In deseprate need of help.

[kimlo]

Hello guys and girls.

To start I'll give a little bit of information about myself and then discuss my problem. I'm a 20 year old male who started at 135.3KG(298lb) and am now at 129.7KG(285lb). My BMI was 42.6 now at 40.9. My basal metabolic rate is 4030(@ x1.55 or 2601)

THE PROBLEM -

My weight loss is stalling big time and I'm at my wits end. I aim to have about 1400 calories a day, however I have probably averaged 1800 calories a day which I believe is reasonable.

3 weeks in my exercise and results have went this like.

WEEK 1 -
15 mins a day on treadmill approx 1.3k's x 5 days. 1500ish calories a day.
Weight Loss: 135.3-131.7 = 3.6 KG(~8lb)

WEEK 2 -
20 mins a day on treadmill approx 2k per day. Same sort of calories but had 2 bad days in that week(bad as in about 3000 calories).
Weight Loss: 131.7-130.3 = 1.4kg(~3LB)

Week 3 -
Really pushed the excercise this week.

Goes like this, day 1 40mins/4ks, day 2-3 treadmill broken, day 4 60 mins/6ks, day 5 35mins/3.5ks, day 6 25 mins/2.5ks, day 7 55mins/5.5ks.

This week I had 2 days where I let go of my diet for a little but the other 5 days were really good, average of 1500 calorie a day and combined with good excercise but here's the shocker....

Weight Loss: .6kg!(1.2lb)


My weight loss has gone from 3.5kgs, to 1.4kgs to .6kgs even though my exercise has been improving each week :sigh:

Most weeks I've had 1 or 2 days at about 2000-3000 calories. This is still well under my BMR which is 4000, so at worst these days should be "neutral". Can anyone please help me out, what am I doing wrong why is my weight loss slowing down and so frustratingly slow. I need to lose at 40kg's and half a kilo a week simply won't cut it My goal is 2kg's a week at least for the first 20-25KGs.

What am I doing wrong? I am going long time between meals some times, is this putting my body in starvation even though I don't feel all that hungry? Should I have something tiny like 2-3 crackers between meals to keep my metabolism going? I already drink heaps of water and have cut out all junk food, all soft drinks and so on. I eat fruit for deserts and takeaway is very limited, once a week at most.


I desperately need some advice. I'm more determined then I have ever been to lose weight, 3 weeks in my motivation is just getting stronger but I need to actually lose weight.

Many thanks to anyone who can help me out.

 

[Caz]

Are you taking your measurements as well as weighing yourself? With the amount of exercise you're doing, I would think that you're building up muscle as well as burning fat. A lot of people say that muscle weighs more than fat, that's not quite true a lb is a lb whatever it's made of! The difference though is that muscle is more dense. So you could well have lost fat and gained muscle. Say for example if last week you lost 5lbs of fat and gained 3.8lbs of muscle, the scales wouldn't show that you've lost 5lbs of fat, it just says you've lost 1.2lbs in weight. So the way to see is by measuring yourself. I've had weeks where I've lost nothing, absolutely zilch but then I've lost a few inches off of different places. It isn't because what I was doing doesn't work, it's that it very much did work and I've replaced fat with muscle.

You might be thinking well I want to lose weight and it's meaning I'm not but it won't always stay like this. You won't replace each lb of fat with a lb of muscle and muscle is good anyway! Muscle increases your metabolism so it'll actually help you to lose weight.

You will ALWAYS have a big first loss because you get rid of your glycogen stores and so you won't have lost 8lbs of fat in the first week, it's still very good though. Usually you'll find that it slows around week 3 because you've had a big loss but it'll kick back up again.

You having a long time between meals won't be putting your body into starvation no. But if you eat 6 small meals a day rather than 3 big meals a day, your metabolism would be much higher. Personally I find that impossible to do with work etc. but even if you have a mid morning and a mid afternoon snack of a piece of fruit, a yoghurt or something, it should help stoke up the coals and keep them burning.

So my biggest advice would be don't worry about it, as long as you're going in the right direction, it's working. It won't always be as fast as you want it to be and you can't sit and get frustrated at your body - it will do what it wants to do regardless! You need to learn to see each loss as exactly what it is, a loss, however big or small and so something to be celebrated, not stress over.

Also if you had a couple of bad days, it can take a while to get the water retention etc. down again. So just keep doing exactly what you're doing and stop being so hard on yourself, you're doing great! We didn't put on all this weight overnight and we sure as hell aren't going to lose it overnight. Slow and steady wins the race. Slow and steady is long term and sustainable. Remember, you're making changes for life here. Just keep at it

 

[kimlo]

Thank you so much for an awesome reply.
Very detailed and it really has made me a lot more positive.

I guess what you're saying makes sense because even though it doesn't reflect all that much on the scales I definitely can feel my clothes are a lot looser than before.

The pants that were a good fit 3 weeks ago are now too lose to wear without a belt, my shirts are starting to fit more comfortably I feel like my gut is more tucked in if that makes sense.

Losing .6kg's didn't put me off in the slightest, it's actually made me more motivated to have a good week this week. From now on if I think I'm going to go long times between meals I will have a small banana, apple or something healthy and low calorie.

It's a lifestyle change for me definitely, I resent using the word "diet" for that reason because in my mind it's a permenant change not a "diet" which gives the impression of a short term change to achieve a goal. I'm after long term success, health and happiness but in saying that I want to lose weight at around 1.5-2.5kg's a week, at least for the first two months.

I put in an hour of walking on loseit and it says 575 calories, on my treadmill it says 100, not sure which one is right.

Thanks again for the reply.
If anyone else can chip in with their own opinion that would be much appreciated.

 

[StoppingItInItsTracks]

I agree completely with caroline g - keep going!

 

[iwillsoonbeslim]

Caroline always puts it best

I would also add, are you using a heart rate monitor, or are you estimating your calories burned? And are you eating back those calories, so you're netting 1500 or whatever a day? If you've hugely upped your exercise, and NOT upped your calories, or are buring way more (or less) than you think, this would have an effect.

Worse case scenario? If you continue losing at 'just' 1.2lbs a week, you'll still be over four stone lighter this time next year xxx

 

[LittleSis]

Caroline is very wise

Last week I lost 3lbs, this week 1lb... Not as big a loss but a loss and that's the important thing.

 

[kimlo]

Caroline always puts it best

I would also add, are you using a heart rate monitor, or are you estimating your calories burned? And are you eating back those calories, so you're netting 1500 or whatever a day? If you've hugely upped your exercise, and NOT upped your calories, or are buring way more (or less) than you think, this would have an effect.

Worse case scenario? If you continue losing at 'just' 1.2lbs a week, you'll still be over four stone lighter this time next year xxx

No I haven't. Is it worth investing in one? Is that the best way to know how many calories I have burnt accurately?

According to the treadmill a one hour session at 6k's(which is 6k's walked) it's only like 150 calories according to lose it, it's 550 or so.

I wasn't aware that I should be "eating back" my exercise calories. I thought the point of doing exercise was to increase the deficit?

As far as calorie budgeting goes is 1400 a good amount to aim for, should I go higher or lower?

I really wish my posts didn't have to be approved, I'm not ignoring you guys i posted yesterday still waiting approval.

Thank you to all of you for the support! My goal is to get under 110KG's/240lb's(another 20) before 2012.

Who thinks that's achievable?

EDIT: My post yesterday thanking Caroline still not approved so just in case it doesn't come through for what ever reason I want to thank you again! Extremely helpful and detailed answer. My bigger post should come through when a mod approves it.

 

[LittleSis]

Theres a Slinky for Santa thread going that iwillsoonbeslim started. She worked out that if we lose a pound a week that will be 25lbs by Christmas.. Why not join in???

Sorry but haven't worked out how to do the links yet :-/

 

[Legomom]

I don't know much bout the differences between mens/womens limits The only thing i'd add to carolines advice is two little points!!

Averaging cals over the week can work really well but the body doesn't have that long a 'calorie' memory? So if your cals are quite erratic over the week it will impact your losses even if your overall deficit is good? If your having a treat day I'd always advise eating the low cal way ALL day, getting a good fat burn in there, and only having the one meal off plan? Not having a whole day of saying 'oooh dont mind if i dooooo!!' to every temptation!! (which is what i thought treat days were FOR lol!! Gutted bout that little life lesson!!!) Then straight back into it the next day with plenty of water to flush the crap thru.

Don't look at the 'big picture'. It's deadly depressing lol. Losing say 90lb is a mammoth task. Breaking it down and losing say 9lbs then the next 9 then the next.......is an achievable task!!! I tortured myself by working out when I'd reach goal at xlb a week. It's not helpful. I promise you'll be slimmer an happier an healthier by 2012 if you stick with your plan but as for what weight you'll be?? No one knows!!!

Good luck!!!

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

 

[Lovehatecarbs]

I agree - but it doesn't appear for the amount of weightloss and the exercise you are eating enough sometimes and what you are doing is a little erratic. Myfitnesspal app is fantastic to tell you your calories, adding back exercise, tracking what you eat and telling you if you've not eaten enough. Your weightloss will stall if the deficit too much

 

[fadingfast]

i find my appetite is different from day to day, and i find i tend to graze which helps me enormously to not eat unhealthy and to keep hunger at bay. I do think the erratic eating is not helping you and everything that everyone has posted on this thread is spot on. I also had to add calories to start loosing more, odd i know buy they are good calories, extra veg and fruit, cant go wrong with them!

 

[Caz]

I'd definitely invest in a heart rate monitor. Those machines calculate the calories for a specific weight, I did email and ask once and it's something like 180lbs or something. The more you weigh, the more you burn. I bought a HRM from Tesco for £20 and it's actually pretty good. You put in your height, weight, age etc. and it'll track your heart rate and tell you exactly how many calories and how much fat you've burnt. If you do a lot of exercise, it's well worth doing in my opinion.

Exercise is to increase the deficit, IF you're not already doing that by reducing what you're eating. Just think of it this way, you know that for you to get to work, the supermarket, home, to visit your friend, all things that you do each day, your car needs 10 litres of fuel to do all of that every day activity (consider that like your BMR). Before you might have put in 20 or 30 litres, far more than you need each day meaning whatever driving you do there's always a lot leftover. But now you're on a budget, you've cut it down literally to the bare minimum of 10 or 11 litres and you put that in each day. But today you've changed your normal routine and you go on a big long drive which burns up say 5 litres of fuel (consider this like your gym trips). The thing is, you've still got to go about your normal activity and that takes 10 litres regardless of what else you've done that day and now you're only giving the car half of what it needs, is it going to make it?? No, you need to put in extra fuel to give it what it needs to get through the day. If you were doing what you were doing before and putting in 20 or 30 litres it wouldn't be a problem but you can't run your car on minimum amounts of fuel and expect extra out of it.

Your body is exactly the same. Women should have at least 1200 a day and men 1800 a day, so you're not actually even reaching that. But you're expecting your body to function, do all that exercise and whatever else you do on less than the number of calories that it takes for your body just to function and be healthy really.

So my advice would be whatever you set as your calorie goal each day, make that after exercise and eat back those exercise calories. And I'd suggest a HRM to make sure you're getting the numbers right, then you know what you need. If you're not going to eat them all, aim for 75%. Remember, the benefits of the exercise go far beyond just the losing weight.

 

[Caz]

Your body doesn't have an internal clock that says oh it's now Saturday, next day's calories! But at the same time, what Tina said is right, it only remembers calories and calorie deficits for so long. You can't save calories from Monday to use on Saturday. If you have a slightly hungrier day then that's fine, but you won't keep your loss even just because you had a lower day a few days before. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work like that. Definitely the best way for a big meal out or something is to go low cal all day or burn off the extra in exercise.

 

[Squeezyweezy]

Wow, I think pretty much everything has been said. Caroline has blinded me with science, and everything she has said is such great advice to take on board.

I really think the heart rate monitor is a must for you, because you are defo burning more than 150 cals. Also, measuring yourself is really important. The numbers on the scales don't always correlate with the numbers on the tape measure, so it's always nice to do both as a boost to moral. If you haven't had a fantastic weight loss, you may have had a substantial inch loss or visa versa.

You just have to persevere with this. Your body will decide when it's comfortable with what you are doing, and then you will start to see results. Also when you first start loosing weight, water rushes to places in your body where the fat has dissapeared to prevent shock. This will slowly stop after about 3 weeks, and you should start to see better numbers.
Also sodium makes your body hold onto water for what feels like ages, so don't have something high in sodium, kike chinese, 2 days before WI, you will need a week to recover.

Drink plenty of water too

 

[kimlo]

You guys are seriously amazing!!!
I can't thank you enough for all the awesome advice you have given me!!! Special thank you to you Caroline, some awesome advice and information.

I'm using loseit.com to track my calories from now on and I'm putting everything in 100% honestly otherwise there wouldn't be a point.

It would be awesome if some of you could check my profile and if you use it to add me as a friend. I'm not sure how you add me but this should be my profile link Lose It! - Succeed at weight loss with Lose It! and email to add is [email protected] which is also my MSN, feel free to add me.

I'm going to buy a HRM as soon as practically possible and make use of it.

I've currently budgeted 1500 calories a day but I'm going to increase it to 1800 cals most days although sometimes I struggle to reach that if I don't wake up early.

I'm eating back about half my excercise calories, not all of it.

Just a question, I didn't really understand the whole erratic eating thing. Is this thinking wrong?

BMR is 4000 which is at 1.55 as I am exercising 5 times a week 40-60 minutes.

If I go 5 days with a 1000+ calorie deficit but I have 2 days at around 2500 calories which is neutral or "maintenance calories" shouldn't I still lose weight for that week?

What exactly do you mean by the body not remembering calorie deficit and why does that matter, don't you essentially lose weight every day that's a deficit and gain weight if you over your BMR for that day? In that case why does it matter if you have an erratic eating pattern for that week?

What do you mean by having a low cal day when you're having a bad day? Do you mean eating lots of low cal meals/snacks for that day?

And back to the fuel analogy, if for a day you used 10 litres but burned 5 through exercise so essentially being 5 short, wouldn't your body then use your reserve fuel(fat?) or is that more likely to waste muscle?

Sorry for all the questions but I want to understand as much as possible so I can lose weight the healthiest way possible but still relatively quickly.

I will keep all of you updated with my weight loss and thank you again for all the attention to my thread, it is really, very appreciated.

 

[kimlo]

You guys are seriously amazing!!!
I can't thank you enough for all the awesome advice you have given me!!! Special thank you to you Caroline, some awesome advice and information.

I'm going to buy a HRM as soon as practically possible and make use of it.

I've currently budgeted 1500 calories a day but I'm going to increase it to 1800 cals most days although sometimes I struggle to reach that if I don't wake up early.

I'm eating back about half my excercise calories, not all of it.

Just a question, I didn't really understand the whole erratic eating thing. Is this thinking wrong?

BMR is 4000 which is at 1.55 as I am exercising 5 times a week 40-60 minutes.

If I go 5 days with a 1000+ calorie deficit but I have 2 days at around 2500 calories which is neutral or "maintenance calories" shouldn't I still lose weight for that week?

What exactly do you mean by the body not remembering calorie deficit and why does that matter, don't you essentially lose weight every day that's a deficit and gain weight if you over your BMR for that day? In that case why does it matter if you have an erratic eating pattern for that week?

What do you mean by having a low cal day when you're having a bad day? Do you mean eating lots of low cal meals/snacks for that day?

And back to the fuel analogy, if for a day you used 10 litres but burned 5 through exercise so essentially being 5 short, wouldn't your body then use your reserve fuel(fat?) or is that more likely to waste muscle?

Sorry for all the questions but I want to understand as much as possible so I can lose weight the healthiest way possible but still relatively quickly.

I will keep all of you updated with my weight loss and thank you again for all the attention to my thread, it is really, very appreciated.

Just on a sidenote -

My posts keep getting lost in approval and disappear without a trace. There's a fine line between trying to stop spammers and annoying genuine users on the forum and so far it's proving to be really frustrating as a new user having to have each post approved and no sign or word when it's not approved for what ever reason.

I just want to discuss weight loss with this community but it's proving very difficult.

 

[kimlo]

You guys are seriously amazing!!!
I can't thank you enough for all the awesome advice you have given me!!! Special thank you to you Caroline, some awesome advice and information.

I'm going to buy a HRM as soon as practically possible and make use of it.

I've currently budgeted 1500 calories a day but I'm going to increase it to 1800 cals most days although sometimes I struggle to reach that if I don't wake up early.

I'm eating back about half my excercise calories, not all of it.

Just a question, I didn't really understand the whole erratic eating thing. Is this thinking wrong?

BMR is 4000 which is at 1.55 as I am exercising 5 times a week 40-60 minutes.

If I go 5 days with a 1000+ calorie deficit but I have 2 days at around 2500 calories which is neutral or "maintenance calories" shouldn't I still lose weight for that week?

What exactly do you mean by the body not remembering calorie deficit and why does that matter, don't you essentially lose weight every day that's a deficit and gain weight if you over your BMR for that day? In that case why does it matter if you have an erratic eating pattern for that week?

What do you mean by having a low cal day when you're having a bad day? Do you mean eating lots of low cal meals/snacks for that day?

And back to the fuel analogy, if for a day you used 10 litres but burned 5 through exercise so essentially being 5 short, wouldn't your body then use your reserve fuel(fat?) or is that more likely to waste muscle?

Sorry for all the questions but I want to understand as much as possible so I can lose weight the healthiest way possible but still relatively quickly.

I will keep all of you updated with my weight loss and thank you again for all the attention to my thread, it is really, very appreciated.

Admins can you please approve this post, I don't want to appear like I am ignoring the nice people that have helped me out here.

 

[Caz]

If I go 5 days with a 1000+ calorie deficit but I have 2 days at around 2500 calories which is neutral or "maintenance calories" shouldn't I still lose weight for that week?

No, it doesn't work that way. You'll completely screw over your metabolism and your body won't know whether it's coming or going. You might lose weight but you won't lose the same as you would eating lower each day but the same amount over the week.

What exactly do you mean by the body not remembering calorie deficit and why does that matter, don't you essentially lose weight every day that's a deficit and gain weight if you over your BMR for that day? In that case why does it matter if you have an erratic eating pattern for that week?

Your body doesn't go oh, you had 300 calories left over 3 days ago, you're 300 over today, I'll cancel that out then. It doesn't remember that you have left over calories. What you lose by going 500 calories under isn't actually the same as what you'll gain going 500 calories over. In terms of real fat loss and gain, then yeah it's probably the same. But when you've been eating lower and then eat a higher calorie amount that's particularly higher, you'll gain a lot more in terms of retained water and replenished glycogen stores which can take a few days to get rid of. For example, one weekend of eating say 2000-2500 calories a day, for me, has resulted in a 5lb gain before and then that week I've lost those 5lbs plus only 1lb on top of that. So I can't tell you why it happens, but that's what happens.

And back to the fuel analogy, if for a day you used 10 litres but burned 5 through exercise so essentially being 5 short, wouldn't your body then use your reserve fuel(fat?) or is that more likely to waste muscle?

No, because you need to give your body enough fuel that's readily available for basic body functions. Your BMR is what your body would burn lying in bed doing nothing, so it's literally what it takes for you to live, for your organs to work, not for anything else you do. Though obviously you've applied an activity factor to it to give what you need including your daily activity. So you're already going under what you need each day even if you live a pretty sedentary life. Your already using up reserve fuels by lowering your input/calories consumed, going any lower doesn't mean more fat burnt, it means more muscle lost.

Sorry for all the questions but I want to understand as much as possible so I can lose weight the healthiest way possible but still relatively quickly.

Never feel you have to apologise for asking questions, that's why we're all here - to help!!

Admins can you please approve this post, I don't want to appear like I am ignoring the nice people that have helped me out here.

My posts keep getting lost in approval and disappear without a trace. There's a fine line between trying to stop spammers and annoying genuine users on the forum and so far it's proving to be really frustrating as a new user having to have each post approved and no sign or word when it's not approved for what ever reason.

Your posts aren't not being approved, they've all come through, you're just not waiting long enough for them to be approved. Just keep in mind that the admins on here aren't on here all day every day. This site doesn't make money and so they all have their jobs too. If you post just bear with them and they'll approve it as soon as they get the chance

 

[happyhippo]

Hi Kimlo, another good site that a lot of us here use is called My Fitness Pal, it tells you how many calories a day you should be eating, you can track your calories, track your food, and log your exercise

 

[LittleSis]

Stick with it Kimlo.. You'll get there in the end