I've Tried Almost Everything For 8 Months
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I wish I could reply directly to everyone. I appreciate each of your suggestions so much and am considering them all! Thanks for all the replies, and feel free to continue to reply if you have anything to add. It can only help.
I think what I'm going to do is eat the way that makes me feel good and gives me the most benefits beyond just weight loss (especially since I'm not getting that benefit anyway).
For me, that tends to just mean lots of fruits and vegetables with healthy fats and limited portions of whole grains throughout the day, protein at every meal, and little to no added sugar of any kind. I may start counting calories again very soon. I think I will go for 1200-1400 tops for right now, and exercise on top of that (not eating back the cals).
I may go to maintenance for a while before I start. My body probably needs the rest as much as I do.
I plan to net between 800 and 1200 calories in the mean time and get in to see a doctor ASAP and perhaps a specialist or two.
For exercise I want to continue my strength training (which I've been doing more than anything else these days) but focus more on adding cardio by walking, running, and jogging. I want to start exercising an hour a day 5-6 days a week at least.
Given the situation, does that sound like a bad thing?0 -
I drink more water than anyone I know. I'm constantly thirsty. and constantly drinking.
Being constantly thirsty is a big sign of diabetes, you might want to get your glucose and A1C tested (I'm in the medical field, FYI).0 -
How is your break down on calories? Is your sodium high? I too was at a plateau early on - it was for two reasons - 1 - my sodium was threw the roof! I was eating lots of frozen lean cuisines, low calorie soups, etc - all full of sodium, once I started eating cleaner and preparing my own foods and upping my protein - I started losing again....the second reason was my body got used to the excercise - I use to do half hour on elliptical, then half hour on treadmill...after few months this stopped being all that benificial as my heart rate didnt go up, ie, my body was used to it.....so I got a HRM (invest in one, you would not believe the difference in the calories burned versus what MFP says or even the machine)..and started working to keep my heart rate up during my workouts and doing more interval training.....0
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I drink more water than anyone I know. I'm constantly thirsty. and constantly drinking.
Being constantly thirsty is a big sign of diabetes, you might want to get your glucose and A1C tested (I'm in the medical field, FYI).
Thank you. I had it tested about 7 months ago and both a1c and fasting glucose were normal.0 -
I plan to net between 800 and 1200 calories in the mean time and get in to see a doctor ASAP and perhaps a specialist or two.
Please don't net below 1200 calories. 800 net calories is far too low. But seeing a doctor or specialist soon is a great idea! Also, I think you should have your Vitamin D levels checked. Adequate Vitamin D is essential for weight loss and many people are Vit D deficient. A short dose of sunshine daily is very important for adequate Vitamin D.
I never understood the Vitamin D-weight loss connection before MFP. A friend of mine was eating correctly (not to much, not too little) and exercising moderately but not losing any weight. Her doctor tested her Vit D levels and it was off the charts low. A supplement was all that she needed. It was like turning on a faucet! She lost all the weight that would have been expected given her food and exercise levels.
I'm just adding it to the list of other possibilities people have suggested.
Best Wishes! I admire your determination and perseverance!0 -
Have you tried eating at maintenance ?
I say, eat 2200 cals a day for 2 weeks. Eat whatever you want, but aim for 2200 cals.
If you can, don't exercise for the second week. So First week eat 2200 cals and continue to work out, next week take a break from working out.
try this^0 -
If you know your estimated body fat %.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974598-the-basics
do the advanced method, it will give you a more accurate calorie count. Try it for a month or so, if that doesn't work then do calorie cycling. so TDEE 1 day, 50% of TDEE the next and repeat. This is how i broke my plateau of 6 months. I actually broke it doing 5:2 style of fasting, but i have helped people break plateaus with the calorie cycling method i mentioned.
Okay thanks... so I went to the link and I got this:
Based on light activity 1-3 days a week
BMR: 1713
TDEE: 2355
20% TDEE: 1884... yikes that's a lot!
If I put sedentary (although I currently exercise 30 min 6 x a week)
BMR: 1713
TDEE: 2055
20% TDEE: 1555... sounds more reasonable
I've tried both for at least a month in the past already.... so the cycling thing would be something to look into.
Do you mean eat at TDEE one day, eat half of TDEE the next?
So if I were accounting for exercising I would do 2355, 1177, 2355, 1177... and so on? and maybe exercise a little more than the usual 30 minutes or even an hour?
I have no idea how that would work lol please share more info if you have the time
or link me
ETA: It never asked me for body fat percentage. On formula gives me 30% and another says 50%. I don't know which to believe, though I look more like 50%.0 -
Have you tried eating at maintenance ?
I say, eat 2200 cals a day for 2 weeks. Eat whatever you want, but aim for 2200 cals.
If you can, don't exercise for the second week. So First week eat 2200 cals and continue to work out, next week take a break from working out.
try this^
I think I plan on it for at least a week. I don't know about not exercising at all though. It makes me feel so much better to get regular exercise and I'd miss it. Is the taking a break from working out super important? Maybe I can take it easy for a week and do yoga instead?0 -
I drink more water than anyone I know. I'm constantly thirsty. and constantly drinking.
Being constantly thirsty is a big sign of diabetes, you might want to get your glucose and A1C tested (I'm in the medical field, FYI).
My thoughts exactly.0 -
I broke a long plateau by eating at maintenance for 3 weeks, which seemed to restore my metabolism to a normal rate. Have you tried intermittent fasting? If you are not familiar with this eating pattern google 5:2 intermittent fasting. Also I recommend calibrating the calories burned from exercise machines to a HRM, if you eat them back.
I recently discovered that the machines at the gym were inflating the calories burned. My new HRM says my typical cardio workout (65 minutes on the elliptical targeting a HR of 140, using 20 second sprints whenever necessary) is 580. The machine itself says 780 and the MFP database says 930. I suspect that I am still eating back too much if I eat back all of my exercise calories because I should subtract an hours worth of sedentary TDEE from the calories burned.
I do hope you don't have serious medical issues.0 -
I broke a long plateau by eating at maintenance for 3 weeks, which seemed to restore my metabolism to a normal rate. Have you tried intermittent fasting? If you are not familiar with this eating pattern google 5:2 intermittent fasting. Also I recommend calibrating the calories burned from exercise machines to a HRM, if you eat them back.
I recently discovered that the machines at the gym were inflating the calories burned. My new HRM says my typical cardio workout (65 minutes on the elliptical targeting a HR of 140, using 20 second sprints whenever necessary) is 580. The machine itself says 780 and the MFP database says 930. I suspect that I am still eating back too much if I eat back all of my exercise calories because I should subtract an hours worth of sedentary TDEE from the calories burned.
I do hope you don't have serious medical issues.
Wow that is very eye-opening. The differences between actual calories burned and what MFP says can be huge!
I never tried intermittent fasting. I guess I'll have to google that. I kind of shy away from anything with the word "fasting" in it, but I've heard it doesn't really mean what it sounds like.0 -
I broke a long plateau by eating at maintenance for 3 weeks, which seemed to restore my metabolism to a normal rate. Have you tried intermittent fasting? If you are not familiar with this eating pattern google 5:2 intermittent fasting. Also I recommend calibrating the calories burned from exercise machines to a HRM, if you eat them back.
I recently discovered that the machines at the gym were inflating the calories burned. My new HRM says my typical cardio workout (65 minutes on the elliptical targeting a HR of 140, using 20 second sprints whenever necessary) is 580. The machine itself says 780 and the MFP database says 930. I suspect that I am still eating back too much if I eat back all of my exercise calories because I should subtract an hours worth of sedentary TDEE from the calories burned.
I do hope you don't have serious medical issues.
Yes, my first thought is that if you are accurately measuring calories with a scale, it might be the workouts that are skewing the results.
When you said you do strength training, do you mean machines at the gym? Or are you doing free weights? Are you doing cardio on the same days?0 -
In your first post you said that you are not doing any one thing consistently. That made me wonder, are you taking days off between the different things you are trying? For example if you are trying to stay within 1400-1600 calories for a month, and it doesn't work, are you then going off the rails a bit before attempting the 1200-1400 calories?
I am a binge eater so I know I can easily eat 3000-4000 calories in one day. Just one weekend can basically negate an entire month of working out and limiting calories.0 -
If you want a good laugh and you want to learn about fasting look up the hodge twins also they post videos a all week on all they YouTube channels and will certainly motivate you and make you laugh at the same time good luck and keep us updated. I'm currently experimenting with IMF because I run the wellness and fitness program at the company I work for and I want to make sure it's worth advocating before I mention it to any employees. I'm a week and a half in and I just dropped from 18% bf to 17% at 210 without much effort only three or four days a week in the gym. So far it's seems like its working I wish you good luck if you jump in the rabbit hole.0
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Hi - I'm really sorry to hear you're having such trouble. It must be miserable. I think you've got a lot of good advice there, and I'd concur with most of it. I too have heard that diet drinks trick your body into an insulin response similar to that caused by sugar. I've found that the sweeteners in diet drinks play havoc with my bladder if I have too much, so I stick to fizzy water with lemon or lime, or I have a well-diluted cordial such as lime or elderflower with ice and lemon - it seems like a real treat yet it's relatively low in calories.
I do a lot of walking (hiking), often with an audiobook on my MP3 player. Our UK national treasure, Stephen Fry, did this and lost a lot of weight. Brisk walking is pretty good at fat burning.
Finally - I hesitate to suggest yet another fashionable diet (ultimately most of these don't work because they're not easy to maintain long-term), but a number of people I know are trying the 5:2 diet (or the Fast Diet) where you eat a quarter of your normal calories for two days a week. Lots of people are doing it because it apparently has really good health benefits (including reducing cancer risk), but lots have lost weight too. You'd need to make sure that this is medically feasible for you - but I have a friend with rheumatoid arthritis and her doctor encourage her to try it. The author, Michael Mosley, lost 19lbs on it, and he wasn't particularly overweight. Anyway, more info here: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/0 -
You're not alone!!!!
I haven't lost weight in OVER A YEAR!!!! :sad: I'm 32, 5'10" and stuck at 220. I count my calories, moderate my carb intake and in addition to running 3-4 times per week I weight train 2-3 times per week. I've taken a metabolic assessment and learned how to do heart rate training, but the scale is soooo stubborn. :grumble:
Here's the good news. You're doing the right things (apart from the diet drinks). I drink ONE cup of coffee at breakfast (light cream, no sugar or sweetener) and stick to water only until dinner - when I have 1.5 cups of skim milk. I don't do sodas or smoothies or even fruit juice except on very rare occasion. Weight loss isn't always about the scale. Luckily the scale at my gym has a body fat analyzer as well and while my weight has been stuck, my body fat has been decreasing. I'm essentially trading fat for muscle. It's frustrating not to lose pounds, but at least I know I'm making myself healthier despite the number on the scale...
What my trainer thinks about the scales not moving.....stress and lack of sleep. :yawn: Both are major causes for weight gain and make it very hard to lose weight. I run a household with two pre-teen kids, I work a stressful 45+ hour/week job, I'm the director of a charity race, and I start school full time online in June while working full time. I've got stress up to my eyeballs!!! :noway: and that stress is making that scale stick.
Just don't give up! Keep doing the right things and forget about the number on the scale. The weight will come in time if you're doing the right thing. :drinker:0 -
You said it yourself the thing you haven't tried is being consistent. Try one thing for a few months without changing. why not go back to basics and start over. Plug your numbers and goals into MFP eat the baseline calories it suggests then when you log your exercise it will increase your calories, you are to eat those back also. Give it a few months at least.0
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I hear your frustration - I've been 'stuck' for 2.5mths at 176lbs.
I log EVERYthing, I use digital scales/measuring tools etc - it is NOT due to 'lying' in my diary and my intake hasn't changed from what I was eating when I lost the first 56lbs, so none of those 'reasons' are feasible.
I fully admit I do not drink enough water, but then I never have so it's not like its something that started only when weight-loss stalled.
I spoke to a dr on Friday - he said my biggest aim now is to maintain until my body accepts that this is its 'new normal'. He said that can take about 6mths and during this time my body will do its damndest to creep back up towards where it used to be, so maintaining (for now) is actually quite an achievement. He said that after a time, once the body accepts that this is where it's meant to be now, I should be able to start losing again.......you have no idea how much I'm hoping that's true, lol.
I'm not unhappy where I am but I definitely aren't finished. I've only just managed to get to creep down to 'overweight' on the BMI for petesake! My body fat is 25.6%. I have HEAPS to lose. Beats me why my body has decided that this is where it's comfortable - it needs a bloody good smack
Coincidentally 5yrs ago, after doing Weight Watchers for several months, I also got down to where I am now and did exactly the same thing - stalled. NOTHING I did made those damn pounds come off so, of course, in the end I got tired of paying for something that wasn't working so I gave up............the difference is that THIS time I'm not going to quit and I'm not going to put ANY of the weight back on. If 176 is where I have to stay for the rest of my life then that's a bit *kitten* but it's sure as hell a lot better than the 230 I started at.
Good luck (to ALL of us) :flowerforyou:0 -
Yes, my first thought is that if you are accurately measuring calories with a scale, it might be the workouts that are skewing the results.
When you said you do strength training, do you mean machines at the gym? Or are you doing free weights? Are you doing cardio on the same days?
Yes! Now that I know what a huge difference it can make I think investing in a HRM would be worth it.
For strength training I'm either lifting 15-20 lb each dumbells at home (mostly combination lifts using upper & lower body simultaneously) or also doing body weight training exercises. Right now the 2 20 lb ones are a lot for me, and that's all I've got atm. I used to have a lot of success with jogging and interval running, but I haven't done it in a while due to problems with my feet & ankles, but I think I need to stop being a wimp, buy better shoes, and get back to it when I can.
Personally I can't seem to lose ANY weight without exercise no matter what I eat. I can get the eating right down and even the calorie counting part, but sometimes I slack off and get wimpy with the workouts.
And I'm not really consistent in a set workout plan right now. Sometimes I only do cardio. Sometimes I only do strength. Sometimes I do both on the same day... usually cardio first, though I've heard that's not the best way.
Recently I've been just trying to be consistent by working out more often but for shorter periods of time. Before I might do an hour 3 times a week, 4 at the most. Now I do 30 min 6 times a week, and if I'm feeling up to it, more than 30 minutes...0 -
Have you had a good physical lately? 0
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