I need advice.

MicheleWE · March 2013

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am beginning to feel desperate and I don't understand what I am doing wrong. I would appreciate advice or maybe someone can see what it is I am doing wrong. First a little history-I was overweight for years and then in August 2009 I started on Weight Watchers. I lost 85 lbs following the point system, the meetings in my area closed down and I never learned maintenance. If I didn't stay on the plan (approx 1200 calories) I was gaining weight. Most all of my exercise was walking 3-4 days per week, and I incorporated other activities but had no formal plan I followed. When I got to my lowest weight I was "skinny fat". Then I fell off the wagon in Sept 2011. I would gain a little, struggle to try to lose, then gain some more, and the pattern followed until I was up 40 lbs. Last January I started again with exercising with weight a couple times a week and doing walking. On Jan. 12th I joined a weight loss challenge and got really serious. I started using MFP at 1200 calories-that's what it recommends right

. After a few weeks of reading and hearing a nutritionist speak I started bumping up my calories to my BMR, but immediately started gaining weight, so I backed off to about 1300, plus eating some of my exercise calorie burn. My BMR is 1512. Since mid-Jan. I've gotten even more serious about my diet, cutting out all sugar and almost all salt. I don't eat any snack foods or junk foods. I eat about every three hours, eat breakfast within one hour of rising. I drink 3-4 quarts of water everyday and then only other thing I have is two cups of coffee and sometimes tea. I've started lowering my carbs, I'm between 100-150g and only about two servings of starches (bread, pasta, rice) per day now. At the same time I've been raising my protein which is 100-150g per day-and it is hard for me to eat this amount. I eat no more than 2 servings of fruit a day at most and have been working to lower that also. I eat a good amount of vegetables most days. I take vitamins and supplements like Vit D, calcium, omega 3's, and a protein drink after working out. In mid January I started following an organized weight lifting plan (just finished week 6) and I now lift 5-6 days per week for 45-60 mins (with rests) and 4 days per week of cardio 30-45 mins. One or two of those cardio sessions are intervals walking 3.5 mph 2-3 mins, alternating with 1-2 mins of jogging at 5-6 mph. I take one day off per week to rest. My lifting sessions are divided, one day arms, one day shoulders, one day chest, one day back, two days legs with ab work 3 days. I have been trying to increase my calories a little at a time, up to 1400 and this week 1500. I decided this week not to eat back my exercise calories when I bumped up to 1500, so that I could be more balanced instead of trying to squeeze all those calories in after my workout. According to MFP I burn between 250-350 calories per work out. All that to say, why am I having trouble losing weight? I have taken measurements, and pictures and there hasn't been much change. I've lost maybe an 1-1 1/2 inches off of my waist and hips in 2 1/2 months. My clothes while not sufficating me are not fitting much differently In the last two months I've only lost 3-4 lbs .I am working harder than I have ever worked in my life and being the strictest with my diet that I have ever been. Even following WW I never cut out all the goodies and sugar (which did trigger cravings and binges that I no longer have). I really want to lose the right way so I will be healthier in the end, but it is so frustrating. I only wanted to give as much information as possible to give real insight, so please forgive my rambling. I am religious about journaling my food and the only thing I don't add are vitamins/Omega's, and sugar free gum. So thanks for reading and thanks for the advice. Please be gentle with me because I am so desperate and feeling on the verge of falling apart.

MicheleWE · March 2013

By the way, the first 4-5 lbs came off the first two weeks of joining MFP.

Confuzzled4ever · March 2013

Can't really help without seeing your diary.

Gum tricks your body into thinking it is receiving food.. it curbs hunger.. doesn't' help you if you need to eat more.. it also has a lot of unhealthy things in it that you do ingest, whether you swallow it or not.

If you are exercising, then the issue is your food. Either what you are eating or how much of it you are eating.

I don't limit macros. but i have a fairly healthy well rounded diet and usually do ok without trying. I too am trying to eat more. It is hard, esp when eating properly. It might be as simple as you're not eating enough. I don't rely on protein powder... it's man made therefore I don't want to rely on it. I'll still have it occasionally.. eat more chicken and fish. That's my goal.

The problem with lowering carbs is this.. are you going eat that way for the rest of you life? If so then great! If not. then the weight will just come back..

Proper nutrition is not obtained through a diet. It is not obtained by cutting out the foods nature intended us to eat (wheat, barley, rice etc...) It's obtained by actually eating these foods as nature intended them to be eaten. get near East taboulle and turn it into a salad.. you will be full and depending on the veggies you use it's around 100 calories a cut (i nix the cheese and oil because i don't like oil on salad) or use fresh barley and cook it yourself.

YAYJules · March 2013

I can't help you, but wanted to chime in and say I know exactly what you mean. I am having the same issue you are with the scale not moving despite my serious efforts and dedication. The difference for me is Hashimoto's Disease which inherently messes with metabolism, and it sucks.

I am also confused on calories. MFP asked me to eat 1450. I am working closely with my primary care doctor who advised me not to take in more than 1600 a day. Meanwhile, 3 different calculators tell me to eat AT LEAST 1900 a day based on my age, weight, goal weight, BF % and activity level. I want to pull my hair out!

I've decided I have the power to end this. I have health insurance, there is no reason I shouldn't take myself to a nutritionist who has the tools to calculate my own personal metabolic rate. I deserve to give myself the best chance at success, and so do you. Why not make an appointment with someone who specializes in this field, rather than risk getting haphazard info from a forum, and the diet industry in general?

rcoleman792 · March 2013

I'm not an expert at all, but it sounds like you're hitting a plateau. These can last for a pretty long time and are dependent on a lot of factors such as age, starting weight, calorie settings (your daily allowance), and routine. Believe it or not some of the slowness of your weight loss may be that you're gaining muscle. You seem to do a pretty thorough arm/leg workout and a fair bit of cardio and when you do this your muscles undergo hypertrophy, where they swell in size and fill with water, which ultimately adds weight while burning fat. It may be that you're losing more fat than you think but simply gaining muscle at a similar weight, netting in a seemingly small decrease in weight. One thing that I've learned from friends who do research on exercise physiology is that hormones that beget weight loss that are triggered by diet and exercise have a period of desensitization. That is to say, the hormones that send signals to your body to metabolize fat in favor of muscle become less effective as your body recognizes a pattern in their stimulation. I know this is technical but it's important in realizing why you may be hitting a hard plateau. The best remedy to this is to change your routine rather significantly. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to do different things, though this helps, it may mean you change when you do your exercises or shuffle around which ones you do on a particular day. By changing it up, your body doesn't expect the particular workout and thus it might kick-start the process of your body being sensitive to weight loss. Keep changing it up, even with your diet. Don't get in the habit of the same thing every day because your body will eventually adjust to it after a brief period of weight loss. If you keep changing it up, that usually brief spurt of weight loss is able to continue because your body never gets used to what you're doing and it essentially is reacting as if you're doing things for the first time every time you change things up. Best of luck!

Confuzzled4ever · March 2013

Doctors are not nutritionists. 1600 calories a day is the average, it's a safe number for doctors to give out.

I ate a lot of crap today (for me) and managed to eat 1900 calories.. I don't feel good though. Listen to your body. Feed it right, it will tell you what it needs.

cut out added sugar. it is more addicting then anything else out there.

jackieomara · March 2013

bump because i am sort of in the same situation and curious to see answers

YAYJules · March 2013

Doctors are not nutritionists. 1600 calories a day is the average, it's a safe number for doctors to give out.

I ate a lot of crap today (for me) and managed to eat 1900 calories.. I don't feel good though. Listen to your body. Feed it right, it will tell you what it needs.

cut out added sugar. it is more addicting then anything else out there.

Yeah, that's what's prompting me to shuffle off to the nutritionist... While regular doc is helpful managing the thyroid issue, she didn't seem to know what I was talking about when I mentioned "BMR". Not the best vote of confidence there.

OP, see a nutritionist, really. They will help you sort yourself out. No need to fly blindly.

MicheleWE · March 2013

My dairy is open,sorry should have checked that first. I am 5'5", 171 lbs, 39 years old, BF% 31.7. The weight lifting routine I am following changes every two weeks to work the muscles in different ways. I have some degree of soreness just about everyday. I also tend to change what I eat often as I really like to cook and expirament alot. Of course I do have left overs to eat, but besides that most days of the week vary because I have a different schedule everyday. Would it be advisable to take a week off of weight training? Thanks for the input. I am considering going to a nutritionist.

meredithaloring · March 2013

Hi Michele,
Everyone's BMR differs based on a bunch of factors, how old you are, how much you weigh, what % body fat you have and how your metabolism works. The estimates that are calculated on MFP and other sites are just that, estimates, and your BMR could vary significantly from another person your size and age. In addition, when you start restricting colories, your metabolism slows down. I read that for women if slows down, on average, 30% (which is NOT calculated in the BMR calculation).

In the end, you stop losing weight when you are burning less than (or the same amount) that you're eating. If you want to find out exactly what your BMR is, get either a gas exchange test (you breathe into a machine for 10-15 minutes and it measures the gas output) or your could get the hydrostatic fat test. Both are going to be VERY accurate. Once you know how much you are actually burning, you could make sure you're eating less. In addition, you could switch up what you're eating so that it's easier to gain muscle- which will help you to burn more calories. To do this you need to lift weights (usually to exhaustion is the best way) and then eat pure protein within 45 minutes of your lifting. Make sure that you have a good amount of protein and fat throughout the day.

I looked at your diary and was impressed with how clean you eat! With some minor tweaks I'm sure you're going to hit your goal!

Confuzzled4ever · March 2013

Well.. I don't know how much you should be eating calories-wise. I'm also going to see s nutritionalist once I get caught up on some other things. I want to know basically the calories I should be at, what I should eat when I exercise versus when I do not, and if there really is anything to all this talk of macros being a certain number or percentage and if so, where mind should sit at.

Do you read labels? There is a ton of hidden sugars and chemicals that promote fat gain in low-fat, no-fat, reduced fat food, they are also present many canned and pre-made foods. the more foods in your diet, that do not require labels the better. Example.. can you make your own beans on the weekends? Soak them and mash them up for what you need? Do you eat really eat veggies of all colors of the rainbow? 5 servings is not enough of them, esp if you are still hungry at the end of the day. Can you get natural whole wheat flour and make your own tortillas?

Sugar is in everything, called all different names. Sugar helps you retain weight. I don't know about the exact foods you are eating, but i encourage you to read labels. Just fyi---no fat, low fat food, they often replace the fat with sugar.. guess what your body does with sugar? Converts it to fat and stores it...Sugar is evil. (I mean come-on no fat or low fat mayo? Mayo *is* fat! Same thing with cream.. cream is fat.. how do you make no fat fat?)

Guess what your body does with man-made chemicals and additives that is can't digest? Covers them in fat and stores them until it can safely dispel of them (which of course never happens with our lifestyles).

Maybe try juicing for a week to naturally cleanse the body of any chemicals it might have stored as fat, so you can rid yourself of them. Chai seeds will do this as well.I'm picking them up this week.

I do a lot of reading about the effects chemicals and additives added to food and other products have on our bodies. It's disgusting, and it's eye opening and even worse is it makes sense..

I need advice.

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