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...

[Ilona46]

Hi littlestar,

I am also a thyroid patient (Hashimoto's) and take medicine for it! Now the company that makes that medicine are moving to another country and not making any more for a half year or so.....This made me so angry cause it took me a long time to get the right amount for my thyroid....What medicine are you taking? (Where do you live?) I live in Holland and take Thyrax....it comes from France I believe....I am very scared that I will gain alot of weight again!! Any ideas?

[Heybales]

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@Ilona46 wrote:

Hi littlestar,

I am also a thyroid patient (Hashimoto's) and take medicine for it! Now the company that makes that medicine are moving to another country and not making any more for a half year or so.....This made me so angry cause it took me a long time to get the right amount for my thyroid....What medicine are you taking? (Where do you live?) I live in Holland and take Thyrax....it comes from France I believe....I am very scared that I will gain alot of weight again!! Any ideas?

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Usually the biggest effect of low thyroid is the fact your body wants to move around less - therefore your daily burn is less. The basic energy required for basic functions of metabolism doesn't change - unless you force it lower by badly undereating.

Your Fitbit is going to help with that - either helping you move more, or if like most you'll just see you are burning less because you aren't.

The principle of weight doesn't change though - eat less than you burn by reasonable amount and lose fat.

Since your body is already under stress from disease - suggest that a reasonable deficit for you is going to be smaller than for others without that stress.

So depending on how big your deficit is, make it smaller, and then meet your eating goal, even though it may go down because you move around less.

The worst mistake you can make is thinking you need to drastically undereat now compared to when taking meds, or eat the same and massively increase exercise. Both those directions creates bigger deficit and more stress on already stressed out body - result will almost always be increased water weight.

That will likely increase the stress more it sounds like.

[lunastar2008]

I do not concur with you. A pound is a pound - no matter what material. The volume may change but a pound of muscle is not heavier than a pound of fat. The fat has more volume and therefore the poster lost 5 cm on the waist.

[lunastar2008]

Did you adjut your calorie intake to your new weight? You lost almost 10 kilos, which is almost 20 lbs. Even with a devicid of 1000 calories. You may need t adjust your intake. And sometimes we hit a plateu. Your body is amazing and you may need to change up your work-out routine. By know your body and organism got adjusted to the milage you run. I have the same problem since I love to run.

I applaude you on your success so far. Keep on going.

Lunastar2008

[Ilona46]

Lunastar2008 I didn't lose 10 kg yet! only 3.5! Or weren't you talking to me?

[jlippincott]

Hi, I have Hashimotos also, I have also had my right thyroid removed. The Dr also performed a BMR test on me b/c I was eating extremely clean, was only able to eat 900 calories a day and could not reach the 1500 calories they wanted me to eat. At my heaviest, I was 190lbs. With the extreme lower metabolism that can happen with Hashimotos, it is extremely important to eat the right combination of foods and to make sure you are actually eating enough food and healthy fats. Doc said choose the South Beach Diet or the ZONE.

I don't like prepackaged food so I didn't go with the South Beach diet. After researching the ZONE, I decided to go with Dr Sears b/c not only did his explanation agree with what I had come up with on my own, He actually figured out how to make it work. You will hear people say, "Oh, that's a low carb plan." Yes and no. Fruits and vegetables are carbs, they are just healthy carbs as compared to a hamburger bun which is 2 servings of bread. Diabetics and those with autoimmune disease don't deal well with complex carbs. They are harder to digest and harder for the body to release for energy and therefore cause you to feel hungry even more and the bosy thinks it is starving and is going to hold on to that fat harder than ever.

Here is the sad truth, I haverecently discovered that the belief that having a 500 calorie deficit at day will yield a loss of 1 lb a week is bad math and bad science and has yet to be proven though people continually use it as a guideline for governments, nutritionist, trainers and doctors, ect. Everyone is different and a larger person of say 300 lbs is going to lose faster than me. My endocronologist, my surgeon and my cardiologist all stressed to me that if you lose 1 lb a month and maintain any weightloss, then that is what they wanted to see as this would provide me the best chance of keeping the weight off.

Now for the good news! EAT! You have to eat in order to lose weight.

I went from 190-174, then I started to do the Power of 10 workout once a week to stregthen my back and muscles in general, and then I was at 164.8 and this year, to make sure I stay on track and eat all my food for the day and have a support group, I joined Weight Watchers at 164.8 and I am know down to 161.6.

My goal is 125. I am comfortable at that weight and that takes my last risk of pre-diabetes away.

Here is a link to anti-inflammatory meals. http://www.zonediet.com/resources/recipes/

Here is the link for a sample eating plan for the week. http://diet.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Menu_for_the_Zone_Diet

Also, you don't have to use their protein powder, use what you want to use. As you are in another country, I do not know what is available to you. I mainly use BioTrust and sometimes, if I run out or for a particular recipe, I use Jay Robb Egg White Protein.

OH, I am not paid or an employee of any of the companies I mentioned above nor am I compensated by them. I just found what works for me and my particular issues.

[Gatorredd]

Nutrition is 80% and Fitnes is 20%. U need to eat 6 small meals a day and drink 1/2 your body weight Olin ounces of water.

[SunsetRunner]

Calorie counting does help, but and a big butt 🙂 you need to make sure you are eating the right foods and making sure you get enough of the nutrients etc

I.e just eating chocolate won't be good for you even if you stay under your daily calorie allowance, you need make sure you are getting enough vitamins etc

On the flip side, you could be eating only healthy things, but if you are eating way too much, again it will not be good for you

[SunsetRunner]

If you eat slowly and properly, listen to your body etc, then no you don't need to calorie count etc, the problem is a lot of people don't, myself included, and that is where Fitbit, Myfitnesspal etc come in, to help guide us

[SherMac]

Hardly possible to lose 1 to 4 lbs per day. 

[SherMac]

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@HelenaFitbit wrote:

I agree with @SunsetRunner and @Heybales on this. Eating too few can also impact on your weight loss. 

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Myth. Eating to few calories will not impact weight loss.  In fact, too few calories is what is needed for weight loss. 

[Raviv]

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@SherMac wrote:

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@HelenaFitbit wrote:

I agree with @SunsetRunner and @Heybales on this. Eating too few can also impact on your weight loss. 

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Myth. Eating to few calories will not impact weight loss.  In fact, too few calories is what is needed for weight loss. 

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Not myth.  Fact.

Though I will admit people tend to think it happens more often than it does.

But it is a fact that your body will attempt to handle whatever you give it as survival mechanism.  So if you decide you only want to eat 500 calories a day, your body will deal with it.  But it will deal with it by slowing down processes that are supposedly less vital in an attempt to maintain function in other areas that are.  Your brain is pretty good at protecting itself, even if that means slowing down other parts of your body so they don't function as well (or burn as much fuel).  It can also increase fat stores (along with water weight) as a protective device and minimize other functions to do so. 

Add in that your body will also adjust to large amounts of daily exercise and begin to economize movement, and yes, you can screw yourself pretty well by eating too few calories and/or exercising too much.

[mjlaughlin]

Measure your food, log everything you eat  in either fitbit or use sparkpeople (it ties in with fitbit well). Increase your water consumption. To determine how much water to drink take your weight divide it by 2 so if you weight 200 lbs you need at least 100 oz of water a day (that is when you are being sedentary) add an additional 8 oz of water per hour of work out that you might do.

I do not allow my fitbit to tell me I can eat more - that is a pitfall - so stick to a 1200 - 1500 calorie a day - every step you take burns calories - do not eat more because you exercised. 

For example today I burned 341 calories - That was my breakfast - I don't say ohhh I can eat more now. 

Hope that makes sense!

[LongHauler]

Starvation mode is a myth. Your body cannot create mass from nothing. You will continue to lose weight if you're only consuming 500cal/day.

[lunastar2008]

Long term you will, but some body functions and your metabolism will slow
down and adjust to the new situation. During that time you may be more
tired and sluggish until the adjustment is completed.
The bad thing is, after achieving the desired weight, you cannot eat
"normal" since your new normal is less. The body is amazing and can adjust
to difficult situations.

[SherMac]

Exactly! Ear more to lose weight makes no sense.

[Raviv]

It doesn't make sense if you think of your body like a car.  But your body isn't a car.

A car runs the same (for the most part) whether it has a full tank of gas or the gas light just came on.  It doesn't know how much fuel you have and doesn't change how it drives depending on fuel levels.

But your body does.  Your brain is very self protective and starts slowing down some of the functions it considers less vital when fuel is scarce.  And that means you slow down.  And that means you are burning fewer calories.  Kind of negates that whole thing of taking in fewer calories because you're now burning fewer too.

So now you're struggling to stay under some unrealistic intake level - and let's be real here, it's NOT easy to limit yourself to 500 calories or so, especially if the food isn't great quality - and your body is actually using even fewer calories.  Kind of pointless.

Okay, so the point here is not really weight loss.  I know we all use that phrase, but if you get down to it, that's not what we're really talking about.  We're talking about fat loss.  I can lose an easy 10 pounds or so if I just chop off my arm.  Super simple, very fast, no exercise or dietary restrictions.  And if it's that simple, then why not do it?  Because losing pounds isn't the point, and doing damage to my body isn't the point either.  Losing fat is the point.

And if you're trying to lose fat. the last thing you want to do is cut them so low that your body starts increasing fat stores (remember, the brain protects itself) and wasting muscle.  If anything doesn't make sense, it's cutting more and more calories and damaging your body to the point where it doesn't function properly and doesn't burn fuel the way it's supposed to.

Now no one is saying you shouldn't cut calories to lose fat.  Most likely we got heavy by taking in more than we used and it was stored as fat.  But there is absolutely a point where cutting calories too low has a detrimental effect that makes it even harder to lose fat stores, and that's what people are talking about when they tell someone that's only eating 500 calories or so to eat more food (and make it good quality).

[Raviv]

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@lunastar2008 wrote:

The bad thing is, after achieving the desired weight, you cannot eat
"normal" since your new normal is less. The body is amazing and can adjust
to difficult situations.

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I know this first hand.

I was fairly inactive and maintained a reasonable weight - just little over my ideal.  Then I got a job where I walked about 15 miles at a fast pace every day, hopping over block walls and climbing over things on a regular basis.  It was very physical work.  I lost 30 pounds pretty quickly, which was cool.

But then the crappy part.  That activity level became my new "normal" and my body adjusted to that pace.  I started putting on weight again, even though I was basically doing a 6 hour workout five days a week.  And my eating hadn't changed at all, it was just that my body adjusted to that new level of activity and now I had to maintain it.

I haven't had that job in almost three years, and my body is finally starting to settle into a more realistic version of "normal" activity levels.  But I see people all the time just cutting more and more calories and doing more and more hours of cardio, and I know it makes sense to them, but it's really not doing them any favors in the long run.  You can only cut your calories so low, and there are only 24 hours in a day.  You can't eat even less and run even more forever.

[SunsetRunner]

to lose weight you need to eat less calories than your body needs, yes, nobody is arguing that fact

but, if you eat too little for too long, instead of burning fat your body will start to lose muscle

that is when you starve your body of the calories it needs to just keep going

a myth? why don't you 1 calorie everyday and see what your body does

you will lose fat to start with, but you will eventually feel less energetic, and then everntually you will start losing muscle mass

what some people forget is that as they lose weight, their body starts to require less calories to keep going, if you weighed 400lbs to start with and then lost 100lbs, you do not need the same amount of calories to maintain weight as when you weighed 400lbs

look at those in third world countries like Ethopia for example

yes you can exercise too much, you will lose fat and lose weight, but you will start to gain muscle which will counter that weight loss and make you feel like you have not lost any weight or even gained weight

I challenge you to eat only max 1 calorie per day long term, you will then see what it does to you, heck, tell your doctor that it is all your are eating and see what he/she says

even Fitbit/Myfitness pal tells you that it too low

[Heybales]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

yes you can exercise too much, you will lose fat and lose weight, but you will start to gain muscle which will counter that weight loss and make you feel like you have not lost any weight or even gained weight

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Oh, if only it were that easy to gain muscle mass.

All the body builders have it wrong then.

You can't gain muscle either at all or so small as to be neglible compared to the rate you can lose fat.

It's always a sound-good phrase - "you probably aren't losing weight because you are gaining muscle while losing fat" - and totally bogus.

The person on a 3 month plateau then should probably be nicknamed "Arnold" for as big as they would get with muscle.