Need URGENT help, tried EVERYTHING but can't lose weight!

Hi guys,

I am at the peak of my frustration and giving up is something I'm so close to doing. I have wanted to lose wweight for over a year now but only started seriously about 3 months ago when I moved country. I am moving Again in September for uni and wanted to increase my self esteem. It's been months and time is running out before I fly. Anyway here's my situation:

I dieted for about one month prior to gyming but i didn't take before or after pics or monitor heavily so we can disclose this. On April 6 I joined the gym and started strict calorie control. I was an amateur and spent easily 3 hours a day at the gym, doing low weight strength training and cardio. I did that almost everyday, burning 500 from cardio and eating around 1000 calories a day and walking which burnt like 300 calories, bad I know. I started dieting anywhere between 58 kg and 61, scales are so inaccurate here but roughly maybe 59. Then I started gyming for 2 hours, half cardio half strength training, cardio for burning around 450 calories. I started eating around 1300 calories a day. After Like a month I did a machine check on my weight and I was 59.4kg despite gyming EVERY DAY And doing intense cardio work outs. Then I changed my approach, 1700 calories a day and no strength training (body fat percentage remained the same I didn't gain muscle) and that didn't seem to work. Due to my sickness now, I've had a headache for one month, I can no longer gym so have stuck to dieting only. I quit my job 2 weeks ago due to being too sick and after that had one week of absolute binges , I gained easily. 1 kg. On 26 may I started dieting only ad I can not gym and have begun around 60.4 kg (gymed for 6 weeks and lost basically nothing and then gained a kg
So depressed)
I have been eating 1300 healthy calories a day ( deficit of my tdee) and walking about 10k steps as I cannot gym or do intense cardio due to.my pulsating headache which Is aggravated by intense fitness.
My bmr is around 1300 and my tdee 1900, I'm trying to do a little. More than a 20 percent deficit but after 2 weeks dieting I still haven't seemed.to have lost weight, a machine I went on, Gaia 395, said I was 58.3kg like 2 days ago but I don't believe I lost 2.1kg in about week with dieting and practically NOTHING with gyming for 6 weeks practice ally everyday and eating right. I calorie restricted and gymed and worked so hard all for nothing..I've been gyming for almost 2 weeks and no apparent change in my stomach fat. According to.my deficit calculations of like 600 deficit a day j should be around 60 kg now, having lost 0.4 kg. I u see stand weight loss is slow and I know that maybe my body went into starvation mode when I gymed intensely daily and didn't eat much but how come NOW with dieting and moderate walking (300 burnt from walking a day ) I can't. Lose weight ? If I started around 59 or 60 when I started gyming in April 6 I practically. Lost nothing after like 6 weeks and I'm. Just so so so frustrated PLEASE someone help me and tell me what I'm doing wrong NOW. I was gyming cardio.only 450 intense burnt s day and eating 1700, and doing everything right at. One point and even that didn't bring results..not eating and exercising didn't work, eating more and exercising didn't and now eating at a deficit with no intense activity isn't working. Please for the love of god someone help me and please keep in mind I can't gym or jump. Rope or anything like that til my pulsating headache is gone.. only walking for now . Thanks

Replies

  • warrio1010
    warrio1010 Posts: 31 Member
    I struggled to read your post so excuse me if you already said what I'm about to say.

    You say you're tracking calories. Are you tracking everything which enters your mouth, every day of the week?

    If the above is true, and you're not losing weight, decrease your calorie intake or increase activity, though I would strongly recommend the former over the latter for consistency reasons.

    Aim for a weight loss of 1-2 lbs per week.

    Good luck.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    I'm having trouble following your post, but are you tracking all food? Can you open your diary? Really that's all you need to do to lose. Weight loss happens in the kitchen, fitness in the gym. Have you seen a doctor about your headaches and weight? They can check you for any medical conditions that may slow weight loss. I'm guessing you are eating more than you think and not sticking to it long enough .
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Open your diary
  • di36
    di36 Posts: 13 Member
    Ive been exercising and eating healthy for 18 month and lost no weight.. couldnt understand it..

    then I came on mfp, recording everything that went in my mouth, or considered eating.. it stopped me in my tracks.. I realised what asecret eater I had become, thinking I was eating well as my breakfast snd dinner were fairly healthy, but realised lunch wadnt, ice cream definitely wasnt and 15 cups of tea a day werent good for calorie intake...

    so record EVERYTHING..! if you dont, youre only lying to yourself
  • My suggestion, if you and honestly and accurately RECORDING an intake of 1300 Kcals a day while upping physical activity and not losing any weight at all, would be to see a doctor to see if there is something more going on.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Okay, these are the facts I got from the OP:

    (1) She's 18 and 130, height not stated.

    (2) She started all this on April 6, so 2 months ago.

    (3) She began by working out a lot, cardio estimated at 500 (but maybe from gym machines, so a little high) and walking for 300 calories, as well as some high rep strength training.

    (4) She started by aiming for 1000 calories, and seems to realize that's too low, especially with all that activity.

    (5) She decreased her gym time to about 2 hours a day and believes she's been burning about 450 calories in cardio, and also increased her calories in to 1300.

    (6) Her weight didn't really change after that.

    (7) She then increased calories again, to 1700 calories a day, stopped strength training, doesn't specify about cardio or the specific time she's been doing this, unless I missed it, but it seems perhaps this whole thing was over 6 weeks.

    (8) She's been sick recently, can't work out, and is dieting only.

    (9) She's binged for a week and thinks she gained a couple of pounds.

    (10) She's was recently about 133, but the most recent weight is 128-129. She doesn't believe it since she's not been working out, but only dieting.

    (11) Now she's aiming for "1300 healthy calories a day" and walking about 10k steps, and no other workouts due to headache.

    (12) She believes her BMR is about 1300 and her TDEE about 1900, and is frustrated that she doesn't seem to be losing as much as a deficit of 600 calories would suggest.

    My questions and thoughts: How tall are you? The BMR/TDEE suggests reasonably small, maybe 5'2, which would put you in the healthy range, but makes it not unreasonable to want to lose more. However, these are going to be harder pounds to lose, and the loss that makes sense and which you should aim for would be more like 0.5 lbs (or about 0.25 kg) per week.

    Also, IF you really have been only doing this since April, you probably haven't screwed up your metabolism, but you aren't being consistent enough to see what's happening. If you were doing the 1000 calorie thing longer, that's important to say.

    Changing up exercise, especially adding intense exercise, can cause you to retain water and seem to weigh more even if you've lost fat or stayed the same. This is often especially true with strength training, although it's not clear what you've been doing. The only way you can know the effect of what you are doing is consistency.

    Maybe try putting in your information into MFP and a projected goal of 0.25 kg and then be really consistent about following it and don't overreact to the scale fluctuation. The other thing is that you aren't weighing consistently, so may not be weighting at the same time or under the same circumstances and not on the same scales. You really don't know what's happened with your weight. I suggest measuring yourself and comparing those results, but again it won't be immediate.

    I know you want to lose it ASAP, but those vanity pounds can be slow and hard to come off and your number on the scale is less important than increasing your overall fitness and making sure that you don't lose muscle, as that will affect how you look much more.

    If you want to open your diary, I'm sure people here could give you some tips on whether you seem to be logging in a way that allows for an accurate count and if there's anything of note in your food choices that might matter (for example, high sodium may cause water retention, you might want to increase protein, etc.).

    Oh, and the health issue is not clear, but have you seen a doctor?
  • PinkyFett
    PinkyFett Posts: 842 Member
    If you're logging everything and still struggling, get your thyroid tested.

    I was going insane not being able to figure out why I kept getting fatter. Turns out I have Hashimoto's. NOW, after having this for many years, I am finally losing :)