Weight Loss Frustration

[SaccaraBird]

Hello! 🙂

I'm a 25 year old female. I am 5ft 7" and am 150lbs (with an ideal weight of 130lbs).

I've been eating a strict calorie deficit for over a month (1400cal a day, sometimes less, out of the 2100 that is my minimum to maintain). I honestly find it difficult to eat more than that unless I throw in an unhealthy snack or 3. I've been doing my best to get enough protein and fats and limiting my carb intake to veges and other non grain related carbs. I barely eat any sugar. I space my meals throughout the day. A typical day's diet is: Plain unsweetened Greek yoghurt, a grapefruit, 2 scrambled eggs with either turkey bacon or smoked salmon, a small pile of walnuts, Chicken salad with romaine, broccoli, kale and spinach. Sometimes I'll have a small treat of dark chocolate. But I'm always at or under my calorie target.

I've been going to the gym 5x a week, doing at least 20 mins cardio and a range of weight and resistance exercises. According to my Fitbit, I'm in the fatburn and/or cardio heartrate range for roughly at least an hour at a time at the gym. Even on my rest days I've been trying to get somesort of workout in, even if it's just some yoga or a 30min bodyweight routine. I've been getting regular sleep.

I've also been taking a fat burning supplement, LeanMode by Evlution twice a day (capsule form in the morning, powder form in the evening), as well as BCAA's and the occasional protein shake or bar when I haven't had enough protein that day.

But I have no lost a thing. Not even half a pound. I feel so demoralized, I don't have an idea on what I should do differently. In the past when I wanted to lose a few pounds, literally all I did was cut out junk food, restrict my calories and hop on a treadmill for 5mins a night, and the pounds would melt off me within a month (I would lose 2lbs easy a week, even though I had far less to lose then). Now I'm actually watching what I eat (not just how much), looking after my health a lot better, actually doing proper exercise with cardio and weights, getting decent sleep and taking fat burners and I can't lose a thing? I understand maybe I'm a bit older now, but I can't imagine my metabolism has slowed down that much especially since it's never been fast to begin with and I am far more active now than I ever have been before.

Also, I know I haven't lost anything, cause not only is the number the same on the scale, I've measured my body and everything there is the same or even a bit bigger than before, and my clothes don't feel at all looser and just looking at myself in the mirror I don't really see a difference. I know that maybe a month is too soon to tell, but I guess I was hoping I would have at least seen just a tiny bit of progress.

My husband is deployed and I was really hoping on surprising him with a slimmed down frame. When I met him 2 years ago I was 130lbs and I was really hoping to get at least somewhere near that by the time he returns...

I'm so confused. Can anyone help shed a light on why I can't seem to make progress? Am I being unreasonable expecting any sort of results within a month? Some encouragement and advice would be great! Thank you.

[Dominique]

It looks like you are doing all the right things in terms of eating and exercising, but your current intake puts you at maintenance with your current activity level, as indicated by the fact your weight hasn’t changed at all. You need to continue eating at the current level, but to increase your activity. No need to add extra formal workouts, just move more during the day (walking is a great way to do so).

"Fat burners" don’t actually burn fat: they are usually stimulants that are supposed to make you more active. You could just as well use your Fitbit for that: if your baseline is currently – say – 12,000 steps per day, increase that to 15,000 steps and that will burn fat just as efficiently (providing you don’t compensate the increase in energy expenditure by eating more).

Your current weight translates into a BMI of 23.5, close to the middle of the normal weight range. I would therefore focus on improving body composition rather than losing as much weight as possible. 140 lbs could very well be a more "ideal" weight for you, if it meant being more "toned". 

Calories burned reported by your Fitbit is an estimate. It could very well be on the high side. You’ll find out over time, and can make the necessary adjustments.