Tips on how to progress with weightloss? Feeling stuck

[Hannah411]

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to lose weight for a while now and I am finding it so difficult. Last month, I weighed myself and I was 181.8. I cut gluten, dairy and sugar completely because it bothers my digestion and began to focus on eating more vegetables and protein. I don't track my calories because I didn't find it sustainable.

Today I weighed myself and I am 180.6 pounds. I feel so discouraged because I thought I lost more from the changes I made. I work a sedentary office job from home. I don't work out, I am hoping to implement but I am not sure what type of exercises to do at all. 

I don't have any health problems, I have checked my thyroid. I know for weight loss one cannot spot reduce but just to give you an idea, most of my weight is accumulated in my abdomen area.

Any advice please would be great! I am aiming to go down to 135 pounds.

Thank you!

[shipo]

I have a few comments about your goals and issues:

• Over the years I've known and coached many folks in your situation, and bar none, the one thing which consistently makes weight fall off faster than anything else is running.  That said, becoming a runner isn't something which can happen overnight; if you are so inclined, you'd need to start slow, say with a Couch to 5K (C25K) program and build from there.
• Regarding your sedentary home office job, yeah, me as well, I've found getting out for a minimum of three miles per day, even if it is a walk or a very slow jog, generates weight loss; in my case, I've lost roughly 35 pounds so far this year and I have maybe another 30 to go.
• Then there is the subject of your dietary changes; my advice is a bit less proven on this topic.  My wife, my mother, and my neighbor are all non-Celiac gluten intolerant, so last year when my (then) company closed our offices, permanently as it turned out, I started baking sourdough bread, and whaddya know, all three of the women I just mentioned, are able to consume as much of my sourdough bread as they want with no ill effects.  This pushed me into doing research on the topic and apparently there are a number of studies completed over the last 15 or so years which strongly support the notion sourdough bread put through a long/slow fermentation process, is not only safe for gluten intolerant folks, but can actually help rebuild gut health.

Keep us posted on your journey.

[Heybales]

As you and many studies have proven - those dietary changes do not by themselves cause weight/fat loss.

If they help you to eat less than you burn (the only proven method for fat loss) and adhere - great.

But if they don't - then you are still eating too much in calories.

You are probably healthier mind you, and that will help when you take an actual deficit to what you burn.

What can be said appears to have happened in the last month - 1.2 lbs of loss.

Then again that could easily be water weight fluctuation as most people can vary that much daily. You'd probably prefer to lose fat weight, not just any weight.

So if your 2 weigh-in days you are using for math happened to be water weight - could have lost more actually, could have lost less - unknown.

With 45 lbs to lose to healthy weight - you can sustain a decent deficit for now, like 750 cal. When you have 30 lbs left, I'd recommend 500 deficit so as not to stress body. 15 lbs left, 250 cal deficit.

But if really sedentary all day long - you may only have the space for a 500 cal deficit daily.

How many steps do you get daily - that gives an idea of how active you are. Generally below 4K steps is sedentary, 7 days a week.

Now, without counting calories - how do you make a deficit?

Count enough calories of something you currently eat to take it out of your diet - daily on average.

Find 500 real calories to stop eating. Simple as that.

Perhaps that is extra salad dressing with oil, extra butter. Fat is easy to find since it's so calorie dense, but fat is needed diet.

But perhaps you have some fruit that you eat lots of that is very high in carbs, those sugars can add up too for calories.

That's one suggestion.

Of course if you start exercise you'll burn more. And if you eat exactly the same amount you'll have a deficit to cause fat loss.

The problem is studies have shown that when people don't account for calories and start exercising - they usually eat more. Sometimes more than the exercise burns.

So either have firmly in mind how much you eat and don't eat more - and start exercising.

Or start counting calories you eat.