Tried to jumpstart my weightloss..... nothing

[klinked]

I was on vacation all last week so I though I would jumpstart my metabolism.

I ate high protein healthy food and kept the calories under 3000 each day

I rowed 10K over 65 minutes every day
3 days I did 45 min deep water aerobics in the evening.

I cleaned house and ran up and down stairs doing laundry.

I lost not an OUNCE. nada nothing zero zilch

Since I started rowing in May I have rowed 120k and have lost 3 lbs.

I eat plain oatmeal for breakfast. maybe some string cheese and fruit for snack. lunch less than 500 cal

I eat a decent dinner and have cut out most nasty fats.

I don't snack. I've given up ALL goodies.

Before this week I was working out 40 min day rowing x 5 days. water aerobics 2 x week

I have lost inches but when will I start seein the scale go down?

[Bob S.]

I have lost inches but when will I start seein the scale go down?

An inch is significant. Inches are a lot. Why worry about what the scale says if you are really losing inches?

Bob S.

[Nosmo]

Bob's right. IF you've lost inches and not lost weight you've gained a lot of muscle

[klinked]

I guess it's just the mental reward I would see if the scale went down. I have a significant amount of weight to lose so I would like to see some movement in the right direction.

just ..... something

[bostonwnb]

Go vegan. You'll definitely lose weight, feel better & avoid a lot of unnecessary fat & cholesterol. Try it for 6 weeks & see for yourself. I lost 20 pounds since April this year, total cholesterol (previously 237) is under 100, LDL is 39, blood pressure much lower than before. Haven't felt as good in 10 years & my running is improving by leaps and bounds. I also lift weights 3 times per week & row 4 to 5 times per week (10k). A high animal protein diet - aside from potential long term harm of fat & cholesterol - can also lead to kidney damage. Read The China Study by Campbell or Esselstyn's book about Preventing & Reversing Heart Disease.

[klinked]

I have cut down dramatically on the serving size of the meat I eat and I eat more fish and chicken.

I couldn't go all vegan though, I love a good steak

I'll just keep slugging away. I keep hoping that all of a sudden my body will figure out what's going on and start to shed weight.

[Rhutch]

Unfortantely its easy to be lulled into the "weight loss" as a reward. When you work hard and don't loose weight it can be very demoralizing. You have to look at the big picture, you're doing the right things, eating better and exercising. As others have said if you're losing inches and weight is not changing you must be gaining muscle mass (this is what happens when people lose weight by excersising instead of fad diets). Do you feel better? DO your clothes fit you better? Can you do more with out getting winded? Those are the things you should focus on as rewards for having a healthy lifestyle (the weight reduction will most likely come). The other thing is how accurate is your scale? Pick a certain time and day to weigh yourself, don't look for changes at random times because body weight fluctuates through out the day/ week/ month/ year. If you're really concerned go get your actual body fat measured.

[MomofJBN]

I'll just keep slugging away. I keep hoping that all of a sudden my body will figure out what's going on and start to shed weight.

That's it. It's the dreaded P word - patience. I didn't have a huge amount to lose, but I was feeling the same way for a long time - no results on the scale. It will happen. For now, work on your form on the erg; work on improving your average pace. Watch those numbers improve, and hopefully the scale will follow.

[klinked]

the problem is definitely lack of patience. I want to look like the woman rowing on the home page. I know it is going to take a long time I just would like to see the scale move a teeny bit

[debenrower]

bostonwnb is right - go vegan - eat only whole plant food - specially no dairy at all - you can basically eat what you want - never any need to go hungry and your weight will stabilize at the healthy level for you and you will feel great. Rowing just makes it better! Colin T Campbell's "The China Study" gives more detail. I have been vegan for more than 30 years and a rower for 4+ years. Try it for a month as see how you go - a month isn't hard to do - really!

[corpsrower]

I would suggest lots of running. When I was getting back in shape for rowing I started erging every weekday but subsequently stopped running and started putting on some weight probably from muscle gain. I started running again and even though I haven't lost tons of weight, i'm getting rid of anything undesired and getting down to a really lean sub-160 for college lghtwght (hopefully)

[Liquid]

Inches are great but I don't buy into the theory that if you only lose inches you are fine. I have lost a few inches myself yet my body mass is 29, my belly is way too large and I am still stuck at 180.

I think my body can defy the laws of physics. Yesterday: 1,900 calories consumed, 1,100 lost through 1 1/2 hours rowing. Net result: Gain of 1 lb.

My calculations show I am running a calorie deficit every day due to exercise and yet somehow I continue to hold my weight.

[Storm Petrel]

klinked,

Take a look at Joel Fuhrman, MD's book Eat to Live.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/
Eating as a lifestyle, not a diet. Lots of good nutrition info. Also discussed is The China Diet and others.
He does advocate giving up ALL processed, dairy and animal foods - at least for 6 weeks - and then the life plan where a little animal or processed food can be added in. Unlimited fresh raw vegetables and fruits, cooked green vegetables, beans, legumes, bean sprouts, tofu, etc.
For the life plan he recommends the 90% rule. 90% unrefined plant based food. 10% processed or animal foods (constituting no more than 10% of the total caloric intake).

Dr. Fuhrman's key formula is H=N/C, Health = Nutrients divided by Caloric intake. He ranks foods by nutrient density. Food supplies us with nutrients and calories (energy). All calories come from only three elements-carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Nutrients are derived from noncaloric food factors-including vitamins, minerals, fibers and phytochemicals. The noncaloric nutrients are vital to health.
He states " Your key to permanent weight loss is to eat predominantly those foods that have a high nutrient density, a high proportion of nutrients (noncaloric food factors) to calories (carbohydrates, fats and proteins)."
Foods with the highest nutrient density (based on identified phytochemicals, antioxidant activity & vitamin & mineral content-in descending order) are raw leafy green vegetables (dark green has more nutrients), solid green vegetables (raw steamed, frozen), non-green, non-starchy vegetables, beans & legumes (cooked, canned, sprouted), fresh fruit, starchy vegetables, whole grains, raw nuts & seeds, fish, fat-free dairy, wild meats & fowl, eggs, red meats, full fat dairy, cheese, refined grains (flour) refined oils, refined sweets.
Nutrient dense foods provide the bulk (quantity) while being low calorie.

I still have my steak, chicken, steak, egg, yogurt and cheese. But very small portions.

The combo of fat and refined carbohydrates has an extreme effect on driving signals that promote fat storage. Refined foods cause a rapid and extreme rise in blood sugar (blood glucose), which triggers insulin surges to drive the sugar out of the blood and into the cells. As your blood sugar decreases, appetite increases. Insulin also promotes storage of fat. More body fat results in higher insulin levels. As more fat is stored it interferes with insulin uptake into the muscle tissues, The pancreas senses the high blood glucose level and produces more insulin. A vicious cycle.

Fat is an appetite stimulant. The body converts food fat into body fat quickly and easily, it can be stored on the body within minutes, without using much calories to do so. It's just packed away into storage, unchanged. Biopsied waist fat viewed under the microscope, can actually be identified by source...it's stored as pig fat, dairy fat, olive oil fat...just as it was in the original food. Researchers can analyze body-fat deposits and accurately discern what foods were eaten.

An individual's (BMR) Basal Metabolic Rate plays a role as well. A couple of the (training) articles on the forum, mention ways to boost it with exercise (i.e. intervals, HIIT, etc.) And of course, increasing our lean muscle mass, since muscle burns more calories at rest than does adipose tissue.

[Bob S.]

I have lost a few inches myself yet my body mass is 29, my belly is way too large and I am still stuck at 180.

If you belly is still way too large, where did you lose all those inches? Yes, that is a high BMI, but as a previous message implied, it would be a good idea to get your percent body fat measured. That would be more meaningful than the body mass index, which is not going to change if your weight is not changing.

Bob S.

[Rhutch]

Liquid, BMI is really just a guide line there are some body types that the BMI doesn't work for. Get your body % fat done properly. I hope you really don't expect to see a change day by day, just because you techincally burn enough calories to lose a pound doen't mean if you jump on your bathroom scale it will show a 1 pound weight loss. Nutritional calories are just estimates actually calories for food products very widely, scales have errors, your body is full of other stuff (ie waste, fulids), fat just doesn't evaporate. My BMI will always be high, to get to my suggested BMI range I'd look like a concentration camp survivor (which isn't the healthiest look for me, my doctor agrees).