Not losing weight? Before you up your calories read!

Newleafnewlife · January 2014

I just wanted to share my experience of a total inability to lose weight no matter what I did including going low carb and maintaining not going over 1200 calories and also doing things like the 30 day shred, which although I didn't lose weight, I also lost no inches at all. My body just wouldn't let go, of anything.

Through coming onto the forum, the main bit of advice I got from complaining about this and also advice that I see people in the same situation get regularly is that they should up their calories. Eat more to weigh less has become a bit of a phenomenon and although it has reason to, it may not be the best thing to do for some people.

Because when you get to the point of not being able to lose weight no matter what you do, by the time you are posting about it on a forum, something is going wrong. It could be indeed that you need to eat a bit more, but if you are finding weight loss extremely hard and frustrating then do the following :

make an appointment with your GP, ask for a blood test to test your thyroid especially, but also B12, ferritin, folate and vitamin D, a full body check up. Not being able to lose weight no matter what is a good enough reason to ask for these tests.

Because the fact is, something more than calories could be holding you back. and if you up them, you could find yourself gaining a lot more weight, which you then also can't lose, no matter what. If you have an underactive thryoid, your metabolism might just be slow, or shot. explaining why you can't lose on 1200, and also why you definitely will not lose and will definitely gain by upping your calories, leading to more misery.

Although I had other symptoms (tiredness, hair thinning, constipation) that lead to my showing up at the doctors, I believe if you can't lose weight, you should go and find out just for your own peace of mind. if you know it is nothing physiological for sure (which you will only know by having blood done) then it is safe to up your calories to see if this is what is holding you back.

Entering into the realms of increasing your calories as someone who is petrified of weight gain and knows they don't lose on 1200 and maintain is very scary. It's something you only want to do if you are sure it won't lead to the perceived weight gain you think it will. and it could if you have a condition like hypothyroidism.

I just wanted to get the word out that for people who get advice to eat more, I think that that is a good option but only AFTER you have checked your thyroid. Most people don't find out until hypothyroidism until quite late but if you take your health into your own hands and you have a symptom (of which inability to lose weight is one) and ESPECIALLY if you have any of the other classic symptoms, you will be able to much more effectively approach your weight loss.

Hope this helps anyone out there who has struggled for so long. Although having an underactive thyroid SUCKS, at least I know and I can start taking medication, start to feel better, and start to lose some weight

SezxyStef · January 2014

Yes there is always a possiblity that you have medical issues but that being said the first thing to do is not up your calories.

The first thing you should be doing is making sure you are logging accurately.

That means weighing your food with a food scale and measuring liquids.

Typically if you are not losing weight you are taking more calories in than you are burning.

After doing that if you are still not losing as fast as you want reevaluate your burns HRM, machines often over estimate those burns by up to 50%.

When you are sure your calories in is less then calories out and you are still not losing weight then it's time to visit the doctor...

Newleafnewlife · January 2014

I totally agree and think that is definitely the first stage but the assumption is that people will have already done that before they attempt to up their calories because people who are trying to lose and become scared of calories-upping is generally the last thing. but the argument would still stand, that if you ARE tracking perfectly and then get told to up there is an option which keeps getting bypassed on forums which is that you should go and get checked out. because I wouldn't want people to suffer yet more weight gain if they follow advice to up calories IF they have an underlying medical condition.

Mr_Knight · January 2014

Because when you get to the point of not being able to lose weight no matter what you do...

There is no such point.

kgeyser · January 2014

Isn't this just sort of common sense? :huh:

WalkingAlong · January 2014

If you have an underactive thryoid, your metabolism might just be slow, or shot. explaining why you can't lose on 1200, and also why you definitely will not lose and will definitely gain by upping your calories, leading to more misery.

A metabolism is never 'shot', not while you're alive. Any of us, with or without thyroid disease, might have a slow metabolism.

Getting on thyroid medication should help, but from what people who have slow metabolisms from thyroid disease say, it's still the same answer for them-- they still have to create a calorie deficit to lose. They might have to eat less than 1200 or be more patient but otherwise, it's the same.

The 'eat more' thing has actually cooled off a lot the last few years. It's still common advice here but it used to be practically the only advice.

bumblebreezy91 · January 2014

Because when you get to the point of not being able to lose weight no matter what you do...

There is no such point.

+1

bumblebreezy91 · January 2014

Isn't this just sort of common sense? :huh:

Usually, but I think sometimes it gets very easy to forget about underlying medical problems. I know if I was not dropping any weight and was very thorough with my logging and food measurements, my first thought would be that I've been doing something wrong. I would first think of the many things I could be doing wrong, attempt to fix them, and come out with the same results: no loss, or significantly small results. That's discouraging, to say the least. In the time I spent looking for what I thought was my own error, I could have been seeing a doctor and bringing up concerns. It's easy to get caught up in perceived personal failure and forget what seems obvious.

OP, there are always other factors to weight loss, even if there is a thyroid problem or other medical issue. The weight loss will be slower, but it will happen if you're truly at a deficit. It would pay to be extra diligent about water intake, sodium intake, exercise, weighing/measuring food, logging, not consuming drastically too few calories, etc. I know with my medical condition, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome III, I'm extremely limited in the amount and types of exercise I can do. This is a contributing reason behind my weight gain. So I need to be extra careful with my calorie intake because I may not be able to exercise away my accidental extra calories for the day. Visit the success forums for a boost. There are many people who have overcome their medical illness that are known to hinder weight loss, like PCOS. That encouragement is more powerful than you may know. You can do it, no matter the challenges you may face.

Newleafnewlife · January 2014

Thank you. Although my main aim was just to put it out there that it is 'ok' to see a doctor and ask for tests and then start to do everything else.
Delaying the trip will mean more and more time of the most accurate logging and dedicated exercise but to no avail which is when psychological damage can start to ensue.
What you say is so right, how you think it must be you that's doing something wrong but it might not be.
The trouble with underactive thyroid, right at the beginning eating at a deficit would be near impossible. I still need the energy that my less efficient body produces for the things I do in life (study/part-time job) so I need to take the energy in to have some to live my life. If hypothetically I sat in my room all day doing nothing physically or mentally taxing I could just eat 500 calories a day and if my RMR was 1,000 I would lose weight.
But it is harder to live life and have a chronic significant calorie deficit that puts your daily calories under 1,000. I'm not disputing that that is still an option but I know it would impair my success in life (studies mainlyf) and my overall enjoyment of it.
Exercise is not a black and white situation as because my thyroid hormones are so low, a vigorous workout can in effect use up your quota for the day, and quite often I can be totally unable to physically or mentally do anything after workouts that break a sweat for longer than 30 minutes for the rest of the day. Feels almost paralysing
I didn't want sympathy or advice really, I've asked for it before.
I just think that given everything, the most common advice I got on here was to up my calories. But before I did I checked it out. I thought it could be of use to anyone out there because generally people on the forums struggling to lose weight are in a similar age range to me (23) and we tend to underrepresent ourselves in GPs surgeries and from what I've learnt on thyroid forums I'm relatively young to seek out a cause for how I'm feeling. Most people with thyroid problems are diagnosed very young, after pregnancy, because it's autoimmune, or because they are overweight/obese. I'm in the normal weight for my height and my GP said to me that she was 99% sure I didn't have a thyroid problem because I was not overweight. The reason I'm not overweight is because I've been scrutinising my intake and exercising a lot! If I had eaten at a level which is considered to be around 'normal' I would be overweight, because I would always be going over.

Anyway my point remains that before you start beating yourself up and assuming it must be your fault and before you up your calories then why not check there is not another dimension.

SLLRunner · January 2014

Yes there is always a possiblity that you have medical issues but that being said the first thing to do is not up your calories.

The first thing you should be doing is making sure you are logging accurately.

That means weighing your food with a food scale and measuring liquids.

Typically if you are not losing weight you are taking more calories in than you are burning.

After doing that if you are still not losing as fast as you want reevaluate your burns HRM, machines often over estimate those burns by up to 50%.

When you are sure your calories in is less then calories out and you are still not losing weight then it's time to visit the doctor...

This.

OP, thank your for sharing your experience. It's good you found out about your thyroid problem.

acogg · January 2014

I sort of went through the same thing. I decided to get a heart rate monitor because so many people here recommended them. When I saw my heart rate I would go into panic attacks. I was sure I was going to drop dead any moment. Then I decided it might be high blood pressure, so I started taking my blood pressure at stores. OMG! I am going to die right this minute! So I bought a blood pressure cuff to check even more often. My blood pressure was getting higher and higher! Then I decided that sodium was the cause of my high blood pressure, so I dropped my sodium as low as possible and upped my potassium as high as I could manage. For a short time I even took diuretics to lower my water retention. I was getting really freaked out so I made a doctors appointment. When I went to see the doctor and had all my blood work done, my blood pressure was only slightly high, my heart rate was fine. The only thing the doctor was concerned about was my sodium level, it was too low. All of my months of reading the forums and self-diagnosis was stupid on my part. I very much agree that everyone should get a check up and get some actual factual blood numbers, nutritional advice and a start point early in their healthy goal.

Newleafnewlife · January 2014

I just think most people would feel stupid going to a doctor for not being able to lose weight and for me it was when a couple of other hypothyroidism symptoms turned up that prompted me to get checked out after 3 years of being the same weight. If I had gone sat, 2 years earlier when not being able to lose weight was my only and prevalent issue it could have been picked up then. But only suffering with that didn't seem like an issue that I needed to go to a doctor for, it's something in my control and it must be me. 3 years of thinking you are doing something wrong takes it's toll. I guess I could have experimented by going lower and lower to see what happened but I was trying to establish psychologically healthy relationship with food and avoid binging.

It's so much more difficult when your problems with your weight loss physically are confounded with a psychological issue. If I was a robot and could have just kept decreasing my calories I might have seen that I could lose weight on say 750 calories a day and then just only ever eat that much to achieve my goals. But the problem is that for an actual human being with a life and thoughts and feelings it's not quite as straightforward which is why it is important to always consider everyone as individuals who face different challenges.

jcorpern · January 2014

Hear Hear! That's a good sound piece of advice Newleaf! Very much more sound than the whole "you must not be eating enough calories" argument. As a nurse, I totally recommend seeing your doctor. In fact, Before starting said diet, most people would benefit from having a full physical and blood work.

Newleafnewlife · January 2014

Thanks jcorpern! I just wish I had gone earlier but at least I know now.

Dottie27 · January 2014

Thank you! I need to have my cholesterol checked anyway this week and I will ask my doctor about it. If the tests come back normal, fine. But there are factors such as Vitamin D deficiency that can cause problems beyond the normal weight issues. Good info. to know!

Not losing weight? Before you up your calories read!

Replies

Categories