Please help before I give up
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Natztastic
Posts: 30 Member
Hey all,
I am really stuck. I am obese. I decided in July that I would start to get my life back and lose weight. I have a zero scale (one that only tells you weight gained or lost) because I would be terrified to see how much I really weigh.
Last year I started losing weight and by May this year I got to -28 lbs. A reasonable figure. I went to America and things slipped, so when I decided to start again in July this year I had slid back to -18.
Since the very end of July I have been eating around 1200 calories per day, I have a cheat meal on a Saturday when I have Chinese which takes me to about 2000 calories. There have been the odd occasion where I have been away for my birthday for example and I haven't counted calories. I go to the gym on average for 4 times a week, plus a class or 2.
I have only lost 18lbs since I started. What am I doing wrong? It's not as if I am really small so the weight doesn't come off... I'm huge, it should be falling off at a decent rate. I was expecting at least 3-5lbs a week with all the exercise.
Am I doing something wrong? I have stuck with it now for 3 months and I feel now like giving up
Thanks for reading
Natztastic
I am really stuck. I am obese. I decided in July that I would start to get my life back and lose weight. I have a zero scale (one that only tells you weight gained or lost) because I would be terrified to see how much I really weigh.
Last year I started losing weight and by May this year I got to -28 lbs. A reasonable figure. I went to America and things slipped, so when I decided to start again in July this year I had slid back to -18.
Since the very end of July I have been eating around 1200 calories per day, I have a cheat meal on a Saturday when I have Chinese which takes me to about 2000 calories. There have been the odd occasion where I have been away for my birthday for example and I haven't counted calories. I go to the gym on average for 4 times a week, plus a class or 2.
I have only lost 18lbs since I started. What am I doing wrong? It's not as if I am really small so the weight doesn't come off... I'm huge, it should be falling off at a decent rate. I was expecting at least 3-5lbs a week with all the exercise.
Am I doing something wrong? I have stuck with it now for 3 months and I feel now like giving up
Thanks for reading
Natztastic
0
Replies
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It sounds counter-intuitive, but you have to eat to lose weight, and if you're limiting yourself to 1200 cal/day, PLUS exercise, your body isn't getting what it needs to fuel you properly. Another thing: if the zero scale works for you, great, but I would get rid of it. You need to know your actual numbers so that MFP can come up with an appropriate plan for you, including your daily intake goal. Don't be afraid of what it says, because with the right plan you won't see that number again! Additionally, expecting a loss of 3-5 pounds/week is unhealthy; you should be aiming for 1.5-2 pounds/week for healthy, sustainable loss.
My brief story: started mid-January at 286.8. I'm now at 208, and plan to be under 200 before the end of the year. I've been consistently logging for 250+ days, and use a Fitbit Charge to get an accurate view of my daily activity. While I don't necessarily lose every week, the trend is definitely downwards.0 -
You do not have to eat to lose weight, the less you eat, the more you lose. However, how do you know what kind of deficit you are at if you do not know how much you weigh? You need this information to calculate how much you need to eat! Also, are you weighing your food? You may be eating more than you think, so those 2000 calories on the cheat day may actually be more.0
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Thanks for the reply. I would like to think I could get rid of the zero scale but I actually have a fear, so until I get over that fear or have lost enough weight I don't think I will be able to... I agree about the exact weight and stuff, especially because the gym equipment asks for weight etc but I can't do it (yet)
Well done with your weight loss, that's amazing. I wish I could be the same. Annoyingly, I would have given up by now (you know, the enthusiasm and frame of mind disappears) but I'm really in the right frame of mind - just not getting anywhere.
If I have to eat more I don't know what I would eat that isn't unhealthy - plus I don't want to eat when I don't feel I have to.
18lbs is only just over a lb each week. For my efforts s that really justice? Shall I give up the gym? At this rate I will be dead before I am at a healthy weight
Thanks again0 -
It's scary at first, but look around MFP for a while. Read success stories and you'll see whatever you weigh, someone else has weighed that amount or weighs more than you now. There are so many awesome people here who have lost over 100 pounds and to me it's almost a badge of awesomeness that anyone losing less won't really attain! Lol.
Here's my favorite sucess story here. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1454303/2-years-of-maintenance-130-pounds-lost/p1 Maybe you'll find her as inspiring as I did.0 -
eat more to lose weight is bogus.
If you really think you are eating 1200 calories and you aren't losing weight chances are you are over estimating calorie burns and/or under estimating calories in.
Do you use a food scale?
Do you log consistently and accurately using that scale and the correct entries?
How do you measure calorie burns?
Do you eat back exercise calories?
1lb a week is a good consistent weight loss...nothing wrong with it. It's not like the weight suddenly appeared on your frame so it's not going to "suddenly" disappear either...it's take a while for you to put on the weight.
I eat 1800 calories a day @143lbs (lost 60) and still lose 1/4lb a week and I am happy with it (trying 140)
If you want to lose the weight do it...but stop making excuses and looking for reasons to give up. 18lbs is not "just not getting anywhere"0 -
1lb a week is very good weight loss. In fact, that is almost perfect. It is a good steady loss and with going to the gym you are probably minimising lean body mass loss.
You didn't put all of your weight on over a very short period of time, so don't expect it to all come off in a really short period of time.
You diary is also locked and if you don't know how much you actually weigh then how do you know how much is needed for the loss you want to achieve?
You say your eating "around 1200 a day". Is that 1150, 1200, 1250, 1350, 1400? At the end of the day, you're body is subject to the same physical laws as the rest of us. If you are losing at 1lb a week, then you are consuming enough calories for a 1lb a week weight loss.
Which means you are either not logging accurately enough or you are over estimating your calorie burns from exercise.
but I say again, 1lb a week is amazing loss. You should be very very very happy with that. If you maintained that over a year, that's 52lbs, 3.7stone, that is the average weight of a 6 year old child.
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You don't have to eat when you don't want to, just change what you eat if you need more calories, eat more calorie-dense foods, but as stated above you need to know your weight to be able to work out how much to eat to lose. I know what you mean about having a fear of the scales, felt like that myself once, and I bet there's lots of people here who can relate yet weighed the same or more than you when they started. You have to be brave and get that info ... maybe have a look on the Success Stories thread for a bit more incentive. Don't give up and don't worry about a slow weight loss, you've already proved you can do this! And if you're fed up with going to the gym maybe find some other form of exercise that you enjoy doing, more likely to keep it up then.0
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22 months
115+ pounds - so far
Slow and steady has worked for me. But I think you need to get real with yourself. This idea of not wanting to know your weight because it will discourage you sounds pretty childish.
Grow up and get real. Make a solid commitment and a solid plan that you can do permanently. The motivation has to come from you. If you are not sick and tired of your old way so that you are willing to make any changes necessary then you are probably just playing with this.
So you need to really decide.0 -
The loss so far is great btw0
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Natztastic wrote: »Hey all,
I am really stuck. I am obese. I decided in July that I would start to get my life back and lose weight. I have a zero scale (one that only tells you weight gained or lost) because I would be terrified to see how much I really weigh.
Last year I started losing weight and by May this year I got to -28 lbs. A reasonable figure. I went to America and things slipped, so when I decided to start again in July this year I had slid back to -18.
Since the very end of July I have been eating around 1200 calories per day, I have a cheat meal on a Saturday when I have Chinese which takes me to about 2000 calories. There have been the odd occasion where I have been away for my birthday for example and I haven't counted calories. I go to the gym on average for 4 times a week, plus a class or 2.
I have only lost 18lbs since I started. What am I doing wrong? It's not as if I am really small so the weight doesn't come off... I'm huge, it should be falling off at a decent rate. I was expecting at least 3-5lbs a week with all the exercise.
Am I doing something wrong? I have stuck with it now for 3 months and I feel now like giving up
Thanks for reading
Natztastic
@Natztastic - I'm confused - since the end of July you've lost an additional 18 pounds and are now at -36? Or since the end of July you have lost nothing and your total is -18?0 -
Redbeard333 wrote: »It sounds counter-intuitive, but you have to eat to lose weight, and if you're limiting yourself to 1200 cal/day, PLUS exercise, your body isn't getting what it needs to fuel you properly. Another thing: if the zero scale works for you, great, but I would get rid of it. You need to know your actual numbers so that MFP can come up with an appropriate plan for you, including your daily intake goal. Don't be afraid of what it says, because with the right plan you won't see that number again! Additionally, expecting a loss of 3-5 pounds/week is unhealthy; you should be aiming for 1.5-2 pounds/week for healthy, sustainable loss.
My brief story: started mid-January at 286.8. I'm now at 208, and plan to be under 200 before the end of the year. I've been consistently logging for 250+ days, and use a Fitbit Charge to get an accurate view of my daily activity. While I don't necessarily lose every week, the trend is definitely downwards.
WRONG!
If you're not losing, you're not in a deficit. Can you unlock your diary?0 -
eat more to lose weight is bogus.
If you really think you are eating 1200 calories and you aren't losing weight chances are you are over estimating calorie burns and/or under estimating calories in.
Do you use a food scale?
Do you log consistently and accurately using that scale and the correct entries?
How do you measure calorie burns?
Do you eat back exercise calories?
1lb a week is a good consistent weight loss...nothing wrong with it. It's not like the weight suddenly appeared on your frame so it's not going to "suddenly" disappear either...it's take a while for you to put on the weight.
I eat 1800 calories a day @143lbs (lost 60) and still lose 1/4lb a week and I am happy with it (trying 140)
If you want to lose the weight do it...but stop making excuses and looking for reasons to give up. 18lbs is not "just not getting anywhere"
this - all of this
tighten up your food logging - weigh everything, log accurately with double checks on other databases, never use homemade or other's recipes, be wary of verified it doesn't mean they're right
half your exercise logging - MFP database and gym machines overestimate. HRM are only for steady state cardio
You can do it0 -
1lb/week is a great result. My wife would kill for 1lb/week over 18 weeks, but she just hasn't stuck with it so she is more like 0.3lb/week. This is a long term project, not a quick fix overnight. And no, you won't die before you lose all the excess fat if you stick with it.
You don't actually need to know how much you weigh to create a proper calorie deficit. You can use trial and error. I also use trial and error in my approach, but use NEAT and had an estimate to start out with rather than having to measure real world results.
This is what you do.
A) Note your current weight (-18, or you could zero the scale again if you want, I don't care)
B ) Eat 1500 calories every day, no cheat days, do not compromise if you want results. Do this for 6 weeks. You can vary the calories per day, but overall it should average 1500 calories.
B.1) log everything, weigh everything, no cheating
B.2) did I mention no cheating?
C) Do resistance training
D) If you do lots of cardio, eat back some of those calories, and yes this will bump you over the 1500 calories/day average (for running/walking you could go with 75 calories per mile)
E) Keep accurate logs, these are critical
F) Every week (same day, same time, same conditions) take your weight.
ok, now that you have all this information, we'll do something useful with it. Do not be discouraged if you only lost 1lb/week. Run the following equation with the information you have (and it has to be as accurate as reasonable possible).
Average Daily Calories Eaten = sum(daily calories eaten) / 42
Weekly loss = (start weight - end weight)/6
Daily Deficit = Weekly Loss * 3500 / 7
TDEE = Daily Deficit + Average Daily Calories Eaten
Ok, now just simply eat 75% of TDEE and recalculate every couple weeks based on the previous 6 weeks. If you find a 25% deficit is too big, then eat at a 20% deficit (or 15% or 10%, find what works for you). You can also use the deficit to estimate weekly weight loss. Ultimately, sticking to it is more important than creating a huge deficit. Also, generally weight loss should be 1-2lb/week or within 1% of your body weight. Since we don't know your body weight you should also target somewhere in the 1-2lb/week range.
As for what to eat, the answer is whatever you want. So long as it isn't composed of 100% saturated fats and candy it is healthy enough. Find what keeps you full and satisfies you. I enjoy a good muffin on occasion, but they don't keep me full so I don't eat them often. Proteins and fats tend to keep you full longer so get enough of those, but carbs aren't evil so feel free to eat them.0 -
Girl, you really need to know how much you weigh. I know its painful, but its necessary. Don't let that number have power over you! You alone are responsible for your food and exercise choices. You can do this.
...and I agree that weighing your food is necessary. It's so helpful in re-adjusting our mindset.0 -
allenpriest wrote: »The loss so far is great btw
Oh yeah... this, too. A pound a week is just right for sustaining over the long-term. Real life isn't the Biggest Loser Ranch.0 -
And let me add, I seriously doubt 'you'll be dead' before reaching a healthy weight. Cut the melodrama! At one pound a week you'll be fine. You're probably not weighing your food accurately & eating more than you think. Eating just 1200 calories is hard; even more so the bigger we are. Whenever anyone says they are comfortably eating 1200 cals & not losing weight, I figure that's the answer.0
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You know what, I refused to have a scale for a long time. I knew I was big, but did not want to face it and if I didn't know how much I weighed, I wouldn't have to face it. Then one day last spring, I took out a pair of jeans out of my drawer and put them on after a shower and started going about my day. I happened to catch something in the mirror and horrifyingly realized that I did not have on my own jeans--I had on my husband's. And they were almost tight.
I bought a scale and it woke me up completely. I am 5'1". I should not fit into my 180lb, 5'10" husband's jeans! Weigh yourself. You need a starting point and you need to know where you are starting from in order to know what you need to do.0 -
I don't have that much to add to this thread, but 18 pounds is a great loss. That's almost 20 pounds! And if you don't think that's a lot, go to the grocery story and pick up 4 5 pound bags of potatoes and carry them around for a while
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Unless you are 200lbs overweight 3-5lbs every week is unrealistic and unhealthy, you will lose a whole bunch of muscle and the heart is a muscle. Not a good idea, that's what will kill you, not taking a few extra months to lose excess body fat!
1lb per week is fantastic, achievable and sustainable. Weighing your food will help you see if you really are only eating 1200 calories, judging by your results I think it unlikely you are eating so little, especially if you don't eat your exercise calories (which will also be inaccurate because both machines and MFP grossly overestimate burn).
But your rate of loss is great, my suggestion is to keep at it, tighten your logging and adjust by results if you don't want to weigh. The number on the scale isn't the only measure of success after all.0 -
Natztastic wrote: »Hey all,
I am really stuck. I am obese. I decided in July that I would start to get my life back and lose weight. I have a zero scale (one that only tells you weight gained or lost) because I would be terrified to see how much I really weigh.
Last year I started losing weight and by May this year I got to -28 lbs. A reasonable figure. I went to America and things slipped, so when I decided to start again in July this year I had slid back to -18.
Since the very end of July I have been eating around 1200 calories per day, I have a cheat meal on a Saturday when I have Chinese which takes me to about 2000 calories. There have been the odd occasion where I have been away for my birthday for example and I haven't counted calories. I go to the gym on average for 4 times a week, plus a class or 2.
I have only lost 18lbs since I started. What am I doing wrong? It's not as if I am really small so the weight doesn't come off... I'm huge, it should be falling off at a decent rate. I was expecting at least 3-5lbs a week with all the exercise.
Am I doing something wrong? I have stuck with it now for 3 months and I feel now like giving up
Thanks for reading
Natztastic
0
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