Frusterated with Lack of Weight Loss

www.sparkpeople.com

It's totally free, I'm NOT a rep (there is no such thing) it's NOT a diet, it's a self imposed healthy lifestyle including everything in moderation (no denying dessert or anything weird); includes exercise. Bottom line is that's it's all up to you to do it. There is a fantastic support community on this site; you actually can join groups of similar interest (all free; real people). You can look me up; my username there is katikid

good luck!!

You sound like you're doing great with eating healthy and working out! Way to go! I've had lots of success on Weight Watchers with getting my baby weight off and such. It costs about 40 dollars a month (for online access and meetings) but to me, it is worth every penny. I know that it is what I will do after each pregnancy from now on to get my weight off. Hope this helps.

I have a thyroid problem and was able to lose 40 pounds by reading Healthy for Life and eating a low glycemic diet. It was tough at first because I did not realize how "addicted" to high glycemic carbs and sugar I was. I started to read labels and was shocked how much "hidden"sugar I was eating. Even fat free yogurt or the light yogurt has upwards of 24g of sugar. So now I eat greek yogurt add my own fruit and honey. This is just one example of many changes I made to get to 40 pounds gone. Google the glycemic index and recipes and see if it is right for you.

HCG is for severely overweight people, and I would not suggest you go on that. I was struggling with the same thing, working out so much, etc, and not loosing weight! I kept my food intake down, and everything...I actually started gaining weight, that is when I went to the doctor. He checked everything out to make sure I was okay. Then he said that I need to check and make sure that my sugar, natural included, intake was no more than 36 grams a day. Well I found out that 1 cup of coffee with 2 tbs of creamer was more than the 36 grams so I went sugar free and cut my sugar, natural included, intake to around 12 grams a day, with the exception of b-day parties, etc. He also said that we need to constantly keep our bodies in confusion. You need to stick with something for 4-6 weeks, that is about how long it takes your body to get used to something, then switch it up, and change it. Say you do kickboxing for 4-6 weeks then you switch to swimming for 4-6 weeks, etc. Same thing with the food, make simple changes like eating broccoli and switching to apples, or something like that. Doing those things I have lost 50 pounds in 3 months. I am looking to continue this pattern as I need to be able to have a tummy tuck done from having big twins. (7lbs12oz and 6lbs10oz)

I have PCOS and can't lose weight easily either. I am not on metformin (which I used with clomid to conceive our son) to help regulate my hormones. I would ask your doctor if there is anything she can recommend. My doctor recommended diabetic counseling. Having PCOS can trick your body into acting diabetic and not processing glucose correctly. In my case, once I got pregnant, the hormones were all fine, but not being preggo makes it weird. It's hard and super frustrating. I hate talking to my doctor about weight but it was worth it to get some advice/peace of mind.

I have lost weight successfully with Weight Watchers twice (before and after baby). I know you said you don't have extra money, but maybe you could join their online program for just a few months until you get a sense of what your eating patterns should be. It sounds like you eat healthily already. I did too, for the most part, but I was still surprised when I got a points goal and started tracking my points. Little things like portion size, the types of fruits and veggies you eat, the amount of fiber in your food (like whole grain vs. whole wheat bread), how much cream and sugar I put in my coffee...these things make a big difference. Learning these things and being able to track my points and progress online really worked for me. Good luck!

One thing I've learned from weight watchers is a food journal, not all the time but for a couple weeks write down everything that goes in your mouth and the calories to just make sure you are on track with calorie intake. You may have it a weight that your body is comfortable at not that you have to stay there, but you may need to mix up your routine (try swimming or an other form of exercise that is new) to spur your body to drop the weight. Also try switching what activities you do try doing aerobics in the morning and toneing at night. Even giving your body a rest and cutting back one workout a week may do it. Good luck this is something I've struggled with alot.

I agree with Dana's response that with the large amount of time that you are spending working out you are transferring your weight from fat to muscle. My most recent weight loss left me 8-10 lbs heavier (than I was before my son) but I'm the same size (and in some things smaller) than I was before. My husband did a great thing for me when I started the process-I was obsessing over the scale and the small increments I saw..so he threw the scale in the trash. Literally. Then I focused on how I looked and felt rather than the punds. I finally accepted that the amount of exercise that I do makes me weigh more but I look fantastic and feel great. In fact, I now fit into a pair of pants that I had for 5 years as my "goal" pants. Good luck! I'm sure that you look amazing and I know from your post that you are doing a GREAT job taking care of yourself. Keep it up!!

I think you've had some great suggestions. One thing I want to emphasize is that when you exercise make sure you are building muscle consistently. I used to do a lot of cardio, similar to what you are doing. Cardio is very important in burning calories and keeping your heart healthy, etc. so keep doing it, but make sure you are doing enough muscle training, and do it the right way so you actually build muscle. The muscle will help you see results much more effectively! And make sure you work on your full body, not just lower body or upper body, but all the major muscle groups. I've plateaued many times when I was just focusing on cardio. The real difference comes from strengthening your body, and doing cardio (but not excessively), and eating healthy (which it sounds like you are doing).

Sounds like you are on the right track with everything you are doing but here are a few more suggestions.

- Do not do fat free or diet anything, these products tend to make your body gain weight. I do not know the science behind it I just know it happens. Skim milk is a good choice but our bodies do have a hard time digesting dairy so keep it all at a minimum.

- Cut all your portions in half! Sounds rough but it really works.

- Eat more often and follow a rule of "Never hungry, never full." Any extremes will create extreme eating patterns and metabolism issues.

- Cut down on the fruit and up the veggies (raw), fruit is sugar and will slow down your weight loss. You do need fruit in your diet but make it 2 a day instead of 3 or 4 replacing it with a raw veggie of some sort (3 to 4 per day at least). Your body actually burns calories to digest them. I have even heard that you cannot eat too many veggies.

- Watch your carbs a bit. Our bodies need carbs but again these are sugars that are against your body's weight loss. Check online on what foods have high carbs, you will be surprised.

- Check out a site called FitDay. I enjoy it because you can log your food intake for the day and see how many calories you are actually eating and I was extremely surprised at the outcome. They say keep to a 2000 calorie per day diet but you could cut that down to 1500 or 1700 and be just fine. This site will tell you your sugars, carbs, protein, etc. as well and it is free. I don't use it every day just for a week or so so I can get a feel for where I am at.

- When you work out, be sure you keep your heart rate up for 30 minutes or so and I would even do a short walk to something for 15 minutes on your days off.

That is all I can think of right now. I hope this helps, it sure helped me. You are also right in not totally depriving yourself or using a fad diets. When you deprive, you will lose it down the road and undo what you have done and fad diets just do not teach you to live differently only short term weight loss.

Good luck to you!

P.S. Also remember that muscle weighs more than fat, so don't obsess over the pounds and pay more attention to how you look and your size. If you build muscle you will also see it burns off the fat too. = )

Increase the intensity of your workouts in intervals. Such as running for four minutes to get your heart rate up then walking for four minutes to bring it back down, continue to do intervals for your entire workout. Make sure you stretch too. Interval training is he only thing that works for me. I also didn't realize the extra calories I was consuming due to being hungry from working out until I started a food diary. In order to loose weight you need to burn more that you take in. I'm sure you know that but most people really don't know how much they are consuming unless they write it down.

Honestly, I'd venture to guess you're building so much lean muscle that you're toning more than you're losing.

Losing weight seems simple in theory: calories in vs. calories out = weight loss. But, it's not that simple.

There are MANY hormones that have an effect on weight, and while many are known (amylin, cortisol, GLP-1, leptin, ghrelin, etc), the blood work to determine the levels are not yet developed. Some of these hormones have products that are FDA approved to replenish depleted levels, others are in development and many years from being FDA approved.

The best advice is to monitor your caloric intake as it seems you're really doing a great job with choosing the right foods. If money is an issue, I'd verify with your insurance to see if it will cover the majority of the costs associated with visiting a registered Dietician.

I think your goals of 160 are really reasonable, but if you're able to tone and build lean body mass, you may be happier with the results of how your clothes fit at 170 (toned) vs. 160 not as toned.

The real truth is that NO ONE really understands weight loss for the average person. Scientists have barely scratched the surface as there are SO many factors. I'd highly advise you to stay away from anything that doesn't have a lot of sound scientific/medical research behind it (HCG diet, for example) as you'll likely do more harm than good in the process.

Good luck.

My experience in the past was it took 8 months before I started to see the weight come off. I lost 20 lbs, ate right and was walking 5X a week an hour a day. This was on trails, so climbing over boulders, walking thru sand, and flat walking. It just took my body 8 Months to work things out and then the weight just started to come off. I know it's hard not to get discouraged, but it sounds like you are doing all the right things, just keep it up!

The PCOS may make it very difficult! I have read that causes resistant weight issues.

I have also read that people can have thyroid problems with relatively normal thyroid "numbers." People are supposedly very sensitive to even minor variations sometimes.

The only other thing that jumped out to me, about your post, was the gluten. Is it possible you are sensitive to it (wheat, rye, barley)? I have read a number of moms say that their weight dropped - almost "magically" - when their kids went gluten free and they stopped buying it. You could always do an elimination trial for a couple of weeks to see if you notice any difference.

I'm not a medical professional of any sort - this is just based off of my own experienced and what I've read/heard.

I don't like the sound of the hcg diet either. I'm going through the same thing you are, except I'm alot shorter (5'3"). My weight hovers between 145-150 and I just want to hold steady at 140 (not asking much, but you'd think I was trying to land on the moon). The good news is that - at your height - you are going to look great if you lose ANY weight! :)

Good luck - I'm with ya'!

You say that you eat very healthily, but I'm wondering what your portions look like. Even healthy food can make you overweight, if you're eating too much. I used weight watchers to lose weight, and it was wonderful! I'm not suggesting weight watchers, but maybe you could go to their website to take a look at what portion sizes should be. This was HUGE for me. I didn't understand that aspect of it until I joined WW and I was amazed to find out how much I actually was overeating. Good luck! I know this struggle all too well. : )

K.

You said your thyroid is fine, but since I'm hypothyroid and it went undiscovered for a while, I'll make a few recommendations. First, get your numbers from your tests. Don't just accept "fine." Second, the pharmaceutical industry dictates the range of what is fine and it's a bigger range than it should be (getting smaller all the time) because they'd have to cover more women. It was .5-5 when I found out I was 4.6. I was also told I was "fine," but when I went to an endocrinologist (a gyn is also more aware of thyroid issues), I found out most women do best around a 1. So you may be within the "fine" range, but actually have issues. Hypothyroid symptoms are very easy to misunderstand-dry skin, fatigue, inability to lose weight, course hair, etc. Before I found out, I actually had a male doctor tell me that women tend to gain weight after they get married. So, it may be some of what the other women said, but I thought you should be aware of how hypothyroid could effect you. Good luck!

Sounds like you are doing everthing right and should be losing weight. I know you don't want to do the HCG thing but if you do the drops it is cheaper and it resets your hypothalmus so that your body can and will let go of that extra weight. My mom just lost 20 lbs. on the HCG drops and she has battled and tried to lose it for over 10 yrs. with exercise and diet. She is keeping it off so far too. You may want to research it though because 'messing with your hormones' may be exactly what needs to be done.

Hi Shellie,

I think with PCOS, your body is resistant to weight loss even though you are busting your butt with diet and exercise. Maybe talk to some other ladies with PCOS or an infertilty specialist to see if there is something you could do.

And I always love acupuncture - it's worth a try! No side effects or pain!

Hi Shelli---First of all, I applaud you in your desire to lose some weight. My first suggestion would be to keep a food diary. It is really going to make the biggest impact on determining next steps.

You are correct in that there really should be no 'diets', just practicing an optimal diet for a healthy lifestyle. There are should be no foods that are off limits, but you must also be very careful in recognizing that some foods are treats and should only be eaten occasionally. Don't have those foods in the house, make sure you only eat them for special events. Make a cake for a party, but only have one piece and leave the rest.

A HEALTHY diets is one that consists primarily of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, legumes (beans), nuts and seeds. Minimize the consumption of animal protein, as it contains mostly saturated fats and no antioxidants for disease protection. Our proteins needs are quite small---we only need about 2.5 oz per day as recommended by the World Health Organization. That is a piece about the size of a deck of playing cards. Dairy should be eliminated. Please read The China Study by T Colin Campbell and explore www.pcrm.org as well as www.strongbones.org.

We should be eating about 80% of our calories from plants, mostly green ones, and eat as much raw as you can. I am learning this info in a series of wellness classes taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition. Her advice, and healthcare plans, are based on long term research.

You should also keep in mind that if you have been exercising regularly and strenuously, that you will be building muscle first. Muscle is less dense than fat, so, you should be noticing a difference in the way that your clothes fit well before you may notice any changes on the scale. And yes, if you are not eating enough plant based foods, your body will hold onto calories. I have a friend who is VERY busy, running 6 miles per day and playing competitive ice hockey. He wasn't able to lose weight UNTIL he added 600 calories per day. Then, he dropped 20 pounds over several weeks.

Keep that food diary. I would be happy to help you evaluate that after 2 weeks. I also have a number of other great resources to share if you are interested. Oh, and we can also work through that more than 4 servings of fruit and veg per day thing. It is really important to do that. Be gradual about it, maybe adding one serving every day each week. Your body will adjust. And that HGC thing, just bad news. I can get you research on that. Good luck. D.

How are they treating your PCOS? I was put on Metformin, for my PCOS symptoms, and have dropped 20 lbs over the last 9 months. It might be worth talking to your dr. to make sure that is not holding you back.

I am a Yoga instructor and just found this book and absolutely LOVE it! Since you are looking for a lifestyle this is a great book. Don't love the title of the book but it works!
It's called: the yoga body diet

http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Body-Diet-Without-Stress/dp/16...

Good Luck!

You may not be eating enough. When I joined WW I was like... what? I have to eat more? If you don't eat enough your body will hold onto that weight for dear life.

Hi - you already have 23 answers and I don't have time to read them all, I will just give in my two cents. Sounds like your eating choices are all good, but it could be a matter of just eating too many calories. I have found (after dealing with the same struggles as you - eating really healthy and not losing any weight) that I need to keep track of everything I eat. livestrong.com has a free calorie counter in "The Daily Plate" and it can help you know if you are on track. Some days when I think I've done a really good job watching what I ate, I record the items and wow, I am surprised at the total calories. Good luck - I know it is frustrating!!!