[Sakai]

Hi everyone!
I'm back. Well i never really went anywhere, just went into lurker mode.
Well after my pregnancy I went from 280 to 227 in just under 10 months. Not sure what happened but I think it must of been hard to get to 227 because after my DD first birthday I totally stopped everything.
Kinda like that feeling that you're sucking in your stomach and holding your breath and when you're finally alone you take a huge gasp of air and let your gut hang out. That what it felt like. Only that I'd been holding my breath for those 10 months.

To make a long story short.

It's been a year and half since I gave up and I'm up to 250. This seems to be my stable weight as it's where my body has always been (other than when I was pregnant) I find it hard to gain more than this and it's heard to break out of this as well.
I know it must be a mental thing.
Anyways, this is not my first rodeo. I've been a member here for many years. I've gotten as low as 219 and could see onederland. But then I became a night worker at a very active job and lost all energy to do anything. I must of been the only worker who gained 20 pounds instead of losing 20 pounds because I just didn't have the will to go to the gym anymore. Fast forward 7 years and I still struggle to get up and work out before work.

I developed sciatica issues this year and my blood pressure went from Great! to Fair for the first time in my life.
And I turned 30.
So even though I've been keeping with a (somewhat) healthy and mostly vegetarian diet, I decided enough is enough. my Dr. said 50 pound weight loss should get rid of my sciatic pain so I plan on seeing Onederland.

Now to the point of this post. I'm finding it much harder to budge the scale than I ever have before. Before, changing my diet would net me a 10 pound loss in no time. this time, two months later...not a pound. I actually gained 5 pounds. @.@ So I sucked up my pain and started working out. 30 minutes 4-5 times a week before work. Now it's only been 2 weeks. but I still have not budged the scale. At least it's not going up.
It was really demotivating to get on the scale a second time after another week of exercise to see that it was all for nothing.

Why is it so hard this time around? Surely it can't be because I turned 30 or had a kid, nearly everyone here has many kids and some are far older than 30. When will my body let this weight go?
Had anyone else had a time when the weight wouldn't move? I know it's not a stall as I've only just started!
This week i'm hammering down on my calorie count. >.<

[TrekkieLianne]

I'm back on 3FC after a multiple year hiatus myself (couldn't remember my old login though and had to re-register), and I can understand where you are. I've been up and down the scale many times and have lost as much as 70 lbs (only to regain most of it back). I'm now 30 lbs from goal but having a devil of a time getting there.

A number of things might be going on with you, and I'm sure you've considered all of these. After childbirth, things can be different metabolically and it takes greater effort. Sometimes your body is used to being a certain weight and will seem to want to stay there. Things you do on a regular basis no longer trigger weight loss as easily as they did before.

Are you tracking what you eat? To be sure you're not eating more than you think you are....is what I'm getting at.

What kind of exercise are you doing? If you aren't sweating or breathing a little harder, you might not be working hard enough.

How long have you been at it this time? Did you get your thyroid (TSH test) checked?

[Sakai]

Hi TrekkieLianne
I have had my thyroid checked. They tested me a few months after having my baby. Nothing wrong with it.
I do sweat and breath very hard when I work out. I also do some resistance training and a bit of Yoga to help with my sciatica.
I haven't tracked my calories in many weeks. I'm going back to it starting yesterday. My limit is 1500 for now. Some days I'll be way under and some days a little over so I hope that balances out. Maybe I've been over a few too many days.
The only other difference between now and when I was losing weight is that I'm taking birth control pills. I didn't think about it before. Could this be hindering me? I'll have to research my prescription.

[VioletDolphin83]

I had a similar problem to that and it turned out to be a medication problem and recently I've had a change in medication because of it. So definitely get that checked out. In my case it was medication for my mental health and it's common for those meds to cause weight gain. I'm on the pill too but don't know much about it when it comes to weight gain sorry. Another important thing is to make sure you track everything you eat. You could be going wrong somewhere and not realising it.

[luckymommy]

Working out can actually cause you to retain water so while you might be losing fat, it could be masked by the water weight. The scale isn't the best indicator of what is going on short term. Are your clothes fitting any better? You might consider taking measurements and photos.

Counting calories is the most important thing you can do to lose fat. You might want to consider cutting out some carbs. You don't have to do Atkins, but just cutting back on some carbs helps a lot of people...especially refined sugar and flour.

For fat loss, I've read that HIIT (high intensity interval training) is very effective and might just shock your body into some change. This is speculation, but I think it's worth a try.

I have also read that once someone has been obese, they have to eat less in order to maintain a certain body weight than someone who hasn't been obese. I think it's about 30 % less food. I suggest you eat as you have been, but two days a week, you go down to 1200 calories. You might just need to create more of a caloric deficit.

Finally, I've read that sleep deprivation can hinder weight loss. I know it has been a major issue for me this time around and it is quite a struggle, but not impossible. It just takes more determination and commitment than before, but it's so worth it, so just keep trying different things and don't give up. Eventually, the weight will go down.

[Palestrina]

You're not alone in this, many people complain of the same thing, citing that it used to be so easy to drop 10lbs at first and as the yoyoing continues it becomes harder and harder to have that initial swoosh of weight loss that you had with previous starts. Age and childbirth have something to do with it, as do genetics and yoyo dieting.

A very controversial theory is the set-point weight. It's when you pretty much even out at a certain weight and can't seem to go over and under that amount for prolonged periods of time. The theory itself makes me cringe but it is very difficult for me to deny that there is some truth to it. Here's just one source, you may want to look into other sources too http://www.obesityaction.org/educati...t-we-dont-know I think the article makes it sort of easy to understand and it compares it to a thermostat.

What's most discouraging is that trying to alter your set point proves to be extremely difficult because dieting is very difficult to sustain long term, thus the overwhelming number of people who lose weight and then gain it back. Yoyoing up and down has a very tangible effect not only on our metabolism but our cardiac health. What I find most encouraging is that your thermostat can be altered by changing your brain! So that's kind of what I set out to do, dieting didn't work for me, I could never do it long enough and it felt like torture. I could never adapt to restriction and always ended up binging. So I set out to literally change my brain by rewiring it. I follow IE and it's really really working. I've lost 20lbs in 6 months without trying, eating all the foods I love in the quantities I crave, I'm not bound by nutritional rules and so the weight has stayed off and it's impossible to imagine gaining weight since there's no cheating. I can totally see my personality change and feel my brain working in a different way around food.

[Marina Brasil]

Hi! It can be a lot of things: water retention due to exercising; some medicine that's preventing you from losing; the fact that you body is "used to" an specific weight; miscalculation of calories in and out; the fact that you are now 30 (i am 30 and it is a lot harder than when i was 20), etc. You'll have to do some sort of trial and error to figure it out.

Good luck and welcome!

[Sakai]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the ideas.
I'm on Wellbutrin. But I heard that it almost never makes you gain weight.

I always hated tracking my calories because I end up getting too obsessed with it and end up only eating 800 calories a day. So I figured if I was eating only whole foods and no animal products that I wouldn't really have to worry about calories.
Obviously this isn't true, at least not anymore.
I am most certain that I'm having WAY too many carbs. Perhaps I should try to cut that back a bit. At least any pastas and breads, which aren't great for you anyways. I hope to see the scale move down sometime soon!

[Sakai]

Just a fast update
I got on the scale this morning and it dropped 4 pounds! I had one of those "whoosh" moments. So glad I didn't give up.

[donnadunson]

I just wish to gain weight you quit eating! ha
Anyway, I find it hard at 53 to lose weight. I have tried many things but I think I might have found something. I will keep you guys informed if I do but I guess for now its the same ole same ole. Exercise, cut down on calories. There has got to be a better way!

[BusyLizzyRivers]

Well done on losing 4lbs. It can be so demotivation when we don't see those lbs going down on the scale but never give up. Because those 'whoosh' moments will always happen.


A few slow weeks don't define our weight loss journeys x