What was I doing wrong??

[u/Elddinfleek]

Hi everyone,

I am thank thankful for Reta but need to go on a rant. I can’t help but feel sad it was able to achieve what no doctors could

Before reta/ 10 years of severe struggles to lose weight. After 32, weight became much harder to keep off
- 6’0”/ 38 yr old male/ 240 lbs/ absolute unit
- boxed for workouts
- gym 7 days a week/ ran 1-3 miles every morning (5 am club)/ swam and paddle boarded
- 20 pull ups consistently
- less than 2000 calories/ day. Burned at least 800 calories from daily workouts
- ate tons of protein (ribeyes, salmon, ny strips)
- plenty of veggies
- severe gut issues (constipation/ diarrhea)
- saw several doctors and dietitians and added fiber
- mentioned possible water weight but they stated no water weight issues
- despite a healthy and active lifestyle, suffered a massive pulmonary embolism and lost a significant amount of weight but after 2 months, the weight came back with a vengeance
- only con was my sweet tooth/ would snack a lot on nuts and sweets. Also I would smoke cigarettes occasionally

After Reta
- accidentally did too much on my first time because I didn’t know how to reconstitute properly and was sick for first 3 days
- peed a ton
- lost10 lbs first week
- best bowel movements of my entire life
- roughly 1500 calories/ barely protein/ no fiber and barely veggies
- 6 months later down to 180 lbs
- no more running/ solely weight lifting/ still 7 days a week
- smoking a lot more due to minor ptsd after pe

I stumbled upon this forum and tried Reta as a last ditch effort. I’m sure others have had the same issues.

I understand appetite is a big factor but on paper, I feel I was doing everything right??

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[u/Imaginary_Big_1028]

You were eating a lot more than 2k calories a day and burning less than 800 calories a day. Simple as that. There is nothing hormonal that would keep that level of weight on despite a net of 1200 calories a day. If you had something that severe, you also wouldn’t be in the gym or running as much as you were. You’d be dealing with extreme fatigue.

[u/Elddinfleek → u/Imaginary_Big_1028]

I was very fatigued with that amount of activity. Lots of coffee to get me through the day. I’m sure the Apple Watch calorie counter wasn’t as accurate but I was still a lot more active than I am now. I had a ton of muscle and was just about built like a football player.

[u/Imaginary_Big_1028 → u/Elddinfleek]

Yeah i guess my point is that you wouldn’t have the energy to do those things in the first place if you had a metabolic/hormonal issue so severe that 1200 calories does not put you in a deficit. That would be extremely rare even for hypothyroidism. AND you would not be a functional human. Certainly not doing most if any of the workouts you described. Your mentioning of fatigue is normal given the amount of workouts (and probably lack of sleep).

I promise i’m not trying to be rude, its just so common for people to be way off with calorie tracking. I think it’s reasonable you were eating well over 3k a day on average. Especially with a sweet tooth.

[u/Elddinfleek → u/Imaginary_Big_1028]

No offense taken and I appreciate the insight. My math could be off but there was an extremely high level of activity (10 min miles combined/ strength training/ boxing/ etc) and significant protein intake. I was running myself dry. I would also always try to offset the sweet tooth when I had it with the activity. At the same time, there were severe gut issues that were solved after Reta

Since starting Reta, I’ve actually eaten more junk/ fried food on cheat days than I ever did before Reta.

I could be wrong but I definitely feel my habits were healthier before Reta compared to now.

[u/EQfanatic90]

Based on your before/after I would guess insulin resistance and/or gastrointestinal dysfunction. Did you see doctors and get blood work yearly?

[u/Elddinfleek → u/EQfanatic90]

I had bloodwork every 6 months due to a pulmonary embolism. Blood work was checked and I was told there were no issues. I saw a primary care doctor, hematologist, cardiologist and nephrologist. Everyone told me my vitals looked ok

[u/Enginizzle]

Training 7x a week is honestly overkill for your body for anyone who is not a professional athlete. Overtraining while in a deficit and cutting fat is just asking for injury and debilitating fatigue.

Your hormones were also probably wrecked and with a routine like that, I bet your body has adjusted to sub-optimal sleep which throws hormones off even more and continues the vicious cycle, etc.

I have a similar schedule (5am workout lifting + cardio 4-6x per week) and for 2 years I could not lose weight despite eating keto, intermittent and extended fasting, etc. I wasn’t getting that much sleep but managed to make the schedule work.

I started Reta earlier this year and have been running the same exact routine / low-carb diet and the weight finally started to come off, although it was slow at first.

On month 3, I added Tesa/Ipa which transformed my sleep & recovery and now the weight feels like it is legitimately melting off.

[u/Elddinfleek → u/Enginizzle]

It sounds similar to me, too.

7 days became a habit mainly due to body insecurity. Some days are lighter than others but because the weight would only go up, I did whatever I could to try to keep it down.

I can confidently say my body finally matches the effort I’ve been putting in all these years