction, and I hear that the average person underestimates their caloric intake by at least 10%. And how do you calculate your exercise burns? If you are using MFP or machines at the gym, they can overestimate burns by a lot for some people. If you are using a HRM with a chest strap, like a Polar, are you deducting your TDEE hourly rate from your burn count to get your 'net' calorie burn?

With all the variables, your 20% cut could be less than it actually is. And even if it is an actual 20% cut, that may only be a 1 pound or less per week loss rate, which is what you have lost over the last month, so you are right on track. If you want to lose faster than that, you will need to either lower your cals a bit or increase your exercise. Other than that, just be patient and stick with it.

sjoytomasi

Hi - No you don't hope there's something wrong with you You sound just like me. My blood tests revealed that I'm healthy and have a normal thyroid function. I had myself convinced that this was the problem. Weight used to come off so much easier. I'm peri-menopausal and have a very slow metabolism. It really sucks and I feel for you. Just stay with it and DON'T WEIGH yourself - did I say that???!!! You will start feeling better as you eat better, your body will start changing and you will start fitting into your clothes better and....yes.... you will lose weight. This little pep talk is for me too ))) Hang in there....

kcoftx

I have friends on my list that lost inches before pounds. They also had their first month or so relatively hidden because of normal fluctuations covering up their loss. Once they dropped more, it was more obvious.

jillybeanpuff

thank you everyone so much for all of your kind words of wisdom!! I suppose I just need to wait it out and hope that my body is simply adjusting to eating better and more consistently as well as the exercise. I will give it a few more weeks and depending on the blood work and if I lose any more weight I will recalculate my BMR and TDEE and see if that helps at all. Again, thank you!!!

Yooperm35

You have no water logged on your diary. Are you drinking enough water? You should try to get AT LEAST the minimum of 8- 8oz glasses. Once I upped my water, I'm slowly losing weight again.

I had gained 10# since The beginning of December. I had finally hit my red flag number where I swore to myself I would never get to again. It happened. I was sure I had an underactive thyroid and had bloodwork done. Everything was normal. Turns out my failure to exercise finally caught up with me after a year.

I use the calculator on Freedieiting.com and zig-zag my daily calories. Works much better with my work schedule

efirkey

If you are always high in sodium then you are probably consuming far too many processed foods.

Personally, if my TDEE - 20% didn't give me the results I wanted then I would adjust to TDEE - 30% and give that a try.

LauraW1219

My thyroid is borderline, but I'm still losing. I change up the times I work out and the food I eat. I have stopped eating after 5 pm, make sure I drink all my water, only eat breakfast, lunch dinner, and 1 snack every 3 1/2 hours as Jillian Michaels advices. I'm lifting more then doing the crazy cardio. I eat within 15 minutes of waking up and make sure I get to bed around 10. Other then that try to keep carbs low because I notice the low carb sodium days reflect the best on the scale. Eating low fat didn't work for me. So I eat close to what MFP says and I don't eat back exercise calories. I'm still learning so I hope you find what works. I'm not terrified about that skinny fat term everyone uses, but my legs have muscles and my arms have 6 defined muscles I couldn't see before. So hopefully I'm doing good enough. I have a doctor's appointment next week. I will keep you posted if they tell me I'm doing everything right or if they tell me to change things up.

jillybeanpuff

You have no water logged on your diary. Are you drinking enough water? You should try to get AT LEAST the minimum of 8- 8oz glasses. Once I upped my water, I'm slowly losing weight again.

I had gained 10# since The beginning of December. I had finally hit my red flag number where I swore to myself I would never get to again. It happened. I was sure I had an underactive thyroid and had bloodwork done. Everything was normal. Turns out my failure to exercise finally caught up with me after a year.

I use the calculator on Freedieiting.com and zig-zag my daily calories. Works much better with my work schedule

I forgot to log it the past 2 days, but I drink at least 12 glasses of water a day, usually more like 16. If I don't drink water I get headaches.

KenosFeoh

I know the feeling - I really do - but it's kind of terrible to hope there's something wrong with you.

I hope there isn't.

As I've been logging along, I thought there had only been a few days that I had gone above my calorie counts, but I guess memory lies because I found the REPORTS feature and discovered that I had been over calories almost as many days as I had been at my calorie limit. Also, I thought I'd been exercising more than I have. To make matters worse, I know there were days when I had a bite of this and a taste of that but didn't log them because how do you log one bite? Ya know?

Anyway; it's a struggle for some of us. I hope you find your weight loss sweet spot soon. I hope I do, too.

UsernameStillLoading

Have you tried increasing your metabolism (given that you don't have a thyroid problem)?
Also, what foods are you eating? Just because you are eating the right amount your TDEE suggests doesn't mean you are eating the right foods.

jillybeanpuff

Have you tried increasing your metabolism (given that you don't have a thyroid problem)?
Also, what foods are you eating? Just because you are eating the right amount your TDEE suggests doesn't mean you are eating the right foods.

you can look at my diary, its open. I try to stay away from processed foods for the most part. and I try to stick to my macros

UsernameStillLoading

What kid of exercises do you do? What is there level of intensity? That could also be a factor. I could say I'm working out everyday of the week but If I'm not doing anything intense, I can't expect my body to burn off the calories.
It's like Yoga, you could say you do yoga but if you don't give it your all, you can't expect to be flexible just because you are showing up.

jillybeanpuff

also, how can I increase my metabolism? I eat 6 meals a day, every 2-3 hours

jillybeanpuff

I've been doing 30DS 5 days a week, and I'm in the middle of level 2 now

UsernameStillLoading

I haven't done 30ds so I don't know how effective it is. What I do know is that if you do legs and back exercises, you will burn off fat faster since those are the two main fat storage places (hence "It's going straight to my thighs"). Squats can become your best friends. If you add barbells to the mix you can practically hit every muscle group with just one exercise.

Your metabolism seems good and your food choices aren't problematic (from the days I've seen). I suggest you try to keep your protein intake high since protein will help fuel your muscles and your muscles will help you burn fat.

matthewdylenbrown

Keep in mind you have a desk job. Your calories burned daily is a lot lower and that's not your fault. Maybe doing a little work out in the morning and doing your major workout after wouldn't be a bad idea. What is everyone's thoughts?

mockchoc

My guess is that it is water weight from the exercise and maybe sodium although you aren't over on it all the time. I've seen so many people on here have he same thing happen that were doing 30 day shred. I've not done it myself, it's just what I've observed happen many times so relax and keep doing what you are doing and I think it'll just start to drop off soon.

Cait_Sidhe

You've been at this for a month. Perspective. Give it more time and be consistent.