Feeling hopeless, in need of some help..

AreneeS22

Hello all. So a little bit about me: I’m 31, 5ft 2, weighing about 245lbs (maybe a little more, been too scared to weigh myself lately). I have an 11 year old and a 6 month old. Before I had my first baby, I was pretty small..at my most I weighed 130. Then shot up to 199 till I had her but after my c-section i was never able to lose the weight. I’ve tried sooo many different things and I can’t seem to lose much at all and then it just comes right back. It doesn’t help that I suffer from anxiety and depression, and the bigger I get the more depressed I get. I tried getting a gym membership but unfortunately my baby doesn’t allow me to go, she’s so difficult no one will keep her for me...I tried totally changing my diet and started feeling better but after a month I had lost only about 3.5 lbs, and all it took was 1 day of slipping up and I gained it all back plus some, even after going back to eating better (& by eating better my days consisted of eggs for breakfast, walnuts or pecans for snack, small salad for lunch, and a supper of just chicken and vegetables, and all I ever drink is water) My body hates me. I see so many people eat whatever they want and never gain a pound, and all I have to do is look at a cookie and gain 10 pounds

alteredsteve175

A couple of ideas for you. Start logging your food intake and adjust the calorie levels as needed to get you into a small deficit. That will help you get the right amount of food for weight loss.

Can you workout at home? It's possible to do a good workout with bodyweight exercises. Add some resistance bands and some kettlebells or dumbbells as you get stronger. And there are lots of video workouts available that you can do at home.

sbrown6

Get a food scale and weigh and measure all of your food. Try faithfully logging all food for a week to see how many calories you are truly consuming.

rheddmobile

Well, you're in the right place. Logging your calories accurately - weigh your food using a food scale to record accurate portion sizes - will teach you to relax throughout water weight fluctuations and trust the process of losing weight long enough to stick with it.

It takes 3,500 calories to make one pound of fat. You can't gain four pounds in a day of slipping up, even if the scale says so. That's water weight. It's normal to gain and lose as much as six or seven pounds of water in a day. You are not a miracle of physics who can make fat out of nothing! That's the first good news!

The second good news - It's not necessary to totally change your diet to lose weight. Just eat the correct amount of the foods you like.

And the third good news - you don't have to join a gym to get fit. YouTube has a million exercise videos, many of which are ten minutes long or less.

Start by logging everything you eat and your activity, just to see where you're at and where to most easily make changes. Best of luck to you!

jackieprimus

Hey girl! Have you had your thyroid levels checked, and checked thoroughly? I had this same issue happen to me as well after my second baby. Shoot me a message!

kommodevaran

You need to learn how weight loss and gain works, what you can control and what you can't control, and the importance of time, and adjust your attitudes and change your assumptions.

When we eat more calories than our bodies burn, over time, we gain weight. When we eat fewer calories than our bodies burn, over time, we lose weight. This happens to everyone, always, with no exceptions.

If you are depressed and stressed, you may have a tendency to comfort eat. The typical comfort food is delicious (that's why it's comforting), calorie dense, easy to find, easy to eat, and easy to overeat.

If you want to lose weight, you have to know what you are doing, make sure it's worthwhile, and do it consistently, and for a long time. Fat loss is often masked by water weight fluctuations, so it can sometimes look like you're not losing weight even if you are. If you give up, or start to push too hard, just because of a blip, you will never succeed.

If you want to change your diet, change it for the better - for real - not just a 180 degree at random. A restrictive diet is not an improvement in any way. A healthy diet is balanced and varied. You can eat anything you want; in fact, eating what you like makes you more able and willing to eat less, and therefore more likely to stick to an appropriate calorie intake.

Many people do exactly this, and these are the people you envy. The thing is that they don't routinely overeat. You don't just look at cookies, you eat them; and while one cookie now and then is no big deal, you eat too many, too often.

You don't have to exercise to lose weight. More net activity burns more calories, but you can achieve your calorie deficit by diet alone, if you wish.

Your body doesn't hate you. Please stop hating your body. You deserve to feel well and to be healthy.

RodaRose

Expand your options. You do not have to live on eggs, nuts, salad, chicken, vegetables, and water.

Lots of people people lose weight with a wide variety of foods: pork chops, small steak, low fat hamburger meat, dairy, fish, beans.
Consider Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/ for a variety of ways to prepare vegetables.

88olds

Like others have said, calculate a modest calorie deficit, weigh and measure your intake and keep a food diary. The other thing you have to change is your thinking.

You need to give the process time to work. 3.5 lbs lost in a month is good. The issue you you should be working on is whether the plan that resulted in the 3.5 loss is something you can live with long term. Think about how you are going to live going forward. Think sustainability, not speed.

vm007

Define your "Why" - why do you want to lose weight. If it's strong enough you'd do everything faithfully.

Consider calories as -daily spending allowance- Think of it this way- if you are only allowed to spend 100 dollars a day and -you start spending more than you have it'll start accumulating interest on the money borrowed.

Weight gain is the same. It may not show up right away- but the calories slowly creep up and then it demands more than minimum payment to pay it all off.

There is no winning - calories in vs calories out. Eat whatever you want to - if it's below maintenance levels you will lose weight (unless something wrong medically) - I've lost weight eating pizza - I measured each topping and slice weight lol. It was a tough process but it's done. BTW Xl pizza slice with 3-4 toppings could range from 350-500 cals PER SLICE.

Some foods are nutritionally empty- so after eating them -we feel even hungrier.

Good luck- and start by finding your "Why"- btw don't rely on motivation- because it'll die after a while- you need consistency which makes you keep going.

distinctlybeautiful

Your body doesn’t hate you, as much as it may feel that way. I wonder if you hate your body. I wonder what would happen if you stopped focusing on weight loss, in fact stopped trying for it at all. What if you took steps to address your mental health? What if you decided whether or not you want to move your body and then, if you want to move it, move in a way you enjoy? What if you gave yourself full permission to eat whatever you wanted without any intention of restricting, without the thought of “I better eat all the things while I can because I’m going to have to restrict soon?” What if you tried trusting your body instead of trying to force it to be smaller, which hasn’t worked so far? What if you worked on doing things to make you happy right now at your current weight? It’s scary and counterintuitive and likely not going to be received well on this weight loss website/forum, but if you’re at all intrigued I can give you some resources to learn more about this approach. It’s kind of amazing.

DebLaBounty

Your first month loss is actually pretty reasonable. It took two weeks of accurate logging for me to start losing at a rate of one to two pounds per week. So be patient. Don't give up! I agree that having a wider variety of foods will keep you happier with this whole weight loss process. Just stay within your daily calorie limit and you'll see an improvement. Give yourself a pat on the back for starting MFP. It's a daunting task to undertake at first, but within two months I bet you'll be more comfortable with your choices and you will experience success.

jgnatca

Your loss looks like it is right about right.

Try weighing and logging your nuts. See how many calories are in those suckers.

Babies are only six months old for thirty days. You can postpone the club until you can more easily hand her over.

It does get easier. Every loss is good.