Husband needs help

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Ashleystrickland87
Ashleystrickland87 Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My husband who is 6'6 had a starting weight of 294. The first two weeks he lost 15 pounds and 11.5 inches. Awesome.
This last weigh in (today) was 2 weeks later. He lost only 3.6 pounds and 3 inches.
We're eating really good. Almost "clean", well pretty well clean. Lots of fruit, veggies, Greek yogurt, Qia seed and a bunch of other healthy clean things.
At the gym he's doing 24m on the treadmill and pushing it really hard. And then he does usually a 30m thing on the bike. Along with arms every other day and he does 100 crunches, and 100 scissors/leg lifts.

He's pretty discouraged right now. He pushes himself so much at the gym, and has been going for 25+ days straight.
He feels like he's doing all this for nothing and I don't know what to tell him. I've tried telling him he's gaining muscle, that the first weigh in was water weight, and that he's still doing great. A loss is a loss
He just says that a guy his size should be dropping fast and this weigh in reslly killed him.

What can/should I say to him? What can/should he be doing??
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Replies

  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    His initial weight loss probably contained a lot of water. Starting a new diet and/or exercise regime will cause water fluctuations for days to weeks afterwards.

    So, what may have happened is that he lost a good portion of water in the first 2 weeks. From there, he then regained water. So, this would make it seem like really fast weight loss in the first 2 weeks, then slower weight loss in the second 2 weeks.

    Example...

    Week 1 lose 3 pounds, 2 pound fat, 1 pound water.
    Week 2 lose 1 pounds, 2 pound fat loss, 1 pound water gain.

    It looks like "OH NO" on the scale, but overall, is still FAT loss.

    Stick with it!
  • ravenmiss
    ravenmiss Posts: 384 Member
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    He's lost nearly 19lbs in 4 weeks and he's not happy??!!!

    He needs to put things into perspective, when you have a lot of weight to lose it can shoot off in the first few weeks then it will settle down to around a 2lb a week loss.

    He needs to look at the bigger picture, not week to week.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    He's probably not gaining muscle.

    You don't mention much about how much he eats. Eating "Clean" doesn't equal weight loss. Eating at a deficit does. Sounds like he's doing pretty well - 18 lbs lost? That's good.

    But if he thinks he needs to do better - Does he weigh all solids, measure all liquids? Eat back his exercise calories if he is using MFP #s?
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
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    Nearly 4 lbs and 3 inches in two weeks....what's the problem?! That's almost 2 lb and 1.5 in. lost per week. That's awesome! What did he expect? To lose 10 lbs per week?

    Both of you need to chill out and be patient. He didn't gain the weight overnight and he won't lose it overnight either. The weight that came off in the first two weeks was probably mostly water.
  • PJPrimrose
    PJPrimrose Posts: 916 Member
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    Tell him how great he looks and reward him for sticking with it. This works at my house anyway!
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,301 Member
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    OP what does the 'm' stand for when he is on the treadmill and bike?
  • Manny0311
    Manny0311 Posts: 38 Member
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    Fanatstic weight loss....keep it up.

    Buy him something nice !
  • _mr_b
    _mr_b Posts: 302 Member
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    He's learning early that it's not all plain sailing and big losses. If it were that easy then MFP wouldn't exist.

    Big picture - he's doing great!! he's lost loads already and is showing commitment to it, that's the kind of determination he's going to need to succeed.

    My tip would be to get a HRM from a reputable brand (they're not cheap but are worth it - I've been there!) and use that for the gym calories, I've found MFP more than generous in it's estimations - 300 to 400 cals an hour in some cases!! Thinking about it Garmin do a vivofit band which looks good, I use their Edge for cycling and I feel it represents my burn more accurately.
  • bigdaddyrobb
    bigdaddyrobb Posts: 18 Member
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    I think people expect "Biggest Loser" numbers each week and that is not realistic. For me, I dont worry too much about the scale I go by how my clothes fit and how I feel.
  • Pmsylvester
    Pmsylvester Posts: 36 Member
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    OP what does the 'm' stand for when he is on the treadmill and bike?

    Minutes is my guess.
  • suzend
    suzend Posts: 155 Member
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    Keep with it. One year later and I've lost 65 lbs. If I didn't start and try to eat healthier this past year, I'm sure I would've gained more. It's not going to come off overnight. Plus, this is a lifestyle change. And to lose 4 lbs and 3 inches in two weeks? That's AWESOME!
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    His progress has been fantastic and sounds like he has been pushing himself really hard

    Is he weighing measuring and logging everything he eats and drinks as well as all the exercise?

    Unfortunately eating "healthy" foods or even "clean" foods is no guarantee of weigh loss. If you eat too much of this type of food you still wont lose
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Tell him to stop watching The Biggest Loser
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    My husband who is 6'6 had a starting weight of 294. The first two weeks he lost 15 pounds and 11.5 inches. Awesome.
    This last weigh in (today) was 2 weeks later. He lost only 3.6 pounds and 3 inches.
    We're eating really good. Almost "clean", well pretty well clean. Lots of fruit, veggies, Greek yogurt, Qia seed and a bunch of other healthy clean things.
    At the gym he's doing 24m on the treadmill and pushing it really hard. And then he does usually a 30m thing on the bike. Along with arms every other day and he does 100 crunches, and 100 scissors/leg lifts.

    He's pretty discouraged right now. He pushes himself so much at the gym, and has been going for 25+ days straight.
    He feels like he's doing all this for nothing and I don't know what to tell him. I've tried telling him he's gaining muscle, that the first weigh in was water weight, and that he's still doing great. A loss is a loss
    He just says that a guy his size should be dropping fast and this weigh in reslly killed him.

    What can/should I say to him? What can/should he be doing??

    Initial weight loss was largely water likely due to a large reduction in sodium intake due to his "clean" diet. The second two week period may be an actual reflection of his weight loss although honestly its hard to get a true gauge of your weekly loss until you have been regularly logging for several months.

    If he truly did lose 3.6 pounds of fat in 2 weeks honestly he should be VERY happy with that. That is a very quick fat loss. 3 inches in 2 weeks is huge. I'm not sure if he was expecting to radically transform his body in a few weeks or what but 3 inch loss in 2 weeks is impressive and he should be happy with that.

    One thing he is not doing though is gaining muscle so that is incorrect.
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,324 Member
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    dis aint linear.


    and yeah....sadly, it's not muscle. sry.

    persistence is key.

    are you guys measuring/weighing everything you eat?
  • afortunatedragon
    afortunatedragon Posts: 329 Member
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    divorce him and find a new one.
    you look HOT now, it will be very easy to find one.
    :bigsmile:
    :huh:

    Does he know you post about him?
    Anyhow, his weight loss sounds good, as others already posted.
  • MSLUC
    MSLUC Posts: 30
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    you don't say what his diet is like, but being in a like circumstance, 6'2", 240, I feel I can address this. Your husband probably is doing what most do, not eating enough good protein calories. When I started working out six month's ago I gained weight from not eating enough and my body thought I was starving and stored fat. Now with proper caloric intake I'm losing weight at about 2.5-3 lbs a week and adding large amounts of muscle. I would suggest a diet of 2500-3000 calories a day for a man his size.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Heck if I went off just the first 5 weeks of my diet/exercise routine I would have thought that it wasn't working at all since I lost zero weight during that time. I trusted the numbers, stuck with my program and now after 11 weeks I am averaging about 1 pound lost per week which I am pretty happy with personally. Now even 11 weeks is possibly not enough to get a real accurate read on my loss rate so that number will adjust with more data but 4 weeks is DEFINITELY not enough time to say what his loss rate is.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    you don't say what his diet is like, but being in a like circumstance, 6'2", 240, I feel I can address this. Your husband probably is doing what most do, not eating enough good protein calories. When I started working out six month's ago I gained weight from not eating enough and my body thought I was starving and stored fat. Now with proper caloric intake I'm losing weight at about 2.5-3 lbs a week and adding large amounts of muscle. I would suggest a diet of 2500-3000 calories a day for a man his size.

    This is total B.S. sorry. Your body does not "store fat" if you are "starving" and fat storage has only to do with your caloric intake vs your burn it has nothing to do with your macro balance (ie protein/carb/fat).
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    In...

    ...because I apparently have a compulsion to read all MFP "spouse needs help" threads.

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