How come I lost weight when i was depressed and now???

jupityjupe

When I was going through a divorce, (about 4 years ago) and my ex was being particularly cruel, I lost a lot of weight..got down to the lowest level of my BMI without even trying...When I'm severly depressed I tend to not eat, people kept asking me if I was okay....

My goal weight now is at the lower end of my BMI, but I don't want to look like I did back then. I want firm muscles and a toned body. I was just skinny and kind of gaunt then. In other words, I want to turn my 30% body fat into lean muscle..well actually only about a third of that.

So now I am exercising 5 days a week (jillian michaels body rev), and sticking to cals that MFP says will burn 1/2 pound a week (including eating back my exercise cals), and I have been for a month. I have only gone over cals a couple of times, more often I have stayed under, a lot of times by 200-400 cals because I just am not hungry. I have gone up and down in weight, today I'm at a one pound loss. Woo hoo, rolls eyes. My body looks exactly the same, and I don't feel any different.

What gives? Do I need to go back to those dark days of suicidal depression? If not eating enough puts me in starvation mode where I supposedly won't lose weight, then how come back then I went down 3 sizes without even trying?

Thanks in advance to anyone who take the time to read my whine, and to anybody who responds.

natashamcn

It took progress pics for me to really see the difference in myself. Take some and update them along the way while keeping track of inches. You may be surprised at how well you're doing

starcatcher1975

I'm starting to focus on the inches and way my clothes fit instead of the scale. My scale must be defective because it's not cooperating with my attempts at a lower weight at all. When I do see the numbers on the scale aren't being friendly to me, I make sure I check out the body fat % on there. Usually that will let me know I'm at least making some progress.

On a side note, I've been thinking of getting JM body revolution. I'm doing 30DS now and was thinking of getting her ripped in 30 next. How is body revolution? Is it worth the money? Thanks for any feedback and good luck on your journey. I know you can do it! :happy:

shaycat

You lost a pound! It is something. I find it really hard to lose at .5lb a week.
You need to be patient and keep at it.
I am in a similar situation. I had gotten to skinny in the past and now I want to be healthy skinny. It takes time and hard work.
Your body might be holding on to the weight you have now, because it doesnt want to get back to where you were when you weren't eating.

kokaneesailor

I think it just goes to show you how powerful depression is and the effects it has on your body. When I was at my most depressed I was around 160 pounds. I didn't eat properly, I did however "drink" my calories everyday.

Maybe you have another condition that is effecting your weightloss? Have you set your activity level correctly? Have you re-calculated your goal weight? Are your carbs to high? Have you tried weight training to lose the fat and build muscle?

I wouldn't trust the scale, trust your measuring tape. Maybe change your workouts to 3 times a week and start eating back your exercise calories with high calorie smoothies. When your building muscle your constantly tearing them down, then they repair themselves. This process takes at least 48 hours. That's why most lighters train every other day.

Hope that you find the right solution

I'm only offering some suggestions to look at, I'm justa cook not a fitness guru.

Cheers

Toddrific

I'd say a slow low is better than no lose, or even a gain.
When you lose weight strictly by not eating your lean body mass will go down.
If you are exercising frequently it wont go down as much so your weight loss will be slower.
Usually if a diet isn't giving results you want within 3 weeks, you want to adjust it.
Try doing a day or two less of the workout, or even adding a day. Then check again in 3 weeks.

Edit: Also, when you have just a little weight to lose it's going to take much longer as you have less leeway.

kdeaux1959

As you probably well know, Depression and weight loss (not the right kind) do go hand in hand. It is part of the disorder. Depression is Hell and of course you would never want to go back there. Your goal is to look better and feel better. Forget the scales for now. Actually, a desire to get to the bottom of your BMI is not likely what you need to focus on. Looking at your profile pic, you really look pretty thin... Sounds like maybe you just have a problem area that you want to deal with... in this case, the tummy. Your primary focus needs to be your HEALTH... Be healthy... eat healthy... You owe it to your kids and more importantly to yourself... And YES you are important.

That being said, if you can, join a gym like the YMCA and get with a personal trainer and let them help you get the body you want. In order to build muscle, you have to EAT-especially protein... It is very possible by attempting to lose more weight, you are actually working against what your goal is and that is to lower the percentage of body fat. By increasing your protein intake and pushing weight training you can actually build muscle which will, in turn, transform your body into what you want it to be... But I really feel that in your case, you need HELP (personal trainer) to get there... Somebody who can really show you how to achieve what you want.

Above all though, you want to be HEALTHY...

gumigal82

First off, I'm sorry for all your struggles. Being a person who has been depressed, some people lose lots of weight because they don't eat or can't eat. Others gain. It's much better to be healthy, exercising, and eating-even if the results aren't there yet. I'm a petite person, and when I first tried to lose weight, it took a long time to see results....because it happened slowly. Good luck, stay positive:)

Manabug01

Just keep it at and measure yourself everywhere!!! Just because you don't see it doesn't mean your body isn't changing. I thought I had the same problem this last month. Only dropped a pound but I'm in the gym 5x a week lifting and I've dropped almost 5% in body fat in 4 weeks with only losing 1lb on the scale. Just keep at it, nothing changes over night and it takes time to build the muscle. Good luck to you, everything will work out.. just takes time

_Bob_

My advice would be to add more friends that are health and fitness buffs and open your diary so they can look at the food you are eating. to get toned it helps if you area eating the right diet, not just the number of calories. I'm not a traditionalist but I know what works for me, I've been experimenting with leaving beer in my diet because after a hard day at work it's nice to have a beer or two.

I also lost a lot of weight while I was depressed but gained it back. You're bravery and honesty is commendable, I really hope you reach you goals and the life that you are looking for

heybales

So now I am exercising 5 days a week (jillian michaels body rev), and sticking to cals that MFP says will burn 1/2 pound a week (including eating back my exercise cals), and I have been for a month. I have only gone over cals a couple of times, more often I have stayed under, a lot of times by 200-400 cals because I just am not hungry. I have gone up and down in weight, today I'm at a one pound loss. Woo hoo, rolls eyes. My body looks exactly the same, and I don't feel any different.

What gives? Do I need to go back to those dark days of suicidal depression? If not eating enough puts me in starvation mode where I supposedly won't lose weight, then how come back then I went down 3 sizes without even trying?

Not a whine at all, congrats on making changes, and making it past pressures of the past.

So main mantra to remember.

Diet is for weight loss.
Exercise is for body shape and heart health. It can help or hinder weight loss.

So you have a focus on body, by stated desire, and action in your workouts. Not weight loss in general.
Excellent.

You sound like you have learned too the dangers of eating too low (that means netting too low too), especially with exercise involved. You can slow your metabolism to even slower weight loss, or even to no loss.

First, you can't gain real muscle if you are creating too much deficit (0.7% max), and you can barely repair/rebuild current if deficit is going under your estimated healthy BMR.

If you are smartly above that BMR level, your muscle can/will improve with that workout. Meaning it will store more energy for workouts. An improvement in storing 500 extra calories of carbs in the muscle for energy equals 1lb of real weight. Weigh after you depleted that much, false weight loss, weigh after topping it off, false weight gain.
Weigh consistently morning after rest day, you would be losing fat while gaining those energy stores - weight stays same.

Measurements is only way to see this improvement. Might as well use these measurements, not only a nice range to see improvement (create logs in Check-in on MFP), but also can give decent estimate of BF%.
http://www.gymgoal.com/dtool_fat.html

Are you using HRM for estimate of calories burned?
If so, eat them back, all of them. Plan the day better if evening workouts, or eat bigger breakfast next morning. So what if one days shows green 200 and next day shows red 200. You mentally know you did it right.

heybales

Oh, study for above comments.

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/25/3/431.abstract

It's purpose for diabetic angle, but what they found was interesting anyway.

RESULTS—Significant reductions (P < 0.02) in body weight (∼10 kg or 10%) and in total, abdominal subcutaneous, visceral, and intermuscular fat were observed within each group. Fasting and OGTT insulin, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B also decreased within each group (P ≤ 0.02). The changes in the body fat and metabolic variables were not different across treatment (P > 0.05). Visceral fat alone was related to the metabolic risk factors both before and after the treatment.

Weight loss was associated with reductions in metabolic risk factors in obese women. The improvement in the metabolic profile was not enhanced by the addition of aerobic or resistance exercise. The findings reinforce the importance of diminished visceral fat in the treatment of insulin resistance.

jupityjupe

Thanks to everybody who replied....I have a lot to work with here....

for the record, I do look at my measurements..that's how I know there are no changes...and really, if the scale didn't move but I LOOKED like I wanted and was nice and firm I really wouldn't care about the scale. I weigh myself all the time, whether dieting or not for s & g and it always goes up or down withing 2 lbs

I do tend to be on the slimmer side but carry ALL the fat in my tummy, and with long legs and a short torso....well, it ain't a good look lol

I think I will experiment with keeping current weight, exercising and lot dieting and see how that goes..

also, I will look at the links provided..

and I will try to pay more attention to eating right..I had thought I was doing that...cutting down carbs, fat, alcohol, upping protein and water intake, but maybe I need to get better at that.

THANKS AGAIN for all the thoughtful responses...it does get hard when you're trying to do something positive and not getting anywhere

JennetteMac

I totally assosciate with what you have said. Your situation is pretty much identical to my own, emotionally and diet-wise. I am currently below my BMI but want to stay round about where I am but without the pot belly! I am trying the *upped calories through protein* approach and have been struggling for 3 weeks, as I feel I am eating too much and have now put on 2lb, which I really don't want to do. I'm going to stick with it till the end of this month and if I don't like the figures at the end I'll go back to 1200 as set by mfp and try to lose the excess. Interested to hear how you get on. Will send a friend request, if that's ok.

PunkyRachel

I agree depression is hell, I ate crazy amounts of food when I was severely depressed almost 10 years ago. Then I never bothered trying to loose it once I came out of it. I was happy being overweight. Now that I'm in my late 20's, learning about my family's health problems, made me want to change and try and beat the cycle, cause I don't want to be the next one in my family to be diabetic, or have cholesterol problem, etc. So I'm here now and I'm not going to stop until I'm at a healthy BMI and not in the obese range anymore.

heybales

for the record, I do look at my measurements..that's how I know there are no changes...and really, if the scale didn't move but I LOOKED like I wanted and was nice and firm I really wouldn't care about the scale. I weigh myself all the time, whether dieting or not for s & g and it always goes up or down withing 2 lbs

I do tend to be on the slimmer side but carry ALL the fat in my tummy, and with long legs and a short torso....well, it ain't a good look lol

I think I will experiment with keeping current weight, exercising and lot dieting and see how that goes..

also, I will look at the links provided..

and I will try to pay more attention to eating right..I had thought I was doing that...cutting down carbs, fat, alcohol, upping protein and water intake, but maybe I need to get better at that.

If really no move to weight or measurements, than that means you no longer have a deficit. If you had a deficit, by definition, you would lose some.

Since you are eating at maintenance level now, that can only mean your metabolism has slowed down, because it isn't getting enough calories overall to work at the level it could and was working at.

How do you get it to go back up, it needs to be fed. Usually this means you changed or added exercise that is robbing the BMR of what it could use, so that means you must feed that workout.

The 1/2 lb goal is great and probably very realistic, but if workouts not fed, they'll take what the BMR wants.