Struggling to lose
hchapman013
Posts: 2 Member
Hey all, not sure if this is the right platform to be posting on but i’ve been actively trying to lose weight for almost 2 years and have seen no success. Are there any tricks that you’ve found to help someone get the gears rolling in the right direction?
2
Replies
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There isn't really a trick to it other than forming easily repeatable habits that make eating fewer calories than one expends a routine.
How are you measuring your food? (Hint: use a food scale)
How are you measuring your daily calorie burn? (Fitness tracker? Pedometer? Manual exercise entry?)
How fast were you trying to lose weight?
How much do you have to lose?
... Tell us about what hasn't worked and how long you attempted each thing... Be as specific as you can, but I'm sure that if you've read through the stickies, you'll already know what the advice will be. Tighten up your logging. Be more patient. Have reasonable expectations of yourself and your body. Be more patient. Also... Make this a lifestyle change over time, rather than a drastic, unsustainable, inconsistent effort.12 -
Eating in an overall calorie deficit over an extended period of time is the only "trick" you need.
What precisely has been stopping you achieving that?
Currently only you know what you have tried and what results you got.
Some context around yourself would also help.9 -
The trick is to stick with the plan and change your eating and activity routine, and be patient with yourself. Two weeks is not enough time to make much of a difference. When I stick to the plan, at best I will only lose a half a pound per week. Remember this is about making life changes, not a quick fix.2
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The trick is to stick with the plan and change your eating and activity routine, and be patient with yourself. Two weeks is not enough time to make much of a difference. When I stick to the plan, at best I will only lose a half a pound per week. Remember this is about making life changes, not a quick fix.
OP said they'd been trying for two years, not two weeks. It's possible they didn't stick with their plan, or their plan did not cause a calorie deficit in the first place.
OP, literally the only thing you need in order to lose weight is to consistently be in a calorie deficit. You can ensure a calorie deficit by weighing ALL of your food, logging ALL of your food, and coming as close as you can to your calorie goal without going over. You should also be certain that if you exercise, your exercise calorie estimates are reasonable and not inflated.
Unless you have medical dietary needs, you don't have to change anything about your eating other than making sure that you don't go over your calorie goal. You aren't even required to exercise if you don't want to. You just need to figure out what is hindering you from being in a calorie deficit. Is it because you're not weighing your food? Not logging consistently? Not feeling full? Life happened and your plan wasn't realistic anymore? Something else?11 -
The trick is to stick with the plan and change your eating and activity routine, and be patient with yourself. Two weeks is not enough time to make much of a difference. When I stick to the plan, at best I will only lose a half a pound per week. Remember this is about making life changes, not a quick fix.
OP said they'd been trying for two years, not two weeks. It's possible they didn't stick with their plan, or their plan did not cause a calorie deficit in the first place.
OP, literally the only thing you need in order to lose weight is to consistently be in a calorie deficit. You can ensure a calorie deficit by weighing ALL of your food, logging ALL of your food, and coming as close as you can to your calorie goal without going over. You should also be certain that if you exercise, your exercise calorie estimates are reasonable and not inflated.
Unless you have medical dietary needs, you don't have to change anything about your eating other than making sure that you don't go over your calorie goal. You aren't even required to exercise if you don't want to. You just need to figure out what is hindering you from being in a calorie deficit. Is it because you're not weighing your food? Not logging consistently? Not feeling full? Life happened and your plan wasn't realistic anymore? Something else?
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Sorry I misread her post obviously, but my statement is still true. Stick to the plan and be honest with yourself, weigh and measure your food, stay within your calorie plan and keep moving! One day at a time.5
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I wills suggest you see a nutritionist. Nothing wrong with asking questions like this on this platform, but you will be better off talking to a professional so they can figure out the best choice for you food wise. Roughly 85% of your weight loss will come from your diet and the rest will from physical activities. Relying on different opinions/feedback you get on this platform may be confusing and sometimes could be misleading. Most of us are not professionals so please seek out a professional assistance on this matter. This is your best bet! All the best!3
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hchapman013 wrote: »but i’ve been actively trying to lose weight for almost 2 years and have seen no success.ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »Tell us about what hasn't worked and how long you attempted each thing... Be as specific as you can
We've seen no replies, from the OP so far, so I'm getting the feeling they may no longer be monitoring their thread.
To be relevant... discussions require pertinent information!
*some idea about the OP's height, weight and age.
*what has been tried so far.
*what have been the results so far.
*what are the OP's goals and desires at this time.
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It appears OP hasn't even logged in since 5 December. That's why they haven't followed up on this thread. There will be some good answers if/when they come back.1
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thank you all for your time and comments, i log in daily and weight/measure all of my foods. My current problem is that if i try to stay below my calorie goal, i don’t feel full and most times i experience bouts of low blood sugar (headache, nausea, dizziness). i’m currently in grad school so i’ve been making the excuse that stress eating has put me in this hole but i’m wholeheartedly trying to get back out of it and down to my goal weight. i’ve tried a lot of different diets and meals but always fall back to comfort foods and can’t keep myself motivated.3
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can you open your diary?? most often people find issues in there that are accountable for the problem.1
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Have you had your thyroid checked? I have not seen that suggestion yet. Otherwise the comments are right. The only way to lose weight is eat less, move more.
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hchapman013 wrote: »but i’ve been actively trying to lose weight for almost 2 years and have seen no success.ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »Tell us about what hasn't worked and how long you attempted each thing... Be as specific as you can
We've seen no replies, from the OP so far, so I'm getting the feeling they may no longer be monitoring their thread.
To be relevant... discussions require pertinent information!
*some idea about the OP's height, weight and age.
*what has been tried so far.
*what have been the results so far.
*what are the OP's goals and desires at this time.
You came back to your thread and reiterated that you're trying; but you did not reply with any of the requested pertinent information.
For example you mentioned that you're trying to come in below your calorie goal, which even if you've picked your calorie goal appropriately which we do not know, would still not be the correct thing to be trying to do.
So absent you giving any pertinent information, chances are fairly good that you're actually extremely hungry and finding it difficult to comply with your deficit because you try to apply too large of a deficit for your current situation.
Losing half a pound a week for 8 weeks means four pounds lost.
Losing 6 pounds in 3 weeks giving up and gaining 8 lb over the next five weeks means 1 pound gained7 -
I have a solution for you for sure as I have lost weight several times in my life when I’ve committed myself (usually around 50-60lbs per binge of working out lifestyle and eating right). You need to go 10X. Work out 5-7 days a week. In order to do that, get your mind right. Focus, determination, and use tools like MFP to track calories in and how much exercise you’re doing. Use a fitness tracker like Apple Watch or jawbone and commit. No BS. There are no shortcuts. Don’t go overboard on cardio - cardio is good for ur heart and overal health, but it alone will not produce the results you seek. I would say your balance between resistance training (weight training) should be 90% weights and 10% cardio. Trust me - the weights are a better resource and tool to look at for weight loss. Plan on spending an hour at the gym each workout session and sweat the whole time by only taking 30 seconds to a minute break between sets. You gotta eat right, yes. That’s a salient point...so make sure you’re always eating a calorie defecit to hit your weight loss goal. You’ll build muscle and lose fat this way. Muscle weights more than fat, even still, you’ll lose weight overall. Within the first month of doing this, honestly, you won’t see much change in your weight itself. But then something magical happens and you start peeling off weight by shedding all the excess water weight...it happens quick...once you’ve entered this zone, you’ll start dropping lbs like crazy so every day when u weight urself, you’ll be lighter. I’d say on average you can anticipate losing ~20 lbs over the course of a month...then you’ll plateau and the weight loss will move slower...but you’ll still be losing weight. If you can keep that up for just 6 months, man, you’ll be shocked at what you’ve achieved and how ur body looks. Trust me, I know this to be true. HMU if u got questions. This is coming from a guy who has been fat, then shed a ton of weight through proper discipline, gained a ton of weight back because I was living that good life...eating and drinking all the time etc, then committed again and did it all over again. It’s actually fun! I can help keep u motivated if u need.1
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Losing half a pound a week for 8 weeks means four pounds lost.
Losing 6 pounds in 3 weeks giving up and gaining 8 lb over the next five weeks means 1 pound gained
Either MFP needs to include a calculator or I need more fingers!archambault84 wrote: »I have a solution for you for sure as I have lost weight several times in my life when I’ve committed myself (usually around 50-60lbs per binge of working out lifestyle and eating right). You need to go 10X. Work out 5-7 days a week. In order to do that, get your mind right. Focus, determination, and use tools like MFP to track calories in and how much exercise you’re doing. Use a fitness tracker like Apple Watch or jawbone and commit. No BS. There are no shortcuts. Don’t go overboard on cardio - cardio is good for ur heart and overal health, but it alone will not produce the results you seek. I would say your balance between resistance training (weight training) should be 90% weights and 10% cardio. Trust me - the weights are a better resource and tool to look at for weight loss. Plan on spending an hour at the gym each workout session and sweat the whole time by only taking 30 seconds to a minute break between sets. You gotta eat right, yes. That’s a salient point...so make sure you’re always eating a calorie defecit to hit your weight loss goal. You’ll build muscle and lose fat this way. Muscle weights more than fat, even still, you’ll lose weight overall. Within the first month of doing this, honestly, you won’t see much change in your weight itself. But then something magical happens and you start peeling off weight by shedding all the excess water weight...it happens quick...once you’ve entered this zone, you’ll start dropping lbs like crazy so every day when u weight urself, you’ll be lighter. I’d say on average you can anticipate losing ~20 lbs over the course of a month...then you’ll plateau and the weight loss will move slower...but you’ll still be losing weight. If you can keep that up for just 6 months, man, you’ll be shocked at what you’ve achieved and how ur body looks. Trust me, I know this to be true. HMU if u got questions. This is coming from a guy who has been fat, then shed a ton of weight through proper discipline, gained a ton of weight back because I was living that good life...eating and drinking all the time etc, then committed again and did it all over again. It’s actually fun! I can help keep u motivated if u need.
I think most of us have done the up and down thing; but, very few of us found it to be loads of fun. I remind you that most of the contestants in the biggest loser type shows did not maintain their weight loss. TBH, both the shows, and your prescription sound a bit painful; but to each their own! Personally I found more success by doing everything in my power to make this as easy as i could on me-subject to still getting results.16 -
Losing half a pound a week for 8 weeks means four pounds lost.
Losing 6 pounds in 3 weeks giving up and gaining 8 lb over the next five weeks means 1 pound gained
Either MFP needs to include a calculator or I need more fingers!archambault84 wrote: »I have a solution for you for sure as I have lost weight several times in my life when I’ve committed myself (usually around 50-60lbs per binge of working out lifestyle and eating right). You need to go 10X. Work out 5-7 days a week. In order to do that, get your mind right. Focus, determination, and use tools like MFP to track calories in and how much exercise you’re doing. Use a fitness tracker like Apple Watch or jawbone and commit. No BS. There are no shortcuts. Don’t go overboard on cardio - cardio is good for ur heart and overal health, but it alone will not produce the results you seek. I would say your balance between resistance training (weight training) should be 90% weights and 10% cardio. Trust me - the weights are a better resource and tool to look at for weight loss. Plan on spending an hour at the gym each workout session and sweat the whole time by only taking 30 seconds to a minute break between sets. You gotta eat right, yes. That’s a salient point...so make sure you’re always eating a calorie defecit to hit your weight loss goal. You’ll build muscle and lose fat this way. Muscle weights more than fat, even still, you’ll lose weight overall. Within the first month of doing this, honestly, you won’t see much change in your weight itself. But then something magical happens and you start peeling off weight by shedding all the excess water weight...it happens quick...once you’ve entered this zone, you’ll start dropping lbs like crazy so every day when u weight urself, you’ll be lighter. I’d say on average you can anticipate losing ~20 lbs over the course of a month...then you’ll plateau and the weight loss will move slower...but you’ll still be losing weight. If you can keep that up for just 6 months, man, you’ll be shocked at what you’ve achieved and how ur body looks. Trust me, I know this to be true. HMU if u got questions. This is coming from a guy who has been fat, then shed a ton of weight through proper discipline, gained a ton of weight back because I was living that good life...eating and drinking all the time etc, then committed again and did it all over again. It’s actually fun! I can help keep u motivated if u need.
I think most of us have done the up and down thing; but, very few of us found it to be loads of fun. I remind you that most of the contestants in the biggest loser type shows did not maintain their weight loss. TBH, both the shows, and your prescription sound a bit painful; but to each their own! Personally I found more success by doing everything in my power to make this as easy as i could on me-subject to still getting results.
This can't be stressed enough.
I knew someone (through work) who left to be a contestant on the Australian Show and he did lose massive amounts of weight. I just so happened to pass him on the street a week or so ago and he was as big if not bigger than he was when we worked together.
The Biggest Loser has, I think, done WAY more damage than good. For every one person that was inspired and managed to lose weight there's probably thousands that have been lead down the garden path by the show and shows like it.4 -
Struggling to lose or struggling to win? I'd rather have the struggle of dieting than the struggle of being fat.1
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