Getting very frustrated

DianeinCA · March 2014

I have lost weight on my own before -- a few years ago I went from 180 to 140 through diet and exercise.. I also remember being frustrated at the start of that weightloss journey, but you can see how I ended up in my profile pic. Once things got going they progressed well over 6 months.

This time, I restarted around Jan. 1 at 170. i did the EM2WL thing of figuring out my TDEE - 15%. (At 5'6" and 170, my TDEE is 2290 and the cut is 1947.) I aimed for 1800 every day, figuring that there was always a possibility that I was figuring wrong. I run 3x a week, and I returned to the gym to lift weights. I decided to do Stronglifts 5x5. I also bought a treadmill desk, so I am achieving a steady amount of exercise every day, even without the running or the weights. I avoided the things that have been problems for me (like getting a latte at Starbucks).

Nothing happened. Like, nothing.

So I said, Okay, I am exercising a lot, but maybe I am figuring stuff wrong. (I measure things out, I write down everything I eat including the crap, but maybe I'm just completely out to lunch.) So I decided to move my calorie count per day to 1500 and if I exercised a lot -- say, 300 calories or above -- I would eat half of those calories back.

I have lost 5 pounds in about 8 weeks. Last week I had a sudden drop -- yay! my hard work is finally paying off! -- only to gain FOUR pounds two days later. I didn't eat 14000 calories in the interim,. The only thing I could figure was that I had some sushi, but I went extremely light on the soy sauce.

I am exhausted from all the exercise I've been doing. I've reached the point with SL where I'm upping weights on exercises every 3 days, not every session. (To tell you where I am with this, the last squats I did were 45x2x5, 65x1x5, 85x1x3, 115x1x2, and 135x5x5. I felt it.) At least 5 days a week I walk 5 miles on my treadmill IN ADDITION to any other running I'm doing.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I think my diary is open. If I've missed entering one meal, let alone one day, over the past 6 weeks, I'd be surprised.

DianeinCA · March 2014

Forgot to mention: yes, I've taken measurements. No, they haven't changed much. My pants don't feel noticeably looser. I have missed one week of exercising in January due to being sick and one week in February due to vacation, but every other week I'm exercising 4-5 days minimum (not including the treadmill).

chasetwins · March 2014

I eat 1550 (goal not net) and do not even come close to the amount of exercise yoi are doing..I am 5'5 160 pounds. at 170 I was also eating 1550. So i would say def eat more than that

Also - if you are exhausted from all the work outs - look at this way. Your exercise plan should be something you can do long term..not just to get you to goal weight.

Being a woman - are you close to TOM? We tend to gain any where from 1 to 5 pounds just in water weight.

Did you just change your workout? Could be water weight also. I gain temporarily every time I increase my burns.

How often are you weighing yourself? Try to only weigh once per week - weight fluctuates too much and can cause anxiety and feeling of failure if more often.

sunshine1082 · March 2014

Hey, Los Gatos! Lovely town.

First, five pounds in eight weeks is great! There's nothing wrong with that.

It sounds like you are doing the right things. As far as I can tell you are weighing your food and accounting for your calories as best as you can. You don't seem to be tracking sodium in your diary so this is just a guess, but I would bet you that the four pound weight gain you saw is just from water retention. Sushi has a lot of sodium, with or without soy sauce. You should see that drop off in the next few days. You could also be retaining water from your strength routine, which would mask fat loss on the scale for a little while.

If it is not water retention, then sadly your TDEE might be a bit lower than what the calculators are telling you. My advice would be to keep doing what you're doing for a few more weeks and see if anything changes. Frustrating, I know, but I think you should give your body a little more time before you do anything drastic like cut your calories.

psuLemon · March 2014

Exhaustion is probably from under eating. I know you said you measure, but is that with a food scale? Also, any medical issues?

Things I noticed, there seems to be a lot of generic entries (especially meat and eggs). So my question is are the entries right. Brands can have huge swings in calories and it's not uncommon to have inaccuracy due to that. Also, do you cook foods in oils or anything? If so, are you counting that?

Aaron_K123 · March 2014

To me it sounds like you are doing exactly the right things with one exception which is putting way to much emphasis on your scale weight. I assume your goal is to lose bodyfat and there are many ways to track your progress with that other than a scale. Your weight can fluctuate as much as 5% of your bodyweight (in your case something like 7 pounds) in water retention alone due to any number of factors (recovering muscles storing water, carbohydrates turned to glycogen solubilized in water, extra sodium that day recruiting water, your monthly cycle etc etc. If you focus to much on your weight (especially day to day) and consider that to be the be all end all determinate of your health you are setting yourself up for frustration. Changing weight four pounds in a day is 100% certainly just due to a change in water retention.

I don't think the solution was to eat less especially if that has taken you to the point of feeling tired all the time. What that is more likely to accomplish is to make you lethargic during your workouts and unmotivated. I'd bring the calories back up and put the scale in the closet for a while. Go with something else to measure like "How do I feel?" "How do I look?" "How strong do I feel?" and if you want numbers maybe a tape measured for your waist and hips.

Cheers

sunshine1082 · March 2014

I missed the part where you said you're exhausted. You might want to dial back some of the exercise, just so you don't burn out.

Thyme4change · March 2014

Hi Diane, I am right there with you. I continue to remind myself to only focus on the NSV, but not losing has gotten to me too. I feel like the lab rat in my own science experiment...So, I once again started seeking a different way, hoping that I would find the golden key. Have I? Probably not, but here is hope...where there is a will there is a way

Anywho, yesterday I just happened to flick on the tv and GMA was featuring a 'new' 3 min exercise. Of course it isn't new, interval training has been around for awhile...however it intrigued me and I downloaded the book..Fast Exercise by Mosley..I have not put it down. The first part of the book explains why we stop losing weight and how our bodies are designed. Honestly, it was a bit depressing to actually read what I had already feared and guessed. However the info is empowering because it takes away the mystery and the thoughts hat 'I must be doing something wrong' because that thought is were all my frustration comes from.

Now, I am to the part of how high interval train works and why it is so good and how it doesn't increase your appetite like regular endurance training does. And how HIT high interval training actually lowers your glucose resistance unlike traditional workout regimes.

Honestly it was worth the download and read. It is helping to understand why this is happening to 'me' ...it's just another piece to the puzzle...

I added you as a friend, if anyone wants to add me feel free to do so...I can't do his without my fit fam...

Kim

DianeinCA · March 2014

Thanks everyone who replied. It's good to get some reinforcement that, y'know, sometimes this just happens. And of course, after complaining yesterday, today the scale went down a pound. (Of course.) I'm still not back to where I was last Monday, though.

There has been one bonus to the level of exercise I've been doing! I've been sleeping really heavily at night. My Fitbit measures my sleep (restlessness and waking). When I'm exhausted, there's only a few lines of restlessness and maybe two wakings. When I'm not, my sleep is all over the place. (After I have a drink, it's like looking at scribbles across a page, in case I needed encouragement NOT to have a cocktail.)

I do measure everything I possibly can. Obviously, the trickiest is eating out, and I try to overestimate my calories there (even knowing that restaurant meals can be deadly). During the vacation in February I *did* gain one pound -- but I wrote down everything and drove my family nuts while I was doing it.

When I cook at home, I know how much I'm cooking because I've bought it and prepared it. So with something like steak, I know the total poundage of the meat, and I usually write down that I've eaten a third of it. At lunch (since I'm home alone, I actually weigh precisely what I eat, so lunch measurements tend to be much more specific than dinner). When I cook vegetables, I know when I've cooked in butter or oil and I add a third of those calories to my entry.

With eggs, I make a dozen hardboiled eggs and nosh on them during the week.

shellybe327 · March 2014

Hi Diane,
I am 45, have gained and lost many times, every diet out there yaddya yaddya... I have maintained a 60-80 lb loss with exercise, water and healthy eating, until this last year (love aging!) I'm 5'4" weigh 144 highest was 212. Looking over your diary I would suggest you start tracking sugar and sodium and replace at least half the carbs you are consuming with lean protein and add more raw veggies. Especially the way you work out - I do 5 days of cardio and 3 days of weights and stretching and I need a minimum of 120 grams of protein a day. I hope this helps - give it a shot. Also - try to eat your carbs early in the day, before dinner. and cut out sugar. try it for 2 weeks see what happens.

Getting very frustrated

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