Struggling

[tawnylioness]

please forgive my rant ~ i am exercising for an hour at the gym everyday with a mix of cardio and weights, i have changed how i eat - breakfast if either cereal or egg and tomato omelet, lunch is veg soup or a salad, and dinner is either fish or meat with veg.... i only eat carbs once or twice a week for dinner... i gained weight which while depressing i am assuming its muscle weight... but i am not losing fat at all... my inches are not moving... infact my stomach is an inch bigger than it was a couple weeks ago... i am trying so hard to lose weight but i am failing and i dont know why

 

[bigm141414]

How long have you been at this? A few weeks? Longer? How do you measure your weight/inches? Same time of day in roughly the same conditions? Weight can fluctuate 5ish lbs depending on when you measure. As for inches same thing applies in the measuring process. Same condtions. 

 

Also, what are you doing for exercise? You say a mix of cardio and weights but what is the break down? 

 

Don't lose heart. 

[tawnylioness]

i have been going to the gym pretty much everday for a month....before that i was doing jillian michaels videos at home.. i measure with a scale and a measuring tape, in the morning soon as i get up

 

at the gym im still finding my weight routine.... but i usually spend a hour ish doing various weight excersises ... due to the advice here i will be toning it down to four excersises with higher reps and on the alternate days i mindlessly run on the treadmill or eliptical for about 20 - 30m

[Morrigainz]

If it's only been a week...don't worry. Keep at it. Remember this is a marathon and not a sprint - and you are becoming stronger and more awesome every day!

[tawnylioness]

oh! im sorry i ment a month! everyday for a month   edited the above to change it

[Morrigainz]

I should add that throughout the last challenge I was eating at a deficit on target to lose about 1 lb/week. Because of weird body stuff and who knows what else, I actually gained 2-3 lbs. In six weeks. I'm assuming that you are a woman because of your s/n...so be prepared for random body fluctuations.

[Morrigainz]

Still! A month is not that long. Just keep at it! And honestly even without the female business, when lift weights you damage your muscles, which then retain water (I'm assuming in some kind of repair mechanism, although I'm unclear on the details). I'm assuming this is why I gained weight during the last challenge - I changed my lifting program about 1-2 weeks ago and no doubt that has something to do with it.

[bigm141414]

oh! im sorry i ment a month! everyday for a month   edited the above to change it

 

 

Remember that rest is just as important. Every day for a week when starting out is crazy pants. Go every other day, rest your body, and if you need to do something on off days, active rest like walking or stretching/yoga. 

 

How are you sleeping by the way? 7-8 hours a night? 

[tawnylioness]

I am female and i have two little kids, i go to bed 10:30/11 every night and wake up either at 7 or at 10 if i get a sleep in.. i do wake up severaly times a night though so its not uninterupted.... and i do admit to struggling with my water intake...i dont drink bad things... i just dont drink .. but im trying to remember to drink.

 

so only go to the gym for 3-4 days a week? ( i love the term crazy pants btw ) do all my cardio and weights only on those days? i would feel lazy but i do realise the need for rest

[Morrigainz]

Rest is just as important as the workout! And sure, you can do cardio and other stuff at the same time. Just remember not to get crazypants with it and take a break if your body needs one

[tawnylioness]

*giggles again at crazypants* rest is good... but still wont help these rotten fatty fats go away >.< i wish i knew what i am doing wrong!

[marionette]

Ignoring the scale and tape for a minute - are you running longer? Are you lifting heavier? Are you feeling better? And, as hard as it is, are you eating enough?

[Morrigainz]

Rest actually might help the fatty fats go away

 

Another thing to consider- do you have any idea how many calories you are consuming? It's an imperfect tool, but calorie counting can help people streamline their food intake.

[tawnylioness]

i average around 1200... sometimes under, sometimes over... i tried to make it to 1700 everyday for a while a month back but it was a struggle to eat so much! i still suck at running, but i am slowly getting better.... i am 30 years old and this is the first time i have been able to run for longer than 5 mins due to asthma... but i got a shiny new preventer and now i dont get asthma at all

[marionette]

Is that preventer a steroid by chance? It might be the culprit.

[tawnylioness]

i read this?  Pulmicort contains budesonide which is a corticosteroid.

[tawnylioness]

oh damn... im reading up about my puffer.. alot of these : Pulmicort has controlled my asthma, which is why I have taken it for so long. I tried not taking it for about 2 years, and lost 18kg in that time (about 40lbs). Since going back onto Pulmicort that weight has gone back on and no amount of dieting or exercise seems to help

[marionette]

Yeah, that is a steroid and steroids can cause weight gain. That said, DON'T STOP USING IT. IT IS HELPING YOU! But you might want to share you concerns regarding weight with your doctor. Tell him/her your specific goals and recruit them to help you.

[bigm141414]

And while you and your doc figure it out, try focusing more of activity goals (run faster/longer, lift more, etc) These type of goals can help mitigate some of the anxiety over weight loss. 

[marionette]

^^^ this.

[tawnylioness]

i did speak to my doc about it.... he did a full blood workout, said there was nothing wrong with it, and then said to up my cardio :/

[marionette]

Be a pest or find a new doctor. They work for you. And really be specific, it tends to penetrate further into doctor brains. Hard for them to argue when you show up with a month long journal tracking intake, expenditure, and weight fluctuations.

[Rostov]

Yeah, that is a steroid and steroids can cause weight gain. That said, DON'T STOP USING IT. IT IS HELPING YOU! But you might want to share you concerns regarding weight with your doctor. Tell him/her your specific goals and recruit them to help you.

 

I'm not sure that's correct.  Some steroids (I'm thinking of Prednisolone in particular) have the side effect of doing very strange things to the appetite (as in six full meals per day, odd feelings of being absolutely ravenous) which in turn causes weight gain.  Budesonide doesn't, I don't think - I've been on large doses of both for Crohn's Disease and had nothing like the same symptoms.  In any caes, I doubt the doseage of Budesonide in an asthma inhaler is high enough to cause problems.

[marionette]

I'm not sure that's correct.  Some steroids (I'm thinking of Prednisolone in particular) have the side effect of doing very strange things to the appetite (as in six full meals per day, odd feelings of being absolutely ravenous) which in turn causes weight gain.  Budesonide doesn't, I don't think - I've been on large doses of both for Crohn's Disease and had nothing like the same symptoms.  In any caes, I doubt the doseage of Budesonide in an asthma inhaler is high enough to cause problems.

I said can cause, not definitely causes. Corticosteroids in particular are prone to causing weight gain, mood swings, acne etc. You can find the full list of side effects and more info about them as a class here ->http://my.clevelandclinic.org/drugs/corticosteroids/hic_corticosteroids.aspx

[Rostov]

The link refers to corticosteroids in general, and is written in the context of the treatment of inflamatory conditions. It doesn't mention Pulmicort or asthma as far as I can see.

 

I haven't found any reputable sources that lists appetite/weight gain as a possible side effect of taking Pulmicort (budesonide).  Here are two that don't:

http://www.nhs.uk/medicine-guides/pages/MedicineSideEffects.aspx?condition=Asthma&medicine=Pulmicort&preparation=

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/allergy-and-asthma/medicines/pulmicort.html

 

This page (from the NHS in the UK) draws a distinction between oral steroids and inhaled steriods. Side effects are a significant problem for oral steroids, but not for inhaled.  I don't know whether the difference is between the method of administration or the relative dosage size or both, but I really don't see any evidence that there's a link between asthma medication and weight gain.

 

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Corticosteroid-%28drugs%29/Pages/Sideeffects.aspx