I'm gaining it all back

Stardiva37

Let us see your diary and maybe we can help you get back on track:flowerforyou:

Stardiva37

like i suggested accept me as your friend open your diary so i can see what you are eating:flowerforyou:

Lozze

I'm not comfortable with opening my diary....It's nothing personal...don't get me wrong, I' m not binging on cookies or ice cream. And I usually cheat on Fridays and Sats, always lost before and now I'm really bombing...the cheating I do is with beer and snacks, but I do not drink on weekdays - ever. p.s I'm 35 and was skinny my whole life but when I hit 32 everything changed. I lost all the baby weight too, so I can't blame it on pregnancy.

Then people can't help you. Everyone can give general advice on what it could be by that's useless to you. People need to know what you're eating, calories, exercise and so on. You have the right to not open it of course but you can either keep it closed OR be given help. You can't have both.

Helloitsdan

This is silly.
Once OP really plateaus and tries 3 other things that wont work maybe she will be more open to advice.

again i'll say it:

You probably dont eat enough and you probably work out too much.

When cutting calories you put stress on the central nervous system.
when you work out you put even more stress on the CNS.
Stress triggers the bodies defense mechanisms to slow you down.

Open the diary or give the info needed or just stick to the app and good luck.

Some of us have helped 100s out of plateaus with sound advice but without all the facts were just clicking refresh.
PM me if you need specific help.
Maybe my friends and I can help.

rahrahrita

Try not to think of it as "cheating" on weekends. Just eat what you want when you want, but limit how much you eat. Add it to your MFP diary either before or right after you eat it so you can judge for yourself if it's worth it or if you should be eating something else.

mes1119

I'm right ther with you. I don't know what to do either. Wish I had a magic solution. I'll let you know if I figure anything out.

I am in delimma now. Eat or not Eat? excersise or not exersise? this significantly impacts my mood every day now. I want to give it up the I still hope there might some solution I haven't tried? I don't know.

you severely damaged your metabolism when you were eating 1200 calories a day for a year. that is why exercise and bumping up your calories isn't working. your body got used to the low calorie diet and slowed down your metabolism to match. it takes a LONG time to repair it.

SteveTries

There are some very well meaning people offering advice here but at least half of what I've read is wholly incorrect; it's the usual misinformed dogma that gets repeated time and again.

You haven't provided anywhere near enough information about your body composition today, when you started, how you've dieted thus far and for how long, what you are eating and how you are exercising etc etc for ANYONE to be able to offer MEANINGFUL and fully rounded, CONSIDERED advice.

There are an awful lot of factors to be considered before a meaningful plan can be put into place and my recommendation is that you seek out a nutritionist that comes with good references who you can sit down with and work through all those factors.

Reading between the lines I think you've probably been on a low cal regime 5 days a week with 2 days per week back at TDEE or even higher - if this is the case then you won't have screwed your metabolism up at all, so don't worry about that. Don't panic, it can all be sorted out.

lenaa50

Are you drinking plenty of water; pure natural water helps flush out any toxins etc and helps your digestive system.
dry drinking more water.
Fat is broken down and passed through urine, not the other way round.
so if you drink more water, you will encourage your digestive system and get it going again to help you lose the weight again.

But again, without viewing your diary, it is very difficult to ascertain your eating habits, how much liquid you consume etc.

SteveTries

Fat is broken down and passed through urine, not the other way round.

I think you'll find that fat is broken down and then metabolised as energy. That's the whole point of eating a caloric defecit - to stimulate that process.

yksdoris

Based on what some earlier posters wrote, I would agree that it could be muscle weight replacing what used to be 'fat' weight. My best indicator is my clothing- does everything from your lowest weight still fit? Numbers can be deceptive. Don't give up! Try, try again, and when that doesn't work, try something else

^^this.

muscles weigh more than fat but at the same time they consume more energy - that's why weight training is important aside from cardio, not only does it make you look more toned, it also allows you to eat more calories or, if you're eating less calories, then to lose more fat.

My gym pretty much forbade me to do any more than 5 minutes of pure cardio because (and don't take my word for it, I'm not all that certain they're right) cardio ups your oestrogen levels, which for females is higher than males anyways, and with heightened oestrogen you're more likely to build fat, particularly around the hips area. So what they're trying to do now is up my testosterone by heavily concentrating on muscle-areas (*kitten* & legs). I've only been on this new rhythm for about 2 months so don't know for sure if it's working - seems to be so far. Got to say I miss cardo for blowing off steam though. Really miss it, some days.

SteveTries

muscles weigh more than fat but at the same time they consume more energy - that's why weight training is important aside from cardio, not only does it make you look more toned, it also allows you to eat more calories or, if you're eating less calories, then to lose more fat.

No. Not this either. A man, taking mammouth amounts of GH or androgenic compounds might be gaining muscle at the rate being described here, but a woman, training naturally is not.

The metabolic increase of LBM is grossly misunderstood. Sure it's true but it's tiny.

christenwypy

Options I see for you-

*Maybe have a drink that is lighter (light beer or something else) and only fat free, healthy snacks on the weekends.

*Do an extra workout the day after your drinking and snacking also- an extra hard, kick *kitten* workout like a jillian michaels or an insanity to work it all off

*Stop drinking beer and snacking on that stuff altogether- even just for a week and see what happens

*Get out of your comfort zone, open your diary. I did not want to open my diary either, BELIEVE ME. You think I don't snack? Some weeks I snack every darn day. Some days or weeks are just completely a lost cause. I don't care what anyone else says or thinks about it. This is MY mission. I am only letting myself down, and not even if I take responsibility for what i do and work it off or do better tomorrow. Opening my diary occurred when I became 100% committed and decided that I was doing this NO MATTER WHAT. I was no longer going to half *kitten* it. I no longer wanted a way out of it just in case. I wanted to be held accountable. I wanted to be honest and secure. It's sort of like if you won't throw a pack of cookies away. Or if you are quitting smoking and you hold onto a pack of cigs. You do that because you are not fully committed. You think you might want to "go back." You need to reach a point where you say "No turning back now."

christenwypy

Also- everything I have read says if you want to lose weight you have to exercise 5 days for 60 minutes. You might need to increase it because I saw you do 3 days right now. I think the whole thing is we have to keep pushing harder and harder to keep losing. However, I don't think we should gain if we stay the same, just maybe stop losing.

Lozze

Also- everything I have read says if you want to lose weight you have to exercise 5 days for 60 minutes

That is simply not true. A person can lose weight with doing no exercise. Exercise for health.

christenwypy

I am sure they can, that makes sense because they create a deficit with their calories. Yet I have read so many articles that say doctors recommend 3 days to maintain weight and 5 to lose weight. My own doctor when I was not losing while I did 3 days of 30 minutes on the bike every day for months said I needed to increase to 5 days and add strength if I wanted to see results.

onmyway1101

Have you read the 4 hour body by Tim Ferris?

He has a weight loss routine and diet for women who have hit a plateau and other diets. I know of one family that did some of his stuff and they all lost some stubborn fat.

I am currently on his plan and I have lost 8.8 pounds this week alone.... He is a genius when it comes to this... Its pretty much clean eating and he says that you should eat 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up.... 3-4 small meals aday... High protein low in carb... So its pretty much lean meats, legumes and beans, and vegtables... Very satisfying and I have a ton more energy... How is your water intake?

jodycoady

I've been on here since Dec, lost 19 lbs and slowly gaining it back, I am not doing anything different, I cheat on the weekends, as I always did, and I've even raised my calorie intake as suggested. I am so depressed and discouraged. I feel like quitting and coming back so I will lose it again like I did before. What can I do? I am super depressed.

If you raised your calorie intake and are gaining, you should lower it back down.

Having said that, I highly recommend against a cheat day. You could be undoing all the good you did tracking all week. Track it all and be honest with yourself. If you can't sustain the goal you chose, back it off to a goal of .5 lbs/week loss and see if you can eat at that level while tracking every bite and not cheating.

I believe I tried go higher and lower both ways but nothing seems working for me now. I also tried a couple of months of losing .5 lb setting and nothing changed either. Sigh..I am really confused.

I don't cheap. Might be a day or 2 throughout the entire 2 month course.

"I cheat on the weekends, as I always did" ... from your original post.

So... um, do you cheat or not?

yes

jodycoady

Eating too little and working out too much will do this.
Yikes!

How tall are you and how much do you weigh?
Age?
Body Fat?

I'm 5' 4"
35
body fat is maybe 30, I dunno how to read it

albayin

I would just keep eating healthy and exercising. Then you know you are healthy and you feel good. You also feel thinner when you work out and eat well When you feel thin, you believe i yourself. When you believe in yourself you get results.

Giving up will never be a solution.

How much do you cheat on the weekends? Can you just have on treat on the weekends? Can you increase or change up your workouts?

I would keep going with it. I would not want to start again later o at square one with all sorts of health problems (that is me because I got in this because of health problems, not insinuating you have any).

seriously, I really don't fee good right now. One of the motivations to keep me exercising is to lose weight, but now I am gaining instead of losing. How can I feel "good" about it? I have been always healthy in my life. I agree that exercise is good for us but in a short period I know I won't be feeling good.

albayin

same problem. I have been eating high protein and very clean for over a year, within 1200-1500 calorie range. Then I added cardio and WT, now I "gained" all the weight back up and even more. This is really frustrating. I did first on 1200 calorie diet and lost about 10 pounds, then hit plateau. Everyone said I should bump up calorie and add exercise, so I did...I use to see difference in measurment now I don't see them. Everything just went back to where it began. I am depressed.

Honestly, you just wrote my story.

Yeah, honestly when I read your post, I thought" wow, this is really bizarre, as I was about to post the same problem!"