[John Boniello]

Hi, I’m a 39 year old male and am at the tail end of the racing weight plan, about to get into a race training cycle for races at the end of the summer (my A race is in September). I’ve been following the plan pretty religiously and using the DQS. I also track calories and rarely eat above 2000, my DQS score is almost always above 20, usually in the 22-25 range. I eat lots of fruits and vegetables to get up there and lean protein, a mix between chicken breast and fish. Like I said in the title, I’m not really losing any weight, I’ve lost maybe 8 pounds since being on the plan. I’ve definitely gotten leaner and my clothes fit better, but at my weight (currently 6ft 251lbs) I should be losing a lot! Some other variables, I’m type 2 diabetic (was diagnosed when I was 344 pounds and it was the kick in the butt I needed to finally turn my life around). I take medication (metformin) to control it and everything is well in control (not asking for medical advice! I go to my doctor for that). What I am asking is for help with thinking through why I’m not losing weight. Am I expecting too much? It seems like 1 pound per week or less is not exactly a great amount. What could I be missing? It is super frustrating. I was hoping to have lost more going into this race cycle. Thanks!

[FatDad]

Hi – I have no expierience of the plan, but a lot of experience of diets! Firstly you have lost weight which is great. If it is a steady 1LB a week give or take then personaly I would be happy with that, especialy if it stays off.

You also mention about your clothes fitting better – are you able to get a fat% measurment (do you know someon with some fancy scales)- I suspect your fat% is decreasing and your muscle increasing. That certanly happened to me when I started running – no weight loss, but lower fat and higher muscle and bone.

Hope that helps and encourages.

[Poitivient]

I did the race weight plan in the winter. I will mention I’m a type 1 diabetic. It’s extremely difficult to lose weight on cardio alone. You need weight training to maximize your transformation. Unless you are going from couch to cardio you will probably not lose too much weight from doing only cardio.

In regards to you being a type 2, it’s great you lost so much weight, I would say if you are a type 2 and still on medication than your diet is still off. Type 2’s have the ability to self correct with diet. Ask your doctor how many patients they have waned off of medication and decide from there if you need to change doctors or not. For me, when I was trying to lose weight, I hit a plateau after about 3-4 months. I kept dropping calories and nothing was happening except poor performance in gym and in training as well as constant low sugars. Once I increased, I started dropping weight again and I also added weight training which dropped my fat percentage which cardio doesn’t do too well.

Hope my experience can help… Good luck!

[John Boniello]

Thanks for the reply. I do have a scale that does body fat percentage and that is improving so I am definitely making progress. Just not as quick or dramatic as I hoped!

[John Boniello]

Thanks for the reply. It makes me want to go to an endocrinologist because I’ve only used my primary care and not a specialist. I was off the meds for a bit and then gained weight (thanks bread making and pandemic lockdowns!). I’m doing the 2-3 strength trainings per week in the plan and doing the interval workouts. I might need to up my calories, last time I did that I dropped weight, which is odd. I may also try to drop calories and see what happens. I’m now just about to begin my race training plan for an Olympic distance in September and will add strength sessions to that to hopefully make bigger gains. Thanks again, and I’m definitely making an appointment with a specialist now!

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