Getting frustrated, struggling to lose weight

[alexisg610]

Hello everyone!

I am currently trying to lose (overall) 150 pounds. It's a big goal, but with time and patience I am hoping I can achieve it sometime. I also do have smaller goals along the way. Right now, my current (and first) goal is to lose about 25 pounds. I have had this goal since August, but I have gained 17 pounds instead of losing any. I have a Planet Fitness membership, so I started going 1-2 times a week. I started off with a 20 minute mile, and not being able to do pushups. Now, I am able to run a 10:30 mile and I can do a few pushups. I even started to eat healthier, cutting all pop out of my diet, and replacing things throughout my diet more and more. I started this semester at 311 lbs, but now I am at 326. I have changed up my workout plan recently (I am trying out the Fitbit coach (just signed up today, I have been doing the Volt by Gatorade since November, but it doesn't suit my goals at this moment). 

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this frustration even though they are trying to take the right steps? If anyone got past this frustration, do you have any tips?

[Dominique]

Welcome to the community, @alexisg610! And congrats for your fitness-related achievements, it’s always a great feeling when you’re able to do something you couldn’t do previously. Weight loss is 90% about eating and only 10% about exercising. That you have gained 15 pounds over the past 4-5 months points to the fact your nutrition isn’t where it should for weight loss. Exercising and being more active is great for things like health, well-being, fitness, stamina etc., but you need to focus more on what and how much you are eating. Exercising can make you hungrier and also give you the feeling you deserve more food as a reward. However, it’s very easy to undo in a couple of minutes (e.g. eating a donut) what took an hour of constant effort (e.g. working out at the gym). I’m not familiar with Volt, but the name Gatorade (a PepsiCo company) makes me wary: sport drinks, energy bars and the like may sound like a good idea for someone active and working out, but they often pack a lot of calories. Have you tried keeping a log of everything you’re eating and drinking? If not, I would do so for a couple of weeks, and review it with a coach or someone well-versed in nutrition.

[bikerhiker]

Stress is a major contributor to increased cortisol level, which can inhibit fat loss due to a high level of insulin.  Exercise helps lower cortisol level, but exercise itself does not burn a lot of fat.  Most of your fat burning occurs at night during your sleep, especially during REM stage 4 deep sleep.  If you have a Fitbit or an Apple watch, then you can track and see how is your quality of sleep.  You need at least 4 to 5 sessions of deep sleep over a 7 hr period to help with effective fat loss, as during fasting period (sleeping) is where the insulin level is the lowest and the body relies more on body fat to sustain energy consumption to maintain body vitals keeping you alive.  When you fail to have a good night sleep and accumulate sleep debt, then the body does not have a good chance of burning the excess body fat.  All exercise is going to do is deplete your muscle glycogen storage and expand it so you can complete the next workout at a higher effective rate, which you did but perhaps do nothing to reduce body fat stores.  I am not saying that exercise is not effective, but the claims that exercise will burn body fat is true when your mindset is not influenced by negative stressors and that you are feeling happy and joyful and stress free.  It is kind of difficult to achieve that when you are in a stressful environment and in a stressful lifestyle.  What you want to do in this case is for you to become an observer of what you, yourself do in these situations.  Just observe yourself in how you interact with others and the environment and then ask yourself this question; why do I react to these situations and then having second thoughts afterwards?  When you delve into the reasons and sources of your reactionary patterns towards certain conditions and issues, then you will help yourself by reducing the stress caused by your reactionary patterns towards outer conditions.  When you are successful in reducing this stress level is when you will be able to improve your quality of sleep and help lose some body fat and lessened the cravings of sugar laced foods. 

[HAlys]

Well done for working towards a new you!

I can understand how frustrating yo-yoing is, especially after a lot of hard work and determination!

Without too much of a background into your diet versus exercise regime, it is very difficult to determine the reasons as to the stalling of your weight loss and cause of your weight gain.

Also- losing 150 pounds is a lot! Have you spoken to your Doctor of your ambitions to ensure you are doing it at a steady and permanent basis? Realistically you shouldn't be losing more than 1-2 pounds a week tops in order to maintain and keep it off.

Just some tips that I have learned the hard way- also feel free to add me as a friend, happy to chat with you- I've gone from a UK18-20 to a small 14

-Aim to meal prep, so you know exactly what is going into your food- often dressing, sauces, etc on pre made food or at restaurants have hidden calories

-Sometimes a sugar/salt craving is actually a water craving- I have a 2L bottle on my desk at work I aim to drink by 5pm each day as it is the recommended daily amount

-Don't deprive yourself- if you want a treat like chocolate, aim for 70% dark or higher. Be careful of fruit (one of my huge mistakes) as it has hidden natural sugar

-If you can figure out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) [mine is just shy of 1900] it is what your body burns naturally, without doing any exercise. I try to have three 500 cal (ish) meals - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, with two high protein snacks in between. This keeps my blood sugar constant and stops me from snacking.

-Have a buddy... At work, on Fitbit, whoever, to chat with to keep motivated

-Speak to a nutritionist or a PT- sometimes you need to push your body even harder than you imagined to get that weight loss to continue... I had a PT to motivate me once a week and kick my body into over drive, in addition to my normal routine... I knew I was working hard, but he made me work even harder!

Hope this helps!

[alexisg610]

Hello!

Thank you for all of your tips! I really appreciate them!! I have spoke with my doctor about it, we have decided that 150 over the next few years seems realistic with my plans/goals. However I’m going with smaller 20/25 pound goals for now to keep myself working towards it at a slow and steady pace!!!

[alexisg610]

Thank you! I have been starting to log everything more, I left my food journal in my dorm, so over this winter break I kind of slacked off until this past Monday. My college has a nutritionist, so I may try to see about getting an appointment with them once the semester starts back up!

[alexisg610]

Thank you for the response! I will start paying attention to those things more in the future!!

[smith1223]

Eat More Protein. Protein is the single most important nutrient for losing weight. Eating a high-protein diet has been shown to boost metabolism by 80–100 calories per day while shaving 441 calories per day off your diet.

[Garciep]

Hello friend, regular fitness training and other activities, we help you to regain your normal weight. it works very well my dear.

[Gimpycat]

Chances are pretty good that you have some level of insulin resistance and metabolic imbalance, it's a very common problem that makes weight loss difficult. Certainly, a couple of exercise sessions a week won't make the critical difference.

I suggest that you read The Obesity Code by Jason Fung, or listen to The Obesity Code podcast to get a better idea of the forces at work. You can also look up insulin resistance as a topic on YouTube and start watching.

I dropped over 50 lbs last year by focusing on the quality of my food and fasting intermittently. You can do the same. And yes, I do also exercise, but food is the centerpiece of weight loss, not exercise.