Why do we lose weight so slow

Krob71la · November 2023

My body struggles to get in fat burn mode. I have a low heart weight even though I weigh a lot. I don’t easy get into fat burning mode like others. I wish I had good tips on how to increase my calorie burn rates. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

My resting heart rate is 49. I weigh 240 lbs and I am 70 lbs over weight. I have to eat less than. 1500 cal per day and excercise everyday to loose maybe 2 lbs per month.

loulee997 · November 2023

Krob71la wrote: »

My body struggles to get in fat burn mode. I have a low heart weight even though I weigh a lot. I don’t easy get into fat burning mode like others. I wish I had good tips on how to increase my calorie burn rates. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

My resting heart rate is 49. I weigh 240 lbs and I am 70 lbs over weight. I have to eat less than. 1500 cal per day and excercise everyday to loose maybe 2 lbs per month.

Hi,

IF all of that is accurate, then it sounds like you may have an underlying issue.
Did you do a vitamin/mineral panel? If you have low magnesium, low B12, or low Vitamin D, it can mess with your heart rate and weight loss.

Have you had your heart checked to make sure you don't have a condition causing the bradycardia (low heart rate)?

Have you been checked for sleep apnea? If you have sleep apnea, it can impact your heart rate and metabolism.

Once you are sure you have no vit/min deficiencies, no underlying heart issues, or sleep apnea--then let's try the following.

Make sure you get enough B12, D3, Vitamin C, Omega 3, Magnesium. If you are deficient in these vitamins/minerals---it can really slow your weight loss.
HIIT workouts may help. These intense interval workouts can give the metabolism a boost.
Make sure you are eating enough protein.
Double check your portions and calories to make sure they are accurate.
Build muscle. Strength training builds muscle. Muscle burns more energy even when you are at rest. It may help your overall calorie burn.
Weird one--sit less. Try working standing up for part of the day. If that isn't possible, try taking a quick stretch and walk each hour or so. Sitting all day is hell on your metabolism.
Some people have luck with Oolong or Green Tea to help boost fat burning. Studies are mixed so it may or may not work.
Another slightly odd one--- Try eating more spicy peppers or spicy food. Along with oolong/gree tea and protein---spicy peppers, in some studies, have pumped up the metabolism.
If you are tolerant of caffeine, try adding caffeine such as coffee to your day to boost the heart rate.

AnnPT77 · November 2023

Low heart rate per se doesn't mean you burn fewer calories exercising compared to other people . . . even though a heart rate monitor or fitness tracker may say otherwise.

If someone's heart is more efficient or strong, it pumps more blood per beat, and delivers more oxygen to the body per beat. It's the oxygen consumption that correlates with calorie burn. Heart rate is just a proxy, quite imperfect, but much easier to measure than oxygen consumption.

The "fat burning zone" isn't some absolute numerical heart rate range. It's just an estimate you see in charts and from heart rate monitors, and in reality varies with individual physiology, including varying with our actual resting heart rate and actual maximum heart rate (which can differ wildly from age estimates like 220-age).

Further the "fat burning zone" doesn't really matter. Why not? If we eat fewer calories than we burn all day in every way, we'll make up the difference by burning stored body fat (or other body tissue, but the body prefers to burn stored fat).

Calorie burn from exercise is directly related to the work being done, in pretty much the physics sense of "work". We burn calories when we do activities (we even burn some just being alive). Exercise just burns some extra calories, more calories per minute than if we stayed still. Any amount of extra movement adds to calorie burn, no matter whether heart rate is high or not.

My resting heart rate is low, too: Today, it's 46. (Usually it's around 50.) I can burn calories via exercise. I lost weight fine, and when I exercise I burn more calories than when I don't exercise.

So, how do you burn more calories? Move more. Exercise, sure. Don't do so much that you get exhausted and drag through the rest of the day, because that will burn fewer calories during the rest of the day. Do something that's moderately challenging, but energizing after a bit of "whew" right after the exercise.

Move more in daily life, too: That helps a surprising amount. There are ideas from many MFP-ers in this thread:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

Weight loss isn't super fast for anyone. Yes, I'd expect you to lose faster than 2 pounds a month at 1500 calories, but individuals do vary. Also, calorie counting is surprisingly subtle skill, and it's easy to undercount.

If you're not using a food scale, that's a place to get more accurate. There are several good posts in the "most helpful posts" in this part of the Community about improving at counting, too.

Hang in there, you can make this work. Even at 2 pounds a month, you're 24 pounds lighter in a year, and that's better than not seeing that loss. Best wishes!

DFW_Tom · November 2023

Ann is absolutely correct (as usual) in her comments above. We don't burn all that many calories during exercise. What exercise does for us is make us fitter. Healthier. More apt to be active throughout the day, thus burn off more energy. For me, it also reduces my hunger.

I use to weigh over 300 lbs and have a resting heart rate measured in the upper 30's bpm at both my PCP and Cardiologist's office. Doesn't matter. I also have CVD that keeps me from being able to maintain any extended high heart rate during cardio workouts. After I was able to get a handle on my Insulin Resistance by eating whole foods and limiting carbs, I lost 120 lbs. The rate of loss slowed considerably as I became slimmer and had less energy stores from body fat to draw on.

The best suggestion I can give you is to move more throughout the day as loulee suggested. Not saying exercise, but just movement to get your blood flowing. Every 15 minutes move around some. Walk around the house, go up a flight of stairs. If you are chained to a desk at your job you can still stand up and walk in place or pump you knees up and down under your desk for a minute or two. Stay diligent in weighing and logging your food. Make a game or challenge out of it. Get stress out of losing weight. You're doing what you can to be healthier and deserve to be proud of the effort even if you weight loss slows to a crawl. Good luck.

tomcustombuilder · November 2023

Exercise doesn't really burn that many calories, it's more for maintaining strength and keeping the CV system healthy. The majority of calorie burn comes from your BMR and NEAT, daily movements. If fatloss is too slow then it's a calorie consumption issue. Your weekly calories will determine the rate of loss. You are most likely taking more than 1,500 calories a day on average.

rileysowner · November 2023

Ann has pretty much covered everything I would say. If your logging is accurate, then I would expect you to lose more than 2 pounds per month. The most likely issue is that your logging is not as accurate as you think it is. It was not until I saw the difference between weighing solids (that would include ones that are ground) and using volume measures (cups, ml, etc) that I basically said everything but actual liquids are going to be weighed. Also, confirm the entry you are using from the database and avoid all the foods labeled "Homemade" or similar. You don't know what was used in them so you have not idea if what you made is even remotely similar.

The less likely issue is that you have some medical issue that is slowing your weight loss. Getting check by your doctor for that might be a good thing. The easier first step is review your logging very critically to assure yourself that the number you are getting are accurate.

musicfan68 · November 2023

How are you measuring your calories? If you aren't weighing food on a food scale, you are most likely eating more calories than you think. At your weight , if you are eating 1500 calories, you should be losing at a pretty good rate.

Why do we lose weight so slow

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