Really need motivation! Please help

izzallgud

Hi everyone. I'm 17 years old, and last November, I managed to lose 11 pounds with MFP on my iPhone. I was ECSTATIC. When I was 10 pounds away from my goal, I reached a plateau. No matter how little I ate, I just couldn't lose that weight. I did a bunch of research and I found the "calorie cycling" philosophy where I eat a little one day and A LOT the next. It worked for a couple weeks. The setback? I began to binge. I stuffed myself on those days when I allowed myself to eat a lot. Pretty soon, I began craving the foods that I didn't crave before. I just weighed myself and I have gained all my weight back.... I'm devastated. I've done so much research on this and worked so hard to lose that weight. My senior prom is in around 2 months, and I've always dreamed about looking good for it. Right now, I would just really appreciate some motivation, advice, or personal stories to keep me going again. Thank you guys so much!

Graelwyn75

Get yourself onto maintenance calories for a while, start working out if you aren't right now, then once you feel more stable, cut down a little and avoid gimmicks like calorie cycling. Try and stick to an 80/20 rule. 80% wholefoods, 20% for treats. It is more likely to hit a plateau from eating too little, as opposed to too much, and lowering your calories in response most likely led to your eventual binge response. Your body was retaliating from being undernourished.

You will lose those 10 Ibs again just fine, but do it the right way. Go on one the sites like scoobysworkshop, calculate your TDEE and eat 20% below that.