What am I doing Wrong?

[Alan_Schenk]

Hi all, I’m hoping to receive advice from those more knowledgeable in this area than me.

I’m currently 56, 177cm, 107kg, so targeting 78 kg for a healthy BMI. I topped out about 4 years ago at 147kg, so have made some progress, with some still to go.

I use MyNetDiary as a food diary, which I’ve found very effective for tracking calories consumed and usually consume around 1100 calories per day. I row 5000m per day, which nets me around 265 calories expended, non-weight adjusted, according to the PM5, rowing at around 60% of MHR, which I believe is aerobic. Happily, ErgData sends this to the iOS Health app as well as the online Log, which then sends these figures to MyNetDiary.

According to MyNetDiary, I have a basic metabolic rate (BMR) of 1907 Calories. and a daily recommended intake (DRI) of 2793 calories. I have never found these figures to be accurate and the dietician at MyNetDiary simply indicates the figures are based upon averages etc, so pretty meaningless in my case. According to them I should be able to eat more than twice the calories that I do and still lose plenty of weight....never happens. If I have more than say 1400 calories a day, I put on weight.

My problem is that I seem to have hit a plateau over the last few weeks, and where before I was targeting a loss of 1kg per week (even though MyNetDiary says on 1100 calories I should be losing 1.5kg weekly), I’m lucky to lose more than 200-300g per week. I drink plenty of water, my last meal is consumed at around 5.00pm, I’m exercising every day, I’m on low calories, they are balanced between carbs, proteins and fats (not a low carb diet) and yet I’m still struggling to move the weight.

What am I doing wrong?

[Deb54210]

Alan, it sounds like you are doing LOTS of things right! Congratulations on getting yourself on a healthy path and on the great progress you've made already.

Weight/BMI is the metric that most people focus on, but I'd encourage you to find other metrics to help you determine your level of progress. Are you shedding inches? Is your waist circumference decreasing? Are other physical activities easier?

Can you mix up your rowing a bit? Constant steady-state 5K sessions may not be the best way to go. Can you do some strength training as well?

Types of calories matter: whole foods calories are way better than processed calories. Alcohol calories are completely unhelpful. Basic stuff.

There are, occasionally, underlying health conditions that interfere (thyroid issues, etc.). Consider talking to your health provider and get some routine lab work done...especially if it's been a while.

I encourage you to focus on the positive...and don't give up! You can't lose (even if you aren't 'losing') with a lifestyle that includes physical exercise and moderate intake of healthy, real food.

Deb

[Dangerscouse]

Part of the issue is that your body has adapted to the training. To start with it's all new and your body is wondering what's going on, but over time, and as it's only 5k for a relatively short period of time, you get diminishing returns as it becomes natural for you.

What you need to do is increase the distance, pace and types of sessions. Can you row for 40 mins or longer? Also try and do some sessions at 75-80% of HR just to stop yourself from becoming adapted to a low HR.

Variety of all of your sessions will a good kick start to get training differently and making your metabolism work for you more effectively

[hjs]

Increese your volume. Rowing, walking cycling, just more.

1100 cal is very very low. Does mean your metabolism is low. Think you should focus on that.

[brookwaters]

Hi Alan, I seem to be in the same boat as you. Hit a plateau, what i used to be doing was just like you, 5k most days. I have since changed to a mix of HIIT and longer rows. Try looking up ‘the pete plan’ and give that a shot. Also try and get into the challenges, from now until 15/5 you can go for the half marathon. That really motivates and will let the fat melting away. I can do the half marathon and I am really not that good, takes me about 2:20... but will help a lot. Good luck!

[Alan_Schenk]

Hi all, I'm back to give a progress update, apologies for not responding sooner.

I took the advice and have increased my rows to 8000m x 6 days per week (up to 840k now) with the intent to get to 10k per day within a couple of months. I seem to have moved off the weight plateau, now being 92kg, having lost 29kg since January (55kg in total) and averaging around 1.1kg per week loss, but also moving from low calorie <1100 calories, to a low carb but higher protein 1500 calorie diet regime.

I do need to introduce weights into the program and potential HIIT, but so far so good. At this rate, I'll be in the healthy BMI range by November and will then move over to a maintenance program for the long term, of which my erg will form a central part!

Thanks all for your advice and encouragement.

[Dino]

Hi all, I'm back to give a progress update, apologies for not responding sooner.

I took the advice and have increased my rows to 8000m x 6 days per week (up to 840k now) with the intent to get to 10k per day within a couple of months. I seem to have moved off the weight plateau, now being 92kg, having lost 29kg since January (55kg in total) and averaging around 1.1kg per week loss, but also moving from low calorie <1100 calories, to a low carb but higher protein 1500 calorie diet regime.

I do need to introduce weights into the program and potential HIIT, but so far so good. At this rate, I'll be in the healthy BMI range by November and will then move over to a maintenance program for the long term, of which my erg will form a central part!

Thanks all for your advice and encouragement.

Well done Alan - fantastic progress. You have found something that is working for you which is great. Don't be afraid to mix it up as per the other posts. Maybe pick one day a week when you do a longer one... e.g. work way up to 10k then an hour. But feel free to cut another one down to a shorter/harder interval type row. 1100 did seem very low. Sounds obvious but your body does need fuel for the exercise! I have been guilty of not eating enough to fuel the exercise, after a while you just get tired and performance drops off.. so will need to manage this carefully along with the goals of weight loss and exercise. Its great to hear your progress.

[Dicentim]

Congratulations Dan,
What you've done is an amazing performance, losing more than 50 kgs is truly incredible.
Keep going ! I can imagine you feel way better now.

[Ombrax]

At this rate, I'll be in the healthy BMI range by November and will then move over to a maintenance program for the long term, of which my erg will form a central part!

Great job Alan.

I'm no expert when it comes to this sort of thing, but I'd suggest that you consider using % body fat instead of BMI to determine if you think you need to loose some more weight or not.

Here's a basic discussion of the two, and the pros and cons: https://www.livestrong.com/article/7710 ... ercentage/

Good Luck

[robbiep]

I don't think you're doing anything 'wrong', so to speak.

At it's most simple, you're now lugging around 40kg less every step you take. That means you burn fewer calories in your daily life than you did when you were 147kg. So weight loss will slow down.

Remember, even 200-300g loss per week is still 1-1.5kg weight loss per month.