Why can I not lose as fast as others seem to be?

T

Tracy740

New member
Ok so now I am frustrated.....:rant:

I have dropped 59 pounds overall, with 15 of those in the last 2 months. (44 of those took over a year with me stopping and starting over and over again) Then I see other women that have lost like 30 pounds in 5 weeks???? Why is my body not doing that?

I am eating correctly, I am exercising 6 days a week for 1 hr each time keeping my HR up in the fat burning zone for almost the entire time. I am lifting weights, I am cardio training plus we switch the work out up to "confuse" my muscles, plus I box and kickbox and still I am puttering around with the weightloss 1 week losing and the next week not. So what the hell gives?

What is it that I am doing wrong? I do have PCOS but I find that to be a piss poor excuse.

I know my trainer is frustrated with me even though you can definatly tell that I have lost and I have become alot more toned, my belly is slowly disappearing I have dropped from a 22 to a 16 in pants.............. Why is it so slow, why is it that some women are dropping fricking weight so fast then here is Tracy slow as ever..........................

What is missing from this puzzle??????
 
Well most others are going to ask you for some more info. What exactly are you eating. How tall are you.. how old are you how much do you weigh, Other activity you do other then working out.

Everyone is different. I have lost about 11 pounds in the last 2 months. My diet could be stricter but i'd rather have a meal plan I know I can live with for the rest of my life then fall off the wagon from being to strict. I also tend to stay at the same weight for 1-2 weeks then drop a couple pounds.. wish it was an even drop each week like some others.. but I'll take what I can get :p

The women who drop 30 pounds in 5 weeks are either very heavy when they started... having 5 REALLY lucky weeks.. or losing in an unhealthy way.

You are losing weight, and your doing it the right way from the sounds of it. Just stick with it.
 
Good points:

I am 39 female 5'8" tall and currently weigh 213#'s. Started at 272

Food diary: (this is a typical day):

Oatmeal, with 1/2 cup 2% milk with fruit usually blueberries 1/2 cup or 1/2 a banana. Sometimes coffee (though I have pretty much cut the coffee out)

Snack (2 hours later) a whey protien shake made with normally 2% and occasionally just water.

lunch - Tuna fish with 1 t of fat free mayo and mustard on 1 peice of sara lee whole grain bread and a salad with Red wine vinigar (no oil). Ice tea.

Snack - Cheese stick (the low fat mozzerella string cheese) with blueberries or raspberries 1/2 cup. Or Almonds (22 almonds is = to 1 serving)

Sometimes I have another snack before I work out because dinner dosent happen most nights until 7:30 to 8:00pm That snack is usually almonds (22 almonds) or a 90 calorie special K bar.

Dinner - 1 small chicken boob with 1/2 cup of brown rice and a veggie normally green beans or a salad sometimes both greenbeans and a salad.

Of course lots of water. I cut out over a year ago any soda pop. I stopped using butter very rarely use margerine. I on occasion will still use a creamy salad dressing, but it is always on the side and I dip my fork then stab the lettuce so a tablespoon goes along way. I do not eat out. No ice cream as my stomach can no longer tolerate it, I will have a suger free fat free fudge ciccle when I get the urge. No alcohol at all. Oh but I do drink either a diet red bull or a diet go fast energy drink a couple times a week.

I have to be missing something, maybe I am not eating enough or not the right combo of things?

Workouts

Monday - 1 to 1.5 hours of Plyometrics(P 90 X) or similar.
Tue - 1 hour kickboxing class/core exercise
Wed - 1 to 1.5 hours of intervals(cardio, weights, cardio, weights, cardio, weights and ending with cardio) or a workout called Rockbody P90X or similar.
Thur - 1 hour boxing class/core exercise
Friday - Same as Monday or Wed.
Sat - Kickboxing class/ core exercises.
Sunday - Day off.

Should I step it up and run in the mornings?

Thanks for you input.
 
I am not talking the 44 pounds before(when I started and stopped)

I am talking the 15 pounds since April 6th.

I have not missed one day of workouts since I started this April 6th and I do not plan on it. So I am no longer starting and stopping.

Tracy
 
Are you doing the same thing ALL the time? You need to alternate the things you eat & your workouts else they will slow down and down and down. Keep tricking your body, I always say that it's trying to beat you and get to know what your doing. Keep tricking it and changing things you do.

Keep up the great work by the way.

Dan
 
Cut the nuts!

I would suggest cutting out the almonds - 22 is a lot for someone on a weight loss plan.... well, for anyone I guess. It's a lot of fat, even though it's good fat, and it's a lot of calories that wouldn't leave me feeling very satisfied. I would switch it for a hard boiled egg and an apple, or something like that.

Keep in mind that just because you aren't losing weight, it doesn't mean you aren't losing fat. You work out and eat well, and it's just going to take time. Your body is probably in a state of recomposition.... fat is moving and melting, new muscles are growing and tightening, your metabolism is probably gathering speed.... just keep mixing up the work outs, and maybe find a personal trainer that can do a BMI test once per month with calipers, or use measurements yourself, at home. That way you will know if your body fat is being reduced overall, regardless of what's going on with the scale.
 
Get a new trainer.. you are doing great as is and no one needs to feel they are doing the wrong thing because some trainer is frustrated.. sheez!

I would also suggest mixing up the food a bit, have one day of higher cals, one of lower etc.

What is your caloric range now? According to online calculators you should be eating about... 1800 cals per day at your activity level.

I wouldn't worry about the almond s myself.. they are a great source of good fats (and we should be aiming for 30% of our daily intake to be good fats) and other essential nutrients... but 22 of them is 154 cals so make sure it does fit into your daily budget of calories.

And most of all.. stop comparing yourself to others!!! We are all different, and it is a personal journey we are all on, I know it might be frustrating that others are losing quicker or whatever, but such is life.. some people are stupid and doing it wrong.. some are just bloody lucky to have good genes for losing quickly etc... it is pointless to compare yourself to anyone else.. and incredibly unprofessional of your trainer to do so as well!!! This is YOUR journey, if you are frustrated then by all means shake it up a bit..but don't let anyone else make you feel bad about not losing quickly enough!

Hang in there :) Like I said, you are doing great.. 59 pounds is fantastic!!
 
That's not bad 15 pounds in 2 months that's actually good your doing fine, i lose on average 2 pounds a week myself and have been since january and i'm down 44lbs, this past week i lost 4lbs but tha'ts prolly the most i've lost in a week, just stick to what your doing and have patience. you shouldn't be losing more than 2 to 3 pounds a week anyway. keep it up
 
Thanks for the responses.

I am actually scared to switch my diet up to much. Seriously. I eat frigging tuna fish every damn day I guess I am out of Ideas. I need to start living cuz lord knows I can not eat tuna fish for lunch for the rest of my days!! LOL!

I love my almonds. I measured the 22 that I eat and it is 1 oz. I always make sure they are within my daily budget of fat and calories. They are crunchy so I guess the crunchin and munchin makes me feel satisfied when I eat them. But I will cut back on them!!

My trainer.................................. I love him........................He is a man and he tells me some of the things that he says to his S.O. and then asks why she would get mad at some of his statements....................So all I can say is he is a typical man................ I really think he thought I would be at 180 #'s at the end of our 3 months, that is obviously not going to happen, and do not get me wrong he is happy with the progress I have made it is just that he thought since I was as heavy as I was that I would lose faster. I was working out before him for an hour everyday on the elyptical and I lost that first 40+ on my own so I thing maybe I would have lost faster had he been starting with someone that had not worked out a day in her life.

Any other suggestions please let me know I am open. I will stop comparing myself to others it is not fair to myself!! I am going to just keep pluggin' along a loss is a loss rather it is in scale weight or inches, as long as I do not start going up in weight and inches then I need to be ok with it.

I NEVER knew that this would be a full time job!! It is hard work, but will be worth it in the end. I am just worried that enough will never be enough, so once I hit my goal weight of 145 #'s, then I wonder where I will go from there (not weight wise).

Thanks again.
 
this looks like just about the right pace to me. It looks like you are working out a lot so maybe you should up your caloric intake for a few days and see what happens. Its all trial and error. Everytime I get stuck, I up my intake and it usually gets me out of the rut. Just remember to keep it clean.
 
Update!!!

So my weigh dates are on Tuesdays I weighed on the 9th and was down 5 #'s from the week before :willy_nilly: now where the hell that came from is anyones guess, but I am going to say it is because I uped my caloric intake by 500 calories and switched what I was eating. I am not expecting that at all this week. But that puts me at 210!! WOOOHOOOO:hurray: So I fully expect to be out of the 200's by my 40th B-Day July 21st!!

Next question is I have started running in the mornings as I am training for my first 1/2 marathon. So I am running in the mornings, working with my PT and/or boxing class:boxing: in the pm. I know that I will need to eat more calories once again but how many do I go? We ran 2 miles this morning and granted they are not fast miles (10 to 11 min miles right now) it rained soooo hard that we cut it short. Would it be to much to run at lunch too (on the treadmill)? This is all new to me and I want to make sure that I am doing what I need to be.

Thanks
 
congrats on your decision to give the marathon a try. Unfortunately steady state cardio doesn't help much for fat loss.

* A 1998 study that showed that the addition of 45 minutes of hard aerobic training, 5 times a week for twelve weeks - had no effect on fat loss

* A 2007 study - that showed the addition of 50 minutes of aerobic training, 5 times per week for six months - also had no effect on fat loss

The real fat burner is interval training. Instead of that 2nd ss on the treadmill go out side and run as fast as you can then rest, alternate between this and I guarantee you will be sweating more than if you just jogged 20 miles.

Are you doing the p90x as your main workout? Its a solid workout and you should get some good results with it. Just stick to it. Eating clean and resistance training is whats going to make the biggest difference.

good luck
 
Honestly, I don't think you're DOING anything wrong. It sounds like you've got a good plan to me.

What is required here is not a physical adjustment - it's a MENTAL one. :)

15lbs in 2 months is a reasonable amount of weight loss. That's an average of about 2 pounds a week, which is RIGHT EXACTLY ON TARGET for you at your current weight.

Additionally, as you've found out, sometimes the scale doesn't always accurately reflect the weight you've lost. I know that I can feel a difference in how my clothes fit well before the scale actually documents any weight loss. I am one of those people whose scale weight changes in chunks and fits, not in a steady straight line. So I can be on plan for several weeks, tell by the way my jeans fit that I'm doing ok, but the scale shows zip. Then suddenly my scale will drop 3 lbs, 5lbs, whatever. That's why I've learned that you just can't freak out about the scale. For me, I don't worry unless it's been 3 or so weeks with NO loss at all. If it's just a little here and there or it's in fits and starts, I know things are working and it will all even out.

Finally the most important thing: You cannot ... absolutely 100% cannot ... compare your loss to anyone elses. You just can't. We are all different - we all do different things, we are all at different stages in our weight loss and what happens to me this week has utterly and completely nothing to do with what might or might not go on with you. You have to focus on YOU

Sure, switching things up will often trigger a new "rush" of weight loss ... but ultimately it'll all even out. :)

And BTW, don't ditch the almonds. I get so tired of people saying "don't eat almonds if you're on a diet". Almonds are a great snack - filling, healthy, and full of necessary fats. There's no reason you can't eat almonds if you do so reasonably, as you seem to be doing.
 
Oh and one more thing:

Any trainer who tells you he's disappointed that you haven't lost 50 lbs in 3 months doesn't deserve the title of Trainer.

Seriously, WTF is the guy thinking?

To be reasonable and healthy, you should expect to lose about 1% of your bodyweight per week. For you, that means a reasonable and healthy amount of weight to lose in 3 months is somewhere between 20-25 lbs.

For any trainer to set up higher expectations than that (much less make you feel bad about not meeting those unreasonable expectation) is HUGELY unprofessional.
 
"For any trainer to set up higher expectations than that (much less make you feel bad about not meeting those unreasonable expectation) is HUGELY unprofessional."

^
This.

Any trainer like that obviously doesn't understand how the human body works. Losing anymore weight than that and its going to be a lot of muscle. Sure you'll weigh what you want, but you wont look like you want to.

It took me around 3 months to lose my initial 20 pounds.

keep stringing along and you'll do fine - don't let up on your workout or the clean eats.
 
Thank you for all of your posts. I am still using the trainer he myself and his boss all talked and his boss says I am spot on with the weight loss. I need to take a picture of myself because (even if I do say so myself) you can all of a sudden REALLY tell the difference. I has a lady that I worked with that I have not seen in almost 1 yr not recognize me!!

I lost those 5 #'s then I was up 3 #'s and that is where it stayed for 2 weeks, but my body did some major changing in those 2 weeks I lost huge off of my legs and behind I can even look in the mirror and see. Muscles in the legs all of a sudden became very defined and the amount of work that I was able to do such as running longer periods and lifting more weight really took off. So yesterday was weigh day and I am down those 3#'s that came back plus 1 pound so that puts me back at 209. I SOOOO want to be right at 200 (perferably under) by my 40th b-day(july 21) but I do not know if that is to big of an expectation. I guess time will tell!!

I am really having fun doing this. I wish I would not have waited till now. But better late then never!! So here is to eating healthy, exercise and watching our bodies change before our eyes!!

Tracy
 
Hang in there...I do believe age plays some factor(we are the same age and I'm finding the last 30 pounds or so unbelievably hard but overall I've gone from 290 ish to 175 in 18 months). What I have noticed lately is that although I seem to lose weight very slowly--maybe a lb or 2 a month, I can see in pictures the toning going on overall. My mid section in particular is starting to really tighten up and my arms and shoulders look pretty darn good. I think progress can be measured in a lot of different ways and btw, I was told the same thing about the calories. I workout about 15 hours a week and have to make sure to keep my calories UP so I don't stall out. What happens with me is I seem to lose about 3 lbs one month and then I keep going back and forth between that new point and gaining the 3 back and then down again and then finally I lose another 3 from that point and the cycle continues...frustrating. I'll be 40 in January and had hoped to be maintaining by then and working furiously on toning even more, but I'm not sure if I can lose that last 30 lbs in 6 months (ugh). lol All this to say I relate!
 
Thanks everyone. I had to take a 2 week break because I got sick. I am still coughing but I feel 10000000% better so I am back on tonight!! I so wanted to break out of the 2's by my 40th (7-21) but have 7 pounds to go in 8 days....... So I think I will atleast get closer but do not think I will meet my mini goal, which is actually ok!!!

I hope taking a couple weeks off will jump start the weight loss again.
 
I know this is kind of late.. If you are doing everything right, exercise,eating healthy, and water intake. You may want speak to your dr. to have your thyroid checked. It is not uncommon for women with pcos to have an underactive thyroid. If you are not doing so already. Eliminate highly processed foods,sugar and white flour. eat more whole grains. good luck.
 
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