Having trouble losing weight now - how did you over come / what are your fitness routines?
blackmothra
Posts: 9
Hey everyone!
I know everyone hits this part in their journey: when you've lost a bulk amount of weight, but can't seem to shake any more off and in some cases you still have much more weight to lose! I go to the gym frequently and try to get 40 minutes of cardio in, burning around 300 calories - 20 minutes on the elliptical and 20 on the stationary bike. Whenever I go to the gym it seems like I never lose a thing from it. I went all through out last year and didn't drop anything! In the summer I had broken my foot and was unable to eat too regularly, and thats when I lost a shocking 7 pounds.
If you've had this problem, what did you do to fix it or to shake it off? I'm currently maintaining my weight between 196-200lbs. My starting weight 2 years ago was 235. I have read that sometimes you must eat more calories to be able to burn more, but I'm afraid to eat more things as obviously eating is what got me where I am. I also seem unable to do cardio for long and keep needing breaks - its a struggle to just do 20 on the elliptical! I have to take frequent breaks.
Thank you to any one who answers, you're all doing great!
I know everyone hits this part in their journey: when you've lost a bulk amount of weight, but can't seem to shake any more off and in some cases you still have much more weight to lose! I go to the gym frequently and try to get 40 minutes of cardio in, burning around 300 calories - 20 minutes on the elliptical and 20 on the stationary bike. Whenever I go to the gym it seems like I never lose a thing from it. I went all through out last year and didn't drop anything! In the summer I had broken my foot and was unable to eat too regularly, and thats when I lost a shocking 7 pounds.
If you've had this problem, what did you do to fix it or to shake it off? I'm currently maintaining my weight between 196-200lbs. My starting weight 2 years ago was 235. I have read that sometimes you must eat more calories to be able to burn more, but I'm afraid to eat more things as obviously eating is what got me where I am. I also seem unable to do cardio for long and keep needing breaks - its a struggle to just do 20 on the elliptical! I have to take frequent breaks.
Thank you to any one who answers, you're all doing great!
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Replies
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When you lose weight your calorie needs are less, you need to re-evualte your new calorie deficit.0
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Do you eat your exercise calories back? If so, where do you get the estimation from? What % do you eat back?
I'd recommend opening up your diary. You'll get more people to give you help, and get a better level of help if we can see what your day is like.0 -
You do have to fuel your workouts, but if you're doing less than an hour, that's not really an issue. What is likely happening is that you are just eating too much. Because of your injury, is it likely that you don't move as much as most people, so what you think you are burning is less than what you are. Reduce the amount you are eating and you should see weight loss.0
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Do you eat your exercise calories back? If so, where do you get the estimation from? What % do you eat back?
I'd recommend opening up your diary. You'll get more people to give you help, and get a better level of help if we can see what your day is like.
Oh thank you! I haven't regularly been tracking, so that's what I'm also working on so that I can see how much a day I'm regularly eating. If anything I am probably eating them back from dinner - it's more than easy to eat back 300 calories. Maybe I should try to burn more?
I had also read that sometimes you simply need to eat more calories so when you burn more your body isn't over using.0 -
It's been 5 months from the injury, while the foot aches, I was given clearance to begin exercising again. Even though I haven't been regularly tracking I know I haven't been eating a lot, I eat maybe twice a day (I know thats bad! eating small regular meals makes me binge so much more though), with dinner being the biggest meal. I think I eat around 1,200-1,500 so there is still room for cutting.TimothyFish wrote: »You do have to fuel your workouts, but if you're doing less than an hour, that's not really an issue. What is likely happening is that you are just eating too much. Because of your injury, is it likely that you don't move as much as most people, so what you think you are burning is less than what you are. Reduce the amount you are eating and you should see weight loss.
Thanks!0 -
A lot f people report that they eat a little more for a few days or a week and en, they go back to what they'd been doing and start losing again. It seems to be the popular way to break a plateau, so you can try it if you want.
Other people say they keep doing the same thing and eventually they just start losing again. Mone person who lost like 300 pounds said they had a five month plateau, but stuck with it and began losing again. Five months of hanging in there might be more patience than I'd have, but they did it.
I don't know the secret, but it's fun to try things out and see how they work.
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A lot f people report that they eat a little more for a few days or a week and en, they go back to what they'd been doing and start losing again. It seems to be the popular way to break a plateau, so you can try it if you want.
Other people say they keep doing the same thing and eventually they just start losing again. Mone person who lost like 300 pounds said they had a five month plateau, but stuck with it and began losing again. Five months of hanging in there might be more patience than I'd have, but they did it.
I don't know the secret, but it's fun to try things out and see how they work.
Thanks for the reply!
Yeah I was wondering if maybe I need to eat a little more so I can try to burn more with out worrying that my body may not enough calories afterwards or something
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blackmothra wrote: »Do you eat your exercise calories back? If so, where do you get the estimation from? What % do you eat back?
I'd recommend opening up your diary. You'll get more people to give you help, and get a better level of help if we can see what your day is like.
Oh thank you! I haven't regularly been tracking, so that's what I'm also working on so that I can see how much a day I'm regularly eating. If anything I am probably eating them back from dinner - it's more than easy to eat back 300 calories. Maybe I should try to burn more?
I had also read that sometimes you simply need to eat more calories so when you burn more your body isn't over using.
If you aren't tracking, then you're eating more than you think.0 -
Can you open your food diary? Do you weigh your food with a scale?0
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TRACK YOUR CALORIES WITH FOOD LOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DONT CHEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!0
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tigersword wrote: »blackmothra wrote: »Do you eat your exercise calories back? If so, where do you get the estimation from? What % do you eat back?
I'd recommend opening up your diary. You'll get more people to give you help, and get a better level of help if we can see what your day is like.
Oh thank you! I haven't regularly been tracking, so that's what I'm also working on so that I can see how much a day I'm regularly eating. If anything I am probably eating them back from dinner - it's more than easy to eat back 300 calories. Maybe I should try to burn more?
I had also read that sometimes you simply need to eat more calories so when you burn more your body isn't over using.
If you aren't tracking, then you're eating more than you think.
^^Yep. I'd assume you're eating at maintenance if you're not logging, and that's why you're not losing. Tighten up your logging, give it a few weeks and see what happens.
Mix in some lifting with your cardio to help out with body comp, make sure you're logging is on point, and there you go.0 -
blackmothra wrote: »Do you eat your exercise calories back? If so, where do you get the estimation from? What % do you eat back?
I'd recommend opening up your diary. You'll get more people to give you help, and get a better level of help if we can see what your day is like.
Oh thank you! I haven't regularly been tracking, so that's what I'm also working on so that I can see how much a day I'm regularly eating. If anything I am probably eating them back from dinner - it's more than easy to eat back 300 calories. Maybe I should try to burn more?
I had also read that sometimes you simply need to eat more calories so when you burn more your body isn't over using.
And there's your problem. Weight loss starts in the kitchen. Start logging and figuring out your deficit. Exercise will not make up for a bad diet.0 -
blackmothra wrote: »
And there is the problem. You are eating more than you think. At this point, you have to address the fundamental flaws first (log your food daily and get a scale). Once you address accuracy and consistency, we can address other issues.
In terms of exercise, it is recommended to have some balance between resistance/weight training and cardio.
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Start tracking accurately and honestly, weighing your food with a food scale.
Read the 'Announcement' posts in this subforum—this is a good starting point; you might also wanna read this. Set an appropriate calorie goal and track every single thing you eat or drink (tracking water, unsweetened herbal teas and spices is optional) for at least a month. Unless you do that, you have really no way of knowing your intake and since you're not losing weight, you're obviously eating at maintenance.
ETA: I'm too slow
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LiftAndBalance wrote: »Start tracking accurately and honestly, weighing your food with a food scale.
Read the 'Announcement' posts in this subforum—this is a good starting point; you might also wanna read this. Set an appropriate calorie goal and track every single thing you eat or drink (tracking water, unsweetened herbal teas and spices is optional) for at least a month. Unless you do that, you have really no way of knowing your intake and since you're not losing weight, you're obviously eating at maintenance.
ETA: I'm too slow
Thanks for linking the discussions! I'll look into getting a food scale right away.
Thank you everyone!0 -
If you don't know how much you are eating, you can't figure out how much activity you need to keep losing.
Also as you get fit, your body gets more efficient and you burn less calories in your workouts. That's why switching it up is important. Even just going to a different Zumba class, for example, because the routines will be different.0 -
As others have said: losing weight is more about what & how much you eat than how you workout. (Though how you workout can be good for fitness, and allow you to eat more.) But that's been covered pretty well...
You mentioned you can't go for more than 20 minutes on the eliptical. Could be one of 3 things that come to my mind. 1) do you like the elliptical? If not try something else. 2) is it mental? When you get to 20 and think you can't go any further, can you do 1 more minute? Probably. Maybe even another 2. Push thru to increase a little. Do the new time for a week, then add another 1-2 minutes. 3) or try adjusting the intenisty - dial it down a notch and go further. If you could run super fast but for only 30 seconds, or walk at a brisk pace for 30 minutes, you'd probably benefit your body more by doing the brisk walk - just for example.
I don't regularly do 'gym' work. I have a treadmill, I walk & run outside. That's my cardio 99% of the time. But first and foremost you have to enjoy it to some extent.0 -
FWIW I started 12-25-13 at 178.5/39 years old/5'5.5". I'd started many times before, and lost my way... This time, the only thing I can say that was truly different - and this pertains to me so may not help you - was realizing I'm lazy and that led to a sedentary lifestyle. That aha! moment meant that from now on, if I'm sedentary its by choice - and I want to be active. Doing rather than sitting back. So now I build activity into my life. I do much more. I think of food as nutrition/fuel first and foremost and make sure to get what I need in terms of protein, veggies, etc. That helps me to not fill up on empty/useless calories.
Now I'm ~125, surpassed my goal weight (and still trying to get the right mix of calories in to STOP losing) and training for a 1/2 marathon in less than 2 weeks. Yikes! For most of 2014 I ate 1400-1600/day and made sure to get 10k-15k steps per day. Over the summer I went up to 1600-1800. Now, 1900-2000...0 -
Bottom line, you are eating too much.
You need to log everything you eat. It's easy to get out of the habit, and when you do, under-estimating calories usually begins, along with impulse eating.
Don't eat back your calories burned, or only a small portion (enough so you don't go hungry). Most people over estimate their calories burned.
When you eat, prioritize protein. It should be roughly 25% of your meal. Protein will make you feel full.0 -
There are loads of people who spend a lot of time in the gym who are over fat or othrewise not as lean and mean as they could be...because weight loss doesn't happen in the gym...fitness happens in the gym and fitness makes creating an energy deficit easier, but weight loss (and weight control in general) is largely about your consumption.
When you consume a balance of energy for your stats and activity level then you will maintain your weight...if you consume more energy (calories) than your stats and activity require then you will gain weight...if you consume less energy (calories) than your stats and activity require, that energy deficit has to be compensated for by using stored energy (fat)0 -
I've been at this weight loss thing for nearly 6 years. I lost most of my weight in 2009-2011 (109lbs.) by dieting and just walking/running for exercise. This fall I didn't exercise much, and started losing after what seemed like a 2+ year plateau. I didn't gain during this period of rest, and for anytime I've taken "rest" I've always gained. This time I focused on the food, and not on the fitness. Fitness is important but you gotta know your macros, and go from there.0
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Oh I'm so glad its started to work out for you again! Thank youiheartinsanity wrote: »I've been at this weight loss thing for nearly 6 years. I lost most of my weight in 2009-2011 (109lbs.) by dieting and just walking/running for exercise. This fall I didn't exercise much, and started losing after what seemed like a 2+ year plateau. I didn't gain during this period of rest, and for anytime I've taken "rest" I've always gained. This time I focused on the food, and not on the fitness. Fitness is important but you gotta know your macros, and go from there.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »There are loads of people who spend a lot of time in the gym who are over fat or othrewise not as lean and mean as they could be...because weight loss doesn't happen in the gym...fitness happens in the gym and fitness makes creating an energy deficit easier, but weight loss (and weight control in general) is largely about your consumption.
When you consume a balance of energy for your stats and activity level then you will maintain your weight...if you consume more energy (calories) than your stats and activity require then you will gain weight...if you consume less energy (calories) than your stats and activity require, that energy deficit has to be compensated for by using stored energy (fat)
I've heard that before, that weight is mostly to do with your food consumption and quality, beginning with steady tracking today, I've eaten 1,370 calories. After setting a new projected goal I need to be eating around 1,600 (woah) and should burn 1,100 a week.
So I'll try this and see how it goes! thanks every one0 -
Don't even worry about burning xx number of calories, because its going to be difficult to figure out your true burns. Personally, I would eat the same number of calories daily (this is the TDEE method), weigh your foods and log daily, and then watch weight loss over a 4-8 week period. Once you know average loss, then we can figure out your real TDEE.0
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start tracking, eat at a deficit and you'll lose.0
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You need to track your food. It's very easy to underestimate how much you are eating (logging is nice but you also have to weigh it to be really accurate), and the calorie counts on machines at the gym are often inflated. To give you an idea, 45 minutes of stationary bike only burns 220 calories for me (low resistance, 14-16mph speed)... I can easily eat twice that just for breakfast.0
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When you're at a "plateau" it just means you're at maintenance. If you want to lose more weight, you'll have to reduce your intake or increase your output. It's almost always just that simple0
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