Time to give up?

calebjacob26

Eimaj5575 is describing a refeed, which typically is great if you've been doing a low carb diet. It restores the glycogen stores in your body, helping your insulin and other hormones start burning again. Fun science stuffs

Sued0nim

darciew2 wrote: »

Is there a point when you just stop trying to lose weight and say f*** it, this is my body??

5'8" and 193 pounds with a lot of muscle. Also a LOT of stress. I stay between 1300-1500 most day. Generally low carb. Excersize regularly. In the last 4 months I have only lost 7 pounds and then gained back 2. REALLY frustrated. Have even been trying medically supervised low carb. All my labs like thyroid come back normal. Any thoughts??

There's something wrong with your logging

And you may be muscly but unless you are a champion world renowned bodybuilder you're not that muscly

Can you open your diary because I think you might be making fundamental errors ...

Sued0nim

I'm pretty sure it's in the "most days" and "around" part TBH

Machka9

darciew2 wrote: »

Is there a point when you just stop trying to lose weight and say f*** it, this is my body??

5'8" and 193 pounds with a lot of muscle. Also a LOT of stress. I stay between 1300-1500 most day. Generally low carb. Excersize regularly. In the last 4 months I have only lost 7 pounds and then gained back 2. REALLY frustrated. Have even been trying medically supervised low carb. All my labs like thyroid come back normal. Any thoughts??

What about this ... take a break for a couple weeks and just relax.

Then return to it and stick to it like glue for 3 weeks. Enter your info into MFP, select to lose 1 lb/week, select sedentary as your activity level ... and stick to it.

Weigh everything you eat to ensure accuracy.

When you exercise, estimate your calories burned a little on the low side. Pick the "light" or "slow" workout options. Then eat half your exercise calories back.

Has a doctor said you need to be low carb? If not, then don't worry about that ... just focus on your calories.

And stick to it like glue for 3 weeks.

At the end of 3 weeks, see how you feel.

trigden1991

darciew2 wrote: »

Is there a point when you just stop trying to lose weight and say f*** it, this is my body??

5'8" and 193 pounds with a lot of muscle. Also a LOT of stress. I stay between 1300-1500 most day. Generally low carb. Excersize regularly. In the last 4 months I have only lost 7 pounds and then gained back 2. REALLY frustrated. Have even been trying medically supervised low carb. All my labs like thyroid come back normal. Any thoughts??

1) You probably don't have as much muscle as you think
2)Aim to eat a consistent calorie number not a rough range
3)No need to do low carb
4)Use a food scale for EVERYTHING

All you need is to set MFP with your correct weight, set your weight loss goal, weigh and log everything you eat and stick to the goal MFP gives you.

applesandtapeline

What is "a lot of muscle"?
I'm 5"7 138lb (obviously the pic is from competition, so I have a bit of fat on my body atm)
Eating around 2000 cals a day. -200cals when dieting.
Workout 3-4 days a week, resistance training. Cardio = cycling to work 20mins.

I would suggest to re-think your nutrtition and whole dieting.
Getting food scale is a good decision.

darciew2

No I didn't mean give up like sit on the couch and eat donuts. I was just having a pity party, and wanting to throw out the scale. Thanks for the real advice and reminders that the in betweens and abouts and almosts are probably the problem.

courtneyfabulous

Maybe don't bother going low carb. In fact I would suggest 1 high carb day per week. Not eating carbs decreases leptin which is a weight/fat loss hormone. You could be unintentionally lowering your metabolism. Try sticking to your calorie goal with 100% accuracy for 6 days of the week, then 1 day a week eat at maintenance calories by increasing your carbs. But don't check your weight the day after this or you will freak out (carbs cause water retention). Over time this should HELP you lose fat faster though.

Make sure you're getting enough protein every day and exercise. I took 1 week off exercise and lost a lot of momentum. Try weight lifting & hiit cardio.

Try a digital food scale and eat foods you can accurately measure the calories in. Guessing or estimating too much is a problem.

Try to watch the sodium levels.

courtneyfabulous

I've felt like saying "f*** it" before, but always regretted it.

Once I figured out what actually works for me to lose weight I was so happy getting results! Imagine if I'd given up before that?

Need2Exerc1se

I personally wouldn't give up with BMI that high. My guess is that you are actually eating more than you think you are, even if you are at 1300 - 1500 most days. Your average daily is probably quite a bit more.

ninerbuff

90% of the time I've run into this with a new client, I found out it's mostly inconsistency and lack of sleep that seem to be the most glaring issues.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

zorander6

Stress affects your bodies ability to process foods as well as the mentality of "I should just give up." If you must give something up, give up giving up. You'll have days/weeks where progress may not be measurable but look towards the end goal and not where you are at. Find ways to reduce your stress levels if at all possible.

A one day "pity party" won't kill you if you really need it. Just don't let it go more than one day and turn into an all the time pity party. Treat yourself and find something that makes you happy and relaxed. Go to a local shelter for example and pet the dogs/cats/iguana's whatever.

Keep your carbs and intake reasonable. You should be the tortoise, not the hare in this race. Slow and steady wins this race.

85Cardinals

Winston Churchill didn't let Britain give up when the Nazis were bombing London every night, and the world was saved as a result. So no, don't give up. Try some different things, this weight loss stuff ain't black magic. A richer healthier life could be waiting for you, but not if you quit now.

ugofatcat

I am sorry you are feeling so down on yourself. Weight loss is so hard and slow, I can see why you feel like giving up.

The one thing I want to stress with MyFitness Pal or any "diet" is you must do it forever or it will stop working. If you don't feel like MyFitness Pal is realistic for you, maybe look into a new plan or more sustainable way of eating.

Instead of trying to stick to 1,300-1,500 calories, why not just eat like you always do, just weight and track? Do this for a month and see if there is anything sabotaging you. Then, just shave off 300-500 calories of a typical day and see what happens.

Your weight will fluctuate by 5 pounds every day, so 3-4 pounds a month is excellent progress.

About your question about just "giving up", I think everyone reaches a point where they know if they want to lose more they have to work harder, and they may not be willing to do that. You have to decide if you are ok with where you are at, or if you are willing to put in the work forever.

Losing weight is hard. Maintain weight is hard. Being overweight is hard. Choose you hard.

sllm1

To me, giving up = gaining it back. I just try to make my "plan" sustainable so that I can continue it forever. I lose VERY slowly at this point, but at least I'm headed in the right direction.

I would also tighten up logging and have fun with the new food scale.

jordyngiulio

@ninerbuff mentioned sleep in his response and I have to second that one. It's only an anecdotal example, but I know that when I'm not getting enough sleep I will see little to no change in the scale, regardless of how hard I'm hitting it. After I take a weekend (or honestly sometimes it'll take me a whole week) to get a full nights sleep for multiple nights in a row, I'll see a substantial whoosh on the scale. Sometimes even as much as 5 pounds.

hollen_carol

ugofatcat wrote: »

I am sorry you are feeling so down on yourself. Weight loss is so hard and slow, I can see why you feel like giving up.

The one thing I want to stress with MyFitness Pal or any "diet" is you must do it forever or it will stop working. If you don't feel like MyFitness Pal is realistic for you, maybe look into a new plan or more sustainable way of eating.

Instead of trying to stick to 1,300-1,500 calories, why not just eat like you always do, just weight and track? Do this for a month and see if there is anything sabotaging you. Then, just shave off 300-500 calories of a typical day and see what happens.

Your weight will fluctuate by 5 pounds every day, so 3-4 pounds a month is excellent progress.

About your question about just "giving up", I think everyone reaches a point where they know if they want to lose more they have to work harder, and they may not be willing to do that. You have to decide if you are ok with where you are at, or if you are willing to put in the work forever.

Losing weight is hard. Maintain weight is hard. Being overweight is hard. Choose you hard.

I Love the advice above given to you! The last line in that post is the absolute truth of the matter.

SusanMFindlay

darciew2 wrote: »

Is there a point when you just stop trying to lose weight and say f*** it, this is my body??

5'8" and 193 pounds with a lot of muscle. Also a LOT of stress. I stay between 1300-1500 most day. Generally low carb. Excersize regularly. In the last 4 months I have only lost 7 pounds and then gained back 2. REALLY frustrated. Have even been trying medically supervised low carb. All my labs like thyroid come back normal. Any thoughts??

There is a point, but I don't think you're there yet.

Your goal of 1300-1500 calories is likely too low for your size. (Unless you're really really inactive.)

What happens when you set too low of a calorie goal is that your body starts to subconsciously "trick" you into eating more by doing things like underestimating portion sizes, forgetting to log little things, etc. So, you wind up actually eating more than if you'd set a more conservative calorie goal. Not weighing absolutely everything makes it easier for this to happen. It also tries t conserve energy by making you move less, lowering your natural calorie burn.

So, I plugged your stats into scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/, guessing an age of 30. If you're older, the numbers will be slightly lower. If you're younger, they'll be slightly higher.

Your BMR is about 1660 cals/day. That's the calories you would burn in a coma. I generally consider that the lower limit for a reasonable calorie goal (though there are a few people who would have to be exceptions to that due to medical conditions or extremely sedentary lives).

If you're sedentary, you ought to be burning about 2000 cals/day. If you're active than that, increase that number by about 100 cals/day for every mile (2,000 steps) you walk beyond the first two miles (4,000 steps).

You're into the "overweight" range (i.e. not obese) so you probably shouldn't be aiming to lose more than 1 pound/week. Your best calorie goal will be ~500 cals/day less than you are burning. So, if you're really truly sedentary, that's 1500 cals/day. But I think I see you log exercise on my newsfeed, so it should probably actually be 1500 cals/day plus calories burned from exercise (or some reasonable fraction thereof - say 75% - to allow for MFP overestimating burn).

I agree with the poster above about you needing a "diet break" before you readjust your calorie goal and start again. I also agree with the posters above about weighing all your food (and was glad to read that you were getting a scale). My numbers only work when intake is accurate.

Have you considered getting a pedometer to get a better estimate of your daily activity level?

saishyamk

I'm not sure if you're already doing this, but taking a break is important. I agree with one of the comments above, that if you just eat more than your daily intake when you hit a plateau, scale starts dropping again. I'm speaking from personal experience.

If you're already doing this, may be get an RMR to see if your metabolism is out of whack. If that is the case, you need to fix it before you put in anymore effort on dieting.

Good luck and never give up!

darciew2

Thank you all for the great advice. I am not sedentary by any means. I am a massage therapist so on my feet and moving all day. I am starting today with putting a lot of stuff into place thank you again.