Weight will not budge?!

BooAndKitty

Hello,

Thanks in advance as I don't know how fast I'll reply in places. For some reason my weight will not budge! I started off at 275 lbs and that was 3 months ago (changed account recently) and as of today I'm 268.8 lbs. My weight currently doesn't go no lower than 267.8 and no higher than 270. Its really frustrating! I have mental health issues and it's really effecting my mood.

I eat between 1200-1500 calories a day, when I'm not depressed or having a BPD day I include exercise which is 22 min on my bike. I have tired to eat more, but noticed I gained weight while eating between 1500-2000 calories. I don't know what to do any-more? Am I supposed to eat even less? I can't include more exercise cause of my mood. I previously did MFP and got down from 265 to 240 on 1200 a day and exercise. But my mood and mental health was more stable then, I'm hoping once I've dropped back down a bit I'll be more confident and motivated to include exercise more and to battle with the low moods.

Has anybody got advice? xx

OllyJ_79

How tall are you? How many times are week are you exercising?

BooAndKitty

How tall are you? How many times are week are you exercising?

I'm 5"7 and I exercise around 3-5 times a week. It depends on my BPD but I do try and considering before I used to eat 4-5 takeaways a week (comfort eating) and hardly got of my sofa. That's progress lol.

Edit: I also do not eat back my exercise calories as I gain when I do.

Falcon

Are you weighing your food?

I discovered it's important to have a food scale. My friend let me borrows her until I buy myself one, which I swear I'll get to one of these days.

I find it does help. Are you documenting everything you put in your mouth including little cheat foods?

How much water are you consuming a day?

workout_ninja

how many calories are you eating when you are having a depressed day? cause that might be what is undoing all your work

BooAndKitty

Are you weighing your food?

I discovered it's important to have a food scale. My friend let me borrows her until I buy myself one, which I swear I'll get to one of these days.

I find it does help. Are you documenting everything you put in your mouth including little cheat foods?

How much water are you consuming a day?

Yeah got a digital scales, use them + the old fashioned ones if I'm not sure. I weigh everything! Kinda obsessed as I really want to lose weight lol. I got mine online for £10!

Well normally I don't drink water, I depend on fizzy (BPD addicted to caffiene with it. So I normally drink a Liter of pepsi-max a day). But the last week, no fizzy. Just water and drinking over 2L a day!

BooAndKitty

how many calories are you eating when you are having a depressed day? cause that might be what is undoing all your work

I aim for 1200 usually as it's worked for my previously. Then on depressed day's I give myself up to 1500 to have some crisp or chocolate as comfort lol. 1500 is the maximum I'd go up to xx

OllyJ_79

With your stats, 5'7, 269lb, 20yrs, your BMR is around 2030 calories per day. Assuming moderate exercise 2 or 3 times a week, that puts your TDEE around 2800 calories per day. Hence 1200 would not be suitable for you.

A much more realistic target would be to aim for a modest deficit you can achieve without feeling too hungry, 2300\2400, which would still give you a drop of around 3/4-1lb a week. Ensure you are weighing and logging everything, and remembering that there is no such thing as bad food. Anything that fits into your daily allowance is okay, and aim to try and hit your macro metrics when possible.

kessler4130

Your calories are entirely to low for your statistics, opening your diary would help us understand where your macro nutrients stand, I know everyone wants to believe a calories is a calorie but your macro nutrients ultimately effect how your body will respond to the over all calories. Your body cannot synthesize a protein replacement as far as I know, so if you are eating all carbs and fat, it is very unlikely you will lose weight at a reasonable rate, and if you do it is likely to be lean body mass which would lower your basal metabolic rate. As a female, you could cut weight at 55 grams of fat, probably 120 grams of protein and the remainder would be filled with carbs.

BooAndKitty

Your calories are entirely to low for your statistics, opening your diary would help us understand where your macro nutrients stand, I know everyone wants to believe a calories is a calorie but your macro nutrients ultimately effect how your body will respond to the over all calories. Your body cannot synthesize a protein replacement as far as I know, so if you are eating all carbs and fat, it is very unlikely you will lose weight at a reasonable rate, and if you do it is likely to be lean body mass which would lower your basal metabolic rate. As a female, you could cut weight at 55 grams of fat, probably 120 grams of protein and the remainder would be filled with carbs.

If you add me? You can see my diary. I don't like sharing it xx

CharleePear

Have you been to the doctor and got your hormones checked? That could be a cause.
I find it really, really hard to lose weight also, I eat at a deficit full time and still don't lose, the only way I can is eating as non junky as possible so avoiding the chips and fizzy altogether, my weight holds with that stuff even if I am under my macros. Also have you tried upping your exercise, some people respond really well to intense exercise. But if you did that I would up your calories to at least the 1500. Another option that helps me is alternating between eating in a Intermittent Fasting for a couple of months and then just at a normal deficit.
Basically I lost 0.3kg in 3 months, but I have lost 11 in a year, that is 11kg more than if I hadn't kept going and trying different things.

jessilee119

I know people gave advice about how much you should eat which could help, but I'm going to go in a different direction. You may want to put this weight loss on the back burner for now. You said several times in your post about your mood and that you had more successful weight loss when your mood was more balanced. I think that's where your focus should primarily be right now. Still log your foods and exercise, but don't obsess about the numbers on the scale. Once you're in a better place emotionally then you can focus more on the weight loss.

From my experiences, I believe that having better mental health can help with physical health. Take time to focus on you in the most positive way you can. Any negativity you're experiencing will only make reaching your goals harder. Gain your confidence first and the rest will follow.

loribethrice

BPD can cause elevated cortisol levels which can make it difficult to lose weight. Maybe talk to your PCP about getting a 24 hour urine cortisol test to see if you have levels that are off.