I feel incredibly discouraged and like I want to give up!

ZeeLed

I have worked so hard since the beginning of this year to lose 50 pounds. I needed to lose a total of 80 to reach my goal weight of 165. Stepped on the scale this morning and I am at 197, but I have been yo-yo'ing my weight from 193 back up to 197 down to 194 up to 196, etc. I was eating 1580 calories a day at first then I upped my calories to 1800, but I wasn't hungry enough to fit all of those calories into my diet. I was doing cardio 30 minutes a day and HIIT programs for 30 minutes a day, but I have a lot going on in my schedule right now and I can't really fit any exercise in right now between work, parental responsibilities and being a student at the same time.

Basically, since the beginning of this month I haven't lost any weight and it is frustrating since I still need to lose 32 more. Every time I step on the scale (Weekly) I feel more and more discouraged. I am to the point of giving up. I put so much effort in and get nothing in return. I just feel exhausted by it all.

I am thinking of taking a mental break for a week and just eating at maintenance, but that scares me because I'm afraid I'll get back into bad habits and gain again or I'll just give up completely. I have just lost focus because of the setbacks and I feel like I'm losing control of my success. I still need to lose 32 more pounds and it feels like I'm never going to get there.

I've also been contemplating just eating 1200-1500 calories a day, since I'm pretty much sedentary now, and hoping for weight loss with a lower calorie deficit. I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do. I feel like I did everything right and now it feels like nothing I'm doing is good enough.

Geneveremfp

Take a maintenance break. You might put on "weight" but it'll be water from higher calories. Although when I do it I don't tend to put on weight so you might not. I think it depends on your body. It sounds like things have gotten a bit stressful. Your body holds onto weight when you're stressed (I think it's through higher inflammation but not sure of the process). It will happen - a couple of weeks later to do maintenance and give your body a break from the stress of low calories won't make a huge difference.

ZeeLed

Geneveremfp wrote: »

Take a maintenance break. You might put on "weight" but it'll be water from higher calories. Although when I do it I don't tend to put on weight so you might not. I think it depends on your body. It sounds like things have gotten a bit stressful. Your body holds onto weight when you're stressed (I think it's through higher inflammation but not sure of the process). It will happen - a couple of weeks later to do maintenance and give your body a break from the stress of low calories won't make a huge difference.

Thank you for your reply! Things have definitely been stressful here lately. I am also only getting around 5 hours of sleep a night at most. I really want to get my motivation back and I feel like taking a bit of a break might help with that. I set my maintenance calories and then went down a little from those, because I have heard that MFP sometimes gives too many for maintenance.

MidlifeCrisisFitness

I live an incredibly busy life. 4 kids very active family and a very involved job.

I have changed my mindset from needing and hour to an hour and half for my workout to doing a set of pushups squats or dumbell lifts every 2 to 3 hours. The result is I do 50 pushups and squats a day.

Cardio is done 2 to 3 times a week.

It works!

Geneveremfp

ZeeLed wrote: »

Geneveremfp wrote: »

Take a maintenance break. You might put on "weight" but it'll be water from higher calories. Although when I do it I don't tend to put on weight so you might not. I think it depends on your body. It sounds like things have gotten a bit stressful. Your body holds onto weight when you're stressed (I think it's through higher inflammation but not sure of the process). It will happen - a couple of weeks later to do maintenance and give your body a break from the stress of low calories won't make a huge difference.

Thank you for your reply! Things have definitely been stressful here lately. I am also only getting around 5 hours of sleep a night at most. I really want to get my motivation back and I feel like taking a bit of a break might help with that. I set my maintenance calories and then went down a little from those, because I have heard that MFP sometimes gives too many for maintenance.

Sounds like a fantastic plan. In terms of sleep I have found meditation style guided breathing exercises really helpful. I didn't believe they would help but they really did. I'm super anxious in general as a person and it helps distract and calm just enough.

ZeeLed

KHMcG wrote: »

I live an incredibly busy life. 4 kids very active family and a very involved job.

I have changed my mindset from needing and hour to an hour and half for my workout to doing a set of pushups squats or dumbell lifts every 2 to 3 hours. The result is I do 50 pushups and squats a day.

Cardio is done 2 to 3 times a week.

It works!

I will give it a try! Thank you for the idea!

ZeeLed

Geneveremfp wrote: »

ZeeLed wrote: »

Geneveremfp wrote: »

Take a maintenance break. You might put on "weight" but it'll be water from higher calories. Although when I do it I don't tend to put on weight so you might not. I think it depends on your body. It sounds like things have gotten a bit stressful. Your body holds onto weight when you're stressed (I think it's through higher inflammation but not sure of the process). It will happen - a couple of weeks later to do maintenance and give your body a break from the stress of low calories won't make a huge difference.

Thank you for your reply! Things have definitely been stressful here lately. I am also only getting around 5 hours of sleep a night at most. I really want to get my motivation back and I feel like taking a bit of a break might help with that. I set my maintenance calories and then went down a little from those, because I have heard that MFP sometimes gives too many for maintenance.

Sounds like a fantastic plan. In terms of sleep I have found meditation style guided breathing exercises really helpful. I didn't believe they would help but they really did. I'm super anxious in general as a person and it helps distract and calm just enough.

I use the Calm app to relax, per the request of my therapist. So I'm sure she would love the idea of me doing guided breathing. Thank you.