5 weeks in...Advice.

[snufy]

300 lbs and not losing weight on ~2000 calories, hmm... you need to get your thyroid checked or something

and this is 100% trusting that you are counting correctly like you say you are

I have mild sleep apnea, not enough to get a machine, but yes. That massively ****s you up cortisol/insulin/leptin/ghrelin. Think of women that have PCOS, same sort of thing. But that doesn’t fly with the “calories in, calories out” crowd. Makes it very difficult to lose weight. If it’s a 20-30% detriment, then you need to do that much more cardio, or eat that much less.

There’s a reason why I can run identical diets and programs, but on EC stack I easily lose 2.5-3 pounds a week like magic, (and have perfect digestion) I’m cheating the problem.

People only scream cico here like there’s no other factors. I understand that for 95% of people that’s likely the case.

Think of cortisol/insulin like a 3 lane highway/switch that goes in different directions, one is fat loss, one stays the same, one gains weight. It’s very very hard to get in the loses weight for me. Obviously I can as I’m having some success, but it’s exceptionally slow.

I never feel hungry, and can easily get by on 1500-1600 cals. I’m not a liar, that’s the messed up effect of it... I never feel hungry, because my body isn’t doing anything.. because of the previous statement

So yes, it’s cico if you’re in a pure starvation situation, but your body does adapt, mine just does all the wrong things. It’s always been this way, it’s never not been this way, except the 8-12 weeks I ran ec.

Like why would bodybuilders take insulin if it did nothin? Use some logic. Obviously it’s not that extent, but it’s all just hormonal manipulation and I get the fat end of the stick.


TLDR: Metabolism is a slug

[EiFit91]

Down to 302, so that’s 11 pounds in 8 weeks. About 1.2-3lbs a week

Met with a nutritionist, he said don’t change anything, told me not to be a retard about trying to hit 2 pounds a week. Just be patient and keep at it enjoying the pound and a bit a week.

Bought a scale and weigh everything but veggies. Was pretty close over all. Wasn’t off as much as you guys thought.

Weight comes off every other week, never weekly which is kind of funny, the second week workouts feel tougher forsure compared to the previous week, but without fail the scale moves down.

Ive been running a nearly straight conditioning program, lots of body weight type exercises, prowler, ball throw etc.. ive really been enjoying it compared to lifting for strength, I feel really good the next day and I’m ready to go again. Don’t feel beat and like I got hit by a bus.

Going to run the same program with adjustments for another 8 weeks. See if we can get 14-15 pounds off this time.

I have a feeling weight loss is going to accelerate for me as I get smaller, it did last time, as my sleep improves, absolutely everything else improves.

The average loss is then about 1.4 pounds a week; use that number to estimate your maintenance and to plan ahead, but note that even this number contains some noise and is just an estimate. From now on, make decisions based on the average monthly rate of weight loss instead of obsessing about occasional plateaus that will inevitably happen. If you don't want to collect detailed data and do formal statistical analyses you can just keep track of the highest and lowest weight every week, and note whether that interval keeps moving downwards over time.

I would personally ignore the "nutritionist" and try to lose weight more quickly if my weight was above 300 lbs and I struggled with sleep apnea. At your weight you should not have problems losing weight more quickly. I agree with others that you still aren't counting correctly (based on your posts) and the fact that you still believe you do sounds like confirmation bias.

Some studies also indicate that obese people have higher risk of severe complications from Covid-19, so there's that...

[EiFit91]

I have mild sleep apnea, not enough to get a machine, but yes. That massively ****s you up cortisol/insulin/leptin/ghrelin. Think of women that have PCOS, same sort of thing. But that doesn’t fly with the “calories in, calories out” crowd. Makes it very difficult to lose weight. If it’s a 20-30% detriment, then you need to do that much more cardio, or eat that much less.

There’s a reason why I can run identical diets and programs, but on EC stack I easily lose 2.5-3 pounds a week like magic, (and have perfect digestion) I’m cheating the problem.

People only scream cico here like there’s no other factors. I understand that for 95% of people that’s likely the case.

Think of cortisol/insulin like a 3 lane highway/switch that goes in different directions, one is fat loss, one stays the same, one gains weight. It’s very very hard to get in the loses weight for me. Obviously I can as I’m having some success, but it’s exceptionally slow.

I never feel hungry, and can easily get by on 1500-1600 cals. I’m not a liar, that’s the messed up effect of it... I never feel hungry, because my body isn’t doing anything.. because of the previous statement

So yes, it’s cico if you’re in a pure starvation situation, but your body does adapt, mine just does all the wrong things. It’s always been this way, it’s never not been this way, except the 8-12 weeks I ran ec.

Like why would bodybuilders take insulin if it did nothin? Use some logic. Obviously it’s not that extent, but it’s all just hormonal manipulation and I get the fat end of the stick.


TLDR: Metabolism is a slug

More like 99%+. Thyroid issues are much less common in men than women and increasing with age (and you are 31).

People don't "scream cico", they just read your posts and apply Occam's razor. Explanation 1: You have a rare condition. Explanation 2: You are eating more than you think (tons of evidence for this from your posts in this thread alone).

[CommitmentRulz]

OP, on 12/7 you detail weight loss and admit you are not counting ANY veggies in your calorie totals.

Then, on 12/12 - just 5 days later - you've been stalled for 2 weeks and counting EVERYTHING. (The MOST you could have been counting everything is 5 days, and you are still (I believe) miscounting.)

If you are never hungry, how/why did you get to 300 pounds?

[TolerantLactose]

People only scream cico here like there’s no other factors. I understand that for 95% of people that’s likely the case.

Think of cortisol/insulin like a 3 lane highway/switch that goes in different directions, one is fat loss, one stays the same, one gains weight. It’s very very hard to get in the loses weight for me. Obviously I can as I’m having some success, but it’s exceptionally slow.

Yes, think of calories in/calories out as a highway. People who understand CICO can speed up or slow down as traffic dictates. You'd rather drive into a ditch. Everything you mention don't operate outside CICO, they merely affect the traffic on that highway and you refuse to adjust.

I never feel hungry, and can easily get by on 1500-1600 cals.

For people who actually feel little hunger (like me), the danger is becoming underweight. I can drop to 135lbs. soaking wet without trying.

[snufy]

OP, on 12/7 you detail weight loss and admit you are not counting ANY veggies in your calorie totals.

Then, on 12/12 - just 5 days later - you've been stalled for 2 weeks and counting EVERYTHING. (The MOST you could have been counting everything is 5 days, and you are still (I believe) miscounting.)

If you are never hungry, how/why did you get to 300 pounds?

We're talking nominal amounts of veggies.

We're tripping over 5's to pick up a penny if you understand what im trying to say....

I can easily gain weight on 2500 cals. No problem. I've never been able to eat what everyone else eats.

I'm going to drop down to 1700 and see if it won't come off faster.

[snufy]

More like 99%+. Thyroid issues are much less common in men than women and increasing with age (and you are 31).

People don't "scream cico", they just read your posts and apply Occam's razor. Explanation 1: You have a rare condition. Explanation 2: You are eating more than you think (tons of evidence for this from your posts in this thread alone).

Technically not a thyroid issue, but mild sleep depravation, that will indeed mess you up a similar fashion. So anytime you get blood work done, everything comes back no problem.

[snufy]

The average loss is then about 1.4 pounds a week; use that number to estimate your maintenance and to plan ahead, but note that even this number contains some noise and is just an estimate. From now on, make decisions based on the average monthly rate of weight loss instead of obsessing about occasional plateaus that will inevitably happen. If you don't want to collect detailed data and do formal statistical analyses you can just keep track of the highest and lowest weight every week, and note whether that interval keeps moving downwards over time.

I would personally ignore the "nutritionist" and try to lose weight more quickly if my weight was above 300 lbs and I struggled with sleep apnea. At your weight you should not have problems losing weight more quickly. I agree with others that you still aren't counting correctly (based on your posts) and the fact that you still believe you do sounds like confirmation bias.

Some studies also indicate that obese people have higher risk of severe complications from Covid-19, so there's that...

I'm already aiming for 1900-2100 cals? I'm getting slow progress as it is?

I mean do I bring that down to 1500-1700? I mean, I can. I don't find that challenging, but that's pretty low.

tdee comes in around 2800-3K so that's a solid 1100 calories less.

I guess if I consider myself having a 15-25% handicap, Then the formula would be 2800-1000 cals = 1800 - 15% more = 1580.

Or I have to create a bigger deficit with some (more) cardio daily for another 300-400 cals.

[TolerantLactose]

ITT 300 lb guy says dieting is easy peasy.

[EiFit91]

Technically not a thyroid issue, but mild sleep depravation, that will indeed mess you up a similar fashion. So anytime you get blood work done, everything comes back no problem.

Sleep deprivation may influence your hunger and hormones and may lead you to eat more and move less, but I don't think it will mechanically lower your BMR. But happy to be convinced otherwise if you can point to studies showing such a mechanism.

[EiFit91]

Yes, think of calories in/calories out as a highway. People who understand CICO can speed up or slow down as traffic dictates. You'd rather drive into a ditch. Everything you mention don't operate outside CICO, they merely affect the traffic on that highway and you refuse to adjust.



For people who actually feel little hunger (like me), the danger is becoming underweight. I can drop to 135lbs. soaking wet without trying.

This right here! I am the opposite, if I don't control what I eat I end up at about 240 lbs. Having dieted down slowly and practiced good food habits my appetite has improved a lot, but I know that if I drop the control I will probably just gain all the weight back.

The main evidence that OP is lying to himself is the claim that it is easy to eat 1500-1600 calories and still function, combined with the fact that he is 300 lbs. When I was about 225 lbs and stupidly wanted to speed up my weight loss, I tried eating 1600 a day just Monday-Thursday and then higher on the weekends. It was really hard to function and counterproductive as NEAT was reduced, and it was hard to get enough dietary fat. And at that point I was about 75 lbs lighter than OP, who came to this forum asking for help and then claims he can easily diet on 1500-1600 calories a day...

[faithbrah]

tdee comes in around 2800-3K so that's a solid 1100 calories less.

you can't say your TDEE is ~3000 if you're gaining weight @ ~2500 calories. that literally means your TDEE is less than 2500

just something you should consider for future posts to avoid confusion

[Tommy W.]

I'm already aiming for 1900-2100 cals? I'm getting slow progress as it is?

I mean do I bring that down to 1500-1700? I mean, I can. I don't find that challenging, but that's pretty low.

tdee comes in around 2800-3K so that's a solid 1100 calories less.

I guess if I consider myself having a 15-25% handicap, Then the formula would be 2800-1000 cals = 1800 - 15% more = 1580.

Or I have to create a bigger deficit with some (more) cardio daily for another 300-400 cals.

you're gonna have to get your head around a low calorie scenario as you lose weight. You need to drop around 700 calories a week for every 10 lbs you lose. As you get leaner the losses will become harder and harder so if you’re struggling now with things you’ll be limited to what you’ll be able to accomplish fat loss wise in the long run

[snufy]

I need some advice not related to diet/food.....

I go to the gym 5 days a week and run a conditioning dominant program. It's great and exactly what I want. My athletic performance is much better then 10 weeks ago. a 7 minute 2000M row is doable. I nearly did it for fun last week.

However, I absolutely have to increase my non-exercise movement like during the day. I work from home at a desk or on the couch. I NEED to move more. I would just go walk around the block, except that I live somewhere that appears on the "top 10 coldest places on earth today" and it usually appears more then 10 days a year.... so it's a bit of a chore to just "go for a walk".

I was looking at some under desk bikes? I live in a condo, so I can't jump around or anything like that.

This would be absolutely a very easy way to get me another 300-800 calories a day to add to the deficit.

If I counted right now, I'm for sure under 300 steps a day (not including the gym) not for any specific reason, there's just nothing to do.

[SuffolkPunch]

I need some advice not related to diet/food.....

I go to the gym 5 days a week and run a conditioning dominant program. It's great and exactly what I want. My athletic performance is much better then 10 weeks ago. a 7 minute 2000M row is doable. I nearly did it for fun last week.

However, I absolutely have to increase my non-exercise movement like during the day. I work from home at a desk or on the couch. I NEED to move more. I would just go walk around the block, except that I live somewhere that appears on the "top 10 coldest places on earth today" and it usually appears more then 10 days a year.... so it's a bit of a chore to just "go for a walk".

I was looking at some under desk bikes? I live in a condo, so I can't jump around or anything like that.

This would be absolutely a very easy way to get me another 300-800 calories a day to add to the deficit.

If I counted right now, I'm for sure under 300 steps a day (not including the gym) not for any specific reason, there's just nothing to do.

It's a waste of time IMO. I read that trying to do this makes hardly any difference because you don't have any control over your subconscious tendency to compensate by reducing movement when you aren't thinking about it. Simply reducing your calorie intake is WAY more effective. Even hard formal cardio doesn't burn that many extra calories - and that's when you are sweating your ass off.

[Tommy W.]

It's a waste of time IMO. I read that trying to do this makes hardly any difference because you don't have any control over your subconscious tendency to compensate by reducing movement when you aren't thinking about it. Simply reducing your calorie intake is WAY more effective. Even hard formal cardio doesn't burn that many extra calories - and that's when you are sweating your ass off.

correct. OP you seem to be fighting the lower calorie concept and that will severely limit your success

[tjcashmoney]

I normally shut up on threads like these, but you got me to bite. How in the **** are you going to come here to ask for advice, then argue with everybody about the advice they gave you? You're obviously doing it wrong if weight isn't coming off. Take their advice. Spend 20 bucks on a damn kitchen scale and weigh EVERYTHING. Otherwise quit complaining that you're staying fat.

And by the way, you are eating WAY more than 2k calories. Even if your portion sizes are spot on the diet you showed is like 2500 cals. "Some Greek dressing and feta" is not the same as exactly 30 grams of each. You load that **** up for like 800-1000 cals and then call it 100. It isn't helping you lose weight. If you aren't staying somewhat hungry then you're doing it wrong.

[Luclin999]

If you aren't staying somewhat hungry then you're doing it wrong.

^^^ 100%

[snufy]

^^^ 100%

Hmmm, interesting. Last time I cut down, a good 6-7 years ago, I wasn't as knowledgeable. I pretty much ate the same thing everyday, I measured with the labels back then.

I would honestly guess I hardly made 1500 calories. It was a protein shake and/or handful of oatmeal, 8oz chicken with a half cup of rice, a small greek yogurt, then another shake after the gym, then the same chicken/rice and a bowl full of salad for dinner. I was a college student on a budget, so this was like 70 bucks a week for food. I would have a steak on sunday every week, just once a week with the red meat.

Perhaps I was much lower on cals then I thought back then. What I thought was 2000 was really 1300-1500. That's really the only time I would feel satiety, but still a bit hungry after every meal.

I guess that's why I was getting some real solid results.....

I will try this same thing, or similar and reduce cals a bit after Christmas. Will do an exact meal prep and see how it goes.

[snufy]

correct. OP you seem to be fighting the lower calorie concept and that will severely limit your success

Once Christmas gets out of the way here, I will try a bit lower and see if I can get a little faster/consistent. Last week of the month I will prep it right for say 1600 cals. I was honestly probably 2100-2300.

Some people freakout when cals are low, but meh? doesn't really bother me from a hunger or performance aspect.

[Tommy W.]

Once Christmas gets out of the way here, I will try a bit lower and see if I can get a little faster/consistent. Last week of the month I will prep it right for say 1600 cals. I was honestly probably 2100-2300.

Some people freakout when cals are low, but meh? doesn't really bother me from a hunger or performance aspect.

You handle low cals because they aren't low, you're just miscounting

[Charlsy]

I normally shut up on threads like these, but you got me to bite. How in the **** are you going to come here to ask for advice, then argue with everybody about the advice they gave you? You're obviously doing it wrong if weight isn't coming off. Take their advice. Spend 20 bucks on a damn kitchen scale and weigh EVERYTHING. Otherwise quit complaining that you're staying fat.

And by the way, you are eating WAY more than 2k calories. Even if your portion sizes are spot on the diet you showed is like 2500 cals. "Some Greek dressing and feta" is not the same as exactly 30 grams of each. You load that **** up for like 800-1000 cals and then call it 100. It isn't helping you lose weight. If you aren't staying somewhat hungry then you're doing it wrong.

This. OP sounds like a troll.

[snufy]

Turns out it was a thyroid problem.

Fixed/fixing it now, losing 1/2 a pound about every 2 days.

Will be back under 300 in 5-7 days.

I actually feel hungry, digestion actually works now. My stomach moves, I feel better all around. Strength/nervous system is much better, not lagging any longer.

I now understand how people can talk about losing 3-5 pounds a week. (Although unhealthy)

This is very similar to ec stack pace. The ec at the time must have been making up for the sluggish thyroid.

Let’s see if this keeps up...

[SuffolkPunch]

Wow, a rare case where there really was an underlying issue

Glad you got it sorted OP.

[snufy]

Wow, a rare case where there really was an underlying issue

Glad you got it sorted OP.

I can’t believe this is what it’s actually supposed to feel like.... no wonder very little progress was made.

I would honestly say it’s a 55-70% difference, which is also pretty much what the math says for rate of loss and caloric intake that I should be able to eat and lose on.

I will be shocked if I legit can lose 3ish pounds a week. Seems to be the pace over the last 10 or so days. Feeling good.

[snufy]

299.7 this morning. Under 300 again feels good. Will start looking at 280.

Very pleased. Seem to be getting 1/2 to 1 pound every 2 days.

I’ve come in 2 notches on the belt. (A 38 belt)

[drTonyD]

SAME HERE
AS ive eaten more carbs ive been getting better workouts and my weight is consistent

I used to think the same. I was like I bet it’s the carbs that are keeping me fat and not helping me lose weight. Now I’m eating over 200g of carbs a day and steadily losing and weighing almost everything. Makes the world of a difference

[snufy]

Back to 302/3. Been holding there for like 10 days. I’ve been right on the diet, good meal prep, good counting/macros. I did see 298 for a day or two, but must have been some water moving around.

I switched gyms and I’ve added 30-40 mins of treadmill (4 incline and 3-3.5mph ) after every workout.

My physical performance is good, feeling good. Clothes are looser, belt/shorts. Scale is slow to move...

I’m around 1700-1800 cals. Meals have been right. Prepped for the whole week.

****, I’m not impatient, I just wanna see some regular movement is all... I still don’t know how people get 2+ pounds a week. Seems insane.

Perhaps it’s just a sticking point from upping the cardio in the last week.

Water intake is nice and high. Easily 10-12
Liters a day. Protein maybe lacking... I’ve got 40-50 grams with each meal and 2 shakes, so that’s around 150-170. So maybe I need to up it.

[faithbrah]

Back to 302/3. Been holding there for like 10 days. I’ve been right on the diet, good meal prep, good counting/macros. I did see 298 for a day or two, but must have been some water moving around.

I switched gyms and I’ve added 30-40 mins of treadmill (4 incline and 3-3.5mph ) after every workout.

My physical performance is good, feeling good. Clothes are looser, belt/shorts. Scale is slow to move...

I’m around 1700-1800 cals. Meals have been right. Prepped for the whole week.

****, I’m not impatient, I just wanna see some regular movement is all... I still don’t know how people get 2+ pounds a week. Seems insane.

Perhaps it’s just a sticking point from upping the cardio in the last week.

Water intake is nice and high. Easily 10-12
Liters a day. Protein maybe lacking... I’ve got 40-50 grams with each meal and 2 shakes, so that’s around 150-170. So maybe I need to up it.

that's probably enough protein honestly

also, 10-12 liters of water a day? what?

[AdamWW]

that's probably enough protein honestly

also, 10-12 liters of water a day? what?

Yeah that can’t be right...