I don't want to be fat anymore!!!

EroseT23

To be honest, I saw someone else eating 1200 and losing weight fast, so me, being desperate to lose quickly tried to do the same.

Try not to be desperate to lose the weight. Whether it comes off fast or slow, it's still going to come off. If you don't try and crash diet, you are much more likely to keep it off in the long run. There's no reason why you need to try and lose all the weight super fast. I know you are frustrated with your weight, but it will come off if you just keep at it.

^^^Yes. This. It gets said a lot around here, but it's worth repeating: You didn't GAIN it all overnight, so don't expect to LOSE it all overnight. What's the hurry, ya know?

Also, it's no fair trying to compare yourself to someone else. Each person has a unique body -- you have to play around and listen to what YOUR body is trying to say. 1200 might have worked for your friend, but that doesn't mean it'll work for you. (Or me... I would slaughter people if I had to stick to 1200!)

So be patient. :flowerforyou: Slow and steady and all that.

Caffeine_Addict

Back when I was a gym buff and I got stuck. A trainer suggested throwing in some classes like aerobics and also changing up ur calorie intake. It worked for me.

eve7166

Looks like ur doing good.. Only thing I would suggest is cutting some bread and cereal.... Also make sure ur counting cals correct..example an average banana is about 100cals so not sure what kind you are eating just make sure ur logging right. Gl

nukumik

im lost with the calories!!! I am losing inches but not losing on the scale. I am probably not eating the right amounts. So confused . In 7 months I have lost 36 lbs and droped 4 pants size.

jbella99

Losing weight is about 80% diet and 20% exercise so make sure you are eating the right kinds of food. All caloires are not created equal, Healthy Clean Eating is the only way to truly change your body for the better. Building muscle is secondary. You should concentrate more on Weight training as a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat. Cardio workouts do not build adequate muscles. You can only do this with resistance training.

sazzet

After years of trying to lose weight, I finally found the way that works with me. I focus on fresh vegetables, beans and fruits. I took out processed food like white sugar and white flour. I don't eat red meat . I eat fish and sometimes chicken breasts. I don't see enough green in your food diary. Broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, avocado, brussel sprouts and spinach. Oranges, bananas, tangerines, apples, and guavas. If you eat natural, you will lose weight. Nuts and yoghurt. GO NATURAL!! The only fat I use for cooking is olive oil.

AbsoluteNG

You eat Chick-Fil-A and call that a diet? lol


Your body probably still thinks that you're in starvation mode. Try switching your diet around to high protein, high fat, and low carbs. Eat a maximum of 60 carbs a day with 40 carbs minimum. That would be a total of 6 slices of wheat bread max. Eat 1gram of protein per idea body weight. If you want to weight 120 pounds then eat 120 grams of protein a day. As for fat, eat .5grams per idea body weight of it a day. That would be about 60grams of fat if you wanted to weight 120 pounds. Stick to good fats like omega 3 fish oil and olive oil fats. You need to eat fat so that your body doesn't think you're in starvation mode. As long as you consume fat, your body will not work extra hard in turning the foods that you eat into fat.

ysamatar

bump!

BrianSharpe

You should be drinking half your body weight in ounces per day.

The benefits of water are numerous, hydrating your body helps your muscles and organs to work quickly and efficiently. When your body is working well, it will boost your metabolic rate and help you to feel more energetic. Water can help your metabolism burn calories 3% faster. Metabolism plays a big role in losing weight so it’s important to give your body what it needs in order for it to work the way you want.

I drink lots of water but could you cite your sources please?

Based on your calculation a 200lb person should be drinking 100oz of water (approx 3 litres if my math is right). Are there any scientific studies to back up this assertion?

janeyoung1946

have you had your thyroid checked mine is under active and im on tablets from the doctor but before the tablets its near impossible to lose weight id check it out babe i live in england so im not how your health system works

spngebobmyhero

Interval training is supposed to be great for fat loss. During cardio, do some sprints mixed in with your regular routine. Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred is also good for interval type work.

funkycamper

Well, I think you can totally eat Chick-fill-a and Digiorno and still lose weight. I eat fairly clean about 85% of the time and have regular splurges and am losing just fine.

I suggest you take some time to read through the stickie threads at the top of this forum. There's a lot of good information in there that might answer some of your questions and give you some ideas.

I hesitate to tell people what to do because we all have different paths to weight loss success. Here is what works for me. YMMV.
* keep carbs on most days to 80-100 grams, but allow occasional guilt-free splurges over that
* zig-zag my calories throughout the week with a weekly calorie target instead of a daily one, allowing me to have splurges at social events, restaurant meals, etc., without going over my deficit and without making me feel deprived
* eat a treat if I want it, just account for it in my food diary
* eat clean most of the time and enjoy guilt-free splurges
* eat enough protein and healthy fats. I aim for about 120 grams protein and 60 grams fat daily. Hardly ever hit the protein one but I'm working on it
* do heavy weight training twice a week, full body, preferably compound exercises and free weights
* mix up the rest of your exercise with mostly interval training and some steady-state cardio doing things you enjoy. I rarely do the same thing more than 2-3x in a month. Just do what sounds fun, challenging and fits into my schedule that day.
* set your daily calories to your BMR and eat your exercise calories on top of that but you don't have to eat them all on the same day (see zig-zag above)
* try to get in your vegetables and some fruits, eat full-fat versions of things as the low-fat options are really less healthy. In other words, real foods not frankenfoods
* titrate down your weight loss goals as you are losing, i.e. if you have 75+ pounds to lose, aim for a 2#/week weight loss, 50-75#, aim for 1.5#/week, 25-50#, aim for 1#/week, less than 25#, aim for 0.5#/week. This allows you to keep eating a healthy enough amount of calories to keep your metabolic furnace burning and to get to your goal eating in a way that's sustainable for life
* practice flexible dieting, i.e., it's OK to take a diet break once in awhile, maybe for a day like on Thanksgiving and Christmas, or for a week or two while on vacation. This doesn't mean you have to gorge yourself but just enjoy some splurges and don't worry about things for awhile. Some experts advocating taking full breaks for dieting for a week or two every few months. It can be a good thing.

Those are the main things that pop into my head. Some of it might work for you, some not.

movingme54880

Are you drinking enough water?

You should be drinking half your body weight in ounces per day.

The benefits of water are numerous, hydrating your body helps your muscles and organs to work quickly and efficiently. When your body is working well, it will boost your metabolic rate and help you to feel more energetic. Water can help your metabolism burn calories 3% faster. Metabolism plays a big role in losing weight so it’s important to give your body what it needs in order for it to work the way you want.


Also, remember...some people confuse hunger and thirst.... So when you get hungry drink a glass of water first.

What I have been trying to do is drink a glass of water 15mins before eating. It helps to subside hunger so I don't snack while I am cooking dinner, and it helps with portion control. It is also a good idea to have a glass of water with every meal. Try to take a sip of water between every few bites, which help you to feel full faster.

good idea! i am not a water drinker and need to start drinking more. Thanks!

bjfmade

So should I still to the recommended 1550 that MFP gave me or continue with the 1200? What about when I workout? If that's the case, when I workout, I should be eating 1800-2000 calories that day. Is that accurate?

These numbers are all estimates and may not be entirely accurate, but I think it's best to start with MFP's recommendations and then tweak in small increments as necessary. You don't want to train your body to "get by" on a minimal number of calories and then have no place to go when you hit a plateau. And then there's the sustainability issue. How long can you stick to 1200 calories a day? Long enough to lose 100 pounds and to tough it through however many plateaus it takes to get there? The rest of your life? People talk about how much hard work it takes to lose weight, but IMHO that's wrong headed. You need to think about how hard you'll be willing and able to work to keep the weight off for the rest of your life, and let that be your guide. If you don't want to bust your butt on a restricted, near starvation diet for the next 50 years, then don't do it now. It's not worth it to lose an extra pound or two a month.

1800 - 2000 calories, exercise calories included, is what I need to eat to maintain my weight. And I weigh only 123 pounds.

^^^This^^^ I want to be able to EAT! Therefore, I opted for 1 lb a week (sometimes I lost more, sometimes less) and I eat at least 1/2 my calories or more back. I use a HRM so my count is more accurate. Enjoy this journey, you will learn a lot about yourself, if you are willing to be patient and learn. Good luck, you can do this.

Stesie77

So much of realizing weight loss is changing the belief of what we see of our selves. Is its always fat, always skinny?Too look in the Mirror and realize and believe one amazing beautiful thing about you is harder than any work out ever will be........................ Today I start with my eyes, They are true. My hips are curvy like burlesque. My legs strong... but one thing ---they are all mine! If you know you are doing all the right things for working out and eating. We can not let our mind deter us away. Until we see how beautiful we look with even the simplest of loss, no one will ever see that true loss.

IvoryParchment

I've been doing this since the end of October and am nearly at goal. I've been losing weight consistently, no plateaus. I have not been following a lot of the conventional wisdom people recommend -- I eat almost no fat, I drink almost no water (about 1500 ml of liquid in other forms daily), I don't give a **** about cardio vs. strength training, I don't have a heart rate monitor, etc.

What I do have is a food scale. I don't rely on what anything says is a portion. Especially with things like chicken breasts and bananas, which you seem to eat a lot of, they aren't all the same size. Manufacturers are required to give you at least as much as they say, but they aren't penalized for giving you extra.

And things like salad dressing and peanut butter are sticky and hard to measure by tablespoon, while you can measure very accurately by weighing your food before and after adding the sticky food.

Before giving up, just start logging what you typically eat without trying to lose weight. Log everything, even the stuff you don't want to admit to eating, which may mean closing your diary. Do make sure you are getting sufficient protein (looks like you are), as well as all vitamins (not just A and C), calcium/iron/other minerals. Without ALL the nutrients you need, you can't do anything with the calories you do eat except store them in fat. It's like building a house with lumber, bricks, shingles and windows but no screws or nails. All you end up with is a lot of stuff piled up in the front yard.

After about a month of that, you'll know what it takes to maintain your weight. You'll need to reduce your calories or increase your exercise by 500 calories to lose one pound a week. A whole month may sound like a frustrating long time before you start actually losing weight, but this is going to be the rest of your life. Start out using accurate methods, and you can continue to benefit as long as you live.

What if you find, after a month, that your consistent daily intake is far below MFP's estimate of what it takes to maintain your current weight, that you're getting all the protein, calcium, vitamins and minerals you need, yet you aren't losing anything? Then discuss your hormones with your doctors. Before there were blood tests for low thyroid, that type of metabolic mismatch was exactly how low thyroid was diagnosed.

ashnm88

Need to eat more. With burning that many calories and all.

DataBased

I got so confused when I started here 50 days ago that I kind of shut down for a day to process it all. I decided I would find what worked for me, and began writing down everybody''s advice. I started with the ones who said "Eat to your MFP target", "eat back your calories" and "create a workout program designed for your level of fitness and to your stated goals." I read a number of off-site studies and determined that my goals are fat loss and finding something I enjoy, which increases the likelihood that I will create3 a true lifestyle change rather than an endurance test of how much torture I could take. I increased my water intake when my MFP friends noticed it was too low (thank you all my MFP friends!) and here what has happened so far:

Neck: 3/4 inch lost
Waist: 1 1/4 inch lost
Hips: 1 inch lost
Pants size: 1 size lost
Bra size: 1.5 band size lost
Weight: 8 lbs lost

Of these numbers, I'm happiest with the size measurements, not the weight. Truly, my goal is to be healthy and fit.

The point isn't that you should do what I say, or what he says, or what anybody says. You should be thankful and take everybody's advice, and create a strategy to find what works for you. Include your physician, in case you (like my daughter) have a thyroid problem, or a tendency toward diabetes, or something else.

Concentrate on being healthy and changing your lifestyle to keep you fit and healthy over the long run. I believe the rest will fall into place as it should.

amandavictoria80

Lots of great suggestions here. Well, except for the "eat your exercise calories back" ones. I just don't agree with that. The whole point is calorie deficit. If you eat back the calorie deficit you've created, there is no more deficit. It's your choice of course. Me personally, I don't lose weight when I do that. I just maintain.

More protein, more water, more veggies, less sugar, etc. These are all a great!

I wish you lots of luck! It's not an easy journey. But you can do it.

If these changes don't work (and maybe even in the meantime) why not go to your doctor and have your thyroid checked just in case? Many people have a hard time losing weight due to thyroid issues.

invisibubble

Oddly enough if you undereat when trying to cut, you'll end up stuck at your current weight as if you're maintaining. Looking at your info I'd say you're eating too little and that is where you're going wrong. You need to be eating at least 1600 a day by the looks of things. I know it's weird, but honestly, I tried the starving myself thing and found I lost more when I ate more. (WIthin reason, obviously.) Do what MPF has set you to for weight loss so that your values all add up to 0 left at the end of the day.