Hoping for a little advice

D

Deb304

New member
Hi All,

I'm struggling to lose weight and hope someone has a few ideas that might help me.

I've been to a Dr. and all is fine - or at least that's what they tell me - but I am skeptical.

I'll be as brief as possible. Two years ago I gained 20 pounds in six months. Blood tests found nothing - I have been dieting ever since trying several different methods but no luck until recently.

Three months ago I started weight watchers and joined a fitness club. I've done weight watchers before and don't mind it at all and after fad dieting for two years I'm quite glad to be on one that is a bit more balanced. I follow it to a "T" and I don't cheat - in fact I don't even take advantage of the "extra" points you get every week. I just stick with the daily points which for me is 18 per day. That equates to an average of 50-70 calories per point. Depending on your exercise you earn points which I calculate every day after working out. Sometimes I eat them; sometimes I don't.

My starting weight was 140 at weigh in. I know that may sound thin but I'm quite small and always have been until two years ago; I don't think I've ever weighed over 120 in my entire life other than when I had my kids.

I work out every day six days a week with one day for resting. My work out is 30 minutes on an elliptical trainer doing resistance training at an 8 setting. Then it's a Jacob's Ladder for about 3 minutes - that's all I can muster on that thing! Then I run on a treadmill for 20 minutes at 4.7 mph with a 1% incline.

Here's my dilemma. I've been doing this for three months and have barely lost five pounds. I'll lose a couple pounds and without changing anything the next week I'll gain it back.

That is what has happened this week again to me; last week I lost a pound this week I gained 1.8 pounds. No one at Weight Watchers has any answers because simple math doesn't apply here. They've run out of ideas.

If you think about that I would have to eat 4,000 calories more than I'm burning in order to put on 1.8 pounds of weight; that's just impossible with what I'm eating and how much I'm exercising. My typical menu is: 6 oz low fat yogert, 1 apple, 7 fat free saltines, 1 slice of Weight Watchers cheese, 1 Weight Watchers meal (200 calories) an extra portion of veggies, a green salad, 1 T fat free dressing, 2 slices of bread, 2 Tbs sugar free jam, 1 small can green beans, 1 Weight Watchers Icecream bar. This usually adds up to about 18 points. This is the menu every day I don't deviate much at all except for the dinner which is different but the same calorie count.

Has anyone got any ideas on what might be happening? I don't seem to be able to find anyone who has any answers. My fitness trainer says he's never seen anything like it and can't believe that I can work out as much as I do and gain weight - I'm sure he probably thinks I'm lying about what I eat; I can't say as I blame him because it is extremely odd and goes against all the rules. But, I'm not cheating on the food. I'm not a binge eater or anything like that; my problem was always portion control and I've got that under control. The Dr. says my thyroid is fine and hasn't offered any help - he told me that at my age I shouldn't worry about it...I can't say as I was too pleased with that comment! LOL!

I sure would appreciate any encouraging words - right now I'm pretty down in the dumps about the whole thing and very frustrated at such a small amount of weight loss for such a huge amount of work.

I have a goal and only wish I could get there. My goal was to get down to 130 pounds - I'd be happy with that but I'm having such a time of it!

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Ciao for now!
Deb
 
how tall are you?
 
You're not eating enough. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but when you cut calories, your body adapts to that by slowing your metabolism. When you cut calories drastically, you create a situation where your body thinks that you're starving it and your metabolism slows even more.

There is a REASON that WW gives you those extra calories to allocate. Not using them is not doing yourself any favors and is, in fact, probably a big cause of your stall. Especially when you add in all the exercise you're doing.

Also, WHAT those calories consist of is vitally important when you only have a little to lose (20 lbs or less). I'll be honest and tell you that you diet looks really imbalanced to me. I see very little protein, LOTS of sodium (which will cause you to retain wate), LOTS of processed foods (again, sodium), LOTS of simple carbs (which cause some people to retain fluid).

I don't doubt that you're eating what you say you're eating, but I suspect lack of proper nutrition is part of what's contributing.
 
Thanks for such quick replies; I sincerely appreciate it!

To answer "Spoonsie" first - I am 5 ft 1 inch with a large bone structure according to the Dr. I should weight between 115 and 135 pounds according to him.

I have always felt good and healthy at about 125 and wish I could say that was my goal but I've rethought that now and feel that maybe 130 would be just fine - it all depends on if I feel good at that weight or not.

I posted a "day" of what I eat; certainly that isn't the same every day and as I said I do eat my points if I exercise - what I don't eat is the extra 35 points that WW allows a person per week for something like a dinner out or special occasion - it's not manditory that you use them. But, If I exercise 60 minutes and that allows me two extra points to eat that day, it's rare but there have been a couple of occasions when I just wasn't hungry enough to eat them - But, two points only adds up to about 100 calories - hardly anything that I would think would cause me to gain two pounds in a week. My total calorie intake is approximately 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day. I don't think that is "starvation" as the diet my Dr. suggested was only 1,000 calories per day which I tried and yes, it turned out that my body adjusted to that and I didn't lose weight - hence going back to weight watchers.

I guess I'm just completely flumoxed on how a person could eat 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day, exercise 1 to 1 1/2 hours per day six days a week (sweating within 10 minutes) and gain a pound and a half? Next week I'll do exactly the same thing and lose one pound; it happens like this all the time and that's why I'm not making any head way; lose a pound gain a pound, lose a pound gain a pound without changing anything - it's mind boggling and frustrating. That's why my ultimate weight loss for the last three months is only five pounds; I've lost a total of eight but keep gaining back one here and one there for no reason.

I will certainly start watching the salt intake to be sure I'm not over doing it without knowing it. I appreciate the heads up on that. But, the rest of my diet seems ok to me, I eat fresh fruit, yogert, fresh/frozen/canned veggies and my dinner which is not always WW - I do cook on occasion LOL! My husband would like me to do that more!

Anyway I really love this place and am very, very thankful that I'm able to "vent" my feelings and frustrations. My friends and family don't seem to understand but here - there are many of you I'm sure with similiar and more difficult scenarios who do and I truly am thankful.

Thanks again for any input - meanwhile I'm on my way to work out yuk!
 
Those fluctuations you see are simply water weight. I find weighing yourself daily or even every couple of days is a recipe for insanity: try doing it once a week, early in the morning, after you've gone to the bathroom and before you've had much water. Establish a baseline and measure off of that. If that's what you are doing then I can imagine it'd be stupidly frustrating!

As far as the weight loss goes, how do you look and feel compared to three months ago? 5 pounds might not feel like much, but if you've been exercising hard for so long I'd imagine your body reflects the changes. I'm keeping a picture log of my own progress, and even on weeks where I haven't lost much weight, the visual difference is at the least noticeable enough to keep me going. It's all well and good to want to lose fat, but ultimately we're here because we want to be healthy and fit, and from the exercises you described you're certainly no slacker in that department!

IMO scales only tell part of the story.
 
1) you're not eating enough. points != calories. Count the actual calories using fit day, i'm willing to bet you're way low, when in reality with your exercise you should be 1500-1800 per day to lose

2) your diet isn't very good. It's mostly carbs, no fat, and low protein. I see this so often, specially from weight watcher people. Make carbs 40% of your daily intake of calories. yours looks to be about 80%.

3) do more resistance training. Your "eliptical set on 8" is NOT resistance training. If you're not at complete and utter muscular failure in under a minute, you're not doing resistance training.

Those are the most glaring things that popped out at me.
 
I guess I'm just completely flumoxed on how a person could eat 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day, exercise 1 to 1 1/2 hours per day six days a week (sweating within 10 minutes) and gain a pound and a half? Next week I'll do exactly the same thing and lose one pound; it happens like this all the time and that's why I'm not making any head way; lose a pound gain a pound, lose a pound gain a pound without changing anything
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What you eat is as important as how much you eat. If you eat 1200 calories of processed, high sodium food, you're not going to see a change in the scale - and in fact the sodium could cause you to retain fluid which will skew your weight significantly.

You said that you stalled out on 1000 calories and that made sense to you .. so I don't understand why it doesn't make sense to you that you'd stall out on 1200 calories when you're busting your hump on drastic amounts of exercise.

I agree with Jynus, at 150 lbs, you should be eating around 1500 calories (of HEALTHY food (40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% healthy fat) at a minimum. And given the amount of exercise you're doing, you could probably get away with 1600-1800.
 
According to the math you gave us you get 18 points per day with calories per point equaling 50-70.
That means you are only eating 900-1260 calories a day. (18 x 50 = 900) You say you 'earn' points by exercising but you also say you only sometimes eat those. You say you do just less than an hour of exercise (30 mins elliptical, 3 mins ladder, 20 mins treadmill) so you would only earn yourself 2 points which would be 100 calories so even on exercise days you would only be eating 1100-1360 calories a day.
That is FAR too few calories. Your dr. is insane if he recommended you eating only 1000 calories a day!!
I would try upping your calories and see how that goes.
 
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I'll try to answer a couple questions and I'll write more later on - I'm cooking the bird and you know how that goes!

To Benji: Yes! I see a huge difference - less flab and I at least have an appearance of a figure again! So, it's working - I know that.

To Jynus: I'm sorry but I've gotten you confused on the calories deal - WW doesn't go by calories - the 50-70 was my feeble attempt to give you some perspective on the points. WW has been around since the early 1960's, is in 30 countries and is the most successful weight loss program on the planet - I've used them twice before in my younger days and was successful both times - I doubt they would steer me wrong on how many points I should eat a day - let's face it - they are in the weight loss business. So I apologize for putting a calorie value to my points - they are not all the same value and I'll explain this in a later post.

You also have made an assumption that my diet is "mostly carbs, no fat and low protein from one day's menu? As I said before I eat a balanced diet X number of proteins, X number of fat, X number of veggies, X number of dairy and X number of gains per day according to the WW diet plan. I also eat their food for dinner which does not have a lot of sodium for one meal - it consists of only 25% of the daily allowance (that's just one meal and most of them are about the same)

Also, you've got me pegged in better shape than I am HA!- I'm doing resistance not at a level 8; I'd be flopping on the floor before 5 minutes was up! I switch between level 4 and level 8 all through a 30 minute workout - sometimes 40 minutes - it just depends on the time I have. Now, I have also started interval training on the treadmill which consists of .25 mi walking and then .25 mile running through out a 30 minute time period. (All of this is done according to my fitness director at the gym)

I weight 135 - not 150 so burning calories for me takes a lot more working out then it does for someone at 150 pounds to lose the same number of calories - correct?

To MysticRelm: I think he's insane too - I don't go to him anymore. I have a different Dr. now who says at my age I should just relax and go with the flow - I think all Dr.'s are a bit nuts.

I love you all for your help and concerns and so glad you've given me so much food for thought - pardon the pun.

Off to continue the meal - Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless!
 
Hey Deb - Happy Thanksgiving to you! We're in a down time while the bird is cooking ... so I'm visiting boards. :)

Ok, re: Weight Watchers, the thing is that Jynus is right. :) I know WW - I've done the program and I'm very familiar with it. The WW program is a good one and yes it's successful, but it's also has less focus on macro-nutrient levels than it could. Don't get me wrong - I think it's a good program, but fora lot of people when they get down to those final 10-15 lbs or when they have hit their weight goal and want to get that "toned" look, WW doesn't give you the guidance that you need.

Once you hit that level you need to really focus on your macros and make sure you're getting enough protein and IME, WW doesn't give you a sufficient protein guideline.

I weight 135 - not 150 so burning calories for me takes a lot more working out then it does for someone at 150 pounds to lose the same number of calories - correct?
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Sorta kinda yeah. :)

I would think that adding weight lifting (real weight lifting, not girlie weight lifting) to your routine would help you to get the look you want!
 
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