Hey guys.. finally signed up to ask for HELP.

[verysharky]

Where to begin.. a little about myself? I'm a 31 year old chick who, up until about a year ago, didn't have an athletic bone in her body. I was overweight and unhappy and wanted to be different, so I googled "how to do a pull up" and ended up finding Nerd Fitness. I didn't sign up then, gods know why.

 

Long story short, I've progressed from being bored by P90 and Zumba in my basement while suffering through a Nutrisystem diet, through to discovering paleo, buying a shiny new bicycle and doing things like cardio kickboxing a few times a week. I went from being an introverted shut-in to sea kayaking last summer! Huge changes in my life, I'm a different person and much happier. 

 

Except right this moment. 

 

When I first started paleo a year ago, I lost about 25 pounds. Over the winter I fell off the wagon, but recently got back into it (in January) around the same time I started cardio kickboxing and joined a strength program at a gym. My weight was about 7 lbs up from where I was last summer, and within a couple weeks I was back down to where I had been and was totally stoked about it. But now.. I've been working hard and eating right for a couple months, and the scale WILL. NOT. MOVE. It even goes up a couple pounds, just to mess with me every now and then. I cannot get below where I was last summer , no matter how hard I try. It's like my body just refuses. I know I'm looking different because people notice, but when I look in the mirror I ultimately see all this fatty fatness that I need to be rid of, and the fact that it won't go away is more than frustrating. Like visualizing my fist through the drywall more than frustrating. 

 

I'm just so frustrated and confused at this point, I don't even know where to turn. I don't count calories, I don't know if I'm eating too much or not eating enough or eating too many carbs or not enough fats.. am I supposed to be upping my calories to account for exercise? And should I even be doing the kickboxing? I'm doing stronglifts 5x5 now, but only for a week or so so far. Am I working too much doing a 45 minute high intensity cardio kickboxing class 3 times per week and weights on 2 days?

 

I'm 5'8" and my weight is absolutely stuck at 197. People say "you're gaining muscle! It's heavier than fat!" and I do see my body changing somewhat, but I don't completely buy it. I can SEE there's fat to lose. I just don't even know what to say anymore.

 

Any words of wisdom or encouragement would be awesome.. thanks guys

 

 

[Chris56Ryan]

Well from what I can see it might be time to check your calorie intake. You might have just reached the point where your eating enough to gain muscle which would be a good thing if you wanted that but your after the loosing weight part first. You definitely seem to be doing enough work to loose weight so definitely take as detailed a food diary as you can for a week too see just how much you are eating and if it is a bit higher than you thought cut it a little bit and see how it goes.

 

Don't get discouraged we all plateau at some point and usually small changes will get us through it. You can do it!

[peelwandelaar]

I might be able to shed some light on this. I've had the same thing happen to me. When you start working out, specially when you have (or had) some weight to lose it goes quite rapidly at first. This is because in the beginning your body tends to get rid of any excess moisture, in combination with slight loss of body fat and even slighter gain in muscle weight. This is not to be taken lightly (no pun intended ), it can be up to 20 pounds!

 

Then there is the factor of getting used to the workouts that you are doing, in combination with your initial weight loss. I might be getting a bit technical here, but I can't avoid it. Work done by your body is not actually calculated in calories, but in joules. One single joule is roughly what you burn when you lift a 1 kilogram weight a distance of 1 meter, or raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water with 1degree centigrade. It is therefore quite logical that if you weigh more, the more work you have to do in order to move (and less of coarse if you have lost some weight). This is in combination with the fact that your body does get used to the workouts that you are already doing. The body needs gradually increases of work effort over time to compensate for this effect.

 

So, losing weight starts out quite rapidly, the fat loss rate decreases over time. Your body shape is changing ever more slowly and you have to work out harder and harder (with increasing muscle weight as a result) to make this change happen. This can make you feel as though you're hitting a wall, but nothing is further from the truth!

 

The solution? Stick with it! Gradual increases of your workout time and intensity will keep your body changing for the better. And then, you look in the mirror every day, and it will get harder for you to notice your body changing. Listen to those people around you who are noticing you change, you are, and you will get there!

[Draken50]

Use pictures and measurements to give you a more accurate viewpoint of what's going on.

 

Find ways to measure your progress in your exercises as well. For instance, in weightlifting, if you're weights are going up, and your bodyweight is staying the same, you're building muscle and having less fat. Tracking progress in the different exercises also benefits motivation by having more metrics to see your improvement than just the scale.

 

My wife for instance had a tendency to neglect that she had dropped two pant sizes after starting Olympic weightlifting because the scale stayed the same.

[peelwandelaar]

Draken50 is quite right. If your goal is to lose fat, a scale does not say everything. Try having your body fat percentage taken in the gym, then do it again after a month or two. It will give you more then just your weight to monitor your progress.

[verysharky]

Thanks for all the suggestions.. I do notice muscle building from the kickboxing workouts, and my pants are looser and the weights are steadily going up in my lifting routine. I'll have to make sure I'm drinking enough water and keep an eye on what I'm eating for a while, then just keep plugging along. I just reminded myself that when I started paleo last summer I was at 227, I'm at 197 now so that's actually a 30 pound loss which is not too shabby. I've been looking at this body in the mirror long enough now that I can be critical of it as it is, instead of remembering how far I've actually come. Not to mention going from wearing long sleeves in the summer and sitting around doing nothing all the time, to wearing skirts and tank tops and feeling super weird when I miss a lifting day or only go to kickboxing twice instead of three or four times. 

 

I've also been kicking around the idea of trying this keto business for a month or two, to see if I can get things moving again. Shouldn't be too terribly difficult to adjust my macros slightly..

 

I'll keep you posted