Friends,

I am in the middle (hopefully) of a recent weight loss journey. On July 15th I was 232 lbs. This is the heaviest I've ever been and I really hated how it felt. I have my stats listed below. Here is my question for everyone. I currently consume between 1600 and 1800 calories. (I have seen recommendations for alot more than this, but when I have eaten more, weight slowed down even more) I'm not super active during the week, other than some walking during the day at work and a two hour Kung Fu Class once or twice a week. I've hesitated to do cardio or other exercise because it's ALWAYS messed with my weight loss. I am completely aware that this is water weight or an increase in muscle, but I just want to lose the gosh darn weight. Last year I made amazing progress just by eating 1600 calories a day and not exercising. Then when I was at a better wait (ideally 180-190) I would start to run or bicycle. Here is the issue this year. Currently (10/8/16) I weigh 203.4. This is great progress but over the last two months, I've only lost 12 lbs. Usually I would have lost 16-20 previously. What the heck am I doing wrong? Is this an age thing? I'm at a total loss and sad to say, I'm kinda devastated. I'm not super patient and just want to be "thin" again. I know its a process, but I have a ton of older clothes I really want to wear lol. I'm a little tired of wearing my "fat pants." Any advice or info is super appreciated. Just want some guidance. Please let me know if there is anything else I need to provide. Thanks again, friends.

Dave

My main questions are:
1. Is there something wrong with me? lol
2. What should I be consuming daily?
3. If I do exercise, how do I adjust my intake for that?
4. What am I doing wrong?


Age: 36
Height: 5,9"
Weight: 203.4
Diet: Paleo/Primal
Alcohol: One drink twice a month at most
Sleep: 6-8 hours
Bad habits: I use a vaporizer

There is nothing wrong with you except your expectations are too high. Safe weight loss is .5 - 2 pounds a week and the closer you are to your goal weight, the less it will be. It is not safe to lose weight without exercise unless you want to lose muscle along with fat. I follow a Primal diet and aim for 1500 calories and that works well for me. I do not eat back my exercise calories. Weight loss is not linear and the more times you have yo-yoed the harder it could be. You didn't gain 10 pounds in a month every month so why expect to lose at that rate? It also takes time to learn how to eat to maintain our new weight. I did a Whole 30, strict but only lasts 30 days, to get in touch with how different foods affect my body. You could try that. The website is free. After the month, I stayed Primal but I know I don't tolerate nuts very well, grains are totally out, sugar or sweeteners in any form cause instant bloating and discomfort.

You are do very well. Try to be more patient with yourself and maybe cut calories to around 1500 for a couple of weeks to see if that helps. Try to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night.

#30 pounds down in 3 months is GREAT !! Well done. iMO - considering you haven't increased your activity, currently losing 1.5 pounds/week is pretty darn good. About perfect actually. It sounds like you have been up and down in weight in the past - perhaps look at this journey as a path to a steady path to learning how to keep it off rather than a lose weight quick process. You are tall - in a few more pounds, you will definitely be shopping in your closet for smaller sizes soon. Yea....

I use a fitbit tracker to track my intake, exercise, and weight. I also use an online program called TrendWeight. TrendWeight is free and it shows the weight trend. I really like the visual to show the direction I am going in taking into account the weekly variations.

Thank you! I guess I was just concerned with the slow down over the last few weeks. Over the last 2 weeks I've only lost 1.2 lbs. I have ridden the weight rollercoaster many times, as you guessed. I'm at the point now that I know I can't go back to eating what I ate when I was 20 but I'm working so damn hard that it seems a little unfair for it not be working like it did before.

Thank you for all the kind words and advice.

re: 1.2 pounds in 2 weeks. That is why I recommend TrendWeight. My weight loss is "lumpy." Today, I am actually 2 pounds more than I was last Monday! Harrumph... But, last week I was down 4. The week before that I was up 0.4 .... and so it goes.