Working Out-Changed Diet-Still Not Losing

[Anonymous]

I'm 46 years old and over the past couple of years, I've gained about 25 pounds that I'm not happy with. I did some research and learned that for women in perimenopause, weight training is essential to getting healthier and will help establish the right foundation for weight loss. So, I started working with a virtual trainer that includes extensive weight training and a diet plan that matches nutrition with weight training & cardio (for example, low carb days with cardio and higher carb days with strength/weight training). I've been at this for 3 months in total and have been consistent in working out every day and following the diet plans.

I've not lost one pound. I started at 170 in February and I'm still at 170. I have, however, lost a couple of inches around my waist and an inch around my arms. I was hoping to have lost at least 5 pounds by now. I'm getting discouraged, but do not want to quit. I feel better than I've felt in a long time. If it helps, when I started this plan, I realized that I was under-eating. I would severely restrict myself to about 1200 calories a day, but they were not quality calories. I'm now very intentional about protein intake, carb intake, fiber intake. Which means I'm eating more (feels counterintuitive, but from what I've read, its healthier than my previously restricted diet).

Anyone experienced anything similar? Should physical progress be this slow? Could this be related to my hormonal shifts?

[Anonymous]

Losing a couple of inches around your waist is incredible for your health! Maybe you are gaining muscle? I think if you are losing inches and feeling good I’d stick with it. Weight is just a number!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 46 years old and over the past couple of years, I've gained about 25 pounds that I'm not happy with. I did some research and learned that for women in perimenopause, weight training is essential to getting healthier and will help establish the right foundation for weight loss. So, I started working with a virtual trainer that includes extensive weight training and a diet plan that matches nutrition with weight training & cardio (for example, low carb days with cardio and higher carb days with strength/weight training). I've been at this for 3 months in total and have been consistent in working out every day and following the diet plans.

I've not lost one pound. I started at 170 in February and I'm still at 170. I have, however, lost a couple of inches around my waist and an inch around my arms. I was hoping to have lost at least 5 pounds by now. I'm getting discouraged, but do not want to quit. I feel better than I've felt in a long time. If it helps, when I started this plan, I realized that I was under-eating. I would severely restrict myself to about 1200 calories a day, but they were not quality calories. I'm now very intentional about protein intake, carb intake, fiber intake. Which means I'm eating more (feels counterintuitive, but from what I've read, its healthier than my previously restricted diet).

Anyone experienced anything similar? Should physical progress be this slow? Could this be related to my hormonal shifts?

So you would you be happier if your clothes were still tight, but the scale said 165?

How often do you weight yourself? Should weight daily and track trend as weight fluctuations can hide fat loss.

If you were not previously losing weight then you were not really eating 1200 calories and are not eating more now. You are probably now eating the same number of calories more consistently where I would bet money that when you were "undereating at 1200 cal" you were really in a restrict-overeat cycle where sure you ate 1200 some days but then overate other to balance it out and gain weight. This is very typical when people try to eat a crazy low number of calories.

One thing to track in addition to calories is your consistency. If your coach tells you to eat say a calorie range of 1500-1700 calories/day are you doing that or are you going over some days? If you go over how often is this happening? How accurately are you tracking calories? Are you weighting al your food.

In terms of blaming hormones- if you think you have a hormonal issue then sure get them checked, but, in all honesty, they are likely fine.

Talk to your coach about not losing and maybe adjust calories down a little, like 100/day to see if that is working.

[Anonymous]

Talk to trainer about high intensity exercise and how to assess if you are doing that with your cardio. Some people need to do that to budge the set point for your weight. Also agree with others, muscle weighs more than fat, so may be losing fat but gaining muscle- so focusing on how your clothes are fitting as opposed to what the scale and is showing may be more important.

[Anonymous]

Keep doing what you’re doing and get semaglutide. You’ve got the good habits and you are affecting your body (you don’t lose visceral fat if you’re not!). I also have a body that will not let weight go and it’s frustrating as hell (and I’m getting Ozempic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 46 years old and over the past couple of years, I've gained about 25 pounds that I'm not happy with. I did some research and learned that for women in perimenopause, weight training is essential to getting healthier and will help establish the right foundation for weight loss. So, I started working with a virtual trainer that includes extensive weight training and a diet plan that matches nutrition with weight training & cardio (for example, low carb days with cardio and higher carb days with strength/weight training). I've been at this for 3 months in total and have been consistent in working out every day and following the diet plans.

I've not lost one pound. I started at 170 in February and I'm still at 170. I have, however, lost a couple of inches around my waist and an inch around my arms. I was hoping to have lost at least 5 pounds by now. I'm getting discouraged, but do not want to quit. I feel better than I've felt in a long time. If it helps, when I started this plan, I realized that I was under-eating. I would severely restrict myself to about 1200 calories a day, but they were not quality calories. I'm now very intentional about protein intake, carb intake, fiber intake. Which means I'm eating more (feels counterintuitive, but from what I've read, its healthier than my previously restricted diet).

Anyone experienced anything similar? Should physical progress be this slow? Could this be related to my hormonal shifts?

I’m 54 and easily lost 30 lbs from 175 to 145. I was active and worked out my whole life….gym, running, biking, etc. BUT I had to work out harder and more consistently and also change my already healthy diet to low carb. I work out 6 days a week. I rarely drink alcohol and definitely don’t do sugar or white flour carbs. No idea what diet/exercise plan you’re following but, if no other health problems, you probably need to work harder and adjust your diet.

[Anonymous]

There is almost no good advice in this thread, OP.

Look, there is a point after you've restricted calories too much for too long, in which you do need to spend some time eating more to retune your metabolism to get to a point where you're not trying to live on 1100 calories a day without gaining weight. But that's a long story.

For now, imagine you did lose a few pounds of fat and replaced it with muscle. That is why the scale is the same but your measurements are different. That's great!

Now..you absolutely can lose weight and build muscle at the same time, but if you want long term success here, I would focus for another month on gaining muscle and eating, as you say, higher but more quality calories. It helps your metabolism and it's just simpler.

Once you have boosted your metabolism with muscle and calories, you should be able to more easily lose fat on a traditional calorie restriction diet.

The key is time..there may be ways to get there faster, but they likely won't be long term.

[Anonymous]

What is your body fat percentage and TDEE? You need that information to accurately peg calories for loss.

[Anonymous]

Check out work of Dr William Li - not all calories are the same

[Anonymous]

NP. I dropped my calories to 1200 a day and was working out 6 days a week (for 45 minutes each session). I paid to have my RMR tested and it was measure at 1790. Nothing I did made me lose any weight. So frustrating!! So I saw my doctor. Once my doctor adjusted my HRT, it came off easily. You might want to see a doctor. Most posters here have food hang ups and will say you are eating too much, no matter what.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks everyone for the information and commentary. I'm looking into some of the recommendations you have provided. I'll definitely keep going and focus on continued strength. I'm proud of the fact that I've gone from barely able to lift 15 pound dumbbells to doing deadlifts with 70 pounds as of this weekend. So, there is definitely physical progress that I'm proud of. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out work of Dr William Li - not all calories are the same

Love Dr Li.

[Anonymous]

Protein! You need more. Also given your age your hormones are playing a big role in this - so don't be too hard on yourself. Start HRT once you're in menopause.

There are ton of excellent podcasts on this topic. One that I love and find super informative and relatable is Well Beyond 40 w/JJ Virgin. Another is "Everyday Wellness: Cynthia Furlow"

[Anonymous]

It’s the higher carb days. This is obvious. Someone your age and weight doesn’t need higher carb days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s the higher carb days. This is obvious. Someone your age and weight doesn’t need higher carb days.

The correct answer.