Hi. New here

MikeDiet2023

Hi I am new to this. I am 43 years old, male. I have been trying to lose weight for quite some time but I have been having an excessively difficult time doing it. And I have been trying nearly everything I can think of for the past 3-4 years.
I went through a period for 6 months last year where I calorie counted everything and lost very little.
I kind of gave up for a while after that, because as far as I know, thats pretty much how you lose weight, by calorie counting and I was doing it.
Now its been about a year or something and Im trying again. I weigh 209 currently. Heaviest I’ve ever been. I am 5ft 11 / 6ft.

I try and walk 6.5k steps every day and have been doing that pretty consistently the last two weeks. Some days walking up to 8k steps.

For the last week 8 days I have eaten 1,200 calories a day. Never more. Actually somedays less than that.

I try to be good about drinking water, but I might not drink quite enough. Not sure.

I eat meal preps that consist of carrots and chicken. And I also eat Huel.

So far I have lost literally nothing. Actually every time I get on the scale, I seem to weigh slightly more than before.

I have had my thyroid checked. And apparently it is fine.

I have no friends to talk to about any of this and I could really use some on here.

Help lol

kiteflyer105

Welcome. Sorry you've had such a hard time. Thank goodness you have not given up. I honestly would recommend seeing a nutritionist. They emphasize moderation and quality eating. A nutritionist can tell you specifically how many calories you should be eating, how much for each food group for optimal health, they are experts in portion control for getting adequate vitamins and minerals to your body.
your food plan you can incorporate what you love.

They can tell you how much protein, carbohydrates, and portion you can eat for milk products, fruits, fats, and vegetables.

1) A man should not eat only 1200 calories; that is too low. You are starving your body and not getting the proper nutrients for your brain and internal organs, also food feeds your cells. If that is calories in-calories out, this does not make mathematical sense.

2) Here is a website you can use to calculate your calories.
https://www.forbes.com/health/body/calorie-calculator/

3) Next, figure out what BMI=body mass index you have.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=BMI+calculator&form=ANNTH1&refig=1bacd3b4bf614fed986b6c8412531e37&pc=EDGEDSE
Take you’re your BMI% – 24.9%= the amount of excess adipose tissue you have…
Most people are good with 24.9 BMI, which is normal. Aim for this initially.
Having a certain waist size is critical for good health. If you have a waist larger than 35 inches, you put yourself for more risk of chronic illnesses or metabolic syndrome. Please measure your waist.

4) https://www.webmd.com/diet/calculating-your-waist-circumference
Next, fill out your food diary on Myfitnesspal. Adhere to your calorie guidelines to lose weight.

5) How much water are you drinking daily? Drink 8 cups of water if you don’t exercise, and at least 10 glasses of water a day that you do exercise.
**Eat protein with a lot of vegetables with low carbs if you want to lose weight, Snd eat fiber

Weight Watchers is a good program that will teach you about portion control and nutrition. Their meetings are supportive and good. You will learn many quality lessons on how to survive during the weight loss journey. The DASH diet or Mediterranean diet is also good too.
Fiber is super important.
Men under 50:31 to 34 grams per day of fiber
Women 51 and older:22 grams per day of fiber

6) Protein matters.
https://www.nal.usda.gov/human-nutrition-and-food-safety/dri-calculator
Use this to figure out your protein

7) https://www.eatright.org/
You can look up the guidelines for men or women.

8) Add weight lifting and flexibility to your workouts. Do fun activities that make you want to do them. I learned that every 6 weeks switch up your workout routine; your body quickly adapts to them. The more muscle you build, the more metabolism you will have. The higher your metabolism, the more calories you burn.

9) Self-care-weight loss is also incorporating better habits and taking better care of yourself, so you can keep the weight off. Meditation, navy box breathing, yoga nidra, walking in nature, listening to music, journaling, etc. You have to figure out what works for you.

If you don’t know about weight lifting, Bill Phillips Body for Life program works, it incorporates both nutrition and lifting weights. Do HITT cardio, and basic routines. You can lose up to 3 sizes in weight l
I didnot cath waht eat ing grobwn alone

Good luck in becoming the best version of you.

wm3796

Most likely you are eating more than 1200 cal or would be losing. What helped me and was a real eye opener was religiously weighing and measuring all my foods. Get a food scale and use measuring cups. Remember to add oils and sauces. Avoid eating out because you have no idea the added calories from oils and sauces. Good luck!

evileyefirefly

I've added you as a friend. It sounds like you may be eating too few calories for your weight/activity. Not that you won't lose weight like that, but your body can do some strange things when you go too far into the hole on calories. (you tend to retain more water weight for one) For context, I'm 42 max weight was 235(209 now), and have been going since July. I don't track my steps, but I do go to the gym and do strength training 5x a week and cardio at least 4 times a week as well. I don't eat back the exercise calories (I have them turned off so MFP won't add them to my daily cal intake) I did up my calories from 1500 to 1650 recently, and have managed to lose more since switching. There is definitely no one size fits all for this, but if you're accurately logging your calories, and not eating back the exercise calories you should see progress within a few weeks. If you're not I'd suggest adding weight/strength training to your routine as building muscle will increase your metabolism leading you to burn more calories across the board.

MikeDiet2023

So, I dont really do any weight lifting stuff. Ive tried it and i always end up with back problems later. I dont know how to do it.

I walk instead. I do 6.5k or more steps a day which i track.

My main problem seems to be that i am eating 1200 a day and not losing weight. And i talked to people on another forum about this and everyone just called me a liar. I started counting my calories even more accurately after that, because i thought well “what if they are right”?
so I weigh my food now, or its something thats in a package that says the calories. So I know my exact calories Id say. I also track everything in this app. Just started doing that. before that i just wrote it all down.
From everything I can see, im doing it right.

Aaaaannd.. same problem. Weight not budging.

As far as the nutritionist, i tried scheduling one back in like 2020. They told me my appointment would be 5 months away. I said screw that and didnt do it.

MikeDiet2023

As far as the bmi, yeah its bad. I mean thats why im here.

MuayTired

I would be concerned with your calorie intake-- 1,200 seems far too low for a male, or in general. It sounds like a bedrest intake. You should be eating more calories, especially if you're going on walks, because you need fuel for your energy throughout the day (including sleep, but also exercise). I would investigate the links kiteflyer suggested. A calculator I use suggests 2567 calories a day.

There are also weight lifting or body weight exercises you can do that don't strain the back. Or if you enjoy walking, that works too. Finding exercise you enjoy doing can be a big key.

evileyefirefly

MikeDiet2023 wrote: »

So, I dont really do any weight lifting stuff. Ive tried it and i always end up with back problems later. I dont know how to do it.

I walk instead. I do 6.5k or more steps a day which i track.

My main problem seems to be that i am eating 1200 a day and not losing weight. And i talked to people on another forum about this and everyone just called me a liar. I started counting my calories even more accurately after that, because i thought well “what if they are right”?
so I weigh my food now, or its something thats in a package that says the calories. So I know my exact calories Id say. I also track everything in this app. Just started doing that. before that i just wrote it all down.
From everything I can see, im doing it right.

Aaaaannd.. same problem. Weight not budging.

As far as the nutritionist, i tried scheduling one back in like 2020. They told me my appointment would be 5 months away. I said screw that and didnt do it.

I never really did strength training either, I go to our local YMCA. They have a really nice strength training machine set called egym. It takes all the thought out of it for you, makes it pretty easy to just get it in. My thoughts here as both my Mother-in-Law and I have had to actually add calories to lose weight is as a guy even if you're sedentary I'd expect 1500cal or so daily. At this point you don't have much to lose by adding some calories to your daily intake. Do it for a few weeks and see if anything changes. Just my opinion though.

kiteflyer105

I would suggest using what I sent you and letting that tell you what amount of calories to eat. I think your body is holding on to everything.

I would try water areobics, and schedule an appointment with the nutritionist. It is your health's best interest. I would try protein, veggies, and low carb, 20 grams a day. This should help you release the weight. Good luck.

ddsb1111

Please open your food diary and let us see your logging. We can figure out where to go from here. If you really want/need to know why you’re stuck, and it’s not about anything other than that, open your diary and we will know what the reason is. It sounds like you want to get to the bottom of it and we can help.

lynn_glenmont

kiteflyer105 wrote: »

I would suggest using what I sent you and letting that tell you what amount of calories to eat. I think your body is holding on to everything.

I would try water areobics, and schedule an appointment with the nutritionist. It is your health's best interest. I would try protein, veggies, and low carb, 20 grams a day. This should help you release the weight. Good luck.

Your body holding on to everything because you're undereating isn't a thing. Does your (non-electric/non-hybrid) car hold on to to gasoline if you just keep driving without adding anything to the tank?

lynn_glenmont

You should weigh things in packages to be sure how much is in there. Also, be sure that the nutrition info on the pack matches the database entry you're using, and that the information is for the amount you're eating -- even a single cookie in a pack might be 2 and a half servings, that is, 2.5 times the calorie in the label.

rileysowner

If you are actually eating 1200 calories, and I agree it is possible you are eating more for a number of reasons, have you seen a doctor about this as a healthy 5'11" man should drop weight like crazy at 1200 calories a day even if they were completely sedentary. With walking 6.5K steps a day you are not completely sedentary.

yirara

MikeDiet2023 wrote: »

So, I dont really do any weight lifting stuff. Ive tried it and i always end up with back problems later. I dont know how to do it.

I walk instead. I do 6.5k or more steps a day which i track.

My main problem seems to be that i am eating 1200 a day and not losing weight. And i talked to people on another forum about this and everyone just called me a liar. I started counting my calories even more accurately after that, because i thought well “what if they are right”?
so I weigh my food now, or its something thats in a package that says the calories. So I know my exact calories Id say. I also track everything in this app. Just started doing that. before that i just wrote it all down.
From everything I can see, im doing it right.

Aaaaannd.. same problem. Weight not budging.

As far as the nutritionist, i tried scheduling one back in like 2020. They told me my appointment would be 5 months away. I said screw that and didnt do it.

So basically you were not weighing you food before? For how long have you been doing this then? Also, don't trust packaging weight as this is often wrong by up to 20%. Weight the contents as well. Check database entries for accuracy. And practice patience. I mean, your profile says you only joined a few days ago. A few days are nothing in the grand scheme of things.

If you intensified your workout your body might be holding onto water. You might not have had a bowel movement for a few days. You're stressing too much. All these things cause an apparent weight gain on the scale that might hide fat loss. Log truthfully, check database entries for accuracy for a whole month at least and see what's happening. No slip ups, no guessing, no eating out because those calories are usually super high and the portions much bigger than indicated on the calorie sheet.

Also, if you want more help then set your diary to public. Maybe we can spot something that seems off. We're here to help, not to judge.

yirara

Or.. seems like the function to look into other people's diary is still broken. Maybe post some screenshots from the last 5 days?