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?

[EmjayH]

@janeshmoe52 Can you not meal prep? I keep a selection of precooked proteins and roasted veges in the fridge always. Salads always available and easy to store. 

If if you take ur protein from home it's easy to buy a quick bag of salad from the supermarket. Rotisserie chicken is also an option 

[KWhatley]

Make sure your calorie intake is high protein based.

[janeshmoe52]

I'm almost never home. This  barrier can be overcome with some creative scheduling. But then there's the part were my room mate and I just moved. Our fridge currently does not work, which makes the whole "buy a bag of salad" thing a little difficult. or , meal prep at all really. This will eventually be fixed, and then I can move to the whole creative scheduling bit. Currently I really can not meal prep, but I will be able to slowly work more meal prep into my routine once the fridge is fixed. I do like your suggestions though, and will probably implement them once that happens.

[SunsetRunner]

Too high a protein intake increases the burden on your kidneys and be danaging to them. An all round diet which includes everything is better 


Tony Barhoum

[Dominique]

---

@SunsetRunner wrote:
Too high a protein intake increases the burden on your kidneys and be damaging to them. 

---

Cause and consequence are getting mixed up here. Someone with deficient kidneys will indeed have to restrict their protein intake, but this doesn’t mean kidney deficiency is caused by a high protein intake. If you check the causes and risk factors of chronic kidney disease, you will find things like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, genetics etc., no mention of  dietary protein at all.

People with healthy kidneys will do just fine with a high protein intake. Are we seeing a bunch of life-long bodybuilders waiting for their turn at the dialysis machine in hospitals? I don’t think so. Their health issues are much more likely to be caused by the use of steroids and other drugs, not by their high protein intake.

[SunsetRunner]

Love it 


Tony Barhoum

[JustMieka]

There are so many replies, this may have already been said. I'll say it anyway, just in case it hasnt...

Be sure you're getting enough sleep and managing stress. High levels of stress and short sleep times lead to an increase in cortisol levels which, in turn causes (at least mine) fat to stick around.

Hopefully you are feeling better overall despite the numbers on the scale.  Good luck to you!!

[YJK]

Hi there,

I am fighting the same battle, since a long time. At 55 I find it hard to loose weight. I have recently taken up crossfit to strengthen my core. I work out 1 hr three times a week, play tennis 1,5 hrs three times a week and do 1,5 hr yoga once a week. So, I believe I am fairly active. 

I eat little and often not complete meals (vegetable, protein and fat all in one sitting). To my surprise my coach told me that I need to eat more. In his opinion, when you eat too few calories, your body goes into "starvation mode" and holds on to everything you ingest. 

I am no expert in this topic, but I will try to follow his advice and eat complete meals, and see what that does for me.

[Daves_Not_Here]

---

@YJK wrote:

Hi there,

I am fighting the same battle, since a long time. At 55 I find it hard to loose weight. I have recently taken up crossfit to strengthen my core. I work out 1 hr three times a week, play tennis 1,5 hrs three times a week and do 1,5 hr yoga once a week. So, I believe I am fairly active. 

I eat little and often not complete meals (vegetable, protein and fat all in one sitting). To my surprise my coach told me that I need to eat more. In his opinion, when you eat too few calories, your body goes into "starvation mode" and holds on to everything you ingest. 

I am no expert in this topic, but I will try to follow his advice and eat complete meals, and see what that does for me.

---

Hi @YJK -- I'm just a guy on the internet, and don't have the experience and knowledge of your coach.  That said, may I offer an alternate point of view, if only for diversity of opinion?

I'm skeptical of the notion of a starvation mode, particularly if you have not been starving.  I'd suggest tracking all your eating for a week to discover how many calories you actually eat on a daily basis.  You may be surprised how high it is.  I was.  (and once I saw the light, the weight fell off)

And, good luck with your progress!

[YJK]

Thanks for your kind input, Dave, much appreciated!

[SunsetRunner]

When will people stop using the term PROTEIN when they are meaning things like fish, red cows meat, pork, lamb etc. PROTEIN is made of pure amino acids, amino acids are protein chains which are rarely, if ever,  found on there own in nature, so when you see a cow walking around you don’t simply see protein, you see Cabohydrates, fats, minerals, water and in those is included protein.! Please stop using inappropriately the term

PROTEIN... thank you 

[SunsetRunner]

Losing weight is very easy, keeping ones much shut.... impossible 😊🏋🏻‍:male_sign:

[SunsetRunner]

I weigh in every monday too, and watch what I’m eating every day. 

[diaryofafitcoup]

---

@SunsetRunner wrote:

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?

---

Hi! I just saw this post and wanted to reach out. I use Herbalife and their meal replacement shakes and protien snacks have really helped me and my family. If you want more info about it I am happy to help! Also my boyfriend is a personal trainer so if you want his advice he can help too. diaryofafitcouple@gmail.com if you'd like to email us. 🙂 

[SunsetRunner]

Hi, 
All looks good as far as exercise and motivation is concerned. 
Try the following for only a few weeks to see how you go
1. Stop using the fitbit during intense exercise, instead see if you can use an accurate chest strap monitor such as a polar, if you can’t access one then don’t use any heart rate measuring devices at all while you’re exercising.
2. Stop using my fitness pal and start using CALORIEKING, it has a trusted and a very accurate database of food and exercises.  CALORIEKING’S exercise database is surprisingly accurate too, it matches within a few calories my polar heart rate monitor readings, beleive it or not, so you can rest assured that your energy expenditure calculations are reliable even without a heart rate monitor of any sort. 
Input your food and exercise activities into CALORIEKING, for two weeks; be honest with your entries , and tell me how this stacks up witj your current useage of fitbit and my fitness pal. 
I’ve done what I’m recommending to you and my weight is slowly but steadily falling, prior to this i put up with my my fitness pal and my fitbit for 3 years without good results. Please Let me know how you go. 
Thank you Tony

[bourby]

if you used to work out alot then you might be experiencing muscle memory. when you build your muscles, you get more cells in those muscles that grow. the bigger the muscles, the more cells. 

when you stop working out, those cells become smaller but do not disappear, they are still there. even after years, you still have those cells. 

on resumption of your exercise regime, those cells will grow easily compared to creating new cells..... which makes losing weight for a formerly fit person more difficult. 

i am having trouble the same as you but can now pop the pecs and can see muscles appearing thru my "winter coat"

sometimes you need to look at other signs rather than just weight.

[bourby]

and so all the fit people are aware, when you carry your winter coat and you have higher pulse rates, the fitbit sees your pulse go into the fat burning range doing the most menial tasks. alot of people have resting heartrates in the 70's and it doesnt take much to get it up 20 bpm..... into the fat burning range according to the fitbit. that will be why some people show 4000 calories or more used in a day.

[pjf53]

It sounds like you are getting plenty of exercise which makes me think your diet may need adjustment.  I recommend you check out the book "It starts with food" and try their Whole30 plan.  If you do, be prepared for sugar withdrawal...it is real.

Regarding Fitbits accuracy I am convinced it has some issues.  I tracked calories in and out for several months losing 30 pounds.  I found the Fit bit overstated calories by 18%.  Since then they have updated their programs and it is much closer based on calories burned for same activity before and after the update.  

Regardless of accuracy I am a big fan of my Fitbit and use it to track activity and sleep.

[EmjayH]

@YJK When my trainer made me up my calories I was skeptical. I told her to her face she was crazy. Guess what., at 70kg I'm still on 2000 kcal a day when my bmi is about 1390kcal. 

You pay big dollars for a trainer for the best advice. Follow it. If they're wrong you'll find out soon enough and then you find another trainer with more experience. 

My point I guess is that you need to keep ur calories as high as ur body allows whilst still maintaining weight loss so that you don't have to drastically reduce them further down. Once you've cut your calories right back it's  very hard to increase them again cause you've trained ur system to live off very small amounts of fuel 

[SunsetRunner]

That’s EXACTLY why I’m telling people that the calorie app on fitbit is not good, and i have my reservations about  the Myfitnesspal app too. That’s EXACTLY why I recommend people use an app which is in no way integrated or can be used with the fitbit...... thanks for your feedback . The CALORIEKING app does exactly what your personal trainer has recommended for you. Have a great day 😊


Tony Barhoum