Need some motivation and advice

psubosoxfan

I've been working at a healthy lifestyle for the past three years. I lost 130 pounds and was really feeling very proud of myself and my self esteem was really getting great. Around last April I weighed under 160 pounds which was incredible (original goal of 145, later changed to a more "attainable" goal of 155), but soon I basically hit a wall. I started gaining with no real reason. I continued to exercise the same as I had been doing for the two years before (about 15 minutes of weight training and over 60 minutes of cardio per day - 30 minutes of cardio equipment, 20 minutes of another cardio piece, 25 minute run, and 15 minute dog walk) - 6 days a week and then I changed it up, cut my calories even more and still continued to gain weight.

I increased calories and gained weight.

I changed my work outs again doing about 30 minutes of weight lifting and 60 minutes of cardio daily (6 days a week).

More recently I changed to doing 45 minutes of weight lifting and running for about 30 minutes and walking the dog for about 15 minutes - Monday, Wednesday Saturday. Tuesday and Thursday I do about 30 minutes of a cardio machine at my gym (elliptical, AMT, or stairmaster) and run for about 30 minutes and walk the dog for about 15 minutes. Thursdays I also do Pilates. The weekends consist of longer runs (and lifting on Saturday).

In November-March of last year I tried Weight Watchers with no help.

Three weeks ago I started IIFYM - eating healthy during the day and allowing a treat in the evening. I used a calculator to determine my macros. The first week I was "allowed" 2,505 calories (313C, 188P, 56F) - I always came close to meeting my fats, but never the carbs, protein or subsequent calories. I gained. The next week I lowered my macros to 2,005 calories (251C, 150P, 45F) - again rarely meeting the carbs, protein, or calories, but always coming close to the fat. I gained. This week I'm working on 1,755 calories (219C, 132P, 39F) -we'll see how this goes.

I'm really starting to get discouraged that every week I am faithful to my diet (measuring food, eating whole foods, etc) and exercise plan and yet I have consistently gained. I really feel like giving up - what's the point in trying and getting up every morning to work out if I am no longer making strides toward my goal? I know that this is my way of life now, but when I consistently gain every week it really makes me very upset and just feel like staying in bed and sleeping that extra hour before work. I don't have a "deadline" or any time I need to lose as being healthy is my life not, but I just want to stop feeling like a failure and that nothing I do is helping me.

SLLRunner

Welcome!

Please open your diary up.

Do you eat 2505 calroies now, or what that just the first week? That seems like an awful lot of calories to lose on.

If you gained weight on lower calories, it seems to me (1) you need to have your thyroid checked or be checked for other medical condition where you must adjust your calories, or (2) you are eating more than you think you are, or (3) you are eating the amount of calories you think you are but have incorrectly figured out your TDEE and weight loss calorie limits and are eating too many calories to lose weight.

Liftng4Lis

You're not eating at a deficit.

999tigger

Open your diary please. What she said it nearly always boils down to not eating at a deficit. You seem to be doing loads of exercise, but the only thing missing is just how much you are consuming.

terbusha

When you dropped the 130 lbs (congratulations btw, that is AWESOME!) how much were you eating/day? It sounds like to me that you're just eating over your metabolic capacity. During a prolonged cut, your metabolism is going to get repressed from the calorie deficit. When you just jump back into eating at a "normal" caloric level, that's now over what you burn off in a day, so you gain weight. The best thing to do when increasing your calories is called a reverse diet. This is slowly adding back in calories over weeks and months to get your metabolism back up with minimal gains in body fat. Check this video out that describes this process and please let me know if you have any questions. I've done this and it works really well.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTGLulLnI

Allan

psubosoxfan

@SLLRunner this week my goal is 1,755 calories. The first week I tried counting macros (three weeks ago) was 2,505 calories as calculated on MacroNutrient Calculator (http://macronutrientcalculator.com/). This did feel high and I don't think I met that count any day of that week. The next week I went down to 2,005 calories.

As for the thyroid - problems run in my family and I have tried to talk to my doctor about it and haven't gotten too far. She said she did check it at one point, but who knows how long ago that was).

@terbusha - I was eating as the app set goals - at one point it had me down to 1,200 and I continued to exercise the same and ate back some of the calories so think I was eating somewhere between 1,400-1,500 and then the losses stopped and the gaining started. This week I have set my goal at 1,755 calories and I won't add back in exercise calories.

SLLRunner

@SLLRunner this week my goal is 1,755 calories. The first week I tried counting macros (three weeks ago) was 2,505 calories as calculated on MacroNutrient Calculator (http://macronutrientcalculator.com/). This did feel high and I don't think I met that count any day of that week. The next week I went down to 2,005 calories.

Are you saying you ate 2505 calorie each day for a week in order to try and get the correct amount of macros?

The point of macros is to meet them to the best of your ability within your calorie goals to either maintain, lose weight, or to gain weight. If I didn't know better, I would presume that at 2505 you were trying to gain.

As for your thyroid, find a new doctor if this one won't test you.

Good luck on your journey.

HartJames

Also check your Vit D!

allyphoe

What's your current weight and height?

ana3067

Exercise is for fitness and to increase your energy needs, not to lose weight. Figure out your net needs if you like changing up your exercise, and then eat back logged exercise calories.

exrx.net and health-calc.com are good calculators to use, subtract 10-20% from the number it gives depending on how much you have to lose (20% for 20+lbs, 10-15% for <20lbs)