Doing something wrong

dlyeates

I have to be doing something wrong!!! I started EM2WL, was eating the way I was supposed to, exercising my 3-4 days a week and following everything to the letter and I wasn't losing weight. FOR MONTHS!!! Then over the summer I increased my calories to 2000/day, with exercising which is a little under my TDEE (because I was scared to eat that much because I was already having weight loss issues). I gained about 3 lbs in those 8 weeks. After my "modified reset" (please don't bash....I need to do what I can to also stay psychologically healthy too) I thought I would shock my system into losing weight and did 1200 calories but only for about a week because 1) I saw no weight loss and 2) my darling hubby told me it wasn't a good idea. I upped it back to 1750 ish because under this way of eating this is where I should have been.......and NOTHING!!! I ate at 1750, lifted heavy (did the first phase of NROLFW), did cardio....everything I'm supposed to for 6 weeks and I GAINED 5 FLIPPING POUNDS!!!!

I'm in tears a lot of the time, I've stopped weighing in because I don't feel good about myself and I don't know what else to do. I looked back over everything I did and saw that the ONLY time I was losing weight (with or without exercise) was when I was eating 1200 calories NET. So I've done a 10 day, 1200 calorie meal plan. Added lots of veggies, lean meats, less processed foods and I've lost about 2 lbs. Due to an injury I felt this was a good time to do this since I haven't been able to work out....hopefully next week I'll be able to do something!!!

I don't think a NET of 1200 calories is all that healthy but in the last 434 days the only time I was losing weight was between 1200-1300 calories. And that was only the first 5 months I as on MFP. Since then I've gone down and up the same 3-5 lbs and now I'm 5 lbs more than that!!!

I don't want to lose lean muscle mass, I want to be leaner and stronger and lose weight but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Can someone please give me some advice? I'm still (now) 25 lbs away from my goal weight which barely puts me in the healthy BMI range. I'm 5'4" and 37 years old. Please let me know what I'm doing wrong!!!!

amberaz

I don't have any advice for you but {{{{HUGS}}}}

I can tell from your post you are going through a lot emotionally over the weight that you want to lose, and I just want to say that I have been there and I understand your feelings.

Have you had your thyroid checked? Maybe there is an underlying cause that is preventing you from losing weight. It sounds like you are doing everything else correctly. Try to take comfort in the fact that even though you are not losing the weight that you want to lose, you are taking care of your health in other ways. Fueling your body and exercising are very important to your over all health, even if you are not seeing the results you want on the outside right now. You are worth more to the world than what the number on the scale says, don't beat yourself up over not losing the weight.

emgel9

Sometimes changing what you eat can also shock your body. I know lots of people on here are low-carb haters, but I am not. I only have great success when I go low carb (whichever low carb plan floats your boat). And studies on body types have shown that endomorphs (us curvier girls) respond much better to high protein, low carb diets. Maybe you already eat like this, if so, sorry! But maybe give it a shot for 2 weeks? Try south beach phase 1 or something? Just posting this as a suggestion since you have been trying to hard!

LuluProteinFueled

I'm really sorry you're struggling. It's not a nice feeling.

However that 2lb you've lost doing 1200 is most likely fluid.

And only putting on 5lb whilst upping your cals all that time - that's actually a win.

Also, it seems like the only way you're measuring is with the scale. This is going to set you up for failure. If you've upped your calories and are training, there is going to be fluid retention etc. Have you measured? Taken photos? Clothes fitting?

This is a long journey, and unfortunately you can't expect results overnight. Some of us have been at this for months, years even. The only way to confirm your true TDEE (without a BMF or Fitbit) is to keep upping calories until you maintain on a particular number for a few weeks. Hence why the full reset is important. Then you cut, and your body recognises the new small reduction in calories and starts dropping fat hopefully retaining some of the muscle you've gained during your reset + training.

My scale has gone up 12lb since starting this journey, but my body has only gotten smaller and tighter. I couldn't give a flip what the scale says to be honest. I also know that a small calorie deficit is going to take TIME. But I can do it for life because I am no longer starving myself.

Throw your scale away and keep eating. There is no point going back to 1200 because you're under-eating and will eventually end up in the same place. Best to just have some patience and keep going. 5lb is nothing and is probably only water anyway. Read the stickies in this group and why you need to have patience and not trust the scale.

Sorry for the tough love :flowerforyou:

dlyeates

Thank you for the words of encouragement!!! It means a lot knowing I'm not alone in this journey. In the time I was doing the strength training and gained the 5 lbs my measurements did come down a little (about 1/2 an inch around my middle which was destroyed by my children). It just gets frustrating that I'm building muscle which is supposed to help burn fat but it's not happening. Once my wrist is better I will be doing the second phase of strength training and hopefully can lose a little more. The biggest change in the last year has been my bra size going from a 38/40 F to a 36DDD. To me that's huge. I know I need to focus on the the accomplishments of losing even a little in the inches department but it's hard to break the pull of the scale after so many years with a love/hate relationship with it!!! I'm trying though and keep trying to figure this all out!!!

LuluProteinFueled

Your measurements came down?! Why didn't you say so!! You were definitely on the right track, then! :happy:

And if the scale has gone up, yet the measurements and bra size have gone down, you're definitely losing fat. So I'm not sure why you think you're not. Maybe because it's slow this time. And unfortunately that's the hardest part. On 1200, especially at first, we're so used to seeing huge losses on the scale. But that's fluid and muscle mass and unfortunately not much fat.

Eating at a small deficit, change is a lot, lot slower. But you retain lean body mass whilst losing fat. And it's sustainable for life, right? :flowerforyou: