Need advice before I loose the will to live :(

becjerami

Despite people telling you all sorts of rubbish on here like "1200kCal or less is too little" yada yada waffle waffle...

The simple reason is you're not creating an actual deficit with your calories, so you're probably thinking you're putting less calories in than you actually are, and burning more than you actually are or one or the other. You could also be retaining some water.

I didn't notice any change 'til after about 6 weeks by the way then it started falling off. If you;re serious about weight loss, you have to be serious about the lifestyle that comes with it. So you must make this sustainable. And not give up so soon. 4 weeks is not very long.

Oh dear, I really don't agree with this. You don't have to starve yourself to lose weight or train like a mad person. Like you say, you need to make a sustainable lifestyle change. Eating hardly any calories and exercising like mad is not sustainable if you want to lose the weight AND keep it off long term. Do you really want to live like that for the rest of your life?

TigerH34

I have been going to the gym Mon-Fri for the past 4 weeks working on treadmill, cross trainer and bike. Also swimming afterwards, working on my cross trainer at home at the weekends and doing my horses twice a day 7 days a week, eating less than 1200 calories a day and have not lost a single pound... What am I doing wrong?

Any advice would be great as I seem to loosing the will to live

Hello there,

Do not lose hope, there are answers. And they may be easier than you think, and no pills or starvation! This is long, but will literally save your life.

I hurt my knee and have needed surgery for going on 5 years now. My inability to do my normal exercises lead to me gaining significant weight. I am now in the process of successfully shedding that weight.

Here's the deal, calorie counting on it's own doesn't work in a healthy manner. Not every food is created equally, so why should be expect our bodies to handle them equally? We have been taught what to eat our whole lives, and that glucose metabolism is a one size fits all deal, but it isn't.

I am not here to promote what plan/site we are using, but rather the concepts that we found to be true from not only personal results, but many different, unrelated nutritional sources. One of the first things a person should do is find out what metabolism type they are: Protein, Carbs, or mixed. This can entirely change the types of foods and proportions that we should be eating. For instance my wife and I are both protein types. This doesn't mean that we don't eat carbs, because we definitely eat them. But it means that our protein intake should be higher on a daily basis. This matters, because it affects everything regarding your hunger and energy levels in your body. Excess insulin gets generated and the cravings become intense if you are out of balance.

The next thing that people need to do is start understanding what foods are actually causing your body to make fat stores, regardless of your exercise and starvation. Certain foods like most of our Wheats and whole grains are actually incredibly bad for us. Why? Because almost all of it is genetically modified foods, they are not truly natural anymore like they used to be. So not only does wheat break down into insulin in your body faster than anything else, but now that they are genetically "enhanced" it goes into turbo drive, and your body doesn't know how to respond. If you end up in these cycles, you can starve yourself to death, literally, and still not get healthy.

So what do I do? You educate yourself on what foods are garbage, and replace them with real/whole foods. You begin eating again, just different foods.

My wife and I have been using a program called BeyondDiet.com for a few weeks, and we have already lost nearly 20 combined pounds, and we are not even close to starving ourselves.

We are doing things like instead of using brown sugar, we use coconut sugar. It takes great like sugar (not like coconut) yet it's not harmful for us.
Make our own pizzas on glutten free crust/dough, instead of ordering from papa john's.
Make our own chicken nuggets with coconut flour, instead of McDonalds or store bought junk.
Drink fresh squeezed juices instead of store bought crap.
STAY AWAY FROM "HEALTH" PRODUCTS...weight loss meals, bars, shakes are actually designed to keep you fat and eating...don't believe it, just educate yourself on the ingredients.

The food industry and FDA should be thrown in jail for the junk they pass off as food, but it is too much of a money making industry. The it is our responsibility to educate ourselves on what our body wants, not what we think it wants.

God made our bodies to do incredible things, but we have been so misinformed on how to fuel them. Also, we need to understand our own bodies as well, and you can learn your body really quickly once you begin to remove all the toxins that are in our foods. In just two weeks my body is already craving watermelons, carrots, water, chicken breasts, salsa, eggs, apples, etc.

All things that are good for your body, and all I had to do was stop eating Doritos and McDonalds, replacing them with healthy alternatives.

I do use this site, and track my calories to an extent, but it is more for me watching the stuff that I allow into my body. Now for us, we had so much food in the house that we agreed that we would eat what we had, in smaller portions, until it was gone from the house. After that we just wouldn't buy that stuff anymore. It is going quite well, and I can already feel my energy levels are better than they have been since I left the military.

I encourage you to focus on nutrition and not calories, it will save your life.

If you want to /friend me, I would be glad to offer encouragement to you, and anyone for that matter, as we are all on this journey together.

-Tiger

ejohndrow

Did the OP have her diary open earlier and I missed it?

xShreddx

The last part of your post is what you are doing wrong. You are eating too little. I am proof of that. Right away, I was losing by eating around 800 cal a day but my body went into starvation mode and stored. I didn't believe in the concept but it happened to me. As soon as I started eating above the minimum, I resumed losing the weight. The minimum for women is 1200, the minimum for men is 1500. Oh and by the way, that is NET calories..........after you deduct the exercise. So, for as active as you are, you will need to eat more than that.

chellechelle38

maybe your eating the wrong things , I've been there & found out my body doesn't burn carbs the way some do , I upped my protein intake & only do about 100grms. of carbs a day & it seems to be helping ....... good luck

Dtho5159

First: you definitely are NOT eating enough calories. You need to eat more if you workout that much.. I workout 30-60 min 5-6 days a week and eat around 1500 calories and Im losing.

Second: I think its a bit over the top to "lose the will to live" over not losing weight fast. I had 150lb to lose and never lost the will to live over my plateaus and stand stills I had and still occasionally have.

Bomber989

Just a suggestion but if you are this determined to loose weight, based on the amount of exercise you are doing, it may be worth while investing in a Heart Rate Monitor. Wear this while working out through all of your exercises and you can gain real insight as to how many calories you are burning. As many others have stated, it does not appear that you are eating enough calories to safely loose weight and this will cause the body to protect itself by going into a "starvation" mode.

See how many calories you are burning and then eat enough to leave yourself with a safe and reasonable calory deficit.

Good luck and hang in there. MFP member have a lot of experience and some great helpful hints to move past some of these challenges.

mirthful16

EAT MORE CALORIES!!!! This happened to me, I was eating 1200-1300 and stopped losing weight. CHeck out the BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculator on here. It will help you determine how many you should eat. I increased to 1500 and the first week I increased lost 3 pounds!!! Don't lose the will to live! You can do it! :-)

kealey1318

My aunt, who is a personal trainer and has the highest credentials, told me not to go below 1,200 calories a day for a female because eventually it starts to affect the organs. The only time you should is if it is doctor recommended and supervised.

Try eating closer to 1,500 calories a day for a week and see what that does. I bet you will see results! Good luck and honestly, if you are truly feeling that bad about life, you should probably go see a counselor to discuss it. It's not worth losing the will to live!

Kindest regards!

KYMUSE

Don't lose the will to live... no matter your weight or size, be grateful that you are alive...

Well said, and so true!

Roshams

I have been going to the gym Mon-Fri for the past 4 weeks working on treadmill, cross trainer and bike. Also swimming afterwards, working on my cross trainer at home at the weekends and doing my horses twice a day 7 days a week, eating less than 1200 calories a day and have not lost a single pound... What am I doing wrong?

Any advice would be great as I seem to loosing the will to live

You need to eat ATLEAST 1200 calories a day. Some people's bodies will hold on to any fat because you're not eating enough...especially if you're working out that much!

Also, if you're going to lose the will to live because you're not losing weight, maybe it's not online you should be seeking help from. Go talk to a doctor and a personal trainer.

emmamcblain

When you increase your amount of physical exercise, you also need to up your calorie intake. Exercising off any calories eaten generally means you need to eat at least some of them back in order to lose steadily and healthily. Nothing happens overnight. But keep at it, your exercise sounds great. Just give your body some more of what it needs and it'll provide you with the benefits back.

Also, keep an eye on your sugar and sodium intake. Sometimes you think 'Oh, well this looks healthy' and before you know it, BAM, you're over on either of your nutrients. It sucks - been there, PLENTY of times, and still do today. Just keep an eye on what you're eating, and how much, and it should gradually come off.

mogiehaha

Sounds like your working hard! Remember muscles are being built up and Thats what your gaining! Soon you Will notice clothes fitting better and more definition to your body. Keep up the hard work and you'll see!

pinkminy

your doing a lot of cardio so probably building up muscle mass, dont know what type of food your eating but you need good protien like egg whites, and fish lean beef. and dark green veg .
I suggest you read "a medical guide weight loss, polar bears and humming birds" by Dr Hendrik v Rensburg.
can you get a scales that are a body composition analysis scale they dont only give your weight but also calculate water, bone, muscle, BMI , BMR

niknak2308

:flowerforyou: I agree with the previous advice - you need to eat more!
If you are logging your exercise accurately then you will see your calorie goal for the day go up - MFP does that because
it wants you to eat those calories back to maintain the same overall deficit in order to lose a healthy amount each week.

Think of the calories in the gym as Calories Earned rather than Calories Burned. If you are eating under 1200 a day, your body is already surviving on a bare minimum food intake. Add to that the fact that the calories you have consumed are then pretty much burned off, your body is trying to survive on hardly anything.

This will make you feel like rubbish - no energy etc, and your metabolism will slow down as your body gets used to eating less (overall) calories. Your body will then cling onto your fat as a way of "guaranteeing" an energy source as it is not being properly fuelled through your diet = no loss. There are other smaller factors that could be at play too, eg your body storing more water in the muscles as you are working out a lot/high sodium intake making fat cells swell impacting loss/etc (I haven't looked at your diary).

Seriously I'm talking from experience here - my losses stalled for a whole month... I shook it up by eating all my exercise cals back (well within 150 at least of goal to account for any inaccuracies logging) whereas before I'd been burning around 300-500 before and not eating them. I also tried to eat healthier less processed food. I increased my exercise levels too to approx 500-800/day. The first week I lost no weight but lost 2inches off my waist, the week after I lost just shy of 3lb, and have been losing consistently since.

Hang on in there, eat more food, research the importance of doing it and hopefully you'll start seeing losses again.

angel_north

Not enough good calories so your body trys to help and it developes fat so the body can go on. try 1800 calories 3-5 meals a day. Most of the calories in the morning so you have energy to burn and lots of water. Do that for a couple weeks and stay off the scale. You might surprise yourself!

Lozze

OK if you're seriously losing the will to live and not just using hyperbole then I would suggest going to talk to your doctor. Having suicidal thoughts is always a massive warning sign and you need to get that fixed.

If you are using hyperbole then yes you are eating too little.

Chrissy2257

I was told by my fitness guru that it takes 6 weeks before your metabolism will even kick in and start working! Don't give up now...your hard work will pay off. And your really should not go under 1500 calories a day especially if your doing all this physical activity! He also swears that strength training is more beneficial and will help your lose weight faster then if your ran a marathon! Hope this helps!

KSOwen1

Losing the will to live? That is a serious matter, much more serious than the number you see on the scale or the reflection you see in the mirror. If you feel that your weight is causing you to lose your will to live, then you are looking in the wrong direction. I'd set all weight loss goals aside and set new goals, read spiritual books ("eat, pray, love"), take a yoga class, learn to meditate, find someone to counsel you at your church or in your commuity, somehow you need to reconnect with your spirit (your "will to live"). Once you are at peace with your internal self then come back to the weight loss goal, and by then you may find that the weight has taken care of itself. If your statement was true and not just for dramatic effect, I hope you take action and confide your feelings to someone in your community who can help you get on the right track. Good luck, my thoughts are with you.

marianne_s

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