New beginnings

kabcvt55

Starting (again) I've been stuck between 195# and 215# for 5 years. I get in a groove and do well for a while then crash and give up. It's been a vicious cycle. Well into menopause the weight just seems to stick. But I'm giving it another round and maybe I'll figure out the trick to my weight loss.

August 7th - 212#
August 15th - 206# (water weight changes, and calorie control)
August 18th - 202# (added in cardio every other day-ish, 1200 cal diet)

I hope to continue a downward trend, getting below 200# would be nice by the end of the month

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome back!

I'm homing in on that ". . . then I crash and give up". Can you say what you mean by "crash" and what you think might cause that thing?

I admit, I have a suspicion. A super common thing is for people to want to lose weight fast, so they adopt extreme tactics like super-deep calorie cuts, giving up foods they enjoy, maybe add punitively intense over-exercise on top of all of that. That can't last. In those cases, the problem isn't the person, it's the plan: Too extreme.

It's a common thing here, including among those who've been long-term successful at losing to goal and maintaining, to think relatively slow weight loss is a better plan.

A suggested maximum rate is 0.5-1% of current weight per week, with a bias toward the lower end of that unless severely obese and under close medical supervision for deficiencies or complications. For you, that would be right around 2 pounds per week, for a bit, at the absolute max, and maybe ideally closer to a pound a week. It's common to see a bigger drop in the first week or two from dropping water weight and lower average digestive contents on the way to the exit. So far, you've lost 6 pounds, then 4 pounds, in your first two weeks. Those are pretty big numbers.

In addition, 1200 calories is the absolute minimum MFP will suggest for any woman, and it's usually only necessary for women who are quite petite, fairly old, and largely inactive (total of home, job, exercise). 1200 only allows for the bare minimum of adequate nutrition, if that, even for those with low calorie needs. (It was way too low for me, at age 59, average height, at almost 50 pounds lighter than you are now (but overweight for me), and inactive outside of the same exercise I'd been doing for years. I felt great, energetic, not hungry, until I suddenly hit a wall. I got weak and fatigued. Then, even though I corrected quickly, it took multiple weeks to recover. No one needs that!)

To lose any meaningful total amount of weight, a person needs not only a plan that results in weight loss, but also a plan that they can stick with for the weeks and months it will take to reach goal weight. Along the way, it's ideal to experiment and find relatively happy eating and activity habits that can continue long term to stay at a healthy weight. Extreme eating and unpleasant exercise don't fit the bill.

Sometimes a slower loss rate can get a person all the way to goal weight in less calendar time than a supposedly-fast loss rate that causes deprivation-triggered over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.

Maybe this advice isn't resonating with you, I don't know. But even if it doesn't, I'd still suggest you give serious thought to why that "crash and give up" has happened in the past, and adjust your plan to make it less likely this time around. If a person makes a plan, assesses how it works, adjusts if necessary, and keeps going that way - maybe through many cycles of that - I think they can succeed. Repeating past ineffective methods, then giving up: That's just about the only way to fail.

Best wishes for success: The quality of life improvement is worth the effort, in my experience.