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.