525 Days With MFP...Have Lost All Motivation

Let me share my story, hopefully it will help. I lost 171 lbs over 3 years and was within pounds of my goal weight when menopause, vitamin D deficiancy and depression set in. I gained 80 lbs back over the past 2 years. I couldn't take it anymore, my beautiful cute close staring at me in the closet every day. This year, I've been busting *kitten* to pull it together and joined MFP last week. I don't weigh until tomorrow but I feel so much better and I am back in control of what I put in my mouth.

The take away for me was to remember all that I once knew to be true about my weight loss, exercise, eat high protein, fruits and veg are a must at every meal are keys to my success. When I lost my first 100 lbs it was by loosing 5 lbs one week, gaining 2 the next, it was because of that process that I focused on what I was eating and doing not what I was weighing. The net affect is the same, the journey was just unconventional. Remember too as you build muscle, you gain weight initially but as you build more you burn more fat, so in the end you look and feel better.

I am sure you will pull it together and we are all here to support you!

I have found the problem: you aren't eating enough.

Figure out your TDEE and subtract 15% from that, and eat that number of calories.

I have a friend here two was stuck in a plateau for a whole year. She upped her calories and immediately began losing again.

If you did decide to just give up, how are you going to feel about yourself in a month, or this summer? Besides weight, what would you gain in your life?

Perhaps you need to give it a mental break for a week or two and just eat at maintenance. I believe it's possible that stress and depression leads to stalled or even reversed weight loss. There is a hormone called cortisol that is elevated when we are stressed.
I read this on fitness blog:
"Cortisol, as you know, is one of the stress, fight-or-flight hormones. It kept us alive and our wits about us under short-term life-or-death situations for much of our evolution. Unfortunately, when cortisol is constantly elevated – as it often is in the sleep-deprived and chronically-stressed – testosterone is muted. Cortisol is catabolic (breaks tissue down), while testosterone is anabolic. Excessive levels of cortisol produce insulin resistance, fat gain, and muscle wasting, while testosterone promotes muscular hypertrophy and lean mass gains. Cortisol contributes to metabolic syndrome, while testosterone helps alleviate it."

Try to get some vitamin D-3, try to get some sunshine, try to make your next goal relaxation, inner strength and confidence. Hang in there! You are not alone in the winter doldrums.:flowerforyou:

Instead of eating at the low 1200 calorie level have you ever calculated your TDEE and just eaten at a 10-20% deficit? It worked for me after I began to gain eating at MFP's maintenance suggestion.

Our bodies really do learn to adapt at low calorie levels, just like in famine times, and it throws off the metabolism at that point.

In your profile you describe that you do alot of sitting, but I'd still bet you are eating below your BMR (basic coma survival calories) and your body has adapted.

Try figuring out your TDEE which will include your BMR and activity calories, then take off a small percentage and see if that gets you back on track. It may take some time, so be patient. You don't want to mess up your future being a yo-yo dieter like so may women (including myself) have done.

Good Luck!

I disagree with the people that are saying you aren't eating enough, your calorie intake looks reasonable.

Your problem appears to be consistency. The first thing you need to do is get back on track with your workout routine. You have to find something you can stick to.

Once you do that, keep your calories consistent. If you're not losing anything, cut back on the calories some and/or add a little more activity.

*Edit: I think the confusion here is that people are looking at only today. If you go back a few days, you'll see she's eat 1500-1600.

Weight loss isn't just about exercise, it's about your food too - actually, it's more about your food choices.

Why is your goal so low? Start there. Your goal isn't even your BMR - DO NOT EAT BELOW YOUR BMR. (Calculate your numbers here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/)

I was stuck for 9 months and finally found the combination of food and exercise that got my scale moving again, but it was more about the calories and types of foods I was eating then anything.

Check out these as well:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

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

You can find that motivation again - reach out to your support here and don't give up!

You rock SOCKS!! First you get through a nasty natural disaster like Sandy, where basic services and life in general is TOTALLY out the window, and then you gain ten pounds through just trying to get by.. Life honest to god isn't fair sometimes.

She's a cruel mistress, that one.

But you don't have to accept it, you DON'T have to come to understand that you are made to be a weight that you aren't comfortable with. You CAN do this, you just need to re-juice. Having a look through your food diary and there are several things you can do right now to help kick those last 15 pounds out the door FOREVER.

First, you need to realize that there is a metabolic cost associated with eating different foods. When we eat, there is a correlated energy expenditure by our bodies to assimilate the micro and macro nutrients in that food. Protein costs our bodies a LOT of energy to break down the long chain amino acids into smaller aminos that can travel throughout our bodies and pass through our cell walls.

Fats, on the other hand, have a very LOW metabolic cost associated with absorbing and assimilating them. Fats are essentially fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule. They have to undergo very little change for our bodies to use them in hormone production, fat storage, and glycogen synthesis in our liver.

Carbs also have a low cost associated with them, but not as low as fat. And carbs that are eaten with fiber and vegetables take even more work to break down.

There are several ways that you can cut down on your fat intake, you don't have to say no to cheese ALL the time, but reduce the frequency of it's intake. Same with mayonaise. I'd even go out on a limb to say that simple sugars are more preferable to eating than fats, simply because it takes more energy to turn consumed sugars into fats.

There is also quite a bit of restaurant eating in your food diary. While it's not wrong, or even bad to eat out, You should be aware that there is no governing body who regulates and checks the calorie counts on a given restaurant's nutrition information. More often than not, they are caught serving food that is up to TWICE as high in calories as the menu listed. An extra dollop of sauce, an extra 30 seconds in a frier, or a slightly larger portion than what was used to calculate that meal's calorie content than what was tested in the lab means that you really should overestimate the caloric content of a restaurant meal by about 20%

http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2012/08/wrong-calorie-counts.html

http://www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/1497-calorie-counts-menus-accurate-inaccurate-restaurant-calorie-counts.html

http://news.yahoo.com/restaurants-calorie-counts-wrong-research-finds-204604334.html

So, in short, if you aren't seeing your body fat % dropping like you want, then you should add more protein to your diet, lower the amount of fat you consume whenever you can, and count restaurant calories as skeptically as possible.

The key to the body you want IS 85% diet and 15% exercise. You CAN do this, it just requires a little bit more vigilance.

Weight loss isn't just about exercise, it's about your food too - actually, it's more about your food choices.

Why is your goal so low? Start there. Your goal isn't even your BMR - DO NOT EAT BELOW YOUR BMR. (Calculate your numbers here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/)

I was stuck for 9 months and finally found the combination of food and exercise that got my scale moving again, but it was more about the calories and types of foods I was eating then anything.

Check out these as well:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

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

You can find that motivation again - reach out to your support here and don't give up!

Telling someone who is not losing weight at an average of 1500 calories to eat MORE is like telling a heroin addict that can't stop to take another hit. If you can eat more than her and lose, fine, but don't advise her to do as you do.

She should leave her calorie values ALONE, and change the composition of her diet to be MORE in favor of protein, and more biased against FATS.

Weight loss isn't just about exercise, it's about your food too - actually, it's more about your food choices.

Why is your goal so low? Start there. Your goal isn't even your BMR - DO NOT EAT BELOW YOUR BMR. (Calculate your numbers here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/)

I was stuck for 9 months and finally found the combination of food and exercise that got my scale moving again, but it was more about the calories and types of foods I was eating then anything.

Check out these as well:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

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

You can find that motivation again - reach out to your support here and don't give up!

Telling someone who is not losing weight at an average of 1500 calories to eat MORE is like telling a heroin addict that can't stop to take another hit. If you can eat more than her and lose, fine, but don't advise her to do as you do.

She should leave her calorie values ALONE, and change the composition of her diet to be MORE in favor of protein, and more biased against FATS.

Ohrlly?