6 months in and only 7lbs lost?

[KayTeeMo]

Hi all,

I started trying to lose weight in october 2014. Before then I was sat down almost all day, at work and at home.

I started with the gym 3 times a week, cardio for 1 hour then light weights for 20 minutes. I moved on to cardio once a week and two sessions with a personal trainer a week for 40 minutes each. This has since progressed to 2 sessions a week with a personal trainer for 30 minutes and 4 days of 1.5 hours cardio on top of this each week.

My diet consists of lean proteins, a medium amount of carbs and low to none on all the nasty stuff. I don't drink pop, 6-10 glasses of water a day, all the things you should be doing to lose weight (most under the advise of my trainer). 1200-1400 calories a day.

My problem is, that in 6 months of doing all of the above, I've lost a rather rubbish total of only 7lbs, which is incredibly disheartening to say my partner has lost 30lbs in that time doing less than I have. 

I've had my thyroid and iron levels checked and they said I was fine. The only issue I could possibly have is that my contraceptive pill might be preventing weight loss. That being said a friend of mine is doing similar exersize and diet and is on the same pill and has lost much more than I have been. 

At this point on 1-2lbs a week I should have lost close to 28lbs by now but I'm way under that.

Anyone got any advise or ideas? I'm trying to lose weight for medical reasons (basically I'm too overweight at this point, 238lbs on a 5'3" body) and it's really messing with my head that I'm not losing what I should be with this much effort. 

Any help is appreciated.

[betpchem]

I don't blame you. I would be annoyed too. 

It could still be your medication, in spite of what your friend says - not everyone reacts the same to medication. There seems to be a lot of information of the web about birth control pills preventing weight loss. One thing I did notice with a quick Google search was that the pill increases water retention. Perhaps, because you drink so much water, some of your weight is water weight. Perhaps you could talk to your doctor about trying a different method of birth control and see if that makes any difference. 

The other thing I would suggest is use other metrics to measure your fitness rather than the scale. Can you do more at the gym than you could 6 months ago? Can you climb more stairs without huffing and puffing? Can you lift more weight and do more reps? Take longer walks at a faster pace? Hang on to those things for encouragement, and ignore the scale if you can. 

Good luck!

[Maraudermick]

Years ago I took on a very physical job, and sweated a lot.  I thought I'd lose a lot of weight.  What happened is that I lost fat and gained muscle.  Since muscle weighs more, I didn't lose weight, but was stronger and had more energy.

Maybe the same is happening to you?

[DominicJ]

I've been hovering between 13st 5 and 13st 1 pretty much since christmas,.

It was annoying the hell out of me.

And then I noticed girls noticing me at the gym, and then I got in to my old jeans, that I havent worn for 5 or more years, and then girls started saying hi at the gym.

1200 calories a day is not a lot, I dont believe you've been on that since october and havent lost weight.

Weigh everything

Log everything.

Check everything

[KayTeeMo]

Can not believe me all you want DominicJ but for the last 6 months I've either been writing everything down, or now logging everything on fitbit. Everything gets weighed, everything is measured and I've only lost 7lbs. 

Clothes still don't fit, slightly fitter and not much more energy. 

Hence asking for advice.

[KayTeeMo]

Unfortunatly betpchem, there's not a lot of birth control my GP is willing to put me on due to my weight (ironic eh?) which I need to be on for health reasons not for contraceptive purposes. Which is also why I can't ignore the scales. The number on them and that horrible, useless BMI index is what the NHS use to base a persons health on, regardless of their physical exersize or diet.

I can do slightly more than I used to but I still get tired really quickly. I can walk for longer and lift more with my legs than I could before but it's still a struggle.

[mike824]

I'm not a Dr. but your problem sounds very much like someone I know and my guess would be it's a water weight issue. I would strongly suggest you see your Dr. about the possibilities in stead of seeking advice here. It maybe something as simple as giving you a Diuretic pill if it is safe to do. This is a worse case example but people with a heart condition retain water and it just keeps building up if nothing is done about it. My friend found this out the hard way and it put her in the Hospital for a month.. they drained 80 lbs of fluid from her all do do cronic heart condition she didn't even know was an issue.

[FlexUserAndy]

Hi KayTeeMo,

It sounds like you're doing everything right and I admire your commitment. It's worrying that you haven't lost more weight especially as you have the potential to lose quite a lot. I would advice you to talk to your doctor as well. Explain in the same way you have here and take your logs for them to analyse.

There is evidence to suggest that contraceptive pills increase water retention, but I don't think that is relevant in your case. It would more likely be an issue with someone trying to lose the last 10 lbs or so.

Good luck!

[Freyja911]

It could be because you are building muscle at the moment, you have gone from doing no form of exercise to quite a bit and rather then losing weight your building is adapting and muscle weights more than fat. This is what happened with me and a personal traininer at the gym told me to measure my body rather then weigh myself as this will show more and true to his word though I did not lose much weigh I lost inches off of my body. He said eventually you will see more weight lose just don't give up.

[RivalDealer]

You mentioned a trainer? I am guessing this is a personal trainer, if you are not getting results 6 months in I would look for another trainer, specifically one that is qualified to give nutritional advice. Tell them your goals and what you have been doing so far and that it hasn't worked.

I have tried low fat diets and found them not to work well for me, I switched to a ketogenic diet and that works, seems odd at first with 70% fat, 25% protien and 5% carbs but it is working well so far.

I'm no expert but lifting heavy and cutting out the carbs seems to work well for many where other angles have failed.

1.5hrs of cardio a day and only eating 1200-1400 calories a day... I would be so hungry.

Definitly see an expert, talk to them about what you have been doing and ask them why they think it may not be working.

[reuel]

the truth that most people don't wanna face or accept is that:

when you are not losing weight (and you have checked the usual medical culprits), you are not in a calorie deficit.

you either accept that you are making a mistake somewhere (under estimating food calories and over estimating exercise calories are the usual culprits), and try to look for it ... or you can keep on blaming something outside your control and not get anywhere.

i am sorry if it sounds harsh, but i am only saying it to help you.

[Heybales]

---

@KayTeeMo wrote:

Hi all,

I started trying to lose weight in october 2014. Before then I was sat down almost all day, at work and at home.

I started with the gym 3 times a week, cardio for 1 hour then light weights for 20 minutes. I moved on to cardio once a week and two sessions with a personal trainer a week for 40 minutes each. This has since progressed to 2 sessions a week with a personal trainer for 30 minutes and 4 days of 1.5 hours cardio on top of this each week.

My diet consists of lean proteins, a medium amount of carbs and low to none on all the nasty stuff. I don't drink pop, 6-10 glasses of water a day, all the things you should be doing to lose weight (most under the advise of my trainer). 1200-1400 calories a day.

My problem is, that in 6 months of doing all of the above, I've lost a rather rubbish total of only 7lbs, which is incredibly disheartening to say my partner has lost 30lbs in that time doing less than I have. 

I've had my thyroid and iron levels checked and they said I was fine. The only issue I could possibly have is that my contraceptive pill might be preventing weight loss. That being said a friend of mine is doing similar exersize and diet and is on the same pill and has lost much more than I have been. 

At this point on 1-2lbs a week I should have lost close to 28lbs by now but I'm way under that.

Anyone got any advise or ideas? I'm trying to lose weight for medical reasons (basically I'm too overweight at this point, 238lbs on a 5'3" body) and it's really messing with my head that I'm not losing what I should be with this much effort. 

Any help is appreciated.

---

Only 1200-1400 on that much activity? That's way too low I'd suggest. That's minimum recommended for a sedentary female - which you aren't close to.

You aren't using the tool correctly I'd wager, maintaining what is indeed currently a reasonable 1000 cal deficit setting.

You mention you do weigh and measure everything you eat.

Well, ONLY liquids are measured for accuracy.

For everything else - calories is per gram, not per cup or spoonful.

If you aren' weighing everything else that goes in your mouth and doing the math correctly for serving size - you aren't accurate enough.

Now, I doubt greatly you are overcoming the probably close to 50% deficit you are creating, but considering even a 25% deficit can cause a body to start adapting slower - you have likely cause that at least.

In which case, be glad if accuracy of food logging is off - you may have saved yourself some muscle mass with all that cardio.

Too great a deficit and it doesn't matter if you are doing some resistance training - the body will still slowly lose the least used muscle.

I'd suggest take 2 weeks and log only by weight everything you eat, and don't eat out since that is terribly inaccurate logging.

See how much you are truly eating.

Also in that time, manually log what should be logged for your Fitbit model. I didn't catch which one you have.

If HR model, cardio is fine by the device, but non-cardio stuff will be inflated by HR-based calorie burn.

So manually log whatever it is you do with trainer, Weights, or Circuit Training, or Calisthenics if bodyweight based stuff with few pauses.

While the pill could/should case some water gain, that tops out, it can only mask fat loss for so long.

Now stress on the body on the other hand, 20 lbs water weight gained from increased cortisol could mask it for a long time.

And to compare to friend, your genetic levels of how much stress your body/mind can take could be very different, and your body already has some stress she doesn't, raising your level higher to start with. Add an extreme deficit it appears you created, and jack it up even more. Lack of sleep, life/work, ect, all adds to the stress level your body can only handle so much of.

Very hard to compare.

To the post above about gaining muscle mass just as fast as you can lose fat - ya, feel good phrase, not going to happen.

Sorry, woman and wrong hormones, big potential deficit, too much cardio and not enough progressive overload weight lifting, and may not even have tapped out existing muscle for what it can do - no, you aren't gainging any muscle mass yet.

Just some thoughts as to what could be going on. If you confirm the eating level and burning level estimates are very good - then that leaves having caused your body to adapt and slow down.

[vallacroft]

Hi

I might be a bit late, in adding any suggestions, but, I really feel for you. All I can add is, what my experience has been and maybe you might find some key which will help you start to loose fat.

I have to say that being female, over 40, all hormones working properly, I had to work hard and I HAD to try figure out what my body like to do to burn fat and get strong. 

I started out at 115kilos in June 2014 and an embarrassing 126cm in my waist. I was sick, on morphine pain patches for spinal surgery, Oxycontin, and a few others, so I know how medication can make you sluggish and not even wont to move your body.

I started to run and fractured both my tibia's and landed in a wheelchair for 8 weeks, so I read about weight lifting in a wheelchair(dumbbell's, push and pull resistance.

At the same time I read an article about kentogenic eating plan on Charlies Foundation and how it helps children with seizures, people with other illnesses, so I started on this diet (atkins at first then moved onto Kento 4:1 ) 

I found that weight lifting (deadlifts, bench press, squats) strength training, 5-8 reps with 4-5 sets HEAVY, worked for me. No running or cardio because weight lifting brings your heart rate up and it doesn't bulk you not matter what they say because we don't have  enough testosterone to get big, unless we take it artificiality. 

After 4 months I was down to 79 kilos, off all medication,  and strong! That's the goal, to be strong, not skinny and that's is the best motivation. IAfter 2 months of weight lifting I was allowed to start running on a grass, and I ran 1.8kilomiters without stopping!!! So there is merit to weight lifting with the goal to be strong.

if your over 40 then there are things as a female that you just can't eat till your down to your goal weight.

My suggestion is, measure yourself, its the only way to really know how your tracking,  lift weights, get someone that understands female physiology becasue we are different and we loose weight differently. talk to a woman who is lifting weigts that is around your age at the gym , ask her what she does, get some advise. The more info you can get from other women the more motivated your will be.

all the best and keep going,

[Chananigans]

I can totally empathize as someone who is 5'4"/230lb (formerly 250), so I'll add my 2 cents. I skimmed the other comments, so I'm sorry if there are duplicate suggestions.

Why you may not be losing weight:

- Stress: How's your stress level? Being overstressed can prevent weight loss. If you are, I'd suggest meditation/yoga/taking some time for yourself each day, only if it's for a few minutes. Alternatively, if the rigorous cardio/PT session schedule is overwhelming, find a way to exercise while doing something you enjoy (Zumba, cardio kickboxing, swimming, etc).

- Routine: Is your exercise routine pretty consistent? If so, you may want to switch it up a bit. Your body will get used to the activity you're doing and adapt to conserve energy, so try to keep your body guessing!

- Eating: Same as above. Switch it up so your body doesn't adapt. One possible option is the 3-1-2-1 diet (created by Biggest Loser trainer Dolvett Quince): basically you eat clean for 3 days, have 1 cheat day, eat clean for 2 days, have 1 cheat day...lather, rinse, repeat. 🙂

- Sleep: SO important! I totally suck at this, but make sure you're getting plenty of sleep!

- Just keep moving: Little things like parking your car at the back of the parking lot, walking during your lunch hour, taking the long way to the restroom (or going to a different floor), or taking a break from work and dancing along to a youtube video (I recommend Dance Fitness With Jessica) can make a big difference! They all add up!

- Challenge yourself: Up your step goal or stair goal. I upped mine to 20K steps a day and I've found that it totally makes you go the extra mile (literally). Engage with others in Fitbit challenges if you're the competitive type.

It helps to write down your weight loss goal and have people hold you accountable. There's a thread here with a 4th of July weight loss challenge...it's never too late to get in on it! Or, if you're the risky type, you can try DietBet (where you bet on whether or not you'll lose X lbs. in X amount of time). I understand how frustrating it can be...but keep it up! All that hard work WILL pay off! 

I hope this helps. Best of luck to you!! 

[Nerdofsteel82]

I have a few suggestions for you if its not too late? First is understanding the balancing act of exercise. It seems like you are doing everything backwards. 1 hour of cardio is too long. There is a point where your body will no longer burn fat and it will go into endurance mode. Doing an hour of cardio is only preparing you for distance running, not necessarily losing weight/burning fat. Lifting weights is great and that's what you should actually be doing for an hour. And here is why; when you exercise your body uses the first available source of energy available for the first 20 minutes, then it starts using fat. Muscle loves fat as energy. By lifting weights first you've triggered your body into fat burn mode and also build lean muscle the entire time. Therefore you haven't wasted 20 minutes waiting for your body. After weight training then do moderate intensity cardio. Something like a mild jog, fast paced walk, or walking an incline. So now you're burning fat the entire 20 minutes you're doing cardio. As it gets easier, increase the resistance or incline but try to avoid increasing speed too much so you avoid going into endurance mode. For weight training I suggest one muscle group a day. Doing a full body workout stresses the body too much and it can't concentrate on healing properly after exercise. I suggest chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, shoulders Wednesday, arms Thursday, legs Friday, two days of rest. with cardio at the end of each weight session. Rest days are rest days. You can organize this to fit your schedule but try to keep the order. Working your groups in this order minimizes the impact on the other groups which will help with recovery time. Don't worry you won't get big and bulky. A woman can only get big and bulky with a massive amount of protein and a testosterone supplement. You will lean out trust me. Two major things to remember as well is 1. Losing weight is a calculation, you need to burn more than you take in. 3000 calories burned beyond your intake is a pound lost over the course of a week. So for 14,000 calories a week intake you need to burn about 2500 calories. But that doesn't mean it's all exercise to burn it either. Your body burns calories to function 24/7/365. So go online and find a calculator to calculate your resting metabolic rate. This is what your body burns in 24 hours to function. To breathe, to pump blood, for organs to work. Subtract that number from 2500 and that's the least you need to burn off with exercise. You'll have to modify this as you lose weight because your resting metabolic rate will change as your weight does. Lastly, once you start doing exercise correctly your body needs 30 days to accept the change. It's not used to it so it goes into survival mode and tries to hold onto whatever is can. So in 30 days don't expect much progress other than feeling better and feeling experienced instead of lost in the gym. After 30 days you'll see fat and weight melt off. Don't weigh yourself often. Maybe once every 3 or 4 weeks. Good luck!

[KayTeeMo]

An update.

Been working with my trainer, have edited my diet to proteins/good fats and low carbs/complex carbs. Exersize is more circuits and weights than cardio, although every day that I go (4 a week) I do minimum 30 mins of power walking/jogging (can't run) or cycling. 

Stress is always going to be a problem as I suffer from depression so that's not something I can change. 

Sleep is the same, see above. 

Getting plenty of water, tracking all my food, tracking all my movement, basically tracking my entire life and even my trainer is stumped as to why, after now 7 months of work, I haven't even lost 14lbs of the 70 I'm wanting to lose before I'm 30 (now 18 months away). 

Just, yeah losing motivation now.

[Chananigans]

Have you seen a doctor about this? Both the weight loss issue & the depression. I went to my primary care provider a month and a half ago and she prescribed Wellbutrin (bupropion), which is an anti-depressant with a side effect of appetite suppression. I have been deliberately eating less and exercising more, but I noticed that I'm not as hungry as I used to be and I usually eat <1000 calories without feeling starved (I try to keep it around 1200-1500 but I just stop eating when I'm not hungry). I've lost about 14 lbs since mid-April and my sleep has also improved. It's not perfect, but I'm not as restless as I used to be.

It might be worth looking into. I also stopped drinking (not supposed to drink while taking it) so I've saved lots of calories there. I'm usually the last person to take or advocate medicine, but it has improved both my mind and body, and if you haven't already tried it, I'd recommend looking into it.

[KayTeeMo]

I went to my GP a month or two ago and was offered a blood test to rule out anemia and any thyroid issues which it did. I've been advised by my trainer for my anxiety and possible weight loss to try 5HTP which I read up on and have bought. Will give them a go for a while and see if they help but if not it's going to have to be another doctors visit by the looks of things.

[StaceyBee]

Hi Hun,

You must feel so frustrated.

I lost 5 stone then put it all back on and some,This was through change of job and health issues.

My BMI is to high for most contraceptive pills also, I'm on cerazette as I couldnt get on with the one your on. I found this helped me to lose weight the first time. So there definately should be another brand you can try.

I would advise to drink more water, If you are flushing plenty of water through your system, you shouldnt retain too much / any water weight as your body doesnt need to store it as it knows its getting plenty. I have a 700 ml flask i carry around everywhere pretty much. I try to drink 3-4 a day if poss. Its hard at first and the frequent trips to the toilet will help with you're daily steps. It takes a couple of days and your body should adjust. Lemon water is another great way of getting water intake up and it has a natural element to help aid weight loss.

As for eating, Maybe try SlimmingWorld. Is great for looking at eating the right portions of the right food. A whole plate of dinner at 800 cals as oppose to a small meal same cals and still feeling empty. Could be your not eating enough right now. I find if i eat anything after 8:30 at night the scales will tell me about it in the morning. www.minimins.com is a brilliant website full of all different diet recipes, tips, tricks and plenty of other like minded people all encouraging and motivating each other.

Don't give up, Stay strong!  Feel free to add me as a fitbit friend!

All the Best - Stace

[josephz2va]

I would have your food diary looked at. What amount of calories you're supposed to eat on a weight loss. The nutritional value consumed. The quality of your consumption is important. Ditching ultra carb consumption. Finding alternatives to break your cravings.

Foods to lose fat and build lean muscle is important but also the correct amount of calories consumed and burned. Many diets go as low as 1,200 calories consumed per day. I don't follow the in vs out most of the time. I make sure I consume 1200-1700 cals even if I burn up to 4,000 cals.

Donuts, bread, starchy ultra carbs are very bad. An alternative to hunger you can use liquid egg whites for example. Low on all the numbers and 5Gs of protein per 3 tablespoons.