Reevaluation day

KCoyoteco

Anybody at a point of reevaluating their plan? 600 to 700 calories per day and coming to a screeching halt on weight loss is causing a Monday morning reevaluation. My primary goals are not being achieved either. My main goal is flexibility and strength, with a secondary goal of weight loss. I was looking this morning. I will order the medifast meals, and break their program with a supplement of fresh pinapple/yogurt for lunch. Replace all tea/coffee with green tea and lemon, and all lean and green meal foods will be geared toward legament/tendon/liver well-being. That should provide sufficient nutrients to build muscle too. I'll step up (should I say "start"? a real fitness plan - this whole limping along won't get it done.)
So, a revision after 12 days, but I'm not the young person who can lose vanity pounds in a week anymore - that's for sure. But, mostly I want strength and flexibility, and that's not going well on my medifast knockoff diet. So off to their website. One significance of the lack of weight loss is that it means that the nutrition is not right. If I'm not losing on most days of 600 calories, then I'm not addressing my body's needs, and I'm not being energized as I think I should be with the decrease in sugar.

Blugal1

Is that 600-700 net? Or total? I am NOT a nutrition expert, but everything I've read says you should not go lower than your BMR (you can calculate that on the Tools tab), and definitely not lower than 1200/day unless you are very short or are doing it under physician's supervision. Otherwise your body thinks you are starving it, and retains every last calorie it can.

You can search this topic in the message boards, there is a lot more information.

Sorry things aren't going as planned (yet!). I hope you can find some strategies that work for you and your body.

KCoyoteco

Blugal, I appreciate the input. Those do not apply to me. I don't eat much more than 1200 calories when I'm not of a diet:) and I'm reasonably active - ride, bike, hike, a lot of farm work (we bale hay and the stackwagon is broken). In my fit, thin days (most of my life) that wasn't true but when I thought I was eating a lot, it wasn't like the numbers you hear now. Something pretty well killed my metabolism. I'm 5'7" - maybe a tad over. My basic thyroid blood tests are always good, as is all of my blood work. I did medifast by the book with their products once, and had great energy, good muscle building-capacity and increased flexibilty - so perhaps there is something in their added nutrients that hits a need I have. i'll see if it works this time - and focus on liver and tendon/ligament repair. Thanks.

skylark94

Under eating is what kills your metabolism and the way to fix it is to increase your calorie intake. Yes, you will likely gain some weight to begin with, but what you are doing now is not healthy. You need to speak to a physician who is knowledgeable in nutritional needs or a registered dietitian (not a "nutritionist") to get you back into a healthy intake. You will not be able to build any muscle in a calorie deficit and at that intake level you are most likely deficient in many nutrients.

Could you make your food diary public so others can see what you are eating?

KCoyoteco

Ack! I lost the post I had typed here - I'll retype it later today. sorry.......

KCoyoteco

My metabolism is a tricky thing, that's for sure. It has a mind of its own. The theory behind medifast is that eating frequent small amounts keeps the metabolism up. I think that's where I'm not being successful (losing half of my goal, and seeminly getting slower but that's not proven yet as those little slow downs happen anytime). I am actually in a healthy intake - all good calories, but maybe need some supplements that I haven't been paying sufficient attention to - and maybe need to make sure the protein intake is right (I'll change over to salmon). I know where you are coming from Skylark, but I've lost weight a few times and it's always bizarre. I gained a lot with each of my pregenancies and lost it. Then had an inexplicable weight gain once - no increase in calories, no cessation of activity. I went to my doctor and she (overweight herself and never quite competent) said it wasn't possible that I wasn't just eating too much. I'm furious with her to this day as there were other symptoms. I identified what I thought was the problem and called another doctor, who said he had to have a referral from my doctor (though my insurance does not require referrals). I lost that weight, except for a few pounds that I want to lose now. I tried all the "normal" things to lose weight at those various times, and they simply don't work for me The pregnancy times, I had to just wait for the hormones to change back. The other one, nothing worked except medifast, but that was the pure program, which I will start now. I'll get the product in and set my watch for the times - that may be the trigger that I need. I'll go back to what I ate last time - all about this same amount of calories, and I did gain muscle well doing it. Just didn't quite finish it off. I'm getting our exercise area ready to start back on p90x (my son and I do it together, and he's hard for me to keep up with, so it's extra motivation). So, onward. My goals are pretty lofty and I was pretty bummed this morning that I haven't accomplished what I want in 10 days. I don't mind saying what I have eaten (and did in my post that I lost).
I appreciate the cautionary statements and interest and will see how this week goes, and ask for you help again. Right now I have the change in plan for this week and see if it jumpstarts this - which is by the way mostly about getting strong and fit - a common goal here

Blugal1

Would your insurance cover a consult with a dietitian or nutritionist? Since you have already done the blood work route, maybe they could see a pattern or something that might help you.

onawho

may be you are not eating enough, perhaps because you are so active you need 1500-1600 clean calories a day instead of 1200 and your body thinks that 1200 is starving.

Food for thought?

KCoyoteco

I think if I found the right osteopath, I'd be able to get some answers. Doctors are great for people who are really sick, but I'm not. Anytime I've ever expressed concerns to a doctor about anything really, they've been dismissed. I just appear very healthy. Anyway, I appreciate the ideas and do not dismiss any of them.
I think what I will do though is really do some evaluation of past success compared to today's unsuccessful conduct. I have some real ideas. I also appreciate your talking with me here as it can be frustrating to hit such a roadblock. Talking to ya'll probably kept me from eating any of the carrot cake bought this evening for my son's Eagle Scout celebration. Watching the jumpers at the stock show was pretty good motivation too. Gotta get these legs back in shape!
I'll report back in a week or two to see what has or hasn't been successful. In the meantime,I'm going to try to get that food intake and exercise tool thing going and report what I'm eating.

onawho

looking forward to what the new doctor has to say.


please keep us posted, your information could help a fellow CoTHer in the future.

moody01

Definitely looking forward to seeing what a doctor has to say. I have thyroid problems (had it treated with Radioactive Iodine when I was 16 due to Graves' disease) and that DOES make it difficult to lose weight for me. But I find I have to adjust my goals somewhat (eat really healthy, but around 1500 cal per day and exercise carefully in order to stay healthy. Otherwise I start getting sick easily and that really derails me. My re-evaluation goals are to continue what I'm doing and gradually add more vegetables and water to my diet. I'm eating pretty well (more chicken and leaner cuts of meat) but I need to crowd out some of the filler foods with vegetables and drink more water. My exercise has been good, though - just need to keep it up and begin to very gradually add more time.

KCoyoteco

I decided to take a few days and eat a bit more just to see if there was anything to the idea that I was eating too little. I didn't gain much. if any - some fraction of a pound (and I tend to not count fractions either up or down). But it certainly didn't do anything beneficial. I really am more interested in strenght and condition than weight loss so I may just ignore that aspect for a little while. So, onward......