Weight Loss with Metformin? HIGHLY ACTIVE, Can't Lose Weight
Hey guys.
For the last 6 mos, I've worked out with a personal trainer 3 days per week... burning 1,000-1,400 calories with each session.. then working out on my own for 2-3 days a week as well.. burning 750-1000....
I have been watching food intake.. doing weight watchers.. doing Bob Greene.. nothing has worked at all...
So yesterday my blood work comes back from my OBGYN.. we were sure it was going to be thryoid because of a family history.. MY THYROID WAS PERFECT.... 2.54....
But she said that I was as text book of a case of PCOS as she'd even seen as far as blood work goes.
They started me on YAZ at the apt on Jun 29th.... to stop excessive bleeding I was experiencing..
and I just called and asked for Metformin... I'm hoping that they call me back by the end of the day.
I want to lose weight.. I'm busting my A** in the gym DAILY.. and should be seeing some results.. but I just have this huge belly going nowhere... even the top of my belly has started to turn hard as a rock.. but I'm still 266...
I was 266 when my trainer weighed me in January.
I'm 266 now.. only change now is that my BMI has significantly changed..
Well she just told me that she doesn't put anyone on Metformin unless they're diabetic.
I tried to explain to her that I've spent 1000s on personal trainers, nutritionists, diet plans... and my weight has went NO WHERE... this was to the nurse.. she's going to have the doctor call me back in a few hours...
ask your family doc for a referal to another OB or better yet an ENDO .. my OB only gave me it for ttc .. i had to go to a ENDO for PCOS(weight) purposes ...
__________________ Dx (finally) ~ 2003 TTC ~ 2.5 yrs for #1 - 8 months for #2
Clomid, Metformin, Baby Asprin, Pre-seed, temping and lots of OPK'S/HPT'S lol To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ Baby girl Jan 11, 2007 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ Baby girl Dec 3, 2008
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Thank you.
Hubby doesn't make androgen naturally.. and has been with a great Houston area endo for 30 years... If it turns out I'm not IR tomorrow.. I'm going to get my labwork faxed to hubby's endo.. and see where we can go from there...
Hey guys.
For the last 6 mos, I've worked out with a personal trainer 3 days per week... burning 1,000-1,400 calories with each session.. then working out on my own for 2-3 days a week as well.. burning 750-1000...
Specifically what are you doing to burn THAT many calories? (that's really quite a bit...)
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrandiDaryl
I was 266 when my trainer weighed me in January.
I'm 266 now.. only change now is that my BMI has significantly changed..
Assuming your height is the same...if your weight is the same, then your BMI could not have changed. BMI is a straighforward height/weight calculation...so if height and weight are the same...bmi HAS to be the same.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrandiDaryl
I have been watching food intake.. doing weight watchers.. doing Bob Greene.. nothing has worked at all...
..
How many calories are you consuming on a daily basis? That calorie count is more important than the calories burned during exercise...
__________________
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Specifically what are you doing to burn THAT many calories? (that's really quite a bit...)
Assuming your height is the same...if your weight is the same, then your BMI could not have changed. BMI is a straighforward height/weight calculation...so if height and weight are the same...bmi HAS to be the same.
How many calories are you consuming on a daily basis? That calorie count is more important than the calories burned during exercise...
I work out with a trainer.. we do 30 mins of cardio taking the heart rate to anaerobic levels... then we do some weight + cardio like stair climbing with free weights.. then we do actual weight work.... My avg heart rate in a workout is around 148-155... with an attempt to keep it in the 170s for 15 mins or so of the entire workout...
And maybe I didn't mean BMI.. but the little pinch test/computer printout that the gym does to tell you your real age, BMI, and all that.. has decreased ... I've went from like 37-38 down to 31-32... Strength and flexibility have both doubled.. my pull test strength wise has doubled.. my legs have gotten smaller... belly stayed the same.. and arms have gotten BIGGER but more defined...
Calorie wise.. I've did diet delivery.. TWO different companies.. a DietToGo national company.. then a local company.. keeping me at 1700 calories... I then did WW... and now I'm attempting just good ol' fashioned counting.. that's what the nutritionist at the gym has me doing.. a BINGE day of stress.. like twice a month.. is 2500 calories or so... a regular day for me is like 1700-1800 of food.. then a 250 protein shake RIGHT after the workout...
I've had fitness professionals following me along this ENTIRE way.. and we just kept chalking it up to adding muscle mass... Then I started bleeding ... thru April/May/ first of June I bled HEAVILY 45 days...
That's when my trainer/nutritionist all said to go to the doc... we were sure it was thyroid.. but.. nada... I was welcomed to the worldof PCOS...
I've worked with 'fitness professionals', too, and it's not unusual for them to overestimate calories burned (same as machines).
They should have recommended you for metabolism testing after the first month if they were confident about the calorie burn.
Moreover, they should never have a non-athlete client burning a supposed 1000-1400 calories without specialized nutrition (to make sure your BASIC nutritional needs are met.)
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the problem is the daily calorie intake (too high). 1800 calories + a shake (that's actually a typical day's calories for someonone 'not' trying to lose weight).
It sounds like your fitness peeps were trying to rely soley on fitness to result in weight loss, and that's REALLY hard to do. (You'll get really fit, but it's hard to lose weight that way.)
Unless there's some 'medical' reason for eating that many calories, and killing yourself at the gym, you might try cutting calories, and cutting back on the exercise (assuming you're working out 3 hours per day...(I don't know how else to burn that many calories in a session less than that)
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Hey, SoulCysters! Need to eat more veggies, but can't find recipes??
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I've worked with 'fitness professionals', too, and it's not unusual for them to overestimate calories burned (same as machines).
They should have recommended you for metabolism testing after the first month if they were confident about the calorie burn.
Moreover, they should never have a non-athlete client burning a supposed 1000-1400 calories without specialized nutrition (to make sure your BASIC nutritional needs are met.)
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the problem is the daily calorie intake (too high). 1800 calories + a shake (that's actually a typical day's calories for someonone 'not' trying to lose weight).
It sounds like your fitness peeps were trying to rely soley on fitness to result in weight loss, and that's REALLY hard to do. (You'll get really fit, but it's hard to lose weight that way.)
Unless there's some 'medical' reason for eating that many calories, and killing yourself at the gym, you might try cutting calories, and cutting back on the exercise (assuming you're working out 3 hours per day...(I don't know how else to burn that many calories in a session less than that)
1 HOUR.. I use a Polar Heart Rate monitor... set with a MAP test and a metabolic test to set my limits... To burn the optimal level of fat/sugar I should be 20% of my anaerobic threshold... and it's PERFECTLY common to burn 1000+ calories at a weight of 266... The machine calorie counters are never right. You need a MAP test and metabolic testing to find out how much you burn at each session.
Even at home, on the treadmill.. 30 mins with my heart rate at 140-150 is 500 calories.
The nutritionist says I need AT LEAST 1700 caloriers/day or my body will go into starvation mode because of calories burned.... When I started the local gourmet food delivery service... I started at the 1300 calorie level... and got weak/nauseous after half a work out... Then I consultred with regular family physician who said 1300 was too low for my weight/activity level..
I'm sorry you're questioning the numbers and stuff you're giving me Makes me feel like you don't believe or whatever...
But I wanted this venture into weight loss to be real this time... so I've consulted all the people to find out what I'm burning and when..
I'm also 23.. so my Anaerobic threshold is slightly higher... which means I can healthily take my heart rate higher and burn more...
Even when hubby was doing sessions with a male trainer... he was burning 800-1100 each hour session.. and he's 40... with low fitness level..
So 1,000 calories burned in a session is not athlete level...
just enter my weight of 266.. and 60 min duratrion.. where my heart rate is kept in moderate to heavy...
If you scroll down to Running:Stairs... I do stairclimber at a moderatre pace sometimes... for 20-30 mins at the beginning of the workout and Polar watch says I burn 650 to 700...
I'm sorry you're questioning the numbers and stuff you're giving me Makes me feel like you don't believe or whatever...
It's not that I don't believe YOU, I don't believe what your trainers are telling you. Moreover, I'm surprised they didn't refer you for metabolic testing after 2, or at most 3, months when you failed to show any real change.
Did your 'team' by any chance compute the average calorie deficit you're creating each day? That's a far more critical number than how many you're burning each day.
How much lean mass have you gained, and how much body fat have you lost? With the intensity of the workout you're describing both numbers should have changed significantly. (even if your weight hasn't)
I would agree that you would need to eat more calories if you're actually burning that many calories at every workout, but that number is SUPER hard.
The only activity that even comes close to burning 1000+ calories is running at 8mph for an entire hour. Granted that's for a 170-180 pound person, but the difference between that and a 140-150 pound person is only about 200 calories. It also doesn't take into account current body composition. see below.
Quote:
Most cardio machines ask for age, weight, target heart rate, desired time and desired intensity prior to beginning a workout. Once the machine has this information it is able to display heart rate, speed and distance traveled in a fairly accurate light.
However, cardio machines use the information inputted in order to determine calories burned throughout the session. While this is the number that most gage, it is also the number that is the least accurate.
"There is no accuracy of calorie counters on cardio machines," Gold's Gym fitness director Jim Burgin said. "The only true way to know calorie expenditure is to devise it from six different positive feeds and to combine them together along with an individual's known resting heart rate and resting metabolism rate. It is extremely hard to find these things, and it can actually take 72 hours to do that."
This is basically because the calorie counter on the cardio machines is designed to calculate the calories burned in terms of the average exerciser. It isn't crafted to specifically adapt to each individual and their differences.
"Part of the process for configuring these numbers is inputting information," Gold's Gym personal trainer Anton Gillette said. "The system took a range of normal people based on a norm, which is why the percentage is so low - it's an average. It makes the person think that the machine is specifically catered to them."
According to www.heraldtoday.com, caloric expenditure takes a number of factors into consideration.
Mostly, this calculation is a function of distance covered and body weight, but various other factors including heart rate and sex also affect the numbers. Cardio machines have the ability to monitor distance covered and body weight but not any of the other individual factors. This is why it uses averages.
"The feeling that the machines give me are that these numbers are so erroneous that counting calories is the worst possible way to go when determining weight loss," Burgin said. "Weight loss is the simple process of calories in versus calories out. You are what you eat if you don't burn it up."
One of the big factors that these machines fail to account for is body fat percentage.
For example, a person with a high percentage of body fat can spend 30 minutes on a stair stepper and burn fewer calories than a person with more muscle mass doing the same exercise.
"The body becomes accustomed to a machine or a workout, and as the muscles change it takes less energy to get through the routine," Burgin said. "It's called the exercise paradox. The machines don't take this into account."
The same goes for fitness level. For those new to the gym and any fitness routine, it is easier to burn more calories than that fitness buff who hits the gym every day.
According to exercise.about.com, calorie counters on cardio machines can be overestimated by a good 10-15 percent, sometimes even up to 30 percent.
It's recommended by these experts to use these numbers expended as a benchmark or an estimate, and to rely more seriously on the rate of perceived exertion and target heart rate, which can be slightly more accurate.
"The numbers aren't 100 percent accurate so don't use them at all," Gilette said. "Even 15 percent error isn't worth my time."
Gym goers should keep in mind that these numbers will never have the ability to be 100 percent accurate.
__________________
Hey, SoulCysters! Need to eat more veggies, but can't find recipes??
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If you scroll down to Running:Stairs... I do stairclimber at a moderatre pace sometimes... for 20-30 mins at the beginning of the workout and Polar watch says I burn 650 to 700...
A stairclimber isnt' the same as 'running stairs' because some of an exercisers weight is supported by the machine.
The same is true for running outside vs running on a treadmill. Running at the same pace, you'll burn more calories running outside because all of the effort used to propel yourself forward has to come from you.
Moreover, the #'s of calories burned during any exercise session aren't 'additional' calories burned during the day. You would need to subtract the # of calories you would have burned during that hour 'just living' to arrive at the 'additional' calories burned.
But I honestly feel that for weight loss, it's not wise to focus so much on calories burned, as much as one needs to focus on calorie intake. A recent study came out on this. I'll try to find it.
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Hey, SoulCysters! Need to eat more veggies, but can't find recipes??
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I'm sure that as a girl/woman who has always been overweight and yoyo'd... that this is super difficult.. and in 6 mos my weight should've been going DOWN even if just 10-15 lbs..
Hopefully I can find an endo who will give me the met.. and we can see where things go from there...
Arguing charts and all that won't really get anyone anywhere... but I do know that in 3 years or so I've put on a total of 50 lbs... and it's only STOPPED coming on since I've been bootcamping it with a trainer...
I want to get it going DOWN...
My legs have like almost no fat on them.. maybe a little on the inner thighs... they've changed a TON in 6 mos.... I put on a size 20/22 and my legs SWIM in it... while my belly part is as big as ever.... even the TOP of my belly where the ribs/lungs startr is flat/hard...
So I know somerthing is up.. and I want to just see if the MET could help even more...
Cutting Calories, Not Exercise, Best Way to Lose Weight
Study Finds Calorie-Cutting is Best Long-Term Solution
May 12, 2007
Exercise is healthy, but it’s not an effective way to lose weight.
New research done at the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that for those who have been successful at losing weight, reducing calories is an effective way to keep weight off, especially when it is difficult to find time to exercise.
In findings published in the May issue of Obesity, the researchers report that 80 percent of study participants maintained their weight loss during two years of follow up, and most did it primarily by sticking to a low calorie, low energy density diet.
“Our results show that individuals who successfully maintain body weight after completing the University’s EatRight Weight Management System consume fewer calories and have a lower energy density dietary pattern than those who do not maintain body weight,” said Jamy Ard, M.D., assistant professor of nutrition sciences and medical director of EatRight Weight Management Services.
“This calorie control led to successful weight maintenance despite the fact that these individuals did not meet recommended exercise levels.”
Ard and colleagues followed 89 former EatRight participants for two years. The 80 percent who had successfully maintained their weight loss consumed fewer calories than those who gained weight, and tended to eat a diet consisting of low energy density foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
A low energy density diet means an individual can eat more yet take in fewer calories than with high energy density foods.
“While the importance of physical activity is well established, our study demonstrates that adopting a lower calorie, low energy density dietary pattern may reduce the amount of physical activity that is truly necessary for weight maintenance,” said Tiffany Cox, M.P.H., program coordinator for the EatRight follow-up study.
“This could have a positive long term effect on weight maintenance by giving individuals a more easily attainable physical activity goal, which they may be more likely to pursue.”
Ard says research indicates that failing to reach an exercise goal can cause a decrease in self-efficacy and self-satisfaction, eventually causing individuals to cease exercising altogether.
“It’s clear that exercise combined with a low energy density diet is the best approach for weight loss and overall good health,” said Ard. “But many people report finding time to exercise is a major obstacle. It’s encouraging to report that weight loss can be maintained primarily through a low calorie diet.”
EatRight, created at UAB more than 30 years ago, is based on the concept of time-calorie displacement, which encourages a substantial intake of foods that have fewer calories by volume such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, while limiting consumption of foods that are calorie-dense such as meats, cheeses, sugars and fats.
Weight Loss with Metformin? HIGHLY ACTIVE, Can't Lose Weight 
Makes me feel like you don't believe or whatever...
