I've tried it all, but I cannot lose any weight!

Hi there,

I'm in the same boat you are right now. All my life I've been a slim person without trying. Then about 10 years ago my doctor put me on anti-depressants. From 130, I shot up to 180 lbs! I was aghast. I threw away my pills (talk about something making a person depressed!), ate a bit less and a few months later I was back down to 130 lbs. At 125 lbs people told me to eat more, I was looking too gaunt.

Never "exercised in my life" - always did hard physical work and loved it. When I farmed, worked 18 hours a day, carrying 80 lb bales of hay a dozen times a day, etc., etc., at 5'6" I weighed 104 lbs even though I ate like a horse those five years. Took me three years after I quit farming and just did normal work (sat on my tush in my opinion, only painted a church, renovated a dump of a house, held down a full time job and took university courses, as well as played badminton, curled in the winter, etc.), to finally get up to 115 lbs.

I've continued to be a hard worker all my life, but when the work needs doing - not according to some dumb exercise schedule.

At the age of 65, I weighed 140, fell in love with another slim person, and we are so happy together we both gained 40 lbs.
At a skinny 6' 5", Andy can easily handle 40 lbs. He calls it our "happy fat". I'm delighted to be happy, not so much to be fat! At the end of February, I weighed 177 lbs even though I continue to work hard physically and had started to moderate the amount I ate.

Doctor gave me this website and I have been faithfully following it ever since - not one bit of cheating, after all, it is only for me. My husband loves me at any weight and our life is great, except I am GOING TO lose weight. Decided on 1200 calories a day and always went under the calorie count and over my exercise goal. Lost 5 lousy pounds to date.

I'm convinced my metabolism is out of whack (I also moved from cold dry Western Canada to hot humid Florida 2 years ago when Andy and I got married). I always felt TERRIFIC on the birth control pill, and wondered if I needed hormones, including adrenal hormones as it took a year for Homeland Security to put us through the ringer and charge us $10,000 to approve us getting married - our nerves were really ratched. Stress has a big effect on everything, including weight. Been through any stress recently? She asks, wanting you to overlook the stress of the stupid weight plateau.

After 1200 calories a day (sometimes down to 800) for a full month, I weighed 171.8 lbs on 28 March. Today, 9 days later, I am finally back down to 171.8 lbs. Aaarrrgh, I could scream. So I know how you feel.

Saw a gynecologist this week, who recommended "From Hormone Hell to Hormone Well" and sent me for 6 blood samples for my thyroid (like he should have) and 8 samples of my hormones (including adrenals). Finally a doctor who is at least doing the right tests. Seems very hard to come by here in the USA. I will get copies of the results and study them and figure it out for myself what my problem is, in case I don't agree with him. He and I already don't agree about exercise. He says "work is not exercise." I wonder when was the last time he contributed something useful to the world during his "exercise routine"? He also figures I should eat a minimum of 200 carbohydrates a day. Nuts. It is carbohydrates that put the weight on me.

Anyway, I've given you a few ideas to look into. Hope this has been encouragement for you.

I was totally frustrated this morning when I realized it had taken me 9 days to get back down to 171.8, although 1 1/2 inches came off my waist measurement. But I feel better after writing you. Let's keep in touch.

My husband is supportive and no longer tries every day to talk me into eating scrumpdillyishous things (we are both great cooks and love to do everything, including eat, together), but he also is still eating absolutely anything he wants, including more than half a dozen beer each night, and his scale stays firm at 205. Oh well, if this is the only thing in my life that is unfair, I will handle it with good grace.

Anyway, a couple of things to think about for you.

Best wishes,

Gwynn Alcorn
Niceville, Florida

Decided on 1200 calories a day and always went under the calorie count and over my exercise goal. Lost 5 lousy pounds to date.


After 1200 calories a day (sometimes down to 800) for a full month, I weighed 171.8 lbs on 28 March. Today, 9 days later, I am finally back down to 171.8 lbs. Aaarrrgh, I could scream. So I know how you feel.

A few things.

1) 5lbs in a month is great - you are right on target.

2)You are actually probably eating too little if you are very active - 800 when working on a farm is gonna screw your body up.

3) carbs didn't get you overweight - eating too many calories did. If you are working hard on the farm (and screw the DR that is exercise) then you need the carbs for energy.
Have a read of this and change your calorie goals.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

Good luck

Decided on 1200 calories a day and always went under the calorie count and over my exercise goal. Lost 5 lousy pounds to date.


After 1200 calories a day (sometimes down to 800) for a full month, I weighed 171.8 lbs on 28 March. Today, 9 days later, I am finally back down to 171.8 lbs. Aaarrrgh, I could scream. So I know how you feel.

A few things.

1) 5lbs in a month is great - you are right on target.

2)You are actually probably eating too little if you are very active - 800 when working on a farm is gonna screw your body up.

3) carbs didn't get you overweight - eating too many calories did. If you are working hard on the farm (and screw the DR that is exercise) then you need the carbs for energy.
Have a read of this and change your calorie goals.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

Good luck

^this

None of this is helping guys.....
It just doesn't seem fair. I have an active lifestyle even aside from exercise. Bot my jobs consist of me walking and standing constantly. I've done the calorie count thing too and it didn't work.

If you have tried everything and logged calories and it didn't work, then I recommend you talk to your doctor. You may have other issues which keep you from processing food properly, a very slow metabolism or food allergies that makes you bloat and retain water rather than loosing. If that is so, you may need to go very low in order to lose weight, and you shouldn't do that without professional assistance.

If you have tried it all, then I have to break it to you, there is no secret to it. Everybody here are counting calories, logging food types, watching micronutrients and counting their minutes of exercize, nobody have a secret solution we are not sharing. I am really sorry about that, I wish there was one.

Good luck!

Its kind of like noone read my post. I HAVE tried counting calories a while back. That did not work.
I was always left hungry. And even when I was able to follow through, the results weren't significant.
And its not just as easy as typing something in and logging it. I don't always know how many calories the food at my University has so I tried to log in something but it was most likely incorrect.

You could try asking the cooks for that info, at the very least, they can give you the labels from the containers and you can research it yourself.

Its kind of like noone read my post. I HAVE tried counting calories a while back. That did not work.
I was always left hungry. And even when I was able to follow through, the results weren't significant.
And its not just as easy as typing something in and logging it. I don't always know how many calories the food at my University has so I tried to log in something but it was most likely incorrect.

You could try asking the cooks for that info, at the very least, they can give you the labels from the containers and you can research it yourself.

Most university food services have dieticians who oversee the nutrient content of the food (even if it is contracted out, likely some dietician-type person will oversee the contract and the nutrient value of the foods). She/he will have that information readily at hand and if you email him/her, they will be probably be glad to supply you with that info.

These are some things you can try that may help without having to count calories:

Eat small meals or a small snack every 2-3 hours so you are never at the starving point. You can actually eat a healthy snack up to 1 hour before going to bed.
Eat a breakfast meal or snack within 30 to 60 minutes of waking up
Make sure each meal or snack you eat has some protein and includes a slow carb food to prevent blood sugar spikes
Make sure your portion sizes are correct, for meats a portion is the size of your palm up to the first knuckle, for fast carbs a portion is about the size of your fist, for cheeses a portion is the size of your thumb, for slow carbs a portion is the size of two fists.
Avoid adding salt to foods and make sure no meal has over 700mg of salt
Restaurant foods are extremely high in salt, check out nutrition info for restaurants before you go.
Drink at least 8 cups of water up to 12 cups each day
Avoid all white flour foods, eat only 100% whole grain breads and cereals
Avoid fatty proteins, choose lowfat dairy products and lean meats but watch out for high sugar and salt added to low fat foods
Avoid packaged foods that contain a sugar or artificial sugar in the first 3 ingredients
Getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night also speeds up your metabolism
Focus on doing more resistance exercise to build more muscle to burn fat faster
If you exercise too hard and eat too few calories, your metabolism slows down so you don't burn any fat, you end up storing it.
36 min of cardio or 24 min of resistance training alternated each day with stretching is sufficient.

Hope something here helps you out.

I don't usually log here. And I've tried counting calories in the past. Its ridiculous, tedious, unrealistic and didn't work anyway.

BUT-you forgot to mention that it works.

The basic principal is Move more, eat less==losing weight. Of course that is very over simplified, but if you don't know the numbers for either, then chances are you will stay stuck right where you are at. Being fat IMHO is significantly more ridiculous, tedious and unrealistic. So is complaining about being overweight and arguing with folks who are trying to give you good information to help you and all the more so when you ask what's wrong and then refuse to at least consider that some or all of the answers and advice which may have sound foundations.

I will happily stay ridiculous, tedious and unrealistic as I lose the other 20-30 lbs. My 81 lb loss would tend to suggest to me that I am not, in fact, ridiculous at all. Counting calories accurately has been a tedious chore which has helped me achieve progress towards my goals, thank you very much!

The simplest question for you is this: "Is your way working?"

Weight loss is simple. It is calories in versus calories out. PERIOD THE END (medical anomalies excepting). So, either you start logging every thing you put in your mouth, find out how much you burn each day via a TDEE calculator ( I like this one: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) and you eat less than that, OR, you stay at 150 and keep whining about how no one gets it. It's not rocket science, and if calorie counting "didn't work" I think it can be chalked up more to user error.
"Until you want to be successful as much as you want to breathe, you aren't ever going to be successful." Time to put up or shut up.

log honestly just for a fortnight.do it if for no other reason than to prove us all wrong.best of luck

I don't usually log here. And I've tried counting calories in the past. Its ridiculous, tedious, unrealistic and didn't work anyway.

I actually took the time to go back to the time when you "tried" logging your food--way back in Sep 2011 for about 2 weeks. What I saw was lots and lots of "extra added calories" inputs; cheeseburgers; pizza; protein bars; a couple of lean cuisine meals and lots of blank space--then nothing. You're obviously not ready to do the work required and will be wasting your time and cranking out cortisol which will only add to your fat storage.

I suggest you just chill out until you are really serious about changing your lifestyle and ready to work the MFP system--which means logging, everything, every meal, every day---otherwise, go with Nutrisystem or Medifast where they TELL you what to eat...but be prepared to pack back on those pounds again once you tire of paying them for that service.

log honestly just for a fortnight.do it if for no other reason than to prove us all wrong.best of luck

agreed - nice challenge for you

This

Also, I love your profile pic. :DDDDD

join the club. What is going on??

Stop using the word "diet". It implies short term. What we're doing is LIFE LONG, so we have to find what we can incorporate into our lives for the rest of our life. Every single piece of literature I've ever read says count calories for the best results. At the end it's a numbers game and we can't win unless we know the numbers. The most recent book I read really all we have to do is log about 2 weeks because we are creatures of habit and eat the same foods (I know I do, I can tell you every calorie in my breakfast and most my lunches). Once we do that we have an idea of what we're consuming.

The other piece of the puzzle is not eating out so much (if that's something you do). Cook as much at home as possible, no matter what. It can be done in a busy schedule, I've taken one day on the weekend and cooked for the week.

Good luck

di·et1 [dahy-it] Show IPA noun, verb, di·et·ed, di·et·ing, adjective
noun
1.
food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health: Milk is a wholesome article of diet.
2.
a particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease: a diet low in sugar.
3.
such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight: No pie for me, I'm on a diet.
4.
the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group: The native diet consists of fish and fruit.
5.
food or feed habitually eaten or provided: The rabbits were fed a diet of carrots and lettuce.

Sugar coat it all you want it is diet related. In order to lose weight you must monitor your diet. Some call it lifestyle change some call it getting healthy...wtf does it matter at the end of the day it all goes right back to your diet lol let ppl call it whatever they want.