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joybedford
joybedford Posts: 1,680 Member
Hi my name is Joy I am feeling a bit despondent (I think that's the right word) at the moment. I am really struggling to lose weight. I am 43 tomorrow and have not lost any weight for the past year. I initially lost 24lbs fairly easily regained 10 and have yoyoed since then. I have just spent 30 days on a strict paleo diet stuck to it religiously eaten super cleanly but quite high fat as the paleo diet is and don't feel any different at all. I started following paleo to help my medical conditions (fibromyalgia, gastritis and IBS) but it hasn't even helped with that. I have just had a cheeky weigh in and have gained 1lb ( I usually weigh on an empty stomach but was at least expecting a loss so jumped on the scale). I have lost 1/2 inch off my waist but other measurements the same. I workout 6 days a week including 3-4 lifting sessions. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I eat about 1600-2000 calories a day on days that I run I struggle to eat enough and sometimes have low net calories. The only thing I can think is I am eating too high in fat (about 50%). I am really mad my first instinct is to eat cake, my second is to cut my calories, my third to increase exercise. I know I shouldn't do any of these things (my husband thinks I overdo it with exercise anyway) and I won't but I really want to. Is it just my age or something else. I am so desperate to lose this body fat I am not that much overweight about 10-15 lbs but really need to drop body fat. Help. My diary is open if you need to take a look.

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  • wibutterflymagic
    wibutterflymagic Posts: 788 Member
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    Hmm....well from my experience of last fall through the winter even though I was "working out" it turned out I wasn't really at the intensity it should have been. I was also eating not great but that's not your issue but maybe you are eating more then is needed.

    What are you doing for your workouts? Are you pushing yourself? If you are pushing yourself with your lifting maybe you need to drop 1 day and only do 3. You should have at least 1 day between lifting sessions so your muscles can recover.

    How do you eat your calories? Do you go up and down each day depending on your workouts or do you eat a constant everyday? I've calculated my exercise into my daily calorie goal and eat a constant each day so it becomes more of weekly goals vs. daily. I find it less stressful.

    I just took a closer look at your diary. It looks like a couple months ago you were averaging low calories....like around 1200, if that, and in the last month you've been on the higher side.

    Maybe try doing a consistant daily intake of like 1750 and if you aren't really pushing yourself with your workouts up your intensity a little bit. Are you a gym member? If so do they have personal trainers? If you have the means I would highly recommend one. It was the best descision I made.
  • kathleenjoyful
    kathleenjoyful Posts: 210 Member
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    Firstly that 1lb is unlikely to be a "gain", you didn't weigh on an empty stomach and women's weight can fluctuate widely throughout our cycle and even in a day.

    If Paleo is not helping your chronic health conditions, there is no point continuing it. I don't want to overtly criticise Paleo because this isn't the place for it, but there are problems with a diet so low in carbohydrates, you don't get the energy you need (especially given how much you're working out) and it can damage your metabolism. I've read so many testimonies from people who actually got sicker after long term Paleo dieting. Matt Stone's book "Solving The Paleo Equation" might be a good read for you. http://www.amazon.com/Solving-Paleo-Equation-Nutrition-Exercise/dp/1936608278

    Have you had recent blood work, especially thyroid? Are you showing signs of peri-menopause, or are you menopausal? These are all factors that might make it harder to lose weight.

    I second picking a consistent calorie goal and eating to that every single day. Focus on foods that give you energy and nourish you, get enough protein, instead of eating "clean" and "strict". Get more sleep. Find ways to decrease stress in your life.

    What are you doing for workouts on the days you don't lift?

    The most important factors in weight loss for me were: eating enough and not restricting food groups (don't jump from fad diet to fad diet...Paleo is a fad diet), picking a lifting program and doing it consistently, trusting my body and the process, and patience. We don't always see the results we want immediately and it can take some experimenting to find our true TDEE and cut. Sometimes you need to eat more for a longer period of time (especially if you're lost weight on low calorie dieting in the past, and are still not eating enough) and focus on revving up your metabolism, rather than a focus on losing fat and weight. You want to set your body and your health up for long term success, and that means being kind to yourself, and patient.

    Others may have a different perspective to me, but I don't want you to feel despondent, or panic. You deserve to feel happy, healthy, fit and strong, and love your body. Give yourself time to get it all in balance, and worry about the scale less for now.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    The high fat doesn't matter unless you are eating over maintenance - but it appears you are eating at maintenance or TDEE.

    So I'd suggest you have already done this to yourself with that routine. And you want to do exactly what it says to keep losing.
    http://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/truth-about-metabolic-damage

    I'd second the thought that now your workouts aren't what they could be, even though it may feel like you are doing the same. When you lost weight, then the pace for running should be faster to equal the same intensity level, and the weight on the bar should have increased merely to be lifting the same amount (should be even faster and more yet for improved technique).

    Since you seem to be of the thought that bigger is better (eat less, exercise more, increase the deficit, though there isn't one right now), you could follow this out to the end.

    Since current eating level with current level of exercise is maintenance, you would need to decrease calories 250 and find an average of 250 more to burn daily to lose 1 lb weekly.

    How successful will that be you think at that eating and exercise level.
    For every 10 lbs lost, your maintenance or TDEE drops by about 75 cal. So near goal weight, it appears you'd need to eat even 150 less than that to keep losing 1 lb weekly.

    And once you reach goal weight, your maintenance with doing that new level of workouts would be 400 less than current.
    And be aware exercise stops have as much a positive results when you undereat so greatly from potential.

    Can you really eat that much for maintenance?

    And, if you don't workout that much - you'd actually have to eat even less.
    You go on vacation and eat more and exercise less - you gain fat.
    You get sick or injured and can't workout - you better eat a whole lot less or you gain fat.

    Is that really the future you want? I see future failure written all over that.

    Suck up the fact you put yourself here in a bad spot, and take some time and heal your body.

    The fact your body is already stressed with disease means the stress of a diet and too much exercise is just not going to work for fat loss.

    Perhaps you are of the thought all this exercise is for weight loss - very wrong.

    Diet is for weight loss - done right only fat loss, done wrong includes muscle mass loss. That sucks later big time.
    Exercise is for heart health and body improvements - done right can make diet easier because you get to eat more, done wrong can aid muscle loss actually.

    Also, exercise if done right tears the body down.
    It's the rest for recovery and repair that builds it back up, stronger if diet allows.

    Pretty sure you've gotten to the point with terrible diet that exercise is now just one big stress on your body.
    Doing paleo with low carbs and great amounts of exercise goes specifically against their recommendations - for a very good reason - it's a bad idea. Hence they reason they modify it for those that enjoy "killer" or "chronic" cardio.

    So you ready to heal, or keep going this route that isn't working?

    You know the definition of insanity, right?

    Lifting full body 3 x weekly. Split routines are for intermediate lifters - you been doing lifting for 2 years to be intermediate?
    Cardio running only after lifting, only walking on days between lifting to aid repair.

    Since you run, you must know of the benefits of intervals.
    Why are they useful?
    What would you say happens if you went hard 30 seconds, followed by hard 30 sec, followed by hard 30 sec?
    What happens to that hard effort very quickly?
    What does the hard effort eventually become?
    Look at your current workout schedule day by day, what is it like - true intervals, or my description above?
  • AnitraSoto
    AnitraSoto Posts: 725 Member
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    First of all, Happy Birthday!!

    It sounds to me like you may just getting too stressed out about the whole process. You said yourself that you only have 10 - 15 pounds to drop, so I would just stop, and re-evaluate. Take a step back and take a breather. Stress is not our friend on this journey and you have the stress of: eating at what is probably a steep deficit, stress of exercise (and what may be too much exercise), the stress of everyday life, and now the stress of not being able to lose weight.

    You said that you know that lowering calories and increasing exercise is not the correct answer, so I think in you heart you know what you need to be doing (or else you wouldn't be on this board). Put your weight loss goals on the back burner for right now and just work on healing your metabolism and getting strong. I would throw any fad diets out the door and try to stick with the 40/30/30 macros that EM2WL recommends (the Paleo didn't work anyway...), continue to make healthy food choices as you have been doing, and just relax for a bit and let your body chill and heal.

    Have you figured out your TDEE? At this point, personally, I would go ahead and try a reset. If you are doing lots of cardio, maybe cut back on that a bit and focus on the strength training and maybe some HIIT, yoga or walking on your off days. Calculate your TDEE based on this new level of exercise. Work your way up to TDEE and once you get there, stay at that level for 8 - 12 weeks --- maybe even longer. Stay there until your weight has stabilized and until you are completely at peace with where you are before taking a very small 10% cut (you have so little to lose). Perhaps after concentrating on the strength training and eating at TDEE, you will have enough positive body composition changes to where the number on the scale won't matter to you any more...

    You said it yourself, your instinct is to cut your calories and increase your exercise. We know this is a recipe for disaster, long-term. Take this time to work on treating your body gently and fuel it properly --- it will reward you (and you will rock being 43!!!) Hang in there girl - just re-evaluate and do what you know you need to do. If you want, hop on over to EatMore2WeighLess. We have a great forum over there and lots of people going through the same things you are. There is also a board where you can start your own thread and track your personal journey -- you can check in every day and log the ups and downs..