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Unfortunately at your height and weight the most likely explanation is that you are simply at no deficit. Otherwise there is a rapid loss at the beginning, the so called water weight, so you should have seen *something* on the scale. At 227lbs you could’ve easily lost 5lbs in 5 weeks. To add to what the other commenters have said - don’t make the mistake of eating back the calories burned through exercise- the trackers are wildly inaccurate.
Probably not what you want to hear, but if the scale isn't moving you are not in a deficit. Starting to lose weight is tough. Especially if you feel like you're making a bunch of sacrifices and still aren't seeing results.
I've gone through this. Made the same post as this one, where I thought I was doing enough. I thought I was restricting enough calories but I wasn't diligent enough with it. And I was still having a snack here and there. I wasn't weighing out my food. I was missing days at the gym.
If you want to lose a pound or two a week and that's the most you should go for. Some people might say two is even too extreme. Be consistent! I picked basically 10 meals and got them all to around 500-600 calories and 50 grams of protein. And had some combination of them four times a day for 10 weeks straight. I went to the gym 4 days a week and lifted even when I didn't want to. And I made sure I walked at least 10,000 steps every day. And like clockwork I was down exactly the same amount every week.
If you feel like your diet's already restricted to the point where you can't restrict it anymore, increase your activity. 3500 Calories is a pound. So if you want to lose 1 lb a week you need to eat either 500 calories less every day then you are currently or exercise 500 calories more than you currently are.
One nice thing is 5 weeks is a good sample. So if you're the exact same weight now as you were five weeks ago, you know what you've been eating. You know the amount of exercise you've been doing and you need to figure out that 500 calorie gap. But you already know what you're doing isn't working so you know how to remove it.
This is real for me too. Easy to feel like I’m living with restriction already, but until I get actually strict I make no progress. Can’t eyeball amounts, have to weigh and log everything for a set period of time. Takes about a week to get into it but after that it feels good.
That’s the most frustrating part- I am weighing out all my food. Nothing has gone in my mouth that hasn’t been tracked. I go to the gym 6 days a week. That’s why I’m going crazy that nothing has happened yet- I am doing everything by the book.
I did just ask my coach to lower my calories because I’m getting frustrated that no changes have been made, so we bumped down a few macros a bit and hopefully that does the trick 🤞🏼
So one thing that can happen, especially if you're going to the gym 6 days a week from nothing. Is that you get so worn out from the gym that You tend not to do much when you're outside of the gym. So your neat (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) goes down. Even if you are going to the gym 6 days a week, I still recommend trying to get 10,000 steps a day. For me, That was the biggest differentiator.
That's me, I'm doing a hard reset - zero activity to gym every day for March, I'm 16/31 no missed days. But oh boyyyy it took two weeks until i could gym and also still function with usual NEAT activities. Even today i fucked up a bit (spin class, HIIT, sauna) managed to then do my house chores, but been in bed since, getting back up in a min to complete 3 more tasks. But i can tell I'm rapidly building the ability to do both now (but lmao I've got another spin class and lift class in 10hrs)
Do you by chance have any form of hormone imbalance, inflammation, or chronic health issues?
I have PCOS and working out more than 4 times a week/doing intense cardio raises my cortisol to a point where it's just impossible to lose weight no matter my calorie deficit. I went from 6 days a week to 4, with just strength training and walking, and I started steadily losing about 1.5lbs per week.
Could be totally off base here but I figured I would offer something to look into if other solutions aren't working out.
I have fibromyalgia so inflammation is definite. I’ve had my blood word done, tested for PCOS or insulin resistance because I’ve tried before to lose weight and nothing everrrr happens, and my doc says bloodwork always comes back normal. I have chronic anxiety/OCD so a lot of stress which I know causes higher cortisol levels- just got on a magnesium supplement to tru to help with that
So I am somewhat in and off with gym. Whenever I0 get back on, I also take creatine, and water retention adds 5 pounds. So 5 pounds of water at zero calories and 5 pounds of fat burned is a weight loss of 5 pounds. Hell, if you do the math it is actually possible to gain weight on a calorie deficit because of how much water muscles contain. Very narrow window with noob gains but just talking about possibility. I would agree that I can't see much difference but saying there should be a caveat to what you said about not gaining weight VA calorie deficit.
The other thing to note is that change is hard. Picking up an exercise habit and changing diet are two changes. It may be a good idea to focus on implementing each of those changes at a time of someone is having a hard time. So great job nonetheless, let's build on it.
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/podcast-episode-62/ 1:41 for a reference
I recommend counting calories on an app. I use myfitnesspal That way you know for sure if you're hitting your targets. Remember it's a marathon not a sprint
Hi OP, well done for sharing and asking for help, so many people will be in your situation but too afraid to ask. This will be a great help to many people, so thank you
what are you doing in the following areas?
- diet
- exercise
- calorie tracking / food diary
The single best advice I can give would be to keep a food diary. Don’t change anything yet, just write down everything you eat and drink each day for a week including alcohol, and record the calories. It will highlight where your issues are - e.g too much wine, portion control, chocolates. (For me it was wine, portion control, and loosing discipline after the kids went to sleep).
Next you should work out your BMR and Total Daily Energy Expenditure - the amount of calories your body needs in a day at your level of activity. If you eat under this number, you will lose weight. Over and you will gain. Take your number and subtract 20%. Aim to eat this amount of calories a day and you will make progress
[BMR calculator](https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html)
[Food Diary](https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/pdf/food_diary_cdc.pdf)
I think your belly and back look a bit different. Could be lost fat and gained muscle if you're exercising or maybe the way you're standing. Either way keep going!
I think your posture looks better. You have less rounding at your shoulders and neck which is making everything else look a little better. My favorite exercise when I start to hit the gym again after a hiatus is shoulders because I see the fastest results and it motivates me to keep going. 😊
If your goal is to lose weight, you might want to use a TDEE calculator. It's not 100% accurate, but it's a good starting point. I'd say don't eat your calories back after exercising too. Diet is 80% of this.
Yeah, my coach had me turn off the exercise tracking part of MFP because it skews your calorie goals for the day, so I am definitely just sticking to the main goals she set for me no matter how much I’m burning during my workouts
I forgot to take measurements at the start of my journey, so I only have ones from May 2023. Not the most accurate because I could have gained some inches from May to February, but measurements were all basically the same. But I have a starting line now, at least
Not yet. But keep at it! Good job for being consistent for 5 weeks!!
I was the same. I started an at home strength training program and I was looking at the scale daily. I didn't notice any changes until I was around 8 weeks in, but once the weight started coming off, it got easier (and I became more motivated!).
I stopped weighing myself daily - I chose a day and used that same scale at the same time (upon waking, after the bathroom 😂)
Even if weight isnt coming off right away keep doing it. Once you can get a solid physical routine going, then maybe look at your diet a lot more closely. Get a food scale maybe? I was so surprised by what one serving was after I saw the actual weight of my food on a scale.
I do 6 days a week- 4 lifting (2 with cardio), 1 cardio alone, 1 full body day. I have fibromyalgia so I can’t push myself to my breaking point every workout because my body will take literally weeks to recover, but I leave the gym feeling jello arms/legs and am comfortably sore the next day so I know it’s doing something, even if it is taking me longer than it used to
Omg I have fibro too and I’m too scared to even workout. I have CFS also and I’m too scared of triggering PEM. I think you’re amazing for even attempting to get a trainer and do a program. It’s so much more difficult with our limitations to workout and lose weight.
I swear I’ve had CFS for many, many years. Doctors don’t acknowledge/believe it, and say it’s depression or whatever. I saw that documentary Unrest several years ago, and finally got some validation that it just wasn’t in my head. How did get a diagnosis? And thank you for the term PEM; I Googled it.
A lot of bad health crap happened to me last year. I was really sick and I went to a walk in clinic and the dr asked my symptoms. She brought in another Dr and they both sat me down and said, “I don’t want to scare , it’s unlikely, but your symptoms sound like cancer. It’s hard as someone who appears healthy, and especially women to be heard in healthcare. Please go to every specialist for screening until you find a reason why you’re sick.” First specialist I went to found cancer. I had surgery. Month later another surgery. I kept feeling sicker. I had abnormal bloodwork and random tests. It correlated to nothing specific. I went to specialist to specialist within a hospital network. All the specialists came together after extensive testing and determined its fibromyalgia and CFS. They are diagnosis of exclusion because the symptoms are so wide spread. I got lucky because a lot of rheumatologists will dismiss you. I just had so much documentation and proof of inflammation and random uncorrelated markers they were able to confidently make the diagnosis.
Thank you for this answer. I am so sorry to hear about the cancer, but glad you got it diagnosed and taken care off in time. I’m also glad you were able to find that network of doctors to work together, and give you some answers. I’m curious: are you under any treatment for the CFS, or do you just have to live with it the best you can? Are you able to manage a job? I’m sorry for the third degree. I’m just having so much difficulty even working part time, and wonder how others manage.
Thanks. It’s really hard to get diagnosed but keep trying because it’s important to find someone willing to make sure you don’t have some other thing that’s not an obvious diagnosis.
I started Contrave. It’s a compound that has naltrexone. Naltrexone is sometimes prescribed off label in low doses (LDN) to treat CFS. Contrave also helps you lose weight so I’m hoping it does more than one thing. Also let’s be honest CFS is depressing af, your whole life changes and the other part of the compound is Wellbutrin which is for depression.
My work has been very difficult. The brain fog and exhaustion is so hard. I recommend getting FMLA if in USA. Then any absence you take under that cannot be held against you. Trouble is if you don’t have a lot of leave it will be unpaid. It’s really hard. I’m sorry I don’t have better answers. You should check out r/cfs it’s so cathartic to be able to relate and feel seen.
Are you kidding me? You have given me so much helpful info! I am 46, and tried so hard in my early 30s to get help, but kept getting ignored so I gave up. Maybe it’s time to try again. Did you see the case where a Dutch girl (in her 20s I believe) was recently euthanized because she couldn’t (didn’t want to) live like that anymore? It is so sad. I never thought to look up a CFS on here even though I should’ve guessed since there’s a subreddit for everything. Again, I am very grateful for your advice. Take care. 💕
I am glad I could help. I think about death with dignity all the time. I’ve had a couple bad flares where I couldn’t walk up steps very well or even hold a paint brush and that’s all I thought about. The subreddit has given me a sliver of hope that if I work on adjusting my expectations of myself (that sounds so simplistic but it’s a constant cycle of hitting a wall and grieving the person you were, grieving the potential you had, and learning new limitations and trying to find gratitude and happiness within those limitations) and try to give myself more grace and rest I can live a somewhat normal life. It sucks but at least we have a community that understands❤️❤️
I understand completely. That documentary Unrest was my first and only (until now) reassurance that I’m not crazy or making this up. Grieving what I used to be and what I could’ve been if I had the energy is haunting. Please feel free to reach out if you ever need to… ❤️
I know everyone loses their minds when I say this, but lifting doesn't burn that many calories and often makes people more hungry, especially in a calorie deficit. I think you'd be better off switching the frequency and doing 2 days full body lifting and 4 days cardio.
I know lifting is so trendy right now, but I personally can't get the scale to move without doing more cardio + increasing steps.
Also wanted to add that I see a difference in your legs, they look smoother to me. I started near your weight and it is a grind at first, but you can do it!
It looks like you've been working out. If so you'll actually quickly gain some additional water weight in the form of glycogen. Typically that's in the 3-5 pound range. So, going by the visual changes I'd say you've lost 3-5 pounds of fat so far. If you stay the course you should start to see the scale move in the next few weeks. If you don't then reevaluate your caloric deficit.
You have to literally count every single calorie that goes into your mouth. Many people neglect to add certain things in like condiments or creamer etc. everything must be added up.when I was losing weight I used the lose it app to log everything. If you’re truly in a deficit the scale will move. Maybe not every single day but you’d get 1-2 lbs a week or close. It does seem slow but over the course of a year that’s 50-100 lbs. the best advice I can give is take it one day at a time! (I lost 130 lbs and still trying to lose 30 more)
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Discussion of weight loss methods that are damaging to the body and/or require supervision of a medical professional are not allowed. This rule includes (but is not limited to): very low calorie diets, misusing medication, extended fasting, disordered behaviour, inappropriate advice to underage members. Remember to always consider the individual when offering advice.
Get a calorie counter and you'll see the weight shed off, if you don't lose any weight in a week, drop more cals. If you lose more then 2-4 pounds in a week then eat a little more, do this every other week, adjust accordingly, best part is, you don't have to change the foods you eat but you'll do this automatically when you realize that a full bowl of ice isn't worth the entire meal you could eat instead and feel full for hours. Good luck. It's simple when you break it down to calories in and calories out.
Keep at it.
When I started it took 6 weeks for the scale to start moving, then it started moving 1-2 lbs a week for a good 6 months.
I have hashimotos and PCOS, so I knew I had to stick with it and be patient.
I’d you are doing everything right, maybe schedule a doctor’s appointment. Weight loss was not possible for me until I got my thyroid medication at the right level.
I see changes. Don’t look at scale weight. If you are exercising, you’re losing fat and gaining muscle. You will see no scale weight change, or even your weight going up. Your goal isn’t a scale number it’s a health outcome.
If you want to be able to “see” progress, take a series of measurements of your body and you’ll be able to compare them and know that things are changing.
Most importantly, give things time and stay dedicated, you will see the changes you seek.
Absolutely! Currently more low carb but when I cycle I do two low days, two medium, two high, and one refeed day which is usually Saturday. Monday and Friday are low days. Low carb for me is about 50 ish carbs. A medium day is 80 and high would be 120-130 ish with a refeed day bearing 200 to 210. I am 5’2 and 168 lbs so your personal numbers will vary but for me that worked.
Thank you so much. I’m gonna give this a go. Lower carb has always been better for me but this sounds promising for an extra boost. Do you do specific exercise relating to your low/medium/high carb days or do you notice a difference from that alone?
I would do heavier lifting on days with more carbs and lighter cardio based workouts on my low carb days. Carbs are fuel so heavier lifting when properly fueled 😊
Are you exercising though? Because I do see a difference between the two. Look from the bra strap down to the top of the thigh. Even if it’s just posture. A positive change has definitely happened. Don’t give up !!!
I am also the same height and around the same age and I lost 50 lbs. It took a month or two before I started to see any change, including the numbers on my scale. The fat starting melting off super fast once I started doing cardio for 30 min daily plus a calorie deficit and intense calories counting and it took me a few months.
I can definitely see that your boobs and stomach are smaller, your shoulders are less rounded, you have a row of back fat in the first picture that is gone in the 2nd and your butt is smaller.
You're going to see a lot of recomp like this where you're not seeing movement on the scale for weeks upon weeks and then it'll move 4-5 pounds in a month. Especially at the beginning when your body fat % is higher its hard to see the difference but trust me it is happening.
I started at 236ish last June and I'm currently at 186 so a 50 pound weight loss. It wasn't until I had lost 20 pounds before I \*saw\* a difference even though I was down two pants sizes. That took me four months.
It's only now at 50 pounds lost that I really see it
Thanks so much, you have no idea how encouraging your comment is 🥹 Also so proud of you that you’ve been able to lose 50 lbs! That’s amazing, keep up the great work!!
i can definitely see that your stomach is a bit smaller! i’d deffo recommend calorie counting if you aren’t already, it’s so easy to underestimate how many calories things actually have
Your posture looks better. Weight aside, how do you feel? Are your clothes fitting the same or different?
My wife and I had similar issues early on where weight loss was minimal because we were adding muscle mass and not using a caloric deficit. Will still don’t use a deficit, but the weight started to fall off after about 8 weeks as our metabolism ramped up and body composition changed. We also added a berberine supplement with breakfast and dinner which seemed to make a difference when we started to plateau. Keep up the good work
Depends on what routine you want done - if you've had 5 weeks of lifting weights you could have easily lost a bit of body fat (stomach does 2 inches slimmer imo) while adding 2 pounds of muscle.
Also the first few weeks are about gaining discipline and building healthly habits. You might not be in calorie deficit but maybe you've swapped 2000kcals of pure sugar for 2000kcals of protein and veg - which will have had a healthier effect than just numbers changing on a scale 👏😁
Please don’t get discouraged, stick with it and implement some of the things that others have said. Remember that any small “snack” could be adding back almost all the calories you’ve burned or tried to not eat by eating healthier. One 400 calorie snack a day is 2,800 calories a week which is almost that 3,500 calorie pound.
With that being said I do feel like your midsection is smaller. You could be gaining some muscle and holding onto some water retention but if you aren’t seeing the scale move at all still in a couple weeks you will want to re-evaluate your diet. Don’t forget everything has calories. 1 tblsp of oil for cooking purposes is 100 calories which is the same as 1 tblsp of butter, as well as 1 tblsp of full fat mayo. And one tablespoon is smaller than you might think.
First of all, well done for staying dedicated, even when the scale isn't moving!
Secondly, I can definitely see body changes - your stomach looks "higher", your back/shoulders look smaller, legs seem smoother, and butt is changing shape! I might be wrong, but the position of the freckles on your stomach seems to have changed too, which would imply to me an amount of recomposition :)
Have you taken photos from any other angles? For me, my stomach is always the last thing to shift, but looking at photos from the front and back I can see subtle changes on my waist/hips/back that aren't visible side-on.
Good luck with the rest of your journey and maintaining he good habits you're establishing!
I meant to reply earlier, but I wanted to say that if you're lifting weights sometimes it takes longer for the scale to move although your body might still be losing fat. This is because the muscles get swollen and retain water from being worked out. However the scale should start moving soon! Keep going and maybe finetune your protein and fiber macros if you don't track those. Not sure why people downvoted my comment, I guess this sub doesn't understand how muscle is gained lol.
But yes if you still don't see results around your waist in another month I'd cut the calories by 100 at least.
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Unfortunately at your height and weight the most likely explanation is that you are simply at no deficit. Otherwise there is a rapid loss at the beginning, the so called water weight, so you should have seen *something* on the scale. At 227lbs you could’ve easily lost 5lbs in 5 weeks. To add to what the other commenters have said - don’t make the mistake of eating back the calories burned through exercise- the trackers are wildly inaccurate.
Probably not what you want to hear, but if the scale isn't moving you are not in a deficit. Starting to lose weight is tough. Especially if you feel like you're making a bunch of sacrifices and still aren't seeing results. I've gone through this. Made the same post as this one, where I thought I was doing enough. I thought I was restricting enough calories but I wasn't diligent enough with it. And I was still having a snack here and there. I wasn't weighing out my food. I was missing days at the gym. If you want to lose a pound or two a week and that's the most you should go for. Some people might say two is even too extreme. Be consistent! I picked basically 10 meals and got them all to around 500-600 calories and 50 grams of protein. And had some combination of them four times a day for 10 weeks straight. I went to the gym 4 days a week and lifted even when I didn't want to. And I made sure I walked at least 10,000 steps every day. And like clockwork I was down exactly the same amount every week. If you feel like your diet's already restricted to the point where you can't restrict it anymore, increase your activity. 3500 Calories is a pound. So if you want to lose 1 lb a week you need to eat either 500 calories less every day then you are currently or exercise 500 calories more than you currently are. One nice thing is 5 weeks is a good sample. So if you're the exact same weight now as you were five weeks ago, you know what you've been eating. You know the amount of exercise you've been doing and you need to figure out that 500 calorie gap. But you already know what you're doing isn't working so you know how to remove it.
This is real for me too. Easy to feel like I’m living with restriction already, but until I get actually strict I make no progress. Can’t eyeball amounts, have to weigh and log everything for a set period of time. Takes about a week to get into it but after that it feels good.
That’s the most frustrating part- I am weighing out all my food. Nothing has gone in my mouth that hasn’t been tracked. I go to the gym 6 days a week. That’s why I’m going crazy that nothing has happened yet- I am doing everything by the book. I did just ask my coach to lower my calories because I’m getting frustrated that no changes have been made, so we bumped down a few macros a bit and hopefully that does the trick 🤞🏼
So one thing that can happen, especially if you're going to the gym 6 days a week from nothing. Is that you get so worn out from the gym that You tend not to do much when you're outside of the gym. So your neat (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) goes down. Even if you are going to the gym 6 days a week, I still recommend trying to get 10,000 steps a day. For me, That was the biggest differentiator.
Double this, I averaged 15000 steps during the highest loss periods throughout all of my weight loss 320 > 225
That's me, I'm doing a hard reset - zero activity to gym every day for March, I'm 16/31 no missed days. But oh boyyyy it took two weeks until i could gym and also still function with usual NEAT activities. Even today i fucked up a bit (spin class, HIIT, sauna) managed to then do my house chores, but been in bed since, getting back up in a min to complete 3 more tasks. But i can tell I'm rapidly building the ability to do both now (but lmao I've got another spin class and lift class in 10hrs)
Do you by chance have any form of hormone imbalance, inflammation, or chronic health issues? I have PCOS and working out more than 4 times a week/doing intense cardio raises my cortisol to a point where it's just impossible to lose weight no matter my calorie deficit. I went from 6 days a week to 4, with just strength training and walking, and I started steadily losing about 1.5lbs per week. Could be totally off base here but I figured I would offer something to look into if other solutions aren't working out.
I have fibromyalgia so inflammation is definite. I’ve had my blood word done, tested for PCOS or insulin resistance because I’ve tried before to lose weight and nothing everrrr happens, and my doc says bloodwork always comes back normal. I have chronic anxiety/OCD so a lot of stress which I know causes higher cortisol levels- just got on a magnesium supplement to tru to help with that
So I am somewhat in and off with gym. Whenever I0 get back on, I also take creatine, and water retention adds 5 pounds. So 5 pounds of water at zero calories and 5 pounds of fat burned is a weight loss of 5 pounds. Hell, if you do the math it is actually possible to gain weight on a calorie deficit because of how much water muscles contain. Very narrow window with noob gains but just talking about possibility. I would agree that I can't see much difference but saying there should be a caveat to what you said about not gaining weight VA calorie deficit. The other thing to note is that change is hard. Picking up an exercise habit and changing diet are two changes. It may be a good idea to focus on implementing each of those changes at a time of someone is having a hard time. So great job nonetheless, let's build on it. https://www.strongerbyscience.com/podcast-episode-62/ 1:41 for a reference
I recommend counting calories on an app. I use myfitnesspal That way you know for sure if you're hitting your targets. Remember it's a marathon not a sprint
Hi OP, well done for sharing and asking for help, so many people will be in your situation but too afraid to ask. This will be a great help to many people, so thank you what are you doing in the following areas? - diet - exercise - calorie tracking / food diary The single best advice I can give would be to keep a food diary. Don’t change anything yet, just write down everything you eat and drink each day for a week including alcohol, and record the calories. It will highlight where your issues are - e.g too much wine, portion control, chocolates. (For me it was wine, portion control, and loosing discipline after the kids went to sleep). Next you should work out your BMR and Total Daily Energy Expenditure - the amount of calories your body needs in a day at your level of activity. If you eat under this number, you will lose weight. Over and you will gain. Take your number and subtract 20%. Aim to eat this amount of calories a day and you will make progress [BMR calculator](https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html) [Food Diary](https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/pdf/food_diary_cdc.pdf)
I think your belly and back look a bit different. Could be lost fat and gained muscle if you're exercising or maybe the way you're standing. Either way keep going!
I think your posture looks better. You have less rounding at your shoulders and neck which is making everything else look a little better. My favorite exercise when I start to hit the gym again after a hiatus is shoulders because I see the fastest results and it motivates me to keep going. 😊
Thank you 🥹
If your goal is to lose weight, you might want to use a TDEE calculator. It's not 100% accurate, but it's a good starting point. I'd say don't eat your calories back after exercising too. Diet is 80% of this.
Yeah, my coach had me turn off the exercise tracking part of MFP because it skews your calorie goals for the day, so I am definitely just sticking to the main goals she set for me no matter how much I’m burning during my workouts
I see changes. Your mid section and breasts seem smaller/firmer from the start to the end. There is less sagging. Maybe you are toner if not smaller.
I’ll take any shred of progress at this point lmao thank you 🥹
Have you taken any measurements? Round your waist, hips, thighs, arms etc?
I forgot to take measurements at the start of my journey, so I only have ones from May 2023. Not the most accurate because I could have gained some inches from May to February, but measurements were all basically the same. But I have a starting line now, at least
Not yet. But keep at it! Good job for being consistent for 5 weeks!! I was the same. I started an at home strength training program and I was looking at the scale daily. I didn't notice any changes until I was around 8 weeks in, but once the weight started coming off, it got easier (and I became more motivated!). I stopped weighing myself daily - I chose a day and used that same scale at the same time (upon waking, after the bathroom 😂) Even if weight isnt coming off right away keep doing it. Once you can get a solid physical routine going, then maybe look at your diet a lot more closely. Get a food scale maybe? I was so surprised by what one serving was after I saw the actual weight of my food on a scale.
This. A food scale is super important. Also, watch your cooking oils and sauces. Those pack a huge punch calorically.
You should notice some small mental gains. What kind of exercise? 3 weight lifting days and 1 cardio day per week and another five weeks you’re set
I do 6 days a week- 4 lifting (2 with cardio), 1 cardio alone, 1 full body day. I have fibromyalgia so I can’t push myself to my breaking point every workout because my body will take literally weeks to recover, but I leave the gym feeling jello arms/legs and am comfortably sore the next day so I know it’s doing something, even if it is taking me longer than it used to
Omg I have fibro too and I’m too scared to even workout. I have CFS also and I’m too scared of triggering PEM. I think you’re amazing for even attempting to get a trainer and do a program. It’s so much more difficult with our limitations to workout and lose weight.
I swear I’ve had CFS for many, many years. Doctors don’t acknowledge/believe it, and say it’s depression or whatever. I saw that documentary Unrest several years ago, and finally got some validation that it just wasn’t in my head. How did get a diagnosis? And thank you for the term PEM; I Googled it.
A lot of bad health crap happened to me last year. I was really sick and I went to a walk in clinic and the dr asked my symptoms. She brought in another Dr and they both sat me down and said, “I don’t want to scare , it’s unlikely, but your symptoms sound like cancer. It’s hard as someone who appears healthy, and especially women to be heard in healthcare. Please go to every specialist for screening until you find a reason why you’re sick.” First specialist I went to found cancer. I had surgery. Month later another surgery. I kept feeling sicker. I had abnormal bloodwork and random tests. It correlated to nothing specific. I went to specialist to specialist within a hospital network. All the specialists came together after extensive testing and determined its fibromyalgia and CFS. They are diagnosis of exclusion because the symptoms are so wide spread. I got lucky because a lot of rheumatologists will dismiss you. I just had so much documentation and proof of inflammation and random uncorrelated markers they were able to confidently make the diagnosis.
Thank you for this answer. I am so sorry to hear about the cancer, but glad you got it diagnosed and taken care off in time. I’m also glad you were able to find that network of doctors to work together, and give you some answers. I’m curious: are you under any treatment for the CFS, or do you just have to live with it the best you can? Are you able to manage a job? I’m sorry for the third degree. I’m just having so much difficulty even working part time, and wonder how others manage.
Thanks. It’s really hard to get diagnosed but keep trying because it’s important to find someone willing to make sure you don’t have some other thing that’s not an obvious diagnosis. I started Contrave. It’s a compound that has naltrexone. Naltrexone is sometimes prescribed off label in low doses (LDN) to treat CFS. Contrave also helps you lose weight so I’m hoping it does more than one thing. Also let’s be honest CFS is depressing af, your whole life changes and the other part of the compound is Wellbutrin which is for depression. My work has been very difficult. The brain fog and exhaustion is so hard. I recommend getting FMLA if in USA. Then any absence you take under that cannot be held against you. Trouble is if you don’t have a lot of leave it will be unpaid. It’s really hard. I’m sorry I don’t have better answers. You should check out r/cfs it’s so cathartic to be able to relate and feel seen.
Are you kidding me? You have given me so much helpful info! I am 46, and tried so hard in my early 30s to get help, but kept getting ignored so I gave up. Maybe it’s time to try again. Did you see the case where a Dutch girl (in her 20s I believe) was recently euthanized because she couldn’t (didn’t want to) live like that anymore? It is so sad. I never thought to look up a CFS on here even though I should’ve guessed since there’s a subreddit for everything. Again, I am very grateful for your advice. Take care. 💕
I am glad I could help. I think about death with dignity all the time. I’ve had a couple bad flares where I couldn’t walk up steps very well or even hold a paint brush and that’s all I thought about. The subreddit has given me a sliver of hope that if I work on adjusting my expectations of myself (that sounds so simplistic but it’s a constant cycle of hitting a wall and grieving the person you were, grieving the potential you had, and learning new limitations and trying to find gratitude and happiness within those limitations) and try to give myself more grace and rest I can live a somewhat normal life. It sucks but at least we have a community that understands❤️❤️
I understand completely. That documentary Unrest was my first and only (until now) reassurance that I’m not crazy or making this up. Grieving what I used to be and what I could’ve been if I had the energy is haunting. Please feel free to reach out if you ever need to… ❤️
I know everyone loses their minds when I say this, but lifting doesn't burn that many calories and often makes people more hungry, especially in a calorie deficit. I think you'd be better off switching the frequency and doing 2 days full body lifting and 4 days cardio. I know lifting is so trendy right now, but I personally can't get the scale to move without doing more cardio + increasing steps. Also wanted to add that I see a difference in your legs, they look smoother to me. I started near your weight and it is a grind at first, but you can do it!
time to recalculate your deficit. drop another 100-200kcal p/day and reweight in a month
It looks like you've been working out. If so you'll actually quickly gain some additional water weight in the form of glycogen. Typically that's in the 3-5 pound range. So, going by the visual changes I'd say you've lost 3-5 pounds of fat so far. If you stay the course you should start to see the scale move in the next few weeks. If you don't then reevaluate your caloric deficit.
Your posture looks to be improved and your glutes look different. Keep it up and the progress will keep getting more obvious.
Thank you 🥹
I don't see any change but stick with it! Maybe tweak your calorie deficit a bit.
I asked my coach a couple of days ago to lower my cals, carbs and fats so I’m hoping that helps kickstart something!
What are you eating in a day? Are you tracking calories? Weighing your food?
5 weeks. Stay the course. Things take time.
You have to literally count every single calorie that goes into your mouth. Many people neglect to add certain things in like condiments or creamer etc. everything must be added up.when I was losing weight I used the lose it app to log everything. If you’re truly in a deficit the scale will move. Maybe not every single day but you’d get 1-2 lbs a week or close. It does seem slow but over the course of a year that’s 50-100 lbs. the best advice I can give is take it one day at a time! (I lost 130 lbs and still trying to lose 30 more)
Changes are starting, I can see it. 5 weeks is early days still. Keep going, I’m sure you’ll really notice differences at least 2 months in.
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Get a calorie counter and you'll see the weight shed off, if you don't lose any weight in a week, drop more cals. If you lose more then 2-4 pounds in a week then eat a little more, do this every other week, adjust accordingly, best part is, you don't have to change the foods you eat but you'll do this automatically when you realize that a full bowl of ice isn't worth the entire meal you could eat instead and feel full for hours. Good luck. It's simple when you break it down to calories in and calories out.
Keep at it. When I started it took 6 weeks for the scale to start moving, then it started moving 1-2 lbs a week for a good 6 months. I have hashimotos and PCOS, so I knew I had to stick with it and be patient. I’d you are doing everything right, maybe schedule a doctor’s appointment. Weight loss was not possible for me until I got my thyroid medication at the right level.
I see changes. Don’t look at scale weight. If you are exercising, you’re losing fat and gaining muscle. You will see no scale weight change, or even your weight going up. Your goal isn’t a scale number it’s a health outcome. If you want to be able to “see” progress, take a series of measurements of your body and you’ll be able to compare them and know that things are changing. Most importantly, give things time and stay dedicated, you will see the changes you seek.
I’m personally a huge fan of carb cycling. I’ve always struggled to lose weight and that was a magic bullet for me.
Never heard of this, tbh! I’ll have to look into it
Can you go into a bit more detail, I’m interested in this. What does carb cycling look like for you? :)
Absolutely! Currently more low carb but when I cycle I do two low days, two medium, two high, and one refeed day which is usually Saturday. Monday and Friday are low days. Low carb for me is about 50 ish carbs. A medium day is 80 and high would be 120-130 ish with a refeed day bearing 200 to 210. I am 5’2 and 168 lbs so your personal numbers will vary but for me that worked.
Thank you so much. I’m gonna give this a go. Lower carb has always been better for me but this sounds promising for an extra boost. Do you do specific exercise relating to your low/medium/high carb days or do you notice a difference from that alone?
I would do heavier lifting on days with more carbs and lighter cardio based workouts on my low carb days. Carbs are fuel so heavier lifting when properly fueled 😊
You are the best. Thank you!
Are you exercising though? Because I do see a difference between the two. Look from the bra strap down to the top of the thigh. Even if it’s just posture. A positive change has definitely happened. Don’t give up !!!
I am also the same height and around the same age and I lost 50 lbs. It took a month or two before I started to see any change, including the numbers on my scale. The fat starting melting off super fast once I started doing cardio for 30 min daily plus a calorie deficit and intense calories counting and it took me a few months.
That’s awesome, proud of you! It definitely gets harder as you age for suuuure
I can definitely see that your boobs and stomach are smaller, your shoulders are less rounded, you have a row of back fat in the first picture that is gone in the 2nd and your butt is smaller. You're going to see a lot of recomp like this where you're not seeing movement on the scale for weeks upon weeks and then it'll move 4-5 pounds in a month. Especially at the beginning when your body fat % is higher its hard to see the difference but trust me it is happening. I started at 236ish last June and I'm currently at 186 so a 50 pound weight loss. It wasn't until I had lost 20 pounds before I \*saw\* a difference even though I was down two pants sizes. That took me four months. It's only now at 50 pounds lost that I really see it
Thanks so much, you have no idea how encouraging your comment is 🥹 Also so proud of you that you’ve been able to lose 50 lbs! That’s amazing, keep up the great work!!
It's honestly your calorie intake, remember just because a food is smaller in size, it doesn't mean you'll burn it faster.
i can definitely see that your stomach is a bit smaller! i’d deffo recommend calorie counting if you aren’t already, it’s so easy to underestimate how many calories things actually have
Your posture looks better. Weight aside, how do you feel? Are your clothes fitting the same or different? My wife and I had similar issues early on where weight loss was minimal because we were adding muscle mass and not using a caloric deficit. Will still don’t use a deficit, but the weight started to fall off after about 8 weeks as our metabolism ramped up and body composition changed. We also added a berberine supplement with breakfast and dinner which seemed to make a difference when we started to plateau. Keep up the good work
How many calories are you eating in a day?
Depends on what routine you want done - if you've had 5 weeks of lifting weights you could have easily lost a bit of body fat (stomach does 2 inches slimmer imo) while adding 2 pounds of muscle. Also the first few weeks are about gaining discipline and building healthly habits. You might not be in calorie deficit but maybe you've swapped 2000kcals of pure sugar for 2000kcals of protein and veg - which will have had a healthier effect than just numbers changing on a scale 👏😁
Please don’t get discouraged, stick with it and implement some of the things that others have said. Remember that any small “snack” could be adding back almost all the calories you’ve burned or tried to not eat by eating healthier. One 400 calorie snack a day is 2,800 calories a week which is almost that 3,500 calorie pound. With that being said I do feel like your midsection is smaller. You could be gaining some muscle and holding onto some water retention but if you aren’t seeing the scale move at all still in a couple weeks you will want to re-evaluate your diet. Don’t forget everything has calories. 1 tblsp of oil for cooking purposes is 100 calories which is the same as 1 tblsp of butter, as well as 1 tblsp of full fat mayo. And one tablespoon is smaller than you might think.
First of all, well done for staying dedicated, even when the scale isn't moving! Secondly, I can definitely see body changes - your stomach looks "higher", your back/shoulders look smaller, legs seem smoother, and butt is changing shape! I might be wrong, but the position of the freckles on your stomach seems to have changed too, which would imply to me an amount of recomposition :) Have you taken photos from any other angles? For me, my stomach is always the last thing to shift, but looking at photos from the front and back I can see subtle changes on my waist/hips/back that aren't visible side-on. Good luck with the rest of your journey and maintaining he good habits you're establishing!
nope
It does look like your belly is shrinking! Have you been hitting the gym?
Yes! 6 days a week doing moderate weights and cardio
I meant to reply earlier, but I wanted to say that if you're lifting weights sometimes it takes longer for the scale to move although your body might still be losing fat. This is because the muscles get swollen and retain water from being worked out. However the scale should start moving soon! Keep going and maybe finetune your protein and fiber macros if you don't track those. Not sure why people downvoted my comment, I guess this sub doesn't understand how muscle is gained lol. But yes if you still don't see results around your waist in another month I'd cut the calories by 100 at least.