I gained weight again last week. Looking at the trend over the last couple of months, I seem to be stuck in about a four pound range, not going any higher than the top of the range and not going any lower either. I think this is what some refer to as a set point, a weight that your body likes and tries to maintain.When I reduce my calorie intake to try to drop weight, I get REALLY hungry. I think it is my body trying to tell me to eat so that it can maintain the current weight. I don't remember the hunger thing previously.
I need to figure this out. I just ordered a book called "Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance." I think I need something new and different in my diet approach in order to get it kick-started again. Right now I am feeling stuck and I don't like it.
Have you ever felt stuck with your weight loss efforts? What did you do about it?
Weight Loss Summary
- Week 01: Lost 4.0 lbs
- Week 02: Lost 3.1 lbs, 07.0 lbs total, 3.5 lbs per week
- Week 03: Lost 2.6 lbs, 09.7 lbs total, 3.2 lbs per week
- Week 04: Lost 2.0 lbs, 11.7 lbs total, 2.9 lbs per week
- Week 05: Lost 1.6 lbs, 13.3 lbs total, 2.7 lbs per week
- Week 06: Lost 1.5 lbs, 14.8 lbs total, 2.5 lbs per week
- Week 07: Gained 0.4 lbs, 14.4 lbs total lost, 2.1 lbs per week
- Week 08: Lost 3.1 lbs, 17.5 lbs total, 2.2 lbs per week
- Week 09: Lost 2.2 lbs, 19.7 lbs total, 2.2 lbs per week
- Week 10: Gained 0.9 lbs, 18.8 lbs total lost, 1.9 lbs per week
- Week 11: Lost 3.5 lbs, 22.3 lbs total, 2.0 lbs per week
- Week 12: Lost 2.2 lbs, 24.5 lbs total, 2.0 lbs per week
- Week 13: Lost 0.2 lbs, 24.7 lbs total, 1.9 lbs per week
- Week 14: Lost 1.9 lbs, 26.6 lbs total, 1.9 lbs per week
- Week 15: Lost 0.6 lbs, 27.2 lbs total, 1.8 lbs per week
- Week 16: Gained 0.5 lbs, 26.7 lbs total lost, 1.7 lbs per week
- Week 17: Gained 2.0 lbs, 24.7 lbs total lost, 1.5 lbs per week
- Week 18: Lost 3.3 lbs, 28.0 lbs total, 1.6 lbs per week
- Week 19: Lost 0.3 lbs, 28.3 lbs total, 1.5 lbs per week
- Week 20: Lost 1.7 lbs, 30.0 lbs total, 1.5 lbs per week
- Week 21: Lost 1.6 lbs, 31.6 lbs total, 1.5 lbs per week
- Week 22: Gained 1.1 lbs, 30.5 lbs total lost, 1.4 lbs per week
- Week 23: On holiday break, didn't track
- Week 24: Lost 0.4 lbs, 30.9 lbs total, 1.3 lbs per week
- Week 25: Gained 0.4 lbs, 30.5 lbs total lost, 1.2 lbs per week
- Week 26: Lost 2.6 lbs, 33.1 lbs total, 1.3 lbs per week
- Week 27: Gained 2.0 lbs, 31.5 lbs total lost, 1.2 lbs per week
- Week 28: Lost 1.8 lbs, 32.9 lbs total, 1.2 lbs per week
- Week 29: Gained 2.0 lbs, 30.9 lbs total lost, 1.1 lbs per week
Nice work Thomas! Keep it up and you'll hit all of your goals. And thanks for inspiring others to do the same!
ReplyDeleteHello from Venezuela, Thomas!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has lost 55 lbs and still has 55 to go, I can tell you: you are not stuck, your body is adapting to your new lifestyle. Give it time and do not despair.
I've felt stuck several times, and I try to keep in mind that I am not defined by my weight. Sure, it is a convenient way to assess progress, but it is only one of many. There are other more reliable ways of gauging progress one can focus on, like miles run vs time or calories consumed. See, you are been successful in a lot more than just weightloss :-)
Cheers!
Thanks Carlos. I needed to hear that!
ReplyDeleteThomas,
ReplyDeleteHere is a Book you may want to check out. This book is aimed at endurance athletes.
"Metabolic Efficiency Training"
Here is a description from trisports.com
Burn more fat and conserve precious carbohydrate stores while reducing the likelihood of gastrointestinal (GI) distress. That’s the simple bottom line of this book. Metabolic efficiency describes the relationship between fat and carbohydrate oxidation across a variety of exercise intensities. Many athletes are extremely inefficient at using their almost unlimited fat stores as energy during exercise and rely too much on very limited carbohydrate stores. The purpose of Metabolic Efficiency Training: Teaching the Body to Burn More Fat is to provide athletes of all ages, abilities and sports sound nutrition and training concepts that will improve the body’s ability to burn fat. This book will provide very specific nutrition and exercise recommendations that will guide you through each training cycle with the end goal of improving your ability to use fat as fuel. Gone are the days of needing to consume a high amount of calories during training and competition. By improving your body’s metabolic efficiency, it is possible to significantly reduce the amount of calories you need during exercise. The end result will be improved health and performance with significantly reduced chances of GI distress.
My wife said a new version is to come out with in the next few months that should be easier to read. The first 4 chapters are very heavy and difficult to get through even by the admission of the author.
Keep up the great work! You are going to make it.
I'm dealing with a lot of the same...I've lost about 50 (never wanted to know my highest) and sometimes it takes 2-3 weeks to really get going again. For me it is all about food (and wine)...I have to really make myself watch my eating closely. I have experienced HUNGER! But I find if I battle through a couple low calorie days, I then am less hungry and get going on losing again. Also, I drink lots of water, chamomile and peppermint tea. The tea I drink hot w/o any sweetener and it helps distract me when HUNGRY :-)
ReplyDeleteHang in there...you are doing great. Weight loss is a difficult journey! I struggle also!
Have you tried experimenting with a variation of the paleo diet? Cutting out excess carbs is a great way of losing weight. You just have to make sure you're fueling enough.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how the average is at about 1 lb. loss per week right now. I know that the healthiest weight loss or weight gain (for those rare people trying to gain weight for a variety of reasons) is 1 lb per week. Granted, it really would be a percentage because people vary so much in size, but on average for most people, it's about 1 lb per week. Earlier-on, you had some very rapid weight loss. I think your body is just trying to get used to this new thing. Really the question is whether you're at a healthy weight now or are you still overweight? I'm not asking you to answer that to anybody but yourself. But if you are still overweight, then you aren't at your set point you body would prefer to be at. But if you are a healthy weight, then it's okay to stop trying so hard to lose weight, but instead just eat a healthy diet to maintain weight.
ReplyDeleteAssuming you are still overweight, I don't know how many meals a day you're eating, but you could try increasing the number of meals but keeping the total calories the same or very slightly reducing them. Eat very nutritious foods every two to three hours throughout the day if possible.
Whether wanting to lose or maintain though one thing I would definitely recommend is Shakeology as a meal replacement shake. What wonderful stuff! Do you know about it? I can tell you more if you like. We just friended each other on Twitter. @melaniehevel
Anyway, take care and stay satiated with healthy foods : )