I consider myself an active person in good health so I was wondering, If I eat next to nothing all winter (but what I do eat is all fruit, yogurt, whole grains, organic, etc.) and don't do as much cardio for 4 months and stay at 197lbs....why is it that with the SAME EXACT diet and 2X the cardio and gym routine (not to mention yard work) I lose no weight in the summer. I read that your metabolism can "stall" when you don't eat a lot, so does that mean I should start eating more, which makes NO sense to me.
My weight is stalled!
- Thread starter sgman123
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KaraCooks
New member
I really can't understand your post. Are you saying that you're eating next to nothing? How many calories a day are you eating? How much protein are you getting every day?
If you eat too little, yes, you will stall. The less you eat, the more your metabolism slows to accommodate that and you will slow your metabolism to the point that you won't lose weight.
Give us more information about what you're eating and what you're doing for exercise and maybe we can offer more advice.
If you eat too little, yes, you will stall. The less you eat, the more your metabolism slows to accommodate that and you will slow your metabolism to the point that you won't lose weight.
Give us more information about what you're eating and what you're doing for exercise and maybe we can offer more advice.
Ben Coomber
New member
its becuase you are putting your body through so much stress and it is going into a survival mechanism as a result meaning it will want to store as much fat as possible. either way it sounds like an unhealthy plan for many reasons, do your research and find the balance that is right for you rather than trying to fight your body and trick it, it will never work. your body is still a mammal in essence and behaves like one, hence going into a survival mode and storing fat as you are stressing it to the max.
Thanks for the advise!
I figured that might be the problem since I eat, what I consider very little, I eat a bowl of oatmeal and a coffee in the morning, a low-fat sandwich wrap for lunch with a few reduced fat crackers ( and maybe some hummus) and then a chicken salad or turkey/chicken sandwich for dinner. Toss a yogurt in there with some almonds and maybe a handful of sunflower seeds at work or a banana, and that is my diet EVERY day. On days off I may splurge and have Chinese or Sushi, but I rarely go crazy and try to stick to homemade dinners on those days. I'm starting to add a protein shake (low-fat milk, 1 scoop protein, banana and scoop of low-fat yogurt) to my diet to see what that does.
I run 2-4 miles at medium pace every other day with some intervals thrown in on good days and try to hit the gym on the other days if time allows. I get very little sleep so that could also be a reason for a slow metabolism.
My main concern is that I stay at 197 no matter what I do, 4 months of a New England winter I do very little in terms of cardio and I'm 197lbs. Fast forward to May-Nov and I'm doing tons of outside activity and I run, bike, etc. and still 197lbs.
I figured that might be the problem since I eat, what I consider very little, I eat a bowl of oatmeal and a coffee in the morning, a low-fat sandwich wrap for lunch with a few reduced fat crackers ( and maybe some hummus) and then a chicken salad or turkey/chicken sandwich for dinner. Toss a yogurt in there with some almonds and maybe a handful of sunflower seeds at work or a banana, and that is my diet EVERY day. On days off I may splurge and have Chinese or Sushi, but I rarely go crazy and try to stick to homemade dinners on those days. I'm starting to add a protein shake (low-fat milk, 1 scoop protein, banana and scoop of low-fat yogurt) to my diet to see what that does.
I run 2-4 miles at medium pace every other day with some intervals thrown in on good days and try to hit the gym on the other days if time allows. I get very little sleep so that could also be a reason for a slow metabolism.
My main concern is that I stay at 197 no matter what I do, 4 months of a New England winter I do very little in terms of cardio and I'm 197lbs. Fast forward to May-Nov and I'm doing tons of outside activity and I run, bike, etc. and still 197lbs.
KaraCooks
New member
At 197 lbs you should be eating around 2000 calories a day to lose weight.
I suspect what's happened is that you've stalled out your metabolism by not eating enough.
Not enough sleep is also a big thing - lack of sleep and/or stress causes an excess of cortisol to be released into your system which can mess with your metabolism.
I suspect what's happened is that you've stalled out your metabolism by not eating enough.
Not enough sleep is also a big thing - lack of sleep and/or stress causes an excess of cortisol to be released into your system which can mess with your metabolism.
Ben Coomber
New member
a lot of the foods you are eat are also what i would call "NON-FOODS", the oatmeal, crackers, wraps etc are all grain foods that dont really give the body much nutrition, there just sugar once there broken down, and if your eating minimal calories you are missing out on a lot of potential nutrition by eating these foods.
Do you have any bloating, headaches, or any symptoms or any sort? if so it may be that an intolerance is also holding you back from losing the weight. Im intolerant to gluten, if i eat it my weight stays at 10% body fat and it doesnt change, if i dont eat it i can get down to around 5% easily.
just a few more thougths to consider. Ben
Do you have any bloating, headaches, or any symptoms or any sort? if so it may be that an intolerance is also holding you back from losing the weight. Im intolerant to gluten, if i eat it my weight stays at 10% body fat and it doesnt change, if i dont eat it i can get down to around 5% easily.
just a few more thougths to consider. Ben
Ben Coomber
New member
i would also agree with you karacooks that it is a healthy grain, but when you are eating such low amounts of food like the person in question is and one of your main meals is purely carbohydrate from a grian source, thats 30% of your daily food intake that could be provided by much more beneficial foods such as fruits and vegatables and be eated in balanced with protein foods.
this is the only thing that bugs me with grain based breakfasts such as oatmeal and cereal especailly when people are eating minimal foods, a large proportion of your food intake is then grain based when fruit and vegetables are much better as a carbohydrate source especailly when weight loss is desired.
dont get me wrong it has great properties but this is why i mentioned it, less grains and more fruit and veg, especailly when 50%+ of people have a form of gluten intolerance.
this is the only thing that bugs me with grain based breakfasts such as oatmeal and cereal especailly when people are eating minimal foods, a large proportion of your food intake is then grain based when fruit and vegetables are much better as a carbohydrate source especailly when weight loss is desired.
dont get me wrong it has great properties but this is why i mentioned it, less grains and more fruit and veg, especailly when 50%+ of people have a form of gluten intolerance.
only problem with this is that oats do not contain gluten.... Granted a lot of brands are mixed with wheat germ, or contaminated due to factory sharing production of grains. but it's not hard to find gluten free oatmeal.
and i would venture that your numbers are off. the up to 50% is far as i know the stat for cacausion women. men and other ethnicitys are much less likely to have a gluten allergy. and even then, having "some form of" an allergy is not the same as having a bad form of an allergy. And even after all that, the great majority of people do not have any form of gluten allergy.
Where i'm going with this is that while i agree with your assessments that a a certain number of people are sensitive to grain based carbs and need to be restricted, it's for sure not a one blanket fits all type thing.
Ben Coomber
New member
oh definately, i dont mean allergy in any sense of the word i mean sensitivity, allergy will be pretty obvious to anyone you would hope. and yes you are right with oats being gluten free but most oats are not, not cause of the weat germ but due to cross contamination in the process.
i researched this recently on a few of the celiac sites to post some info on my site and also cause i thought i have a gluten intolerance, which i do - i thought it was just wheat, which is great as im now as lean as i should be as a result.
i think it this case it would be beneficial to remove the oats and replace with something more health promoting, or at least a couple of times a wekk, especially for optimal energy balance as there is hardly any protein in the meal.
but ultimately i do agree with the oat thing, although for white individuals reports are closer to the 65% mark now, bit scary i feel.
i researched this recently on a few of the celiac sites to post some info on my site and also cause i thought i have a gluten intolerance, which i do - i thought it was just wheat, which is great as im now as lean as i should be as a result.
i think it this case it would be beneficial to remove the oats and replace with something more health promoting, or at least a couple of times a wekk, especially for optimal energy balance as there is hardly any protein in the meal.
but ultimately i do agree with the oat thing, although for white individuals reports are closer to the 65% mark now, bit scary i feel.