Struggling to lose weight

[samcogle]

Hi mmackay, well done with the 8llbs. I am fairly new here and am sure an expert will come along and correct me if I am wrong but stick with it. I am like some on here who did weight watchers, slimming world etc etc. and was a great believer that I could only lose weight if I attended them. I have now lost 3 stones in about 3 months. From personal experience though I lost about half a stone and then stuck. It could be that your body needs time to adjust. If you change your way of eating drastically [I know I did as I am a carb fiend], your body can go into starvation mode and store any food as it thinks there is a famine. Keep going though and you will find it starts moving again. You will find every so often your weight plateaus...it's just adjusting. I stayed the same for a couple of weeks which really frustrated me and then I lost 5llbs so all is moving again.
Don't be disheartened, stick with it. I have started walking for about half an hour everyday and this seems to help too. Measure yourself as even when you plateau you may still find you have lost inches...I know I did.
Welcome to this great place and keep us up to date with how it's going

 

[Dennis]

Hi Marie,

As I'm sure you are already aware, the body loses weight when the amount of carbs that you eat amount to less than what the body needs for energy. To make up the shortfall the body burns off fat, which it can use as an alternative energy source. When you have been losing weight as you have been, and then it suddenly stops, this is generally because the amount of carbs that you are eating each day matches nicely the amount of energy you are expending, so you stop burning off fat.

To get this re-started you can either drop the carbs a little more or alternatively increase the exercise so that you are back in the situation where your body calls for more fuel than the carbs are providing. Of course if you can manage a combination of a bit more exercise and a bit less carbs then you will find the weight will come off quicker. But the exercise needs to be aerobic, not pumping weights! Aerobic exercise increases your metabolic rate so that the body calls for more fat to be burned. Strengthening exercises tend to replace the fat with muscle, which is heavier than fat, so you might look fitter but not lose any weight!