year of gym - no weight loss

[tatt]

Initially I couldn't exercise too intensely because my heart rate went through the roof. That has improved, so I guess I'm fitter, but no weight loss and very little change in my body fat. My metabolic rate is still that of someone 15 years older. I exercise 3 times a week for an hour mainly on a cross trainer or bike with some weights. Some weeks I manage a few short sessions or a walk other days.

My diet is a little odd because gluten exhausts me but I eat fairly healthily e.g bolied egg breakfast, salmon salad for lunch, meat and veg in the evening. I do eat cake or ice cream after the salad more often than I should but I rarely eat snacks or drink alcohol and I don't put dressing on the salad.

Anyone any suggestions? I've had a negative test for an underactive thyroid. Short of spending all day in the gym don't see what more I can do.

well I had a go at the HHIT - but I couldn't get on my usual cross trainer and the other one makes so much racket at 70rpm I think it may fall apart before I do . Can you trade off higher resistance against rpm? Exercise bike was OK though. My usual schedule is messed up this week.

The brownies are really great - don't remind me! They are so good that the children will happily eat them for me (can't say that about much gluten free food).

I'll give HHIT a go for a few weeks then maybe ask if I can see an endocrinologist if I'm still getting nowhere. I would have to see a consultant as it still isn't licensed for gps to prescribe for pcos, only for diabetes.

Any suggestions for a set of weights that won't take up much space at home?

oops - sorry minorbird I thought I'd replied. No I haven't got a food diary. I've started keeping them before but I kept losing them.

I agree with whoever said you need to focus on portion sizes rather than dieting. Also, be careful with low GI/high fat foods, cos there are plenty of them around! Remember calcium is important for muscle function, so protein-rich foods containing calcium will help satisfy your appetite. Milk is good for after exercise.

Also, when using weights, you need to increase the weight you are lifting regularly otherwise your body quickly gets used to it and you don't challenge your muscles anymore. To increase strength (and so increase your metabolic rate and calorie-burning potential) you need to do fewer repetitions of heavier weights - so don't do 20 reps of a fairly easy weight, do 10 reps of a weight that you can barely lift by rep 10. Agree that free weights are much more challenging and give a much better full-body workout.

Also, remember that your body needs 48 hrs or so to repair the damage and thus build strength after a weights session - so you should only do resistance training every other day at most. For a beginner/intermediate 3 resistance sessions a week should be plenty.

You need to vary your CV programme as well - again, your body learns quite quickly to cope with the work, so in order to challenge it, you need to try different things (eg cycle, treadmill), increase intensity so work really hard, also as someone else said interval work is fantastic.

You can also do intervals of cardio work and resistance (weights) - 5/10 mins high intensity cardio, then 2 or 3 sets of a multi-joint exercise like squats or lunges.

Breaking exercise into chunks rather than doing it all at once (ie 2 20 mins sessions daily rather than 1 gym session) is more beneficial. For example, if you took up running you could do a quick jog in the morning or at lunch time, then nip to the gym for 20 mins cardio plus some weights in the evening.

Phew! Good luck with all that - and let us know how you get on

watching portion size is something I've been doing for years. I have to cook extra for visitors and then often have to give them cheese and biscuits to top up.

I don't usually do weights 2 days in a row but this week I've had other commitments so hs been a bit messed about. So I've done different weights on adjacent days. My muscles ache today so this is definitely a day off.

Yes, you can increase the resistance with interval training - the aim is simply to push yourself to the limit for a short period, so you might have two mins of quite brisk pedalling, then 30secs -1min of pedalling really hard so you feel you absolutely can't do any more and your heart and lungs will burst (mix of speed and resistance), then a minute or two of slow gentle cycling to recover, then two mins of brisk but not frantic cycling, then your sprint etc (you can vary this to taste and fitness). It is slightly more interesting than plodding!
I like 43Today's idea of alternating running/cycling etc with lunges and squats.

I've found this thread very useful especially about PCOS. Posted a thread earlier but it wasn't answered about weight gain due to contraceptive pill and seeing the doctor about it not shifting. Meformin might be worth asking about.

Sorry for the hijack.

abouteve
I have found a low GI diet helpful in the past, you could give that a try before metformin. It's worth asking your gp about metformin but it does have side effects (mainly diarrhoea). If you're ttc (or can pretend to be) they may be more helpful than mine (they know I'm not ttc).

Exercise is essential if you have pcos. My weight really took off when I was too tired to exercise.

Thanks, its not for me its for my DD (14). We are seeing the doctor today. She has PCOS, exercises and is careful as she can be at this age with her diet, but the symptoms are increasing.

We will try anything, tbh as its blighting her life atm.

Have you had a look at the Verity website? Lots of helpful information there. It's worth joining Verity to keep up to date on the latest developments/ get support from other people. Low GI is a good way to eat (not really a diet). Tell her dark chocolate has a low GI diet and she may be quite keen to eat that way .

Thanks I will check out this site. The doctor has referred her to a specialist. She wouldn't prescribe her Metformin because of her age. We are also trying to get IPL treatment on the NHS. I think the doctor thinks I am a neurotic mum .

Verity site very good for sharing frustrations aboout pcos and doctors. Also for discussion of being on the pill/ which contraceptive pill is best for symptom control or whether its best to avoid the lot. It sounds as if endocrinologists are genrally more helpful than gynaecologists.

As for the exercise I'm not doing too badly on an exercise bike with periods of very high intensity. Finding it a bit difficult to pedal slowly enough to get my heart rate down so it will take a while to get the right intervals. The cross trainer is considerably more difficult because I find my heart rate doesn't drop back to any great extent in between the high intensity bursts. Also getting some nausea but it sounds like that is not unusual.

43today - since you were kind enough to suggest an update...

My gym closed and with nothing much within 20 minutes drive I've been struggling to find alternatives that I can sustain. However the good news is I've dropped a dress size. Although I'm still struggling to lose weight if I exercise in small sessions throughout the day my metabolic rate is higher and I may actually be losing a pound or two. However if I skip a days exercise my metabolic rate drops very rapidly so there is a long way to go.

reviving this because I have finally managed to get down to what Wii Fit says is the "ideal" range. I think what finally worked for me was the interval training - especially interval training before meals . So a big thank you to everyone on this thread for the ideas. I still have a problem with a low metabolic rate but if I exercise in short bursts I can keep it to only that of someone 8 years older and not 15 years older!

Still intend losing some more body fat though.

Well done, and thankyou for reviving this

I don't have PCOS, but do have the metabolism of a slug and try to combat it by doing large amounts of gym classes - spinning / combat / pump / aerobics etc. Despite doing that and dieting, my weight loss doesn't even average 2 lb per month (and I've got 2.5 stone to lose).

I've had to stop body pump as I damaged my lower back, so am only doing spinning at the moment, and just doing 3 classes of that per week plus lots of walking every day seems to be achieving the same weight loss level than 9 classes per week was.

this thread has given me lots of ideas - particularly on the interval training - so thankyou I am always on the lookout for ideas to speed up my metabolism ..

ice-cream has sugar and fat but also milk, which seems to prevent some of the fat being absorbed. www.dairyreporter.com/Products/Dairy-calcium-may-reduce-fat-absorption-from-meals. You can get low fat ice-cream or just eat smaller portions.

Anyway I haven't stopped eating the ice-cream as we have a lot of soft fruit at the moment.

Joolsiam Have you had a thyroid test? I did as there is a family history of underactve thyroid. Mine was negative but still think it's worth considering, especially if your body temperature is lower than average in the morning. I try to do at least 10 minutes on Wii Fit before breakfast to kick-start my metabolism.

I've had two thyroid tests - one very recently and was told it was "normal" but didn't ask for the actual results.

I do find I am tired all the time (worse if I'm not exercising) so may ask for the actual numbers.

Interesting about the temperature - will investigate