I'm a little despondent, I've increased my activity levels by walking every day at a very fast pace for more than half an hour, plus I'm fitting pilates in once or twice a week and am watching what I eat. I'm only about 14Ibs over weight; was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism hence weight gain and am now on meds, but after two weeks of constant exercise I still haven't shifted an ounce!!!
Do you think it takes time for your body to show any results?
I'm going to persevere, but it's so hard when nothings happening, especially when I've upped my exercise so much. How do you continue with the motivation?
It took me a year of working out 5-6 days a week to lose 20 pounds. I could stand to lose another ten, and expect these last ten will take another year. So yes, it takes a while, particularly when there isn't a lot of weight that needs to be lost.
Try not to be too focussed on the scales, they are one of the least accurate measure of fat loss available, and will often leave you despondant when there is a slight increase. Take weight measurements weekly or daily, but just for trend analysis not constant progress measure. Try using clothing fit and general appearance as a guide, not easy but often more accurate.
Why are scales inaccurate?
Fat is 3,500 calories a pound and water levels in our bodies fluctuate immensely. People will lose 2 pounds in a day and be impressed put it back the next and not see the point. 2 pounds of fat loss involves using 7,000 calories more than you have consumed, unlikely in one day. If you dehydrate one day the body will hold onto it the next if it can, so that 2 days could contain constant fat loss, but you wouldn't know.
You will gain muscle which is 75% water and therefore immensely heavier than fat. This will burn energy all of the time so muscle is your friend and the scales will disagree.
That is of course without taking into account the effects of your medication. It would seem logical that increasing metabolism via medication would mean more fat burning. Bodies are not that logical and they tend to see when outside influences are coming into play and work against them in some ways, after all your body doesn't know what the medication is supposed to be helping. Check out the side effects.
Keeping active and getting rid of weight in a way that will stay off is not quick or easy. Short term diet plans are financially successful because they have feel good factor and know that their customers will keep coming back when the weight re-appears.
Eat balanced, google food pyramid, if you want to reduce weight, reduce intake in a balanced fashion and increase activity. Most difficult of all is patience, we all want everything yesterday, but this is something you want for life so adopt it as part of life.
__________________
'If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you're probably right.' Henry Ford
hi again woeisme, There is a new diet book out called the 8 hour diet which has been generating alot of interest. The idea behind the book is that you eat all of your meals during an 8 hour period. The other 16 hours you do not eat your body will selectively burn fat. I am not one for diet fads but I did some research and read testimonials where many people lost much weight using this technique. Just google 8 hour diet and see what the buzz is about. All the best......lenvegas
You just can't out exercise (or out walk) a bad diet. You say you are watching what you eat, but I guarantee you're eating more than you think you are.
You can exercise until the cows come home, but until you cut back on how much you eat, you won't lose weight.
