Discouraged today--anybody else fighting this lack of real r

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  • Kelekat
    Kelekat Posts: 174 Member
    Kelekat, I don't have an answer for you. I just want to say it must be frustrating. I don't understand why doctors can't order a test that someone specifically requests. Even if they don't believe it will help, if you're willing to pay for it, why should they care? I hope you find the help you need.

    It is frustrating. Today marks two days shy of one month that I've been dieting and exercising. I've lost exactly 2.8 pounds and the first two pounds see-sawed back and forth for over two weeks before my body finally let go of them. That means I've lost .08 pounds in two weeks. And people want to tell me that I expect too much too fast?

    Y'all try dealing with the <lack> of weight loss when you've put forth the kind of effort I have and see how it makes you feel.

    I am at my wit's end.
  • funkycamper
    funkycamper Posts: 998 Member
    Kelekat, I don't have an answer for you. I just want to say it must be frustrating. I don't understand why doctors can't order a test that someone specifically requests. Even if they don't believe it will help, if you're willing to pay for it, why should they care? I hope you find the help you need.

    It is frustrating. Today marks two days shy of one month that I've been dieting and exercising. I've lost exactly 2.8 pounds and the first two pounds see-sawed back and forth for over two weeks before my body finally let go of them. That means I've lost .08 pounds in two weeks. And people want to tell me that I expect too much too fast?

    Y'all try dealing with the <lack> of weight loss when you've put forth the kind of effort I have and see how it makes you feel.

    I am at my wit's end.

    What makes you think you're the only one putting out a lot of effort and seeing slow results? It took me three weeks to lose 1#. I've been on a stall since Christmas and have only lost 1# in that time. Although, with my intense exercise routine, I did go down a pant size since Christmas so I'm actually not too upset about that.

    It sounds like you're only about 35# overweight. Is that about right? According to many people smarter than I about weight loss, this is roughly the weight loss you should be aiming for:
    Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
    With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
    With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
    With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)

    As for your effort...are you still exercising 3 times weekly? Maybe you need to increase the number of days, duration or type of exercise you're doing. I see a lot of people doing the same exercise plan for months and wonder why they're not improving. When i could first return to exercise after recovery from a back injury, just last August, I could barely do 5-minutes at a stretch on the elliptical. Now I'm exercising about 10-20 hours a week doing a lot of different things to mix it up, some things that are just plain fitness-oriented and some things that are just plain fun to do. The big variance is that I sometimes go on long hikes or long bike rides, sometimes I don't. My base exercising is roughly 10 hours per week.

    I know many people say it's not necessary to exercise that much for weight loss. But my goals right now are more fitness-oriented. I do a mix of weights, HIIT, steady-state cardio, and classes for fun. I swim, run, bike, lift, hike, do various classes like yoga, pilates, cardio-kickboxing, zumba, aqua-fitness, and such because they are fun and offer a different workout. I usually do 2 spin classes weekly. I find that focusing on fitness goals is a lot more fun than focusing on the dang scale. And I'm sure if I wasn't doing all of this, I wouldn't have gone down a pant size with only a 1# loss in about 1.5 months time.

    I suggest you read around the forums, concentrate on the good information in the sticky posts at the top of this thread, and then do some experimenting to see what works best for you. You might need to do some tweaking but don't look at this as being discouraging but, rather, an opportunity to learn more about your own body. There's a lot of value in that.

    I'm 54 and it's all working for me. Maybe not super-quickly but that's OK because I'm fitter and feel better every day. You are already losing quicker than I have. Just be patient and enjoy the journey.
  • Kelekat
    Kelekat Posts: 174 Member
    I exercise EVERY day. I weight train three days a week. I do some form of intense cardio seven days a week. On weekends, I generally burn over 1,000 a day hiking in the mountains that surround San Diego. My ability to withstand that punishment has increased. My fat has not gone anywhere. My BMI is 36.2% up from 22% just 1-1/2 years ago.

    I don't think that I'm the only person having this problem at all--that's why I'm hoping to hear from some people who have. I'd like to find out how they overcame--especially if they're having probable thyroid related issues and can't get a doctor to give them the proper thyroid blood test to find out what is going on in their body, much less get one to listen to them.

    I hate to sound as if I'm whining here. I'm quite sure that other folks have these same related issues. I'm just trying to figure out how to go forward, knowing that medically, I'm not likely to get any kind of help other than being viewed as a menopausal hormonal basketcase. I DO know my body--I've lived in it going on my 53rd year and I know when something is not right--and something is not right. In the past, I would have lost about 6 pounds or more by now (and when I say in the past, I mean less than 2 years ago).

    All I know is that I am fighting an uphill battle with my body right now and if someone else has gone through this hormonal hell, I'd appreciate hearing how they kept their sanity and lost some weight at the same time.
  • Alphawolf02
    Alphawolf02 Posts: 94
    If you are exercising regularly and eating back those calories lost (which is highly recommended), try checking in with your inches instead of weight. I am very slow to lose weight, but I am losing inches!
  • funkycamper
    funkycamper Posts: 998 Member
    I exercise EVERY day. I weight train three days a week. I do some form of intense cardio seven days a week. On weekends, I generally burn over 1,000 a day hiking in the mountains that surround San Diego. My ability to withstand that punishment has increased. My fat has not gone anywhere. My BMI is 36.2% up from 22% just 1-1/2 years ago.

    I don't think that I'm the only person having this problem at all--that's why I'm hoping to hear from some people who have. I'd like to find out how they overcame--especially if they're having probable thyroid related issues and can't get a doctor to give them the proper thyroid blood test to find out what is going on in their body, much less get one to listen to them.

    I hate to sound as if I'm whining here. I'm quite sure that other folks have these same related issues. I'm just trying to figure out how to go forward, knowing that medically, I'm not likely to get any kind of help other than being viewed as a menopausal hormonal basketcase. I DO know my body--I've lived in it going on my 53rd year and I know when something is not right--and something is not right. In the past, I would have lost about 6 pounds or more by now (and when I say in the past, I mean less than 2 years ago).

    All I know is that I am fighting an uphill battle with my body right now and if someone else has gone through this hormonal hell, I'd appreciate hearing how they kept their sanity and lost some weight at the same time.

    I wish I could help you. It sounds like you're doing a lot. I know I lose slower now that I'm post-menopause but I am still losing. If you're doing all this and not even losing inches, then I'm at a loss. Hope you can find a doctor who will give you the tests you desire and find an answer.

    You say you do intense cardio. Have you tried HIIT or Tabata style workouts? They sure seem to help me and might be worth a try. My straight cardio is more for fun stuff than for exercise. Just a thought.

    The only other thing that I could recommend is playing with your macros. Maybe you need a different composition of your proteins/carbs/fats? I know I have to keep my carbs a bit lower in order to lose weight and feel better. But that doesn't work for everybody so it's just a suggestion. And upping your water, maybe?

    I might suggest starting a different discussion with the word thyroid in the the title. It's possible someone else with thyroid issues will see it and be able to give you some insight. Best wishes.
  • debra102011
    debra102011 Posts: 16
    Don't give up until you find a good Dr. Mine was hesitant to order a A1C (diabetic test) but I persisted and now he does it yearly.
    You must be proactive when it comes to your health which I am sure you know and it might help if you ask your GYN Dr. for the test, sometimes they are more in tune to a woman's body than the Family Practices guys are.

    Good luck and hang in there :).
  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
    I had to admit to those little um, discrepencies, in my calorie count before I started to see the scale move appropriately. Just keep going forward. Don't give up!
  • gjc50
    gjc50 Posts: 35
    so true, very good advice
  • porvenir
    porvenir Posts: 27 Member
    I exercise EVERY day. I weight train three days a week. I do some form of intense cardio seven days a week. On weekends, I generally burn over 1,000 a day hiking in the mountains that surround San Diego. My ability to withstand that punishment has increased. My fat has not gone anywhere. My BMI is 36.2% up from 22% just 1-1/2 years ago.

    I don't think that I'm the only person having this problem at all--that's why I'm hoping to hear from some people who have. I'd like to find out how they overcame--especially if they're having probable thyroid related issues and can't get a doctor to give them the proper thyroid blood test to find out what is going on in their body, much less get one to listen to them.

    I hate to sound as if I'm whining here. I'm quite sure that other folks have these same related issues. I'm just trying to figure out how to go forward, knowing that medically, I'm not likely to get any kind of help other than being viewed as a menopausal hormonal basketcase. I DO know my body--I've lived in it going on my 53rd year and I know when something is not right--and something is not right. In the past, I would have lost about 6 pounds or more by now (and when I say in the past, I mean less than 2 years ago).

    All I know is that I am fighting an uphill battle with my body right now and if someone else has gone through this hormonal hell, I'd appreciate hearing how they kept their sanity and lost some weight at the same time.

    I hear you. Two years ago I was 41 years old, 5'6", and had been about 125 pounds for at least a decade. I was very active in my daily life and enjoyed a very clean diet. So, then I moved to CA, took a very stressful and mostly sedentary job (who knew there could be so many high drama meetings), and started and quit smoking. I grew 2 years older and I gained more than 25 pounds! Once I finally decided to try to get things under control, I thought "no problem, I've never had trouble with my weight." I cut out most complex carbs and saw no change in my weight. I started exercising with real focus. No weight loss and really very little gained strength. I quit drinking alcohol. I gained more pounds. I had my thyroid checked multiple times by multiple doctors - all was normal.

    I have finally accepted that my body is changing as I age. The days of not really needing to watch my calories because eating clean was enough to keep the weight off are gone. Now I am logging calories and improving my diet again, focusing on stress reduction, and making sure that I get regular and consistent exercise. In more than 2 months, I have lost 6 pounds. That is less than 1 pound a week. But my body is responding in a positive way to the work I am doing. That makes me feel very happy.

    Our bodies change. It is all part of life's path. At least for me, I had to make peace with the fact that this means that weight is not just going to fall off the way it once did without any sort of calorie reduction or hard won patience.

    Please do speak with your doctor if your body is telling you something is not right. Try to hang in there, treat yourself kindly, and be proud of the good things you are doing for yourself.
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