New here

CarlaRowe743

Hey there everyone. I am new to all this. So not sure how it all works but trying best. Don't eat much so trying this to help me. But still seem to be gain large amounts of weight.

AnnPT77

Hello and welcome!

How does it work? Get a calorie goal, hit close to it most days on average (say +/- 50 calories). Stick with the routine for 4-6 weeks (whole menstrual cycles if you have those). Then look at your average weekly weight loss over that whole time period, and adjust (personalize) your calorie goal based on that experience to dial in a sensibly moderate weight loss rate that allows a reasonably pleasant daily life routine. (Use the assumption that 500 calories per day is a pound a week, and use arithmetic to account for fractional pounds.)

Then keep going, using your food diary to learn about yourself and improve satiation, nutrition, and practicality/affordability of your eating routine as you go along. Look for sustainable new habits you can keep up long term to reach then stay at a healthy weight. If you like, add some fun exercise to improve fitness and mobility, plus eat a bit more while losing at the same sensibly moderate rate.

This can work. (It did for me.)

One thing that jumped out at me from your post was "Don't eat much . . . . But still seem to be gain large amounts of weight". I felt the same way when I started. I even ate lots of nutritious foods (whole grains, veggies, fruits) and was athletically active. What I learned when I started logging was that how much I ate (volume) didn't matter, what mattered was the calorie intake in that food. A reasonable-sized blop of creamy salad dressing was more calories than a huge salad or a serving of lean protein. Sneaky!

I thought I had a "slow metabolism": After all, I was 59, severely hypothyroid (medicated), menopausal. Once I started calorie counting, I learned that my metabolism wasn't slow, I was just eating too many calories.

Logging helped me see where I was getting excess calories that weren't that important to me for satiation, nutrition, or general happiness. Those were easy reductions (portion size or frequency). Logging helped me notice when I felt better or worse, more full or more crave-y, and adjust my habits to make the process easier. (Sometimes it was about food timing, specific food choices, or nutrition. But it wasn't always about food: It could be sleep, hydration, habitual eating, boredom, social triggers, etc. Those things are actionable, too.

I'm cheering for you to succeed: It really is possible!