Kind of feeling defeated. I feel like I am doing everything right and not losing weight. Been 5 weeks now of being on a nutrition plan and doing 6 days a week at a place called Hew Fitness. Working with an instructor and intense workouts.

My diet plan is 1900 calories
195g of protien
100g of carbs
80g of fat

The way I have been eating I usually end up with less carbs and under my calorie intake.


Any ideas? Thanks

DT..

I'm no expert but I've been fighting the weight loss battle my entire life.  

What are your height & weight?  How much are you trying to lose?

Have you been medically checked for things like thyroid and testosterone?  

Could you be gaining muscle and losing fat, thus staying the same weight but with more muscle and less fat?

I'm 5'4" 235lbs so about 70lbs to lose. I am on testosterone replacement. Last scan I did muscle mass, weight, and BF% still the same.

When do you consume the 1900?  Is it via grazing throughout the day or focused into a couple meals?

I’d probably have some protein/fat in AM.  Some protein/carbs pre WO, some more immediately after, then a final meal later of the rest of protein/fat.  Keeping fats/carbs separate seems to help me and you’d be targeting your carb consumption around WO times.

Typically 3 meals a day with lunch being a protein shake. My workout is usually at 5:30 in the morning.

Carbs are the killer

Read the book Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It.

The caloric model is generally false.
There are many great reasons to exercise. Weight loss is not one of them.

In addition, the 18/6 intermittent fasting is fantastic for maintenance and when you remove the carbs, weight falls off.

Meat.
Eggs.
Greens (green vegetables).
Beans.

Last year, into this year, I dropped 36 pounds. I attributed it to my daily activities where I was on my feet moving around 9-10 hours a day. Then early this year I injured my back and needed spinal fusion surgery, at the same time I was diagnosed with cancer which may have had some bearings on the weight loss.
Started chemo in March and currently have gained back 30 of the 36 pounds lost, most likely from eating and a greatly reduced activity level, (the back and rheumatoid arthritis)  or maybe because the chemo is eating up the cancer cells that were causing the weight loss...who knows? I'd really like to get back to where I was 30 pounds lighter.
I'm looking at some of these fat burning supplements, has anyone had any positive results from them or are they a gimmick ?

Carbs can be good if you use them strategically.  

I’d probably try 50g carbs + 50g protein around 5, WO @ 5:30 then follow with another 50g/50g post WO.

Then fast until dinner where I’d target the remaining protein/fat for the day.

Have you had your blood sugar levels checked?

You'll never lose weight with that many carbs if you're experiencing insulin resistance.
Keto could be your best option.

What exercises does your trainer have you doing?
Trainers are in the Fitness Business and many of their programs (at least the ones I've observed) have their clients doing stupid exercises which won't build muscle or reduce fat.

It might be beneficial to cut back on your high intensity training and focus on building muscle through 3-4 lifting sessions a week. You will want the extra muscle to help burn calories. Might even be a good idea to eat at maintenance instead of a sharp deficit as well so you’ll have the ability to build muscle which is hard to do in a deficit. Carbs are also important in fueling muscle glycogen stores which allow you to lift heavy things.

Lots of high intensity stuff can run you down, leaving little time to recover, which is compounded by the deficit. Added together, your are looking at the possibility of metabolic damage which will make keeping the weight off once you lose it.

Another helpful thing to do is find a physical activity that you really enjoy doing (for me it was BJJ) and you’ll begin to think of training in a positive light. Especially once it makes the transition from fun hobby to part of what you consider as a component of your personality/identity.

How are you tracking your calories in and the macros you listed?  Are you weighing everything?

We tend to do a poor job of estimating portion size and calories.  Meal prepping, weighing everything and eating the same things all week really helped.

For someone of your height/weight with that much to lose, I would focus solely on calories in and out and protein.  At the end of the day, fat loss is a math problem- you must be in a caloric deficit to lose weight.  Everything else, keto, intermittent fasting, helps on the periphery but only if your body is burning more calories than you consume.

Someone else mentioned cardio is not the best way to lose weight- you can't out train your diet.  Your protein probably doesn't need to be that high.  Protein during a diet is to limit loss of muscle along with fat.  You have a very high body fat percentage so you don't have the same needs as someone trying to get from 18% to 14%.

Focus on caloric deficit, measure exactly, adequate protein and resistance training, cardio can give you will burn some more calories but it's secondary to diet.  But your heart is a muscle too.  Given your weight, walking is probably your best bet.

How long have you been on TRT? What is your dosing? Usually we see a  drop in body fat and an increase in LBM initially. Combined with weight training and you really have the potential to do a successful recomp.

I'm hypopituitary since birth so most of my hormones are screwed. Only thing my endo has me on though is testosterone and growth hormone.

Yup. Have a scale and using myfitnesspal to track.

I'm considered pre diabetic, but the diet and exercise is helping that.

Attached File

if you arent losing weight SLOWLY pull back the calories... and I would do less fat and more carbs if you are doing intense workouts... and OVERAL Calories are what matter the most when losing weight... but with intense workouts, you need .7 to 1 gram of protein per pound BW (ROUGHLY) its not gospel then  as much carbs as you can to still meet the calorie intake where you are losing weight.

You are 100% wrong, its ALL about CICO, calories in Calories out AND if hes doing intense exercising he needs carbs.
"Meat.
Eggs.
Greens (green vegetables).
Beans."
WRONG.. if you are trying to lose weight, for the most part people want to feel full so you want less calorie dense food. BEANS!??? really? very calorie dense and a lot of fat. for a small handful of... BEANS, you could have a number of better foods than BEANS... 4oz of chicken breast is like 120 calories, while 120 calories of beans is like......... 1/4 cup or something equally small. Eggs are... ok and you can eat them daily if you want all that matters is the calories in calories out, but if you want to feel fuller while maintaining calories daily instead of 2 eggs 75x2 calories.. 14prot 14fat 150 calories, for 160 you could have 2 Greek yogurt fit and lite 24prot 18carb 160cal, or 1/2 cup of oatmeal 5prot 27carb 150 calories both of which are way more filling. NOT that eggs are bad its just,, you should stay away from too much fat and, if you are a bit hungrier on a certain day look into something more filling like what I listed. But definitely stay away from BEANs and too much calorie dense foods unless you dont get hungry when cutting calories.

and the MOST W-wrong thing you listed was "carbs are the killer" 1 million% false, a carb is a carb prot is prot fat is fat none is worse than the other BUT if you are trying to lose weight fat is worse because 1 gram of carbs and protien is 4 calories each while 1 gram of fat is 9 calories. Your wasting calories on fat because they are more calorie dense and a majority of people need to feel fuller when they are cutting to low calories to lose weight so reducing your current fat intake to say,, carbs or protein should make you more satisfied and fuller.

1. It all comes down to Calories. if you arent losing weight, lower the calories just a bit till you start again
2.if you dont feel hungry during the day thats fine but if you are hungry, cut back the fat and increase your carbs or protein and you said you are like 235lbs? I personally would do roughly 160prot then rest calories carbs and occasional fats but remember its about overall calorie intake first and foremost.

oh and GREENS as you listed dont REALLY have much calories,, they are good to make yourself feel full but aside from that unless you have trouble pooping with your protein intake just eat salad etc as needed to be full AND not all vegetables are just low calorie free foods, like corn, green beans, carrots do have a decent amount of carbs/calories so dont go FULL ham on those

Give intermittent fasting a try.

It sucks to adjust to, but it works in a few ways. Helps decrease insulin resistance, and you are often likely to end up under your target calories.

My brother in law lost 80 lbs and was taken off his diabetes meds after sticking to it for almost a year. He started walking a few miles a day as well.

I kind of do it on accident a big chunk of the year and stay pretty lean, I just don't usually eat breakfast when I'm working and have a short eating window in the afternoon and evening.

Not all calories are metabolized the same ..... especially for someone who is pre-diabetic.

CICO has been thoroughly debunked.

Keto is what OP needs in his situation.

Calories are important, but they are one important thing out of several.

@Sparky

With numbers like that you need to find a doc that will put you on Metformin NOW, even if your A1C is looking ok. It will solve a lot of your problems.

Assuming your kidneys are 100%, of course.

Have you had a glucose tolerance test?

Know how I know your talking BS? "CICO has been thoroughly debunked." go look up some Greg Doucette videos on youtube hes spot on, has an annoying voice though.. ill give you $10000 dollars if you can lose weight on a 10000 calorie a day diet for a few months. you are straight out of your mind and have no idea what your talking about. its thermo dynamics, your body is a furnace and burns a certain amount of calories (different every day) but over all you consume less calories than you burn, you lose weight. Period. dont listen to this fool, has no idea what hes talking about.

Go ahead and do all of the "important" things EXCEPT calories and do 4000-5000 calories a day and get back to me on your weight loss journey (some could do that and have a super high metabolism (skinny people that eat endlessly etc, but 90%+ cant)

@TWIRE, curious about the 18/6. I like to work out first thing in the morning, and I do martial arts and other stuff in the evenings. Trying to figure out a way to do this or even 16/8. Curious how you are doing things.

I've been avoiding rice, potatoes, beer, wine and bread for last couple weeks. I usually eat two ~500-600 calorie meals a day, with some snacks in between. I do drink zero calorie drinks, which may be hampering my progress. I am down ~5 pounds in the twoish weeks. I don't feel like I'm in ketosis. I've noticed I don't have my normal strength or stamina during my morning and evening workouts.

Don’t sweat it, stick to it don’t quit, I will pay off in no time, also get your blood work done, find out about your test,thyroid and such

Do you know what your Dr is trying to get your ng/dl to reach?

You might try talking to him with your weightloss  concerns. With that particular health issue on the table, you might be better off with some changes to your dosing if you are hypogonadal.

And I’ll double down on my earlier statement, cut out the high intensity stuff right now, build more muscle initially, especially with the hormonal issues. You don’t want to use crash dieting and overtraining to the extent that it causes more hormonal damage.

Where did I say to ignore calories?

You need to be in a deficit to lose weight, but you also need to avoid carbs if you are diabetic.

You are telling a diabetic to eat more carbs and less fats.....and have the gall to call another member a fool. His body is extremely carb sensitive, if he wants to fix that, he needs to stop eating them for awhile. Otherwise he is just going to end up more sick and only slightly less fat.

Dunning Kruger is in full effect with you I'm guessing.

HES NOT A DIABETIC! ANYWAYS I'm saying focus on less calories. over a few years I've found my maintenance calories, 5 foot 8, 190-200 pounds, bodybuilder type body, With that I start to lose weight when I cut my calories to like 1700 calories or lower. You just have to cut the calories more.

Pre diabetic isn't a thing, it's just mild enough diabetes that he doesn't need meds yet.

His A1C is high and his body is not processing carbs like it should.

Prescribing more carbs is a death sentence.

And here's a shocker, it might surprise you, but people are different. CICO works fine for me and you, I've done it, works great.

For people who can't process carbs properly, it will just cause a yo-yo effect. They'll lose weight initially, but once they reach maintenance again they still won't be able to recomp. Any weight they gain or maintain is going to be fat, that's what happens when your body is just dumping insulin to try to keep up because it needs more and more to do the job.

OP, I'm not a Keto zealot, I actually don't like it very much (it's not terribly fun).

You are a good case for it though. Eliminate carbs from your diet for awhile, set a goal, like 12 weeks or something. Maybe pair it with IF if you are really feeling up to it, and see how your body and blood work reacts.

It seems to be very good at both straightening out blood work and dropping body fat.

If your energy levels drop off, just scale back the exercise a bit to accommodate.

By the end of week two you'll be craving butter on everything (it's weird) but you'll feel less hungry most of the time, and your A1C is likely to drop.

Waiting for the OP to chime back in. In the meantime, with those fasting glucose levels managing this strictly by diet is unlikely to be successful at less than starvation levels (<1200 cal/day). Even if it can be the entire process will still be better managed on Metformin.

@Sparky -- become familiar with the HOMA-IR model. Look at your fasting insulin and fasting glucose together (the number need to be from the same blood sample).

The conventional thresholds for pre-diabetes are set way too high. Find a doc sympathetic to this issue. Metformin is dirt cheap if insurance won't pay.

Is it any wonder that healthy people, athletes, etc., are now embracing continuous glucose monitoring? This might be an interesting and effective approach for you, Sparky, but it'll be on your nickel, insurance won't pay since "you are not diabetic".

I've done keto before. It worked great until I stopped. Weight came back quick. I've tried keto again and lost the initial water weight but nothing more. Like now. Lost initial 5 pounds and stalled.

Like the guy with the bad info above said, calories are important, even when doing keto.

For what it's worth, last cut I did was 1500/day, my wife is usually 1000-1200/day.

If you are in ketosis, but eating more calories than you need, you still aren't going to lose any weight.

How long were you in ketosis both times?

Thanks I'll read up on it. I use VA healthcare so cost isn't a big deal. I was given metformin and glipizide, but resisted because I didn't want to go to the meds(I know. Ignoring doctor advice). I was hoping to solve it with diet and exercise. You have me thinking. I'll talk to my doc again.

Maybe instead of debunked I should have said CICO is a vast over-simplification. It's 1960's thinking that most intelligent health professionals are finally coming to grips with and moving past. CICO and thermo dynamics are physics concepts which ignore human physiology and hormones.

I suggest you watch some of DR Jason Fung's YouTube vids on the subject

The body is basically a machine, it reacts to stimulus.  Weight lifting stimulates muscle protein synthesis to grow more muscle after stress (very over simplified I know).

Keto and all the other stuff works well for lots of people, but only in a caloric deficit.

Eating a strict keto diet several hundred calories above maintenance level will not result in weight loss. So calories in, calories out is still very relevant.

If you want to lose weight and work out then sign up for a ketogains boot camp and stick to it.

Their results speak for themselves.  No debates.  Just results.

Yes, the body is a very Complicated machine

When you are pre or diabetic, the "calories in" obtained from carbs (glucose) are prevented from reaching your cells by insulin resistance. Thus, the "calories in" portion of the equation breaks down. IE if you're consuming 2,000 calories and only 1,000 are reaching your cells ... not only are you going to be storing most as fat, you're going to have high blood sugar, all the health problems associated with diabetes are going to eventually manifest themselves, and you're going to eat more because you will still be hungry. It's a vicious  circle. For those in OP's position, the source of calories is paramount. Eating more carbs is absolutely the last thing he should do.

I learn so much new stuff here, like beans having a lot of fat.  You know butter beans aren't really made of butter, right?

FWIW, 1 cup of cooked lentils - 230 calories, 18g of protein, 0.8g fat, 40g carbs (16 grams of fiber)

1 cup of cooked chicken breast (4.9 oz) - 231 calories, 43g of protein, 5g fat, 0g carbs/fiber

I'm not saying beans are some kind of super food and they don't have a ton in the way of nutrients, but calorie-dense they are not.

Work out today.

Attached File

Oh well, there's part of the problem ....... crossfit

Cluster thrusters sounds like a basass candy bar.

I have dropped from 285lb to 195lb.  Goal is to lose another 15lb.     I did it with two simple steps, EAT LESS and MOVE MORE.     No really I still eat sausage, eggs and hash-browns for breakfast.   The sausage is turkey based, it's one egg, and a true serving amount of hash browns, yep I weight it.    My other meals tend to be low fat based with lots of veg's and salads.    Again it's the amount not so much the items.          For the moving part I walk a lot and keep my heart rate at higher levels    I also ride my bike an hour a day (10 miles) several times a week.      

It works for me.

LCH is correct. The CICO people are always focused like a laser on WEIGHT loss at the expense of everything else. Most people should instead focus on body composition, where CICO still matters, but the quality of food and macros matters more. Can you lose weight on a twinkie diet if you're eating at a deficit?
Yup.
Will you look good? Feel good? Be healthy? Be muscular? Be able to perform well? Nope. You'll be 170# of chewed bubble gum.

The hormonal response to food matters a lot. Certain things trigger fat retention, certain ones trigger muscle retention.

I usually recommend people fix the quality of their food...this serves two purposes- quality food means you have more desirable hormonal responses, and it also is harder to overeat so it helps with amounts too. Counting calories also sucks, it's better for most to just eat healthy as a lifestyle change. Tweak as required. If you need to cut a little then count cals temporarily.

Everything you said is absolutely true.  In fact I'm a big proponent of eating high quality, healthy foods.  And body comp is important.  But none of that changes the basic fact that you will not lose weight or fat if you eat above maintenance levels. That doesn't mean you need to go to ridiculously low calorie levels.  Most people cut calories too much, too fast and then plateau. But you need to burn more than you consume to lose bodyfat.

What works for me:

1. Eat only a lunch and a dinner

2. Keep carbs under 20 grams a day

Boom, mad weight loss, if you feel good with that then take out another meal, then another.

Fat loss is about diet and insulin, not exercise.

This is incorrect, you can absolutely lose fat while above maintenance. It's not easy, but it absolutely can be done- this is one reason why I usually don't recommend people focus on CICO.

ETA to expand on this, by your logic it shouldn't be possible to put on muscle only, while reducing BF%, at a surplus and that it obviously false.

So you have some data you can cite documenting people who have lost weight while not in a caloric deficit? A study or specifics cases?

The body will not burn stored fuel stores if you are consistently ingesting more fuel than you are expending.  Food is only fuel to the body.  You need to burn more than you ingest to lose weight.

You can add muscle in a caloric deficit, but it's pretty difficult.

And our philosophical debate aside, OP wants/needs to lose 70 pounds.  Would you recommend anything but a caloric deficit to someone with that much weight to lose?

You keep confusing weight and body fat. Read carefully what you said, then read carefully what I said. This isn't a philosophical debate, these are facts. What OP should or shouldn't do is a philosophical debate.
What I said is that you can lose FAT while in a surplus (which is true) and you can actually gain FAT while in a deficit too. The problem is when you say "weight" you're lumping together fat and muscle, and I am not- which is why I very specifically say FAT and not WEIGHT.

Now, with that said, there actually are some studies suggesting it's possible to gain weight while only at a small deficit due to the hormonal response of certain foods...but that's not what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about is the guy who is 170# of chewed bubblegum at 20+% BF who over the course of a couple years gets to 190# and 10% body fat. Do you think that guy did it while in a deficit?

What I would recommend to OP would be to clean up quality of food and instruct him to eat until satiated and no more. Do that for a while and see how it goes. Re-evaluate in a couple months. He may need to get strict on counting calories. For "clean" eating I'm always a fan of paleo/primal despite the dumb name, and keto works well too but is not sustainable for some people.