Damn it, why can't I lose weight?

The BBQ Pit
1

Since getting married I’ve gained 2.5 inches to my waist and about 10 extra pounds. I was already 5 to 10 lbs over weight before…now I’m just gross.

I’m 5’5", 180 lbs, 34.5 inch waist.

I want to get down to at least 160 or 165, but just can’t seem to lose it. I’ve started eating much healthier (about 3 times as many vegatables as previously), cut down beer to 1 or 2 a week, cut down food portions, do cardio in my target heart range, and lift weights at least 3 times a week. But I’m not losing a single pound!

I love my ice cream…but even that I cut down to less then a cup when I used to have a whole bowl.

2

Don’t forget that looking slimmer does not necessarily mean being lighter, if youre hitting the weights hard enough to put on muscle

3

Keep a food and activity diary. One like www.fitday.com is really good.

You might find you are eating more or burning less calories then you think.

Also, you should go to the doctor and get a check up just to make sure their aren’t any physical problems.

4

Grammer police! There not their. I know that. Please don’t yell at me.

5

With the weightlifting, you are burning fat and replacing it with muscle, which is heavier. My guess is that your waist will shrink even if your weight does not. I also recommend my foolproof way to lose unwanted pounds. Burn more calories than you take in.

6

I can understand if I wasn’t getting down to my target…but I’m not losing anything! If not poundage…you’d think I’d at least lose some waist inches.

I had a recent check up and everthing is clear…even my cholesterol is exceptional.

7

About your cardio - for how long are you keeping your heart rate elevated? In my experience, results are seen only if you maintain your elevated heart rate for at least thirty minutes. Do not start counting the minutes of elevated heart rate until your heart rate is actually elevated. In other words, if your total cardio workout is twenty minutes, odd are your heart rate’s only elevated for fifteen minutes.

8

Ummm, “grammar,” not “grammer.” :wink: (Please don’t get upset.)

The Spelling Police

9

I’m not going to give you advice. I figure that’s probably NOT what you were after. Besides, everyone else will give you the little nugget that worked for them.

I just want to sympathize. Eating healthy, losing weight and living an active life is HARD. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of discipline, and you’ve really got to want to do it.

And some days that’s just more than you can handle.

Keep your chin up. Be smart about what you eat and do, and have patience with yourself. I know exactly what it’s like. IT SUCKS!

-scout, who lost 26 pounds and has kept it off almost 6 years

10

metroshane, maybe you should check out the SDMB Weight Loss Club, Part Deux thread. Can’t remember if it’s MPSIMS or IMHO, but it’s there.

I will recommend reading Dr. Atkin’s book (New Diet Revolution). But that’s just because it’s working for me.

11

I do cardio for 28-45 minutes…to the person that asked.

12

Do you have someone who can take a picture of you in your workout clothes or bathing suit once a month? I remember when I first started working out I also thought nothing was happening. At the end of the first month I compared pictures and saw I was actually losing a lot of fat in places I wasn’t even aware I had it. Over the knees, armpits, shoulders, etc. Weight loss happens slow, and it happens all over your body, not just your waist. What usually happens for me is I lose some of the random fat, then my body takes a few weeks to redistribute, then I lose a little more, a few redistributing weeks, etc. The pictures really really help convince me that yes, something is actually happening and to stick with it.

PS…I don’t own a scale so how I look and feel is all I have to go by.

13

Isn’t that some kind of law? I can’t ever seem to win. :slight_smile:

14

It sounds to me like you’re doing everything right.

You have chosen to take the hard and correct road rather than the fast, easy and wrong road.

I admire your resolve and effort, but don’t lose heart. I’m a fitness nut and I’ve helped a lot of people lose weight. If anything, you might expect to gain a pound or two for the first month or two on the regimen you are on.

Be advised that while you look in the mirror or on the scale you may be frustrated, but there are inded major changes goin on with you.

Your heart is getting stronger, blood vessels are expanding, cholesterol is going down, and your body is shifting things around underneath that layer of fat you want to get rid of it.

The new muscle you are adding will burn more calories, your workouts will intensify, also burning more calories.

The new you is growing under that flab like a butterfly in a coccoon.

Somewhere down the road, if you keep the faith, you will look in the mirror, and you will see the shadows of that new person. Slowly the fat will seem to sink into your body, and perhaps a year from now you will look back at pictures of yourself, and you won’t beleieve it’s possible that that was ever actually you.

The hardest part is where it seems like your failing. You’re not. You are making the fastest and the best progress you ever will. It just doesn’t show on the outside yet. Once your foundation is well laid it will.

I promise.

Feel free to email me or post if I can help.

You’re in the toughest spot. Congratulations. Getting there isn’t easy. It gets easier from here. I feel for you up there on the summit of despair and unrewarded effort. Don’t let your frustration interfere with the great things you’ve done. Don’t get down on yourself. Keep pushing. Keep doing the same thing you’re doing.

The hard road ain’t the easy one. You’re smart and wise to take it though.

15

I was struggling for about a year to lose wieght - I cut out fast food and booze, cut down on the amounts of food I was eating, and started running every morning. After about 10 months of that, I had lost zero pounds, and my clothes fit the same as they had when I started. Then I cut out carbs like potatoes, rice, bread and pasta (not Atkins - I still ate carbs like fruits, milk, and veggies, and I didn’t eat high-fat protiens) and I started losing about a pound or two a week. I couldn’t believe the difference.

16

Also, all that stuff Scylla said - good for you, metroshane!

17

Scylla, what would be the fast, easy, and wrong road?

If you refer to weight-loss surgery, I have to disagree. I know there are people who can not lose weight the ‘right’ way as I have, and require surgery.

18

Thanks Scylla, and everyone else.

19

I was thinking more about starvation and fad diets. And yes, in an otherwise healthy person it is my personal, unsupportable, unprofessional, but I believe well-reasoned opinion that weight loss surgery is the wrong road.

20

First, you succesfully put the brakes on GAINING weight. Keep with it and you’ll begin to LOSE weight.

Highly suggest you count your calories.

A small person like you needs about 1700-1800 cals per day to maintain their body weight.