I've tried everything and can't lose weight

[simone24]

I got my fitbit in March 2020 and went from 215 to 180 by the end of the year. I did it with keto and an extreme calorie deficit that left me with developing B.E.D. where I gained back 10 pounds. I've thankfully recovered from it pretty quickly (started therapy in May) and floated between 188 and 191. The crazy part is that I actually lost weight when I was binging (t would gain up to 199 and drop to 188 in a matter of weeks with dieting & working out-had this cycle from March to July of this year) compared to now when I've been in a consistent deficit.

For 10 weeks I have stuck to calorie deficit of 500-750 and I've been stuck at 191 pounds. I've started weight lifting 5x a week to try to boost my metabolism and I incorporate both hiit & liss cardio workouts 4-5x a week (been doing this for about 10 weeks and changing the routine every 2-4 weeks -including deload weeks. i was also lifting lighter & doing resistance training prior to this program for about a 8 months). I also try to stay active during the day by taking walks or dancing since my job is pretty sedentary.

I have tried eating at maintenance for a week, calorie cycling, upping protein, and dropping calories. No matter what I try my weight won't go below 191, if anything it fluctuates to 192 or 193 some weeks. Besides weight, I also track my body measurements and they haven't changed much either (lost about 1.75 inches overall in 9 weeks). I've been to the doctor, have been tested, and I've been cleared. There's nothing wrong with my body that they could find.

I am extremely consistent in measuring my body, taking my weight's weekly average, tracking my food, and working out. I don't know what else I can do or try besides cutting to 1200 which I want to avoid. I am obese and I've been trying to get to 175 pounds as my first goal (ultimate goal is 135) since last year. Any tips on what I can do to get this weight off. 

TLDR/Breakdown of what I'm doing/tried

I'm 5'4, 191 lbs, female

Calorie intake (I strictly stick to these numbers):

Started at 1577 (designate by my weight lifting program, did for 6 weeks)

Tried 1800 (did this for about 3 weeks after no weight loss and only like half an inch lost)

Currently at 1570 average with cycling

Workouts:

MWF lower body lifting 60-90 min (heavy lifting unless deload weeks) + HIIT 20-30 min (heavy lifting unless deload weeks)

TTH upper body lifting & abs 45-60 min (heavy lifting unless deload weeks) + LISS 30-40 min

I sometimes take an active rest day on Saturday that usually includes a light 20-30 min ab workout and some activity (usually walking for 45-60min)

[Heybales]

Good work recovering from a bad situation, I guess you want to be assured you aren't taking an extreme approach again - body will be more apt to become stressed easily.

With that much weight to lose to healthy goal weight - I'd suggest you are on cusp of 750 deficit being reasonable - if your body is in otherwise healthy shape - so good job attempting 500-750.

Now, that is a deficit from what you burn in total - which is correct understanding.

Now, to that total since you workout a lot. Got a few questions here - if you care to answer them, could be very useful.

Your workout burn is done using HR-based calculations. (unless you are manually logging calorie burn)

Those calculations are ONLY valid best estimate (and even then with caveats) for steady-state aerobic exercise.

The farther your workouts are from that - the more inflated the calorie burn.

Lifting is anaerobic and HR up and down constantly, hardly steady-state. Intervals may be anaerobic if true HIIT, but at least not steady-state.

In addition, while walking is aerobic and steady-state, it's at such the low end of the aerobic range - it's actually inflated too, just like right below anaerobic or top of aerobic range is, for calculated vs reality.

Therefore you have inflated calorie burns you are taking a deficit from.

If this was only 3 x weekly for 15 min in an otherwise active lifestyle - no big whoop.

That is not the case for you - you have a lot of inflated calorie burn going on.

For instance - find a past day that was mainly lifting and running HIIT, or just lifting. Note the daily burn.

Manually create a Workout Activity for Weight Lifting the same start/duration time as what is logged. Don't worry about double-counting, Fitbit is a replace-only system, only your latest record will be reflected in the daily total.

If you ran some intervals, manually enter again, start/duration time, and distance, take the suggested calorie burn as that is more accurate.

Now what was the daily burn?

Your prior comments on loss make me think your deficit was rather extreme at the time - body got stressed and increased cortisol, retained water slowly increased, and fat weight lost on scale was hidden. Until you overate and reduced the stress, and got a water weight flush.

Not a great state for the body to be in, stressed that much - it'll attempt to adapt and make it so much harder.

Either that is happening again (you can slowly gain 20 lbs of water due to that - how many weeks on the scale could that hide?), or you really aren't burning as much as you think and no actual deficit is in place.

If it's the former, measurements would still change as fat is lost in specific spots that happen to first off, whereas water weight gain is over the whole body and even 20 lbs not really visible until at max.

If it's the latter, some tweaks would likely show your on-paper deficit isn't reality, and you need to eat less.

For instance, if weight lifting is still making good progress - that doesn't happen in a diet, recovery is hampered and progress is slowed.

Energy to do some HIIT after lifting should be difficult - if hard but not about impossible - might not really be in a diet.

Of course it's very hard while already in a bad state to compare and figure out you are. Giving a workout your all feels the same either way, until you compare and realize the difference.

What is the HIIT actually being done?

And why are you doing it so often - what's the goal for doing it?

You don't mention what daily life is like outside a sedentary job and workouts - busy with household duties evenings and weekends, or literally sitting around then too?

Because using a better TDEE calc than most, I'm looking at your average daily burn using the average workout time given and workouts, as 2600 about. (Fitbit tweaked for better accuracy might be better than this)

Which makes your current eating level actually an extreme diet for amount to lose.

Your weight lifting program recommended eating goal - was it counting on that much lifting, or that much extra for workouts added to it?

So that goes back to stressed out body and retaining water.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G7FgNzPq3v5WMjDtH0n93LXSMRY_hjmzNTMJb3aZSxM/edit?usp=sharing

[LisefromCanada]

I don't know if what I am doing will work for you, but it is the first healthy gradual weight loss lifestyle program I have ever been on (and I've tried many diets over my lifetime). I do walk a lot - I average 15,000 steps per day, and sometimes do a little short zumba class on line, but that is about it for exercise.  But I have always walked quite a bit, but could not lose weight or keep it off.  My success is with the use of he NOOM ap.  It is based on psychology (CBT), and lots of help with my 'thought distortions - about food and about myself).  It really works.  I have a good relationship with food now, and my self image and self talk are improving daily.  I have lost 58.4 lbs in six months, and I have 11.6 lbs to reach my ideal goal.

Good luck Simone!

This is my weight loss graph over the past 6 months... 

[emili]

I want to stay away from the whole in vs out... but it is in vs out. I think somehow there is some flaw in your calculations that gets you to eat to calories out instead of staying under. I wish I could figure it out for you - based on everything you wrote you have it down to a science. the only thing I can think of is pick something and stick to it for a longer period of time. maybe consistency will win over and you will see the results you are hoping for. whatever you choose to do, good luck in your journey. and.. with all the activity you do, you are probably in better shape than some thin people 🙂

[simone24]

Thanks for all your insights & suggestions! I did end up dropping two pounds this week, but here are the answers to some of your questions:

I did start manually entering my workouts and my daily burn went from 3000-2700 to 2800-2500 (I still wonder if this is a major overestimation based on my results so far)

I also took my measurements a few days after I posted and found that I lost just over 3 inches in total from all over which I think is good for 4 weeks, but correct me if that's wrong.

What is the HIIT actually being done? I do 20-30 HIIT on the elliptical increasing & decreasing both incline and resistance at different intervals

20 min hiit: 2 min warm up, 5 min intervals increasing for 4 min with 1 min rest for total of 18 min

30 min hiit: 2 min warm up, 1 min on 1 min off for 8 min, increasing the levels by 1 for 5 min on 5 min off, 5 min of highest resistance & level I can stay at (currently level 15, resistance 13), then 5 min cool down

And why are you doing it so often - what's the goal for doing it? The program I'm on says to do it 4-5x a week for fat loss

You don't mention what daily life is like outside a sedentary job and workouts - busy with household duties evenings and weekends, or literally sitting around then too? The most other activity I do is cook 3-4x a day (avg 10-20min per meal), wash dishes, and take a few walks throughout the week if I have time & energy for it

Your weight lifting program recommended eating goal - was it counting on that much lifting, or that much extra for workouts added to it? Yes

[simone24]

Thanks! I lost my initial 35 pounds with noom but also developed an ED during that time. I'm on another program similar to noom but is overseen by my health insurance & other health professionals. I am in no way saying noom led me to developing an ED, but it wasn't what worked for me.

Great job on your progress so far!

[simone24]

I don't think it's an issue of in vs out because I've taken step to eliminate that as best I can and I don't eat back my calories after working out or any other activities. My body is just strange I guess cause this week I dropped 2 pounds without changing anything.

[dorisKu]

A few years ago I begun gaining weight rapidly while still keeping to my eating routine. I was 62 then. Doctor said,"I think your thyroid is acting up", (never had any troubles before). Low n' behold, my thyroid was so so low (hypothyroid condition). No Hashimoto's disease though. One med helped me get my thyroid in check. However, I had more energy and walked every single day 45-60 mins., lost 26lbs in 4mos, now 5'5" 126lbs. I eat a deficit of 150-250 calories a day to maintain this weight or else I will slowly gain pounds. 

[Glenda]

It is just my opinion but I don't think exercise helps with weight loss.  Unless you have some medical problem like thyroid, what you weigh depends on what you eat.  And rather than trying to figure it all out in regard to the exercise I think you would be better off skipping exercise for a while just as an experiment and eat less.  What you have been doing wasn't working.  Try something else?   Best wishes.

[Kris111]

Technically Glenda is kind of right in my opinion also.

ESPECIALLY when it comes to hitt training. I am a runner but i love it, i really dont wish to stop and after 2-3 days on i end up blowing up like a balloon, dont know if it is water retination or our body goes into fight or flight mode or what it is exactly but by day 2-3 my body is just asking for a ton of calories even if i follow fitbit.  However I throw myself in a negative balance of 1000 which could be why, not sure what yours is set to. 

If you do intense exercise i highly reccomend every other day and maybe on that second day so something gentle like walking/yoga/strength or even nothing. It is always more about diet, its like when your stress hormone cortisol takes over from intense exercise either you are eating like **** , water retination etc. I am thinking your body may not be keeping up with rest as i commonly get this problem to. i know inclines on the treadmill always severly stressed me out.  I used to do this without these problems no problem back in my 20's not sure if its some kind fo age thing either. 

I also don't know how accurate fitbit actually is for counting hitt workouts, trackers aren't always reliable.  

[Glenda]

Kris,  I'm surprised by your comment about inclines in the treadmill stressing you out.    I wonder if your treadmill doesn't tell you how many calories you are using at different grades and speeds.  I find it LOTS easier to increase the grade than to go faster.  But I'm really short so I take short steps.  Everyone takes shorter steps on a grade probably.   Maybe you should go slower on a grade????    I'm not technical like Mr.  Haybales though.  It is just a thought.  Do you think anything is really very accurate in counting......like calories in a portion of food.  I don't think any of it is very dependable necessarily.    

[Kris111]

Exactly. I just been using zero for awhile now and going on speed 5 was I to phil maffetone training but somehow always the same problems. Switched to outside again for now atleast when the weather is acceptable. 

It's very hard with treadmill, mine doesnt ask age,weight or anything but always says I burn more then devices (I have Garmin to I find it's a bit better for treadmill but still says I burn less then treadmill does). 

I can never figure out my takeout coffee calories either, the place says 400 for a large but when I count it as 200 it seems to work better , I question a lot of things,lol. 

[Glenda]

I have been walking on a treadmill every day for decades because I can read while I do that.  I'm not really into any exercise unless I an read at the same time.   I don't think anyone should do anything they don't enjoy.  If you like to run...great, but don't make a job of it.  What is your goal anyway.  Do you want to improve your running ability or lose weight or what?   You are so pretty and slim looking.  I doubt you really need to worry about anything.  

[Kris111]

My goal is to not get water retination and be able to count calories properly so the body doesnt go Into fight or flight. If I wanted to make a job of it I would but cant say I ever recall running for 8 hours nor have I ran for over 2-3 hours in years if I have. 

Sorry wasnt trying to get off topic.

Was just trying to sympathize and say to her that high intensity (unless you like it that much go ahead but it can be harder )isnt always a good idea to do 5 x a week because it's easy (especially with hitt where no trackers count calories burned from hitt too well imo)  to not be tracking calories properly and I dont know anything about elliptical but as mentioned incline makes it that much harder to count calories burned. 

I'd say 4 x ( every other day) seems more reasonable because that day between your body keeps up with rest better.

You can increase your Intensity time on those actual hitt days a bit with something else even like cycling etc. And walk/yoga doesnt usually hurt anything unless you're overtrained to begin with. 

but shes doing 60-90 minutes of weights the same day as 20- 30 minutes of hitt which equals  about 2 hours of intense training on the one day for example...I dont know how strenuous the weight lifting is but i assume it is taking a toll. Most runners dont even train a lot. So I have to agree with heybales.

It is all about nutrition and rest if you want to do tons of exercise.

Weights is kind of medium impact and can even be high so i was recommending them the day in between the more strenuous workouts or a day off or light activity alternatively. 

You may even benefit from 1-3 daysish off if the problem is undereating and your body is in the stressed state..it sounds counterintuitive but you you will feel 10 lbs lighter if you are 'overtrained/underrecovered'.

Your problem may not even be overeating in the first place, maybe it is not eating enough...which makes sense if you had binge eating disorder cuz that's also what I had for awhile, food hangovers arent fun and it all comes down to one thing causing it which is stress. 

Be good to yourself, love yourself, get enough rest and let the body relax, take epsom salt baths with candles, rest, deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, massage,meditation,  there are all kinds of stress techniques out there to aid along recovery. 

[modapillsriver]

Is not all about workout and how much you can run and burn calories sometimes. I've seen in front of my eye. You need to have support from somebody close or your fitness trainer or partner buddy in this whole process. Get free your mind and then you will start seeing good results.