Need advice
 

...'cause I'm clearly doing this wrong. When I rejoined 3fc, I posted a question about, "Does this really work?" I guess I'm still wondering, because I do not have this weight loss thing sussed out.

I'm 5'5" and 169. When I started in mid-August, I was 177, so I've lost 8 pounds. However, the weight loss has been slow and irregular (since I've been measuring: -3.5, 0, -2.5, -1.5, 0, 0). I've been 169 for the past two weeks.

I'm tracking calories religiously -- I'm eating an average of 1600-1700 calories a day, inc. one larger meal on weekends. I'm eating 5 times a day (anyone else here sick of eating all the time?) and I'm trying to get at least 100g of protein a day. Acc. to the equations in BFFM for caloric needs, I should maintain at 2000 calories/day.

I'm working out 6 days a week: 3 days of weightlifting (about 45 min. a session), and 3 days of running (usu. 4.5-5 miles a time). On days when I do upper body work, I usually do 20 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical or treadmill.

I thought perhaps I wasn't drinking enough water, because after a 10 mile run last week I managed to gain 2 pounds. (Which went away the next day, but I was still pretty surprised when I saw that one.) So I'm drinking much more water -- no effect. I don't know whether I should add calories or subtract. I can't do any more exercise.

I know patience is a virtue -- but this is supposed to be easier at the start, isn't it?

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated.

Sorry no advice here but I am a very slow loser too. It took me 10 months to lose 15 lbs. a couple years ago. I was following WW, working out 3-4 times a week, and walking on the off days.

I look at it this way, if you lose lb a month it may take a very long time to reach you're goal but in that process you're learning to be a healthier person and are probably going to find it easier to maintain your goal weight. Another thing I can say despite the fact you might just be a steady loser, is that if you think what you're doing isn't working for you - then try something else, the key is understanding your own body. I also agree that working out makes a huge difference.

You are doing a lovely job! Eight pounds is wonderful.

It's only really easier at the start if you are very sedentary, very fluffy, eating waaaayy too much ... ya know?

How's the pants o'meter?

Girl, are you crazy? 8 pounds since mid August?!?! That is AWESOME! I don't know what advise to give you on eating/working out habits because it sounds like you are doing everything right. Did you go from a "whatever" eater to this strict way of being? Maybe your body is in shock! :)

I think you have to realize that you will vary each week with inches and weight loss - expeically with all of the working out you are doing.

I'm 5'6 and always get stuck around the 160 mark. I'm really hoping to break through this time!!!

If I were you I would change things up. Your body may be getting used to what you are doing for exercise (although I have no idea how anyone gets used to running 10 miles!) Try some work out DVD's. Or do you have racket ball at your gym (That is a GREAT work out). Or swimming? Or a class? Just something different. And maybe take down your calorie count by 500ish points? Just my ideas... :) Good luck!

Yeah, I think you're doing great! Lower those expectations, girl! ;)

My suggestion would be that you also lower your calories--to around 1500, but keep your protein intake up and lower your carbs to get there. Also, I'd try skipping that one high meal on the weekend for a week and see if that makes a difference.

Give this plan two weeks and then evaluate! :cheer2:

Jay

P.S. If you don't like eating that often, don't! Make your meals larger and skip the snacks, or have smaller snacks. Do have a snack 1/2 hour before your workouts, though.

Hi Diane - No, you are doing fine:hug:. You're averaging more than a pound per week - everyone loses at different rates, and since weight loss isn't linear, it will vary from week to week. I started at a much higher #, and it's been 6+ months to get where I am (and still a ways to go!). Don't get frustrated, you are doing terrific! Keep in mind that since you are starting at a fairly low weight, it may take longer for the body to "release" any excess weight. Eight pounds in 6 weeks is nothing to sneeze at:carrot:, and as long as you keep on with what you are doing, the weight will continue to drop. Do you vary your calorie numbers each day (i.e., 1650, 1400, 1850, 1575,etc)? That can keep the plateau-ing at bay.

Don't throw in the towel - If, in the next several weeks, you continue to stall, drop your numbers by 100 calories, and allow a couple weeks before making any other changes. I think someone here said it very well - This isn't a race, it's a marathon - pace yourself. (sorry if I garbled that all up...)

Thanks for all the feedback -- I'm just feeling so frustrated!

I don't think my body has gotten too used to what I'm doing exercise-wise -- I've been fairly steadily increasing my weights at the gym (and doing different exercises for various body parts every week or two), and if anything I'm more regular about running now than I was before I started this process mid-August!

LOL. My jeans are looser, but I'm not into the next size down.

Honestly, that sounds GREAT to me!!! In 6 weeks you've lost nearly 8 lbs. That's pretty much right on track for 1% of bodyweight lost per week.

Just hang in there and remember that it's not always linear. Your body isn't a machine and there are so many other things that will affect what the scale says.

Keep going the way you are and you'll continue to see progress.

.

If you've been doing the exact same routine for awhile, your body gets used to it. Welcome to the Platou, my friend - it's a nasty place. And it's not your fault: the problem is by now your body has memorized the motions you go through exercise and has found ways to make them easier... so even though it feels like your doing the same amount of work, it's not taking the same toll on your body.

Try using difference exercises to work out- try using a stair climber instead of the elliptical. If your into weights, try either liftings more or try less weights and more reps. Pick up a work out DVD (Jillian's from the biggest loser is my favorite) because it'll shock your body into try something new.

From what I understand, your body stores water when you workout to keep you hydrated. The worst time to weigh yourself is after a workout. I'll gain 2-4 lbs after a workout. It's all water though. Weigh yourself the following morning.

[QUOTE=Spoz;2386590]I look at it this way, if you lose lb a month it may take a very long time to reach you're goal but in that process you're learning to be a healthier person and are probably going to find it easier to maintain your goal weight.[QUOTE]

Very well put, Spoz. ;)

8 pounds in 6 weeks is good progress. You're also not that much overweight, so losses will be slow.

My aim is to get to 140 -- which would be an overall loss of 37. Which seems to me to be a good amount, but is it not, really? (I wonder because a couple of people on this thread have said they don't think I have that much to go.)

Um, not to get too personal, but when is your period due? I always plateau for nine to ten days before my period and the first day or so of it. Then I drop some scary amount of weight -- four pounds in a day one time. No one loses at a set pace, and water weight adds or takes away a pound or two -- sometimes on a day to day basis. Right now, I am actually in a more than week long PMS plateau. Frustrating, but I recognize what it is.

It is amazing what water/food in your stomach, hormones -- heck, even irregularity will add.

Eight pounds in a little over a month is just about right -- stop worrying about whether it comes off at a steady pace. Weight never comes off at a steady pace. Even if you are in a real plateau, according to the Mayo Clinic, most do not last more than 4 weeks. Some do, but the vast majority are between 1 and 4 weeks.

I would agree that, if you wanted to, you could try dropping your calories a bit -- you do have the wiggle room to go to 1400 or 1500. But, really, you are doing just fine.

37 lbs still to go is nothing tiny, of course. But when people say you haven't far to go, they're meaning in comparison to the people who have 50, 100, or even more to lose. And the body sheds pounds very quickly at those weights; the more you have to lose, the faster it comes off, with weight-loss slowing the closer you get to your goal.

Honestly, as many people have said by now, 8 lbs in 6 weeks is wonderful. It's not going to be steady. So long as you're headed in a generally downward direction on the scale, you're doing good. Try not to get too impatient with yourself! ;)

We feel compelled to have a weight loss goal, don't we? Nobody can tell us what we'll look like or feel like but we're encouraged to have a goal. You can't make a ticker without one. You can't even have one of those s/c/g things in your profile.

You can aim for that 37 lbs. Although 30 is a nice round number. My husband likes the number 33 ... don't kow why. But what if you look and feel terrific when you do drop a jeans size? What if you are a perfect size 6 in only 21 lbs?

Rest assured that your program covers all the bases very well. It's an excellent approach not only to weight loss but permanent healthy slimness. I admire it very much and wish many folks would follow your example.

I am so glad you posted that. I have lost 23 lbs in 7 weeks, but have not lost anything these past 5 days or so. But now looking at it, I usually start my period around the 3 - 5th day of the month. :hug: Thanks for making me feel better.

I think of goal weight this way, it's something to shoot for, but I can change it any time I want to. Only I will know which weight I am most comfortable at, and at which weight I can realistically expect to maintain. My doctor's opinion matters, as his input will help me make my decision, but ultimately even so, the exact goal is still my choice, and mine alone.

As for speed of weight loss, ugh. When I was younger, and at this weight trying to lose, I was losing 6 or more pounds each week for the first several months. Now I'm on disability, and have insulin resistance and I can't exercise as much, or be as active as I once was. My appetite is MUCH smaller, heck I think I'd have felt starved ten years ago on what I'm eating now. Sometimes it drives me crazy that the weight isn't coming off faster, but I remember that it's impatience and discouragement that has driven me off every weight loss attempt I ever made.

It's taken me a year to get most of my weight off. Not even a pound a week, and sometimes I tell myself that at my size, that's ridiculous. Then I kick myself in the pants for starting to think the discouraging thoughts that in the past have led me down the path of defeat.

If I'm not satisfied with my progress, there's only two things I can do (and still succeed). 1. Make changes in my food or exercise. Or 2. Learn to accept the rate of progress.

If I'm really doing all that I can, or all I am willing to do; then I'm really stuck with whatever results I get. If I can and want to do more, I can try that (but even so, I'm stuck with whatever results I get).

In the past, I would often get discouraged when I was doing all I was willing to do, but not all I could. I finally realized that I'm under no obligation to lose at optimal pace. I don't have to lose it "as fast as I possibly can." Everything you choose, limits your choices. If I put every ounce of my strength, energy, and attention into losing weight, I could lose much faster, but I'd have to make sacrifices I'm not willing to make (AND THAT IS OK).

In many ways, I had to rethink weight loss. There are so many dieting myths and traditions that we follow, because it's the pattern we've come to expect. It's like I was feeling bad about my weight loss pace, because I felt I was supposed to (it's what dieters do, isn't it?) I was giving up when I became discouraged, because it's what I expected for myself.

Keep in mind that many of us on this thread have lost (or will have lost when we reach goal) 50 or 100 pounds. I'm down to 30 lb to go before I reach my goal and from that perspective, I don't think I have that far to go! :)

It's all perspective. don't start psyching yourself out and playing word games that will confuse you or derail you. You picked a goal, and you can work towards it. If you find, as you get closer, that you need to change that goal, you can. No one is grading you on whether you pick the perfect number the first time! :)

.

I think I've heard "2 lbs per week" so much that I had really begun to wonder if I was doing this right. Instead, I will focus on a)a slightly smaller drop of 1% on the average and b)all the other improvements I've got going on, such as my running definitely getting better in the past month. (I am usually such a pokey runner that one morning when my watch said I'd run an average pace of 10:30 I did a carrot dance. :carrot:)

I started out making 2 pounds a week my goal. I think the original intention of that "guideline" was because people expected to lose more than that. Now I think we would all be so much better if that "guideline" was never there. It's become something we feel like failures for not reaching. Why would you lose at the same rate when 250 vs 150, for example?

I chart my daily weights on a spreadsheet, and I have a line showing the 2 pounds a week rate. I have to get rid of that one of these days because I don't think I'm going to be near it ever again. And I am so fine with that. I am tired of seeing my little x's so far off that mark, as if I've done something wrong, when I haven't.

So of course I get on the scale this morning...and it shows a 3-lb drop. :)

Hm. Maybe if I complain publicly about how I'm not happy with things are going every week...