Maintenance Frustration

[sadie147]

I have posted about this before, and was really hoping that by now I wouldn't be posting about it again. Has anyone in maintenance put on a few lbs that they just CANNOT get rid of? I"m now at 1 year, 7 months trying to lose 8 lbs that I put on, and i'm not kidding it WILL NOT BUDGE. I can't even lose 1 lb!

I thought it was lack of exercise, but i'm now 3 months back at the gym without 1 oz of weightloss.

So now that i've ranted , here is my question: does anyone think it's possible that staying at too low of a carb level could have actually somehow messed up my metabolism or how my body is burning fats/carbs etc? I think I've seen it mentioned here before, but never thought much about it.

I'm now staying at around 60-120g's per day, just about every day, without any issue, but that's fairly recent. I had been staying probably anywhere form 25-50g's per day for a very long time and i'm wondering if maybe that was a bad thing.

If this is where my body wants to stay, then so be it. There is nothing I can do. But what baffles me is i was at goal, and managed to stay there for 10 months (give or take a lb or two that i was able to drop), so it's not that I can't get there. I'm just confused as to why i can't get back.

I don't even care to lose the 8 lbs right now...i'd be happy with 2, just too see the loss!!!

I'm not giving up..i'll keep plugging away at the gym, and eating my whole foods, i'm just stumped about this. I've tried everything at this point.

[ValidRouge]

I'd love to hear any answers to this Sadie. I'm struggling just getting to what I want my goal to be. I've even been back on induction for the last week and 1/2.

[thirteenlbs]

Hmm, I am no help, but am curious about this as well...as my "extended" induction was years!

[sadie147]

well i have managed to keep my carbs up at maintenance levels the past month +, i've ranged normally around 70-120g's (with no gains, no losses either though). I am now trying to lower my carbs, to see if maybe this will boost my weight loss after staying fairly high carb for over a month.

Anytime i've gone down to induction level carbs in the past it has done nothing, though i now think that's because my carbs have maybe been too low to begin with. I'm thinking that i'm now in carb burning mode, i would think, and maybe dropping back down should bring me back into ketosis and kick start my weight loss? Not doing actual induction, not ready to give up my yogurt and cottage cheese yet (yes i have tried cutting out dairy, no help ).

i'm skeptcial that it will work, but i'm hoping that a combination of that, and continuing exercise, might help.

sorry i'm just kind of thinking out loud here at this point, I'm really running out of ideas, and patience .


How are you doing Joy? is dropping back to induction helping any?

[ValidRouge]

Nope. I just finished my two weeks and the only thing I lost was the 3ish pounds of water weight. And, I'm not even back down to the low of 188 I had one month ago. HOWEVER, TOM is due on Saturday...and I typically start to gain a pound of two just before. My body is VERY VERY stubborn.

On my measurement chart I'm not losing inches...possibly even gaining inches. BUT I've moved DOWN into size 10 Levis jeans. The only explanation is that I'm losing inches in places where I'm not measuring. One area I *know* that is happening is that area between the larges part of my calf and my ankle. That area below the actual calf muscle is getting smaller.

I went and had my body fat measured using the BodPod which uses air displacement as opposed to the dunk tank method of water displacement. It says that since June I've gone from 40.7% bodyfat to 33.4%. I've gained 4 lbs of lean muscle tissue. Lost 20 lbs of fat.

As a runner, you might also be intersted in this....but I had my Resting Metabolic Rate measured as well. Where I thought that my metabolism might have slowed because of quitting smoking, the running and muscle gain has actually SPED UP my metabolism to the point that they said I should be eating around 2117 calories per day for weight loss and to NOT go below 1700. They actually told me that I need to "Fuel the machine". So, I've been trying to keep my calories up. It makes sense, that the more muscle I gain the more metabolically active that tissue is...and the more calories it needs for fuel.

I'll just have to see how this goes.

[Condor]

I am no expert and this is just a suggestion based on my own recent experience with losing the last ten pounds. I went back to induction, less than 20g carbs, but also I reduced by protein down to around 70g and upped my fat considerably to just over 150g. I don't keep food journals or do fitday or anything, just never got in to it. However as far as I think I can remember, every time I did the above, (been low carbing and struggling with the last ten pounds for nearly 12 years), the weight came off again.

[Condor]

Forgot to say that once the ten pounds comes off (usually about six weeks) I seem to be able to go back to maintenance and maintain the new weight. I do like a higher fat ratio though as it keeps me very satisfied. Does this make any sense?

[thirteenlbs]

Perfect sense. I am actually experimenting with this concept right now as I move up the rungs.

[Condor]

Oh and another thing, and again, this is only from my experience, I cut back on the exercise quite a lot during this period to around 20 minutes a day from around 40 minutes at maintenance levels.

[sallyseachange]

This is a very interesting thread.
Sadie... like you used to, I stick between about 28 g to 50 g carbs and have maintained for a year and a half... but, have often wondered if I should perhaps up those carbs a little, for good health. That would mean sacrificing other foods that I love to eat though. and I'm loathe to do that.

Sorry not to be able to offer any helpful advice...but am very interested in what everyone has to say on this. I'm sure you'll find the solution sooner or later if you keep at it.