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tedibear's avatar

Why am I seeing no change in my weight, nor in inches lost? (Please see details.)

Asked by tedibear (19304points) May 30th, 2011

As of April 11, I have a new job. Yay! In my previous job, I (mostly) sat from about 8:30AM to 4:00PM and took a 45 minute lunch, also sitting. Now, I’m on my feet from 7:00AM to 2:30 or 3:00PM with a 30 minute lunch. That lunch is the only time I’m sitting during the day. I am also up and down a flight (one story) of stairs at various times of the day. (Typically a dozen or so trips, with a “trip” being both up and down)

My caloric intake has not changed since after my first week there. We get fed lunch. Initially I hit the soup and sandwich lunch pretty hard. Once I thought about the calories in the soup (because we’re talking creamed soup here) I quit that. My breakfast and dinner have not changed from my far more sedentary job days. My lunch is now healthier most days than it was as I’m doing salad with chicken, no soup, one slice of bread and one slice of cheese. I’m still drinking the same amount of coffee and water as I did before.

The only thing that has been significantly different is that my stress level started out higher. Over the last 3 weeks, that has lessened quite a bit.

So here’s what I don’t understand: more activity, the same (and sometimes fewer) calories but neither the tape measure nor the scale are moving. There are no changes in how my clothes fit. What’s not adding up or subtracting! here?

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6 Answers

deni's avatar

Well, you might be standing more than before, but I don’t think that would really cause you to lose much weight at all. You say you’re eating healthier, but are you exercising more? I think if you’d add in some/more exercise, then you’d see a difference. I just don’t think that standing a lot would really cause you to lose weight. Diet and exercise are bigger factors.

Neizvestnaya's avatar

Stress messes with Cortisol levels and gives your body the signal to “store up” so it can fend off the stress. Kind of crappy if you ask me. I also believe in the law of “poop-on-you” nature- if it took you a month to gain unwanted inches then it will take 3 months to make them feel it’s ok to go the hell away.

tedibear's avatar

@deni – I should clarify. I’m not just standing. I work in a bakery, so I’m loading trays, making batters & doughs, carrying stuff out of the freezer up the stairs, walking back and forth to the walk-ins and so on. I wasn’t clear about that and I do apologize.

@Neizvestnaya – “poop-on-you” LoL! Yes, I eat one wrong thing and it stays for a week. I eat one good thing and I get a positive effect for 35.7 seconds. Maybe if we didn’t focus so much on those pounds and pay so much attention to them, they would go away!

I’m headed for bed soon, so keep those good answers coming!

BarnacleBill's avatar

You might want to make sure you’re getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night. Drinking lots of water? Watch the amount of dressing you use. Could could be taking in more fat. Bring that spritz type of salad dressing or make a low calorie dessing from Weight Watchers. You can actually take in more calories by eating a salad than a sandwich. All salads are not created equally, although the vitamins in them are awesome.

keobooks's avatar

Maybe you are building muscle from all the stair climbing?\

wundayatta's avatar

Exercise is important, but unless you exercise an awful lot, I don’t think it will have much effect on it’s own. How you exercise can play a big role in this. Aerobic exercise is pretty important, and I don’t think you are getting much of that.

Cutting down what you eat is pretty significant, I think. However both reducing calories and burning calories help you lose weight eventually. My doctor say I should try to lose maybe five pounds a year. It took me 35 years to put them on, so I might take me that long to take them off. That’s good because according to my actuarial table, that’s what I“ve got left.

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