Iron deficiency and weight loss

[silverback66]

So my girlfriend has been having a hell of a time losing weight. Her diet and training are sound but it's been over 4 months and she is actually slowly gaining weight. I'm sure some is muscle mass because I have gotten her to start a pretty strict lifting program but he bodyfat doesn't seem to be dropping at all..
She decided to get a bunch of blood work done to as if she was having problems medically. Everything checked out except that her iron was low. I have done some research and it seems people have had problems with weight loss linked to iron deficiency.

Anyway, assuming her diet and training is proper. Do you guys think the iron deficiency could be a cause?
I understand it can cause a lack of energy making training hard, but she is doing about 30min of weight training plus 45-50min cardio on the stairmaster every day! Which I would say isn't much of an "energy problem" I feel like she should be seeing some loss with that program plus a calorie deficit. She takes in about 1700 calories a day.

20yrs old
Roughly 5'4"
208lbs
40-44%bf

Her doc perscribed her an iron supp I believe it's called Ferosol...? Something like that.. do any of you have any input here? Mainly I'm wondering if the iron deficit could cause here these problems, but any advice is appreciated!

 

[MajorMelon]

Hmm, if all bloodwork checked out and she is truly expending more cals then she is consuming, I am stumped. I always think of 3 things off hand if people aren't losing weight and training and diet are on point. In no particular order it would be thyroid, Insulin resistant, and hormonal imbalance. well being 20 more then likely rules out hormones and if bloodwork came back fine with glucose and thyroid I am not sure. Maybe an eca stack to bump metabolism.

 

[Ironbuilt]

Would she be ok if u post her lab results? Low iron isnt the issue imo... thyroid ,estro etc ... thks ib

 

[tripletotal]

I'm wondering how much of a calorie deficit she's in. Are you using some kind of device (armband) to measure real calorie output?

208lbs X .56 (% lean mass) = 116.48 lbs X 12 cals/lb = 1,398 cals

To be in a 500 calorie daily deficit, she would need to be expending around 800 calories in her workouts.

I would reduce intake to 1400 cals, change up the steady state cardio for 15-20 minutes 3-4 X/week of intervals, and have her lift no more than 4X/week for a couple weeks and see what happens.

Would love to see her cortisol numbers, too.

 

[silverback66]

Ok thanks guys! I'll have to ask her what her actual deficit is when she wakes up haha I could honestly be wrong.. I was guessing off of memory. 1300 actually does sound close to right but I'll find out.
I'm sure we could post the lab results! Im headed out to work right now at 5am on a Saturday :-\ to plow snow but I will talk to her when she wakes up and get you guys some exact numbers.

 

[Gj]

Iron defficency does cause the metabolism to slow, my wife was extremely deficient in iron couldn't find out why for over 6 months until they diagnosed her with a non aggressive form if lupus. Once she got it figured out and took iron got the right foods in, etc her metabolism kicked back in, weight loss, higher energy etc.

 

[MajorMelon]

Yah, bloodwork would be a huge help in diagnosis.

 

[silverback66]

Here are her lab results. Hopefully they are good enough pics.

 

[tripletotal]

Only thing I noticed right off was glucose was out of range, which makes sense with her body comp right now. Probably too many carbs too often and consistently elevated cortisol conspiring here to reduce insulin sensitivity. It sure isn't lack of exercise!

I'd get a really accurate picture of what her food intake is (i prefer to use an app like "calorie counter" by fat secret for this) and make changes as appropriate.

Gotta have an accurate data set to know what to change.

 

[Ironbuilt]

Any diabetes in her family ? As triple said she possibly on the edge of onset diabetes ..Get a glucose monitor or ask a friend if she may borrow one day and check blood glucose throughout the day.
So say she eats ice cream, about 30 minutes later is she extremely tired.?. Iron level is fine.

As you know lots of carbs and simple sugars pack on lbs quick being stored as fat .

 

[silverback66]

She does have some diabetes in her family. We keep daily food logs so I will post one. She has recently cut her carbs almost in half. So we will just keep the diet in check and keep trucking along! Thanks for the advice guys

 

[Ironbuilt]

I got a brand new one touch mini glucose tester..u buy the finger poke sticks.. 12$ includes ship..brand new.. pm me if u want it.
Got 2 by accident...