Keeping the "Discourage Monster" at bay...

zombiegirlfriend

Hi All.
My name is Nicole, and I've been making excuses for being fat my whole life.
I started at 295lbs with 56, 48, 56 Measurements (at least I am even LOL)

After a deadly cocktail of self-hate, and medical problems - I've powered through those excuses and I'm starting a fitness and health journey.

I started working out, and tracking calories on March 1.
So I am 27 days into this new life.

I work out 4 to 6 days a week, I've QUADRUPLED my water intake.
I work out at planet fitness, I alternate between the 30 minute full body circut, the 12 minute ab circut, and an hour of cardio.
I'm tracking steps, and making sure I hit 10,000 per day. (Especially on days I don't work out)
I'm on supplements, and try to keep my calories at or below 1600 a day...

I finally stepped on a scale... I weigh EXACTLY the same. Not a single pound lost.
I took my measurements... 56, 48, 56 NOTHING HAS CHANGED!

Now before the influx of "muscle weighs more than fat" speech... I know this, consciously.
I know I feel stronger, I can move easier, I can RUN up the stairs again, if I look in the mirror cross eyed and sideways my double chin looks a bit more like a chin and a half, breathing is easier, and my asthma has been less severe ... I know it didn't take me 27 days to get this fat, and it sure aien't all going to come off at once...

I just need a little encouragement, and perhaps a little fitness advice. I don't want to lose this momentum... but I'm so discouraged.

callsitlikeiseeit

do you weigh your food on a scale?

Nuka_Gina

You can totally do this! Having the momentum to RUN up the stairs is awesome. I would call that a great NSV!!! Don't let it get you down. Don't stop! I'm totally rooting for you!

zombiegirlfriend

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

do you weigh your food on a scale?

I don't, but I do measure everything very carefully with measuring cups.

4legsRbetterthan2

You didn't say anything about intake, exercise is great for fitness but weight loss is all about what you are eating and making sure its less than what you are burning. Check out these posts, they pretty much cover everything you need to be successful. If you need a few friends to help you out feel free to add me.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide#latest

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Calliope610

Just keep doin' what you know you need to do. You WILL see the results if you persist.

leggup

Weight loss is 100% about what you eat. Exercise is for fitness and health, don't get me wrong, but I can spend 5 hours at the gym every day and still gain weight if I don't carefully watch what I eat.

I highly recommend getting a food scale. It was a game changer for me. You also dirty up fewer dishes since you can tarre out the scale and add each item to the same plate.

PS: It's only been 27 days since you started logging your food. You didn't put the weight on overnight, it won't come off overnight.

kristen6350

zombiegirlfriend wrote: »

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

do you weigh your food on a scale?

I don't, but I do measure everything very carefully with measuring cups.

That's the issue. Weigh everything you can. Food scale is the most important piece of weight lose equipment. Seriously. You can work out like a feind and drink water until you are literally living on the toilet, but if you are eating more than you think, it will derail the whole thing.

enterdanger

Great advice from 4legs. You can't out exercise a bad diet. I'm crap at measuring stuff so I set my calorie allotment low knowing that I can't resist eating back (or drinking) every calorie I "earn" from exercise.

That second link that was posted really helped me a lot when I was new to this.

zombiegirlfriend

I will pick up a food scale tonight!

blankiefinder

You're not going to put on significant muscle mass while in a deficit, except maybe some newbie gains.

Buy a food scale and weigh everything, it's the only way to know what you're consuming (CI). Are you eating back your exercise calories, and if so, how much? 50%? 100%?

Definitely read the links posted above, plus this one (these are among the many excellent posts stickied at the top of the various forums here:
Logging Accuracy, Consistency, and You're Probably Eating More Than You Think

PS, I find the best way to keep from getting discouraged, is to succeed. I know that sounds dumb and not so simple, but if you can figure out how to lose, that momentum can carry you far!

Altagracia220

For the second month don't make losing x amount of pounds your goal. Make your goal eating healthy everyday and going to the gym 5-6 days a week your goal, for the whole month.

By the end of that month, you've created a good habit, which is more important for your ultimate goal ( weight loss) in the bigger picture.

You just have to keep pushing yourself and keeping fighting the discourage monster. You don't want him to win and he won't win unless you allow him to.

If you still don't lose any weight, which I doubt will happen , you may actually want to see a doctor about certain health issues.

Altagracia220

jazmin220 wrote: »

For the second month don't make losing x amount of pounds your goal. Make your goal eating healthy everyday and going to the gym 5-6 days a week your goal, for the whole month. Try not to step on the scale for a whole month too.

By the end of that month, you've created a good habit, which is more important for your ultimate goal ( weight loss) in the bigger picture.

You just have to keep pushing yourself and keeping fighting the discourage monster. You don't want him to win and he won't win unless you allow him to.

If you still don't lose any weight, which I doubt will happen , you may actually want to see a doctor about certain health issues.

Also, getting a food scale will help greatly. You want to be very accurate.

blankiefinder

jazmin220 wrote: »

For the second month don't make losing x amount of pounds your goal. Make your goal eating healthy everyday and going to the gym 5-6 days a week your goal, for the whole month.

By the end of that month, you've created a good habit, which is more important for your ultimate goal ( weight loss) in the bigger picture.

You just have to keep pushing yourself and keeping fighting the discourage monster. You don't want him to win and he won't win unless you allow him to.

If you still don't lose any weight, which I doubt will happen , you may actually want to see a doctor about certain health issues.

Lots of people eat healthy but don't eat in a deficit. That's probably one of the most discouraging things, to make these massive changes to your diet, work out all week (or month), and not lose. Focus on creating a deficit by accurate logging and conservative estimates. Better to err on the side of caution when it comes to calories in / calories out.

zombiegirlfriend

Thanks everyone.

MindySaysWhaaat

You sound like you're doing amazing with making changes to your lifestyle. Kudos on drinking more water - I have yet to do that myself.

I suggest investing in a food scale. I noticed a big difference in some of the things I was eating when I checked the measured vs weighed portion sizes.

zombiegirlfriend

I think you are all right, it's portion size.
I'm going to get a scale, and see if that helps.

TinaBaily

You've gotten some great advice so far on here. I would like to second the advice about using a food scale. I was measuring food too, until one wonderful person in the forums helped open my eyes.

For example; Cheerios cereal can be measured by a measuring cup, or weighed on a scale. You can measure out that same serving of cereal 5 times and *think* you are getting the same amount each time. However, take those 5 different measures of cereal and put them on a food scale. You will be surprised at the lack of consistency you are experiencing by measuring with a cup rather than weighing.

If it's off by 10 calories' worth of food, ok, that's not an issue by itself, right? Then think about everything else you measure rather than weigh (dried fruit, flaked cereals, oddly shaped pastas, cubed fruits or veggies) and by the end of the day you could possibly be eating a lot more calories than you were logging. Switching from measuring to weighing got me off a plateau and helped me get close to my goal.

Another thing to consider, to help you get your scale and measurements moving is not just making sure you are accurately logging your food, is if you tend to eat a lot of processed foods, you may want to slowly change over to fresh food. I used to be a Hamburger Helper kind of cook. That's loaded with sodium and high in calories per serving. I now cook all my own food, meats and pastas are part of my diet, but are small additions to casseroles or soups and rarely the star on my plate. I aim for 2 to 3 servings of veggies at dinner, at least 1 at lunch, and 3 servings of fruits a day.

My diary is open to the public if you would like to get some food ideas. Just ignore the "snacks" section for the last week or so, as I've been struggling with some of my old eating habits and issues. They will likely always be a part of me, and something I will always have to battle and strive to conquer. They get easier and don't last as long now as they used to, at least.

Best of luck to you, zombiegirlfriend! This isn't easy, but with lots of great, supportive friends in your MFP friend lineup, and personal motivation, you can do this.

999tigger

You need to look at the basics and just check its all being done correctly and accurately. Bit weighing can be quite a biggy in determining the size of your deficit.

I dont think its all about what you eat, but about being able to maintain an accurate deficit. What you eat is the most important part of that, as it much easier to control a deficit by moderating food and harder to correct food surplus by exercise rather than not eating it in the first place. You need to be sure of this before you even bother with the gym to eliminate the chance you are eating more than you think.

Are you eating back exercise calories? If so what % and how are you calculating burns? via MFP, machines, HRM?

Hang in there it just needs some tweaking then its just rinse and repeat. I admire the no excuses and you have obviously taken in a lot of the good advice from the forum. be a bit patient and am sure it will be sorted out.

zombiegirlfriend

I calculate calories burned via the machines. (I always enter correct age and weight)
I ordered a FitBit Charge HR a few weeks ago, but it's still on back order.

blankiefinder

But are you eating back your exercise calories?

Just a heads up that a heart rate monitor really is a heart rate monitor, not a calorie counter. It only works on steady state cardio and you need to shut it off every time you pause or you will get grossly inflated calorie burns. If I sit in the bleachers after work out for an hour it will give me an extra 800 calories