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Girlfriend has tried everything to lose weight but to no avail

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I originally posted this in the insanity and weight loss thread but a lot of times posts get lost in the shuffle because other people want help to. Here goes:

Since november my gf has been trying to lose weight. She's 5'4 and started at say 185. Through a combination of better eating she has lost 20lbs to be 165 today. Two weeks ago she became determined to hit her goal of 130lbs. I drew her up a diet plan (she's trying to stay vegetarian) and she got into p90 insanity. So after two weeks on the program, she steps on the scale and nothing has changed? What gives? To be fair her body is weird. One day she's 159.7 and the next she's back up into the 160s. It's so discouraging for her to step on the scale because she thinks that all her efforts are just in vain. I mean we calculated her BMR, added in her activity multiplier and everything. My suspiscion is that she isn't eating enough but it's hard to get in cals when she wont eat meat. I tell her that she needs to eat more and more frequently throughout the day. Her BMR is around 1550 and with her activity multiplier she just isnt getting enough food. I want to encourage her to reintroduce meat into her diet. Gaf, I need help.

Her diet:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday:

Breakfast

2 Eggs 140
2 slices Cheese 188
2tspBenefiber 15
Total 343

Lunch

1cup Sweet Pot. 180
1Tbsp Butter 100
3Tbsp Almonds 190
2tsp Benefiber 15
Total 485

Dinner

1 Sandwich 265.5
2tsp Benefiber 15
1Tbsp Peanut Butter 95
Total 375.5

Snack

Half Avocado 138
Total 138

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday:

Amt. Food Calories

Breakfast:
8oz Alm. Milk 35
1scoop Pro. Pow. 120
2Tbsp Flax Seed 80
1cup Stra. Berr 50
Half Banana 60.5
1/2 Tbsp Peanut Butter 47.5
Total 393

Lunch
1cup Sweet Pot. 180
1Tbsp Butter 100
3Tbsp Almonds 190
2tsp Benefiber 15
Total 485

Dinner
1 Sandwich 265.5
2tsp Benefiber 15
1Tbsp Peanut Butter 95
Total 375.5

Snack
1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese 103
1/2 Cup Blackberries 31
2Tbsp Flax Seed 80
Total 214

Low carb didn't work because she wasn't supplementing with exercise, so she ended up eating too much. Should I try and convince her to reintroduce meat into her diet? But she's still under 100carbs a day with the diet I drew up for her. We just really don't know anymore. Everyweek when she is disappointed I tell her to try something else but it's all in vain. I sucks because she thinks she is losing weight and the scale disagrees.

Her BMR is about 1550cals and with her activity levels its 2700

She's sticking with Insanity. No changing that up.

She's even cut out alcohol after learning what it does to the body
 
My body weight stayed the same working out hardcore like that for a long time. I definitely noticed changes though. Weight stayed the same but I lost fat and gained muscle. Sometimes it takes awhile for that balance to shift and for the rest of the fat to burn off so that you're actually losing the weight instead of replacing it with muscle.
 

RubxQub

φίλω ἐξεχέγλουτον καί ψευδολόγον οὖκ εἰπόν
I tell her that she needs to eat more and more frequently throughout the day.

BatmanandJokerDietDiscussion.jpg


Check out myth #1
 

sangreal

Member
sucks because she thinks she is losing weight and the scale disagrees.

What's the problem? weight is a pretty poor measurement unless you need to be a specific weight. Especially measuring day-to-day. Going from 159.7 to 160 the next day means nothing at all
 

B!TCH

how are you, B!TCH? How is your day going, B!ITCH?
Am I reading this food chart wrong? It looks like you listed her eating a tablespoon of butter everyday, but that can't be right.
 

andycapps

Member
Gonna be a lot harder for her to hit those goals with being a vegetarian... I'll let fitness GAF weigh in on that. Long and short of my opinion is that she needs to reduce her carbs and up her protein, though. And again, that'll be hard with her being a vegetarian.

She's honestly probably got a lot of excess fat to shed. So she's burning that fat now and replacing with muscle which weighs more. Eventually, she will hopefully get to the point where there is less fat to burn so she should start seeing some pounds drop off. Have her start measuring herself (should already be doing that with Insanity). Those measurements can be encouraging.

Stumpakow said:
Insanity is typically going to burn 600-800 calories a day in the first month and I think more in the second month when the tougher routines get introduced.

Maybe.. I think that might be a little ambitious. I'm on my second time through and my impression is that the first phase is around 400 calories a day. Though calories burned will depend on the fitness level of the person. 400-600 is probably a reasonable estimate.
 
Losing fat and losing weight are different things. If she's not losing fat despite all of that effort then have you ever considered she might have an underactive thyroid? But that is a long shot.
 

BeesEight

Member
Well, the basics of weight loss is that she needs to take in less calories than she's expending during the day.

If she's just started Insanity, keep her with what she has and have her check the scales near the end of the week. If she hasn't lost weight, reduce her diet by 100 calories and repeat. Insanity looks like it should be great for weight loss so just keep removing 100 calories until she starts seeing her weight drop.

Though, I don't think you're ever suppose to go below 1300 in one day, so if she's bordering that then just sticking to the exercising will be enough.
 

Datwheezy

Unconfirmed Member
As its been said before, weight sometimes can be deceiving if she is replacing fat with muscle (which she is probably doing in this case)
 

kagete

Member
Well every body reacts differently to changes in diet and exercise. She might even be gaining muscle mass/weight from her new workouts so while she may not necessarily be slimming down she is probably healthier now that she has started this regimen.

I don't think she's "tried everything" yet to be honest (which isn't necessarily good advice) Is she currently on some form of birth control?
 

Jokergrin

Member
The trick is not to eat less food, it is to Eat MORE healthy food.


Instead of eating sandwiches, cheese slices, peanut butter, protein powder, etc.

EAT VEGETABLES AND FRUITS. TONS OF THEM. Drink green smoothies. Stop eating grains altogether.
 

Askani

Member
She's pregnant. She's having triplets. The weight gain of the kids are counteracting her weight loss. Congrats OP!
 

Darklord

Banned
Have you tried one of those 5 days Detox things? A couple girls I've spoken to have done it and says it works. Won't fix everything but it might break the plateau?
 

Hilti92

Member
Alot of things on that list can be replaced with something less fatty. Trade the avocado with celery for instance.
 

mr. puppy

Banned
you're giving her large quantities of cheese, butter, and peanut butter, and then confused why she isn't losing weight?
 

GiJoccin

Member
after some time of weight loss, your body adjusts your BMR down, so that in order to keep losing weight you have to eat less. it's so hard to lose weight and keep it off because it takes almost 6 months for your body to adjust to a new "set point" - otherwise your body sort of self regulates and brings you back to where you were
 

Lerozz

Member
The trick is not to eat less food, it is to Eat MORE healthy food.


Instead of eating sandwiches, cheese slices, peanut butter, protein powder, etc.

EAT VEGETABLES AND FRUITS. TONS OF THEM. Drink green smoothies. Stop eating grains altogether.

I agree with that. Colleague of mine switched to mainly vegetables, fruit and meat and banned every other crap from his diet and his weight is going down the hill (as in the number gets smaller).

When nothing changes for a while, it could also be that she simply hit a plateau.
 

.GqueB.

Banned
I know nothing about this but my girlfriend has the same issue but she also tells me that weight is a somewhat bad thing to track so frequently. She finds that she doesn't lose much weight but her clothing often fits differently.

And she's ALWAYS at the gym.
 

Al-ibn Kermit

Junior Member
A reasonable, healthy goal in weight loss is said to be like 5 pounds a month if I remember correctly. So not seeing any real difference within the first couple weeks is nothing to worry about. It's frustrating how slow the weight loss is but it will happen.
 

cbox

Member
Did she take before photos?

Sometimes people don't think they've lost much until they see what they once looked like. It helps put things into perspective.
 
Some of you guys really have no idea what you are talking about. Fat is in no way shape or form bad for you. It's a myth. I had my buddy on a low carb, high fat and high protein diet and he lost 30lbs. Weight loss comes down to calories out versus cals in.
 

Soul_Pie

Member
I've had great success with the intermittent fasting routine mixed with heavy lifting and plenty of cardio, lost about 5 or so kilos and hopefully put on some muscle. I wasn't particularly fat but I was carrying a fair bit of excess weight particularly around my waist.

And quite honestly it's freed up a fair deal of my time, I just feast over the course of about 3 hours or so and then that's it, I don't have to worry about where or when my next meal is coming from which leaves me to concentrate on other things.

Not sure if this will work for your girlfriend but certainly at the moment it has helped me a lot, I never feel hungry which is probably the most surprising aspect.
 

despire

Member
OP is obviously too obsessed with what the scale says. Like others have said already, she's probably burning fat and getting some muscle in the meantime. I'd trust what the mirror says over the scale. Also stop weighing her every day. Pick one day in week when you will do the weigh in. And keep the conditions same so that the results are comparable. Easiest to do in the morning straight after waking up (go to bathroom first). For example weigh her only every saturday morning after taking a crap.


Some of you guys really have no idea what you are talking about. Fat is in no way shape or form bad for you. It's a myth. I had my buddy on a low carb, high fat and high protein diet and he lost 30lbs. Weight loss comes down to calories out versus cals in.

This ain't entirely true either. Some fat is bad for you and some is good for you. Trans fats are no-no and saturated fats aren't generally that good for you either. Monounsaturated are healthy and polyunsaturated fats are essential.
 

Moppet13

Member
Why are people so obsessed with ridding every bit of fat from their diet?
The real problem is that peanut butter, butter, and cheese consist of nearly 1/4 or of her calories. (well I'm just guessing that's why people are targeting it)
Haha. That makes more sense. I just skimmed the article first as I was planning to read it later.
Yeah thats what I thought at first too, I was like well this is a shitty article why even post it lol.
 
So the general consensus is to eat what shes eating and to continue pressing on with insanity and we'll go get a tape measure. Am I getting this right?
 

Davidion

Member
Is she gaining muscle? I looked up her BMI and that's not really all that outlandish if she's gaining muscles and strength. her diet seems entirely healthy unless you're going on some super health nut diet.

Some arbitrary numeral benchmark is a silly thing to aim for compared to general fitness and health, but that's just my opinion.
 
The real problem is that peanut butter, butter, and cheese consist of nearly 1/4 or of her calories.

Yeah thats what I thought at first too, I was like well this is a shitty article why even post it lol.

Nothing wrong with fat dude. You have no idea what you are talking about
 

ToxicAdam

Member
You are always going to hit plateaus. Both in dieting and in strength training. You just have to work through it. That's why so many people fail, it's fucking hard and dispiriting.
 
I'm confused as to why you're so set on trying to convince her to eat meat if she's trying to stay with a vegetarian diet. If anything, by her adopting a more vegan lifestyle and replacing a lot of those fattier foods with vegetables (which she's eating almost none of), more fruit, beans, and whole grains (such as brown rice, quinoa, etc.) will result in weight loss. The avocado isn't a bad form of fat, but she could probably do without the butter, cheese in the eggs, and replacing the eggs with egg whites.
 
It takes time. People often quit whatever program they are on because they see no loss for a couple weeks, but that is normal. Good safe weight loss takes time and you will often plateau and eventually you will begin losing again. Generaly means your body metabolism is changing.

So often people lose some weight right away and then it stops, they get frustrated, and just quit. Got to keep at it and eventually results will kick in.
 

benzy

Member
you're giving her large quantities of cheese, butter, and peanut butter, and then confused why she isn't losing weight?

Yeah, especially the peanut butter.

Get her more veggies (carrots, broccoli, peas, green beans, etc), fish if she doesn't mind. The high carbs in sweet potatoes aren't helping you lose body weight either.

And it'll take more than 2 weeks before you notice significant change.
 
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