I lost ZERO pounds in a year..GRRRRRRRR

R

rkwfxd@mac.com

Guest
Help! I am so fat I am going to die early. I am 42 yrs old, 5-8 and 285 freaking pounds. Seventeen years ago when I met my wife I was 172 so I know there is a thin healthy guy inside me somewhere. Last year at this time I was 285 and made a dedicated commitment to lose weight. My work schedule was from 630 am to 5 pm four days a week. I did that on purpose so I could motivate myself to go to the gym every day after work and hit the treadmill in stead of sitting in traffic.

I started off trying to walk/jog but it was too hard on my lower legs. After some experimentation I settled on walking on on the treadmill at 2.7 mph for one hour every day after work. I can talk the entire time but I am soaking wet with sweat when I finish, my heart is beating pretty good, and I feel like I got a good workout. I did this religiously for a year. I wrote it down. I have witnesses. They see how much I'm sweating and working and can not believe that I have not lost even one stinking pound.

For a few weeks I tried to break it up, shock my body, do something different, whatever and added low weight/high rep weight training to the mix. Same results.

On my days off I go for walks with the wife and kids, ride my bike around the neighborhood, wash my own car, mow my own lawn....no major intense sports or training but I am moving around.

These long hours at work/gym have put a strain on my home life as my son in mentally retarded. My wife is very supportive but she needs help with the boy. Starting next week I will be working five days a week instead of four but fewer hours and getting home early to help with the kids. This means I'll be working out at home. I have a treadmill that is slowly dying, a step for step arobics and a nice set of powerblocks (dumb bells).

In the past I have had limited and temporary sucess with Atkins and WW but nothing permanent. Besided, I am trying to change my life.

So that this post doesnt get too negative....at least I did not GAIN any weight this past year and I do feel better.

Also....kids, teens and youg adults..take note of this post. I was a highschool wrestler and football player. In my 20s I used to get up early and run 3-4 miles before work and bike 18-20 after work. My average weight gain was only 6-7 pounds per year. It doesn't seem like much but clearly it adds up. If I could go back I would take each pound gained VERY seriously and burn it off imediately as I think it would probably be much easier to lose 1 or 2 pounds than over 100.

So are there any experts out there who can point out my errors, give some good advise and get me going in the right direction. If I could lose as little as 1/2 pound a week over the next year I would do about 30 pounds better than I did this year. Heck, if I could keep that up by the time I'm 45 I would be thin and heathly again.

Thanks
 
Post you're diet...

exercise is 20 percent of the equation, the rest is diet.

You can exercise till you're blue in the face, if you don't eat right, you're not going to get results.
 
aevans410 said:
Post you're diet...

exercise is 20 percent of the equation, the rest is diet.

You can exercise till you're blue in the face, if you don't eat right, you're not going to get results.
Click to expand...
Right on....
 
aevans410 said:
Post you're diet...

exercise is 20 percent of the equation, the rest is diet.

You can exercise till you're blue in the face, if you don't eat right, you're not going to get results.
Click to expand...

I agree, but call bs. Either you are over exaggerating what you did for exercise or your diet is totally terrible.
 
aevans410 said:
Post you're diet...

exercise is 20 percent of the equation, the rest is diet.

You can exercise till you're blue in the face, if you don't eat right, you're not going to get results.
Click to expand...

Why is exercise 20 and diet 80% of the equation when it comes to losing weight?
 
You can't really put numbers on it, but in order to lost weight you have to create a caloric deflict if you eat 1500cals over your BMR per day you would have to burn 1500cals in excercise a day just to maintain your weight.

Lost weight is one part of "Weight Management".
 
I totally agree with the previous postings as to diet. What do you eat? Pls respond. There may be something wrong with the food!
 
its just a number that I read emphasizing nutritions importance.

Eat like crap, over eat, then exercise all you want.

95 percent of the time, you will NOT lose weight.

you MAY burn 300-600 calories during a cardio session, same with a weight session, your metabolism is up.

I guarantee that if a 200 lb person eats 3500 calories a day and exercises regularly (NOT including body builders who are bulking) they will not lose weight. They aren't burning enough calories to lose.

Guess what, you CAN lose weight without exercising. Its not a good idea, but it can be done.

Diet is the factor that does it. Exercise helps.
 
Last edited:
I think I am using a 50 – 50 approach (I thought that burning and eating calories are equally important; the whole balance thing – burn more than you eat).

Most of my days I eat around 2,000 calories, and burn around 3,000. If I feel like eating more, I workout harder/longer (I try to create a daily 1,000 cal deficiency).

I am losing weight steady and don't deprive myself or stressing out over what I eat.

Is what I am doing wrong?
 
no, you're dead on right, because you still eat sensibly.

when I say 80 percent diet, 20 percent exercise, its emphasizing the DIET part.

You are creating a 1000 calorie deficit per day, thats good, healthy weight loss.

The point I'm making is you can exercise religiously, but if all you eat is junk food, its doing you no good.

On your program, you are doing just fine, keep it up :)
 
My whole diet is based on burning more calories than I eat, no matter how many calories I eat. And, it works just fine

Yesterday I ate a little over 2,500 and burned around 3,300. I know my diet is not very healthy but I am losing weight.

Breakfast
1 cup of coffee with half and half
1 bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles

Snack
1 cup of coffee with half and half
1 glass of orange juice

Lunch
Couple of brownies
Glass of water

Snack
Snickers bar
Toll house Cookie bar

Dinner
Filet Mignon
Broccoli
A few small potatoes
Glass of water

Snack
Can of Coke
Potato Chips (about 2 servings)
 
Different things work for different people, there are a lot of factors.

The diet you use would not work at all for me, my metabolism is very slow. People with fast metabolisms can get away with that.

Its just depends really.
 
Solafide55...I take exception to your "BS" remark. If you had read my post you would have seen that I specifically mentioned that I wrote down my workouts and I had witnesses. I have not lied about my physical activity. Otherwise what would be the point of posting?

As for the rest of you....thank you for the quick replies and information. Clearly my diet is the problem. I have been focused soley on exercise. I have been under the belief that with enough exercise the diet was not nearly as important and have made all of typical mistakes, no breakfast, quick lunch and heavy late dinner. Iv'e "justified" dessert with the workout but that needs to stop also.

What I am hearing is that I need to continue the exercise but use a calorie counter and focus on my food intake, count calories/fat etc.....maybe forget about writing down the exercise and start writing down the food I eat.
 
A Calorie is not a calorie thou and if you lose weight too fast your bound to be losing muscle. Many people make that mistake, not trying to discredit anyone's efforts and/or progress but that's the facts.

You need a decent weight training routine also.

aevans410, 80/20 is a good way to get it across i guess, 90/10, 70/30 but its the sum of the parts you need both to do it optimally. That's what i was trying to say and i'm sure you understand what i was trying to say. :)
 
hmm im 16 and that is an eye opener,i think that you need to get a bit more nutrision into your diet and try to eat a bit more fruit and veg, and yes it is a shame that you havent lost anything but look at the positive you seem to have a very caring family with a great son ... you are lucky !!! take out the negitives and look into the futurenot the past (thats already gone) and dont take for granted what you do have !!! you will make it ... good luck
 
WillandJill said:
My whole diet is based on burning more calories than I eat, no matter how many calories I eat. And, it works just fine

Yesterday I ate a little over 2,500 and burned around 3,300. I know my diet is not very healthy but I am losing weight.

Breakfast
1 cup of coffee with half and half
1 bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles

Snack
1 cup of coffee with half and half
1 glass of orange juice

Lunch
Couple of brownies
Glass of water

Snack
Snickers bar
Toll house Cookie bar

Dinner
Filet Mignon
Broccoli
A few small potatoes
Glass of water

Snack
Can of Coke
Potato Chips (about 2 servings)
Click to expand...

That's a pretty terrible diet, not only from a weight loss point of view but from a health point of view. If you're loosing weight on this diet you're loosing muscle, not fat. You really need to eat better or you'll find yourself in a worse position couple of months down the road. I don't mean to discourage you, but since you're already working at it might as well do it right
 
WillandJill, out of those 3000 calories or whatever you said, you're getting around 40g of protein.. MAYBE!! You may be losing some fat on this diet, but Incitatus is right, your probably losing muscle also.. Even when I bulk, I don't eat that much junk..

rkwfxd, I think you're serious about this, which is very good. Along with cutting calories, I think you should know that you kinda have it backwards, the majority of you Kcal should be at the begining of the day, not at night. Breakfast should be your largest meal, tappering as the day progresses. Allen is right, 80/20. You CAN lose weight without exercise, but you CAN'T lose weight without a healthy diet. If you do both, you should notice good results within a month or two, which you'll probably love, and it'll keep you motivated. Kick your butt, and we'll be here to guide you..
 
Ive already made a number of the changes you all have mentioned and yes I am very serious. I am only looking to lose about 1/2 pound a week. I know this doesnt sound like much but I think it is VERY attainable and my ultimate goal is to continue to lose for the next few years and keep it off for ever. I did not get fat over night so I can not expect to get thin in a month. I have started to take a couple of hard boiled eggs (no yokes) and fruit to work which I eat in the morning So I am not as hungry in the late afternoon / evening.

Thank you all for the encouragement and advise.
 
newf said:
A Calorie is not a calorie thou
Click to expand...

Why does everybody think that a calorie (a simple unit of energy) is not a calorie? Maybe W. Willett, a Harvard Professor and author, can help explain.

“A calorie is a calorie is a calorie

We eat food for two basic reasons, energy and chemical building blocks. The amount of energy a particular food can deliver to mitochondria is measured in calories. Technically, a food calorie is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of a liter of water from 14.5 C to 15.5 C. Practically, a food calorie is the amount of energy a 150-pound person burns each minute while sleeping.
If you read diet books or keep up with health and nutrition news, you’ve probably heard a lot about “fat calories” or “carbohydrate calories.” The idea that fat calories are different from carbohydrate calories came from studies done under extreme conditions, such as consuming pure carbohydrate, protein, or fat. In these situations, the body converts dietary fat to body fat a bit more efficiently than it does carbohydrate or protein.
In a normal diet, though, your body converts all three to fat at the same rate. Like a kiss or a rose, a calorie is a calorie. So five hundred calories from ice cream, five hundred from red meat, and five hundred from pasta will have similar effects on your weight.
This calorie blindness is the result of a neat solution to a vexing problem faced by some of earth’s early inhabitants – how to run a body on different fuels. Instead of having completely different intracellular systems for fats, carbohydrates, protein, and alcohol, the cells in your body use the same energy source.
Much of what your eat is, or can be if needed, converted to the energy coin of the realm, a six-carbon sugar called glucose. When you eat, some of the glucose dumped into your bloodstream is used immediately by your cells. Some is linked into long chains called glycogen, and stored in your muscles and liver. Any leftovers are converted to fat and squirreled away in special fat storage cells and padded in between muscles. If glucose is like cash in your pocket, ready to be spent when needed, glycogen is money in the bank, available with a bit of effort, and fat is money tied up in stocks or mutual funds.”
- Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, W. C. Willett
 
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