Not Losing Weight

[SunsetRunner]

Good afternoon!

I've been going at this by myself, but I finally decided to stop in and see what others may say.

In the past (while I was in college), I was very active, but a couple of years ago I got a full-time job, marriage and all the fun responsibilities, so I stopped working out like I used to (7 days a week, with breaks only if I had a cold).

I've been bringing myself back into it, but the weight doesn't seem to be coming off. It's frustrating! I only weight myself once a week on a Monday, to log it before I start the week off. For the past 3 of those, I barely saw any change, apart from 2 pounds initially.

Hence, a question of how accurate is FitBit tracking. I tend to presume it's not AWFULLY accurate, in terms of calorie burn during exercise, but what about other aspects?

I work out 6 days a week for 1.5 hours (intensive circuit for 30 minutes & elliptical for 30 minutes before and after that), my average calorie intake for a day is around 1500, which is a comfortable range for me, and allows me the benefit of eating a bit more on the weekends, when I want to have a meal out with family, for example.

Still, the fact that the weight isn't coming off is frustrating. What could be an issue? Just looking for feedback from people who've been through the process.

My averages / day:

Steps - 12000

Floors - 7

Miles - 5.2

Calorie Burn - 4000

Active Minutes - 125

Stats:

Height - 6ft

Weight, atm: 262lbs

To note after all that: I do have a lot of muscle. I did close combat martial arts for a while, so I have absolutely zero issue with exercise in terms of intensity (it's hard as hell, but my body can manage it still). Obviously, it's not perfect and I want to die after each workout, but I don't feel like I'm working at max capacity, yet.

I don't feel restricted with food, either, but I am wondering if FitBit tracks calories well. I eat almost the same thing every day though, and it's fine accourding to MyFitnessPal, as well.

Any ideas?

[pjf53]

I also grinned when I heard about Whole30 from my son claiming I was pretty close to it already except the sugar, grains, legumes, and dairy...and these were restricted to daily calorie counts.  It was working well for the first 30 pounds until I got stuck for many weeks.

I'm now on day 7 of the 30 day Whole30 program and my weight loss plateau is shattered.  My calorie counts are the same but the composition of my eating is different.  It has been difficult but the program set the right expectations (so far, anyway).  As warned my energy levels were down this week and my athletic performances were impacted (biking and tennis). If their expectation setting holds my hunger cravings should be gone in another week or so, energy with be restored, and positive health adjustments begin to occur.  There is a lot more to the program,  If interested buy the book "It Starts with Food".  They state and I believe this is not only totally safe, but also a means to achieve superior health.  Read the book before skeptically dismissing it. 

https://whole30.com

Since I started the program I found an article about the fed versus fast phenomenon.  https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting/time-restricted-eating

They suggest skipping breakfast extends your normal overnight fast promoting a fat burning metabolism versus carbohydrate driven.  They also state this is not unhealthy.  I'm intrigued and toying with it but am a little concerned about too many changes all at once.  

Regarding Fitbits accuracy on Calorie burn, I do adjust the number downward by 18% based on several months of eating and calorie burning experience.  While that adjustment is relatively easy. determining the adjustment was not.  Further, Fitbits Dashboard uses the calorie burned calculation in several panes including panes that tell you how much more you can eat to achieve a weekly goal.  If you follow that pane you will almost certainly gain weight.  I hope they work on this issue.

PS:  As part of the program they tell you not to weigh yourself or take body measurements during to 30 days.  I have always believed a food and activity log are key to success for me.  And the scale provides huge pleasure when my weight goes in the right direction so I cheat on this point...no others.  I do fully expect daily fluctuations up and down and recognize them for what they are as long as week to week I'm trending in the direction targeted.  

[warreng2104]

I’ve personally done most of the Paleo based diets. Started with Dr. Cordain, followed Robb Wolff for a while, did the Hartwigs’s whole 30. They are great for losing weight. However, they are very difficult, and very very expensive for putting on muscle. Prohibitively expensive! Also the carb withdrawal in the first 5-10 days for me is too much to handle.

I like the Whole 30 because they update their plan, for example they allow white potatoes now. When I did their plan they did not, and in fact they called white potatoes nutritionally void, or something similar which is just plain wrong, but at least they corrected that erroneous thinking.

One really great thing about the Paleo movement comes in the form of a cookbook:

https://paleocomfortfoods.com/

This cookbook is amazing! Buy it even if you don’t buy into the whole paleo paradigm. The recipes are great and the book is well put together. This is my opinion and no one paid me to say this.

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

[EatingRight]

Certain types of diets are fine, but the big thing is watching what you eat
in the first place. That is to say eat healthy foods! I'm sure your doing
that. Losing weight takes time and patience. Got to stay disciplined and
consistent in what your doing. Don't give up! Keep it going!

[pjf53]

While Whole 30 is very similar to Paleo there are differences.  And at the end of thirty days you selectively add back in some of the items you took out based on how they seem to affect you.

I'm hoping to truly learn how to eat properly and avoid the weight roller coasters I've ridden for 50 plus years.  Plus I'd like to stop my diabetes meds.

[RayRaeB81]

Hi I was just reading your post and have been through the same thing. I was working out 5-7 days a week and was not seeing any results. I was getting very frustrated. I was eating healthy all the time and still packing on the pounds granted some of it was probably muscle. I've tried so many diets, lost pounds and then gained back more once I stopped. A couple of years ago my gym trainer told me about this natural cleanse program, so I decided to give it a try. Let me tell you the weight was flying off and the energy I had was amazing. Needless to say I maintained my weight loss for many years. Since then I've had a baby and gained again,I kinda lost myself to parenthood but now that my son is older I am fighting to get myself back in shape. Once again I tried all those silly quick diets, but nothing really worked. So I'm back to the only thing that worked for me and it's natural cleansing. I'm on a 30 day program and on day 21 right now and can I tell you I've already lost 15 plus pounds. I am back to my weight I was before I had my son and looking healthier than ever not to mention all the energy I have. This natural cleansing program really has worked for me and will work for you if you just give it a try. If you would like to know more please feel free to email me at RachelF81@yahoo.com I would love to help you! I've been there and its very frustrating not seeing results after busting you **ahem** at the gym day after day and eating healthy. I hope I can help you.

Rachel

[AdelleT]

I would definitely question the 4000 calories burned per day. I work out five days a week and am active every day and get an average of 15K steps per day. My fitbit says I burn about 2200 calories. If you are indeed burning 4000 calories a day, you definitely need to eat more than 1500 calories. You may not be eating enough. Also, what does your diet consist of? What kinds of foods to you eat?

[pjf53]

I eat around 1800 calories per day consisting of   8-10 ounces of protein, rest of place vegetables, a fat, and a fruit at each of 3 meals per day.  No snacking.  I was eating 2000-2400 per day while I lost the first thirty before stalling.  At that point I had not eliminated added sugar, dairy, legumes, and grains.  I'm just 10 days into this eating approach so it will need a bit more time before I am convinced it is a good program.

[warreng2104]

Firstly, you probably don’t want to lose “weight”, you want to use up stored fat.  There is a huge but simple and pretty obvious difference.  If you have been doing any resistance training at all you are adding muscle, which will stall or increase your “weight” loss.  Although with your ridiculous caloric deficit you may not be building much muscle at all.  I don’t know I’m not a doctor. 

Stored fat elimination vs weight loss in a handy picture.  

Your BMR changes as you become healthier.  A smaller body requires less calories both at rest and while working.  Assuming your total body mass is lower than when you started your caloric needs will decrease, BUT, continuing with restricting your calories in such an extreme manner will leave you with too little fuel to continue to work out.  Since you burn less calories per minute you work out, you will need to work out more minutes.  But you need the actual fuel to do so.  Does that kind of indicate why starvation doesn’t work?

Dieting is stressful.  Wanting to lose stored fat and not seeing results can be stressful.  Exercise is stressful.  Stress releases Cortisol.  You need cortisol to maintain health and lose fat.  The guys at T-Nation explain it far better than I can so here: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/two-faces-of-cortisol in the simplest of terms Cortisol can be very catabolic in that it slows down muscle building. 

Insulin is a storage hormone.  It is anabolic in nature and it is vital for storing nutrients in muscle after vigorous work outs.  It also stores fat.  Once again the excellent authors at T-Nation sum it up : https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/5-ways-to-improve-insulin-sensitivity Pay attention to this paragraph:

“If you're obese, low carb diets are the best way to go to lose fat – you're so insulin resistant that any carbohydrates you eat will most likely be stored in adipose tissue. Sorry. Research shows that the best approach for this demographic to improve insulin sensitivity is to lose body fat through low-carb eating. Once you're lean, you'll have more dietary options.”

If you read the whole article it should be pretty clear that one size does not fit all.  Enjoy your Whole 30 for what it is.  Something neat to try which will probably get you through to the next step on your journey. 

Two other things.  Be patient.  You didn’t get fat overnight and you will not dispose of body fat overnight.  Secondly, you cannot out train a bad diet, caloric deficit or not.  Not all calories are created equal.  If they were I’d cut by eating 2500 calories worth of poutine everyday.  Everyone is different so don’t take it too seriously when people say things like “I work out for x hours a day and burn x calories per day on average lol”.  It’s meaningless to you! Just keep grinding, tweaking your diet and the job will get done.  I believe in you. 

[warreng2104]

And another article.  Of the three this is the most relevant to someone trying to grind off that last stubborn bit of fat.  IMO. 

https://biotest.t-nation.com/articles/tip-the-dark-side-of-cardio

[pjf53]

Thanks Warren,

You are right that my interest is eliminating fat which I have done along with muscle.  The pictures you posted made the point stunningly clear.  I added resistance training to my routine about 6 weeks ago.  It consists of 12 Life Cycle machines and I target to achieve exhaustion during the third set...three times a week.  Is that enough?  Should I split them up over more days to work the body systems?

As far as the eating goes I'm halfway through the Whole30 days.  The sugar withdrawal was quite noticeable and my athletic performances are off similarly.  I'm making sure I get enough protein.  The calories are a bit thin (1700-2100) but not extreme. There is no question I have been the yoyo over decades referred to in the article.   I do hope I come out of the 30 days as a modified and more disciplined eater.  After alcohol, "added sugar" is my downfall.  It will join alcohol as out, perhaps with exceptions for both. 

[Teacherange403]

I appreciate all the suggestions, and I thought I'd update my post. My doctor found a slight thyroid issue, so hopefully new medication will help correct some of the weight loss issues.  I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing, and we're hoping my metabolism will kick in when the medication begins working.  That can take a month, so I'll try to keep at it and hope this helps.

Regarding diet and exercise, I've been reading some books by Mike Matthews (Thinner, Leaner, Stronger; Fit is the New Skinny), and they seem to have quite a bit of good common sense information in them about nutrition and working out.  I've modified my diet from low-carb to just common sense eating. I've added some whey protein around workouts, but most of what I'm doing is just being careful to eat healthily (and get enough protein and good carbs) and drink enough water.  My uncle, a former body builder and personal trainer, has always been a fan of many of Mike Mentzer's theories, and they make sense to me as well.  Both authors integrate very well. I'm focusing on quality reps with higher weights rather than exhausting repetitions. I'm not interested in trying any kind of extreme program with workouts or diet, and I'm not going to cut dairy (I grew up on a farm, and milk is one of the things I truly love. I also don't want to have an osteoporosis issue when I'm older.).  I have a Total Gym, and I've found that to be very useful along with other approaches (walking, some step aerobics, and LOTS of yard work in my huge flower gardens and vegetable gardens).

I am 49 years old, and I have noticed that all my menopause symptoms have disappeared since I started watching my diet more carefully and working out regularly.  Also, I am getting stronger.  If I can add the weight loss piece, I should be on the right track. We'll see where this gets me, but I think this is a good common-sense approach. I'll update from time-to-time to see how I'm progressing.  Thank you again for the suggestions.  I love my Fitbit, and it's helping me think about what I'm doing and track everything--perfect for a Type-A personality like me. Time will tell...

[Daves_Not_Here]

Lots of great information here.  One thing I have not seen addressed is the importance of getting more sleep.  Aside from lowering stress hormones that impede weight loss, there has been interesting research about how when sleeping, the hydrocarbon chains of fat are converted to CO2 and water and exhaled, and the increased brain activity during REM sleep consumes 3X more energy than when laying awake.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-source-healing/201010/sleep-more-burn-more-fat.

It looks like GeekyGecko has broken through the plateau and now losing 10 lbs per month, over 2 lbs per week (as well she should with a 1,500 to 2,500 calorie deficit per day).  Having been seemingly stalled despite a calorie deficit for months myself, I didn't realize I was overeating until I started logging everything and realized there was no deficit.  Now I'm reliably losing 1 pound per accumulated 3,500 calorie deficit per basic physics, go figure.

[warreng2104]

---

@pjf53 wrote:

Thanks Warren,

You are right that my interest is eliminating fat which I have done along with muscle.  The pictures you posted made the point stunningly clear.  I added resistance training to my routine about 6 weeks ago.  It consists of 12 Life Cycle machines and I target to achieve exhaustion during the third set...three times a week.  Is that enough?  Should I split them up over more days to work the body systems?

As far as the eating goes I'm halfway through the Whole30 days.  The sugar withdrawal was quite noticeable and my athletic performances are off similarly.  I'm making sure I get enough protein.  The calories are a bit thin (1700-2100) but not extreme. There is no question I have been the yoyo over decades referred to in the article.   I do hope I come out of the 30 days as a modified and more disciplined eater.  After alcohol, "added sugar" is my downfall.  It will join alcohol as out, perhaps with exceptions for both. 

---

The carb withdrawal is horrible and honestly aside from the cost of eating whole foods 100% of the time it's why I personally wouldn't do 100% "paleo" ever again.  My brain just works better on white rice and other starchy tubers.  

I use machines for isolation type work and not very often.  It's all free weights for me.  I'm doing the strong lifts 5x5 right now and that is one of my all time favorites.  I break the rules and do steady state cardio on my rest days, but only so I can eat more. lol.  Also I will add additional shoulder, bi, tri work because I like the glamour muscles lol.  

If you are serious about resistance training, which you should be, perhaps talk to a trainer.  It's really easy to bag yourself.  But recovery is equally as important to you at this point.  Move volume is not always better.?.?  Depending on how you feel you might be able at this point to learn some movements and pack on some muscle.  The scale will say you're going backwards but the mirror won't.  

[warreng2104]

---

@pjf53 wrote:

Thanks Warren,

You are right that my interest is eliminating fat which I have done along with muscle.  The pictures you posted made the point stunningly clear.  I added resistance training to my routine about 6 weeks ago.  It consists of 12 Life Cycle machines and I target to achieve exhaustion during the third set...three times a week.  Is that enough?  Should I split them up over more days to work the body systems?

As far as the eating goes I'm halfway through the Whole30 days.  The sugar withdrawal was quite noticeable and my athletic performances are off similarly.  I'm making sure I get enough protein.  The calories are a bit thin (1700-2100) but not extreme. There is no question I have been the yoyo over decades referred to in the article.   I do hope I come out of the 30 days as a modified and more disciplined eater.  After alcohol, "added sugar" is my downfall.  It will join alcohol as out, perhaps with exceptions for both. 

---

 The carb withdrawal is horrible and honestly aside from the cost of eating whole foods 100% of the time it's why I personally wouldn't do 100% "paleo" ever again.  My brain just works better on white rice and other starchy tubers.  I use machines for isolation type work and not very often.  It's all free weights for me.  I'm doing the strong lifts 5x5 right now and that is one of my all time favorites.  I break the rules and do steady state cardio on my rest days, but only so I can eat more. lol.  Also I will add additional shoulder, bi, tri work because I like the glamour muscles lol.  If you are serious about resistance training, which you should be, perhaps talk to a trainer.  It's really easy to bag yourself.  But recovery is equally as important to you at this point.  Move volume is not always better.?  Depending on how you feel you might be able at this point to learn some movements and pack on some muscle.  The scale will say you're going backwards but the mirror won't. 

[Kyflower17]

I recently started drinking IT WORKS protein shakes in the morning to get my day started. I never have time to eat a "normal" breakfast since I have to be at work at 5 a.m.  That 1 shake lasts me until lunch and it's only 100 calories (yay!) and it's delicious. Maybe you can try that and save yourself some calories for later in the day.

[pjf53]

I finished the Whole30 days without cheating and followed their reintroduction guidelines.  I lost 11 pounds almost immediately but did not lose or gain any weight after the first couple of days.  I continued to lift (Life cycle machines) which I had started a month before Whole30.  I definitely noticed muscle gain and fat loss.  I was short on energy most of the 30 days but other than that felt great and will incorporate a lot of Whole30 permanently...in particular (almost) no added sugar or processed grains as well as organic/grass fed or wild caught protein and healthy fats.  In the end I found the Whole30 to be a worthwhile experience.

I'm stuck at a plateau again and would like to lose 3 more pounds before  slowing things down increasing my calorie count to a point where I should lose 5 pounds over a year.  I've lost confidence in the Fitbit calorie data and am now relying on the link below to figure out how much I burn:

https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/index.html

I still use Fitbit to track food consumed, sleep and activities/exercise.

[Baltoscott]

Thanks for the update @pjf53.  My boss is doing Whole30 right now.  Her partner has some sort of allergy they are using it to try and identify, and they thought it might help with that.  Does not appear to have made any difference in that regard. And she is whining about missing wine.   But does think she is losing weight, and she is learning a lot about the food she eats.  

[mteemsjr]

I'm a believer that one imperative key to start losing weight is drinking more water.  Eventually, learn to just drink water over every other beverage.  Your body loves water.  Learn to love it for its benefits.  Choose water.  Once water is in place in your diet, the food choices become clearer.

[Dominique]

Yes, staying properly hydrated is important, and drinking water is the best way to achieve this, but you still need a caloric deficit for the weight loss to happen. Water can have a direct role in that if one is currently drinking a lot of high-caloric beverages (non-diet soda, alcohol etc.) and replacing it with water (whether plain or in a non-caloric form, such as unsweetened tea or coffee).  

[MartinN1]

To lose weight you need to spend more calories than get satiated. It`s easey. Or using some medicamental prepharat.