Frustrated by lack of weight/fat loss

[KDJ80]

I've started a new diet in order to loose weight.  I currently have a BMI of 30.7 which is not acceptable.  I need to loose 19kg to get within the healthy BMI range for my height.  So you'd think that with that much to loose, shifting the kg's would be simple to start with.

So I weighed in on 4th January as 93.9kg, in the first week I lost 4.6kg.  Great!  Week 2 I went up by 100g, week 3 down by 200g.  So basically I've not really lost anything for 2 weeks and I'm unsure why.

I'm consuming between 1195kcal and 1380kcal a day every day.  Lots of fish, lean meats, veg, wholemeal and whole grain foods.  No artificial sugar.  I exercise 4 times a week.  Two 5km - 7km runs, pilates class and circuit training.  I also walk my dog every morning.  So why isn't the weight coming off?  I seem to be stuck in my obese hell.

[Dominique]

I would look at it as -4.6 + 0.1 - 0.2 = -4.7 kg in four weeks, which is an average of 1.2 kg per week. It implies an average deficit of 1290 calories (if using the common assumption you need a cumulative deficit of 3500 calories in order to lose 1 pound), which is a lot. The weight loss pace is probably still faster than what you’d want for sustainability. For the rationale, have a look at my favorite weight loss resource, the Losing All Your Weight At Once video by Dr. Mike Israetel.

More often than not, weight loss is not linear, especially for females (because of their hormonal cycle). Which is why it makes sense to have a look at changes in averages over time, rather than at day-to-day, or even week-to-week changes.

I think I’m about the same height as you (174 cm). I also started a weight loss phase 4 weeks ago: I’ve "only" lost 1.4 kg so far. Granted, starting from a much lower weight (64 kg). You’re likely doing the right things in terms of eating and exercising: just make sure you are not going overboard with either. I would aim at an average weekly loss of max. 1% of starting weight (in your case, about 0.9 kg), as suggested in above mentioned video.

[Glenda]

@Dominique  I watched the video on the link and thought it was good.  But he didn't even mention the BEST reason for only losing a couple of pounds a week.  Well from my point of view, at least, if you lose at that rate you will not have  loose ugly skin which can be almost as depressing as being overweight except more healthy I guess.   If you don't have much to lose it is ok to lose fast , like 10 pounds which can be significant on a short person but  50 to 100..... The only way to get rid of excess skin other than regaining the weight is painful expensive surgery.  But even at age 65 you can lose 100 pounds over a year and have NO loose skin.  My husband did that.

[Dominique]

Well, compared to the health risks associated with carrying too much weight and the health benefits associated with reaching a lower weight, I feel loose skin is a minor issue. And there’s likely a lot of individual variation (with regards to loose skin) between people who lost the same amount of weight in the same time, depending on age, genetics etc. Your husband is lucky if he was able to lose 100+ lbs in his sixties without having loose skin.

[KDJ80]

I'm not envisaging having any sagging skin issues, I don't imagine I'll lose weight at a rate fast enough or of such a volume that it'd be an issue.  I just want rid of my tummy rolls and love handles! 

I'll stick with it and see what next weeks weigh in says.  Although I had measured myself as well as weighing, and I've lost 1cm off my waist and hips this last week.  So I must have shifted something, if only a little.  

[Dominique]

Non-scale victories are always worth taking. Being able to detect changes in measurement on a weekly basis is impressive. It usually takes me at least a month to see any detectable change. What you may also want to consider (with regards to being patient) is the time it took you to go from 75 to 95 kg: my guess is it didn’t happen in just a few months. Not saying reversing it should take as much time, but slow and steady often wins the race.

[SunsetRunner]

Take body measurements. It’s more reliable than the number on the scale. Bodyweight can fluctuate for a number of different reasons. Waitt about two weeks after you’ve taken body measurements and if you still aren’t seeing any fat loss then the number one reason why people aren’t losing fat is they are not accurately tracking their calorie intake. People tend to underestimate what they actually take in. The second reason is as people decrease their calorie intake, their NEAT decreases as well. They take in fewer calories and unintentionally end up moving less.

[Glenda]

@Dominique @KDJ80 Dominique is right about slow and STEADY.  I read a study today by Drexel University done in 2017  that concluded it seems that developing stable repeatable behavior related to food intake & weight loss early on in a weight control program is important for maintaining changes in the long term.  In the study of 183 people, those who lost a consistent number of pounds each week had the best outcomes long term.  The good news though in googling weight maintenance studies, people are much more successful than has been reported in the past.  5,000 people in one study lost at least 50 pounds and kept it off at least 3 years.  They concluded dieting gets easier over the years and the most successful people had developed some habits of more healthful lower calorie eating and it was more automatic  & easier requiring less intentional effort.   Older people were more successful than the age 20 - 34 group.  Easy to imagine why of course.  Track what you eat and use more positive self talk, think about past successes and stay positive when you have occasional regain of some lost weight.

            I have lots of advantages over other dieters since I've dieted 60 years, live alone and don't have children around.   I'm not cooking for others and no one influences what I eat. etc

[Haligonian]

I'd argue that the non-scale victories are the more important ones. As a person gets healthier and trades fat for muscle, there will definitely be times where they plateau or even appear to regress, despite doing all of the right things. My go-to example of why BMI isn't everything is Rob Gronkowski, who played in the NFL with a BMI over 30 while being obviously in incredible shape. 

Obviously Gronk is a freakish outlier, but I bring him up as a recognizable example to illustrate the point: that the scale is less important than the shape. If centimeters and inches and coming off, one probably shouldn't be too concerned about weight in the short term.

[Dominique]

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@Haligonian wrote:

My go-to example of why BMI isn't everything is Rob Gronkowski, who played in the NFL with a BMI over 30 while being obviously in incredible shape. 

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Sure, it’s a well-known fact BMI doesn’t apply to very muscular individuals, like the elite athlete you mentioned. However, how does that help a person whose BMI is very high because they carry a lot of extra fat, rather than muscle? Are you telling them: "scr*w the scale, scr*w BMI, just replace a big chunk of the fat you’re carrying with muscle and you’ll be good to go"? I’m sure most people would love to do this, but it’s practically near impossible. The truth is that – for most overweight people – lowering body fat to more healthy levels require losing weight (and therefore lowering BMI).

Btw, even Gronk apparently saw good reasons to lose weight...

[ThinkDan85]

I am in a similar boat. Lost nearly 10lbs in the first week of working out and then sorta flat lined over the following three weeks.

This is very discouraging, but when I look at other things besides weight and BF%, I can see that I can now run 15 minutes straight on an incline of 2% without walking, I am crushing my opponents in FitBit challenges, I have much more physical endurance overall, I am happier and less depressed.

Not only that but my clothes do fit better, not a lot but they do.

I think I am going to keep going and see what happens, this is only 4 weeks in and I have averaged 1.75lbs/week over that time.

This year I have told myself I am going to run 5,000 minutes...and if I lose weight, I also accomplish that. I'd like to be 40lbs lighter and fit into my suits I cannot wear right now. This running goal is different, I am focussing on accomplishing that instead of focusing on losing weight. This helps me stay motivated!

Check back in to this thread later with an update. I will too. Good luck!

[Dominique]

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@ThinkDan85 wrote:

Lost nearly 10lbs in the first week of working out.

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You say "first week of working out": what kind / how much of working out is that, compared to what you were doing (or not doing) previously? It’s hard to imagine any amount of activity could burn so many calories as to result in the kind of deficit that would cause a real weight loss (= weight loss coming from actual tissue, as opposed to water) of 10 lbs.

Did you switch from a "regular" diet to a very low-carb one? Cutting carbs very sharply usually results in a big initial drop (mostly water weight), but it’s a one-off thing. What you describe (big drop on first week, hardly any change during the next three weeks) would be consistent with adopting a low-carb diet.

[ThinkDan85]

For the previous 2-3 months I was pretty much doing nothing. Not even walking. I had appendicitis and my wife and I had our baby girl. The first week I was running 3 times per week, lifted 3 times per week and hit my step goals of 15,000. Further to that I capped my calorie intake at 2400 and yes, I reduced my carbs, but did not aim to remove them completely.

My calorie deficit is set at 1000/day and I average about 8,000 - 11,000 per week.

Fitbit told me that the two treadmill sessions and lifting session I did yesterday burned nearly 1,500 calories.

[KDJ80]

Hi ThinkDan85,  I lost 10lb the first week, nothing the next two weeks and 2.7lb this last week.  So I’m down by nearly 13lb, which is good.  I don’t feel like I’ve lost anything, but I am seeing changes in other ways.

Ive lost 2” off my waist and my hips in that 4 weeks.  My resting heart rate has gone from 74bpm to 58bpm.  My blood pressure is down to 114/77.  So that’s all good.  Hoping I’ll show another weight loss this week when I come to weigh in. Fingers crossed.

[ThinkDan85]

Awesome to hear. Are you doing anything different in the past couple of weeks?

Good luck

[KDJ80]

No, not really just sticking with it.

[KDJ80]

Good news is I seem to have got out of my plateau situation.  I've lost another 2.5lb this week.

So since 6th January 2020, I'm down 17lb/7.75kg.  😁

[Dominique]

Glad to hear things are now moving your way. You’re still averaging 1.4 kg per week since Jan-6 and if anything, I’d be worried it’s too fast rather than too slow (real plateaus tend to occur – after a while – if/when losing at too fast a pace).

If your weigh-ins make it into your Fitbit account, you may want to link it to TrendWeight (link in my signature), a free web-based service that allow you to look at short-term, medium-term and long-term trends. It’s especially useful after it has been "primed" (i.e. has a few weeks of data) and when weighing daily (or often enough) in the same conditions. Although it’s cloud-based, the data is only available to you, unless you choose to share the link to it (as I did). I personally find the TrendWeight graphs more informative than the Fitbit ones.

[KDJ80]

Thanks Dominique.  Yes all my weigh ins are in my fitbit account.  I have my weight going back to October 2015 all logged.  I'll have a look for TrendWeight.  Will it upload all my weight logging history from Fitbit, or only new data from now on?

[Dominique]

TrendWeight can retrieve all your history, if you want it to. I think it asks about it when you first link it to your Fitbit account.

Note that TrendWeight works best in a desktop environment. The site is not optimized for browsers on mobile platforms, at least not on smartphones: on my iPad, it works OK, but on my Android phone, the tabs for periods (2 weeks, 4 weeks, 3 months etc.) and for weight vs. fat/lean do not work.