Need advice: I can't get my body back
cmenge11
Posts: 8 Member
Hi all! So I have run into a bit of a problem. I gained around 40 pounds in the course of a year and a half. I'll admit that I was not healthy during that period it was my senior year of college so I did a lot of drinking and eating out at restaurants and I rarely drank water. It's been 5 months and I'm 5'5" 186 pounds (up from 135 average) and female.
A little background about me is that I was always a fat kid and I was fat until 10th grade. Then I lost about 50 pounds relatively quickly and kept it off until my senior year of college. I would say that my behavior (diet and excercise) hasn't changed much since my skinny days but for some reason I gained a ton of weight very quickly. I went to a friend who was an herbalife coach and he measure my resting metabolic rate and said it was comparable to that of a 55 year old woman (I'm 22). Since then it's been about 5 months and I'm consuming 1250 calories a day and working out alternating between strength training and cardio 6 days a week and I've only gained weight. What do I do? I feel hopeless and it's hard to stay motivated with no results.
A little background about me is that I was always a fat kid and I was fat until 10th grade. Then I lost about 50 pounds relatively quickly and kept it off until my senior year of college. I would say that my behavior (diet and excercise) hasn't changed much since my skinny days but for some reason I gained a ton of weight very quickly. I went to a friend who was an herbalife coach and he measure my resting metabolic rate and said it was comparable to that of a 55 year old woman (I'm 22). Since then it's been about 5 months and I'm consuming 1250 calories a day and working out alternating between strength training and cardio 6 days a week and I've only gained weight. What do I do? I feel hopeless and it's hard to stay motivated with no results.
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Replies
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Are you weighing your food with a scale?0
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Mycophilia wrote: »Are you weighing your food with a scale?
Yes0 -
If you open your diary people might be able to give more informed advice.0
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I am not sure a "herbalife coach" is qualified to measure your metabolic rate. If you did have a low metabolic rate, treating it with supplements most likely would not help. If you are concerned with your health please see a health care provider to access your thyroid function. Thyroid conditions are rare but they are the most likely cause of metabolic issues in otherwise healthy young women.0
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Since then it's been about 5 months and I'm consuming 1250 calories a day and working out alternating between strength training and cardio 6 days a week and I've only gained weight. What do I do? I feel hopeless and it's hard to stay motivated with no results.
You are eating more than you think you are. Weigh and log EVERYTHING you eat. If you don't know how many calories are in it, don't eat it. I suspect you are still eating out a lot and guessing at the number of calories. Stop eating out. Restaurants can take something as simple as a one cup serving of green beans, normally 44 calories, and by the time they add pork fat, butter, and broth it's 200 calories. But it tastes oh, so good!0 -
So you did change your eating and exercise or you didn't? At first you said you gained weight because of drinking and eating out during college but then you said you didn't change anything and your body magically gained the weight... I agree that an herbalife coach isn't in any way qualified to measure your metabolic rate... Anyone who stands to profit from your situation by selling you a product is probably not someone who will be helpful to you in this arena. Bottom line is, if you aren't losing, you're not eating at a deficit. Barring a rare medical problem, that is the only thing that will make the weight come off.0
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daniwilford wrote: »I am not sure a "herbalife coach" is qualified to measure your metabolic rate. If you did have a low metabolic rate, treating it with supplements most likely would not help.
This, that was a sales pitch. If you've entered your stats into mfp, click on apps, and then bmr. That will tell you your basal metabolic rate.0 -
daniwilford wrote: »I am not sure a "herbalife coach" is qualified to measure your metabolic rate. If you did have a low metabolic rate, treating it with supplements most likely would not help.
This.0 -
daniwilford wrote: »I am not sure a "herbalife coach" is qualified to measure your metabolic rate. If you did have a low metabolic rate, treating it with supplements most likely would not help. If you are concerned with your health please see a health care provider to access your thyroid function. Thyroid conditions are rare but they are the most likely cause of metabolic issues in otherwise healthy young women.
They are actually quite common.0 -
Consult your primary care provider, OP.0
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Some of that weight might be muscle. Sometimes gaining muscle can make it look like you are gaining. In this case pay less attention to the weight and more to measurements.0
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Some of that weight might be muscle. Sometimes gaining muscle can make it look like you are gaining. In this case pay less attention to the weight and more to measurements.
That's a myth. I can't tell you how many times people told me that the reason I wasn't losing weight was because I was gaining muscle, which weighs more. And it does. But it takes a heck of a long time of weight-lifting to get there, not just by dieting and doing a few hours of cardio a week.0 -
galgenstrick wrote: »Thyroid conditions are rare.
They are actually quite common.[/quote]
Comparatively rare, I should have stated. 12% chance over a lifetime in the US population.0 -
Some of that weight might be muscle. Sometimes gaining muscle can make it look like you are gaining. In this case pay less attention to the weight and more to measurements.
Nope. You're not gaining muscle in a caloric deficit, sorry.
OP - the Herbalife coach knows nothing about metabolic rate. Enter your stats on MFP and follow that. Log everything. You're probably eating more than you know.0 -
heatherlewisis wrote: »So you did change your eating and exercise or you didn't? At first you said you gained weight because of drinking and eating out during college but then you said you didn't change anything and your body magically gained the weight... I agree that an herbalife coach isn't in any way qualified to measure your metabolic rate... Anyone who stands to profit from your situation by selling you a product is probably not someone who will be helpful to you in this arena. Bottom line is, if you aren't losing, you're not eating at a deficit. Barring a rare medical problem, that is the only thing that will make the weight come off.
Sorry that was probably really confusing. When I started gaining weight I wasn't doing anything differently from when I was "skinny" I still drank a lot and ate a lot of bad food when I was skinny but it wasn't affecting me until later. Now I definitely changed the way I eat and exercise. It's just when I look back I see how unhealthy I was all of my college years it makes sense how I gained a lot of weight.0 -
Now I'm on my computer I'll post this:
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Thank you all for your responses! Yeah I won't trust my friend anymore haha I'll keep trying and maybe see a doctor!0
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daniwilford wrote: »I am not sure a "herbalife coach" is qualified to measure your metabolic rate.
I am quite sure that they are not.
See a real doctor--preferably an endocrinologist.0 -
How exactly does an "herbalife coach" measure your resting metabolic rate? I'm sure it's b.s., but I'm just wondering how it goes.0
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PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »How exactly does an "herbalife coach" measure your resting metabolic rate? I'm sure it's b.s., but I'm just wondering how it goes.
Me too! I'm sure they tell everyone they're on deaths door, and herbalife will fix everything. .
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Hi all! So I have run into a bit of a problem. I gained around 40 pounds in the course of a year and a half. I'll admit that I was not healthy during that period it was my senior year of college so I did a lot of drinking and eating out at restaurants and I rarely drank water. It's been 5 months and I'm 5'5" 186 pounds (up from 135 average) and female.
A little background about me is that I was always a fat kid and I was fat until 10th grade. Then I lost about 50 pounds relatively quickly and kept it off until my senior year of college. I would say that my behavior (diet and excercise) hasn't changed much since my skinny days but for some reason I gained a ton of weight very quickly. I went to a friend who was an herbalife coach and he measure my resting metabolic rate and said it was comparable to that of a 55 year old woman (I'm 22). Since then it's been about 5 months and I'm consuming 1250 calories a day and working out alternating between strength training and cardio 6 days a week and I've only gained weight. What do I do? I feel hopeless and it's hard to stay motivated with no results.
You have not been eating 1250 calories. Unless you have been in your bed, fed with a tube and not moving at all. Not possible, regardless of whether you have some mysterious medical condition or not. Open your diary.-1 -
If your herbalife coach got you to fast for 12 hours then put you under a hood at rest to measure your RMR then maybe a/he has some idea what your metabolic rate at rest is ...otherwise ignore
You would know
It would have looked like this
You put on weight because you ate the same, drank more high calorie alcohol and moved less. End of
Eat less, move more to lose
Do not buy herbalife0 -
If your herbalife coach got you to fast for 12 hours then put you under a hood at rest to measure your RMR then maybe a/he has some idea what your metabolic rate at rest is ...otherwise ignore
You would know
It would have looked like this
You put on weight because you ate the same, drank more high calorie alcohol and moved less. End of
Eat less, move more to lose
Do not buy herbalife
I'm quoting primarily to snag this image - excellent!
It's all too easy to blame this on metabolism, but even those with a metabolic disorder can overcome and manage their weight. There are several elite athletes who have thyroid disorders and are performing stronger than ever.
The rule of CICO applies to everyone.0 -
Can you open your diary?0
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Liftng4Lis wrote: »Can you open your diary?
Sure I'll open it temporarily!0 -
You've been logging very accurately since Monday, but WAY under-eating. Around 800 calories most days.
Before then I see:
2 August - 2 sausages? And other non-weighed items.
1 August - either ate 700 kj or did not log everything.
Before then, on the previous days are:
2 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, 1 burger
1 bowl of chipotle, half a chicken breast - none of this is accurate logging.
You're getting there with the weighing of food. But the undereating is very worrying.
Try eating your correct amount, and you'll still lose weight. Good luck.0 -
I'm not sure if you should jump right to having a problem physically. I really think it is your calories you are either over eating or eating too little. Basically with calories. Say your BMR is 1800 calories - that's when you are doing nothing, it will go up if you live an active lifestyle and adding in activity is known as you TDEE. You can use either of these. I use my BMR so I get more of a deficit. You only want to go down a little bit. for example eat 1700 calories. That's a deficit and automatically you will start losing weight. add in exercise (but dont eat back the calories) and that just adds to the deficit. Then when you hit a plateau you drop your calories more or increase your exercise (or both if you want to go hard core). But the thing is if you start at 1200 and you BMR is 1800 yes you will lose weight but once you hit that plateau, where are you going to go? to 1000 calories... you will be miserable, you will lose muscle mass and you will end up not losing that much weight and you could end up going down the road to an eating disorder. I know this from experience as this is what happened to me. I ended up (luckily) going back to eat regularly and gained 4 times the weight I lost back!!!!!!! I have now joined MFP and want to be healthy so my calories are at 1800 as my BMR is 2000 roughly. I work out 5 days per week, mostly weights and only 20-15 minutes cardio (hell no cardio!!) and its been four days (so can't really say 5 days just yet) but I already had to do my brand new bra up tighter this morning - after it had been in the dryer!! (they shrink a little in the dryer)
Please note this is just my experience and suggestions. I am by NO means a pro at this, as you can see I have had my own struggles.0 -
You've been logging very accurately since Monday, but WAY under-eating. Around 800 calories
You're getting there with the weighing of food. But the undereating is very worrying.
Try eating your correct amount, and you'll still lose weight. Good luck.
Thank you! I didn't realize how badly I was undereating because I was just trying to be at a deficit. But thank you for helping me!0 -
beckygammon wrote: »I'm not sure if you should jump right to having a problem physically. I really think it is your calories you are either over eating or eating too little. Basically with calories. Say your BMR is 1800 calories - that's when you are doing nothing, it will go up if you live an active lifestyle and adding in activity is known as you TDEE. You can use either of these. I use my BMR so I get more of a deficit. You only want to go down a little bit. for example eat 1700 calories. That's a deficit and automatically you will start losing weight. add in exercise (but dont eat back the calories) and that just adds to the deficit. Then when you hit a plateau you drop your calories more or increase your exercise (or both if you want to go hard core). But the thing is if you start at 1200 and you BMR is 1800 yes you will lose weight but once you hit that plateau, where are you going to go? to 1000 calories... you will be miserable, you will lose muscle mass and you will end up not losing that much weight and you could end up going down the road to an eating disorder. I know this from experience as this is what happened to me. I ended up (luckily) going back to eat regularly and gained 4 times the weight I lost back!!!!!!! I have now joined MFP and want to be healthy so my calories are at 1800 as my BMR is 2000 roughly. I work out 5 days per week, mostly weights and only 20-15 minutes cardio (hell no cardio!!) and its been four days (so can't really say 5 days just yet) but I already had to do my brand new bra up tighter this morning - after it had been in the dryer!! (they shrink a little in the dryer)
Please note this is just my experience and suggestions. I am by NO means a pro at this, as you can see I have had my own struggles.
This is amazing advice thank you so much! I'm glad that you got better and that you are seeing positive results! You've inspired me!0
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