I have been taking Zumba classes 3 or 4 times a week and lost about 20 pounds over 6 months or so without changing my eating much at all. I quit my job to stay home with the kids for the summer and knew I'd need to make some changes to keep the weight off and lose the remainder I need to lose. So I have started going to class 6 or more times a week, sometimes twice a day. I also lift weights at least 3x a week for mostly upper body toning. I have eliminated most sugar and lots of junk from my diet in the past 3 weeks and the scale will not budge, in fact it went down and now creeps up again!!! WHY? WHY? WHY? I should have lost way more than 20 pounds, but I related that to crappy eating and expected to see much better results from the changes I have made since May 1 with my eating alone. I am not on a perfect plan it's more about gradual healthy changes for my whole family. But if you knew how BAD I as being, you'd see why I am so disappointed so far.
I do have a shoulder injury that I have had injections for, I think they were depo injections. They didn't really help, but I think they have messed with my weight. The doc wouldn't say whether it was a side effect or not, but I can't figure out anything else it could be. I even went to the doc and had lots of blood work done last week and even though I am diabetic have hypothyroidism and on meds, the results were all normal.
Any ideas on what else I should do to see results?
I know you don't want to hear this... *I* certainly didn't! - but maybe it's true for you....
exercising so much & not eating ENOUGH...?
possibility! - it's STILL hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that you may need to increase your caloric intake or decrease your exercise. After all, the basic scientific matter of weight loss is "burn more calories than you intake = weight loss"... but apparently, that ain't always the case.
Maybe increase your calorie intake for a couple weeks... see if that helps.
OR... decrease your exercise & see if that helps.
Weight loss is often a battle of trial & error. ~good luck! -& let us know what works!
1. With your recent increase in exercise you could be building muscle or just retaining fluid to deal with the sore muscles. Same goes with the shoulder injury, it could be holding fluid.
2. Three weeks isn't that long. You may just need to wait it out.
3. Are you tracking calories? I know you said you eliminated a lot of junk, which is great for your health either way, but if you're eating more, even if it's healthy stuff, you still won't lose.
First of all, congratulations on your weight loss. I totally understand where you're coming from. I used to eat probably 2000-2500 calories every day. I ate fast food probably 3-5 times a week. I drank diet soda, and never worked out, and was sedentary with my job. So, when I would start a diet and only ate 1500 calories, ate fast food about once a week, exercised, and drank water, I never understood why my weight wouldn't move. If it did move, it wasn't quick enough for me. So, I thought "if I'm going to be fat and deprive myself, or be fat and eat what I want, then I will eat what I want." Then I would get off my diet, gorge on everything, and then be disgusted by my self. I finally figured out to just keep going. My husband told me "you have to stick to it". So, that was what I did, and now I'm moving at a steady rate. It's slower than I would like but I'm doing it to be healthy, the weight loss is great, but I've got to be healthy. Just think of it that way-you're doing it to be healthy. I hope that helped! Just stick to it-you can do this!!
I have PCOS and any time I take anything that involves hormones my weight goes up. The last medication I tried I gained 7 pounds in 7 days!
My question is....why on earth would your doctor give you a hormone for a shoulder injury? It is widely known for causing a whole gamut of issues from hair loss to acne to large amounts of weight gain, it is used as a method of birth control and to effect hormonal changes.
If that is, in fact, what you are taking then it is no wonder you haven't lost. It is a small miracle that you haven't gained, and all your effort is probably the reason why so don't think of it as wasted effort.
Hormones have an effect on how our bodies process nutrients, especially carbohydrates. I take a cinnamon supplement to combat my imbalances, I firmly believe it is how I am able to lose at a decent rate.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding and you are talking about a different med...
Even if that is the case, it is still in the same boat. Pain medications and steroids also both have side effects of weight gain, increased appetite, and feelings of lethargy.
Put less effort into taking zumba classes 6 days/week, sometimes 2x/day, and instead focus on your diet. You'll see results by decreasing your exercise (I would decrease to 4 days/week, once per day) and being fastidious about what you put in your mouth. Eliminating "lots of junk" likely isn't fine-tuned enough to fuel your system...I suggest adhering to some plan (e.g., counting calories) and giving it a go for a few weeks.
Good luck!
Dragonlady...He called it a Depo shot, but since it's for an injury, I just looked it up and it's probably DepoMedrol, which is a steroid. Wonder how long it takes before they are out of my system? Does anyone else know about these shots? I won't take another one if he offers.
Zoodoo...As far as tracking, I realized a little while ago after thinking about it really long and hard that I ate some things yesterday I had forgotten about. So I do need to start journaling and see what it tells me since I can't remember from one day to the next. Maybe I am not doing as well as I think. I am not expecting miracles in a short time, but didn't expect to see the scale move UP. Maybe it's something I ate and will be back down in time for my next official weigh in?
Running...Thanks, I feel great, so I am not giving up. I obviously LOVE my Zumba class, you could probably say I am addicted. I just need to find what works for me and I will.
Beach Patrol...I am going to start journaling and counting to see how many calories I actually eat. I don't think it's too little or too much at this time, but maybe I am just in denial. LOL!!!
I also was going to suggest tracking your calories. It's so easy to eat healthy food... TOO MUCH healthy food . Watch portion size, count calories, don't take seconds... do whatever tips and tricks work best for you to reduce your intake. good luck!
Your body becomes accustomed to the same exercise all the time and burns fewer and fewer calories to do it. You excessive exercise in Zumba is more a hinderance than a help. Could you change some of those classes to something else?
Keep up with your Zumba! Good for you for finding an exercise you love!
It sounds like you are going to track what you are eating - make sure you are weighing/measuring. (no heaping tablespoons, etc.) Until I weighed chicken, I assumed one breast = one serving. Turns out one breast is actually 2 - 3 servings. (Who knew?) It is good to be aware of how many calories are in things. Pasta packs a punch. Cheese is "calorie dense".
Depo-Medrol has a very long half life and remains in the body far longer than other steroid preparations. Several factors influence absorption and elimination times, but a single IM injection of 80 mg may remain in the system in trace amounts up to 28 days.
Any side effects experienced may not dissipate until the drug has been completely cleared from your system. Some people have reported lingering effects up to 3 months.
Side effects that might be working against you are decreased carb and glucose tolerance, increased requirements for insulin in diabetics, fluid retention, sodium retention, weight gain, and abnormal fat deposits.
Sounds like maybe cutting your carb intake until the depomedrol clears your system might be helpful to counteract the side effects.
At any rate you might just have to wait it out until that stuff is gone
it's STILL hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that you may need to increase your caloric intake or decrease your exercise. After all, the basic scientific matter of weight loss is "burn more calories than you intake = weight loss"... but apparently, that ain't always the case.
Actually that is always the case for fat loss. Fat loss is an equation of energy and always will be. Having said that, weight loss can be tricky due to water especially in women and even more so in women who are doing a lot of exercise.
1. With your recent increase in exercise you could be building muscle or just retaining fluid to deal with the sore muscles. Same goes with the shoulder injury, it could be holding fluid.
2. Three weeks isn't that long. You may just need to wait it out.
3. Are you tracking calories? I know you said you eliminated a lot of junk, which is great for your health either way, but if you're eating more, even if it's healthy stuff, you still won't lose.
O.M.G. Beach Patrol. I JUST truly discovered that this week. I've been on a 3 month plateau and finally the switch went off in my head and I realized that I stopped eating as many calories. When I upped them WHOOOSH 2 pounds came off in less than 4 days. AND I had a cupcake! Go figure.
DEFINITELY track and don't get fooled into eating less is better. Make sure you are eating enough calories. At 1200-1300 I was losing 1 pound a week. I've upped it to 1500 so we'll see how much that translates into
Help! What am I doing wrong??
. Watch portion size, count calories, don't take seconds... do whatever tips and tricks work best for you to reduce your intake. good luck!
