Can't lose weight !!

[gatrus]

Hi guys,
I'm 48 years old and 3 months ago decided to change my lifestyle. I stopped smoking and decided to hit the gym for the first time in years. I started off with a weight of 193lbs and a belly. ( i'm 5 feet 7 inches tall). Now I still weigh the same and just have less of a belly. I'm at the gym 4 times a week doing weight training and 30 minutes of cardio. My diet is much better, eating more fruits and vegies, and especially more proteins.
I just don't understand why I'm not loosing the weight. Especially when you hear around you of people loosing 10-15 pounds a month. They even say the first 10 pounds are the easy ones.
Any suggestions?

[Dielikeadog]

dont rely on the scale, use the mirror. you're just adding muscle weight, a good thing.

[T-Rage]

I just posted this in another post but it applies here as we'll so...

I was just like you...very athletic most of my life then then at 42 years old i was 192 pounds and 32% body fat. I tried cleaning up my diet but I struggled to lose weight. I worried my testosterone was low, etc. Then I began researching for weeks and ended up going primal (low carb, moderate protein, high fat lifestyle). In less than 3 months I effortlessly went from 192 @ 32 % to 165 @ 20% (if you do the math you will see I maintained my lean body mass). There is no question in my mind that giving up sugars and all refined grains is the right thing to do for weight and health. I now go low carb on non lifting days and moderate carbs on lifting days. There is a ton of information here and all over the internet so I would highly recommend checking it out. It's changed my life and I look better than I did 10 years ago.

[ironwill2008]

Hi guys,
I'm 48 years old and 3 months ago decided to change my lifestyle. I stopped smoking and decided to hit the gym for the first time in years. I started off with a weight of 193lbs and a belly. ( i'm 5 feet 7 inches tall). Now I still weigh the same and just have less of a belly. I'm at the gym 4 times a week doing weight training and 30 minutes of cardio. My diet is much better, eating more fruits and vegies, and especially more proteins.
I just don't understand why I'm not loosing the weight. Especially when you hear around you of people loosing 10-15 pounds a month. They even say the first 10 pounds are the easy ones.
Any suggestions?

If you have "less of a belly," you're making at least some progress. But you make no mention of your calorie or macro intake, or how you're measuring/tracking it.








If you want to really start doing things correctly, and make consistently steady progress, begin here:


No requirement for supplements at your level; learn how to eat first. This thread will explain all the steps to figure your baseline of required protein, fat, carbs, and calories:
*Emma-Leigh's calorie/macro thread: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121703981



Buy an inexpensive digital food scale (~$30 at any big-box discount store), weigh your portions, and track them here: http://fitday.com

[Caesura75]

I stopped smoking

Congrats on packing the cigs. It's important to be aware though that an average person will put on 11lbs of weight within the first year of quitting. The body's metabolism slows and takes up to 12 months to return to normal.

Therefore, if you're keeping your weight stable, you're in fact doing really well and the training/nutrition is paying dividends. If you want to actually lose weight, then you'll need to be strict on the calories.

I personally gained 10lbs after quitting the smokes and found it absolute hell to shed again. Hats off to you for keeping it at bay.

[crupiea]

Do you really not understand why you are not losing weight?

You know its your diet.

Obvioulsy just cleaning it upa a bit is not working and you need to track everything better.

Just eating more fruits, veggies and protein is a nice start but if you are just replacing the old junk food calories with an equal amount of whole food calories what do you suppose the result will be?

[gatrus]

To your points ironwill and t-rage, I will definately take a closer look at my diet. All I want to loose is 10 - 15 pounds. More important, i want to loose the % of fat.

keep the comments comming. it is much appreciated for a a newbie as myself and great learnings.

[JerryB]

When I'm on a plan to lose body fat I use a good quality skinfold calipers to measure the lost of subcutaneous fat. If my total body weight is dropping too fast and the skinfold measurement have not changed then it's an indication I probably losing muscle mass. I then adjust my diet according.

[BalhamBeast]

Another vote for low carb/higher fat. It's the only thing that works for me.

I put on about 20lbs when I quit (I was almost 30, so I've been off the cigarettes for nearly 16 years now) so I know how it feels. Whilst a lot of smokers put on pounds just by swapping one oral fixation (smoking) for another (eating), it's more than that. Nicotine blunts appetite and also interferes with estrogen uptake (why a lot of women lose lower body fat when they start smoking and gain it back when they quit) and of course, the end of meal cigarette goes which means you lose one of the cues to stop eating. You can chew a bit of mint gum after a meal or clean your teeth to replace that, though it's not really the same, unfortunately!

As for the rest, I got my figure back by cutting carbs, as I mentioned, and doing a lot of interval training. I must admit even now I have more trouble keeping my fat levels lower than when I smoked, but then I'm significantly older.

[ElectricBill]

Congrats on quitting smoking!
I had a smoking and drinking problem for many years, it feels good to get that crap out of your life.
I dropped from 225 to 172...went too far, but now back about 182.
For me, just like quitting smoking, the key is just getting your mind right....stop "wanting" what is bad for you, or not in line with your goals.
I still eat good portions...balanced meals, but for me the KEY is to forbid yourself from eating anything between dinner and breakfast.
I try to go at least 12 hours without eating, sometimes longer on the weekends, and drink alot of water.
By cutting out those late night snacks, AND working out on an empty stomach before eating breakfast, has helped we lose weight without feeling like I have to eat some dinky meal and feel hungry all the time.
Breakfast is a awesome meal now, I think my body is burning off fat while excersising, and then more reved up to make effective use of the big breakfast meal after working out.

Best of luck to you...you can do it!

[cmg1976]

What worked for me was calculating my maintenance calories and eating at a small deficit, and measuring and logging everything. That is the easy part. Took a little more art to figuring out how to eat that amount and not be hungry all the time. For me, that meant plenty of protein, moderate fat, and less carbs (oatmeal every morning/pre workout, but then fruit/veggies/dairy making up the rest as opposed to starches). Often would work out to about 1/3 of my calories from each group, give or take a few percentage points depending on the day.

[kittyboy]

Stop eating so much poutine.

[MecGen]

Stop eating so much poutine.

Never !!

[beachguy498]

LCHF... I just read up on it and its quite the eye opener.

http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

Fats.. almost anything goes including butter, heavy cream and sour cream. Fruits out.. are to be limited since they contain natural sugar.

I'm going to give it a go this year, but out-and-out love my carbs. Just have to opt for better choices.

Rob

[T-Rage]

LCHF... I just read up on it and its quite the eye opener.

Fats.. almost anything goes including butter, heavy cream and sour cream. Fruits out.. are to be limited since they contain natural sugar.

I'm going to give it a go this year, but out-and-out love my carbs. Just have to opt for better choices.

Rob

Yup I've watched diet doctor. Nice guy really trying to help people. The great news is that diet doctor, mark sisson (primal), paleos, diabetic diets, they all correlate and support one another with only slight variations. There is a food revolution coming for sure. Eye opening is an understatement!

[DesertDude11]

Hi guys,
I'm 48 years old and 3 months ago decided to change my lifestyle. I stopped smoking and decided to hit the gym for the first time in years. I started off with a weight of 193lbs and a belly. ( i'm 5 feet 7 inches tall). Now I still weigh the same and just have less of a belly. I'm at the gym 4 times a week doing weight training and 30 minutes of cardio. My diet is much better, eating more fruits and vegies, and especially more proteins.
I just don't understand why I'm not loosing the weight. Especially when you hear around you of people loosing 10-15 pounds a month. They even say the first 10 pounds are the easy ones.
Any suggestions?

I totally hear you and feel your pain! I too quit smoking and gained a TON of weight... closer to 40 lbs to be specific... It has been hard as hell to lose. One thing you need to do is be truly honest with yourself. Count your calories in a real way, don't forget to add sauces, dips, etc. Those have a ton of hidden calories.

Once I got truly honest, I realized that what I thought was a 3500 calorie per week deficit was in fact more of a 6-8,000 calorie per week SURPLUS! The only thing that kept me from blimping out was my workouts and cardio.

Count each and every calorie. You cannot afford to guess, especially after quitting smoking!

[Corbi]

Stop eating so much poutine.

LOL, I love that stuff but my wife thinks it's nasty all mixed up together. They even serve it at Wendys in Vancouver which was a bit of a surprise.

[gatrus]

LOL, I love that stuff but my wife thinks it's nasty all mixed up together. They even serve it at Wendys in Vancouver which was a bit of a surprise.

There is nothing like a Ashton poutine in quebec city. I need at least 2 per year as compensation. Lol

[Brackneyc]

What worked for me was calculating my maintenance calories and eating at a small deficit, and measuring and logging everything. That is the easy part. Took a little more art to figuring out how to eat that amount and not be hungry all the time. For me, that meant plenty of protein, moderate fat, and less carbs (oatmeal every morning/pre workout, but then fruit/veggies/dairy making up the rest as opposed to starches). Often would work out to about 1/3 of my calories from each group, give or take a few percentage points depending on the day.

About as simple and well stated as any non-competing lifter will ever need^^

[Kingthumper]

Another vote for low carb/higher fat. It's the only thing that works for me.

Ditto here as well. Not ketosis low, but about 100g - 120g of cho/day while consuming 1850 calories on a deficit. The remaining calories coming from protein and fat. Then every 7 - 10 days, I double or triple my carbs for the day and dial back the fat - carb refeed so to speak. Its worked thus far...53lbs and counting

What worked for me was calculating my maintenance calories and eating at a small deficit, and measuring and logging everything. That is the easy part. Took a little more art to figuring out how to eat that amount and not be hungry all the time. For me, that meant plenty of protein, moderate fat, and less carbs (oatmeal every morning/pre workout, but then fruit/veggies/dairy making up the rest as opposed to starches). Often would work out to about 1/3 of my calories from each group, give or take a few percentage points depending on the day.

^ This. Very well said!

[Medtreker]

Hi guys,
I'm 48 years old and 3 months ago decided to change my lifestyle. I stopped smoking and decided to hit the gym for the first time in years. I started off with a weight of 193lbs and a belly. ( i'm 5 feet 7 inches tall). Now I still weigh the same and just have less of a belly. I'm at the gym 4 times a week doing weight training and 30 minutes of cardio. My diet is much better, eating more fruits and vegies, and especially more proteins.
I just don't understand why I'm not loosing the weight. Especially when you hear around you of people loosing 10-15 pounds a month. They even say the first 10 pounds are the easy ones.
Any suggestions?

You gotta look at the big picture (no pun intended). How long did it take to put that extra weight on?? I bet it took longer than 3 months. Give yourself time, and understand you are making progress. If you find your body weight basically at status while improving your lift weight, well then, that's progress! You can always just loose fat. If you really, really want to loose fat, there's a whole bunch of ideas found on this site, no to mention the suggestions above. For me, it's all about the carbs. Trick if finding carbs that provide energy (enough) while scrapping all other carbs. Doesn't leave to much. It also takes time for your body to respond to a changing diet. Don't aim for 10-15 a month. Tha's a big mistake. Think in terms of years, like I said...how long did it take to put it on??

[trev71]

What worked for me was calculating my maintenance calories and eating at a small deficit, and measuring and logging everything. That is the easy part. Took a little more art to figuring out how to eat that amount and not be hungry all the time. For me, that meant plenty of protein, moderate fat, and less carbs (oatmeal every morning/pre workout, but then fruit/veggies/dairy making up the rest as opposed to starches). Often would work out to about 1/3 of my calories from each group, give or take a few percentage points depending on the day.

^^^ bingo !!

Eat 500 less than maintenance...
Gym with weights 3+ per week..
Protein ... 1.5 grams per lean body mass pounds..

COUNT your calories.

[MTCS]

So, just checking out your thread and I might be just slightly younger but I also couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing the weight. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=143768553 I sent you the thread that I used for a 12 week cut and it has the before and after pics. As you build the muscle, the fat will disappear! You will see it in your clothes and everything else. Right now the scale is your enemy. Get your gym to do your bodyfat measurements on a monthly basis and you will be amazed!

[gatrus]

Very impressive MTCS. I will try to imitate that died and exercise routine. thanks