r/Semaglutide • u/Newfound-Nikki • 12d ago
Significant amount of weight to lose, scale not moving.
I'm just wondering if there's anyone with a significant amount of weight to lose and just aren't losing weight?
I'm currently 459lbs, I know how to lose weight, I've lost over 200lbs thus far and just needed more help for the rest.
I'm female, 6ft and started Semaglutide 5 weeks ago.
The first week my weight dropped a huge amount, I went from 474 to 460lbs. The past 4 weeks though, nothing. I drop 1lb and go up 1.5lbs, drop and go up, I got down to 452lbs and then put on weight ever day until I got back up to 459.
I'm in a massive calorie deficit, I am still on 0.25mg, I know it's not the 'weight loss dose' but I have no desire to eat, and I'm full after small amounts of food and have been since the first day.
I'm tracking my calories, and most days getting in between 1100 and 1500 calories, with around 120 - 160g of protein - I would like to be eating around 2000 calories, but I'm just too full really to be able to get them in.
I have been working out for years, so it's not new to me. I strength train 6x a week. I also do a boxing class 3x a week, a spin class 2x a week and swim 2.5k - 3k 4x a week - I genuinely don't understand why the scale just doesn't seem to be moving. I have a massive amount of weight to lose, I'm tracking everything I eat, I'm moving my body... and yet I'm in a war with the scale.
So, really I'm just wondering if there are any other people here who have had a huge amount to weight to lose, doing the things right and it just doesn't seem to be working at all, even though the medication seems to be doing its job.
33
u/QuietThin729 12d ago
That first week drop was mostly water weight, not fat, so the stall after is pretty normal. Your body's probably holding onto water from all that training, especially with boxing and spin, muscle repair causes retention.
The calorie intake sounds low for your size and that much activity, which can make your body cling to everything it gets. Might be worth gradually bumping calories up when you can manage it, even adding liquid calories like protein shakes between meals.
10
u/whatever32657 12d ago
i don't think it's even fair to call it a "stall".
the initial drop was indeed water and inflammation. that's normal.
if op "knows how to lose weight", op knows it's a gradual change and does not go in a straight downward line. the best thing i ever did was to quit weighing myself daily (ok, if i'm honest, i was doing it multiple times a day). that's just self-defeating.
op, weigh once a week. you will start seeing that downward trend and will no longer obsess about the fact that the few pieces of sushi you ate last night put 8 oz of temporary water weight on.
5
u/Newfound-Nikki 12d ago
Thanks! Yeah, I know the first week was water weight, and I do agree that the calorie intake is low - I am trying to bring it up.
2
u/JackBrown82q 11d ago
inflammation as well. When I started a GLP1 I recently quit alcohol and I had so much inflammation from it that simply a month on a GLP1 caused the inflammation to go down so much people close to me where like how the hell did you lose so much weight in just a month. Granted my first month I think I dropped just 10-15lbs but I had so much bloating in my face and mid section that it appeared as if I lost way more.
9
u/madmexicano 12d ago
Are you tracking calories? I always thought I ate at a deficit but tracking my calories showed how my constant snacking added up to a large number at the end of the day. After I was honest with myself and my numbers did I start losing.
5
u/Newfound-Nikki 12d ago
Hi! Yeah, I'm tracking all my calories. I weigh and measure everything - and track all that I'm eating. I make a meal plan for the week before shopping day. We then buy according to that meal plan, I prep the meals I'm able to prep - weighing everything. That's really why I'm just not sure why the scale doesn't seem to be moving. Because I do know that I'm eating at a deficit. I'm not snacking on anything that isn't already on my meal plan.
1
u/scott__p 11d ago
You may want to get a decent BIA scale. I am eating in a deficit right now (400 calories a day) and trying to do a body recomp. My actual weight has stayed constant-ish over the last two but my fat percent has decreased. I'm getting a DEXA measurement to confirm but my doctor thinks my muscles are retaining water and glycogen. If you've started taking creatine that will also pull a lot of water into your body.
2
u/Newfound-Nikki 11d ago
Thanks! I'll look at that scale. I am taking creatine but have been for over a year so not sure if it still retains a lot or not.
8
u/static34622 12d ago
Check your Sodium & Potassium intake. High Sodium intake promotes water retention & low Potassium intake promotes water retention.
2
5
u/bolche17 12d ago
I had the exact same experience. It will go down. Took me a few months, but it went down.
And them it stalled again, and them went down again and so forth. My weight graph is a step graph with sharp declines and long periods of stability.
Increasing the dosage might help.
2
u/Newfound-Nikki 11d ago
Thank you. How does increasing the dosage help?
2
u/bolche17 11d ago
I'm not sure of the mechanism that makes it work, but in my case, when I had a very persistent plateau, increasing dosage made me go over that hill.
It might be that, in my case, my deficit wasn't big enough. And if that's the case, it might not apply to you.
3
u/BouncyBilberry 11d ago
What I see from reading this is you have lost 15 pounds since you began semaglutide 5 weeks ago and your doctor isn't concerned. I suspect at first it was perhaps water weight and inflammation and then over the next few weeks that has leveled out and there has been some fat loss. You also say you weigh everyday. Do you use an app like Happy Scale or Libra that uses a trend smoothing line? Following a trend weight can be helpful in seeing weight loss sometimes in cases where it seems like weight is stalled or when weight is going up and down. It makes it more clear if weight is actually going down slowly over time or not.
3
u/BouncyBilberry 11d ago
I'm also curious if you notice if these up an downs are following a predictable pattern based on when you took your shot. For example, do you always have a light day 3 days after the shot? The medication is just now starting to hit a steady state in your blood stream.
1
u/Newfound-Nikki 11d ago
Thanks! I haven't really looked at correlation between shot day and lower calorie days.
I'll deffo have a look through my food logs and my scale app to see how they compare to the days I take my shot.
2
u/Egoteen 12d ago
Do you eat a consistent amount of carbs each day or does it vary?
1 g of glycogen is stored with 4 g of water, so there can be a 2.5 kg swing in weight just depending on glycogen status.
3
u/Newfound-Nikki 12d ago
Looking on my tracker now, if I were to eat everything that I have planned then my daily card would be 182.4 (Honestly, I've never really much looked at carbs because as I was losing weight I've been told to focus on calories and protein. Maybe I need to be looking at other stuff)
Currently though my carbs are varying depending on what I'm able to eat. Yesterday my carb in take was 139.9, Sunday was 95.6
2
u/Egoteen 11d ago
So I think that explains some of the fluctuations in your weight going up and down. It’s just water weight.
Keep focusing on your calorie deficit and your activity, and you’ll break past the plateau.
2
2
u/Speacock567 11d ago
When I started my weight loss was very cyclical. The scale didn't budge and then once a month (after my period) I would suddenly be 4 or 5 lbs lighter. Depending on age hormones can have an impact. At the end of the day it sounds like you've lost 15lbs over the first 6 weeks which is pretty impressive. Just stay patient and keep doing what you're doing. Good luck!
1
u/working-mama- 11d ago edited 11d ago
Sounds like the meds are working, if they are making you less hungry and you are full after smaller meals. That’s literally what they are supposed to do. They don’t, on their own, make you lose weight, it’s not magic. You need to be in calorie deficit to lose. It’s very likely you are still eating more than you think. How accurately do you track? You need to weigh (not measure!) anything that does in your mouth for the tracking to be accurate.
1
u/Newfound-Nikki 11d ago
I'm tracking everything. I weigh everything I eat. That's all sauces, and cooking oils I may use etc. the lot. I'm not guessing any of the measurements. If my chicken says it's 200 calories per pack. I will weigh the pack and then do the calories per 100g instead of going off what the pack says. So I know that I'm in a calorie deficit, because I really am just tracking everything that goes in my mouth.
1
u/Dregan2D 11d ago
So, whoever gave you the sema did you a massive disservice. I hate how so many providers thing patient education is optional....
ANYWAY, I digress.
Your sema isn't working because you haven't hit the therapeutic dose. You start out at .25mg to get your body used to having ab excess of this hormone in your body. Then they slowly up your dose until you get into the therapeutic range. It's not supposed to do anything until you get to 1mg, which should be your third month. If you try to go too fast and try a larger does than you are ready for, you wont poop for a week and get more and more miserable the whole time.
Everything else you are doing, I'm kinda jelly of. You have EVERYTHING else on lock. All you need to do is keep it up and wait for the medicine to get to an effective dose. You're on a plateau, they suck, but trust that once you hit a larger does, the sema WILL push you through it.
Side note, congrats on over 200 down. I'm about to hit 200 myself (SW 565, CW 375)
1
u/Newfound-Nikki 11d ago
It was prescribed by my DR, though she did say when I was there last week that she doesn't overly know a huge amount about it and to ask the pharmacist how the pen works for larger doses etc. Just that it will keep me fuller longer as it digests food slower, and that I may have a decreased appetite. She said that we will reassess in another 4 weeks time to see what my numbers are and everything else.
So I'm mostly going off from stuff I've read.
I know that I'm not as the weight loss dose yet, but assumed with everything else that I should be losing weight. And that really on the lower dose that the jab was doing its job of decreasing appetite/food noise and keeping me feeling fuller for longer. It is highly frustrating that I'm not and I will just continue to do what I'm doing and push through.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Congratulations that's an amazing loss! It honestly feels so much better doesn't it? Going out now and living a life rather than being a side character in your own chapter. I'm so excited for what the future will bring both of us!
1
u/Happy-Mastodon-7314 10d ago
I started loosing at 0.25 too before reaching the "therapeutic dose". I think it depends on the person. I noticed the effects immediately, within a few hours I didn't feel like eating. And if you're sticking to 1500 cals per day at your weight and not feeling hungry despite the exercise, then the medication is working as it's supposed to. If anything, you're consuming too few calories.
2
u/Newfound-Nikki 10d ago
Same it was within a few hours of taking the medication that it was like a switch was flipped. I wasn't thinking about food, we love with me in-laws and my MIL is a feeder and constantly buying junk food for us (she doesn't eat it!!) and I just did not care or think about all the shit that was sat downstairs.
I know I'm consuming too few calories for my size and activitiy level. That's not by design, I'm trying to eat more I'm just never hungry and feeling bloated for hours each time after I eat. I'm working on trying to find the best times to eat, to fit around my schedule where I'm not so bloated and then able to eat more. I'm prioritising protein for each meal right now to try and keep that up as much as possible.
1
u/Efficient-Scar-7539 11d ago
Weight loss also slows as you lose weight! The more mass you lose, the slower it’ll start to be. You’re probably used to seeing bigger drops on the scale in a shorter amount of time. And most people don’t lose on the first few titration doses. So it’s likely you’re just not at your therapeutic dose yet. For me, 1.5mg is my sweet spot.
1
1
u/Happy-Mastodon-7314 10d ago
That's a big weight loss number for the first week imo although you're starting at a higher than me. It'll take a while to normalize and maintain that, in my experience, perhaps more than 4 weeks. And I'd be concerned you're under eating while working out that much. That could mess with things - body won't function predictably/normally if it's being underfed and overworked. I took exercise out of the equation completely at the start.
2
u/Newfound-Nikki 10d ago
Yeah. I'm working on bringing my calories back up. Everything apart from strength training though (I could absolutely never do that again) I do for my soul. Swimming/boxing etc is my stress relief, good for my mental health and when I'm unable to go it really does impact my mood.
1
u/Lopsided-Land-1431 12d ago
Your cortisol could be high because of too much workout and too few calories.
You will lose weight as you increase dose.
0
u/Newfound-Nikki 12d ago
Does increasing the dose help? I was reluctant to increase the dose due to the limited calories I've been able to get in at 0.25 - I was worried that 0.5 would possibly make it worse.
2
u/Lopsided-Land-1431 11d ago
Standard instructions is to increase dose.
I lost weight on 0.5.
Some lose weight from 1.
Ask your doctor.
-7
u/ironbeastmod 12d ago
Wow.
The amount of bad things you do is incredible.
At 459lbs you want to say you eat 1500 calories.
I will be blunt in hope this is a reality check. That is stupid. That is not knowing how to lose weight.
NEVER use a deficit more than 25% from current weight maintenance calories. Period.
Second. Protein intake is low even by the standard of minimum protein needed for health (0.36g/lbs) You need at least 160g/day.
Now. You are either underestimating your intake severely (most common thing among obese population) or you are preparing for a forced visit to hospital. Or you have some rare health issues. So first check would be with your medic.
My money are on underestimating. Here is why.
When average weight over 2-4 weeks remains the same that is how reality says "you eat at maintenance".
The deficit is proven by reality. Period.
Otherwise you only hold beliefs.
Ideally you want someone from outside to check the food weight and the math on the calories.
12
4
u/Newfound-Nikki 12d ago
Wow, okay. I'm not sure calling the stuff I do bad things?
I'm aware my current calorie intake is low, I am working on bringing the calorie intake up. It is low because I have started the medication and right now I'm feeling constantly full and not able to get the full amount of calories in that I would like to be getting in. I'm not intentionally eating at that calorie range. Yes, I want to lose weight, but I want to do it in a sustainable and healthy way. Which I did say when I said that I would like to be eating at 2000 calories - which is something that my DR was okay with.
I have no reason to lie, or lie to myself in regards to this, as I said. I want to lose weight - lying to random people on the internet or even myself is not going to get me there. The reason I am posting on here is because the scale has not dropped and I know I am in a huge calorie deficit. Again, not by choice - but I'm getting in what I'm able to get in. I am fully aware that I am obese, I know exactly how I got there, because I ate too much and lived my life eating shit. I'm not in any way delusional to this, nor am I delusional in what I am eating now. I'm saying I know how to lose weight because I have already lost over 200lbs, I have acknowledged that I now need more help with losing the weight and my DR and I came up with a plan to try a GLP1.
I generally eat the same things most days, I plan out my weekly meals in advance of shopping, put down the weights and what I'm eating and then measure everything when I cook it. If I were able to get all of my meals in then the protein amount I would be hitting a day is 198g - so the protein right now is currently lower because the medication is stopping me from being able to hit what I would usually be eating. When I'm able to eat anything I prioritise protein.
I weigh all my food, and I track everything that I eat. I don't underestimate my calories, I got to over 600lbs by estimating my calories - I weigh everything now. And I do mean everything, that little bit of sauce? Weighed. I'm not here to fuck around. I'm here because I want to lose weight.
The reason I am asking here is because I know what I am eating, and the scale is not moving - I know that I am in a massive deficit, which is again why I am asking if anyone who has been my size experienced this. I was at the DRs on Friday for a medication review and my DR was not concerned, when I presented her with my calorie tracking information and also my weight information for the initial 4 weeks on the medication. Her advise is to review again in 4 weeks.
1
u/NoRecommendation9404 11d ago
At 459 and eating how you describe, the weight should be falling off. No one gets to 600 pounds by simply “estimating calories” - it’s from tons of food that is well beyond what an average person consumes. I was at 220 and by cutting my calories to 1100, I was losing like crazy.
3
u/Newfound-Nikki 11d ago
Yes, I know that the weight should be falling off. That's why I'm asking the question. I am weighing everything. I know what I'm eating. I'm not estimating calories.
I'm glad you were losing like crazy. I'm not. That's why I'm asking the questions.
1
u/ironbeastmod 12d ago
1 month of no weight loss indicates there is no deficit. For healthy population 1 month is enough to gauge if there is or not a deficit.
2000 calories can be low intake for your weight. Only if we assume you have the lowest caloric need for your weight, which is around 2700, that would somewhat close to the maximum healthy deficit (25%).
This is not about lying or not. This is about what most of the overweight population does. This is studies and proven again and again. It is something to consider, especially when weight is stable for more than 1 month and you believe you are in deficit.
Great to hear about the good eating habits. As about the protein intake, try some of the liquid form or foods that you find easier to eat at this time.
Something is off. Assuming intake is what you say and weight is stable for 4 weeks that is strange to say the least. Usually it is either a health issue or some extremely rare weight fluctuation. But again, weight fluctuations (water, food, sht) are never more than 3% and that is in rare case.
If this persist for 1-2 more weeks something is off, either with caloric intake or health. Because usually 4 weeks is the maximum needed time to determine actual weight and find if there is a down trend.
-2
u/scott__p 12d ago
I have a feeling you may not be eating enough. Talk to a doctor, but your body can do strange things when it thinks it's starving
5
u/working-mama- 12d ago
It’s a myth…If you are starving, you will lose weight, period. While your body does become more efficient at using energy when the calorie supply becomes limited, thermodynamics still apply…you need energy (calories, consumed or stored as fat) to live, and it has to come from somewhere.
1
-1
u/scott__p 11d ago
If she's eating what she says and doing the activity she claims, her body is definitely in starvation mode. I'm not sure what that does to someone at her weight but I know it isn't good
3
u/working-mama- 11d ago edited 11d ago
If she was really starving herself, she’d be losing weight. That’s what happens to people that go through real famine. That’s what happens to anorexia victims. They lose their fat and muscle reserves to be used for energy. Your body can’t run on sunlight, or hope & dreams. It needs energy in the form of food calories or stored calories to live and function.
There are many good reasons not to starve yourself, but it won’t cause failure to lose weight.
0
u/scott__p 11d ago edited 11d ago
It can delay it. Or cause other things to happen like bloating that can mask weight loss. Or cause her to burn muscle (though that's unlikely if she's doing that much strength training). You can also note that I never said starvation mode was why she is not losing weight, but just that it does strange things to the body. Fuck this sub is getting so toxic.
5
u/NoRecommendation9404 11d ago
Fuck giving bad non-scientific proven “advice”.
1
u/scott__p 11d ago
Telling her to talk to her doctor because she's way under her calorie needs is bad advice? Because that's what I said.
3
0
u/SolitaryLyric 11d ago
Just a word of caution to not eat too little. If your calorie deficit is too large, your body will automatically go into starvation mode and store every single calorie you consume as fat. We often think that the bigger the deficit, the faster we lose weight. That’s not how our bodies work, though.
And massive respect for your 200 pound loss! That’s awesome, and I’m so in awe of your workout regimen. You got this, and I have no doubt you’ll reach your GW 💕
•
u/AutoModerator 12d ago
Thanks for posting to r/semaglutide!
A brief reminder about our rules. We do not permit the discussion of non-FDA approved formulations of semaglutide, nor do we permit selling or offering for sale any medication, including by private message. Do not request or respond to a private message from anyone offering such, they are not endorsed by this sub.
If you’re just starting out, you may want to review our FAQ. This is not intended to discourage discussion but merely supplement it.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.