Fitness & Exercise Community

Hi eissac,

It would be helpful to know your height, weight, sex, and age. I'll have a better idea of what's happening and how I might be able to help if you post back with that information . Thanks.

Hi,

I'm 5' 9", 280, female and I'm 34.

Rule of thumb - If you burn more calories than you consume you will lose weight, unless those 1,500 calories are comprised of two donuts (high in fat content). If your calories burned is calculated from what you are reading on a exercise machine, it could quite possibly be wrong. Reason being: Calories burned are based on your metabolism, eating protein will increase your metabolic calorie burn while fat will almost create no metobolic energy. Make sure you eat good small meals throughout the day and push your workouts (if you feel no burn from an elliptical try to move to the stair climber or inclined treadmill).

Good Luck.

Are you going to the extent of measuring your food or are you estimating servings? I know a lot of people mis-judge their calories simply by not recognizing a serving size.

Hi eissac,


Unfortunately, one of the most frustrating things about weight loss is when your records indicate that you're eating the amount of calories it would take to lose weight and it doesn't happen. With a daily caloric intake of 1500 calories, and burning 2800 all day, which gives you a caloric deficit of 1300 a day, you should be losing 2.5 pounds a week. With all your medical tests coming back negative, then you have to look carefully at the accuracy of the calorie intake because how could it be that you have a 1300/day deficit and not lose weight? Some people believe that some people will simply store more calories than other people. There's no convincing evidence of this, and there's no problem with your thyroid. The thing about weight loss is that to lose you must burn fewer calories than you consume, and that's true no matter how much exercise you do. Even if you run a marathon every day you will not lose weight if you consume more calories than you burn. So if you're not losing then the only possible explanation, given our current understanding of weight loss, is that you are consuming more calories than you burn, even if you think you're not. And I know this is maddening to hear, but in fact, research shows that people can under estimate their calorie intake by as much as 40% to 50%. Even dietitians miscalculate. Now, in some cases, people eat so few calories that their body senses starvation and slows down metabolism, but this doesn't look like what's happening in your case.

What I suggest that you do is check your basal or resting metabolic rate (BMR) here:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-metabolism-calculator

And then to the exercise calorie counter here:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-fitness-calorie-counter

And here's the Food and Fitness Planner to estimate your calorie intake.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/food-fitness-planner/summary

Go ahead and add your BMR to your total exercise calories, then subtract that number from the number of calories you consume all day. If the number is negative then you'll lose weight. For instance, if you consume 1500 and burn 2000 with BMR and exercise, then you get -500 (minus 500), which means you will lose a pound a week (3500 calories equals one pound - so 7 days of a 500 calorie deficit = 3500, or one pound)

You can post your diet-related questions to the Diet Community:
http://exchanges.webmd.com/diet-exchange

And then you can select one of the Diet Clubs for support and information based on how much weight you want to lose.

http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-25-50-lbs-exchange
http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-50-100-lbs-exchange
http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-100-lbs-exchange

If you do the math after keeping careful count of your calorie intake and estimate of calorie expenditure, and it still shows you should be losing weight, then please post back and let's see what we can do. And if you have any exercise questions feel free to post those too.

Take care, Rich

I tried many things for weight lose that worked for a time but then stopped working. I think what has been most helpful to me is Heal Your Hunger, because it's run by people who have had these same problems but are now free. Do check them out.

The physician on this thread can probably confirm this. but I find that intermediate fasting can be a very effective way to drop the pounds. In additional to cleaning up your diet, "when" you eat is important too.


For example if you change your eating schedule to where you eat all of your meals within an 8 hour window, you will lose weight.

Outside of the 8 hour window, consume nothing else but water. So breakfast, lunch and dinner all have to be eaten which 8 hours. Within 2 weeks, you'll start seeing the weight come off.


http://quick-fat-loss.info

Wow, I know how you feel! I struggled with weight loss too, and I felt like I'd never overcome it. I must say I got a lot of help from Healyourhunger, you should check them out.

I totally agree with the suggestion you measure your basal metabolic rate. If you go to online calculators, you will get yet another estimate that might not be accurate AT ALL. A better route to take would be to go to a hospital that has a wellness center and have your resting metabolic rate tested using a metabolic cart. This estimate is based on the amount of heat your body produces when you are at rest and might just provide you with a more accurate estimate of the calories your body burns.

I am really eager to read how you are doing, as your original post was about a month ago.

Give yourself a break! If you've tried every diet...STOP...With all that counting, tracking, focus on FOOD it seems to me you might benefit from at least two weeks off! Change your thoughts from always "dieting" to choosing to eat what is good for you when you are hungry for it! Really, I have lost 40 lbs and kept it off by learning more about what, when, and where to eat...but mostly by finding activities I enjoy, people I prefer to be with, a less stressful job, and more "selfishness" when it comes to taking care of myself first. When I allow myself to choose my favorite "good for me" foods and eat just enough of them to feel satisfied I can escape junk food binges, bad weekends of snacks, and really enjoy the meals (my favorite is the "big" breakfast) I sit down to eat. Have some fun with it - I started where you are and am still on my way down and back to where I want to be.
All the best!

Some day, they will be a miracle weight loss program that flies it customers to South America, drops them on the banks of the Amazon, then, picks them up in 30 days...

Maybe, then, they'll get it.

If you're overweight, whatever your "Basal Metabolic Rate" is, it 'aint enough...

Every animal in the jungle has the exact same "thermostat" for BMR as we have...Natural food and Movement.

just sayin', if you want to save on plane fare...