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A few weeks ago, I bottomed out. I am 5'10 and weighed myself at 194 lbs. That was it for me. I called myself a Moderator cut: language removed and decided I do not want to live like this anymore. I hate my size 34 pants being so tight and will never go to a 35 because I know I will never return. I prefer being uncomfortable in my current clothes so that I am forced to address the issue.
I immediately began walking a minimum of 1 1/2 hours per day (non stop). Sometimes twice. So, right there, I would have to lose weight even if I continued to eat the way I did because I am introducing calorie-burning exercise that I was not doing before. But, I also stopped eating past 7 pm, did not start eating until 1pm each day after my 1 hour walk at lunch time. No processed snacks (cheese its, etc). Fruit all day until dinner. Low fat stuff like gnocci for dinner. In other words, I cut my calories in half at the very least.
After 9 days, I went from 194 to 189. Woo hoo. So, please somebody tell me why and how is it possible that after doing the very same thing for another week, I gained 2 lbs? How is that even possible? The only thing I did differently is to add one tsp of coconut oil each morning after reading that it is a medium strain fat and helps the liver burn other fat. That said, that is 14 gm of fat a day added to my intake. Even with that oil, I am eating far less than I was before I started.
This is what is so discouraging about losing weight. You can sacrifice all of the foods you normally eat and also get out and walk for hours a day and when you lose nothing after a week or so, you wonder why you are even bothering. I could have kept eating what I was eating and sit on a couch and watch tv instead of walking I would have most likely stayed at my current weight.
Is it possibly I just cannot lose weight anymore? I am 61 years old but active as hell at work and doing other things. Not mountain climbing or running marathons but I am not sitting around doing nothing. It is all very discouraging. Anyone else change eating habits and exercising only to stay the same weight or even gain weight?
Last edited by nancy thereader; 03-14-2023 at 10:50 AM..
You didn't gain weight in 9 days, and you're not going to lose weight in 9 days, and the fluctuations you're seeing probably have more to do with water weight than any real fat loss. Maybe focus less on what the scale says than on other ways of success that prioritize your overall health. Are you able to walk longer distances at a higher intensity than when you started? Are your clothes starting to feel looser? Are you sleeping better? Less stressed? Health isn't the same thing as deprivation or punishment.
Maintaining a healthy weight is a marathon, not a sprint. It is not measured in daily weight fluctuations, but rather in a gradual, long-term modification of your body.
Your diet may need adjusting. Protein becomes important when lifestyle changes occur. Schedule a session with a nutritionist, especially with your limited protein intake.
I don’t expect miracles and I am shocked I lost 5 lbs in 10 days. I wouldn’t expect that rate to be sustainable but I surely would not expect to gain weight if I am eating less and excel is ing more. I thought about water weight.
And no, I don’t feel clothes getting looser. I feel the same. I can walk 3 or 4 hours if I want at any pace I want. I would walk longer if I wasn’t so bored or busy.i have no health limitations as to how far and long I can walk. I hate what I look like. I feel like people see someone heavy and perceive them as weak somewhat of a loser. I will keep it up and see what happens over the coming weeks.
Muscle weighs more than fat. You could be losing fat and gaining muscle. Also, if you are not eating enough, the body goes into starvation mode and your metabolism drops as the body tries to preserve its mass. See a nutritionist.
Pound 'o blubber is about 3,500 calories. You really think you ate a 17,500 calorie deficit in ten days? Corollary of, you really think you hammered down 7,000 excess calories in the last week? That's definitely more possible than a 17,500 calorie deficit but probably not.
Answer to both is no. Stop sweating nothing burgers.
In other words, I cut my calories in half at the very least.
1. I seriously doubt that.
2. Quit guessing and start logging the calories you consume.
An easy way to keep track of your calories consumed, as well as your calories burned during your walk(s) and throughout the day, is to get a Fitbit Sense 2 or something similar. One of the great things about the Fitbit I referenced is that with their app, you can simply take a pic of the QR code of whatever you're eating, and it will log the complete nutrition info from the package or any condiments that you use. Or you can type in any non-processed or non-packaged item and it will do the same thing.
I think that this will give you a more representative sample of what your calorie deficit is and what you can expect to lose based on that.
A few weeks ago, I bottomed out. I am 5'10 and weighed myself at 194 lbs. That was it for me. I called myself and decided I do not want to live like this anymore. I hate my size 34 pants being so tight and will never go to a 35 because I know I will never return. I prefer being uncomfortable in my current clothes so that I am forced to address the issue.
I immediately began walking a minimum of 1 1/2 hours per day (non stop). Sometimes twice. So, right there, I would have to lose weight even if I continued to eat the way I did because I am introducing calorie-burning exercise that I was not doing before. But, I also stopped eating past 7 pm, did not start eating until 1pm each day after my 1 hour walk at lunch time. No processed snacks (cheese its, etc). Fruit all day until dinner. Low fat stuff like gnocci for dinner. In other words, I cut my calories in half at the very least.
After 9 days, I went from 194 to 189. Woo hoo. So, please somebody tell me why and how is it possible that after doing the very same thing for another week, I gained 2 lbs? How is that even possible? The only thing I did differently is to add one tsp of coconut oil each morning after reading that it is a medium strain fat and helps the liver burn other fat. That said, that is 14 gm of fat a day added to my intake. Even with that oil, I am eating far less than I was before I started.
This is what is so discouraging about losing weight. You can sacrifice all of the foods you normally eat and also get out and walk for hours a day and when you lose nothing after a week or so, you wonder why you are even bothering. I could have kept eating what I was eating and sit on a couch and watch tv instead of walking I would have most likely stayed at my current weight.
Is it possibly I just cannot lose weight anymore? I am 61 years old but active as hell at work and doing other things. Not mountain climbing or running marathons but I am not sitting around doing nothing. It is all very discouraging. Anyone else change eating habits and exercising only to stay the same weight or even gain weight?
Practically every point you mention is either a fantasy, lie or misconception. Other than that-- Great Post!
Seriously-- As I've outlined here many times before-- One pound of stored fat contains a liitle over 4000 cal....Vigorous exercise burns calories at only ~500 cal/hr...and that's probably more vigorous than you can do at age 60....Exercise won't help you lose muxh weight, but it will help prevent more weight gain by giving you a little "cushion" of extra calories taken in without turning it into fat.
One problem with exercise & diet to lose weight-- as your body realizes you're torturing it, it shifts metabolism to "starvation mode". That's kinda like getting in shape-- When you are "in shape" it takes more exercise to get you short of breathe, and with starvation, you start getting more mileage out of each calorie.
You don't have one weight-- Your weight ranges aboout 3-5 lb/day, depending on when & how much you eat, drink, move your bowerls etc. Weigh yourself at the same time every day, in the same clothes for best comparisons.
Types of food-- technically, it makes a little difference-- carbs are either burned right away or stimulate fat deposition,...Fat taken in turns down the knob on fat deposition. Eating certain fats does nothing else to the liver....Your liver does all the processing first-- it doesn't know if that glucose coming in came from kale, apples or Twinkies, and the fat from olive oil is treated just like lard from a hog.
The real important factor is total calories tsken in. Eat whatever you like, but count all the calories. It takes ~10 cal/d to maintain each lb of body weight. (Everybody is a little different, but that's a good starting point for reference)....You started at 194. Let's say you want to get down to 180-- a 14 lb loss. Eating 180 x 10 = 1800 cal/d, and you were eating 194 x 10 =1940 cal/d (theoretically)... a dif of only 140 cal a day (!!)--> @4000cal/lb of fat, then 4000/140 = 28 days to lose the weight.
You can see the problem-- the dif is only 140 cal /d-- a couple slices of bread or a few cookies or one cocktail extra and the day is shot for weight loss....That's where the value of a little exercise comes in.
editied to add-- that 1800 cal/d diet is maintenance. You will lose the weight gradually, then continue that di et forever to remain at 180lb. You can cut down more (hard to do) to lose faster, if you need to weigh in for a wrestling match or something, but hten go back up o the 1800 for maintenance.
Last edited by nancy thereader; 03-14-2023 at 10:52 AM..
The way I heard it explained is that if you begin a diet and start to lose weight quickly, your body actually stores water in the emptied fat cells just so that you can easily eat and fill them right back up. So you have lost fat but you've got place markers put in those fat cells. That is a plateau. Just keep on doing what your doing and eventually your body will release that excess water.
The other thing that could be happening is that it may have been awhile since you exercised and as you gain greater cardiovascular health and start to build muscle back up, your circulatory system expands to feed those muscles. That will show up as extra weight on the scale at first. But your body composition is changing and your body is also becoming a better calorie burner. Your clothes are fitting more loosely, you feel lighter and before long, the numbers on the scale, too, will start to edge downwards.
Your body is in repair mode right now. You are doing good things and will reap the rewards. Be sure to drink enough water, too.
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