Can anyone help? Nothing seems to be working

jonnythan

Try low/no carb. Get yourself in ketosis by eating 30 gm of carbs of less a day. I bet in two weeks you'll lose those extra pounds. Our body can not store fat without insulin. Your body only secretes insulin in the presents of glucose (all carbs become glucose as it is the only form of energy our cells can use). In the absense of carbohydrates, you're body has no choice but to use fat as energy. Generally eat good proteins and leafy greens. Peanut butter is great when your jonesing for carbs. Give it a shot.

And.................tell yourself constantly that you are losing weight, not that you can't, your body listens to what your brain tells it to do. Also, going off birth control is never a bad idea. Hormones are tricking your body into thinking it's pregnant which is why you don't ovulate. I always gained weight when I took birth control pills.

Pretty much everything in this post is madness, including the absolutely factually wrong nonsense about insulin.

acogg

I see in your profile that you are only 21.... A lot of women (myself included) go through a weight gain of 10-15 lbs during a hormonal "settling" in their early 20s....basically your body at 18 may not be your "adult" body...and from what you described it sounds like you gained the weight in all the baby-making areas us ladies tend to! It doesn't mean that it will be impossible to lose it, but it may be an uphill battle because this weight (particularly if its still within a healthy range) may be what your fully developed body has settled into. Sorry for sounding like a cheesy video about puberty haha, I just really do believe its a pretty common thing to happen around your age.

Maybe really switching things up will help? Calculate your BMR online and eat that much (it will be more than 1200) and then add in a good strength training program to target that fat that loves our lady parts!!

This^^^^^^^^^

laurarose831

jonnythan and Marilyn, okay, this is very helpful and specific advice. I can certainly try increasing calories, either my overall goal to 1300, or doing a better job of at least accounting for "earned back" exercise calories... I've been noticing the sugar trend too, so I can work on that, any other suggestions? Specifically, other areas I can work on to eat "better" if I"m going to be eating more?

But I do feel like I've tried eating more... My diary reflects my most recent attempt to really cut back, but for a while, I'm guessing I was eating 1300-1400 calories, and I gained so easily. I definitely did not lose.

This is helpful, just to talk about this!

psych0kitty

Watch this Video from Layne Norton to see why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk

I have better things to do than watch some guy say "um" for 26 minutes, but thanks for the effort.

round_and_brown

This might not be the kind of help you're looking for right now (and it might make me a little unpopular around these parts), but have you considered that this is just how your body is designed? I definitely concur with the suggestions to eat more, but if you're eating healthfully and exercising and your body is performing well, then it's possible that you're just genetically predisposed to carry a little bit extra around your belly and hips.

Again, I understand that this is a site for weight loss and that's why you're here. However, I hope this little bit of extra weight doesn't stress you out too much. Healthy > skinny, and you're already beautiful!

gayle121

It's not neccessary eat more it's when you eat and how frequently. Always eat within a half hour of getting up in the morning. Starvation mode is your bodys way of protecting itself. When you don't eat, your body conserves energy. It learns how to burn less calories so it doesn't starve to death, which slows your metabolism down so..................calories in/energy out is not always an adequate formula. For your body to work as it should, it needs to know youre gonna fed it again. Then, it won't panic and hold onto every calories you eat. Many obese people get that way by not eating at all until dinner.

laurarose831

I know a lot of people feel that supplements are not helpful, but I had a girlfriend who ate 1200 calories, ran for an hour a day, and she was heavy. Her doctor put her on a couple of supplements, and the next time I saw her, she had lost 20 lbs. One of them was raspberry ketones. The doctor said her metabolism had slowed way down.

I hope you get it figured out.

Revisiting this, no idea what raspberry ketones are... but I have been considering reevaluating supplements/vitamins.

Can you get your metabolism tested?

psych0kitty

It's not neccessary eat more it's when you eat and how frequently. Always eat within a half hour of getting up in the morning. Starvation mode is your bodys way of protecting itself. When you don't eat, your body conserves energy. It learns how to burn less calories so it doesn't starve to death, which slows your metabolism down so..................calories in/energy out is not always an adequate formula. For your body to work as it should, it needs to know youre gonna fed it again. Then, it won't panic and hold onto every calories you eat. Many obese people get that way by not eating at all until dinner.

All of that has been scientifically tested and proven to be bunk.

jonnythan

jonnythan and Marilyn, okay, this is very helpful and specific advice. I can certainly try increasing calories, either my overall goal to 1300, or doing a better job of at least accounting for "earned back" exercise calories... I've been noticing the sugar trend too, so I can work on that, any other suggestions? Specifically, other areas I can work on to eat "better" if I"m going to be eating more?

But I do feel like I've tried eating more... My diary reflects my most recent attempt to really cut back, but for a while, I'm guessing I was eating 1300-1400 calories, and I gained so easily. I definitely did not lose.

This is helpful, just to talk about this!

Nutritionally, I'd suggest you up the protein goal at the expense of some of the carbs. I find protein more filling. And yeah definitely get the sugar a little more under control. All that granola is *loaded* with sugar.

It looks like you do some sort of strength training. I dunno what that is, but honestly my suggestion is to drop some of the cardio you're doing and start a real lifting program, with free weights. I know that's easier said than done but tons of people on MFP have done it, and they've been pretty much universally blown away by the results.

jonnythan

I know a lot of people feel that supplements are not helpful, but I had a girlfriend who ate 1200 calories, ran for an hour a day, and she was heavy. Her doctor put her on a couple of supplements, and the next time I saw her, she had lost 20 lbs. One of them was raspberry ketones. The doctor said her metabolism had slowed way down.

I hope you get it figured out.

Revisiting this, no idea what raspberry ketones are... but I have been considering reevaluating supplements/vitamins.

Can you get your metabolism tested?

You can, yeah. Turns out you can do it pretty directly too. There's a direct relationship between the oxygen consumed by the body and how many calories it burns. So they can put a mask on you, measure how much oxygen you're using at rest, and calculate a BMR. Which is kind of neat.

But I think it's unnecessary for you. I understand you're frustrated, but there are some obvious changes you should make before going down that route IMO.

laurarose831

This might not be the kind of help you're looking for right now (and it might make me a little unpopular around these parts), but have you considered that this is just how your body is designed? I definitely concur with the suggestions to eat more, but if you're eating healthfully and exercising and your body is performing well, then it's possible that you're just genetically predisposed to carry a little bit extra around your belly and hips.

Again, I understand that this is a site for weight loss and that's why you're here. However, I hope this little bit of extra weight doesn't stress you out too much. Healthy > skinny, and you're already beautiful!

I definitely appreciate your thoughts on this, and I fully admit that it's possible. But I am going by how I felt at a lighter weight and how I feel now. I don't feel good! I don't quite know how to explain it, but I feel fairly certain that my body isn't designed to be at this weight. I don't mean this in a vain messed-up-self-image kind of way, but you can see the extra weight, and it looks like just that, extra weight. I can certainly feel it. It's amazing how a few pounds make a difference!

Ivoryelaine

It sounds like to me you may be at your healthy weight right now based on your information. I would work on losing inches instead if you are not happy with your size. Women do not stop growing until around 21-23 years old. You may simply have finished growing. I agree with what was said by the person who said that you may simply have gone through a hormonal shift. Also, birth control does an awful lot of bad things for alot of people. Weight gain is just one of them. I used to be childbirth instructor and knowing what I know about it from my training I could never recommend bc pills to ANYONE. I have gone with out hormonal bc for over 16 years now, never an unplanned baby from it and I felt so much better when I stopped using them. Sex drive returned and my brain stopped being so foggy too.

blpnana

Read Brendan Brazier's book Thrive - he has a section in there on stress and what it does to the body - with all the nutritional reading I've done, his book is the best I've ever read. Look him up - it may help! Best to you.

laurarose831

Nutritionally, I'd suggest you up the protein goal at the expense of some of the carbs. I find protein more filling. And yeah definitely get the sugar a little more under control. All that granola is *loaded* with sugar.

It looks like you do some sort of strength training. I dunno what that is, but honestly my suggestion is to drop some of the cardio you're doing and start a real lifting program, with free weights. I know that's easier said than done but tons of people on MFP have done it, and they've been pretty much universally blown away by the results.

Sorry to make every answer another question, but this is so helpful. Can you (or anyone else who's had success with it) be more specific as to how to go about doing "a real lifting program"?

crystalfisher89

I see in your profile that you are only 21.... A lot of women (myself included) go through a weight gain of 10-15 lbs during a hormonal "settling" in their early 20s....basically your body at 18 may not be your "adult" body...and from what you described it sounds like you gained the weight in all the baby-making areas us ladies tend to! It doesn't mean that it will be impossible to lose it, but it may be an uphill battle because this weight (particularly if its still within a healthy range) may be what your fully developed body has settled into. Sorry for sounding like a cheesy video about puberty haha, I just really do believe its a pretty common thing to happen around your age.

Maybe really switching things up will help? Calculate your BMR online and eat that much (it will be more than 1200) and then add in a good strength training program to target that fat that loves our lady parts!!

I agree! I have a good friend that was about the same size as you and she gained 15 pounds over the course of a couple of years, but to be honest, she grew into her body. She no longer looked like a teenager, but a healthy woman.

BUT because you do want to lose weight and nothing is going your way. You should try a couple of things that don't focus on the number on the scale. Get your body fat % Normal is 20-25%, also take measurements, though you may not be losing pounds, you may be losing inches. Some of the weight gain may also be muscle mass. Muscle weighs a lot more than fat.

I would not recommend eating less than 1200 calories as that is said to put you at starvation mode; however that is just a generalization. Your body goes into starvation mode if you eat less than your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). For example, mine is 1500- this the minimum that you eat to keep your body fueled and in working condition. I have just started using TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) to just start my body fat loss- I am down to my last 15 lbs and the scale will not budge, but this is proving to be effective in inches lost. Basically you go online and find a TDEE calculator and get the total and minus 20% to lose a pound a week, though usually it's not a pound that you lose, usually it's much less as you are closer to goal weight and it helps when you hit goal and go into maintenance mode. You'll want to eat between your BMR and TDEE- 20% (closer to TDEE on exercise days) to achieve the best results. Hope this helps!

gayle121

actually it's not wrong at all...........................are in the medical field? Insulin is the hormone responsible for storing fat. It also escorts glucose into cells. There is nothing wrong with any of that but some people......................like myself, lose weight, quickly and safely on low carb diets.

Some people, like myself, lose weight safely and quickly on low carb diets. I did the "right way" and 3 months of 1200 calories a day, intensive cardio 4-5 x/week with nothing but a five pound weight lose that came right back the second I looked at a piece of cake sucked........................low carb, working out. I lost 11 pounds in 2 weeks and I don't eat enough and I'm not hungry. When I was younger, I did the low carb thing without the workouts and ate bacon...................went from 188 to 130 in 5 months.

We are different and so is how our body responds to diet and exercise. What works for you, may or may not work for me.

acogg

Is your ticker correct? You are trying to lose three pounds? I can gain and lose that amount in a few hours. We are women, we carry water. It's part of our genetic make-up, we can't do anything to change it. Under full load, my bladder can hold 1.5 pounds. (Yes, I have tested) I think your three pounds is just normal womanhood. You have at least 70 years to lose those three pounds, take it slow.

laurarose831

Is your ticker correct? You are trying to lose three pounds? I can gain and lose that amount in a few hours. We are women, we carry water. It's part of our genetic make-up, we can't do anything to change it. Under full load, my bladder can hold 1.5 pounds. (Yes, I have tested) I think your three pounds is just normal womanhood. You have at least 70 years to lose those three pounds, take it slow.

No, sounds like it's not. I don't know how to fix my ticker, but I'm trying to lose about 15-20 pounds at the moment.

queenbear5

I had the same problem when I was on BC. I switched to natural family planning and the weight literally fell off. I was so discouraged the whole time I was on BC because I watched my calories like a hawk and exercised daily. There was no losing, only gaining. I'd lose the BC if I were you.

jonnythan

Nutritionally, I'd suggest you up the protein goal at the expense of some of the carbs. I find protein more filling. And yeah definitely get the sugar a little more under control. All that granola is *loaded* with sugar.

It looks like you do some sort of strength training. I dunno what that is, but honestly my suggestion is to drop some of the cardio you're doing and start a real lifting program, with free weights. I know that's easier said than done but tons of people on MFP have done it, and they've been pretty much universally blown away by the results.

Sorry to make every answer another question, but this is so helpful. Can you (or anyone else who's had success with it) be more specific as to how to go about doing "a real lifting program"?

There are a handful of programs that are great for beginners, but they're all basically the same. You find a place with a barbell, and you do squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, and some kind of row or chinup. You typically do 3 of these per session, 3 times a week, with a focus on lifting progressively heavier weights. A single session is generally about an hour and I suggest you do cardio on different days. My personal recommendation for people in general is ~2-3 hours of cardio a week, and about 3 hours of lifting a week with one or two rest days.

To be more specific, the programs are Starting Strength (which is based on a book that is, IMO, the absolute best resource for learning the major lifts out there), Stronglifts, and New Rules of Lifting for Women. The latter book is apparently written in a women-friendly way but contains basically the same information.

Lifting really gets your metabolism going, makes you feel awesome, and helps you lose fat without losing critical muscle. Muscle is where you get tone and what drives your metabolism. Lifting heavy is also extremely good for your bones, as it significantly strengthens them.

Here's the standard picture I use to show what heavy lifting does to a woman's body: