Why am i not losing weight?

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Carina1962

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Help! i really am at my wits end now about trying to lose weight. I've got an A-Z of calories book which i have been buying for years and according to that book it says that if you weigh between 75 - 90kg you need to consume 1400 per day. I weight 87kg so i fit into that category (so you would have thought). Well i have been having a lot less calories per day (about 1200 to 1300) and i excercise by walking mainly and use a pedometer which records the amount of calories used. I have not lost any weight this week as i normally weigh myself every Tuesday and i just cannot understand what i'm doing wrong. I weigh out all my food before eating and don't eat anything that doesn't state the amount of calories it has.

I am waiting for an appointment to see a dietician and it will be interesting to hear what she says about it although my partner's guess is that she will dictate the government guidelines of less calories, more excercise which i'm doing anyway - any suggestions?
 
First things first. You are doing well. Keeping the exercise up is very important whether or not you are losing weight. I believe that in some ways, it even primes the body (so to speak) for future weight loss.

Anyway, one thing that may be happening is that you're replacing fat with muscle (depends on the type of exercise though, I suppose).

Also, from my experience, I can go weeks not losing anything and even going up slightly, only for the weight to suddenly drop off the following week or two. I haven't quite worked out why it does that though (well, I haven't worked it out at all actually).

Make sure that you religiously record your meals and exercise and go through it with your dietician. They may be able to spot something too?

Finally, even though I wasn't losing weight over some weeks, my belt still had to be tightened a notch or two during that time, so keep an eye on things like that too.

Andy 🙂
 
What meds are you on? My doctor (the idiot one) wanted to take me off Gliclazide because it can slow or prevent weight loss. I'm now on Sitagliptin instead and still not losing weight. Like you, I'm counting calories and having around 1200 per day as well as walking everywhere and swimming regularly. This has been a long running problem with me over the years, I diet and lose some weight, then it stops and nothing I do makes the slightest difference.
 
Hi

It is depressing isn't it.

Have you measured yourself? If not then do and write it all down and measure yourself again in a month. Measure your chest, waist, hips, upper arm, upper thigh and just above your knee, they are always good places to use.

Maybe, just maybe you are not eating enough, I know bizarre eh! Maybe you need to start again and start at 1500 ish and then when you reach a plateau of a few weeks drop 100 cals or something. Just a thought. You could try a different way other than cal counting, you could fat count and not have more than say 20 g a day or something.

🙂
 
Adrienne said:
Maybe, just maybe you are not eating enough, I know bizarre eh!
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It's possible though.

Apparently, if you don't eat enough, the body can go into 'survival' mode and doesn't release the energy you need efficiently enough. That was explained on a video that they showed us on the Diabetes X-Pert course.

Do you feel as if you're more tired than normal?

Andy
 
I was dong all that Adrienne and then the doctor said you need to count calories as well! Daft Bat (the doctor that is)!! So now I'm doing the low carb/low GI/low fat/low salt/low cal thing and it still doesn't [swearword]enter your word of choice here[/swearword] work. I get so frustrated and down over it all sometimes. sorry Carina, I highjacked your thread, but it looks as though we're in the same boat.
 
Andy HB said:
It's possible though.

Apparently, if you don't eat enough, the body can go into 'survival' mode and doesn't release the energy you need efficiently enough. That was explained on a video that they showed us on the Diabetes X-Pert course.

Do you feel as if you're more tired than normal?

Andy
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I'm not sure about Carina but I don't remember what 'normal' is. I haven't slept well in years so I'm always a bit tired.
 
AlisonM said:
I was dong all that Adrienne and then the doctor said you need to count calories as well! Daft Bat (the doctor that is)!! So now I'm doing the low carb/low GI/low fat/low salt/low cal thing and it still doesn't [swearword]enter your word of choice here[/swearword] work. I get so frustrated and down over it all sometimes. sorry Carina, I highjacked your thread, but it looks as though we're in the same boat.
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I'm sure you are, aren't we all. I do understand though both you and Carina. I have about 10 stone to lose to get me to even the top end of 'healthy' on all the charts you see so completely understand. I have been the classic yoyo dieter, even using Lighter Life where I lost 4 stone in 3 months only to put back on 6 stone in 5 months !

I have recently been given the opportunity of a personal trainer twice a week courtesy of my brother's pay packet ! I have been going since the start of the school summer holidays and I love it. I have lost probably 1/2 a stone, not a great deal considering how much I have to lose. However I met a young bloke in the gym last week (this is a lovely small gym, privately owned with hardly anyone there so great for people like me) who was about 20 odd I would say and he was very trim looking and working out hard. The PT said to him (to encourage me) that he had lost eight stone recently hadn't he. Well you could have knocked me down with a feather. He said it had taken him two years to lose it which I guess is slowly slowly.

I know that neither him (probably) nor me have diabetes and I know that insulin is potentially a nightmare where weight is concerned as well but I firmly believe that losing weight is 100 times harder than giving up smoking or anything like that (speaking from experience). I always thought smoking would be harder but it isn't as you never have to do it again whereas with eating you cannot ever just stop, you always have to eat. Not fair eh!

😱
 
PS Andy is right about the lack of sleep not helping with weight loss. That is now a proven fact.

I have not slept properly in 10 years due to my daughter and diabetes but I think if you get to a certain weight you just don't sleep properly anyway which is not great. :confused:
 
Adrienne said:
PS Andy is right about the lack of sleep not helping with weight loss. That is now a proven fact.
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I wasn't actually talking about lack of sleep (but your point is interesting nonetheless).

It was more that when the body goes into 'starvation mode' it starts protecting its fat stores more. The result of that is that you may not have enough energy during the waking day and feel tired and listless.

Andy 🙂
 
Hi Carina,

Just sent you a pm. x
 
Have you started drinking more water or squash? sometimes if thebody is dehydrated (longterm not just feeling thirsty) your cells will absorb more water, particularly if you're making them respire more by exercising, and this can stabilise your weight... as you continue it should drop away a bit as the fat reserves are depleted.

Keep going with the diet and the exercise, it's the only way to get it off, and slowly is healthier than too quickly!
 
Hiya...

Not sure if this helps, but when I went to see my GP about this recently, he told me that the only way to lose weight was to watch the calories and do lots of 'exercise which makes you sweat'!! 😱 (These days that counts as most things doh! 😱) I told him I was trying to do lots more walking etc, but he said whilst that will help maintain my weight & prevent weight gain, it won't actually help shift it...drat!! :(

I did find the Rosemary Conley thing worked a bit for me, mainly cos I'm dire at calorie counting (enuf to do counting carbs, grr!) and when you join you get a booklet with essentially a menu / meal planner & receipes so it's easy on the thinking! 🙂 It's still really hard losing weight though... really trying to at least not gain weight now!! Fun...
 
Twitchy said:
Not sure if this helps, but when I went to see my GP about this recently, he told me that the only way to lose weight was to watch the calories and do lots of 'exercise which makes you sweat'!! 😱 (These days that counts as most things doh! 😱) I told him I was trying to do lots more walking etc, but he said whilst that will help maintain my weight & prevent weight gain, it won't actually help shift it...drat!! :(
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I have to respectfully disagree with that statement about walking.

So long as the walking is brisk and results in an elevated heartbeat and a slight sweat, then that will do the job. I have managed to lose over 40lbs using walking as my main exercise since last October and so the GP is just plain wrong (well for me anyway!). 🙂

Granted, I do also do a bit of rowing, but that is only once a week, on average.

Andy
 
What a ridiculous thing for a doctor to say, of course you can lose weight by walking 😱

When I was in my first year of uni I walked everywhere and was the thinnest ive ever been :D
 
thanks for all your comments everyone. I won't give up and will continue with excercise and calorie counting and hope things will improve when my appointment comes through to see a dietician. I might try going for salads for my evening meals for a couple of weeks or so with some protein to see whether having 'lighter' evening meals will do the trick - you would think so wouldn't you? if i take this approach, it might mean i don't hit the 1400 cals a day target so is this OK do you think? ie making sure you have the required calories to lose weight (ie not enough may result in no weight loss - metabolism and all that)
 
I'm definitely no expert on weight loss issues, but since this time last year I have lost just over 2 stone. All I did was to reduce my portion size, cut back on the carbs slightly, eat less red meat and replace with chicken and fish and increase my daily exercise by 30 minutes a day. Try to avoid processed foods and observe the salt levels in the foods you eat, salt causes the body to hold water and can cause weight gain as well as increased bp, so following a low salt diet will undoubtedly help aid weight loss. One more thing, don't weigh yourself weekly, try leaving it for 2-4 weeks each time, this way any loss of weight is a big achievement and may motivate you to continue. Toby.
 
thanks Toby, that's a fair point about weighing, i weigh myself weekly on my Wii Fit board and on my scales which i keep under my desk at work and of course they will both read differently so i get disheartened when it looks like i haven't budged so will try fortnightly weigh ins on just one set of scales 🙂
 
katie said:
What a ridiculous thing for a doctor to say, of course you can lose weight by walking 😱

When I was in my first year of uni I walked everywhere and was the thinnest ive ever been :D
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I know, me too!! I'm only quoting what he said. (& in fairness, he did qualify it with the comment exercise which makes you sweat, meeting Andy's criteria!) I can only assume he looked at me & thought I looked too lazy to walk briskly lol! :(

The other thing I meant to add the other day was thyroid levels - when mine are out of sync (I have an underactive thyroid) I just can't seem to shift anything...when the levels are right I can (if disciplined enough!) shift a bit if I'm consistent enough... as diabetes & thyroid probs seem to often go together, if you're feeling tired & finding it hard to shift the weight, it might be worth mentioning to the doc....
 
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