In Tears And Beyond Frustrated
Replies
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Protein 120g or more a day
Carbs under 30g a day
Water 150+ oz a day
Calories 1200 or less a day
Cardio 5+ hours a week
Circuit weight training 3-4x a week.
From the scientist point of view (I'm a biomed scientist):
1) The recommended normal protein for an adult female is ~46g, the recommended dosage for pregnant women is ~71g, you're taking almost twice that. Physiologically, the excess protein is processed by the liver into urea to be excreted by the kidneys. The excess kidney utilization can only be balanced by increased water intake in order to dilute the urea appropriately. Failure to do this could cause kidney damage. Also, since you are female, I'd like to point out that increased protein intake would cause calcium loss even though medical science has not pinpointed exactly at which point the calcium comes from, but at your age and gender, you really should prevent calcium loss as much as you can. This effect can be counteracted by adding calcium in your diet. Also, the type of protein you consume matters. If you are taking in vegetable protein, then you overall get a better per gram nutritional content out of it than say beef protein. However, the beef contains more calcium. So it's a balance to your individual need.
2) The recommended normal carb intake for an adult is ~130g, you are ~100g under the recommended dosage. I hate the low carb diets because most people don't understand what they are referring to when they say "carb". They understand that it refers to types of "sugar" but don't understand it on a molecular level. A carbohydrate is just a bunch of Carbon atoms with some Water (H2O) molecules attached to it in various combinations. And there's a lot of combinations. So for example, fructose is just 6 carbons attached to 6 water molecules so your body doesn't have a hard time taking it and breaking it down for energy. On the other end of the scale you have dietary fibers that can't be broken down in the body such as cellulose, the basic building block of cellulose has 6 carbons and 5 water molecules, so you'd think, oh well, that's even smaller than fructose but nope! Cellulose comes in chain links of a few hundred to tens of thousands (just think of sausage links in the same way). However, your body cannot cut these links efficiently in order for you to absorb all that "sugar" or "carbs" so it's actually *not* pulling the energy from those molecules. In other words, your belly is full but you're not laying on the sugar high or the fat. That's why a lot of nutritionists recommend vegetables with high fiber. You're getting the nutrient without the excess calories, thus a better "Nutrient/calorie" ratio.
3) I've run several urine labs for patients, done over 500+ hours of first aid response at sports events where I learn to spot dehydration, proper hydration, etc, so my recommendation is this: If your urine is clear to light yellow in color and clear (not opaque), your body is hydrated. If you feel thirst, drink, if you don't want to, don't force it down, it can cause other problems down the metabolic line.
4) I hope you are referring to net intake of calories (which btw, is the minimum intake you should have). By net I mean (Total calories consumed) - (Exercise calories) = Net Calories If you're just taking in 1200 per day and you've maintained this for over weeks, your body has gone into starvation mode. Watch out for symptoms of fatty liver where your liver starts to store fat just to make sure you don't die from what it thinks is a starvation environment. Otherwise, you should be okay.
5) There's no problem with doing cardio as long as you are comfortable, make sure you hit your target heart range and stay there, sometimes I find that people don't get up as high as they need to or too high and they risk not providing enough oxygen/energy to their heart muscle and they're overdoing it.
6) Keep up the strength training, it will help build your endurance and burn more calories while you're at rest.
I hope that helps. Again, I give you the scientist point of view so you would want to 1) do your own research to verify if this applies to you, 2) if necessary, consult a nutritionist or doctor. Good luck!
I see lots of good responses here, especially this ^. In my case, I started with portion control - the scale was essential and still is (and gradually moved towards eating heathier). Due to arthritis I had to start light on the exercise but now I get in several hours a week over many days (it varies). The trick for me, as an older woman, was to take it slow. My target was 1 lb a week with 1200 net and it took 18 months to reach my goal. I hit plateaus many times, just kept plugging along. Also, measurements were sometimes much more telling than the scale as water weight fluxuated and muscle/fat ratio changed. Make some of the recommend changes people who are knowledgeable and successfull offer. Find what works for you and make it work the rest of your life. You can do it. PS: if you open your food diary, you can get lots of help.0 -
Hi!! Sorry to hear you're so frustrated.. however maybe this will help.. I started out on a VERY restricted calorie intake and ended up bloated and miserable.. no weight loss at all even with my exercise efforts. I increased my calories especially fiber and proteins, complex carbs .. and guess what I started losing with the same exercise efforts. If you decrease your calorie consumption too much.. it sends your body into starvation mode and it will hold onto everything it has to 'survive'. Up your calorie consumption and along with yournworkout efforts I'm sure you'll see a difference.. It worked for me!! Best of luck my dear!!! :flowerforyou:0
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Apparently I'm not the only one that added "a pound of" when I read several people's posts. Thing is, I see it so many times on this site that it is one of my pet peeves and I thought that was what was meant by the comments on this thread. I apologize if I caused any confusion or annoyance by correcting something. I did not mean to do so.
To the OP, good luck and I hope you get on the right path. Everyone has to find what works for them. But such severe calorie restriction is not going to work for anyone longterm. If you work the guidelines MFP sets for you, you should lose weight. And remember to eat the right combination of foods as well. You can do this!0 -
You're not eating enough and you're working out too hard and too much. Losing weight the right way isn't a race. It's a marathon. You have to take your time and make the right choices. Start with a small goal of losing 1 lb a week. Make healthy food choices, and make sure to eat above 1200 calories (between 1500 and 1700 with how much you're working out, at the very least). You have to fuel your body in order for your body to keep up with the weight loss.
this0 -
To echo what others have said, why are you eating so little?0
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I love, love, love this reply, thanks you!From the scientist point of view (I'm a biomed scientist):
<snip>
I hope that helps. Again, I give you the scientist point of view so you would want to 1) do your own research to verify if this applies to you, 2) if necessary, consult a nutritionist or doctor. Good luck!0 -
bump0
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Ok .... I've perused through some of these, read others .... I want to try and touch on some key points.
I eat high protein because I'm PCOS. I need the high protein and low carb. Plus I feel a *LOT* better when I eat this way. The minute I start adding starches and whatnot, I feel bloated, sluggish and just not interested in doing much of anything other than sleeping. The protein helps keep my energy up.
Do I WANT to be at the gym 2 hours a night? HELL no. I usually do 1/2 hour of circuit weight training and the rest cardio (broken up into stationary bike, elliptical, treadmill, etc.).
I am NOT doing the same thing as I've done before. Trust me! I've tried everything in the free world. I'm doing IsoPure high protein/low carb shakes usually 2x a day just to get that protein in there. I've NEVER done circuit training before and I sure as HECK have never worked out on a REGULAR basis as I have been.
I *AM* measuring. Trust me. They're moving just ever so slightly but not a whole lot.
I am NOT looking for a quick easy fix. If I wanted that, I'd go back to the HCG. I know it works. It may not STAY off but I know that it GETS it off QUICKLY. I have an extremely stressful job and I find my workouts at the gym seem to help that stress. While I don't enjoy the thought of being there for two hours almost every night, I feel good when I leave and sleep much better than I have in a long time.
I'm eating clean. No fast food, no processed food, no sugar, candy (not even sugar free). The biggest treat for me is coffee with whipping cream and splenda in it. When I do snack, it's stuff like fruits, veggies or Kay's natural protein snacks, etc.
I weigh ONCE a week, Friday mornings first thing.
I am not eating a restricted diet. Trust me. I eat and I'm NOT hungry. The protein shakes help a LOT and give me energy.
I DO want an eating style that I can stick with FOREVER. High protein gives me that. I guess I need to up the calories, change my exercise habits and see where things go from there.
Thank you to everyone for your time and attention and ideas and thoughts. They mean a GREAT DEAL to me!!!!
And whoever said I looked darn good, thank you .... that really made me smile but that picture isn't taken with my hips in view. LOL0 -
Apparently I'm not the only one that added "a pound of" when I read several people's posts. Thing is, I see it so many times on this site that it is one of my pet peeves and I thought that was what was meant by the comments on this thread. I apologize if I caused any confusion or annoyance by correcting something. I did not mean to do so.
It's OK, there are always people on here saying "NO, a lb of muscle does not weigh more than a lb of fat", but in all honesty, I have never seen anyone say that it does.
It's easy to misinterpret something and read what you think it says.
:flowerforyou:0 -
Ok .... I've perused through some of these, read others .... I want to try and touch on some key points.
I eat high protein because I'm PCOS. I need the high protein and low carb. Plus I feel a *LOT* better when I eat this way. The minute I start adding starches and whatnot, I feel bloated, sluggish and just not interested in doing much of anything other than sleeping. The protein helps keep my energy up.
Do I WANT to be at the gym 2 hours a night? HELL no. I usually do 1/2 hour of circuit weight training and the rest cardio (broken up into stationary bike, elliptical, treadmill, etc.).
I am NOT doing the same thing as I've done before. Trust me! I've tried everything in the free world. I'm doing IsoPure high protein/low carb shakes usually 2x a day just to get that protein in there. I've NEVER done circuit training before and I sure as HECK have never worked out on a REGULAR basis as I have been.
I *AM* measuring. Trust me. They're moving just ever so slightly but not a whole lot.
I am NOT looking for a quick easy fix. If I wanted that, I'd go back to the HCG. I know it works. It may not STAY off but I know that it GETS it off QUICKLY. I have an extremely stressful job and I find my workouts at the gym seem to help that stress. While I don't enjoy the thought of being there for two hours almost every night, I feel good when I leave and sleep much better than I have in a long time.
I'm eating clean. No fast food, no processed food, no sugar, candy (not even sugar free). The biggest treat for me is coffee with whipping cream and splenda in it. When I do snack, it's stuff like fruits, veggies or Kay's natural protein snacks, etc.
I weigh ONCE a week, Friday mornings first thing.
I am not eating a restricted diet. Trust me. I eat and I'm NOT hungry. The protein shakes help a LOT and give me energy.
I DO want an eating style that I can stick with FOREVER. High protein gives me that. I guess I need to up the calories, change my exercise habits and see where things go from there.
Thank you to everyone for your time and attention and ideas and thoughts. They mean a GREAT DEAL to me!!!!
And whoever said I looked darn good, thank you .... that really made me smile but that picture isn't taken with my hips in view. LOL
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not just disgard the many posts of those who say to eat more because you are not hungry. I also have PCOS and I totally understand the frustration. Us that have PCOS, we have a slower metabolism. So the answer is to eat less, right????
NO the answer is to rebuild our metabolism. I am 4'11'', I have PCOS and Narcolepcy (just to make things more fun!!!) I eat 1600 caloreis the day I do not exercise and all my exercise calories when I do. I feel that right now....your body does not trust that you won't be starving it anymore. The only thing you can do is eat more. You might gain at first until your body understand it is ok to let go of the reserves. Start by eating 50% of your exercise calories and put your weight loss at 0.5 pounds at most.
You do what ever you want....but if you really want to stop yo-yoing and not be miserable all the time, please listen to what people have to say0 -
Also, what kind of exercise are you doing at the gym? Two hours is a LONG time to be at the gym if you are working at a high intensity level. Depending on your calorie intake, you may want to actually cut down on your workout time. Also, I have found in general that my best weight loss comes when I do workouts that combine aerobic and strength training (like intense circuit training). Try to avoid spending long stints on exercise machines at a low intensity. That is fine at first, just to build your aerobic base. But once you have a pretty good aerobic base you want to up the intensity to kickstart your metabolism.
There is a possibility that this could also be part of my problem. I tend to do 1/2 hour on the elliptical at the "varied hills", 1/2 hour on the bike at "varied hills" and then 1/2 hour on the elliptical at a medium incline and resistance (as sort of a "cool down" I guess).I have fallen in love with the maxc interval training pilosophy. (This is what is used in videos like "Insanity".) Try a workout like this. (I got the idea from RossTraining.com - AN AWESOME SITE!!!!!!). Pick four different exercises. They should all be fairly aerobic - things like burpees, explosive jumping, karate punches, kicks, etc. Perform each exercise at max intensity for a minute getting as many reps as you can. Go right from one exercise to the next at the end of the minute. Then immediately do the same for 45 seconds. Then do the same for 30 seconds. And then the same for 15. This will take about 10 minutes and if you really push your hardest, it will kick your butt!!!!!!!!! If you really want to kill it, perform the above 2 or three different times picking 4 different exercises each time. The first week I added this to my training I lost 5 pounds. I am on week two now, so not sure how much I lost. But I can already see a big difference. Hope this helps hun!
I may try this in the mornings before going to work. I look at those "Insanity" commercials and given the fact that I have a slight back injury, those exercises scare me to death but doing them as you're describing above may help. Thank you hon. I appreciate that insight. I think on Monday I'll start adding this to my morning routine.0 -
PS: if you open your food diary, you can get lots of help.
Yeah, I opened it after I saw the tons of responses here.
It's open now. 0 -
<a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com"><img src="http://badges.myfitnesspal.com/badges/show/1929/5607/19295607.weight-togo-lg.gif" border="0"></a><p style="text-align: center;width:202px;"><small>MyFitnessPal - <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Free Weight Loss</a> Tools</small></p> All i can say is don't give up! i felt the same way yesterday I didnt see a change in almost 2 weeks but today there was hope 1 pd it's not alot but it made my day! i would have never noticed if i gave up yesterday like i wanted to! Dont give up U can do it ! God bless!0
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PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not just disgard the many posts of those who say to eat more because you are not hungry. I also have PCOS and I totally understand the frustration. Us that have PCOS, we have a slower metabolism. So the answer is to eat less, right????
NO the answer is to rebuild our metabolism. I am 4'11'', I have PCOS and Narcolepcy (just to make things more fun!!!) I eat 1600 caloreis the day I do not exercise and all my exercise calories when I do. I feel that right now....your body does not trust that you won't be starving it anymore. The only thing you can do is eat more. You might gain at first until your body understand it is ok to let go of the reserves. Start by eating 50% of your exercise calories and put your weight loss at 0.5 pounds at most.
You do what ever you want....but if you really want to stop yo-yoing and not be miserable all the time, please listen to what people have to say
Yeah that whole "eat more" just scares the bejeezus out of me because it goes against EVERYTHING I've learned in my 42 years on this earth, ya know? Eat less, move more. YAY! Sounds so easy doesn't it but it NEVER is and doesn't seem to be the case. I *AM* listening to what people are saying and have changed my goals/caloric intake to bump myself up. I'm currently at 235lbs and 5'7 for those who are interested. Fortunately I "wear it well" and I know I am not the number on the scale. I know I'm healthy and have a lot of energy. However, I'm ready for this weight to be gone once and for all. This is something I have struggled with my ENTIRE LIFE. I deserve better. 170lbs for me is a good first goal. That's where I want to be for the time being. Once I reach that, I may re-evaluate but I AM listening and AM reading and taking everything into consideration. Thank you lots. 0 -
Just to clear up the HCG thing: It doesn't quite work.
As of December 6, 2011, the FDA has prohibited the sale of "homeopathic" and OTC hCG diet products and declared them fraudulent and illegal.
Why?
The HCG research methodology that proved HCG burned abdominal fat was methodologically flawed. There's is no accepted scientific study that proves HCG can help you diet. That isn't to say it does not, but it does say 1) we don't know for sure it does, 2) we don't know how much dosage to give, 3) we don't know if it's safe, 4) we don't know what kind of side effects might happen, and 5) we don't know if it helps everyone the same way at all.
What is it?
HCG is a hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin) - released during pregnancy by the developing embryo to encourage thickening of the lining of the uterus for nourishment. The original testing theory was that during pregnancy, women tend to burn up fast faster in order to feed the fetus. How this effects women who are not pregnant is still in debate, but over all conclusion right now is: Don't use it, it's not confirmed to be safe or effective nor any type of benefit can be seen from it.
PCOS - I copied this from another thread I replied to but it's the same problem
PCOS - polycystic ovarian syndrome - in plain terms, there's little hard bumps on your ovaries. Naturally, your eggs come out of your ovaries but if you cover it in little bumps (possibly originating of previously unreleased eggs), it is harder for the egg to pop out, which could effect your fertility chances. Thus, losing weight - which means lessening the fat tissue around your ovaries, the 'load' that ends up on your pelvis when you sit, would help. In other words, if your body stops pushing on your ovaries, then your eggs can push out of them. This is what I got from all the research papers I read about it when I got diagnosed.
So these stuffed up ovaries of mine likes to work against me in that they produce more androgens. WTF does that mean?
In simple terms - Androgens make Estrogens - Estrogens help your uterine lining get thicker, collect more fat, in preparation for pregnancy.
So if you make *more* androgens, there's a higher chance your body is making *more* estrogens than what should be normal for you, thus causing you put on more fat than normal - all the time.
We can help reduce fat by reducing the amount of things that create fat. So the typical pharmaceutical treatment for PCOS is metformin. It is a diabetic drug and helps your cells increase intake and utilization of sugar so it doesn't get stored as fat. For me, that didn't work long term- altho I expected it to. It took me a while to realize that I wasn't noticing the slowing progress I was making and then a complete reversal of what it should be doing. I worked with my doctor and found a better drug and went off metformin. I'm losing weight now and my mood and stability is better. For me, it took some monitoring of my daily habits and looking back long term to realize what I was doing wasn't a long term solution. Hopefully this one sticks with me, but the take away here is this: Your body IS working against you, with that understanding, consult your doctor and/or dietician and change accordingly. While prescription medication isn't for everyone, mine was actually a symptom of another problem unrelated to diet and it was effecting my diet so once I started treatment for *that* problem, this one eased up. My periods became regular, etc. etc.
I'm actually interested in what you eat when you say "starches" because "starches" are NOT "cellulose" and yet they are both carbs and very similar in structure. Again, there's different species of carbs and you have to separate them. Starches actually break down rapidly, such as those from potatoes, rice, etc, that's why you taste the sweet taste on your tongue almost immediately and they DO give you a sugar high. Celluose comes from foods like celery and does not give you a sugar high. It's because of the way they break down in the digestive system. So when you say you eat fruits and veggies, how do you categorize that?
Here's why I ask:
Fruit: any plant part that is responsible for seed nourishment - cucumber, tomatoes, squash (what people normally think of as vegetables)
Vegetables: The body of the plant itself - celery stalks, spinach leaves, cabbage leaves (what people normally think of also as vegetables
Roots: The part of the plant that is underground - potatoes, taro, etc (what people normally think of also as vegetables)
When you break down your foods by the parts of the plant, it makes a HUGE difference in the way you view snacks.
Without knowing what you're eating exactly, I can only give advice based on what I have learned and researched in human physiology and metabolism.0 -
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not just disgard the many posts of those who say to eat more because you are not hungry. I also have PCOS and I totally understand the frustration. Us that have PCOS, we have a slower metabolism. So the answer is to eat less, right????
NO the answer is to rebuild our metabolism. I am 4'11'', I have PCOS and Narcolepcy (just to make things more fun!!!) I eat 1600 caloreis the day I do not exercise and all my exercise calories when I do. I feel that right now....your body does not trust that you won't be starving it anymore. The only thing you can do is eat more. You might gain at first until your body understand it is ok to let go of the reserves. Start by eating 50% of your exercise calories and put your weight loss at 0.5 pounds at most.
You do what ever you want....but if you really want to stop yo-yoing and not be miserable all the time, please listen to what people have to say
Yeah that whole "eat more" just scares the bejeezus out of me because it goes against EVERYTHING I've learned in my 42 years on this earth, ya know? Eat less, move more. YAY! Sounds so easy doesn't it but it NEVER is and doesn't seem to be the case. I *AM* listening to what people are saying and have changed my goals/caloric intake to bump myself up. I'm currently at 235lbs and 5'7 for those who are interested. Fortunately I "wear it well" and I know I am not the number on the scale. I know I'm healthy and have a lot of energy. However, I'm ready for this weight to be gone once and for all. This is something I have struggled with my ENTIRE LIFE. I deserve better. 170lbs for me is a good first goal. That's where I want to be for the time being. Once I reach that, I may re-evaluate but I AM listening and AM reading and taking everything into consideration. Thank you lots.
Obviously what you are doing is not working if you are asking for help. I'd be willing to eat more if it meant it would actually WORK.0 -
Bump for later.0
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(And, by the way, someone posted that a pound of fat weighs more than a pound of muscle. That is not true. A pound is a pound whether its fat & muscle or feathers & bricks. But think about how much larger a VOLUME of feathers vs bricks you have to have to make up that pound. A pound of fat is simply a larger VOLUME than a pound of muscle. Therefore, if you gain muscle and lose fat you will lose inches because the volume of muscle is smaller.)
Nobody said that a pound of muscle weighed more than a pound of fat. You added the "a pound of" yourself.
Actually someone did say,
"muscle weighs more than fat'
I'm not sure who posted the above remark, but it looks like some of the original posts may have been deleted. I think a few of us were simply clarifying that muscle doesn't weigh more than fat, it weighs the same. It simply takes up less space (and is obviously healthier).0 -
(And, by the way, someone posted that a pound of fat weighs more than a pound of muscle. That is not true. A pound is a pound whether its fat & muscle or feathers & bricks. But think about how much larger a VOLUME of feathers vs bricks you have to have to make up that pound. A pound of fat is simply a larger VOLUME than a pound of muscle. Therefore, if you gain muscle and lose fat you will lose inches because the volume of muscle is smaller.)
Nobody said that a pound of muscle weighed more than a pound of fat. You added the "a pound of" yourself.
Actually someone did say,
"muscle weighs more than fat'
I'm not sure who posted the above remark, but it looks like some of the original posts may have been deleted. I think a few of us were simply clarifying that muscle doesn't weigh more than fat, it weighs the same. It simply takes up less space (and is obviously healthier).
The original posts are still there - she simply meant by Volume.
A cubic inch of muscle does weigh more than a cubic inch of fat, but less than a cubic inch of steel.0 -
Ok, here are some of my observations. First, HCG was your biggest mistake and you will have to work to fix it. With HCG, since it's extremely low calories, a lot of your weight loss is through muscle (as much as 50% of your weight loss). Due to that, there is a greater chance that your metabolism has decreases by as much as 30% (based on figures I have run for others on HCG).
Your next problem is that you aren't eating nearly enough calories and what is happening is your are burning more muscle and maintaining your body fat. You can't mix high cardio and low calories as it's a recipe for maintaining body fat (see source below).
http://www.metaboliceffect.com/topic/38-nutrition-lifestyle.aspx
So how do you fix this? Well we have to work on building lean muscle mass. This means, we need to estimate your BMR and adjust your workout schedule to concentrate on heavy lifting. This means, you fail at 8-12 reps. This will help you cut fat. This will help you work on building lean muscle mass back so you don't plateau, so you can burn more calories and so you can have a leaner, tighter body. Do me a favor and use the link below to post your BMR results and then we will figure out your caloric needs.
http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/0
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