WTF?! Week 3

[K_v_h]

Well not a happy bunny today...weighed myself and I’ve put on a pound! I just can’t understand what I am doing wrong...I’ve been eating within my calories (under most of the time) and working really hard at the gym. The sensible side of me is telling me that it’s ok and this will happen occasionally but the bonkers side of me is fuming, upset and frustrated. I am trying to over dissect everything I’ve eaten and drunk or not eaten and drunk to look for an explaination for the gain. I don’t want to give up and I won’t...but when things like this happen I do feel extremely sorry for myself...when perhaps I should be feeling more determined....I’m just gutted.

[lucigret]

Exercising a lot and then under eating on your calories. I would say your problem lies in not eating enough. Have you checked your personal calorie range on the BMI calculator and are you keeping near the top?

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Have a read of this

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

If you log your menus on the Daily Diary, K_v_h, we'll be able to offer more informed advice. Your diet will play the biggest part in your weight loss journey, so you need to get that right first.

Exercise is good for fitness, but has little effect on the pounds. It can even increase your weight, when fluid is retained for muscle repair.

[IndigoBlue61]

In addition to the above comments, Scale weight is just one measure of fat loss . . . Use a tape measure and the mirror. How do you feel inside? Do you feel healthy and energised? Or deprived and hungry? And remember muscle weighs more than fat.

[K_v_h 3lbs in reply to IndigoBlue61]

To be honest I’m struggling to eat my calories, I get to the evening and I’ve got 1000 to 1100 calories to eat. I’m trying to snack on healthier things like fruit and nuts, and not the chocolate and cake type of things. I know I should eat more during the day but I just don’t feel hungry during the day. I haven’t used a tape measure but I am going to tonight. I know it’s only a pound and weight does fluctuate...just felt disheartened today. I do feel healthier in myself, i do have more energy and feel less slugish...that’s reason enough to keep going.

[IndigoBlue61 in reply to K_v_h]

In my opinion, feeling more energised, less tired and healthier are three fantastic successes 👏👏👏. Remember, only you see the scales, but everyone will see a healthy smiling face 😊

[K_v_h 3lbs]

Well I used the nhs BMI calculator and it worked out that I should be eating about 1900 cals (top end). I use my fitness pal to log my food and i set the cals to 1800. Since Monday I’ve been under by between 30cals to 100cals per day. I’ve been having a banana for breakfast (I’m really bad at eating breakfast), tomato soup (not the canned stuff) with a bread roll for lunch. Dinner has been a bit more substantial, I had a Thai prawn stir fry (cooked fresh) with a tiny portion of jasmine rice, with a chicken wing, small vegetable spring roll and a chicken breast skewer for dinner on Tuesday. I did have 3 small glasses of white wine, and a choc ice. Basically on Tuesday my calorie count was 1686. Monday was 1775 and Wednesday was 1610. I don’t think I’ve been drinking enough water...and I did a hard session at the gym on Monday...I know I’m eating healthier but I am struggling to hit the 1800 goal everyday...as I tend to eat light during the day (that’s just habit and being busy at work) and eat a large meal in the evening.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to K_v_h]

There's no law that says breakfast has to be eaten, I never do. Intermittent fasting is great for weight loss.

You may have to shake things up a bit, by trying to eat more at lunchtime and less in the evening. If you have a microwave, you could potentially reheat a homemade main meal to eat at lunchtime, then go for something lighter in the evening.

I suspect that your gym time is most to blame and your muscles need time to settle down. Don't forget rest time is as important as exercise time

[Dvae_201]

Might just be additional muscle gain. What type of exercise have you been doing?

[IvanTheHorrible Maintainer]

Just a few random thoughts.

Considering you're doing a hard workout you seem to be eating very little - certainly too little to fuel an active lifestyle. Can you quantify how hard you're working - calories burned, weights lifted? Are you doing primarily CV or weights? How often are you going? What do you do at each session? As moreless said, rest time is critical.

Have you had a bodyfat measurement? As someone said back there, it could simply be that you're packing on muscle. Which of course is a good thing.

You need to decide what your goals are. The dietary requirements for muscle gain are completely different to those for weight loss, and you seem to be aiming somewhere in the middle, which will yield neither one result nor t'other.

Am I right that you've only been doing this a couple of weeks so far? If so, you're maybe just being a little impatient

[K_v_h 3lbs in reply to IvanTheHorrible]

I’m doing cardio with a trainer 2 times a week then strength exercises, like push ups squats, all various forms of crunches once a week. I will do about 35 min on a cross trainer machine (but it’s not a cross trainer it’s worse...like running up hill it feels like) that will burn 370 cals in 30 min...quite high intensity between 145 to 170 rpm on level 10 (I’m sorry but I don’t know the name of the machine)...then I will do 20 min on the bike at a lower intensity about 75rpm on level 9, which apparently burns about 120 cals. I want to get fitter and lose weight. I am struggling with eating as many cals as recommended, and I am also struggling to drink enough water...especially after working out...gross I know but I do sweat. I am probably being impatient and I’ve calmed down a bit since this morning and realize that it is entirely possible that I could be retaining water...we shall see what next week brings...this is week 3.

[IvanTheHorrible Maintainer in reply to K_v_h]

OK, high-intensity CV plus bodyweight exercises, all good stuff. Your workout actually sounds similar to mine, and I'm maintaining on roughly 2500kCal/day (that's just an educated guess - I don't count and never have).

Sounds like one of the old Precor elevating crosstrainers you're using?

I'm a little concerned that it's a bit too high intensity for a beginner - sustained output at 9+METs (which is what I'm guessing from your numbers) is above average for the typical 30-year-old woman (I'm not going to ask how old you are or how much you weigh ). How do you feel after your workout? Pleasantly blitzed, or utterly exhausted? If you can barely stand up then you're at risk of overtraining. The aim is to do a little more than you did last time, but not to push yourself to exhaustion; otherwise, you're at risk of overtraining.

However if you're not sweating then you're wasting your time

Since you have a very small appetite and are aiming for weight loss, you should be getting a lot more fat in your diet to fuel your workouts. That will increase your calorie total without significantly increasing bulk. Dietary fat is an excellent fuel for sustained cardiovascular work - your heart looks for fatty acids first and burns glucose as a last resort - and it also promotes fat loss, as long as you don't eat it with lots of carbs.

Your protein is probably OK, but since you're putting large demands on your muscles I would suggest at least 0.8g/kg; so if you weigh 80kg, then try to get 15g at breakfast and 25g at lunch and dinner (try not to put more than 25g in any one meal). You can probably get your fat and protein all from the same place, ie., meat, cheese, eggs. Just drop things like rice and bread entirely - because they're just taking up space and not doing anything to further your goals - and replace them with some vegetables that you like.

Your trainer will almost certainly disagree with me because even the young ones believe the old-school "your muscles need glucose to work properly" ... which is true in the very narrow sense that your muscles will maintain some glycogen stores, but that doesn't have any implications for dietary carbs. If you're bodybuilding then sure, get lots of carbs in there ... but you're not. Anyway, suggest you just give it a try for a few weeks and see how it goes. The first week of carb reduction might set you back slightly, but then you'll bounce back bigger and better (well ... hopefully just better).

You'll probably need to spend some time researching recipes that you can enjoy. A lot of people who do workouts like yours swear by the 'breakfast burrito', which is a 6" tortilla filled with egg, bacon, vegetables, and some sort of sauce or dressing. I've tried it once or twice and it's good. moreless makes 'breakfast muffins' which can be made in bulk and kept in the fridge; I think they're something like crustless quiche. Maybe she can post the recipe... I'd like to try those myself! As said, there's no rule about having breakfast, and a few hours of fasting is probably a good thing. I'm just throwing some ideas around. You can always eat your burrito or muffin pre-workout instead!

By the way, don't force down water. If you feel thirsty then clearly you're not drinking enough, but if you don't, then you're fine. The idea that you need to drink gallons of water to burn fat is an old wives' tale; certainly water is needed, but your body will regulate how much it needs. I've seen people advocating 3 or 4 litres a day, which is a terrible idea. Excessive water intake can cause electrolyte imbalance.

[K_v_h 3lbs in reply to IvanTheHorrible]

Wow thank you for this. I looked up the machine and it’s a flexstrider variable stride trainer by life fitness. I feel like I’ve worked really hard after a sesision but really good. I don’t ever feel like I’m going to pass out...the first two weeks my trainer was just assessing my ability and getting to know me..she is pushing me. she obviously works out with me, and is watching my every move, facial expression to see if I can work a bit harder...I will give the diet tips a go...I am an avid carnivore and love meat and fish. I think if I ate more during the day (which I find hard) and less in the evening i would eventually start to wake up ready for breakfast. Are whole grain versions of bread, rice and pasta any better? I know they are higher in fiber, but will it end up just being pointless carbs? I probably am a bit old school in the fact that a meal doesn’t look complete without some carb on the side. I have seen in the supermarket cauliflower rice...that could be a good alternative? And I love sweet potatoes...are they an ok carb to eat?

Thanks again for the advice...it is much appreciated

[IvanTheHorrible Maintainer in reply to K_v_h]

oh, that's a pretty new machine - I've only ever seen one at trade shows. You must be going to a top-of-the-range fitness club, those things aren't cheap

From your description, sounds like your CV is pitched at the right level.

Basically the more carbs you eat the slower your fat loss will be. Wholemeal or refined, potatoes, pasta, sweet potatoes ... it really doesn't make any difference. They will all switch off fat-burning if you eat them regularly. If you were simply training for strength or athletic performance this wouldn't matter, but since you want to lose weight at the same time, they'll have to go.

The critical point here is that since you're currently eating a 90% carb-fuelled diet and very few calories (considering your workload), you're probably in "starvation mode". Also, your fat intake (at least from your sample menu) is so low that you're depriving your body of essential nutrients and throttling back on fuel for your heart. Switching to fat as your primary fuel will not only get your calorie level up to a sensible value, it will force your body to start burning stored fat. I understand this is quite a large mental leap in the context of what we've always been told, but the proof is in the pudding (even though you're not allowed pudding) ... you'll lose fat really fast and make good cardiovascular gains. If you want to try things like cauliflower rice, they're OK, but personally I would just go with cauliflower Apart from anything else, proper cauliflower can be cooked with (say) cheese to get your fat intake up, while cauliflower rice just ends up being a bland plate-filler.

[K_v_h 3lbs in reply to IvanTheHorrible]

Well come up with tonight’s meal, sirloin steak, cauliflower and broccoli cheese and roasted parsnips (as chips)...I haven’t worked out the cals yet but I will do. I’ve weighed everything apart from the veg...so that’s lots of protein and veg...quite a bit of saturated fat from steak and cheese and milk. If I like it next time I may use a chicken breast instead...refined carbs are out (ish)

[IvanTheHorrible Maintainer in reply to K_v_h]

Unfortunately parsnip chips have the same carb content as potatoes (oddly enough - you wouldn't think it, would you?) but the rest of it is an ideal meal. If you check your calories, you should be aiming for roughly 200kCal/50g (maximum) from carbs and 1200kCal/130g (minimum) from fat. You'll also have 200-250kCal as protein, but it's more logical to just ignore protein calories because protein is not really a fuel and has little impact on your weight loss.

It does take some getting used to, dropping carbs. There's lots of ideas online for swapping this with that so you don't have an empty space on your plate!

There's a bit of subtlety here in that the current dietary advice (avoiding refined carbs and replacing them with "natural" ones) is aimed at a completely different problem: diabetes. From that perspective, for most people, it's reasonable advice. For people who are initially healthy, it will also prevent weight gain.

Weight loss is a totally different ballgame. Carbs are carbs, and although low-GI ("natural") carbs will put less stress on your blood-sugar regulation, and will keep your bodyfat balanced, that's not your goal here. You're aiming for a net loss from your bodyfat stores, which is a very unusual metabolic position requiring unusual dietary manipulation. Once that goal is achieved, you can start adding whole-food carbs like parsnips with no undesirable effect on your bodyweight.

[gman1961 Restart April 2024]

Hi kvh

I've had times like that pulled out all the stops an gained 1 lb.

It's horrible and disheartening but you will lose what you need.

Chin up I say as I've eaten rubbish all day .

Gary

[Alibob1969 7lbs]

I've found in the past that sometimes I have only lost a small amount. It gets me down, but I keep on it then have a larger loss the following week. Will be interesting to see what you loose next week. Good luck x

[Hidden]

hi I have had this problem as I exercise a lot and never eat enough-sounds mad but it is true-i've done much better since I've started eating regular meals -keep on in there!