hands up in the air

clewliss

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I left this site for a while because I just felt sooo overwhelmed with counting the calories and having to stop to log everything while being in 3 different places at meal time and I just left the site because I felt like I was trying too hard. I wasn't losing weight either!! Ya'll, I'm so depressed about this whole weight issue in my life. I have urges to eat when I'm not even hungry...what is that about? The more I exercise, the more I gain. I can't stand water...makes me throw up! I don't drink diet drinks b/c of aspertame causing migranes and I refuse to take weight-loss pills. I can't afford to gain any more! My emotional state is at the end of the rope. I am finding myself thinking of it every minute of the day and it's taking over my life. I really don't like to complain and please don't take this like I've given up...I haven't and I won't. I need to hear from someone who has been here and been successful and how you did it!

One thing of importance: My daily BMI or whatever is 1470. If I eat those calories, I still gain weight! But then if I eat less than that, I go under "what I should be having" according to this site. It confuses the heck out of me. If I had the right calculations, then I might be able to work with that! I know different things work for different people, but I have tried everything! I have exercised for the last two weeks 30 min every morning and 30 min every evening and haven't lost 1 lb...go figure

Thanks for listening and hopefully someone will shed some light here!

clewliss

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I left this site for a while because I just felt sooo overwhelmed with counting the calories and having to stop to log everything while being in 3 different places at meal time and I just left the site because I felt like I was trying too hard. I wasn't losing weight either!! Ya'll, I'm so depressed about this whole weight issue in my life. I have urges to eat when I'm not even hungry...what is that about? The more I exercise, the more I gain. I can't stand water...makes me throw up! I don't drink diet drinks b/c of aspertame causing migranes and I refuse to take weight-loss pills. I can't afford to gain any more! My emotional state is at the end of the rope. I am finding myself thinking of it every minute of the day and it's taking over my life. I really don't like to complain and please don't take this like I've given up...I haven't and I won't. I need to hear from someone who has been here and been successful and how you did it!

One thing of importance: My daily BMI or whatever is 1470. If I eat those calories, I still gain weight! But then if I eat less than that, I go under "what I should be having" according to this site. It confuses the heck out of me. If I had the right calculations, then I might be able to work with that! I know different things work for different people, but I have tried everything! I have exercised for the last two weeks 30 min every morning and 30 min every evening and haven't lost 1 lb...go figure

Thanks for listening and hopefully someone will shed some light here!

blackbeltfairy

First off, congrats on coming back. I had a bit of a struggle myself this weekend, and forced myself to come on and log everything I had eaten.

If you're frustrated that you're not losing weight, try taking measurements. Losing a centimetre here or there is a lot more noticeable than a half pound.

Also, if you've just started to exercise a lot, you could be gaining muscle. It's all in how you feel.

At 1470 calories, you should be under your basic metabolic rate.

If water is an issue for you like it is for me (I HATE drinking plain water), try something like Crystal Light, or if it has aspartame, try something similar that is flavoured with Splenda. You could even try putting a squirt of lime juice in with your water. Gives it a little flavour, which makes it easier for me to stomach.

Maybe if you even stepped away from the scale for a few weeks to a month; focus on how you feel, and the discouragement will go away.

Good luck!

JDHINAZ

Hi Clewless,
Couple things. You have to drink water! Have too! My trick is that I have a 72 oz jug that I fill every morning and I make sure I drink it all during the day at work. I have more before and after work. If you don't like water, squeeze some lemon juice, lime juice in it. But you must drink it. My guess is you're not drinking enough and that can make you hold on to the weight.

Secondly, you have to plan your diet. I have the same thing every morning for breakfast. 2 eggs, oatmeal w/brown sugar and cinnamon that I make from scratch to control the amount of sugar, made with water, and a good amount of fruit...usually berries as they tend to have more fiber. The only thing I swap out is whole wheat toast for the oatmeal.

I have maybe 4 or 5 lunch options and I make sure those are in the house ready to go. Dinner is my only open option, but my husband makes that, and he will make sure that he has the nutritional info so I can figure out how much I can have.

The reason I limit my choices is that a) it's easy to log b) it's easy to plan c) I don't get tempted by things I shouldn't have.

Don't give up! It may take a while for your body to catch up if your eating (and drinking) the right things and exercising right, but it will catch up. You can do this! You really can!!!

monteig

You should defnitely check in with your doctor to make sure there is not an underlying reason for your problems.

Not every weight loss tool works for everyone! Maybe the exercises you are doing are not enough to keep your heart rate up and burn the calories? Can you increase to 45 minutes of cardio at least once a day?

I also have a hard time drinking water and some of the ways I get the extra water in are:

- Drink smaller amounts of water instead of trying to force down 20 oz at a time.
- Find the water temperature that works for you - I have to drink it very cold & with ice, but a friend only drinks room temperature water
- Squeeze orange/lemon/lime in your water instead of adding artificial stuff
- Try and drink a little extra when you brush your teeth - it will add up!

tlichvar

Clewliss ~ It's important to remember especially if you are excersising that Muscle weighs more than fat so you could actually be loosing inches but gaining weight. The scale is not the end all be all of everything. I am a seamstress and I count more on Measurements than Weight.

Also Drinking Lots of water is not always the correct thing to do. Yes you need to Drink to insure your hydrated but I've seen quite a few studies out there that you don't need to do the 8 x 8 (eight 8oz glasses of water). This includes flavored waters (and some say coffee) and such but you just need to consider the calorie/sugar content in what you are drinking and make sure you include that in your diet.Water is the "Free" drink, you can have as much of it as you want but like you and like many many others I know we don't like straight water. In the articles they point out that when the Nutrition Board of the National Research Council recommended approximately "1 milliliter of water for each calorie of food," which would amount to roughly two to two-and-a-half quarts per day (64 to 80 ounces) Although in its next sentence, the Board stated "most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods," that last sentence may have been missed so people took the first part of it to be law for a healthy life.

It's important to take one day at a time. I know the feeling of being overwhelmed that is why when I first started I took 1 day off a week where I didn't watch my intake alot and I ate several things that I really wanted that weren't in the diet plan. This gave me a break and I didn't get too overwhelming. I ws up over 200 lbs and I dropped about 25lbs before joining this site with my friends. Also keep talking to people here or your friends in real life (if they are encouraging even is prgress is slow sometimes).

It can take a lot of positive re-inforcement but I know you can do it.

srenshaw

I found this very tedious when I started, but I got around it by only logging once a day, usually after lunch. I usually have the same thing everyday for breakfast, so it’s not an issue for me to remember. The biggest help for me has been to log my dinner calories before I eat them. I plan what I’m going to have before I eat it and log it when I log my lunch. This makes it less intrusive in my day and it also works to keep me from having larger servings than I should because I know ahead of time how much I’m allowed to eat. I’m amazed at how well this has worked. It’s like I feel accountable to what I’ve already logged and that keeps me from going over. Logging snacks is mostly a non-issue because I have tried very hard to eliminate snacking completely. If I do, it’s usually carrot sticks or popcorn, which are so low in calories, that if I miss tracking them I don’t worry about it.

I second the recommendation of taking measurements. I noticed a lot more difference there before I started noticing a difference on the scale.

Good luck!

lose2cruise

I was with Weightwatchers online. I used the e tools. There you count points, not calories. But the basics are the same for both this site and WW. You have to eat your exercise points and log in what you are eating. The only thing I find different from logging in what you have eaten here vs the WW
E tools is that you see how much sodium you are taking in on this site. I was really shocked! I stay under my recommended sodium intake, but just didn't realize how many things I was eating had alot more sodium than I thought. So that helps me make better choices in choosing more fresh fruits and vegetables vs processed foods.

I've only been at this site for a week, but I am being more accountable than I was after I got off WW, so I'm hoping I'll have my 1 lb a week loss when I weigh in this week.

I keep telling myself, I didn't put this weight on overnight, it's not going to come off overnight. But I've been plugging away at it for a year now (it's harder after you are in your 50's to drop weight), but I'm gonna reach goal. I just know. You can too. Just stick with it. If you fall off one day, get back on it the next.

mom_luk

I also went away because it was discouraging. When I decided it was time to try again, I tried a different focus. I weighed in once (only had gained back a couple of pounds of the scant few that I lost originally). I focused on eating things that I learned were good for you (from the last MFP round) and realized that it wasn't a waste after all. I stopped weighing in at all after that and just kept exercising and logging my calories. I decided not to sweat it if I went over, just tried to stay close. I did weigh in yesterday realized that in the last couple of weeks, three pounds lost!!!! And my clothes fit better . It's a tough haul, but MFP helps a person analyze what you are eating to start eating healthier and exercise and the bonus is that the weight/inches will come off. If you think about what you've LEARNED at this site, that is success all by itself. Keep trying!!!!!


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adopt4

You have to log what you eat. You need to see what you're eating and how your habits are. Log in advance, if you make your meals at home, you can log for the next day (including snacks). I did that in the beginning.

Also, you have to drink water. If you dont' drink enuf, you'll retain water. Plain and simple.

Measure yourself, as they talked about fat weighing more than muscle, that means really "volume" so a pound of fat takes up more VOLUME than a pound of muscle, which is why you'd see inches going down but no movement on the scale.

Are you eating healthy stuff? Are you putting the right nutrition into your body to fuel it? That's number one. If you're eating 1400 cals of junk, your body can't function. Start with fresh fruits and veggies and lean meat. You may need to measure to learn portion control, and may need a kitchen scale to measure volume. You'll learn after a while without needing to measure.

If you are "so busy" that you can't cook - Smart Ones (weight watchers) meals are good, eat one for dinner and one for lunch. Get bagged salads with all the fixins already in there, eat 1/2 bag for lunch and half for dinner. Eat 1 or 2 packets of low sugar oatmeal for breakfast. Snacks and everything else can be fresh veggies or fruit. Very little actual work involved - but it will keep you under cals and feed your body what it needs.

I personally use the 1/2 bag of salad and the Smart Ones meals for lunches on days I dont' work out and have no extra calories that day... that keeps me under cals and keeps me full. Sometimes I do it for lunch and dinner on those days.

Nich0le

Welcome back...:flowerforyou:

First, this is easy math for everyone to figure out. Go to another site or two and figure out how many calories you have to consume to MAINTAIN your current weight. Now, for 1lb a week ( a good goal based off of your profile) you want to reduce that maintenance amount by 500 calories. You can do this through exercise or food restriction.

Like Mike has said, the advice on here is general, the formula won't work exactly the same for everyone therefore you may need to do some adjusting for your personal weight loss patterns.

Water is a must but it doesn't have to be plain water. You may need to wean yourself to pure water. If you like fruit juice you may need to start by adding a little water at a time to your fruit juice. I too can't have artificial sweetner so I added koolaid packs similar to the crystal light ones and just reduced teh amount of kool aid I added each week until I was just ot water.

Next read teh following:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/44693-tami-s-<span class=

clewliss

Well, after reading what everyone has suggested, I feel better! One thing I failed to mention is that my TOM is every 3 weeks and that really messes me up with water retention and stuff. Not to mention the mood swings, which plays a big part in food consumption! I think I'm going to the Dr to find out if something can be done for that!

I do appreciate all your replys and advice! I know one thing most of you mentioned about measurements is how it has helped you. I'm so obsessed with the scales that I will weigh usually every other day if not everyday. And of course with my body being out of whack, it's going to mess with the scales which turns right around to discouragement for me! Something just has to give b/c there is no way one can't lose weight exercising like I have been.