CANT lose weight

[Liitleshadow]

Hey everyone,

I am feeling a little down today.
I've had fitbit charge hr for the past month. Nonetheless, I have been trying to lose weight for the past 1 and a half. I started with 86kg and I am now at 74.3 kg. Its been 1 month amd a half that I have reached my goal (running for 25) and No change has come to my body. I have lost 5 cm on my belly, but my weight has not changed for the past month. I eat only healthy stuff and have been doing a deficit of 1000 calories with the hope of losing 2kg per week (fitbit app deficit goal)

Can anyone help me please? I dont know whats wrong...

[greenandgroovy]

Where are the studies to back this up? I would like to read them over to see the methodology

[greenandgroovy]

would you mind sharing the simplicity of weight loss please?

[DoctorJ]

I can never seem to be able to view the thread, so I have no idea whether this comment is directed at me.   But there are thousands upon thousands of studies supporting that weight management is about diet, not exercise.  I encourage all to go read the book by science journalist Gary Taubes titled "Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health" originally published in 2007 which discusses and reviews hundreds upon hundreds of studies and features a bibliography of more than 10,000 journal articles that were consulted in preparation of the book.  The messages of the book are clear: methodologically sound (as opposed to bad) published research over the past 150 years consistently has shown that (1) total calorie consumption doesn't matter nearly as much as the source/type of calories does; and (2) carbs, not fats, should be limited in a healthful diet (i.e., Robert Atkins of "Atkins Diet" fame was right).

This is not to say that exercise is not critically important to health.  But exercise is almost entirely about fitness; it has very little effect on weight management. (You can't burn away the "caloric effects on weight gain" associated with eating a sugary soft drink or candy bar through exercise because eating sugar is bad for you; in particular, it induces your body's metabolism to store energy from any excess carbs that may be consumed in the form of body fat.)

[SunsetRunner]

You can't out exercise your fork. If using a fitbit makes you move more wonderful, but chances of it alone turning into weight loss is very slim. 

[Raviv]

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@greenandgroovy wrote:

would you mind sharing the simplicity of weight loss please?

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Try adding quotes when replying to people.  For some odd reason, this forum doesn't note which person you're replying to, so it gets a little confusing.

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

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@greenandgroovy wrote:

Heybales - I know you are very helpful in this group and give some great advice- but the comment above might be mistakenly taken by some to mean exercise is not worth doing because you would have to go to extreme measures to get results. I agree with you that muscle cannot be built quickly but those who do not do the reserch might not realize that even if you are not building a lot of muscle you are still losing inches off your body which is what we all want. Exercise will do that. Some are just looking for an excuse to not exercise and would prefer to blame their often imagined slow metabolism - lol. I think you will enjoy this study. I encourage everyone to read it - the charts alone really tell the story.

Effects of the Amount of Exercise on Body Weight, Body Composition, and Measures of Central Obesity

http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=216495

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Not really sure which comment you are commenting on, since one above it merely is stating the fact you can't trade muscle for fat as fast as some think you can - you can always lose fat much faster than gaining muscle mass. You can also choose to go so slow (recomp) that you indeed balance it out. But if looking for weight loss that ain't the solution.

No, strength training doesn't have to be extreme measures unless there is some misconception about what strength training entails.

It is an interesting study, and shows that exercise on it's own, even the best group lost 2.9 kg over 8 months - that's 0.088 weekly, or 0.2 lbs weekly. Implying they created a deficit of 100 calories daily.

Purposely attempting that low a deficit would be interesting since food labels will be off by more than that.

That slow of weight loss would easily be hidden in water weight fluctuations if not under a research study.

But indeed - if someone can wrap their mind around body improvements being just as beneficial as weight loss (well, too much and the weight is a real health hazard, not matter how much you exercise) - slight deficit is great.

But really, if you aren't losing weight, but think you can lose inches of fat - then something is building up besides the muscle - and that's water weight. Which is fine. And cardio only exercise can do that up to a point.

But eventually, blood volume doesn't need to expand anymore, and muscle stored glucose with attached water won't increase anymore.

Those in the study started with no exercise too - so initially they were indeed resistance training and gaining some muscle mass, still not fast - but some, but even that stops eventually unless you push hard enough for the body to cause adaptations.

Encouraging study though.

[Yvetteb]

Seems like you hit a weightloss plateau and it is very difficult to break it. But you need to change your whole routine, excersice as well as food. 

Sometimes it helps to excercise at different days and times as well as doing a completely different sport. Sometimes it helps to eat above your calorie intake for a day to jumpstart your metabolism or eat vegatarian for a week if you usually eat a lot of meat.

For me it helps to completely change my normal routine for a week and get out of my comfort zone!

[Liitleshadow]

Hi everyone,

I wrote a while back.

Now I really need some help.

As before I am eating 475 calories a day, nonethless if I exercise I can eat more.

At the moment this what I am doing:

9.30 am wake up

10.00 gym

- 30 minutes run (4km) or 30 mints (HITT - 2 mints walk 2 mints run)

- 20 minutes eliptical (2.5 to 3 km)

- 15 minutes bike (7km) at 8 lvl

- 20 minutes full body workout and weight (planks, squats,etc)

(p.s: sometime I only do running and bike, or like today, 60 mints eliptical - 7 km)

12.00 breakfast

- protein shake

- 2 scrambled eggs or tuna or salmon or banana

- 1 tomato

5 or 6 pm lunch

- tuna or salmon or chicken with lettuce

8 or 9 pm go for another walk (4 or 5 km) so I always do 10 km a day

11 or 12 pm bed

and repeat

I have been doing this since August 2015.

August 2013 i was 86 kg

now i am 73kg and have been since Ausgust 2015 (today is Dec 2015) 

NO CHANGE what so ever.

Can anyone help me please, cause i have a lot of friends that if they did half of what i am doing they would be super skinny...

on a daily basis i burn 2500 calories and eat 600 to 700 calories.. where 600 calories is what i eat and 600 - 700 calories is actualy from exercise, the rest of calories burn are from sleeping and stuff, thats what my fitbit says anyway.

[SunsetRunner]

Losing weight is simple. The problem is most don't and never will know their real weightloss number.

[Liitleshadow]

What do you mean by this?

`if it is simple, could you please help me?

[SunsetRunner]

I mean that for most people the general equations (mifflin or Harris Benedict ) does not work for some people. There are so many variables on a per person basis the estimates are off. For me they are off 400 calories a day. The most important thing for weight loss is an accurate number . So you will need to manually adjust what Fitbit gives you or use something that is automated.

[Raviv · Accepted solution]

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@Liitleshadow wrote:

...on a daily basis i burn 2500 calories and eat 600 to 700 calories.. where 600 calories is what i eat and 600 - 700 calories is actualy from exercise, the rest of calories burn are from sleeping and stuff, thats what my fitbit says anyway.

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Your body is barey functioning.  It's telling you that, unless you eat more quality food, it will stop working correctly.  As of right around August 2015, it decided you must be on an island in the middle of nowhere with nothing to eat, so it would safeguard your brain function and conserve your fat stores by shutting down any processes it didn't feel were absolutely necessary and maintaining your fat as a priority.

Unless you are a meter tall, then you need to eat more than 600-700 calories if you're burning four times that.

[Liitleshadow]

Ok, makes sense

But how to I do that, can you teach me?

[Liitleshadow]

I'm 1.59 cm so pretty short.

But that the thing I keep thinkng about. If i was in an island without anything to eat I would probably be super skinny because I had nothing to eat, at first my body would store everything, but then eventually it would need to use what I have (fat) to function, no?

I know this is a very bad example but in cast away, movie, with tom hanks, he gets super skinny..

Its just I know if I eat more than I am at the moment, tmrw I will gain 3 or even 4 kgs..

[SunsetRunner]

i use healthsidekick and it auto adjust for you
Otherwise you will have to subtract calories based on how it is impacting your weight. Use Fitbit to help you move more but counting evrey step is ridiculous. Count only your extracise. Things you do that are extra for your Heath. If you want to take calories for your steps take 25 steps =1 calorie.
Fitbit is great if it get you to move more but subtracting calories based on what you think your basil metabolic rate might be is a chase after wind and a waste of time.

[Raviv]

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@Liitleshadow wrote:

I'm 1.59 cm so pretty short.

But that the thing I keep thinkng about. If i was in an island without anything to eat I would probably be super skinny because I had nothing to eat, at first my body would store everything, but then eventually it would need to use what I have (fat) to function, no?

I know this is a very bad example but in cast away, movie, with tom hanks, he gets super skinny..

Its just I know if I eat more than I am at the moment, tmrw I will gain 3 or even 4 kgs..

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If you had absolutely nothing, yes.  You would also have virtually no muscle mass.  And muscle mass helps burn calories during the day.

Eat more, and eat quality, real food.

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

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@Liitleshadow wrote:

I'm 1.59 cm so pretty short.

But that the thing I keep thinkng about. If i was in an island without anything to eat I would probably be super skinny because I had nothing to eat, at first my body would store everything, but then eventually it would need to use what I have (fat) to function, no?

I know this is a very bad example but in cast away, movie, with tom hanks, he gets super skinny..

Its just I know if I eat more than I am at the moment, tmrw I will gain 3 or even 4 kgs..

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I'm going to assume you meant 1.59 m, which is 62.5 inches. So shorter, but not short.

As such you have totally trashed your body unless you are under strict eye of either a research study or a specialized weight loss Dr that is monitoring you weekly.

The Fitbit was designed to estimate a healthy full burning body calorie burn. Your's is not healthy now, and as such the Fitbit is not accurate. It's showing what your potential could be, sure - but not what your literal is right now.

Because if you are really eating that little, and perhaps because of bad accuracy it's a tad more - but whatever calories you are really eating at IS your maintenance right now - with that level of exercise and daily life.

You are not burning 4 x what you eat.

I hope that freaks you out - it should be scary as anything.

Because if you get sick or injured and can't workout - how little exactly do you imagine you'd have to eat in order to NOT gain fat weight.

You need to get your mind over the fact that fat is NOT fast, lost or gained.

If you gained that much really after eating just a little bit more, and overnight - it was water weight.

Body-desired-starving-for-water-weight, likely attached to glucose it's been starving for because of those workouts. Metabolism-raising-water-weight also.

Let me know if you are ready to get out of the insanity.

Because right now you have 2 directions to go.

Because the body can only slow down so much (your island scenario) - if you keep eating less and less you will eventually start losing weight. Fat and muscle.

Your workouts will be terrible, not nearly the body transformation they could be, your body will be prone to sickness and injury since not able to recovery well, and your workouts will become more mediocre than they are right now - whether you realize that or not.

If you are even able to reach goal weight - your maintenance will be terribly low. Terrible as in sustaining the weight loss. You'll be very prone to gaining fat easily, because it's running so slow. (same reason majority gain weight back and more after crash diet - which your are on).

Or.

Since you've already wasted this much time doing the same thing with no progress and results (what's the definition of insantity?) - spend some extra time getting a healthy body back.

Let your workouts start become something to transform the body, even as you gain needed water weight back.

Metabolism will increase, daily burn will increase, people will think you've lost weight because of inches being gone and becoming stronger.

Then take a reasonable deficit off what you burn - not starting at some low number that is based on who knows what.

[Liitleshadow]

I am totally ready!

Either way I am not seeing results, so I just want help.

So tell me what I should do, I am all ears!

And thank you btw

[Liitleshadow]

So I did what you said, I created an account with HSK.

My HSK prime is 1830 calories. Now, please do explain this to me LI5

If I eat exactly this amount of calories, since I have been eating like 600 calories per day, wont this mean I will gain a lot of weight?

Also, if I eat less than that then I should lose weight correct? But if I am already eating less than that should have I lost weight already?

When it comes to calories, weight loss and food I lack the knowlegde that you have, could you please let me know what I should do and how to go about it?

Thank you

[SunsetRunner]

I will tell u what to do:
1. Lift weights 3-4 times a week. If you want a plan private message me and I will email you one.
2. Go on a 3-4 mile walk 6 times a week. Forget about every single step. Steps to the bathroom aren't exercise.
3. Get an accurate weight loss number. As mentioned above Fitbit is not accurate for you right now. Log your food and extracise into healthsidekick for an accurate number. It will auto adjust for you daily. It will take time to get accurate so you will need to log for a few weeks but you will have an accurate weightloss number that if you stay below you will lose weight.
Log in both Fitbit and healthsidekick and you will see the difference in the numbers over time.