I'm gaining weight.....help me!!!

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mandapanda721
mandapanda721 Posts: 31
in Health and Weight Loss
I went from 143 pounds at 16 years old to 116 at 17 years old and back up to 136 and I'm 18 :( I am 5'4. I am sooo upset. None of my clothes fit. I stopped weighing myself in April when I weighed 130 and since then have been dieting, but when I stepped on the scale I weighed 133!!! Then I started exercising for a week and I weigh 136!!!! Help! I am freaking out! I am going to college soon and I don't wanna be the fat pig I was when I was 16. Why am I gaining weight? I eat about 1200 calories a day and theoretically should weigh 125 right now but instead I'm 136. I don't understand. I thought exercise would help but it made me put on another pound! I eat stevia and I used to smoke but I quit. I also chew a lot of gum. Could those things be factors?? Helphelphelp I want to weigh 125 by mid- July! Someone tell me how eating 1200 calories and exercising isn't working?
I got to 116 by exercising and eating only 700 - 1200 calories a day, which is unhealthy. I ate stevia back then and chewed a lot of gum. Durig the year I went through a period where I drank diet soda and smoked, do you think those messed up my metabolism? I haven't touched diet soda since march though. And I haven't smoked since April. What in the world is going on????????? Is something wrong with my thyroid?

Replies

  • elainecroft
    elainecroft Posts: 595 Member
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    Take a deep breath and do the following things:

    Eat real, non processed foods, with lots of fruits and veggies.
    Track what you eat and write it all down, every last bit of it.
    Exercise.
    If you are really concerned that it might be a health problem, talk to your doctor.

    Start doing these things and see what happens. If you are losing like you want to, great. If you are not losing, then start making small adjustments. A lot of the time the problem is consistency, or eating more than you think, etc. You need to build some data and start understanding how your body works, and this will help you understand what you need to do.
  • Lupercalia
    Lupercalia Posts: 1,857 Member
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    If you open your food diary people can give better advice.

    Are you tracking everything accurately? By that I mean weighing all your food on a digital scale and recording it? Are you tracking oils, salad dressings, condiments, etc?

    How about exercise? What do you do for exercise--tell us what you do and how often. Are you tracking your calorie burns and eating back exercise calories?

    You didn't screw up your metabolism by smoking, chewing gum, or drinking diet sodas.

    There could be something wrong with your thyroid, but it's far more likely that you're overestimating your caloric intake/calorie burns.

    Are you sleeping? Under a lot of stress?

    Do you drink alcohol? If so, do you track those drinks/mixers accurately too?
  • camila_scl
    camila_scl Posts: 238 Member
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    I'ts always a good idea to check the thyroid.
    Also, are you measuring your food? or are yous aying "I think that's 4 oz" and loggin it? Maybe you think you are eating 1200 calories and you are not.

    Are you loggin EVERYTHING? or just the big meals? maybe you are snacking more than you should and haven't notice.

    Eating less then 1200 a day is really not good for your health. It helps when you are doing those SOS diets that last like 3 days, but not every day.

    Keep excercising, eat at least 1200 calories a day and you will see results eventually. Again, measure food, it's really important. If you "mess up" your methabolism before, exercise will fix it.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    your internal organs are bigger now than they were when you were 16 or 17, and you'll have grown in other ways too, e.g. wider hips, maybe slightly wider shoulders. It's not realistic for you to aim for how much you weighed at 17.


    1. throw your scale in the bin. Just get rid of it completely. You are basing your entire self esteem and self worth and pretty much your entire identity on a number on a scale... you're freaking out about it... seriously, that's not healthy. You're young and beautiful. Don't throw your youthful happiness away based on some stupid number on a scale!!!

    2. do exercise to be fit, strong and healthy, and to enjoy it

    3. eat food to supply your body with all of the following: protein, fat, carbs, vitamins, minerals, fibre, water. Include all foods that you like in moderation. ENJOY your food. Exercise good portion control, but also remember that food is fuel to keep your body running properly. Most women in your situation actually need to eat more, not less, to get the body they want.

    4. focus on what you look like in the mirror and how your clothes fit. If you look hot, then you are hot, no-one who is worth anything cares about what you weigh. Focus on being healthy - healthy looks great. If you have a healthy lifestyle, you will be healthy and you'll look great and feel great.

    5. seriously, stop caring how much you weigh. Aim to be fit, strong and healthy and to look good in the mirror. Screw the scale. Some women actually look much better when they weigh more, due to being fit, strong and having a low body fat percentage: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
  • mandapanda721
    mandapanda721 Posts: 31
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    Thanks for all of your help everyone :D I'm going to start making my diary public starting next week and I am going to start a low-carb diet. Apparently I was 140 not that long ago and I actually lost weight, my mom saw my weight on the scale but wasn't telling me. so I actually lost four pounds.... I want to weigh 120 by September. Do you think I can do it??
    I have dropped 8 pounds on a low carb diet before but I never stuck with it. What do you guys know about low carb and why is it so effective?
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    Do not start low carb unless you plan on spending the rest of your life being low carb, ie, forget ever having cookies, bread, cake, ice cream, chocolate, potatoes, pasta, rice etc again.
    Many on here, in fact probably the majority, have lost weight by simply sticking to a deficit, exercising. eating mostly healthy with a balance of protein, carbs and fats, and keeping things realistic. You do not have much to lose, so should be setting yourself to lose 1/2 Ib a week, and remember, diets tend to fail, whereas lifestyle changes tend to be more enduring.
    You do not want to set yourself up for a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, or bugger up your metabolism at such a young age.
  • gege0404
    gege0404 Posts: 17
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    carbs are not the enemy.
  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
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    I have lost 25 pounds with home food and fast food with plenty of carbs, they aren't bad! Just always eat in moderation

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