Need help from those who have lost 100+ lbs

Nina74 · October 2010

I need help from people who have lost 100+ lbs through diet and exercise!

I've been doing this lifestyle change for almost 6 months now and I've lost 22 lbs, my body is changing, building muscle/leaner in places, lost inches, but I've completely been stuck for the past 2 months and lost only 2 lbs and basically no change in inches/measurements.

I exercise 5 times a week, 1 hour each time (or more) and I think I'm a pretty hard core exercise person. I spin 2-3 times a week, lift weights 2-3 times a week, do elliptical, do HIIT training, etc. Just walking or doing very low impact exercise bores me.
I have recently changed up my exercise routine, taken a few new classes, but there has been zero change!

I have my profile set to lose 1.5 lbs a week and I currently weigh 292. According to theory, I should be losing weight, but it doesn't budge!

As far as eating, I eat my goal calories (1770)/day, eat some of my exercise calories. I have tired eating maintenance for awhile, I have tried eating less, eating more, but STILL THE SCALE DOESNT MOVE! It is infuriating. I generally eat clean, no sugar, etc, but if I crave something, I have a portion within reason to not trigger my former habit of binge eating. I drink 2+ liters of water a day, am eating only 1500 mg sodium a day.

Essentially I'm doing the "right" things and I know I've come a long way so far, but I need help! My doctor is not very helpful, only offered weight loss drugs or surgery. I'm feeling frustrated and that maybe those are the only answers for someone my size, but I know others have done it.

Any advice you can give me?

digitalyssa · October 2010

You are doing so well, and everything you are doing sounds like the right things... I guess the only thing I would suggest is maybe stepping away from machines... do stairs, running, yoga, pilates. Try working out in the mornings to boost your metabolism, and make sure you're eating breakfast. Look up foods that are meant to boost your metabolism and get LOTS of cardio. I understand the plateau, I'm there now - just don't give up!!

jer2kat · October 2010

I have lost about the same as you (20lbs) and I just got over a two month plateau. Just hang in there and keep following your diet and exercise plan and you will start to lose weight again. I, like you, tried eating more and less and exercising more and less and none of it had any effect. Eventually I gave up trying to alter my diet and exercise plan and went back to what I was originally doing. It took a while but I have started losing weight again and I'm sure you will too. Just hang in there!

mhinman · October 2010

Hello, I have lost over 100 pounds this year and one of things that I have done is move my calories to the morning. Have dinner as the large calorie count is not going to help. We have people in our group that actually do dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner and they have seen a nice drop on the scale. The other thing that I have been doing is walking periodically during the day, this helps with the metablism staying up all day and not just after you have finished working out. Last but not least, I have found that most of these programs that put up a calorie goal tend to error on the high side. I know you said you have already reduced it but stick with a lower number for a while and see how it goes. You can do it...

Nina74 · October 2010

Thanks everyone so far!

Yes. I eat the bulk of my calories between breakfast-lunch and light dinner (lean protein and veggies, no fruit, no other bready or other carbs of that sort). I really limit myself to complex carbs in general and I don't eat any bread. I was reading an article that said for morbid obesity you should cut even more calories than the average person losing weight (cut approx 25% additional cals) , so I just changed myself today to lose 2 lbs/week or 1500 cals/day.

I work out at night because of my schedule and don't have any control over that. I generally don't do any machines except the elliptical (I train with free weights). I didn't know if I was overexercising (a few days a week I do 2 hours/day, i.e. spin for 1 hour and then weight training 1 hour).

wiseg2 · October 2010

My first suggestion would be to set your goals to losing 1 lbs per week instead of 1.5. If that doesn't work try setting your calories to maintenance for a couple weeks then lowering them again. Some people eat different amounts of calories each day; 1200 Sunday, 2000 Monday, 1500 Tuesday, etc.

Keep switching up your exercise routine and try to get 1 or 2 rest days per week to give your body time to recover.

Lastly (though it might be the most important), ask your doctor to check your thyroid. Mine was low and I never knew until I had it checked. I was put on medication for it and now I lose weight slightly faster than before. All it requires is a blood test.

Best of luck breaking your plateau and keep us posted

mamagooskie · October 2010

It sounds like you are doing all the right things and I really have no real idea to why you arent' losing weight but there were some things that caught my attention.

First off I think you ARE over exercizing. I guess if low intesity shorter workouts bore you maybe you should only work out 3 times a week instead for awhile but do a full out hard core cardio with weights program on those 3 days. In the beginning when I started this journey. I started out with slow walks like 20 min long was all I could do and I'd be exhausted and then added some longer walks (up to an hour), then after a few months I started doing some running (c25k) and then added some weights in and now I do the bike, treadmill, running, weights, elliptical, swimming and whatever else seems to interest me in the moment. I did all this though over a 9 month period though. There is no way at my start weight that I could have handled doing the workouts you are saying you do without going into cardiac arrest!!

Your body will get used to the same machine so that it pretty much becomes like you are doing nothing, the muscles no longer feel challenged and your whole body just doesn't get from it what it used to. I would try using all different cardio machines. Get to the gym and run on the treadmill, do that rowing machine, stair stepper, try doing work out videos or step classes, try to never do the same workout twice. Change the length of time you do each machine, the intesity, what order you do them in. Anything to make it different!! BUY A HEART RATE MONITOR.....you say you think you are pretty hardcore for working out well maybe you aren't doing as much as you think you are. I couldn't live without mine since it tells me when I am in my zone, when I am below and above my zone and it really keeps me in check. When muscles are really really worked I've heard they retain water so you could be having retention even though you drink 2+ litres a day and it may not be enough for you. I've read on MFP that you should drink 1/2 your body weight a day in water.....so you should be drinking 146 oz which = 18 cups of water a day and you are only drinking 8 or so. I started out only drinking the reccommended 8 and soon found out I need more so on average I drink 13-16 glasses of water each day now no matter what (and that for me is more than 1/2 my body weight).

As for eating HAVE SOME CHEAT DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have found that the weeks where I go out and have an evening that I eat/drink what I want I lose the most!!!! I guess if I did it every week it may not work out that way but I had at least one major occasion every month since I started and i've went all out on eating/drinking and some of those weeks I'd lose 5lbs!!!! I'm talking I had some 4000-7000 calorie days!!!

If you don't feel like you can bring yourself to cheat try changing your calorie intake everyday .... like 1500 mon, 2000 tues, 1800 wed, 1300 thur etc (those were #'s I just threw in there not based on anything particular). Just one more thing people who workout alot do need to replenish their sodium ..... so I don't know that this will cause you to not lose weight but your body does need sodium and maybe you need to have more in your days you do a really intense workout.

I just also wanted to say for the month of oct I decided that I was going to work out harder than usual, longer than usual, do more weights than usual and just try to really give my body a good boost and challenge myself and I am finding that I have lost less weight than normal so it actually worked opposite of how I thought it would. I have however probably shaved off several inches off my body (I'll know for sure in 8 more days but I feel slimmer) and I'm feeling more muscular and since muscle weighs more than fat it could be that I'm gettting more toned/thinner but my weight will go up or stay the same because of that. So you could just be building muscle even though you aren't seeing a change in inches.

Last but not least I agree with the PP that said you may have to go to the doctor to get checked. There are so many diseases out there that can hinder weight loss and get brushed off as common ailments etc and you may suffer from one of them and it needs to get addressed to do you any good.

Good luck with your loss, and I hope you can figure out what is going on with your body. For now keep up the good work though, don't let this plateau get you down and most importantly DON'T QUIT!! Keep taking care of yourself!!

Nina74 · October 2010

Thanks again for more responses.

I have been tested and checked by traditional doctors who all say I'm "normal". Then they quickly offer to prescribe me Meridia (which was just pulled off the market in Canada and Europe), lap band surgery, or go on a supervised very low calorie diet (like Medifast, etc).

Yeah, when I first started I couldn't do more than 3 minutes on the elliptical and I was SOO slow on the treadmill! If I did now back when I started, I would have gone into cardiac arrest. Trust me, the first time I went to spin I wanted to die.

I have been going to a different gym on a guest pass this month and their classes are awesome! All intervals, always changed up. I definitely have noticed more muscle, less fat on me, but after so many months, shouldn't the the muscle start burning more fat? Shouldn't the scale be budging at least a little?

I definitely have cheat meals, but I pay and immediately gain weight that takes me all week to lose. It kills me when people tell me they have cheat days and then lose 4 lbs. My body just does NOT do that.

Basically my spirit and my head are there, my body is out in limbo.

I could drink more water. I will try that.

Behavior_Modification · October 2010

BUMP to read later cuz I need help too!

wiseg2 · October 2010

Thanks again for more responses.

I have been tested and checked by traditional doctors who all say I'm "normal". Then they quickly offer to prescribe me Meridia (which was just pulled off the market in Canada and Europe), lap band surgery, or go on a supervised very low calorie diet (like Medifast, etc).

Yeah, when I first started I couldn't do more than 3 minutes on the elliptical and I was SOO slow on the treadmill! If I did now back when I started, I would have gone into cardiac arrest. Trust me, the first time I went to spin I wanted to die.

I have been going to a different gym on a guest pass this month and their classes are awesome! All intervals, always changed up. I definitely have noticed more muscle, less fat on me, but after so many months, shouldn't the the muscle start burning more fat? Shouldn't the scale be budging at least a little?

I definitely have cheat meals, but I pay and immediately gain weight that takes me all week to lose. It kills me when people tell me they have cheat days and then lose 4 lbs. My body just does NOT do that.

Basically my spirit and my head are there, my body is out in limbo.

I could drink more water. I will try that.

Another thing I thought of, how much sodium are you consuming everyday? Also, with as much exercise as you're doing your body could be retaining water. Are you a drinker?

Try to stick with it. It sounds like you're doing all the right things and I believe you can do it without weight loss drugs or surgery.

Nina74 · October 2010

Another thing I thought of, how much sodium are you consuming everyday? Also, with as much exercise as you're doing your body could be retaining water. Are you a drinker?

Try to stick with it. It sounds like you're doing all the right things and I believe you can do it without weight loss drugs or surgery.

Thanks WiseG!

1500 mg sodium a day, which is huge, because when I started I was ALWAYS going over the 2500 mg. I rarely drink due to migraines (which is just makes worse). I had 2 drinks 2 weekends ago at my cousin's wedding and those were the first drinks I had had in 6 months.

wiseg2 · October 2010

Another thing I thought of, how much sodium are you consuming everyday? Also, with as much exercise as you're doing your body could be retaining water. Are you a drinker?

Try to stick with it. It sounds like you're doing all the right things and I believe you can do it without weight loss drugs or surgery.

Thanks WiseG!

1500 mg sodium a day, which is huge, because when I started I was ALWAYS going over the 2500 mg. I rarely drink due to migraines (which is just makes worse). I had 2 drinks 2 weekends ago at my cousin's wedding and those were the first drinks I had had in 6 months.

You're welcome.

I just thought I'd mention the alcohol part because a few weeks ago I drank a lot (my 21st b-day) and that combined with my hormones ballooned my weight up for about a week. Most people will tell you that 1 or even 2 drinks doesn't matter that much.

I think you're doing great with your sodium. Mine sits around 2500 mg per day give or take a couple hundred. Maybe you could open up your diary?

Have you asked your doctor about seeing a dietician?

MaybeImNot · October 2010

bump

Need help from those who have lost 100+ lbs

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