Feeling a Little Frustrated

[CarrieCusu]

I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, but I'm not getting anywhere with my weight loss routine.  I have been on the ellipical machine pretty much daily (meaning in the past two months I have probably taken five days off in total) for 45 minutes per session, sometimes doubling my efforts.  This is combined with two daily floor exercises (48 repetitions each).  

I watch what I eat by eating things like low-fat yogurt with blueberries and crunch oats (Kashi Crunch) and my portions are not huge.  I eat every few hours (as suggested by many to boost metabolism, i.e. a bit of oatmeal, or a half sandwich consisting of ham and veggie cheese).  I drink a lot of water, in fact it is rare if I drink anything other than water - well a bit of green tea with mint.  And I stay away from sugar as much as possible.  I don't put things like mayonnaise or ketchup on my food, but instead opt for a bit of apple ciger vinegar for flavor on a sandwich.  I have added flax seed oil to my diet - I have a spoon-full with my yogurt in the morning.  I do not eat past 7:00 p.m. and always look to eat a light meal in the evening like a bowl of soup and half a sandwich, or just a sandwich.  I also take vitamin supplements of flax seed oil, B-complex, Co-Q10, and vitamin C daily.

I used to be thin, and over the course of the past ten years I have put on a total of thirty pounds.  It's one of those things where you work, and work, and work, and one day wake up to realize that something very drastic has happened to your figure.  I am now 37 and hope to get things back on track.  What am I doing wrong?  Perhaps I am expecting results too soon, but I thought I'd at least see a little something after two months of hard work.  I intend to keep up the effort as a lifestyle change because I am determined.  Any advice on what I can do?  

[mishyg]

maybe you need to try a different excerise regime.
if you have a lot of body fat  you may not be burning this off and if you are building up muscle you gain weight.
maybe you need to rethink the eating small meals thing
if you had three healthy meals with healthy snacks inbetween like the nuts and fruits etc they recommend it may help.

i'm trying to lose weight at the mo and i doing the 80/20 being good all week and if i want to have something sinful i do at the weekend.

at the mo i have either toast or porridge for breakfast.
soup for lunch and a proper evening meal (within reason laying off the junk food)
I snack on rice cakes and fruit
it was a struggle for the first two weeks but now i have weaned myself off crisps and chocolate it is better.

i have lost 9lb in three weeks.(i know it is probably not the best diet but it is working for me)

my motavation is i need a op and i think this has made me more determined.

also listen to your body if your lacking in something you will crave it so have it i.e red meat, diary etc

[CarrieCusu]

Thanks so much for your response.  Can you expound on how I might be burning muscle instead of fat?      

[mishyg]

when you work out you may be building up your muscles and muscle is heavier than fat hence your not losing weight

it would be more likely you are not exercising at a rate that is causing you to burn the fat off.
for example you may do the eplit thingy for a 45 minute session but of those minutes are you obtaining a heart rate that would be maintained to burn the fat off. ( i would seek more advice on this cos it varies form person to person but that's what i got told at the gym i went to for a trial)
exercising for weight loss is different than for keeping fit (hey i cant talk i'm in the same boat but i cant exercise too much due to knee problems)

have you spoken to your doctor, they may be able advise you on what to do or do a free trial at a gym to get a program that you can mix into your day to day life (tins of beans and botles of water are less expensive weights.)

also try swimming

hope this helps

[CarrieCusu]

Some recommend high intensity in two minute intervals and then resuming a normal pace for four minutes, alternating back and forth, which is what I have been doing.  But I will definitely look into what my ideal heart rate should be for fat burning results.

I have a minor problem with my knees as well - I use the elliptical machine because it is easier on the joints.  What kind of exercises are you able to do?  

I wonder about all of these supplements out there - if there are any that really assist with fat burning while maintaining muscle.

We're taking steps in the right direction by watching what we eat and exercising again.  




  

[Aruba417]

I'm just curious...have you lost ANY weight? I mean ANY - even if it's just a few pounds. It is completely normal - and very healthy to only lose 1-2 pounds per week. How many calories are you consuming a day? And I guess the biggest question is? How tall are you and how much do you weigh? Maybe you're not losing any because you're already in your normal weight range for a 37 year old?

[pcad]

Hi i am 36 and have been on weight watchers for 2 weeks and lost 5 lbs. and 2 inches off my thighs, 1 1/2 off my abs. It is a real easy diet i just count the points for the food i eat. Has anyone ever told you ham is not good on a diet, turkey is better. less fat in it . Well good luck

[CarrieCusu]

Thanks for your comments.  I have lost four pounds over the past two months.  I know it’s a little something, but I was expecting much more.  The weight just doesn’t come off like it used to.

I anticipated losing two pounds per week, but at this point it’s more like three pounds per month.  Perhaps I am adding a bit of muscle along the way?  I consume 1500 calories per day, about 400 calories per meal, plus snacks, and burning off an additional (according to the elliptical) 500 calories.  I am 5’10” tall and weigh 175 lbs.

I could cut back on carbohydrates because it has worked for me in the past, but I want to maintain a well rounded diet.  I don’t want to exclude any of the food groups because it leads to automatic weight gain once I resume eating them again.  I don’t touch white rice or white bread, but instead enjoy whole wheat.  One thing I have not done very well is incorporate an abundance of vegetables into my diet.  I get at least two to three servings of fruit per day (usually in the earlier part of the day) but I could increase my veggie intake.

I recently read an article about tricking your body by eating a wide variety of foods, i.e. not developing a habit of eating the same things day-in and day-out.  The article indicated that the body becomes accustomed to consistently burning off the same amount of calories every day when it is subjected to the same foods.  Therefore, by altering what you consume the body is forced to react differently.  I wonder if there is any truth in this.

I also measure weight loss by how my clothes fit and the problem I am encountering is that I don’t see a change in how they fit.  I find myself bloated quite often, so I wonder if food allergies could be the cause.

Pcad – do you exercise or have you just changed your eating habits to attain such results?  With regards to the ham, I actually buy fat-free ham (99% fat free) which I didn’t even know existed until about four months ago -- I also enjoy turkey.

[CarrieCusu]

If I have done my calculations correctly, my resting heart rate is 80 beats per minute (BPM).  

My maximum heart rate (MHR) = 220 minus my age, which is 37, so I should never exceed 183 BPM while training, which is good to know.  Thankfully, I have not exceeded it so far.

The target training rate is your maximum heart rate (mine being 183) x Target % which should be 60 – 80% for optimal fat burning.  So my target training rate is between 110 (60%) and 146 (80%).  

My warm up has been 5 minutes at 40-50% of my maximum heart rate, but I now understand that 10 minutes is the recommended warm-up time at that pace.  Apparently this is the stage were fat is released from body tissue into the bloodstream where it can be burned.  

After the warm-up it is suggested to exercise harder for 30 minutes at 60-80% of MHR, which is the fat burning zone, and then cool down for 10 minutes at 40-50% of MHR.

So, I will make some minor changes to my exercise routine and see what happens.  Interesting stuff.

[Aruba417]

Hmmm...well, you just may be adding some muscle along the way. That article you read is dead on.

But it also sounds like Maybe you should cut back the calories a little more. According to my calculations...I think it was on the BMI or something - can't remember...I was told in order to see significant weight loss that I needed to cut down to 1200 calories a day. I'm 26 and I'm 5'4" and at the time was 156 lbs. I'm 139 pounds today! Yay!!!!!

You should try something like this: Do 1200 calories on Monday, 1350 calories on Tuesday, 1200 calories on Wed, 1350 on Thursday, etc.

Unfortunately, women don't lose the weight as quickly once they're in their mid-late 20s. I've found it extremely hard at 26. Much harder than it was at 15 when I lost 25 pounds in 4 months (I was a chubby teenager). I had kept it off for about 5 years...then I went to college and gained it all back plus 15 pounds. In the last 2 years I have lost a total of 26.5 pounds. Granted, I wasn't trying very hard for most of those two years...

Good luck! I'm glad we have this site to come to for support and advice!!!

[mishyg]

if you are 5ft 10 and 175 your bmi is 25 you dont need to lose weight you may just need to tone up
any more big weight lose may make your bmi low and that can be very dangerous

do you have any issues with your body that may make you think you need to lose weight also you body shape does change and it may just be that toning up will help


please dont lose weight if your bmi is healthy
you may end up doing more harm than good

if you have lost the inches on your thighs it may sound like you are at your plateau you may not lose anymore wieght without causing you to become ill

[pcad]

Yes i sometimes do dance dance revulotion from playstation 2 it is really fun and you get a good workout

[Aruba417]

I love playing DDR, too! That's a GREAT workout and it's really fun! LOL!

[live4fitness]

I don't agree with the bmi thing. You could be thin and fat and big and low fat hence athletes/bodybuilders would be OBESE. Look up BMR and then TDEE this will tell you how many calories your body needs to survive and your weight and activity level. Then i would decrease by 500-750. I would also recommend zig zagging your caloreis. Make sure to measure yourself don't just go by the scale. add in weight training and eat more protien and less carbs after 4 pm. A sanwich is not a good food choice for dinner look at chicken breast and veg's instead.

I wish you well

[CarrieCusu]

Hi live4fitness!

I was trying to eat light in the evening, but at the same time eating carbs in the form of grains thinking it would give me extra stamina for my morning exercise routine.  I was also under the impression that it takes longer to break down meat, so I’d typically have lean meat for lunch – that being my biggest meal.  

I don’t go to the gym, but enjoy the convenience of exercising in the comfort of my own home in the early morning hours.  I am exercising five to six days a week for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  In addition to the elliptical workout I exercise with dumbbell weights, as well as daily stomach exercises, and my floor exercises are well rounded to include push ups, leg raises, squats, etc... I use the Jorge Cruise book 'Eight Minutes in the Morning' as a guide, but have doubled the exercises, so the routine is more like 20 minutes in the morning along with my stomach exercises.  However it may be time for heavier weights at this point.  It gets confusing because some say to use lighter weights and more reps, while others insist that to challenge the muscle you should use heavier weights with less reps.  Any thoughts?  

I am going to look up the things you mentioned.  I appreciate your post.

[live4fitness]

I have done alot of reading on that stuff as well and I tend to follow the advice of the fitness models and bodybuilders. So I recommend doing more weights less reps. Now with that said don't kill yourself. You should be able to do 8 reps comfortably and if you get above 10 then increase your weight. I recommend doing 3 different excersises for 1 body part and with 1 excercise do 3 reps except the first do 2 to warm up then start your 3. Do only 2 body parts in a day. If you do your whole body you tend to get fatigued faster and not want to go back to the gym.

Your calories should decrease as the day goes on This is my calorie count and times in a day.

before gym 8am  247

after gym 11am 474

2pm 295.7

5pm 247.7

8pm 129.7

11pm  108.5

So I would not recommend your lunch be the largest unless it is right after your workout time. Very important to get in enough protien,carbs, and fats after your workouts.

I hope this helps

1am tread mill (~3 times a week)

[CarrieCusu]

Hi Live4fitness!  

Thanks for your post.  I agree, the heavier weights, less reps is probably the way to go.  I'll have to invest in some heavier weights very soon.  

You have an interesting eating schedule.  I believe that eating every three hours is ideal, but I tru to cut off my food by no later than 7:30 p.m.  Why are you eating so late at night?

Also curious about what you are eating, as the calories seem pretty low.  Looks like lunch is one of your biggest meals too though.

Do you take any supplements?

I exercise six days a week, and will likely add in some evening exercise as well, perhaps three nights per week.  Do you find that the evening exercise has helped a lot?  

[live4fitness]

You want to eat more after the gym like I drink a protien shake with 1 cup blue berries, 1/2 cup apple sauce 2 slices of ezecial bread with 1 tbsp almond butter. this is protien, sugar, carbs, fat. ALL GOOD FOR YOU !!!!!

I eat late because I work late. I don't get home til after midnight. Yes the treadmill is good it helps burn what you had during the day and helps bump up your metabolism while you sleep.

The caloreis I posted are

1st meal
protein shake
1/2cup blueberries
3oz yam

2nd meal
top sentence

3
2 oz chicken
plain rice cakes 3
1 tbsp almond butter

4
2oz chicken
3oz yam
1/2 can green beans or a mix of some sort of veg's

5
2 oz chicken
vegs

6
tuna 1/2 can or 3oz of talapia
vegs