Frustrated to tears. 2 months - no loss in lbs. or inches

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  • dawnemjh
    dawnemjh Posts: 1,465 Member
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    I can totally relate to what your going through!! I went through the same thing for well over a year. Now I am pregnant so its a moot point, but some things to consider:

    Try increasing protein more and decreasing carbs a bit
    Have you ever tried calorie cycling? Eating 1400 for a couple days, then a spike day of 1800 or 1900 then another couple days of lower cals. This may help boost your metabolism...
    ALso what about changing up your workout routine...Try strongliftts program or New Rules of LIfting for women...
    Weigh everything. I was shocked at the difference between 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal and 28g of dry oatmeal for example
    Could you be insulin resistant?/ Maybe your eating too much fruit or high glycemic food??

    Hopefully you figure this out! Good luck!!!
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    Are you peri-menopausal? I am, and BOY do I know how you feel!

    Yep...that might be it....I feel your pain - doing P90X, not new to this - did Chalene X treme and running and kettlebells for years and all weight loss came to a grinding halt a year ago - together with some other crazy peri menopouse symptoms....

    I have actually gained about 12lbs and it will not go away - although all my clothes still fit - so I suppose the weights at least keeps me from expanding with the number on the scale..... (exept for the inch extra around my always smallish waist.....:sad:

    I've been eating anywhere from 2000 to 1450 (can't exercise if I go lower than that, and nothing....No inches, no lbs...But my clothes still fit well, and I am healthy and fitter than ever in my life, so I suppose we just need to "keep on swimming".....
    Good luck - if you find the magic button, please let us know!
  • tsdaughe
    tsdaughe Posts: 88
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    So you could probably eat easy at 1800-1850 calories a day and lose weight.
  • BabyFishMouth
    BabyFishMouth Posts: 31 Member
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    Do you have a HRM? Because I know when I run for 25 minutes, I burn over 300 calories. If you are eating say 1400 calories but exercise and burn 200 calories you are netting only 1200 calories or under if you burn more. What is your TDEE? What acitivity level did you use to get the TDEE?

    what is TDEE?

    I don't have a HRM. I'm just going by what I keep seeing over and over; 1 mile = approx. 100 calories. But I'm not using those numbers to figure out how much I should be eating. I'm going by BMR, BF%, TDEE, etc.

    TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure = Basal Metabolic Rate (the calories required to keep your organs functioning) + daily activities that also require calories (the way you live your life).
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    unless you're part of the small minority with a legit medical issue complicating your efforts, there are only a couple of possible reasons you can go 2 months with no effect. of the top of my head...

    1) you are eating below your BMR and have been for a long time, while exercising like crazy. this gives you a large deficit from TDEE over a prolonged period of time, leading your body to slow its metabolism to the point where it takes a long time to see results. this is NOT starvation mode. this is a metabolic slowdown due to the stress you are putting on your body and increased levels of cortisol.

    2) you have a history of yo-yo dieting and your BMR is lower than you think it is.

    3) your BMR/TDEE calculations were done incorrectly and you are actually eating at close to your maintenance.

    4) your logging is not complete or accurate.

    5) you are close to your goal and proceeding with a small daily deficit that takes a long time to see on the scale.

    Or you are part of an actually large group of frustrated hormonal females between 43 and 50 that might smack the next person who in his/her infinite wisdom tells us we are doing it all wrong...
    And that will be blamed purely on hormones - at least some courts will accept that as a legitimate excuse for violence :bigsmile: :laugh: :laugh:
  • BabyFishMouth
    BabyFishMouth Posts: 31 Member
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    I would say that if you are exercising 5 days a week you are moderately active. Or do sedentary for your TDEE and do the 20% reduction from that and use a HRM to accurately see how many calories you are burning and eat them back. I think you are eating too little.

    Great ideas. I'll try anything at this point. I'm nervous about increasing my calories because I feel like I will be forcing myself to eat when I'm not hungry and my brain says that must be wrong. At the same time, I really do want to give my body what it needs to the job.

    Now I have a headache. :laugh:

    Edited to clarify: I won't actually try ANYTHING. No starving, no pills, no crazy "eat this and only this for 12 weeks" plans.
  • tsdaughe
    tsdaughe Posts: 88
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    Well part of TDEE is taking into account your activity level. Most people really aren't sedentary. If you work or do anything you are lightly active. If you are doing strength training and cardio you are probably more moderately active. I wouldn't go by what you have seen or read. I run 2 miles in 25 minutes (knee problems) and in doing so I burn 330 calories. Way more then the general estimate. When I do HIIT for instance I burnt 160 calories in 17 minutes the other day. So, you are probably undereating because you are underestimating your calories burnt through excercise and because you are not eating back exercise calories you are not eating enough.

    So, your options are to change your TDEE to moderately active and date your deficit from there OR use sedentary and get a HRM so you know how much you are willing burning then eat back calories. If you are measuring everything then really your options left are eating too little because you are under estimating your acitivity level and calories burnt. Your body is holding on to everything because thats that they do will too little calories and alot of exercise.
  • BabyFishMouth
    BabyFishMouth Posts: 31 Member
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    unless you're part of the small minority with a legit medical issue complicating your efforts, there are only a couple of possible reasons you can go 2 months with no effect. of the top of my head...

    1) you are eating below your BMR and have been for a long time, while exercising like crazy. this gives you a large deficit from TDEE over a prolonged period of time, leading your body to slow its metabolism to the point where it takes a long time to see results. this is NOT starvation mode. this is a metabolic slowdown due to the stress you are putting on your body and increased levels of cortisol.

    2) you have a history of yo-yo dieting and your BMR is lower than you think it is.

    3) your BMR/TDEE calculations were done incorrectly and you are actually eating at close to your maintenance.

    4) your logging is not complete or accurate.

    5) you are close to your goal and proceeding with a small daily deficit that takes a long time to see on the scale.

    Or you are part of an actually large group of frustrated hormonal females between 43 and 50 that might smack the next person who in his/her infinite wisdom tells us we are doing it all wrong...
    And that will be blamed purely on hormones - at least some courts will accept that as a legitimate excuse for violence :bigsmile: :laugh: :laugh:

    Thank you for the laugh. I really needed that.

    Joking aside, there are some great points for me to ponder in the post above and I will definitely look into the suggestions. I have figured out my numbers six ways to Friday, but I still wonder if maybe my BF% is off, or if I really chose the correct activity level. There are just so many variables.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
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    unless you're part of the small minority with a legit medical issue complicating your efforts, there are only a couple of possible reasons you can go 2 months with no effect. of the top of my head...

    1) you are eating below your BMR and have been for a long time, while exercising like crazy. this gives you a large deficit from TDEE over a prolonged period of time, leading your body to slow its metabolism to the point where it takes a long time to see results. this is NOT starvation mode. this is a metabolic slowdown due to the stress you are putting on your body and increased levels of cortisol.

    2) you have a history of yo-yo dieting and your BMR is lower than you think it is.

    3) your BMR/TDEE calculations were done incorrectly and you are actually eating at close to your maintenance.

    4) your logging is not complete or accurate.

    5) you are close to your goal and proceeding with a small daily deficit that takes a long time to see on the scale.

    Yes, this. (Please don't smack me. WinnerVictorious has made some very good points. And we are both in the 40+ age range.)

    Also, I love your username. When Harry Met Sally is still my favorite movie of all time. :smile:
  • ambervaldez79
    ambervaldez79 Posts: 210 Member
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    You sound like an active person. Why not try increasing your calories to 1800 per day for a week or two and eat back your exercise calories. See if this helps jump start your weight loss. It is worth a try since you haven't seen any results lately.
  • BabyFishMouth
    BabyFishMouth Posts: 31 Member
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    You sound like an active person. Why not try increasing your calories to 1800 per day for a week or two and eat back your exercise calories. See if this helps jump start your weight loss. It is worth a try since you haven't seen any results lately.

    Gulp. From all the responses here, I'm starting to think I may need to do that. I was so wary of overestimating my activity level to be able to eat more that maybe I underestimated instead. It seems so unlikely that increasing my calories could result in smaller me, but hmm...
  • BabyFishMouth
    BabyFishMouth Posts: 31 Member
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    unless you're part of the small minority with a legit medical issue complicating your efforts, there are only a couple of possible reasons you can go 2 months with no effect. of the top of my head...

    1) you are eating below your BMR and have been for a long time, while exercising like crazy. this gives you a large deficit from TDEE over a prolonged period of time, leading your body to slow its metabolism to the point where it takes a long time to see results. this is NOT starvation mode. this is a metabolic slowdown due to the stress you are putting on your body and increased levels of cortisol.

    2) you have a history of yo-yo dieting and your BMR is lower than you think it is.

    3) your BMR/TDEE calculations were done incorrectly and you are actually eating at close to your maintenance.

    4) your logging is not complete or accurate.

    5) you are close to your goal and proceeding with a small daily deficit that takes a long time to see on the scale.

    Yes, this. (Please don't smack me. WinnerVictorious has made some very good points. And we are both in the 40+ age range.)

    Also, I love your username. When Harry Met Sally is still my favorite movie of all time. :smile:

    No smacking here. I really appreciate both of your input. They are good points. I just wish I knew how to determine which, if any, is my problem.

    WHMS is one of my faves, too, obviously. We have good taste in movies.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    I actually went as far as going for a DXA scan - which was a hell of a shock....Came out that my bf was a lot higher than any calculator, scale of caliper test done by various "experts" stated..
    My BMR was a lot lower than I thought - 1398 I'm 5'8 and jumps between 176 and 181lbs...Wear a size 10 Levi jean...

    According to that, the clever guy who did the scan told me I can eat between 1750 and 1950 and still lose weight.:bigsmile:
    Ha ha....Eating that much does absolutely nothing exept makes me gain a couple of 100 grams every week....I dropped down to eating between 1650 and 1800 (moderate activity, even thoug I'm doing P90X six days a week....And maintained....
    Dropped further down to 1450 and yo-yo - losing a pound one week, gaining it the next week.....

    Started some pro-gest cream and Menoquil multivitamin...I can report back that after using both for about a month and a half, I have shiny hair and nice nails, and had one relatively violence free:bigsmile: (or thoughts of violence free) PM period.
    Not sure about anything on the weight front, as I had a bad flue and did nothing for a little over a week - and not realy kept track of food either.....
  • BabyFishMouth
    BabyFishMouth Posts: 31 Member
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    "Started some pro-gest cream and Menoquil multivitamin...I can report back that after using both for about a month and a half, I have shiny hair and nice nails, and had one relatively violence free (or thoughts of violence free) PM period.
    Not sure about anything on the weight front, as I had a bad flue and did nothing for a little over a week - and not realy kept track of food either....."

    I have a friend who has been on a similar path for a few months and her results are the same, including weight loss. It turned out her hormones were out of whack, just not enough to fall outside the normal range most doctors go by. I just started using pro-gest. Weight loss aside, my family would be eternally grateful if I were a little less, um, "irritable" every month.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    Good to hear about the weight loss! Will give it time - have to say I thing my family is probably thankful for the peace.....:bigsmile:
  • Tootce01
    Tootce01 Posts: 184
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    Bump!
  • amyljl77
    amyljl77 Posts: 43 Member
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    I can't lose weight unless I'm only eating 1300 - 1500 calories a day or less.
  • autumnsnow786
    autumnsnow786 Posts: 279 Member
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    Mmmm sometimes our bodies get used to the type of exercising we're doing and the exercise loses its efficacy. Maybe try a different form of exercise.

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