A little about me....


41 year old male
219 pounds
5' 10"
Looking to lose at least 30-40 pounds

About 4 years ago, I suffered a heart attack. I had surgery to place a stent in my heart and as part of my recovery, I underwent a cardiac rehab program at the hospital for 3 months. When I started the 12-week rehab program, I was asked what my goals were. At that point, I was 215 pounds and wanted to lose some weight and waist size (was 34-36""). They explained that it was normal for people to drop 5-10 pounds while in the program. Prior to this program, I had not exercised in 10-15 years.

The rehab program consisted of 35-40 minutes of supervised cardio and 20-30 minutes of weight training three times a week. I improved on both cardio and weights throughout the program. At the end of the 12 weeks, I had lost 0 pounds! My size was the same. The hospital nurses did not have a good explanation.

Before my heart attack, I was probably downing 8-10 cans of Pepsi a day (approximately 1500 calories). From the day of my attack, I stopped drinking cola and drank ONLY water. No juices. My diet also improved as I stopped eating vending machine food for lunch at work and at home, in the evenings, I ate what my wife cooked and tried not to eat out that much. My wife was on Weight Watchers at that point so I was eating healthier.

After the hospital's cardiac rehab, I joined a gym. I went 4-5 days a week for 12 more weeks. My workouts consisted of 40-50 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine (moderate to intensive workout to keep my heart rate high) and a occasional weight machine or two. The weight machines were more crowded at the gym and I got tired of waiting for them. I was still only drinking water.

Again, NO weight loss. No extra energy boost as people say you get with exercise.

Would anybody have an idea on what I'm missing?

I don't understand how I can cut out approximately 8500-9000 calories from my weekly diet, eat healthier, and do all that exercise without any results. I got discouraged and quit the gym and have gone back to my bad eating and cola drinking habits. (surprising that I only weigh 4 pounds more in the last 4 years!).

Overall, I don't feel that I eat that much. Usually only lunch and dinner each day with an occasional snack (small bag of chips) if I'm feeling hungry at work.

Many times at restaurants, I only eat half my lunch/dinner and keep the leftovers for the next day. Granted, I don't always take the best menu choice...

I'm somewhat active during the day at work. I'm an IT guy and I'm usually all over our building resolving problems. I take the stairs every chance I get (1 or two flights, 10-15 times a day).

I'd like to start working out again, but I'm hoping to find what I missed the first time so this time I don't get discouraged.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.


Rob

First place to look is always at what you're eating... actually how much...

I'd get an account at FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal, or one of the 100s ofther free sites on the web to record nutition info.. and a set of measuring tools and a food scale - the food scale will really become your best friend. And weigh andmeasure and record all that you're eating...

A lot of people i've found, are overestimating portion sizes - I was one ofthem - for 20 years I swore I ate healthy -I never ate junk food, never ate sweets, but somehow my healthy eating got me to almost 400lbs... it wasn't until I started really keeping track of what I was eating -that the wieght came off... I jokingly said to someone the other day that I've had more chocolate in the past 2 years than I have had in the past 20...

Moderation and just paying attention doe get results... and moderation isn't really that bad

__________________

Although I am FOR SURE not an expert here it sounds to me like you weren't doing enough strength training. When I tone and build muscle I feel stronger and have more energy. I don't think that aerobic exercise and diet alone will make you feel the same way.

Also, your diet is very important - you need to eat healthy whether or not you are working out. Garbage in equals garbage out.

Anyway - like I said - not an expert but that's my 2 cents

Rob, I had the same experience in my Cardiac Rehab program. I actually gained weight, assumed it was muscle, only to find that it was fat. The nurses and EP's could not believe it, and had no clue why it happened. That was 1-1/2 years ago and I know why now. When I exercize I burn glucose not fat. My "fat burning" enzymes are out of whack... I have too much insulin and too little leptin floating around my body. Until I can get my chemistry "fixed" the advice for me is to do light excercize with proper, lower lobe breathing. When I worked out in the past I was a crazy man: type A all the way, burning glucose and tearing down muscle. Vicious circle...

First of all, please give yourself credit for being determined to have better health. There are many people who don’t make changes after a heart attack and have another. Also, you didn’t gain too much weight in the past 4 years. That’s a start in the right direction.

I agree with maleficent’s earlier post. Keep track of what you’re eating. Most people, myself included, underestimate what they’re truly eating. Monitoring your eating will help you become more aware. Try eating a little breakfast to help stabilize your blood sugar and metabolism. You may eat less later in the day if you have some breakfast. Keep exercising. It’s good for your heart and will help with weight control, especially when combined with strength training, per Susan V’s earlier suggestion.

Thanks to all for the advice...

maleficent, Susan V, and Dr_Mary:

Thanks much. I'll have to dust off my old ID for FitDay. I used it for a short time when I was working out before, but couldn't quite get on a habit of entering all of my food for the days....

I usually skip breakfast, but I'm going to make an effort to get up earlier before work and start eating something early. My breakfast usually consists of a Pepsi on the way to work...

DJAdam:

Interesting...your situation sounds like what I was going through.

My doctor tested my thyroid levels and everything was OK. He couldn't explain why I was not losing weight. I finally chalked it up to a weird side-effect of Toprol, my heart medicine. The medicine slows my heart rate and even during my most intense workout on an elliptical machine doing the interval program, I couldn't get above a 130 heart-rate. My resting heart rate was around 50-55 (now, closer to 70bpm).

Can the leptin/insulin levels be found through a normal blood test? (I'm due for one in the next couple weeks) What are the symptoms of burning glucose instead of fat?

Also, I'm not familiar with lower lobe breathing....what exactly is that?

Thanks again for all of the help.

Rob

Have you had your blood sugar and thyroid checked? I'm sure they did lots of blood work when they put the stent in but maybe you should have everything checked again.

__________________
-Casey

I have had my thyroid checked at least a couple times in the last 4 years. All levels seem to be fine there.

As for blood sugar levels, I don't know if I've had them checked. Is that part of a normal blood test?

The most recent blood tests have been to test my cholesterol. It's a bit high, but I'm on medication to lower it. Just another reason to start back on the exercise program!

Looks like I'll be asking my doctor for a prescription for a FULL blood test during my next visit!

Your doctor can request leptin and insulin levels in the blood test, but most do not because they are focusing on blood glucose levels instead, and are unsure of the importance of the leptin level.

Lower lobe breathing refers to deep breathing that fills the lower lobes of your lungs. We are shallow breathers (most of us anyway) taking short frequent breaths using only the upper lobes. This type of breathing activates the stress receptors that predominate in the upper lobes. These stress receptors are designed to trigger responses that are beneficial during emergencies (Think saber-toothed tiger) effecting blood pressure & heart rate, etc.. Insulin and adrenaline are released, and the fuel of choice in emergencies is glucose not fat for rapid "getaways". If we breathe this way while exercizing we are telling our bodies that this is an emergency state, and we need to burn glucose until the emergency passes. So, here we are depleting our glucose, NOT fat, and the longer and more intensely we work out the worse it gets because once the available glucose is gone the body will tear down muscle tissue. This is a VERY short version. Check out Dr.John Douillard's "The 3-season Diet" for a much better explanation (with nifty charts).

how much water do you drink. My weight is also extremely stubborn and i am abt 20 pounds above my ideal weight. Drinking about 4-5 litres of water and having about 2-3 servings of yoghurt and giving about 2-3 hour gap between dinner and sleep helps me to lose weight when i exercise. before, i could exercise for hours and eat like a bird and not lose a pound. had my thyroid checked too, no issues there either.....
hope this helps!