Life

Literally, Just Bummed Out

I promised myself when I began this site that I would not get “down” and let my feelings ruin my chance to lose weight.  But, I have to be honest, after last week’s weigh in, I just don’t feel like worrying about my weight any more.  Seriously, I did everything that I could think of to do, and still my weight just stayed the same.  I’m frustrated.  I worked out everyday, I ate sensibly, I never ‘cheated’ myself or my body… and still, nothing happened.  So, I’m trying to decide what in the world I should do differently.  I realize that I’ve lost a few pounds since January, but, basically, since February, I’ve been stuck in neutral.  It’s no like I’m some thin dude trying to lose that “last few pounds”.  I could easily stand to lose 75 pounds, and my body refuses to cooperate.  If you’ve ever read my personal finance site, you know how “positive” I am about my life and my future, but this ‘weight issue’ has really gotten to me.  I’ve been in a funk since early Friday morning when I stepped on that scale.  I was CONVINCED that I was going to see a 2 or 3 or even 5 pound loss… and NOTHING happened.  I know, I should grow up and be a man about it.  Yes, yes, I hear you, and I know that I’m whining.  Too bad.  I spend most of my life giving to others, staying up late into the night on the phone listening to their concerns and trying to meet their needs… DANG IT, I really, really NEEDED to see that needle move!!!  Do you understand?  My ENTIRE week was centered on that weigh in.  God, I hate trying to lose weight, especially when I do all of the work, put in all of the time, eat all the right foods, and the needle just sticks there…

13 thoughts on “Literally, Just Bummed Out”

  1. I challenge you to try Atkins. Want help, contact me erik9999 at excite. I am in no way affiliated with Atkins or any other diet. I am a tech guy.

    What have you got to lose?

  2. NCN, I hear ya. My weight is so high and my calorie intake has been a fraction of what it was before I started trying to lose weight. The needle is moving so slow and it jumps all over the place!

    Think about this…there are the other changes that you can’t see. Healthier organs…more energy…the ones that will likely mean that you will be around longer to build an awesome playhouse for your grandkids.

    Times of frustration, I hold onto thoughts like that.

  3. NCN, you need to check out the link below. By reading the Hacker’s Diet (which is free) you begin to understand how much your daily scale reading will fluctuate based on how much water you have in your system. There are ways to avoid those variations by using a moving average graph of your daily weight. Check it out.

    http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/

  4. Try the GM diet. Google it. It’s supposed to be a cleanser for the whole system.
    Also, could be that you are gaining muscle weight? Why don’t you get a body fat scale and use the body fat% as well as the weight to measure your progress?

  5. Don’t give up – you may be losing fat but gaining muscle, which actually weighs more than fat, which could explain why your clothes fit better – you may be changing the shape and composition of your body, but the actual physical mass has not changed.

  6. Don’t try a new diet – stick with it. There’s a simple fact that if you eat less calories than you need, you will get them from your body which is exactly what you want. Inspired by your decision, I signed up with weightlossresources.co.uk. They told me how many calories I needed to be at my current weight and I ate less than that. Each day, if I choose, i can type in exactly the brand and weight of what I eat and it will count the calories (They have a US database of food).

    If you’re a long way from your goal, things are going to take time, but please, don’t change to another diet, stick with this, check and recheck that you’re eating the right number of calories.

    _Don’t_ stop exercising. Even if you don’t lose weight, you need to stay fit now so that when you’re older, you remain less frail for longer. Good muscles now, especially in the back, are a good thing now, period.

    I lost some weight (though I’m not at my target yet) but I don’t look how I want and that’s because I’m the right weight but the fat/muscle ratio is off. That’s what exercise is for.

    Bear in mind though, that muscles are dense and will throw off your weight loss stats slightly.

    Make eating a routine, not a chore and you should be ok. We’re here to support you!

    NB thanks for inspiring me to lose weight and gain control of my finances! Both are on track, although in the early stages, thanks to you!

  7. Oh have I been there! It is frustrating. I think the worst of it is you’re giving up or cutting back on food “rewards” by changing how you eat in expectation of a weight “reward” when you see the scale move. That sort of thinking sabatoged my weightloss for a long time because there are so many weeks when the scale didn’t move at all, despite (or in spite of!) my diet changes.

    I don’t think you should necessarily jump on a new diet bandwagon right away. What made a HUGE difference for me was just shifting my paradigm. Instead of constantly making the number on the scale be my “reward,” I just realized that I had lost SOME weight and I should enjoy my time at that weight because it was still less than where I started.

    Like, I changed my diet and exercise habits in January. I saw steady weightloss until mid-February when I plateaued. I got so discouraged. But then I realized – hey, I would have killed to have been this weight back in January, I now get to wear a bunch of clothes I couldn’t wear in January… I’m just going to enjoy myself at this weight while it lasts. So long as I continue to eat better and exercise, the weight WILL come off. (And it has!)

    Shifting my outlook changed everything and solidified the changes I’ve made as more of a lifestyle choice than a temporary diet to lose weight. Which makes me confident I’ll keep the weight off for good this time.

    Good luck and hang in there. Anything worth doing takes hard work and patience.

  8. I concur about the Hacker’s Diet. The other thing is – it doesn’t sound like you journal or count calories. With all your math and spreadsheet skills, I would think you’d be a natural at counting calories. I notice an “all or nothing” attitude in your post. For me, calorie counting helps defray that. There are great weeks, medium weeks, not-gaining weeks, vacation weeks. And they are all part of the process. I look at it like marathon training – you don’t expect to run 50 miles your first week, you might run 10, then 12, then 15 etc. The calorie drop and exercise increase happens the same way.

  9. Jason, this is Breanne, I work with your brother-in-law, I would love to talk with you about the Suddenly Slim program. I know that you tried it for a period of time last year. I want to speak with you about your weight concerns and tell you my story. This wellness program WORKS!!! Much like you, I have fought with my weight MY ENTIRE LIFE…This is the only thing that had worked for me. Before I discovered this wellness program I was eating fish and salads and walking 5 miles a day, like you, I desperately needed the scale to move or my clothles to botton again. I have lost 51 pounds and went from a 10 to a 2. I initially lost more inches than pounds but the weight did come off. I have kept this weight off for 1 1/2 years. A plateau in weight loss is normal if your metabolism is in a coma! I have attended many seminars and conferences featuring the doctors that developed the miracle that has forever changed my life. I think that you should try another 10 day detox and call me and give me the results. I will do anything that I can to assist you in your weight loss. I want to speak with you about the program and listen to your first experience with it. I truely believe that I can help you reach your goal. You can get my number from Shon. Please don’t hesitate to call.

  10. NCN, I feel like we’ve been down this road before. You like that reward of the scale. Will you please, please also start measuring your waist line? Add in your wrist too. If you are gaining muscle mass, you might not see it on the scale, but you will see it in inches. Try it, please??? You need another positive feedback besides the scale. If you see that you lost an inch, you will know you are making progress.

    Also, measure how long you can go on the elliptical, jog around the track, whatever, each week. Maybe create some kind of personal fitness goal to work on (Jogging a mile in x minutes, bench pressing x pounds, you pick it) and measure that progress.

    You like graphs, so make a graph to chart your progress.

  11. I read a little more of your blog, and realized that you are counting calories, so I apologize. But, to reiterate that there is one big thing you haven’t done: WAIT. Make excuses if you need to, but then let your body catch up to the changes you’re making.

    Also, the 231.5 was after a detox, right? That means you were low on food and salt. So now you’re at the same weight plus normal amounts of food and salt/water retention. As a woman, I know firsthand that weight fluctuates a LOT over the month, due to hormonal shifts in a big way but due to eating changes in a small way. I don’t know if guys have any kinds of hormonal shifts, but the salt/food thing is real.

    Also, weight tends to come off in chunks for me. All of a sudden one day I’ll be two pounds down.

    Also, exercise seems to increase body weight for awhile. I think the mechanism is that when you start exercising, suddenly the muscles start screaming for glycogen stores made locally. Glycogen is ready-access calories, more like carbohydrates than fat, and is stored at about 4 times the weight than fat (lots of water needed to store it). That’s where the fullness in the muscles comes from.

    Anyway, the point remains: I think you’re probably doing all the right stuff except for waiting! Let your body get used to the new routine. IF, after a month or two (or three!), you find that you’re still not losing weight or inches, then I’d start to question the actual caloric intake. It’s very easy to underestimate what you’re eating or overestimate your basal. I’ve been tracking calories (eaten + exercise) for over a year, and my baseline for maintenance is about 1/3 calories lower than the calculators say is “basal”. Maybe I underestimate my calories or overestimate my exercise calories or maybe those calculators are just wrong. Thinking i can eat all the calories allotted sounds about as sensible as spending my gross income.

  13. Sometimes what needs to be done is you need to change your routine. I got stuck at a certain weight too. For over 1 month. I used to go to the gym do 40 min cardio and than heavy weights. I think what happened was that my body was changing I was gaining mucle and not losing weight. So I went back, and added Taebo and Turbo Jam workouts and now my weight is coming off again. Try changing your exercise routine, and from what you eat you need to eat more. If your metabolism is slowing down, and your turning to craving food your simply not eating enough. A woman should eat 1500-1600 calories, after what is burned off. So if you burn 600 calories, you need to add 300 of it back. You can;t cut back too much, otherwise your scale wont budge. Make a newer eating plan. Change your exercise plan completely around and see if that works. If not than I would try getting a personal trainer if you can. Good luck to you.

    – I have had 2 kids, I gained 100 pounds. I have lost 60 pounds. 40 more to go!

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