PLEASE someone help me...no weight or girth loss in 5 months

Having been in the same situation for around 12 months, exercising like crazy, eating well nothing was working. No weight change, no inch change, no body fat % change. I was in despair like you, then a friend pointed me in the direction of the Harcombe diet. It's not easy but I was desperate, I am currently 4 days into Phase 1 which is 5 days long. Phase 1 is effectively a detox but I have to say I haven't been hungry. All I can tell you is that 3 days in I had a look on the scales and I was 3lbs down, 2.5lbs of which was body fat. My jeans are falling down, the furry crap on my tongue has all but disappeared.

The diet effectively eliminates processed food, you eat "real" food. My friend has been in Phase 2 for a couple of weeks and says she feels fantastic, better than she has done for years. I am still fighting with the withdrawal symptoms but cannot wait for Tuesday, when I can introduce certain foods back into my diet. Having said that even with the headache etc, I do feel much better on the whole, no bloat, less tired, slept like a baby last night for the first time in over a year.

It is worth a read if nothing else, I have read tons of diet books over the years, most of them I have not implemented because they were crazy. This one made so much sense, she described me to a tee and its doable, very doable.

Good luck
Mandy x

Having been in the same situation for around 12 months, exercising like crazy, eating well nothing was working. No weight change, no inch change, no body fat % change. I was in despair like you, then a friend pointed me in the direction of the Harcombe diet. It's not easy but I was desperate, I am currently 4 days into Phase 1 which is 5 days long. Phase 1 is effectively a detox but I have to say I haven't been hungry. All I can tell you is that 3 days in I had a look on the scales and I was 3lbs down, 2.5lbs of which was body fat. My jeans are falling down, the furry crap on my tongue has all but disappeared.

The diet effectively eliminates processed food, you eat "real" food. My friend has been in Phase 2 for a couple of weeks and says she feels fantastic, better than she has done for years. I am still fighting with the withdrawal symptoms but cannot wait for Tuesday, when I can introduce certain foods back into my diet. Having said that even with the headache etc, I do feel much better on the whole, no bloat, less tired, slept like a baby last night for the first time in over a year.

It is worth a read if nothing else, I have read tons of diet books over the years, most of them I have not implemented because they were crazy. This one made so much sense, she described me to a tee and its doable, very doable.

Good luck
Mandy x

It is great to eat like this....I already am though. I kicked it off with something very similar. I don't eat processed food, but only live, whole foods. Some days I finish with calories to use but have eaten my allowance of fat, carbs and protein because everything I eat is good and I am not eating empty cals. I did lose 5 pounds over the 4 weeks I did it, but that was back in September and since then I have continued eating in the same vain but lost nothing. I do like the idea of testing if I am allergic to any goods, but if I am, would that make me hang on to the fat? I eat good fat and enough omega 3 so I really am doing everything I should. I despair.

The Harcombe Diet identifies any food intolerances, in the first five days you exclude, wheat and dairy. You also don't count calories ever! In Phase 2 you do not mix carbs and protein in any meal, its one or the other, so your body has no option but to use fat for energy with a purely protein meal. All I know that so far its broken my massive plateau and I am loving it, I don't have much weight to lose and look forward to hitting my goal soon. Hope you find something that works for you. xx

So, OP, why are you still eating exercise calories since you have decided to go with TDEE minus 500? Because, your RMR should work as your weight loss number. RMR and BMR are not the same. RMR plus the 500 for your daily activity should work out the same as your maintenance amount. I'm just confused why you are using TDEE minus 500 and THEN adding exercise cals. That's backwards. Try eating between 1700 and 1800 - don't add in exercise cals, and do that for a month. You don't have much to lose, it's a very fine line to walk when you are there.

There's no sobbing in weight loss. Chin up.:flowerforyou:

I know if I ate 2000 cal per day I would never lose weight. I would probably gain. I'm about at my goal weight but I eat between 1200-1600 cal per day. I don't know your stats so it's hard to tell, but 2000 seems very high for a female to lose. I'm not saying you can't, but seems high.

It really sounds like you are making a great effort - so your frustration is ver yunderstandable. Have you contacted your physician? Maybe getting some blood work done would be helpful. Have your thyroid checked, etc. There could be something else going on with you medically that might be able to explain why you aren't seeing progress as you'd like.

I know the goal is weight loss - as is mine, but remember... everytime you eat something healthy or you exercise, you are doing something GOOD for yourself regardless of what that stupid scale might say.

Good luck.

My first question is, are you eating 80-90% natural whole foods? Anything that comes out of package doesn't count. If you can't grow it or farm it or hunt it yourself, it isn't a natural food.

There has been recent scientific evidence that processed foods are the cause of inflammatory diseases. Get off any processed foods and avoid any restaurants that are not organically sourced/ fresh and natural foods (this pretty much means no chain restaurants).

Other items to avoid: vegetable and corn oil (canola and safflower may be as bad as trans fats), artificial sweeteners, flavored beverages-even the diet kind, grain based foods like breakfast cereal, bread, pasta, crackers, tortillas etc., and sugar of course.

Make sure you are getting most of your daily fat from saturated fat sources. Saturated fats are the building blocks of new muscle tissue. Saturated vegetable fats are best such as coconut oil and palm kernel oil. But it's okay to get some saturated fat from meat sources and dairy, too. Stick with the monounsaturated oils as much as possible. Olive oil and Grapeseed oil are both great natural sources of fat. Grapeseed oil is wonderful for cooking as it has a very high smoke temp and is practically flavorless.

Are you eating vinegar or other fermented foods daily? Add in some fresh (not canned or jarred) sauerkraut or kim chee to your weekly diet. Also yogurt or kefir are excellent sources for replenishing gut flora necessary for nutrient absorption.

I managed to fix a lot of medical problems through changing up my diet. I suffered from depression, IBS, fatigue, frequent colds and flu (I had a flu that lasted 29 days in Dec 2011-Jan 2012), insomnia and boughts of sleeping 12+ hours a day. I had female issues like horrible periods, fibroid tumors on my uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes.

Oh yeah, and I was fat. I'm pretty sure the standard American Diet was to blame. Of course, I'm not a doctor or a scientist or a dietician, but I do know that I feel better now and I feel worse when I eat junk food too often.

I also have been having the same problem. I am 36 years old, and started this journey in early January. I have been eating pretty healthy for quite a while now, but started eating even healthier, cutting out nearly all processed foods this year. I have been exercising at least 3 days per week at the gym for 1-2 hours at a time, plus one day at home doing Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30. I do strength training and cardio, and have definitely gained muscle tone and I can tell my heart is healthier.

However, I really haven't lost much weight at all. In fact, I keep gaining and losing the same 4 pounds over and over. I have tried adjusting my calorie intake from 1200 to 1350 to 1475, and almost always eating back 50-75% of my exercise calories.

There has been only one week this whole nearly 5 months that I didn't do my exercise routine (I was sick). I usually only have one cheat day on the weekend. And I don't know what else to do. I will keep exercising and eating healthy, but as of last week, I have given up on counting calories. It isn't getting me anywhere. I hate to say it, but I feel like the only way I will ever be able to lose weight is to go back on the Atkins diet, because that is the only way I have been able to successfully lose weight before. I lost almost 50 pounds 10 years ago, and kept it all off until this past year. That was when I decided to try eating more of a balanced diet, adding back in some extra "good" carbs.

So believe me, I feel your frustration. Hope that we can both find something that will help us. Even though I gave up on calorie counting for now, I am not giving up hope of losing this extra 20 pounds!