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Really? REALLY?
I've been working out solidly (3-5 days per week) for nearly three months now, and I've lost around twelve pounds.
I've been trying to not get on the scale very often and monitor myself by that, because, as you know, it can be immensely discouraging.
Well, I've been stuck at 213 for three weeks!!! I've been doing solely walking, because my chiropractor said I can't do any more than that until my back is healing.
The other strange thing is that four weeks ago the scale read 208, but within a week shot back to 213.
Since I'm only doing cardio, I don't get it. Walking doesn't build pounds upon pounds of muscle, does it? I've been pretty disciplined with my eating habits and doing my best to eat low glycemic (it worked like a charm in the beginning!) but I'm always hungry when I limit my portions of low glycemic food.
Oh, I'll continue on. Not giving up. This is for life. Just trying to figure out how to get out of this rut. I'd like to reach 199 by my birthday (May 20th).
Any info and or knowledge is immensely appreciated!
Thanks all!
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38 Replies
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I'd like to add that I started at 15 to 20 minutes of walking, three days per week. Now I'm up to 50 minutes, mostly five days per week.
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What are you actually eating? Look into the Clean Eating "diet" and try to stay away from processed foods. Also increase water intake and try not to eat at least 2 hours before going to bed. Those are my best suggestions.
Typically in the beginning water weight comes off easily and you see big reductions in short time frames. This is the weight that will fluctuate the most. Now starts the hard part of actually getting off body fat. Are you getting your heart rate up while you walk?
But most of all diet comes into play.
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Hi Jolene, actually walking is considered an all over body workout because you will actually engage your legs, hips, back and core for support, sometimes your arms will sway and you have to keep your balance. Great for you for going from 15-20 up to 50! That's awesome! My advice would be to not look at the scale. You'll most likely see a change in your clothes in no time. If you stress about the actual weight you may release cortisol instead and your body goes into stress mode-holding onto weight. Try to walk to find your peace and be healthy. If that means a healthy 213 lb. you, than so be it. Once you start accepting and loving yourself for you, the lbs. won't seem to matter and it will melt off in no time. You've got to be consistent and don't give up so that you will see change. Good luck!
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Hello Jolene! Great job thus far…. As you said focusing on the scale cam be quite discouraging. I too am back on a weight loss and healthy living journey. I agree with ChemGoddess, try eating lots of vegetables and ffruits. And don't lay down on your food. I would say within 3 hours. Also, you could be developing leg muscles. Most importantly, 199 within 4 weeks is a 14 pound loss…..seems overly ambitious. Yet it is doable but not healthily. I don't want you to be disappointed. 2 pounds per week would be an 8 pound loss and you would be at 205 reaching 199 only a little over two weeks later. I wish you the best!
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Hello Jolene! Great job thus far…. As you said focusing on the scale cam be quite discouraging. I too am back on a weight loss and healthy living journey. I agree with ChemGoddess, try eating lots of vegetables and ffruits. And don't lay down on your food. I would say within 3 hours. Also, you could be developing leg muscles. Most importantly, 199 within 4 weeks is a 14 pound loss…..seems overly ambitious. Yet it is doable but not healthily. I don't want you to be disappointed. 2 pounds per week would be an 8 pound loss and you would be at 205 reaching 199 only a little over two weeks later. I wish you the best!
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Agreed that you should not focus as hard on the number on the scale. It is good to track, but don't let it be your only indication of your fitness level and body image. Hydration level has so much to do with your weight on any given date, as does your hormonal cycle. As long as you are seeing a downward trend over the long term, then you are on the right track.
Personally, I'm 5-10 lbs heavier than my "ideal" weight, but I also have more shoulder and back muscles than I've ever had in my life. I could easily have put 5 lbs on back there over the time I've been poling. If you are new to exercise, you will be building muscles too, and you want to make sure you eat enough protein to support that.
I've gone through periods of counting calories and tracking everything that goes in and out of my body with precision, usually followed by holidays and emotional pig out sessions which make me feel like a hopeless failure. At least for me, the overly scientific approach to diet and fitness is too rigid. I can be a perfectionist and if I don't get something exactly right, it is really disheartening. It works for some personality types though, so I still recommend it to people if they can handle the discipline aspect.
When I go grocery shopping, I always make sure to fill my cart up with whole foods. Not the store, but the concept. 🙂 I stick to the outer corners (produce, dairy, meat, fish) and avoid the center aisles as much as I can. It's honestly difficult to get too heavy when you're mostly eating vegetables, lean protein, low fat dairy and small portions of whole grains. I sometimes count calories for a few days at a time just to re-acquaint myself with proper portion sizes, but that's it. This also supports the idea of eating healthy as a lifestyle decision as opposed to a short term project for weight loss. I was very pleased to see you made that distinction as well. I'm happy for you and you should be too! 🙂
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I have always had an extensive knowledge of exercise and nutrition, it's just that putting it into practice has been a yo-yo my entire life. I learned a few months ago that being fit is very much about how we see ourselves, and how we eat reflects what we believe we're -worth-. The worth concept -really- clicked for me. I discovered that I was trying to find joy through eating, and it can't be done. I LOVE carbs and fatty food! It is a happy feeling for a moment, but then you get to wear the effects! Depressing in the long run, and not who I want to be.
I need to state that I STAY AWAY from processed foods as much as I can now, really most things that come in a wrapper. I love peppers with hummus, for example. I snack as healthfully as I can, but maybe I'm enjoying too much chocolate recently :/
I have indeed noticed increased definition in my legs from all of the walking, plus I have the treadmill set at a 1% incline so I'm sure that helps. I am sort of wowed by my legs now. Even my husband, when he wraps his arms around me, is consistently commenting on how much more "skinny" I'm feeling all the time.
It's just my jeans, and that damn scale. My bigger jeans are getting big on me, don't get me wrong. I pretty much walk right out of them these days, and I'm CONSTANTLY pulling them up. But I'm at this in-between place now where I'm still not fitting back into my old jeans. I want them to fit! Now!
I guess it is all in my head. I feel like I'm doing enough that I should be losing pounds at a steady rate, with no obstructions. That's not reality I suppose.
Rain and Ninja, you make great points when you say to stay away from the scale in this process. It's so hard to stay away from it when I want to see progress! I should ask my husband to tuck it away some where and then bring it out two months from now?
Chem, I actually do practice not eating within to hours before going to bed, but I probably need to become a Nazi about it because on occasion I will have a snack then.
Angel, you're right. I need to just keep going and loving myself the way I am. The pounds will melt off in time, no rush, right? I'm not in a race.
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Hi Jolenebell, Keep in mind that body weight on the scale can fluctuate anywhere from 2 to 5 pounds. I always tell clients to focus on how they feel (do you have more energy etc) and how their clothes fit, NOT the scale. Keep at the walking! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_flower.gif
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Think of it like the stock market. You care about the long term trend line, not the daily fluctuations. 🙂
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If you are not losing weight, then go back to the diet? What is your calorie level? Are you weighing and tracking all you eat?
You can still gain and maintain weight eating "healthy foods".
Also I find many online programs like Myfitnesspal, to be very inaccurate for tracking calories, lables can be wrong and people can make mistakes.
Walking is very under-rated, Its a great way to exercise so dont let that discorage you, though it generally only burns about 95 cals per mile, so take that into consideration when thinking of how much cals out you have.
At 213, if your calorie level is correct, then you should be losing fine.
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I have been working on loosing weight for the last year. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ has been great for a free website with tons of information and great tools for counting calories and exercise.
Also, I have plateaued for 6 months as far as the scale goes, but I have gotten to smaller pants sizes, which is what I really want. I can understand the frustration, but think of it as learning new habits, and eventually it will come off. I know its not as fast as you want, but it never is.
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I have many issues with MFP, the first being that it likes to set every single person who wants to lose weight on a 1200 calorie diet. It did this to me and to a friend of mine who at 5'8 and 300 pounds, definitely should not have ben on the same eating plan..
Second, it tells people to "eat back" the calories they burn from exercise, this is very evident on their forums as well.
Third, a lot of the info for the foods is just plain wrong. With people putting their own info in, there is a lot of room for errors. Some people just put what is on the label, some people are measuring incorrectly, some people just put in crazy numbers. It can be a crap shoot of if the numbers are actually correct.
I have found the most accurate way of tracking is to weigh everything using a digital scale and use good ole pen and paper.
If you have plateaued for 6 months, then its time to look at what is not working, cause thats not a plateau, thats a complete stopping point. From their you look at the way you have been tracking foods, and if you are using MFP, your count may be off. Go back weigh and measure everything, dont rely on MFP and see what you get, Chances are its not what you think. I see this ALL the time!
From there, if your cals are higher than you thought, then try dropping 100 – 200 cals and see if that gets the weight dropping, if not then bring cals up for a couple of weeks, take a deload week on training, and then start dropping cals again.
Again, if you are in the right calorie deficit, then you should be losing. If you are not losing, then you are not in a deficit and you first look at your diet.
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Best advice I ever got (I've lost 90 lbs and kept it off for 2 years so far) is that weight loss happens in the kitchen, not the gym. Not saying that exercise isn't important (it is) but if you aren't being really mindful of your portions (I weighed and measured mine to be sure) you might be eating more than you think. Try to look at exercise and a bonus to boost your efforts and to tone your every-shrinking body… I once read that to lose 2 lbs a week while eating the same amount of food you need to maintain your current weight would take running approx 10 miles per day, 7 days a week!
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Sorry for all the misspellings…just got home from pole class and I'm wiped out! 🙂
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portableninja — "I've gone through periods of counting calories and tracking everything that goes in and out of my body with precision, usually followed by holidays and emotional pig out sessions which make me feel like a hopeless failure. At least for me, the overly scientific approach to diet and fitness is too rigid. I can be a perfectionist and if I don't get something exactly right, it is really disheartening."
I AM THE SAME WAY! I get so fed up with counting and tracking. I got on a site called SparkPeople when I was back in college and stuck with the counting/tracking for a long time, blogging regularly, weighing in regularly… and then it just got boring and tedious. Tracking every bite was such a chore, especially since each item in a meal has to be tracked separately (I can't just write "Turkey Sandwich," it's 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 2 tsp. mayo, 1 slice cheese, 2 oz turkey…).
I'm a words person, not a numbers person. I'm starting on a new health plan myself right now and what I did last night was simply write down what I ate at each meal in my journal. No measurements, no calorie counts, nothing quantitative, just qualitative descriptions. And for the past three months I've been tracking my different types of workouts – pole, yoga, and strength/aerobics, each on its own page – by noting the date, how long I exercised, the perceived diffculty (low, moderate, heavy, intense) and notes on what I did or observed during that workout.
To me, the point of tracking is accountability more than math, and tracking in this qualitative way is definitely easier to fit into my lifestyle and to wrap my head around than simply punching in numbers and budgeting calories.
My big challenge is meal planning. Whenever I fall off that wagon, things go to hell. It becomes all convenience foods and last-minute, what-do-we-have-in-the-house meals and eating a pile of snacks instead of dinner. Ugh. So that would be my advice to anyone trying to slim down: plan ahead and save yourself from taking the lazy way out.
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I’m going to repeat what everyone else said about the scale – ditch it. My scale just told me I gained 6lbs but my pants told me I dropped a size. If your current pants are big you’re doing something right.
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I wouldn't ditch it… by the time your current pants don't fit you've probably gained 10+ lbs already. That said, don't obsess over it either, it's normal for weight to fluctuate for a lot of reasons (for me, I can be up 2-3 lbs one day if I ate Chinese food, but it's gone the next, and so on). I weigh once a week, same time and day, and just keep my eyes peeled for trends. I don't freak out if I'm up a bit one week, but if I'm up the next week, and the next… well, then, something is up and I can adjust before it gets out of hand.
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As far as MFP goes, I don't eat 1200 calories a day. I calculated my TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and I am eating at a 20% deficit. I eat almost 1600 calories a day and if I need more on my days I work out, I do. If you don't eat enough you wont gain muscle, and I think everyone who poles wants to be strong.
If you want to calculate your TDEE this site is one of the best: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
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You wont build muscle on 1600 cals a day, it just wont happen.
When you diet, your body downregulates your metabolism in response to the lowered energy coming in, or it engages in a little recycling, which is how people can lose lean mass as well as fat. Your body literally slows down your metabolism to a point and stops any unneccesary bodily process (building muscle). Eating too little cals or incorrect macros, can cause the body to break down muscle tissue. So other than those who are just beginning in their workouts (aka newbie gains) your body is not designed to build muscle while it is not getting sufficent calories to do so.
Many people incorporate a 'refeed' each week to negate the downregulation and re-set hormones such as leptin (which controls hunger), T3 and others so that we can continue to burn fat.(often times called a cheat meal or sometimes a free meal)
Lyle McDonald has a lot of information on these processes in his books and on his site- 'A guide to flexible dieting' is a good one if you're interested. He backs his reasoning with real science, very informative and great reading to understand the processes of the body.
If you are dieting, then you dont "eat back" the calories that you burned through exercise. This takes your 20% deficit and makes it more like a 5% deficit. You should be eating the same amount of calories each day, no matter the workout. The workout doesnt make you lose fat, it helps expend calories to make the deficit bigger. You lose weight by being in the correct calorie deficit, not from working out. That 20% and TDEE should take into consideration how much work you are doing each day, so there is no need to eat extra cals or to eat back the calories.
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I think there are tons of opposing opinions out there, with science to back it up. This is working for me. I eat clean and tons of protein and good fats. Everyone is different. I was just trying to give some advice that has led me to successes. I was 220 pounds and now I am 160…
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You must understand, taining an untrained and overweight individual and getting them to lose weight is quite easy. Its not that complicated. You get in a calorie deficit, you move your body, and then you lose weight.
If you are not losing weight, then you are no longer in a cal deficit.
Eating clean doesnt mean you will automatically lose weight. You can gain weight eating clean as well, if you are eating more than you expand. Also, eating clean is a marketing ploy. There is no real definition of what eating clean means. Ask 10 different people and everyone of them will give you a different answer. While i agree that for health we should limit processed foods, eat lots of fruits and veggies, get good cources of proteins and fats in, its not the reason you lose weight.
If it were, then how did people los weight before clean eating came around?? why can people lose weight eating only potatoes or junk foods?? Because they are under their calories.
I dont think there are tons of opposing sciences out there for weight loss. The body only works a certain way, and barring any abnormal medical issue, the body will continue to only work a certain way. Metabolism is metabolism no matter what animal you are looking at (human or otherwise) the body only breaks down proteins, fats and carbs, and transforms it into ATP, the body only makes certain hormones and applies them in certain ways.
While everyone is different in their structure and genetic makeup, their muscle shape and attachments, no ones body is different in the way we break down foods and use it to fuel the body. We are not all that special or all that different from any other animal on the planet in that regards.
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Thanks for the info.
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I think what Lucille meant is not that there are opposing approaches to the scientific study of weight loss and metabolism, but that there are different philosophies to the same basic layman's approach – eat less (but well) and do more.
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No, most "diets" are the same concept repackaged to get people to buy into a "quick fix" and make tons of money. All diets are eat less, move more… they just change one thing to make is sound "new" and "different". From The Zone, Atkins, South Beach, weight watchers, jenny craig, keto, paleo, curves, HCG, blood type. low fat no fat, low carb no carb….. the message is the same Eat less, move more….
The difference is that they spread misinformation, people latch on to this as "it worked for me so thats how it works, you must only eat clean, no carbs, no fat, take a pill, only eat the foods they tell you"
They all work to a point because the basic concept is "eat less move more" except they dont teach you how to eat healthy for life. They dont teach you how to make meal plans (as someone else said they were struggling with), they dont teach portions they dont teach calorie control or awarness.
It takes work to lose weight, the underlyiing concept is simple, but yes you have to track foods, be aware of what you are eating, think about how to cook it and what you can make. It is work to be healthy and to lose weight…. there are no quick fixes that these diets promise and that is why people will gain weight after they stop doing the diet. They eat more and move less….. it didnt become a lifestyle, it became something they did or were on.
So really there is no "opposing approaches" it is all eat less move more, just different ways of making money for the "inventors: of the latest movement.
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@abcollins1 I completely understand what you are saying, and not disagreeing with you. I actually think we are trying to say the same things. I don't spend money on any dieting sites. I count my calories and try to get the most bang for my buck, ie protein to keep me full. I eat things I want but balance them out. Its not a diet, but I didn't learn proper nutrition growing up, so its a learning experience. And, like I said, it has worked for me. I think you have extremely valuable points and anyone looking for a quick fix will gain more weight back and have less money in their pocket.
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