What do I do when nothing works?

littlelady2b

It sounds like you have been yoyo dieting and what it can do is mess up your metabolism and confuse your body. Seeing as you have a nutritionist to talk to you may want to discuss that with her/him. I am surprised that she has you on such a high calorie intake though. Fad diets are very unhealthy for your body and most don't work for the long term you usually end up gaining the weight back plus more. The idea that if you want to weigh 180lbs you eat 1800 calories is interesting I have never heard of that even when I was attending university. It doesn't make sense especially since everyone is different and their bodies are in different stages of life which means following that could put weight on some people yet others would lose weight. I eat 1260 calories a day and I want to lose 90 lbs if I ate 1900 caloris a day I'd definately gain weight. Everyone is at a different fitness level as well some can't exercise enough to burn the calories to take weight off when on such a high calorie diet. One way to boost your metabolism is through exercise even if the weight isn't coming off being consistant and sticking to counting calories and exercising consistantly your body will eventually adjust, get out of the rut and start losing weight. Reprogramming your body after yoyo dieting is difficult I know I did it. Also consulting your doctor about your metabolism and maybe your thyroid and just telling him/her how you're feeling may also help you and besides consulting a doctor about dieting is a good idea anyway.

Not weighing and measuring your food on a calorie counting program also just sets you up for failure you have to know what you are putting in your body so you know how many calories you need to burn in order to lose weight.

aigoooooo

Does your family have a history of metabolic disorders?

AllonsYtotheTardis

Also, no I have not been meaduring

^^^ This right here. This is the problem, and probably 100% of the problem.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Okay, I've made my diary public. I would just like to add that the past few weeks have been weird because of finals and moving home from college, so I'm still adjusting to the way my parents do things and what I have to add or subtract from what they're doing.

Also, no I have not been meaduring because I have been on the meal plan at college, since I live in a dorm and it would be very hard to cook for myself and too easy to eat microwave food. So I eat (healthily) at the dining halls. And I know the look a lot of you have right now but I go to a very large school with very nice dining halls. Trust me on ths one.

Oh, ok, so no possibility of accurate logging then. In that case try to learn what a serving size should look like. Half a cup is the size of a tennis ball. 4 oz of meat should be the size of a deck of cards, etc. Avoid cream sauces, go for grilled meat when possible, etc. Until you can actually weigh and measure you're going to have to just do the best you can and adjust as you go.

cmeiron

Okay, I've made my diary public. I would just like to add that the past few weeks have been weird because of finals and moving home from college, so I'm still adjusting to the way my parents do things and what I have to add or subtract from what they're doing.

Also, no I have not been meaduring because I have been on the meal plan at college, since I live in a dorm and it would be very hard to cook for myself and too easy to eat microwave food. So I eat (healthily) at the dining halls. And I know the look a lot of you have right now but I go to a very large school with very nice dining halls. Trust me on ths one.

Oh, ok, so no possibility of accurate logging then. In that case try to learn what a serving size should look like. Half a cup is the size of a tennis ball. 4 oz of meat should be the size of a deck of cards, etc. Avoid cream sauces, go for grilled meat when possible, etc. Until you can actually weigh and measure you're going to have to just do the best you can and adjust as you go.

Yeah, bottom line is that you're underestimating your intake. SUPER easy to do without measuring; frankly, when I started measuring and weighing food I was SHOCKED at how bad I was at estimating proper servings. So yeah, learning different serving sizes is a good starting point for sure. You could also simply try reducing the amount you eat at each meal by, like, 10% and see how that goes. Do some internet sleuthing to figure out which foods you eat that are really calorically dense that you may not be considering or estimating well. It's not a huge deal if you're off by 25% on a bowl of romaine lettuce, but being off by 25% on things like cooking oils, nuts, trail mix, rice, pasta, granola and other cereals, etc. can add up super-fast.

ETA

Hang on a sec, you said you've moved back home for the summer?? GET A SCALE NOW. Use the summer as an opportunity to train your eye and learn servings of foods you normally eat at school.

DanIsACyclingFool

GET A SCALE NOW.

That right there ^^^

Crankstr

GET A SCALE NOW.

That right there ^^^

yep.

weigh as much of your food as possible

peanut butter in grams in WAY more accurate than trying to measure a tablespoon, for example

avatrx

I'm going to sound like everyone else but I was in your boat a few months ago. I blamed it on menopause. I did start keeping track of everything. A major pain since I make most things and rarely eat stuff that is in the database - with the exception of the junk food and booze.

I started keeping track. Took B-12. Took Iodoral ( an iodine supplement since I live in the rust belt where we don't get much iodine).

Wear my fit bit device which tells me where I'm at thruout the day, the switch over to the MFP site where it tells me if I've earned more calories than the 1200 I've allotted myself.

I don't know which of these things worked, but by and large - I have now lost pounds and inches.

I love a Margarita and my wine. I always mark down the calories for those.

I love to snack around Sam's Club and Costco so I have to guess at those, but try to guess high. I also try to eat decent food but don't look at my food diary as of late. Today I ate Cheddar and Sour cream chips and had 2-3 glasses of wine. I'm still under my 1200, but with junk......................

I"ve been know to buy a low cal Subway sandwich - 12" and have half for lunch and the other half for dinner.

If you're honest with yourself and write EVERYTHING down - and that still doesn't work, then perhaps it's a medical issue but do everything you can first and use that as a last resort unless your intuition tells you differently.

I"m 59 - not young like you. You should be able to lose weight quickly.

Get yourself a reliable scale. I have a WW scale - ($29). It measure 5 things. I've noticed that my body fat is decreasing and my water % is going up. That apparently is fairly normal as you gain more muscle even if the scale doesn't go down. My pants fit me again. That is a better indicator than most.

Hang in there. Don't give up...........You'll do it if you're honest about your intake and output. I want to lose 2 lbs a week, so that means a calorie deficit of 1,000 less than I need to maintain. I don't always make it, but I persist............

You can too!

bizzyeck

I see a lot of protein shakes in your diet.
I noticed I went through a can of Whey protein way too quickly ( it was suppose to have 20 servings)
Saw a post someone else wrote noting to weigh the Whey protein instead of just using the scoop.... duh, why didn't I think of that, I weigh everything else!

Point is you could be taking in a good extra 100 calories a day just from the Whey protein alone. Who knows where else yo may be eating un-logged calories. You must weigh all food.

wswilliams67

Turn the knob to 11... now go.

3foldchord

Have you read this?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12/

And seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

DITTO
Seriously, READ that roadmap Post if you have not yet!!?

breeZrizi

Its all about consistency
you have to be patient as well

-try eating protein like fish and chicken
-do not slack on veggies! the darker the better (spinach and kale are great for green smoothies)
-stay away from sugar as much as possible (a little fruit in the day is good)
-stop eating out! food prep! make your meals ahead of time, its easy to run out to chik fil a or order a pizza but have something ready to grab from the fridge. pre pack snacks in baggies and healthy dinners in a bunch of containers
-basically just eat clean, LOW sodium, don't over do it on the carbs, fresh fresh fresh foods
-if you cant pronounce the ingredients on the label keep it moving

cheat days are worth it! but try and keep em few and far between

Lengthy a bit but I hope it helps out. I dropped about 50 this way, im still working on the last 20ish

Alta2000

Hi are all these smoothies so high in calories? Do you add sugar? Eat more fruits as fruits, eat green salad with olive oil and vinegar for dressing.

pspetralia

Okay, I've made my diary public. I would just like to add that the past few weeks have been weird because of finals and moving home from college, so I'm still adjusting to the way my parents do things and what I have to add or subtract from what they're doing.

Also, no I have not been measuring because I have been on the meal plan at college, since I live in a dorm and it would be very hard to cook for myself and too easy to eat microwave food. So I eat (healthily) at the dining halls. And I know the look a lot of you have right now but I go to a very large school with very nice dining halls. Trust me on ths one.

There is your problem...now that you are home start using a digital scale and weigh everything that goes in your mouth. Bet you start losing weight.

runningcats

I too had a problem losing weight... it took nearly 18 months for me to lose 30 pounds. I tracked *everything*. When I went over my target for the day, I tracked it (and then didn't beat myself up for missing a day). When I had a glass of wine, I tracked it. When I had a Lindor Chocolate ball (and chocolate for me is a great weakness) - I tracked it.

I weighed my food, I got a heart rate monitor so that I could better track my calories burned (MFP and MyPlate were both *way* over estimating how much I burned) - and I started to lose.

In reading about eating healthy, getting to a healthy weight - I found that exercise is a must. Even if you are just walking, you're burning. But just as important: your body can get into a "rut" in exercise where it doesn't burn anything because you have trained it in a certain way. Change it up. Make sure you're getting in a good set of cardio (low-heart rate, fat-burning), and also strength training. Muscle will help you lose.

There will be days that you will go over your calorie goal. I'm a runner, and when I race - the two days after I race I am *famished*. I still weigh and track everything, but I listen to what my body needs. And then I get back into "game" mode and remind myself that I am not dieting, I'm choosing a healthy lifestyle.

Oh - and I'll agree with everyone else here: stay away from processed foods - that includes fast food. The calories in fast food are notoriously off (low) by anywhere from 20-35%. That's a lot of calories.

You *can* do this. Don't worry if the weight is slow to come off. I don't regret a minute of the 18 months it took to lose the weight. It's been 3 years now.

You *can* do this!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I noticed that your daily goal has changed - at least in the last week. You have several days at 1800 calories, but then you have a day at 2100 calories and one at 2300 calories.

The honesty part people have been talking about includes your goals. Don't change your goal to simply give the illusion that you are under your goal.

She's not changing her goal, those are her exercise calories.

runningcats

I noticed that your daily goal has changed - at least in the last week. You have several days at 1800 calories, but then you have a day at 2100 calories and one at 2300 calories.

The honesty part people have been talking about includes your goals. Don't change your goal to simply give the illusion that you are under your goal.

She's not changing her goal, those are her exercise calories.

Whoops - my bad. Thanks for pointing that out. Edited to remove it.

3foldchord

There are a lot of numbers between 1200 and 1800. It seems like 1800 is too many for weight loss for you. I would eat 1800 cals. if I wanted to weight 180 lbs. (rule of thumb).

bump! ive heard this before.. my sisters boyfriend said that.. like if you wanted to weigh 150 then you eat 1500 cals a day...160 then 1600 cals a day etc.. kinda cool

Complete ****ing nonsense.

Yesterday was the first time I had heard that!! My Brian says "Seriously?? People think that??" Just when I thought I had read all the weird there is on MFP.

(I eat 1600 cals a day and weigh 134 or less. And I know many other do not weigh a multiple of 10 of how many calories they eat)

ironanimal

There are a lot of numbers between 1200 and 1800. It seems like 1800 is too many for weight loss for you. I would eat 1800 cals. if I wanted to weight 180 lbs. (rule of thumb).

bump! ive heard this before.. my sisters boyfriend said that.. like if you wanted to weigh 150 then you eat 1500 cals a day...160 then 1600 cals a day etc.. kinda cool

Complete ****ing nonsense.

Yesterday was the first time I had heard that!! My Brian says "Seriously?? People think that??" Just when I thought I had read all the weird there is on MFP.

(I eat 1600 cals a day and weigh 134 or less. And I know many other do not weigh a multiple of 10 of how many calories they eat)

If it were true, I would have been starting out here between 450 and 500lbs.

cmriverside

I know we've moved on from this point, but the food scale is the MOST important piece of the puzzle.

I can spot 20g of cheese from ten paces. Seriously, the foods I eat on a regular basis I can eyeball within 3g. But it wasn't always thus.

It takes practice and consistency.