Just Won't Come Off!!!

[CantLoseIt]

I'm a 39 yo female who is just completely frustrated by my lack of weight loss. As a back story, in 2014  I lost 62 pounds and got down to 125 lbs at 5'8' tall. I looked great, felt great and decided to give running a go a couple of years ago. In 2016 I trained for and completed my first 5k, 10k, 10 mile run and mini-marathon but at the expense of gaining 10 lbs while doing it. I was shocked!!! I could not believe that with all the running I had actually gained 10 pounds!!! About 2 months after the mini I had taken the 10 pounds back off by reducing my calorie intake and I had not been running since the mini either. I maintained again at 125 lbs until I decided I wanted to do the mini again in 2017 and it came back on and I cannot get it to come off this time. I have watched my macros, decreased my calories, increased my calories, lowered my calories again, whole 30'd until I am just exhausted. I even had my hormones tested because I thought maybe it was because I am knocking on 40's door. All hormones were lower, but still considered within normal range. I am just so discouraged I don't know what to do. I am telling you, I could not lower my calories any more than I already am. The only time the scale budged was when I got sick and couldn't eat hardly anything for a few weeks. What am I missing here? I love to run. Why can't I run and weigh 125 lbs? I need some honest answers. Is it my macros? Is it calories in vs calories out? I am mostly sedentary through out the day because I have a job that ties me to my chair. I like to go to the gym on lunch and run or elliptical. I don't lift weights regularly. I don't voluntarily drink a lot of water, but I am now. I've been eating 1100 calories on off gym days and 1300 when I go to the gym. I was sick for 4 weeks and averaged only 700 calories per day, but that was involuntary and I still only lost a few pounds that have returned when I started eating normally. Eat more? Eat less? Eat different? Fasting? I don't know the answer anymore. 

[Mukluk4]

I would suggest a couple things.

1.  Get in the weight room.  

2. Don't focus on 10 lbs.  Focus on how you look and feel.  Those 10 lbs may be a good thing for your body and does it really make that much difference (it's not even a 10% reduction in your body weight)?  

[etvete]

As someone who is 5'8'' myself and felt really thin at 155 lbs. I can't imagine how much work it takes for you to maintain at 125. That being said, have you ever gotten your body fat measured or done it yourself? One of the side effects of training for an endurance sport is gaining muscle so I would venture to guess that those 10 pounds were partially muscle. I would encourage you to ignore the number on the scale. Why do you have to be at 125 lbs? Why can't you be at 135 lbs., be able to run a mini marathon, feel good and look in the mirror every day knowing that the scale doesn't rule your life?

[WavyDavey]

@etvete, nice post.@CantLoseIt,

If you had to choose, would you rather run, or weigh 125?

[CantLoseIt]

Well, that is one thing i have not tried yet. I have gymtimidation! 😉

And my pants are more snug and it makes me frustrated. 

And maybe it's not the 10 lbs. Maybe it's the fear that if I put 10 lbs back on, what if next year it's 20, then 30, and before I know it I'm right back where I started. And I really just don't want to be there ever, ever again.  I would chose Running over the 10 lbs, but not 60 lbs. Running reminds me that I'm strong,  capable and makes me feel fierce! I love it! It's therapy........aaaahhhh!!! 

[Julia_G]

@CantLoseIt, I have got to agree with the others that maybe your body is telling you that 135 is just the right weight for you -- a weight where you can run and be strong, and I bet you look just great.

Especially if you have thought of yourself as "fat" in the past you may not have a realistic idea of how people see you -- and what your body really is.  I like this website for so-called "ideal" weight and "healthy" weight (based on life insurance tables).  It also has a "people's choice" weight -- what other women your age and height think would be the perfect weight. According to every criterion 135 is looking good...!

I know that any of us who has ever been over weight looks at the numbers, amd worries about the numbers...  But just because you are 10 lbs above your skinniest doesn't mean you are going to go back to 60 lbs ...  

Why not try on your 135 weight for size for a bit?  Go running!  Lift weights, have fun.

Get on the scales every day and don't stress as long as you stick between, say, 132 and 138.  Step back and do whatever it takes  immediately if the scale creeps above, say, 138  (many people your age and height would be happy at even a few pounds higher, and evidence suggests that could be healthy, but you clearly would not be happy, and this is about you.)

I think you will find that you are strong and comfortable in that weight range and that you can maintain it for now.  As you get older you might need to re-evaluate, up or down...

[Alicat2104]

The 10lb gain was probably muscle which is a healthy gain and will help your metabolism longterm. The scale is evil, focus on your health and how you feel. 

[Dominique]

First of all, kudos for the impressive weight loss in 2014, and for having been able to maintain since! Keeping it off is a common concern among big losers, as shown in this topic started by @Daves_Not_Here.

Weighing 135 lbs at 5’8 (BMI 20.5) is a "problem" many women would like to have. I concur with other posters that there’s nothing wrong with this weight, even if it happens to be 10 lbs higher than your absolute lowest. I’m 5’7 and currently weigh 132 lbs, so I know it’s pretty thin. I was 148 lbs at the beginning of the year and I was still reasonably thin then too. There is a rather wide range within which your weight can fluctuate without having to worry too much about it.

Regarding your weight loss in 2014: how long did it take you to drop the 62 lbs? And what was the primary driver of your weight loss? Did you do it primarily via dieting, or also by increasing your activity level? I’m asking because your caloric intake (1100-1300) sounds very low for a woman your size and your age. Your calculated BMR alone should be around 1300. I’m about your size, 17 years older and I eat about 2500 calories to maintain. Could be your metabolism hasn’t fully recovered yet, which would also be consistent with lower hormone levels.

As to the association between running making you gain weight, I just don’t get it: you make it sound like you only have two states, not running and being 125 lbs, running and being 135 lbs. Since it appears you joined Fitbit in 2014, what has been your pattern of activity since then? Has your step count been relatively constant, or has it fluctuated widely?

If you are interested in looking a certain way, being able to wear certain clothes etc, which I assume is really at stake here (because being 125 vs. 135 lbs makes very little difference otherwise), I’d second the suggestions by other posters to start lifting weights, in spite of your gymtimidation. I’d also start to eat more, in order to rebuild your metabolism and be in an optimal position to gain muscle: at BMI 19.0-20.5, you’ve plenty of room to gain more weight without worrying about fat.

[emili]

@CantLoseIt- so here is my take on this for what its worth. I am 5'7. 47 years old and I weigh 134 pounds. That's your ten pounds minus an inch of height. I am a very slim size 4. I lift weights, I walk, I run (only once per week because holy wow do the feet hurt), I wear a weighted vest and carry weights while doing hill runs- you get the idea. I eat 1500 calories Mon- Thurs and burn maybe 450 in the gym depending on activity. Friday and Saturday- fun times. Sunday sort of fun times. All this helps me stay where I am comfy..134 pounds. When I get on the scale Monday morning and I see the two pounds from the weekend, my initial reaction is dread, before reason takes over. This has been my routine for three years and it still shocks me on Monday morning. So, you being upset over ten pounds I can completely relate to. I would be as well. And the fear that ten will turn to 15 is very real. One other thing that might be real is you don't see you how you are - you see you how you feel. I speak from experience. I put on a pair of jeans that are mannequin size and I start looking to see if I look fat or if the shirt I am wearing is flattering with them- etc etc. I don't see me as I am, I see me as I was. It is really hard to explain this to people who just see you how you are and get angry when you ask if the outfit looks alright or if it makes you look heavy. I would just maybe soul search if the ten pounds is really an issue or if you see you 65 pounds ago- because ten may as well be 65..

Watch what you eat, weigh yourself, drink fluid (fluid pushes fluid if you retain you will be scale  heavier and bloated), run, lift weights, have fun on the weekends and when you are in the mall- look at a mannequin because that's what you look like to everyone else.

[CantLoseIt]

I guess in the grand scheme of things 10 lbs is not really a lot, but i think it's more of a confusing thing for me. I don't feel like i did a thing different besides start running and i feel like i woke up one morning 10 lbs heavier. And it's sticking to me like glue. No matter what, it seems to just stay. So, i guess not being able to control it is pretty scary. That's why i said, well it's 10 lbs today.....by next year could it be 15 or 20? Because if i can't take this off with all of my effort, will the rest of this just find it's way back on my body and I'll be stuck back where i started? That's the deal...... it's not the actual 10 lbs..... it's the WHY...... why can't i change this? Do ya see what I'm driving at? I'm ok with the number. I see that this seems silly to the general population. I'm just worried, confused, dumbfounded that for all my effort, i feel like i should be able to lose 5 lbs, 10 lbs, etc. But i can't..... I'm stuck here. Why? What am i doing wrong?

[Dominique]

The only explanation I can think of for gaining weight when engaging into running is that – starting from a baseline of lower activity / lower intake (it’s an assumption, since you didn’t mention much about that) – getting more active cause you to eat more than what you expend performing the extra activity. This happens with running, but the same would likely happen with any other cardio / endurance activity, like biking, rowing etc.

But even if it were the case becoming more active caused you to overcompensate with your eating, you don’t gain 10 pounds overnight, or even in two weeks. That’s one reason I personally like to weigh daily: so it doesn’t come as a total surprise one morning I’m 5 kg heavier. I understand weight fluctuates on a daily basis, for a number of reasons, which is why I look at the TrendWeight numbers (moving average) instead. If I start seeing the numbers consistently go up, I can react quickly to it, by adjustinf my eating and my activity for the next few days. Do you have a scale phobia that prevents you from weighing on a regular basis?

[Daves_Not_Here]

@CantLoseIt - Agreeing with @etvete about measuring your body fat percentage.  I suspect it is relatively low.

125 pounds at 5'8" seems pretty willowy to me.  If you then exercised and increased your muscle mass, I don't know if you can get blood out of a turnip, or rather, pounds out of a lean athletic woman.  It would seem you will need to decrease muscle mass, which I doubt your body is going to cooperate with, given your activity level.

Also, google "exercise induced inflammation", which may be leading to increased water weight during exercise and recovery.  My hunch is that the 10 extra pounds could be 6 pounds of muscle and 4 pounds of water.  That would be enough to make your pants tighter.

[CantLoseIt]

I just had my bf measured the other day with the hand grip thing and it was 22%. 

[Daves_Not_Here]

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@CantLoseIt wrote:

I just had my bf measured the other day with the hand grip thing and it was 22%. 

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I'm just a guy on the internet, so take what I way with a grain of salt:  I believe 22% for women is pretty low, and I'll repeat my blood out of a turnip metaphor.

I happen to like the slender look of 5'8" women who weigh 125, but I don't see many athletic women who weigh that little.  My opinion is that, if you want to get back to that weight, you'll need to do what you originally did to get to that weight (which was more about eating than exercise).

The answer is evident in your original post -- you can maintain at 125 with lighter exercise or 135 with more rigorous exercise.