Need to go extreme

[Dibbies]

Having Had my fitbit for over a year, and seriously trying to loose weight for the last 7 months ( which I have failed miserably - 2kg in 7 months )

I think the only option is to go extreme !!!!!

Food intake to the minimum, just to stay alive, exersise every spare minute of the day i can manage,

surly then I will lose some weight ???????????

[shipo]

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@Dibbies wrote:

Having Had my fitbit for over a year, and seriously trying to loose weight for the last 7 months ( which I have failed miserably - 2kg in 7 months )

I think the only option is to go extreme !!!!!

Food intake to the minimum, just to stay alive, exersise every spare minute of the day i can manage,

surly then I will lose some weight ???????????

---

I'd be careful with cutting your food intake to a minimum; that's a good way of slowing your metabolism to a point where as soon as you try to return to a relatively normal lifestyle, you're weight will start heading north again in a hurry.

[Dibbies]

Hi Shipo,

Thanks for your reply and advice.

However I am not thinking of "returning to a normal lifestyle" yet

After 7 months of "doing all the correct" things the so call experts say I should do - healthy diet and excersise more. when nothing happens week after week, I am just looking to lose weight, never mind consistantly. Alot of posts on here talk about what is right and what is wrong, and you should do this and your should not do this, but when all the numbers and actions add up and i should be loosing about 1 - 2kg a week, when I am doing all the hard work, and nothing changes. what action is there left to do ?????

[Cali13]

Before I'd do anything, I'd get a physical and blood work to make sure your metabolism, thyroid, etc. are all working properly.  Make sure there isn't an underlying medical reason for the lack of weight loss.

[Dibbies]

Hi Cali13,

Yes very sound and sensible advice thank you.

I however did visit my GP back in January, when I started my efforts, with no concerns found.

However I will be visiting them again soon, to get there advice on my lack of progress.

[A_Lurker]

So what do you consider 'doing all the right things'.  I ask because you seem to think what you're doing should result in 1-2 kg/week when the most you should be aiming for is 1-2 pounds.  This makes me think that perhaps you're already eating too little.

Also, where are you starting from?  Do you have a lot to lose, or just a little.  An extreme deficit when you're trying only to lose a small amount of weight can be counter-productive.  We will all have our opinions on what you should eat, but are you weighing/measuring your intake or just eyeballing it and guessing?

There are lots of little things that can trip you up.  If weight loss were easy we would all be at our correct weight.  If you provide more information I'm sure you will get more input.  As already said, cutting calories to the bone to lose weight can backfire.

[Cali13]

Defininetly revisit.  A lot can happen and change in 6 months.  Good luck!

[Dibbies]

Hi A_Lurker

Thank you for your reply.

To give everyone more background information, as a child I was always quite thin, I had no problem with my weight, if fact, sometimes I was thought to be under weight.

That all changed when I hit 18 and lernt to drive. It is only with the benefit of hindsight that I now realise that I continued to eat the amounts of food I had always eaten, but now I could drive, my energy expenditure dropped as when before I walked or cycled everywhere, I could now drive, so the weight piled on, and I did nothing about it.

So now after being overweight for a long time (now 54), I was time to change this situation, if I wanted to see my old age and my grandchildren grow up, so set about trying to lose weight. Better late than never.

I never had a ideal weight I needed to be, or a set clothes size to fit into, I just know and can see that I am carring too much fat on my body and need to get rid of it, if I am to lead a reletively comfortable and mobile old age.

So 3 years ago I started to look into looking after myself alot better, eating heathier and excersising more.

Now I have a very active job, I do not sit at a desk all day in a office, I am on my feet, lifting, carrying things, moving stuff about, non stop all day from 6am till 5pm, excluding breaks.

But I realise this is not enought to rely on to lose weight, so I joined a gym.

So over the last 3 years, I have become more active, understanding what excersises and activities to do, and got help from various PT trainers. To the point that I put some hard work in the gym, some 3 to 4 times a week, sometimes with the restrictions at work, which includes shift work may I add, this amount of gym training is not always possible. But I do try, and I do push myself when I am there.

I also knew I had to change my diet, after all, popular understanding is that 80% of weight management, is your nutrition.

So yes I will agree before this my diet was appaling, all the wrong stuff and far to much of it.

So with the help of some dietitions and others experts, I set about changing my diet, not just in the short term, but a lifestyle change, so now, I am at the point of only eating "real" food, ie it has to run, fly, swim, grow in the ground or on trees, nothing processed, nothing manufactured, everything recognized as real food. Split into little and often meals 5 -6 times a day, with a total amount of 2000 - 2200 Kcal a day, split into 40%carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats. with the correct portion sizes

3 years ago the most my weight was 135Kg with my height at 5'10" and a BMI of above 40

I started really looking into all this back in Jan with a view to be really serious about getting my weight down I was 129Kg, but now some 7 months on I am 124Kg, 5Kg lose in that amount of time is IMHO a very small gain for the amount of work and effort I am putting in, and very de-motivational.

So when I say I think I am doing enought, by my calculations I have a approx Kcal def of 2000 -1800 Kcal a day, spred over the working week, and eating all the right foods

Why is my weight loss so pitiful ?

Hence the need to take it to the extreme to try and get some results.

Or have I left it too late, and I will never be able to lose weight ???????

[A_Lurker]

Okay, so it's sometimes hard to wrap your head around this, but have you tried to increase your food slightly?  I started at 360 pounds (~164kg) back in February  (almost 60 pounds down) and I try not to bring my calories too low as this usually stalls my weight loss.  I try to keep the deficit around 1000 calories.  More than that and my body fights back and I don't lose much, if anything.  I know this, but I'm still tempted to undereat as I should lose more, right?  That might work for some, but not me.  A couple of weeks ago I actually ate at maintenance levels and didn't gain anything.  Since then I'm down 4.8 lbs in the last 2 weeks, and might have been more if I hadn't done a Friday night 'holy crap' night.  However, I was pretty decent yesterday in fighting the urge to eat almost nothing to make up for it.

Now, sounds like you may have been undereating for the past 7 months, so I'm definitely not suggesting you increase your food quickly.  Add maybe a couple of hundred calories for a week or two, then the same again.  I've given the link out a couple of times.  I'm going to go see if I can find it and copy it in here.  It talks about resetting your metabolism so you can go back to cutting calories.

(got it)

http://eatmore2weighless.com/the-metabolism-reset-guide/

[Dibbies]

Your right, I just can't get my head around eating more to lose weight, my understanding is back to basics, what you put in against what you use up, basic maths. That is the problem I am having the maths just don't seem to add up.

This has been re-enforced, by my own "holy crap" times, when you just give into temptation and have something that is bad, or too much of something, and bang !!!! that weekends weight in gives you a weight gain result.

That is why, I am almost painted into a corner, that being, if I eat as little as I can, and do as much activity as I can - then I can do no more, I am at my maximum level, and then if still no weight loss, then I have left it too late, there is no hope for me to lose the weight I need to lose, and I am wasting my time with all the work and effort I am putting in, so will have to resolve myself to the fact that I give up 😞

[A_Lurker]

Okay, there's no perfect analogy, but if I said to you to cut down the flow of energy to a system by half and expect it to increase output you would think I was nuts.  People who restrict their calories by too much create a system that runs on less fuel.  It may take a little longer to repair micro muscle tears from exercise.  Your hair and nails may not regrow at the same rate. The differences may not be noticeable.  However, when you give in and eat more again you might find that you'll regain weight faster (since you've taught your body to run on less fuel).

There are lots of resources out there that suggest you don't restrict by more than 1000 calories a day (less if you are closer to your goal weight).  Let's face it, losing weight (even you really need to) is depriving your body of a certain amount of fuel each day.  At a certain point your body will fight back.  I'm definitely not suggesting you give up, just rethink your strategy.  If you can't bring yourself to eat a little more, try a week or two off from the gym.  You may have already been doing this, but it might let your body realise that you're not trying to kill it.  

[A_Lurker]

Oh, and I should point out that I'm 50 myself, having never been my correct weight.  Two previous attempts to lose weight were somewhat succesful, although both times left me with health issues (pretty sure both caused by poor dieting choices), which meant I stopped what I was doing and slowly regained the weight.  So, I'm pasting in my weight chart, with some notes.

0 - after changing my diet and not seeing much difference in my sugar levels, I stopped taking the Metformin (which I was supposed to be taking to keep my sugar levels under control, but was just upsetting my stomach).  Was not tracking or weighing with any frequency, but I know enough about my general diet that I was losing weight.

1 - joined a challenge at work, although I wasn't truly into the competition thing, but decided it would keep me accountable.

2 - after coming back from vacation had still managed to lose weight.  I suspect I maintained, having been down a couple of pounds before I left, but not bad.

3-4 - spent a good part of one week away where I severely underate one day, and went way over the next.  Was only recording weight once a week, but was very high up the day I came back, but by the next Monday was down (4lbs/2 weeks).

5 (roughly) went back to the health clinic, my sugar levels without the pills is actually better than it was with them.  I will still follow-up (and take it a couple of times a week) but they agreed I didn't need to be taking them.  Went back to daily weigh-ins.

6 - although still trending down, I was feeling a little worn out.  With my past history I have to watch this, so as I said earlier, ate maintenance for a week.

7 - ate well over mainenance for a single night.  Completely controllable, but just didn't do it.  Probably didn't help that at a lighter weight I am more quickly affected by an amount that wouldn't have bothered me before.  The daily weight was almost 2 pounds heavier, but you know something, I knew it wasn't real weight.  Yes, a combination of eating more food (but also saltier food), so I moved around a little more on Saturday and drank a lot of water and the weight came back off.  My losses are never linear for long so I'll see as the week goes on how my weight trends.

You know, even though I'm down almost 60 pounds I've got probably at least another 160 to go.  Although it would be easy to say forget it since it feels so daunting sometimes.  I'd love to be someone who can drop 3-4 pounds a week for months on end, but I'm not.  While I'm doing this I'm also trying to find a way to eat that I can maintain for the rest of my life.  That's why I keep trying to convince myself not to overdo it on the deficit.  I've got so far to go that too much too fast with likely sabotage my loss.

[Dibbies]

You see from my perspective, and lack of understanding, you are doing really well. I would love to have the same results as you have had. To me, and I might be reading this wrong. I know weight measurements are not the best or most accurate way of tracking your progress. But they are the most easy and simple way to keep trach of your progress, or in my case lack of it.

To me a 60 pound loss over 6 months is fantastic. That is a loss of 27Kg

If you conpare that to my results, and I state again, all the effort and hard work I have put in for the last 7 months , a loss of 5Kg, you see the difference.

to make matters worth as I have a Aria weight scales, and working to lose weight and that mainly being the loss of fat, my fat level has actually gone up. ie

Jan - 129.4 Kg - 37.3% Fat

Jul - 124.1 - 38.6% fat

Making a total for the 7 months of minus 5.3Kg weight and plus 1.3% fat

Not exactly motivating

And to give some background information, I weight myself exactly the same place, at the same time with the same scales every Sunday morning. 

[Dibbies]

Sorry I am not that good with charts 😞

[A_Lurker]

I'm not sure that the fat % on any of the scales are that accurate.  The graphs come from a site called trendweight.com.  You can set it up and it will pull from your scale, giving the trend lines.  It uses some weird algorithm that creates a trend line, pulled down by lower weights, pulled up by higher weights.  I've only been doing my fat % since I switch scales and although I'm 'trending down' 1.9% I've seen some days jump up and down by almost a full percentage point.  So, take those numbers with a grain of salt.  However, it could be a sign that your body is getting too little fuel and it's burning muscle.

Back to weight loss.  So, with half the deficit that you use I'm doing fairly well.  That kind of supports my thoughts that perhaps you're eating too little.  Again, this all assumes that you are burning what you think, and that you're eating what you think.  Although I find my tracking numbers fairly accurate (using my weight loss as info, and lack of weight gain the week I ate more) I do little formal exercise.  I swim a bit most days, I lift weights usually 3x a week, and that's it.  However, there is a fair amount of weed pulling and gardening (although not enough) and when I walk I was fairly quickly to raise my heart rate.  Some people who have been at this longer than me feel that exercise may be over-reported.

So, you have a couple of options:

 - drop your calories and see how you do

 - raise your calories slightly and see how you do

 - take a break from extra exercise

Pick one and do this for a couple of weeks and see what happens.  As I said earlier, if it were easy, everyone would be successful and we would all be thin.

[GershonSurge]

Dibbies,

In my opinion, you have done well over the last seven months to maintain your weight. You've worked hard and have eaten what others told you what was correct.

Unfortunately, popular diet information doesn't work. If it worked so well, people would be lean. Instead, something like 35% of the population is obese, and many are sick. The United States has exported our diet all over the world, and everyone else is becoming obese, too. If the Chinese gain too much more weight, I'm afraid the world might start to wobble.

You can see the influence of physical trainers in these numbers:  40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats. These are a recipe for heart disease of all types, intestinal problems, diabetes, kidney problems, gallstones, cancer, and many other diseases. You may be seeing some of these in your lab reports now.

The good news is these diseases are reversible in an amazingly short time by eating the way people were meant to eat. 

You can couple a healthy way of eating with little exercise or extensive exercise. You can count calories, or if you pay minor attention to your hunger feelings, you don't have to count calories. 

Your body is unhealthy because you have been feeding it poison. Take away the poison, and you will recover. 

You seem driven for success, so let me introduce you to Dr. McDougall. He was like you at one time. No, he was worse. He had a severe stroke when he was 18. He had exploratory abdominal surgery around the same time for intestinal problems. He had severe lung problems due to a smoking habit. He was driven to cure himself through his diet and did so. That started in the late 70's and early 80's.

There are other Doctors who went through the same types of problems, and they have undeniably found the healthiest way to eat.  There are other well-known doctors who have discovered the same thing. Ornish, Furhman, Esselstyne, Pritikin, Cooper, Campbell and others. They all have clinics where they are performing miracles. I chose Dr. McDougall as he gives references both for and against his recommendations. He has hundreds of videos on YouTube and many good books. (I prefer The Starch Solution.) Everything he has learned is available for free except the book. It's not only free -- it's simple to learn. This way of eating is also inexpensive.

We are all betting our lives and our health on our diets. At 63 and healthy, I can tell you it's possible to feel as good as in your 20's. I'm not as fast or as strong as I once was, but inside, I feel the same.

All you need to do to get started is watch these twelve videos all the way through. Please suspend all judgement until you have seen them. Then resolve to follow the way of eating for twelve days. If you have high blood pressure, you will likely cure it in the first week. Same with type 2 diabetes. For this reason, it's important to be able to contact your doctor with blood pressure changes. If on diabetes medication, at least talk to your doctor every couple of days as it is usually cured.

The Fitbit forums are not the best place for eating advice. If you choose this way of eating, I suggest going to the forum at www.drmcdougall.com  for support and answers to your questions. 

[emili · Accepted solution]

@Dibbies I think you need a break. Emotionally and mentally you need to give yourself time off. whatever you are doing, not doing, think of doing- don't do it. Just stop. You are exhausted. Your body is fine. Considering what you describe as your lifestyle, you are eating healthy and you are moving your body. Eating too much, too little- debates can rage for days. Same with movement. Take time off and really consider what you want to do and make a plan for how you get there. Working with trainers doesn't mean you are burning through calories. Clean eating doesn't mean low calorie. The calorie ratio you currently have doesn't mean its the right one for you to lose at. Take time off and figure out how many calories per day you need to eat. Factor in movement (TDEE). Figure out what no brainer meals you can make and the calories they take up. And then start again. Measure, weigh, count, add and subtract. But most important- take a break.

[Dibbies]

First of all I would like to thank everyone, for listening to my concerns and giving me help and advice. they are all much appreciated.

But all this has come to a head just recenatly, from fustration and dissapointment. I did set myself a goal, and the realization that I have not even come close to achiving it, resulted in all this pain.

Emili, has hit the nail on the head so to speak, I need to take a break, and give myself time off, and re-group. I mind set is always to move forward, so it will take some effort to do. And I must prepare myself for the negative aspect that after taking a break for 2 or 3 weeks I may well up at the weight I was 3 years ago

But Emili , at this moment make some sense, so that is what I am going to do.

Once again thank you everyone for your help, I will keep you posted.

[emili]

Hugs to you. And please don't be shy if you need an ear

[GershonSurge]

@Dibbies

I can certainly understand the desire to take a break. There is something you can do during the break that is easy and has been shown to be effective in experiments.

Simply have two slices of bread or toast before each main meal. Wait 5 to 10 minutes before eating the rest of the meal. Whole grain is better, but it works with white. Have some jam on the bread if you prefer. Don't use butter or peanut butter as those are high calorie and high fat content.