My weight is stuck

Question
Hello Ray, it's nice to meet you.

I am a 5'2 130 lb, 30 year old female with 2 kids. I would like to lose anywhere from 15-20 lbs. I was 115 lbs before kids, and I carried that weight much better. However, it seems I am stuck at this weight. Previously I have tried both giving up soda, which was a big thing since I was drinking 3-4/day. My husband did the same. He lost 10 lbs, I lost nothing. Another time I did Atkins. Did not lose anything after 2-3 weeks so I eventually gave up.

This time I meant business. For 6 weeks now I have completely modified my diet to be much healthier and include portion control. I am walking on my breaks and riding my bike at night. I still haven't lost a pound. A friend that is doing the same thing as me has lost over 20 lbs. Granted, she had a little more to lose than me but she's also a good 10 years old.

I have been tested for thyroid/diabetes and it all comes back fine. Everyone around me sees the huge effort I'm making, and no one can explain why I can't lose any weight. I would really appreciate any advice you can give me, I'm very frustrated right now.

What my normal day looks like:
Breakfast - instant oatmeal with fruit or a banana/fiber bar

Lunch - soup or salad, or low fat turkey/chicken wrap. Sometimes I'll have a small amount of leftovers from dinner.

Snack - cottage cheese, or some crackers

Dinner - A small/healthier portion of what we are having. Last night I made spaghetti and only had a small serving of the meat sauce and then ate the corn I made as a side, and a roll.

Workout - Walking 1-2 miles on breaks. Take kids to park, on walks, bike rides, basketball, etc. If we are stuck inside I will ride my exercise bike for 10 miles, or around 500 calories. Lifting 10 lb weights every other day.

I drink at least 5-8 servings of water on a daily basis.

That's it. Thank you for any help you can give me, I really appreciate your time.

Answer
Hey Breann,

There appears to be a lot of room for improvement here, so let's get to work :)

I think that we need a bit of a paradigm shift here, for some reason your body is fighting your progress and the solution is likely in the hormones. Often times, mothers will have great difficulty losing weight because sleep deprivation can lead to insulin resistance and excess cortisol, which is the perfect storm for weight loss resistance. If you are sleep deprived, or were sleep deprived for the first year after the last child was born, it's possible that the body is trapped in a hormonal cycle that can make fat loss difficult. To get things changing, we need to regulate both cortisol and insulin levels.

The fact that the Atkins diet caused weight loss for the first couple of weeks and then stalled in you doesn't surprise me because having a very low-carb diet for extended periods can trigger cortisol to be produced and this likely poisoned your results. Here are some tips to get things moving again.

1. Just looking at your diet, it's clear that from a caloric perspective, your body probably perceives itself as being starved. To counter this, your first meal of the day should have 400-500 calories and have protein as the centerpiece and approximately 20-30 grams of carbs. 2 eggs and 4-5 egg whites with veggies in an omelet along with some fruit and a little oat bran could be an example. This type of breakfast will lower cortisol, stoke metabolism, and take care of late day cravings.

2. Lunch will be lighter but can still have 10-20 grams of starchy carbs. If you can, do your walk first, wait 15 minutes to allow the muscle cells time to open up the glucose gates and then eat.

3. Dinner should be devoid of starchy carbs. Vegetables and protein should make up dinner. This will give your body a 12-16 hour break from insulin and allow fat burning to progress.

4. Snacks are optional but should not contain carbohydrates for reasons that are beyond the scope of this email :)

5. Walking is fantastic, keep walking, but we also need to add muscle building activities. Cortisol causes muscle erosion. We need to get that muscle back! Lift weights intensely at least 2-3 times a week. If you can't get out to a gym then get an adjustable weight set and a pull up bar and get a program like P90X to perform at home.

6. I personally am not much of a fan of standard cardio, especially if your body feels starved. When you don't consume enough calories, cardio will trigger a larger cortisol response to aerobic exercise.

I hope this gives you some direction.

Committed to your success,
Ray Hinish, Pharm.D., CPT, LWMC
http://CuttheFatPodcast.com

1. Prev:Calculating calories burned
2. Next:Am not losing weight at all