Looking for advice...1 mth not losing hardly anything...

[Angelgirljessi]

Hi There. I'm 31 Female mother to 1 son I weigh 240 lbs. I've just been lazy and since feb I realized that i'm 50 lbs overweight from my goal and i weight 27 lbs more then when I was full blown pregnant. No excuse for it I also got a new job 4 yrs ago which is a call center sit down job instead of my previous phlebotomy running my butt off at the hospital job. I also heard metoblism slows after 30 yrs yay for me. But I bought a fitbit charge 2 in hopes to help motivate me and keep me motivated I'm not happy with how I look and just tired all the time. I have almost 6 yr old boy who I enjoy playing with and I need to be healthy I have heart disease and diabetes in the family I had gestional diabetes with my pregnancy I know its a matter of time until I'm diagnosised with it. But for the past month I've been eating at or under 1800 calories a day. I started walking 30 min every single morning I did that for a week just to get back in the sync of this working out idea then the following week I continued 30 min every morning and started an aerobics workout that is 30-45min in the evening. Sometimes I walk in the evening ontop of the aerobics workout. I've been doing very well I feel. I've only lost 2 lbs and normally in the past I drop 5 lbs water weight like that. I took measurements have lost 1 inch around my belly. I feel some days like i've busted my butt and I don't want to get frusterated and give up. I know losing weight is hard work and takes time. Before I started doing anything different I did only have about 3-3500 steps a day and since 3/20/17 I've increased to atleast 8000 a day that is my goal and here the past week or 2 i've been doing atleast 10,000 steps a day. Any help with workouts/food would be appreciated. I love this community and love the before and after pics it really helps to keep me going. Am i expecting too much from myself? Thanks everyone!

[Esya]

Hello @Angelgirljessi, nice to see you around. Have you been logging your weight daily or weekly on FitBit? If so you can login on trendweight.com with your FitBit account to see a graph for your weight data. This is a great tool as it will help filtering out the fluctuations. Also it will show the calories deficit/surplus based on the weight change over time.

I have a Charge 2 as well and while I think it is quite accurate it might overestimate your calories burned as HR enabled trackers tend to do so. With trendweight you can check. How large is the calorie deficit you are eating at at the moment according to your FitBit?

To me it sounds like you are doing the right things by increasing your activity and eating at a deficit and your body might need some time realising you started this. You lost 2 lbs and 1 inch around your belly, so that is progress.

Some tips:

• Try to get up every hour. I understand it is hard with your job, but sitting down for longer times increases quite a lot of health risks. Even if it is just standing up that will help your general health.
• Drink plenty of water. It will help body processes as well as with the hunger feeling that might pop up.
• For information on food visit the Eat Well section, there is a lot of information and you can ask any questions you might have.
• Check if the calories burned estimated by FitBit is correct for you. There is also an online calculator where you can check, but I have it bookmarked on another PC. Can link it later.

[Angelgirljessi]

Yes i track all my food in my fitness pal and use fitbit app like crazy. I drink atleast 60 oz water every day very easily. I've also been walking on my 45 min lunch break when its nice outside. Where do i find the answer to this question "How large is the calorie deficit you are eating at at the moment according to your FitBit?" so I can tell you accurately.

[Mukluk4]

Don't focus on the scale.  Focus on your measurements.

[Angelgirljessi]

I"m trying to focus more on how much better I feel and the measurements but this weight has got to come off its so unhealthy 😞

[Esya]

@Angelgirljessi

You say you eat 1800 calories. Your FitBit tells you how much you burn. Calories out (from burning) minus calories in (from eating) would result in your calories deficit or surplus.

With this calculator you can also check how many calories you burn. The BMR is the amount you burn while being sedentary and the TDEE is the total amount of calories burned.

[Esya]

@Angelgirljessi

Seeing how determined you are the weight will come off. It might just take a little longer. We got your back and will help you on the right track. You are taking the right steps and that is most important.

[Angelgirljessi]

Oh ok I gotcha Esya just a past few examples over the last 2 weeks range from 1428-2440 calorie deficit. I hate that I let myself go this much but I'm so glad to have this community.

[Esya]

Do you mean 1428-2440 burned or eaten?

[Angelgirljessi]

here i will provide screen shot does that help? i thought the -1195is what I was deficit? I'm still learning trying to read this thing.

[Angelgirljessi]

[Esya]

@Angelgirljessi

Yes that helps, thanks for that. Now I understand what you mean. I was just a bit confused by your wording, sorry for that. To me it looks like you are eating too little (yes, I know this sounds contradicting!). Now I have seen that 2nd picture, yes you are eating too little. This picture does not show the deficit, it means you actually ate 1195 calories less than your weight plan. Your weight plan already makes you eat 750 calories less than you burn and you eat even less than that.

Please calculate your BMR with the online calculator. It is best to not eat less calories than your BMR, as that is what your body needs for normal functioning. This means that if you ate this amount and would just sit on the couch all day you would maintain your weight (or close to). You lose by exercising and exercising also allows you to eat a bit more.

Then for weight loss a deficit of about 2000 calories is really large and hard to keep up in the long run. You might have more success with the deficit of 750 calories that you set up in your weight plan. This means hitting the green as you did on Sunday instead of being in the yellow below it. Also when your body feels it gets too little food it might respond by hanging onto the fat.

PS: I have updated this post now I have seen both pictures.

[Esya]

From your 2nd picture I think you have set your weight loss plan up right, but I would suggest you eat until you hit the green like you did on Sunday instead of being below that in the yellow.

[Angelgirljessi]

@Esya thanks for that calculator thing according to that it wants me to consume atleast 2200 - 2400 calories a day that's alot...I've been told I need to eat more and if I don't my body could go into this starvation mode which I've encountered before several years ago its just hard to eat more when i'm not hungry. Thank you for all your time and feedback it is much appreciated!

[Esya]

@A_Lurkerhas experience with eating too little when trying to lose weight and having to up the calorie intake. I think she can give you some great advice having gone through that experience.

I know it is a real struggle to eat more when you are not hungry. My suggestion would be to try to eat more often instead of eating bigger meals. And I think it might not be the best to start eating 2200 calories tomorrow, but to increase it over time.

[A_Lurker]

@Angelgirljessi- Okay, a couple of things.  As @Esya has said, I've had better luck eating more calories, however, I'd want to ask a few questions before I start saying 'eat more'.

First, find out your theoretical BMR:  http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/

(I used 30 years old, 5'6", and currently weighing 240, and aiming for 200 lbs) <-- you need to pick a mid point

It tells me that this person would need to eat 1869 calories a day to maintain their body's basic functions.  To move to 200 pounds (the first step) a sedentary person should eat 2034 calories per day.  So now we have a range for someone who gets up, goes to a job where they don't walk around, then comes home and does little.

1869 min - 2034 max

As you can see this is a fairly small range.  This is where logging your food becomes important.  I don't log at the moment, but when I did I made a point to be as accurate as possible.  I would weigh and/or measure most high calorie items (actually most items).  It's important to know what you're taking in.  There is no such thing anymore as an apple.  A small Granny Smith apple is 83 calories and a large is 119 calories.  It doesn't look like a big difference, but it's more than 40% different.  This can add up quickly.  I'd suggest picking up a kitchen food scale and use it until you're comfortable knowing what portion sizes are.

Okay, now, you've added exercise and you're seeing some measurement changes.  This is also good - keep track of measurement changes as well, don't rely simply on weight.  You've been doing this for a month - when did your period fall within this time.  Women can gain as much as 5+ pounds during that time (all water) which would drop off rapidly after it was over.

You're using a heart rate enabled tracker, which can be off a little bit as well.  I see you have your deficit set to 750 calories.  What you might want to do is set it to 1000 and eat what it tells you (ie. a little bit more).  This should allow for the calories being off a little.  So looking at your 3110 average would mean that you should be eating around 2110 (just an average there).

So, I've written a lot (in a very boring meeting that I'm not participating in), let me sum it up if this helps.

1.  Eat at least 1869 most days (or whatever your BMR is)

2.  Set your plan to the hardest (-1000) and eat what it tells you

3.  Take measurements again and keep track

4.  Wait until after your period and see if that changes

[Angelgirljessi]

@A_Lurker Thank you so much! You were super close with your measurements also I'm just 5'8". I do very well at logging my food and I have a scale also. I went on a huge diet/workout program back in 2013 I lost 35 lbs in 6 months that is the most i've ever lost in my life lol I of course got happy with the results and just quit what I was doing and gained every single pount + more back so sad I did that but it happened and I have to work on it. I have a problem staying motivated really hoping the added fitbit and challenges help with that. I should start my cycle next week I'm on the BC pill so its pretty regular (in my opinion the reason I have problem keeping weight off) everytime I've stopped the pill I drop 15 lbs easily its amazing but I have to stay on this pill so I gotta figure out a way to drop the weight. I really want to make a lifestyle change and not just a temporary fix I know what I need to do I just need to stay motivated. I think the horror stories of metabolism and being 31 now is affecting my mind a little people talk about how much harder it is to lose weight. Thank you for your feedback I will def keep you in mind when i have questions and issues.

[Esya]

@Angelgirljessi

Your metabolism does not decide to change during the night your age changes from 30 to 31. It might start to change, but really not that dramatically. Eating well and exercising have a way bigger impact than your age.

[Angelgirljessi]

LOL Thanks so much for that @Esya I felt the same way but these other people were starting to make me feel doomed...i'm so sick of hearing well your 31 now its gonna be harder...LOL

[A_Lurker]

You know, I'm in my early 50s, and I was pretty sure I'd always had a slow metabolism.  I've decided that I may in fact not, as when I eat well (and exercise well) I lose weight.  When I eat too little I become a slug, and the two things combined means that my weight loss stalls completely.