Despondent Newbie :(

Hi All

Feeling quite low this morning. ...

No weight loss in 3 weeks. Started 4 weeks ago at 218lbs. Lost 8lbs the first week. I am using the treadmill and Rower. I couldn't manage 2km on the treadmill initially and now up to 6km (speed-walking) and 12km on the rowing machine. Down to 1 coffee with a sweetener a day (from 8 - 10 with 3 sugars!) No white bread, no pastries (my weakness!). Drinking 2 - 3 litres of water daily (never done this before!) Making sure I have breakfast daily ( major breakthrough!) .... and nothing :(

I have been looking through the topics and they are all truly inspirational. Reading the success stories is keeping me motivated. I have always been overweight/obese and I don't want to be ANYMORE!

Sorry for the moan ... if anyone can advise/support I would really appreciate it!

Replies

  • Merc71
    Merc71 Posts: 412 Member
    Make your diary public, maybe we can spot a few things.

    Don't swear off bread, just limit it to mornings/afternoons. Your body still needs whole grains to function properly.

    And for God's Sake.....HANG IN THERE! You're making some good changes, it will take time for major effects to take place.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Don't rely on the scale - there are lots of factors coming into play on your weight. Put it away and don't weigh yourself again for another month.

    Concentrate instead on those great positive changes you have already made, and the increase in your fitness already - that's brilliant, well done!
  • Ericgunner
    Ericgunner Posts: 109
    I am no expert but it could be that your body and metabolism has noticed a change in what your normal lifestyle is, and has decided to go into hibernation mode and hang on to what it's got. Also if you started exercising remember muscle weighs more than fat, also water retention plays a big part in weight loss. I can have a night where I P constantly and can lose six pound overnight. So try not to get disheartened and I'm sure your weight will begin to drop.

    Good luck
    Eric
  • amnsetie
    amnsetie Posts: 666 Member
    don't forget hormonal cycles too. you may only see a drop once a month, if it's a good drop then np
  • I am not an expert but please make sure you are not starving as you are working really hard... it looks like you are burning lot of calories and not taking enough this will bring down your metabolism rate... workout similarly and increase the no of meals... like try to eat every 2 hours.. look for the difference in atleast 2 weeks..... good luck... share your diary... may be there is something there....
  • texastango
    texastango Posts: 309
    Hi All

    Feeling quite low this morning. ...

    No weight loss in 3 weeks. Started 4 weeks ago at 218lbs. Lost 8lbs the first week. I am using the treadmill and Rower. I couldn't manage 2km on the treadmill initially and now up to 6km (speed-walking) and 12km on the rowing machine. Down to 1 coffee with a sweetener a day (from 8 - 10 with 3 sugars!) No white bread, no pastries (my weakness!). Drinking 2 - 3 litres of water daily (never done this before!) Making sure I have breakfast daily ( major breakthrough!) .... and nothing :(

    I have been looking through the topics and they are all truly inspirational. Reading the success stories is keeping me motivated. I have always been overweight/obese and I don't want to be ANYMORE!

    Sorry for the moan ... if anyone can advise/support I would really appreciate it!

    Three Issues here you rolled into one so let's break them apart for a moment:

    1. Weight Loss - A complicated subject, no doubt. Let's simplify things for a moment. Initially your body needs energy. Depending on what you're doing (exercise, duration, intensity, no exercise) your body drawns energy from your food and your food stores. When you are on a calorie restricted diet you simply don't take in as much energy in the form of calories as your body needs to maintain that weight. So you start using stores of energy. Initially that's in part glycogen stores which are lipophilic (they love water) and as you burn carbs you lose the water that goes with it. Fat is lipophobic (does not attract water)...and thank goodness for that or we would all be significantly heavier than we are. All this is to say that in the beginning you're going to see big results initially as you lose some glycogen stores and the water that goes with them. As you start burning fat you'll still drop, just not as quickly because you're not losing water weight with it. Take in less calories or exercise more (burn more energy) and things will change faster yet again.

    2. Nutritional Health - On top of the weight loss you've started making healthier choices. regardless of what your weight does, this is a good thing. Take out the "Extra or added" sugars and carbs. Now carbs are a touchy subject (like fat is to Adkins). Generally, if you are not exercising a lot (over an hour) extra carbs are not needed and cutting them - in most cases - is a good thing. Depends on your medical issues. Make your fats as heart healthy as possible (mono and polyunsaturated N-3/Omega 3). There is no recommended total on water - except don't over do it. Increase the fiber for non-digestable carbs and put that water to work.

    3. Exercise - Slowly combine a little resistance training and aerobic training over time to get maximal benefit. The health benefits to people just doing 30 min a day 5 days a week is remarkable. Make sure to adjust your protein and carbs again as your situation calls for and your health permits. Remember that during a phase of resistance training or exercise your weight may be neutral, but your measurements will change and your appearance will change as well. Keep at it!

    Best wishes and hope that helps.
  • 08AmandaC
    08AmandaC Posts: 33 Member
    Oh WOW!!! Thank you so much everyone, it means so much to me. I understand it's going to take time (it's taken years to get to this size!)

    Need to take some pics and start monitoring....and am going to bin the scales!!

    You have all helped me put this in perspective and I will definitely HANG IN THERE!!!
  • gazz777au
    gazz777au Posts: 157 Member
    definitely hang in there !

    just saw that you wrote that too.

    FR's always welcome.
  • You've gotten some great comments there! Encouraged me too!
    You are making some really great changes in your life and they will eventually pay off! You have to feel better.
    I have been exercising for about 10 days now and am starting to have more energy! The pounds aren't falling off of me this second week either. I seem to have gained, even though I am meeting my calorie goal and exercising a lot ( I am swimming for and hour and a half or so a day( laps with moderate effort) For me the moderate effort is all I can do. It is actually a LOT of effort! LOL! But I know that someone in really good shape could swim a lot faster!
    Hang in there! Everyone said what I have been telling myself this week... it eventually has to come off if I keep this up!
  • 08AmandaC
    08AmandaC Posts: 33 Member
    Have made diary public - please don't crucify me!!! :) It's a major change for me as I have lived on takeouts/junk and processed foods for so long but feel I am taking small steps!!

    Thank you all again....I can't believe how much this is helping me!
  • Ahluvly
    Ahluvly Posts: 389 Member
    Hey..........see my response here! I've had a quick lookt hrough your diary. You are not eating enough. It's as simple as that.....Work out your TDEE as per my link below then reset your goals on MFP using the "Custom feature". Set your macros to 40%-C, 30%-P and 30%F and whatever your cals come out at. If you need any help, private message me on here.

    Think along the lines of three meals and two snacks a day...you're half way there with eating clean so well done, we just need to pad out your meals and get your body into gear now.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/722060-should-i-be-eating-my-exercise-calories

    Sarah

    Hi All

    Feeling quite low this morning. ...

    No weight loss in 3 weeks. Started 4 weeks ago at 218lbs. Lost 8lbs the first week. I am using the treadmill and Rower. I couldn't manage 2km on the treadmill initially and now up to 6km (speed-walking) and 12km on the rowing machine. Down to 1 coffee with a sweetener a day (from 8 - 10 with 3 sugars!) No white bread, no pastries (my weakness!). Drinking 2 - 3 litres of water daily (never done this before!) Making sure I have breakfast daily ( major breakthrough!) .... and nothing :(

    I have been looking through the topics and they are all truly inspirational. Reading the success stories is keeping me motivated. I have always been overweight/obese and I don't want to be ANYMORE!

    Sorry for the moan ... if anyone can advise/support I would really appreciate it!
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Assuming you are eating at a deficit, you will be losing 'real weight'. The problem is, this 'real weight' is often masked by water weight fluctuations. Your first week loss would be primarily water weight. Since then, and aside for normal water weight cycles, you have added some exercise in. Exercise means that you retain water when your muscles are repairing. To be honest, it is very unlikely you have gained muscle, especially as you are not resistance training from the looks of it.

    Give it a few more weeks to let the water weight fluctuations even out. If you still are stalled out, you need to have a long hard look at what you are eating - making sure you are measuring and logging everything as accuately as possible (well, you should do that anyway).

    Hang in there.

    ETA: I just looked at your diary - what you are eating is fine, you are just not eating enough, especially proteins and fats. This should not have negatively impact your weight loss so far (but actually may be causing more water retention) but upping these will be better for you in the long run in terms of sustainability and body composition.
  • Readyformalta
    Readyformalta Posts: 3 Member
    Try building some muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat on your body does. Adding a little weight training to your gym routine or building up muscle through pilates may help boost your weight loss :) Plus it is fun!
  • Patovader
    Patovader Posts: 439 Member
    Hi from Scotland, congratulations on making a decision to change.

    This one looks easy, I don't think you are eating enough. Try eating at your BMR or only very slightly under it and certainly do not net under 1200, you should see things moving again.

    A :)
  • dunc289
    dunc289 Posts: 54 Member
    Early days my friend.
    Try not to obsess about it, and the weight will come off without you noticing.

    I'll be honest, I exercise a bit more than you, and have done for about 5 years, but it was only once I started keeping my calories to a reasonable level (2300 p/d, Male at age 47) that I started losing weight.

    Actually, my "trick" was to make my breakfast 4 scoops of protein powder 3 big carrots and an apple, all thrown in a blender (top up with water). It's not champagne, but it's not vile either, and it gets the day off to a great start at about 400 cal.

    I've lost about 20 lbs in 3 months, but more importantly, I can still eat chocolate and get drunk. i.e. I can live like this for the rest of my life without feeling like a monk.

    I also have a day off once a week. Eat anything day. Usually saturday. I still count the cals, but I don't care. Doesn't seem to do any harm.

    With your exercise, don't be fooled into thinking that a 12 km walk is really "exercise" Granted, its better than sitting, but to really fire up your metabolism, you should be unable to hold a conversation whilst doing the exercise. There's too much web advice to make sense of it really, but I find, at my age, that very hard work for a short period of time, say less than 20 min, but REALLY HARD, is enough. ANd then I can get on with the day, work, look after the kids, cook dinner, look sexy for the wife, etc.

    But even when I don't work out, by keeping the calories at a sensible level for me, <2300kcal, macros at 40,30,30 (sort of) I'm losing weight slowly, but in a way I can keep doing indefinitely.

    1 lb a week is GOOD. You're pissed off and you doubled that. Chill out.

    For the record, I'm currently 188lbs and drunk.
  • asdandme
    asdandme Posts: 72 Member
    I looked at your dairy and most days you are not eating enough...you need to eat at least the 1220 everyday or you will slow down your metablismwhich equals no weight lose.So eat all your 1220 and keep doing all the good things you've been doing and you'll start shrinking in no time :D good luck
  • tinytinam
    tinytinam Posts: 57 Member
    You Are Amazing!! Well done for all you have achieved in such a short space of time! Make sure you do get some wholegrains though, such as brown rice or oats or rye crackers. I am with you on the white bread and pastries. It happens to all of us that we have a period where we don't lose actual weight, but I bet if you take monthly measurements, you will see a difference there. We all tend to get down hearted when we dont see the scale shift, but you are already building new muscle too!

    What you have done so far is really impressive. Keep going and you will find that balance that has you losing again.
  • I am a believe that you should not remove anything from your diet, just limit the intake of the "bad" things, and replace them with "good" things such as fiber & protein
  • katie81smith
    katie81smith Posts: 40 Member
    Hi All

    Feeling quite low this morning. ...

    No weight loss in 3 weeks. Started 4 weeks ago at 218lbs. Lost 8lbs the first week. I am using the treadmill and Rower. I couldn't manage 2km on the treadmill initially and now up to 6km (speed-walking) and 12km on the rowing machine. Down to 1 coffee with a sweetener a day (from 8 - 10 with 3 sugars!) No white bread, no pastries (my weakness!). Drinking 2 - 3 litres of water daily (never done this before!) Making sure I have breakfast daily ( major breakthrough!) .... and nothing :(

    I have been looking through the topics and they are all truly inspirational. Reading the success stories is keeping me motivated. I have always been overweight/obese and I don't want to be ANYMORE!

    Sorry for the moan ... if anyone can advise/support I would really appreciate it!

    The other thing you can do is take measuments and there is a spot on this site where you can track them... inches mean sooo much more than pounds.
  • linc86
    linc86 Posts: 9
    use my fitness pal to do the calculations of your BMR and set the max weight reduction on the app on your iphone. After that minus 200 calories from there. The 200 calories is because different people cooks with different styles, especially seasoning which might just add another 200 calories for the day.

    as for me Doc gave me an appitite suppressant, panbesy, but doesnt really work, so i used this programme to count my calories to try reduce weight. i started 16 days ago, my calories needed to run my body is 2200-2400, this programme (my fitnesspal) recommended 1700 calories, i started off with 1600 and just changed it to 1410 calories 4 days back, i lost from 123.7 to 117 kg now in about 15 days, but not diet alone, i climb my office stairs (5 floors) at least 5-6 times a day, up and down, + i on music and try to follow some dance in the video (e.g. party anthem rock) for 3-6 mins on alternate nights.... i havent excercise in years so i am kinda starting slow.