To just accept I'll always be fat!

[BulkyBody]

So been working out 4/5 days a week for the last 3 months. 40+ minutes hard cardio, 45 minutes weight training and then 30/40 mins swimming. In the days I don't train, I try to incorporate at least 30 minutes brisk walking. I have overhauled my diet so fruit for breakfast and omelette for lunch instead of toast, cereal and sandwiches.

I deliberately did not weigh myself until 3 months was up today and I have lost a grand total of 4lb , BUT I am now fitting into a size 16 down from 20 although I don't think I look much different in the mirror so not sure how that has worked .

I am still over 17 stone with swollen ankles!

The exercise is taking up so much time, I can't keep it up for much longer as other stuff is getting neglected. I will continue but maybe only 2/3 times a week as my body does feel better but I just feel like 'fuck it', I want to eat toast with tonnes of butter'!

I have hypothyroidism too.

AIBU to just give up?

Well done, that is a very good result.
However, weight loss is generally reckoned to be due to 20% exercise, & 80% diet.
Perhaps you now need to concentrate on your food consumption - & exercise does make you hungry!

If you’re losing inches then you’re losing fat, but gaining lean weight. That’s a good thing! Keep on going and never mind the scales.

When you are loosing weight always take pictures! Like I was always happy with my body but decided to loose some of my mummy tum after I had a baby. It took me two months of not eating after 6pm to loose 6lbs and it seems like not a lot but it does make a difference!

Try taking measurements instead of weighing to see how much you’re losing in inches.

Also to me it sounds like you’re doing a LOT of exercise! I would cut that down - you must be tired and therefore more likely to just pack the whole thing in.

Big well done for making a change you will have done your health the world of good already.

Justme9 you look amazing!

This was exactly me OP. Then I started doing research into obesity. Have a look. Not crap sites, go for the academic research like Imperial College Obesity research centre and UCL research into Obesity . Read the stuff by Prof Rachel Batterham . Who is respected academic into Obesity research.
Having done all that - I opted for Bariatric surgery. (Hence the user name). I have gone from 18.8 to 12.3 in 6 months. Yes the aesthetic look is pleasing but the biggest gain is the ability to exercise.
I sail, I ride, I go to the Gym.
Because.. a) I'm not embarrassed to do so. And B) I love the way I can move my body around and so stuff.
I am like a 'normal person'

Look at the stats on people getting back to a healthy weight once their BMI gets to 35. Then make the choice. No it is t the 'easy way out' but unlike WW and SW (which rely on your inability to maintain weight loss to increase their profits) it actually works....

Are you sure you’re scales work - serious question ?

I have a friend who’s 17 stone and she can’t get anywhere near in anything size 16 - more like size 20-22 for her. Sounds like you’ve lost more than your scales say. Can you use the scales in boots to get accurate readings ?

When you up your exercise dramatically like you have, your body starts retaining a loaaad of water, which initially masks a lot of weight loss and means exercise can even make your weight go up. Stick with it and it eventually goes away! Also, you might find long term that being less aggressive with your exercise will leave you less hungry - some exercise is good, but often i find that a lot makes me so ravenous I outeat what I've burned, whereas with a bit less activity I can stick to a diet more easily.

I'm hypothyroid too and the struggle is real it's taken me 2 years to lose 4 stone but I did it
I ditched the scales and took measurements instead I eat one meal a day very low carb/high fat been doing this since January and the last two stone just fell off you can do this but with thyroid issues you just gotta persevere keep at it xxx

Do not give up, you will gain back and then some.

You did not become overweight in 3 months and you wont fix it In 3 months.

I honestly dont think working out should/needs to consume that much of your time....genuinely look at how many calories you are consuming over a week (including alcohol and every dodding 'nibble' of chocolate) chances are you are consuming more than you think you are.

'Exercise' doesn't need to be hard either, go for a long but gentle walk every chance you get, especially if it is more convenient and therefore more sustainable. Every lunch break etc, park further away, a quick 10 mins before breakfast etc..

Yep, think it probably really helps the OP to see pics of skinny bods - do some people need to show off

Well done op. You’re doing amazing.

I recently also dropped down 2 dress sizes after piling on the weight whilst pregnant with my twins. It’s really disheartening when you go on the scales and see you're not losing pounds. I actually started measuring my waist/thighs/arms instead and realised I was going down in cm even if it wasn’t showing on the scales. Don’t give up and don’t be too hard on yourself. I have an under active thyroid and also low iron which makes it quite hard shifting the weight, but I keep trying. I’m now down to a size 14, from 18, and hopefully will be back to my pre-pregnancy weight of a size 10-12.

Don’t overdo it either as this can do more harm than good. Keep the calories down and cardio up. Also, some people are just heavy. Even when I fit in size 10 clothes, I was always at the upper end of bmi. I just have heavy bones

I'm also hypothyroid

Yep, think it probably really helps the OP to see pics of skinny bods - do some people need to show off

I think it's encouraging to see the impressive results which can be achieved by losing a relatively small amount of weight.

Do some people need to hate on others achievements?

Three months isn't very long so you've done well. But you have to keep going or you will never change.

Also don't go by weight. Go by how you fit into clothes.

I’m Hashimoto’s and PCOS, and admittedly have always been thin despite these diagnoses, BUT I know I’m a bit hypo when I feel bloated and gain a few pounds. Have you had a thyroid panel done recently—and not just TSH?

Also, you are hugely overtraining. Cut back to three weights sessions a week.

If this was me I'd be worried about burnout from so much exercise setting off my "fuck-it" switch and leading to me eventually giving up on both the exercise and nutritional changes. To avoid that, I'd reduce my exercise until I felt it wasn't dominating my life (sounds a bit like you're feeling that way?). I'm not one for long-term calorie counting as I can be a bit obsessive, but - having lost a few stone after piling it on big style after my youngest was born - I found that initially keeping a calorie/food diary was essential for me. It showed me where the "hidden" calories were (well, they weren't REALLY hidden - I was eating the kids leftovers, half packs of crisps and drinking a lot of milky coffees, fruit juice and smoothies (terrible for calories), plus a lot of picking at stuff from the fridge. Plus my portion sizes for carbs were massively oversized).

It seems a shame when you've achieved so much in terms of fitness to be disappointed by the scales, but if losing weight is an aim then it is a calorie deficit that's needed.

Just wanted to add that the muscles you are building will actually help support your joints.

Don’t give up.

Did you take measurements? They mean more than what’s on the scales
Well done for dropping 2 dress sizes that’s amazing

Well done!

I'm guessing you gained muscle whilst also losing fat, which is an incredible achievement! You lose TWO dress sizes!

Just to remind you, fat takes up more space than muscle. So at a minimum, you lost four of the yellow lumps in the attached picture. I'd wager you lost more, but gained muscle which is taking up less space but making up the difference in weight.

I have been doing the exercise to create a calorie deficit so I didn't have to obsess about what I ate.

I am burning in excess of 1000 calories when I train including swimming so i know my breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack is a deficit. Then I try to keep to 1000 for dinner and PM snack. Then the walking can be around 200/300 calories unless I do a big one which could be over 500 so I have a deficit of at least 7000 a week equating to what should be a minimum of 2lbs lost a week. I should have lost a stone and a half at least by now! I am more toned but I can't be carrying a stone and half in extra muscle!

I'll have to keep it up and just hope I get a nice surprise next time I weigh myself and its all come off at once.

I'm not close to burnout. Before I started this I used to be half asleep on the sofa by mid morning. Now I'm always wide awake until about this time. I'm a SAHM due to DC2 having a disability and only going to college part time so I have to be around to pick him up etc and then for DC4 after school. Not helpful for boredom eating.

The stuff that's being neglected is the house stuff like cleaning the oven and cutting the grass, and I was just thinking why that's more important than working on myself. DH would rather me be at the gym anyway!

I have started taking my thyroxine with high strength Vit C as its supposed to increase absorption so maybe that'll help with the hypo. My last bloods were 2.35 TSH which is well within guidelines but should really be below 1.0 so I've read.

Anyway I appreciate all the replies. I'll have to get over myself and keep on keeping on for another couple of months!

Agree with other posters tbh. I've found that when I cut my diet to 1,200 calories I lost 2 stone in 2 months whereas I've been doing yoga thrice a week and cycling to and from work everyday for a month without a diet change and I have only lost 6lb

I lost my baby weight (35lbs) by focusing purely on diet, exercise was primarily used to destress.

I found that varying the number of calories I consumed regularly prevented me from plateauing. Sometimes I actually lost more weight by eating more.

Are you monitoring your calorie intake through my fitness pal or similar? It's easy to overstate calories burnt through exercise and understate your food calories - evening healthy food.

You don't need to obsess over food, but it is worth sense checking.