30 day shred frustration. Help!
Options
missop
Posts: 2
First time posting, but I'm feeling pretty down and need some advice from someone other than my weight loss partner in crime OR my husband who are both being a bit too positive and not quite helpful.
Here it is. I've been doing the 30 day shred for 13 days straight now. I combine that with 30 minutes on my Lifewise Recumbent Bike at level 6 for half an hour, for a total of about an hour of exercise a day, Sundays I only do 30ds. I'm tracking my calories/food with MyFitnessPal and emailing daily food journals back with my best friend/partner in weight loss crime. In the last two weeks I've lost maybe 1 or 2 pounds. For someone who is 40 lbs overweight, in their 20's, and working their butt off as hard as I am - while restricting her diet - this is becoming a very frustrating situation. I'm really stumped, I've never had this hard of a time losing weight and I've rarely worked so hard to do so in my life. I understand the gaining muscle part, but my clothes don't feel like they're getting much looser in the last week and I feel at some point this muscle gain has to start eating away at the fat (don't they say muscle burns fat).
Suggestions? Thoughts? Questions?
I need something to change, because the scale is making me lose this fire in my belly I've had for the last 5 weeks (I was biking before I started the 30ds) and without that fire I fear I'll just give up completely.
Here it is. I've been doing the 30 day shred for 13 days straight now. I combine that with 30 minutes on my Lifewise Recumbent Bike at level 6 for half an hour, for a total of about an hour of exercise a day, Sundays I only do 30ds. I'm tracking my calories/food with MyFitnessPal and emailing daily food journals back with my best friend/partner in weight loss crime. In the last two weeks I've lost maybe 1 or 2 pounds. For someone who is 40 lbs overweight, in their 20's, and working their butt off as hard as I am - while restricting her diet - this is becoming a very frustrating situation. I'm really stumped, I've never had this hard of a time losing weight and I've rarely worked so hard to do so in my life. I understand the gaining muscle part, but my clothes don't feel like they're getting much looser in the last week and I feel at some point this muscle gain has to start eating away at the fat (don't they say muscle burns fat).
Suggestions? Thoughts? Questions?
I need something to change, because the scale is making me lose this fire in my belly I've had for the last 5 weeks (I was biking before I started the 30ds) and without that fire I fear I'll just give up completely.
0
Replies
-
Are you noticing any other positive changes with this workout routine? I'm halfway through Level 2 of Shred It and I throw in about 20 minutes of extra cardio a day and I'm losing about 1 pound a week. I'd like to be losing more but I'm staying motivated because of how good I feel after I work out. I shred it in the morning and I'm energized for the rest of the day and I sleep much better at night. On days that I miss my workout I feel sluggish and unmotivated. I'd try looking at the non-scale positives of working out to keep you motivated and the weight will come off if you work hard!0
-
I did the 30DS as well, and didn't see much change in my weight. But I DID see a huge change in how strong I am, and also got great definition in my arms : )
It might take a while... it took me a long time to lose my first 10 pounds. I know that's not what you want to hear, but there it is.0 -
First of all what sort of foods are you eating? Are you eating clean? Secondly, why deprive yourself? In my journey, there is no diet because if I say I'm on a diet I will fail and I know that. I eat whatever I want just in moderation and that is key moderation.
The other thing is you must let your body recover. Meaning, take a day off. If you work out day after day after day, especially with weight trianing you are not allowing your body to recover. And make sure you are drinking plenty of H2O.
The other possilbility could be is that your body has plateaued. Try to mix up your routine with other programs if possible. If you ever need some suggestions I have a few. Just let me know.
Hang in there though, don't give up. You conquered the battle just by starting. No one ever said this weight loss thing would be easy.0 -
Hey there!
I am doing 30 day shred as well, but I do it everyother day and the days I dont do it I am running about 30 mins. First I just want to say, if you are losing a pound or two and its only been two weeks, that is a good amount, thats about how much you should be losing. Remeber you are probably also building muscle too (as muscle is heavier and that might be a factor in play). My advice I wanted to add is about your calorie/food intake. If you are restricting your diet a lot eating like 1200/1300 cal while working out an hour almost every day, you are not gettin enough fuel for your body to lose weight. Often we think "restrict! cut back!" but your body thinks it's in starvation mode and doesnt know when it is going to get its next meal (if your not eating enough) so it holds onto the fat thats on your body in fear of it will need it incase there is a "food shortage". That is the big mistake I made when I first started. I set my daily cal allowence at 1300 but wasnt seeing much progress. Apperently your supposed to be eating around 20% less cals than your TDEE. There are calorie calculators you can find that will tell you what that amount is. When I configured mine I found out I actually need to be fueling my body with about 1900 cals of healthy food. That is a big change from 1300! When your body thinks its not going to starve it will let go of the fat bc it thinks there is no need to hang onto it anymore. I wouldnt freak, your weightloss sounds normal 1 or 2 lbs in only 2 weeks is good! Also I know you probably dont want to hear this but you probably need to take a rest day! Your body needs some rest to recover and repair your muscles. I am doing 30DS as well, but I read somwhere Jillian recommends people take one or two rest days a week with the 30DS. I don't know if any of this was helpful, it's all just things I have recently been learning and wanted to share bc I am kind of new/learning too and doing a similar workout routine0 -
Exercise is for fitness and strength, not to lose weight.
You may be retaining water if you are new to exercise as your muscles repair.
You aren't building muscle at a calorie deficit so take that out of the equation.
If you're eating your exercise calories back you may be over estimating your burn and undoing your good eating.
If you aren't weighing and measuring your food you may be under estimating your food consumption.0 -
Maybe you're over exerting yourself and your body is stressed out? I read something about cortisol and how it can keep you from losing weight if you exercise too much.0
-
Have you taken measurements?0
-
What they all said.
I found that doing the 30Ds and trying to stay at 1200 calories, I was eating too little. Started eating back what I lost doing the shred, increasing protein, I still didn't lose dramatically but was down 2.5 lbs from week 2 by week three (with only about 10 lbs total to drop that isn't bad) but more importantly, I lost over an inch around my waist. I'm absolutely in better shape, I can see and feel the difference.
Building muscle will increase your body's ability to burn fat, too.0 -
Maybe its your diet or when your exercise. I exercise on an empty stomach. You also may not be eating enough for the amount of exercise you're doing. I would definitely take a look at my diet. Its where most of weight loss comes from.0
-
First: Don't give up. Deep Breath......OK:
There are a lot of variables. How restricted is your diet? How are you logging calories burned? How many calories are you eating daily? How often are you stepping on the dreaded scale?
Before you can be guided these are some things that you need to address. I'll give you some personal experience: I always started a "diet" by diving in head first. I would work out, eat my 1200 calories, but nothing would happen. I would get frustrated after about a month and quit. Now, I have approached it differently. I'm not giving myself a goal date. I have just vowed to keep going even when I don't see that number on the scale change. I am not restricting anything in my diet. I am practicing moderation. I have figured out my TDEE and BMR and eat somewhere in between. I run 3 days a week and have just recently started lifting. I weighed myself last week and lost 1 pound. Normally, I would be frustrated, but I was thrilled. Thrilled enough to keep going. I notice my clothes fitting differently and that feels great.
You may need to reevaluate some things, but don't give up!0 -
A pound a week is a GREAT weight loss for a woman. Keep up the good work, and you'll get into the shape you want to be in.0
-
I know it is frustrating, but please stick with it!! That is actually a good amount lost, and it means that you are losing at a sustainable rate.
Anytime you start a program like this, you may not lose any LBS on the scale, but you tone and lose inches. Did you measure your body parts before starting? I started the shred 2 weeks ago, and I have actually gained 2 lbs, but have lost some inches already.
Stick with it! You are doing great!0 -
Hello everyone!
First of all, thank you! Thank you for your kind words, your own stories, your inspiration. I've really enjoyed reading others experiences and suggestions here.
I'm wondering if I'm eating too little - I mean, it's about 1100 to 1200 calories a day - very low carb, no white sugar or flour, no potatoes (sometimes sweet potato) and definitely not enough variety. I usually start my day with a hard boiled egg and a green smoothie with a bit of greek yogurt. I do my exercise, then a veggie/cheese high fiber wrap with 1 TBL lowfat mayo, maybe some avocado for lunch. A few pistachios or cashews for a snack. Tuna, light soup or a salad for dinner (I often work really late, and generally don't want to eat a whole lot when I get home at 11:30). I've cut out all pasta, rice, potato, bread (other than the high fiber wraps) etc (except for on treat days, once a week, which just end up generally being one small treat meal). I always thought that low carb was the key to weight loss, and I'm blood type O - which I've read gravitates towards animal protein anyway - but maybe I'm wrong? Perhaps I need to incorporate more carbs? What are you guys eating? I think I'm afraid to add too much carb, but it feels like what I'm doing isn't working.
I'm trying to stay positive, I'm in this 30 day shred for the 30 days, I've committed to that. People are telling me I look 'different' or better, skinnier face, leaner neck, smaller, but when I don't see it on the scale I wonder. I didn't take measurements, which was a mistake. I'm also wondering f I need to exercise harder or longer after this? Not sure what to do.
It sure helps hearing from all of you though. Thank you for your responses!0 -
I did the 30DS as well, and didn't see much change in my weight. But I DID see a huge change in how strong I am, and also got great definition in my arms : )
It might take a while... it took me a long time to lose my first 10 pounds. I know that's not what you want to hear, but there it is.
That almost makes me want to stop the 30DS now!!!0 -
Hello everyone!
First of all, thank you! Thank you for your kind words, your own stories, your inspiration. I've really enjoyed reading others experiences and suggestions here.
I'm wondering if I'm eating too little - I mean, it's about 1100 to 1200 calories a day - very low carb, no white sugar or flour, no potatoes (sometimes sweet potato) and definitely not enough variety. I usually start my day with a hard boiled egg and a green smoothie with a bit of greek yogurt. I do my exercise, then a veggie/cheese high fiber wrap with 1 TBL lowfat mayo, maybe some avocado for lunch. A few pistachios or cashews for a snack. Tuna, light soup or a salad for dinner (I often work really late, and generally don't want to eat a whole lot when I get home at 11:30). I've cut out all pasta, rice, potato, bread (other than the high fiber wraps) etc (except for on treat days, once a week, which just end up generally being one small treat meal). I always thought that low carb was the key to weight loss, and I'm blood type O - which I've read gravitates towards animal protein anyway - but maybe I'm wrong? Perhaps I need to incorporate more carbs? What are you guys eating? I think I'm afraid to add too much carb, but it feels like what I'm doing isn't working.
I'm trying to stay positive, I'm in this 30 day shred for the 30 days, I've committed to that. People are telling me I look 'different' or better, skinnier face, leaner neck, smaller, but when I don't see it on the scale I wonder. I didn't take measurements, which was a mistake. I'm also wondering f I need to exercise harder or longer after this? Not sure what to do.
It sure helps hearing from all of you though. Thank you for your responses!
You don't need to restrict anything in your diet. You probably do need to eat more. I don't have the link but if you search the forum for "in place of a roadmap" you will find loads of information there about BMR and TDEE and how many calories you should be consuming. It also will talk about macronutrients (macros, for short), which are your carbs, fat, and protein. Carbs are not the enemy! Read all that and then reevaluate your calorie settings.0 -
First time posting, but I'm feeling pretty down and need some advice from someone other than my weight loss partner in crime OR my husband who are both being a bit too positive and not quite helpful.
Here it is. I've been doing the 30 day shred for 13 days straight now. I combine that with 30 minutes on my Lifewise Recumbent Bike at level 6 for half an hour, for a total of about an hour of exercise a day, Sundays I only do 30ds. I'm tracking my calories/food with MyFitnessPal and emailing daily food journals back with my best friend/partner in weight loss crime. In the last two weeks I've lost maybe 1 or 2 pounds. For someone who is 40 lbs overweight, in their 20's, and working their butt off as hard as I am - while restricting her diet - this is becoming a very frustrating situation. I'm really stumped, I've never had this hard of a time losing weight and I've rarely worked so hard to do so in my life. I understand the gaining muscle part, but my clothes don't feel like they're getting much looser in the last week and I feel at some point this muscle gain has to start eating away at the fat (don't they say muscle burns fat).
Suggestions? Thoughts? Questions?
I need something to change, because the scale is making me lose this fire in my belly I've had for the last 5 weeks (I was biking before I started the 30ds) and without that fire I fear I'll just give up completely.
I would say you are right on track. 1-2 lbs in 13 days is a lb a week, that is a healthy weight loss. I am starting level 3 today, and i weight exactly the same as when i started this journey however, i have seen a big loss in inches. Hope this helps, keep up the good work!!0 -
I did the 30DS as well, and didn't see much change in my weight. But I DID see a huge change in how strong I am, and also got great definition in my arms : )
It might take a while... it took me a long time to lose my first 10 pounds. I know that's not what you want to hear, but there it is.
Same thing for me0 -
I started Level 3 of 30 ds last night and over all so far I have lost 9 lbs. I didn't see any results in the first week and a half but once I started level 2 I started dropping weight a little faster. I am about 70 lbs overweight and I'm averaging 2 lbs a week now. Keep with it and you will see results.0
-
You need to be eating carbs to fuel your muscles to burn the fat hun. Don't cut it out!!! Cutting the white flour is fine but replace it with multi grain/whole wheat and buy whole wheat pasta.0
-
Didn't see it mentioned, but take your measurements! Sometimes the scale doesn't move but your waist is still shrinking as you replace fat with lean muscle.
There has been great advice on food so I won't repeat anything other than I also follow the guidance from "In place of a Roadmap 2.0" and it helped me understand that I need to fuel my workouts/daily activity so my body doesn't try to store the little bit it was getting (MFP originally set me up at 1300, I really need 1500 for my desk job + eat back exercise).
Also as muscles repair themselves after a workout the cells retain water for the repair process. I've seen the morning after a strenuous workout I am up a pound or two because of this. Keep well hydrated to help them repair.
I know what you mean about overly positive/optimistic supporters, it almost feels discouraging looking at short term results but try hard to look at the long term picture you're moving in the right direction!0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.1K Introduce Yourself
- 43.6K Getting Started
- 259.9K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.4K Fitness and Exercise
- 403 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions