Weight Loss Question...

[DONOSAURU5REX]

Hello. I am new to the forum and this will be my first post! I got out of the military about 8 months ago and since then I have gained about 25-30lbs. When I got out of boot camp years ago I was around 206lbs 5'10" and it seemed to be a good weight for my body type. Well now I am 5'10" 246-250lbs (weight gained through the military and now civilian life). I am fed up with this and started a pretty intensive diet to start my weight loss. For the last week I have been drinking 4-6 low cal (160) Protein shakes a day, these are more nutritional shakes, less PROTEIN mass type shakes. Other than that water, fruit, turkey jerky and "Smart Pop" are the main ingredients in my diet, though I have been having a small meal once a day (salad, turkey sandwich, chicken breast, ect.) Well the first day on this diet I dropped down to 241 (pretty big I know, but I guarantee it is not a crash diet). Since then I have fluctuated around 242-241, but I can't seem to break below 240. Is this just because I haven't been doing it long enough? Maybe my body is shocked and trying to hold onto the weight? I am trying to get in workouts in as well, but currently between full-time job and a full college course load I can only manage to make it into the gym maybe 1-3 times a week MAX. It is just a bit frustrating and while I know there is no quick fix, it is still frustrating that the loss has already stopped. Any insight, tips, tricks or otherwise would be very helpful! Thank you!

 

[mcflyy]

Make sure to keep a negative calorie balance by combining any kind of activity with some intake reduction. Make sure! to keep track of the data since calories add up pretty fast
Btw 3500 calories equals 1 pound. So if you end up with - 3500 you gonna lose 1 pound. Period.
Stay strong!

 

[San2]

Make sure to keep a negative calorie balance by combining any kind of activity with some intake reduction. Make sure! to keep track of the data since calories add up pretty fast
Btw 3500 calories equals 1 pound. So if you end up with - 3500 you gonna lose 1 pound. Period.
Stay strong!

That's how it should be.

I have a BMR of 2100. Last week my highest calorie intake was 1100 kcal. Over 7 days, my intake was 5950, with a 7 day BMR of 14700. So, in theory, I should have lost at least 2 lbs.

In reality, I gained 5 lbs last week.

Any ideas or theories? (And no, I didn't eat calories I didn't account for. I even account for licking off spoons and tasting food while cooking)

 

[mcflyy]

That's how it should be.

I have a BMR of 2100. Last week my highest calorie intake was 1100 kcal. Over 7 days, my intake was 5950, with a 7 day BMR of 14700. So, in theory, I should have lost at least 2 lbs.

In reality, I gained 5 lbs last week.

Any ideas or theories? (And no, I didn't eat calories I didn't account for. I even account for licking off spoons and tasting food while cooking)

Did you check the % of fat as well ?

 

[San2]

No. And there is no need to. Calories in vs. calories out. Even if I had consumed my calories in pure fat, I should still not have put weight on. It 'should' be technically impossible. Only that, well, it's not, and it's getting really, really annoying.

Seriously though, I use fat free yogurts and am generally careful about fatty foods.

 

[keepsworking]

No. And there is no need to. Calories in vs. calories out. Even if I had consumed my calories in pure fat, I should still not have put weight on. It 'should' be technically impossible. Only that, well, it's not, and it's getting really, really annoying.

Seriously though, I use fat free yogurts and am generally careful about fatty foods.

You've lost quite a lot already and you might be at a plateau of sorts. If you are in starvation mode your body will not compute the Calories in vs Calories out and will abuse any sort of sugar or fat to create a reserve. Sodium intake will make you retain water, which will weigh A LOT on your scale. I weigh the same as you do right now and can relate to fluctuations.
Are you eating processed or prepared foods (like bars and ready-soups) more than whole foods? They tend to be higher in sodium and other salts.

 

[AthalaRanger]

San, Lyle Mcdonald has a couple of articles on his website that discuss this topic.

Here is the lastest one; [/U][/URL]

If you have accounted for everything you've eaten, it could be water retention caused by cortisol. You shouldn't stop losing weight eating at that level. Hormones can make it more difficult but they can only compensate for so much. (All of this acording to what Lyle wrote on the previous article)

(...) But irrespective of that, let’s address what seems like a fairly simple question: Can the drop in metabolic rate, due to the drop in bodyweight and the adaptive component EVER be sufficient to completely eliminate true fat loss?

And the answer, at least based on the last 80 years of studies into the topic (in humans, NOT animal models) says no. Perhaps the classic study in this regard was the oft-quoted (and oft- misunderstood) Minnesota Semi-Starvation Study. In it, a dozen or so war objectors got to avoid going to war and arguably got into something worse. That is, researchers wanted to study long- term starvation as might occur during war or famine or being held in a prisoner camp.

Specifically the men were put on 50% of their maintenance calories, subject to forced daily activity (walking, NO weight training) and basically had their lives controlled and managed for 6 months. And in various sub-analyses, it was found that, by the end of the study the total drop in metabolic rate was nearly 40%. That is, of the original 50% deficit in calories, 80% of it had been offset. Of that 40%, a full 25% was simply due to the reduced bodyweight. Again, lighter bodies burn less calories and there’s no getting around it. But that also means that the adaptive component of metabolic rate reduction was only 15%. Which is about the largest drop ever measured (most studies measure less).

But here’s the punchline, the men had also reached the limits of human leanness. They were in the realm of 4-5% body fat by this point in the study. Even though their fat loss had basically stopped (and at some points in the study WEIGHT loss stopped due to severe water retention) it didn’t occur until they reached ultimate leanness (NB: the claims of bodybuilders to be 2-3% bodyfat is a measurement error). And even they were still losing tiny amounts of weight/fat. It just wouldn’t have amounted to much since most of the deficit had been offset by the metabolic rate reduction.

He (later in the article) addresses that things may be a bit more different for women, but it shouldn't be enough to stop fat loss.