Very frustrated & starting to get depressed

I started last month to take this seriously because I was so depressed from not fitting into my clothes. I am running again (actually training for a half marathon), hitting up the gym, I even signed up for this crazy bootcamp class. I'm eating WAY better than I was before (no more eating whole pizzas, chicken tenders every day for a week, plus eating absurd amounts of candy, cookies, etc.). I actually think my diet is pretty clean right now. I have days where I do overeat, but no one can be perfect. Maybe I'm eating too much....

I'm really becoming frustrated (almost to the point of discouraged and depressed) that the scale has actually said I've gained weight and I have lost no inches. I'm tired of looking in the mirror and having to actually see I have made no progress.

Some advice? Look at my food diary?

Any bit of encouragement, advice...would really help

Replies

rml_16

Have you actually been tracking your calorie intake?

Eating clean doesn't mean you aren't overeating. Try weighing and measuring your food and actually tracking the calories you're ingesting and then see what kind of results you get.

kslatta

Hello,
I'm only been working at this seriously for a few months, and I DO see a difference. Some days I'm depressed for the same reasons you are, but then I look around me on this website and see that it is possible to change, one little bit at a time. Just log your foods for a while and get used to keeping track. Hang in there! It's a life-long process, not something that we win or lose at in one month or so...

You can do it!

Kimberly

thoma450

I have a food scale and measure everything I eat...I guess when I say eating clean, I included measuring/weighing the food (sorry)

_Moose51_

Keep fighting, this isn't easy but when you get there it is very gratifiying. Make sure you are being honest with yourself, are you working out hard enough? Are you logging absolutly everything? Can you do more? Be the person you want to be, don't settle for less.

deladypilot

Everyone is different and I do not believe 1 size fits all. So take a look at your numbers and maybe play around with it. some. I found that if I eat what was recommended to me, I would usually gain weight and not lose it. So I eat a little below (not a lot mind you). I try to make every calorie count without totally taking anything out of my diet.

What ever you do, do not give up. You do not fail until you quit. This is a journey to a new you and sometimes we have to try different paths to get to the goal.

TavistockToad

did yo uput all the weight on in a month? no? then yo uwont get it off in a month either!

there are 3 things you need for weight loss; to eat less, move more and be patient!

rml_16

I have a food scale and measure everything I eat...I guess when I say eating clean, I included measuring/weighing the food (sorry)

You said you "might be" eating too much and that you "overeat some days."

Sounds like you're eating too much.

Anonymouse7704

Maybe your overestimating exercise calories! Nearly 1000 is a lot to burn in a day, maybe eat back 50-75% of what MFP says you burned

LizL217

MFP is likely overestimating the number of calories you burn during exercise, so you may want to think about only adding back half of the calories it says you burned into your daily total.

It can be discouraging when you don't see results, but the key to this weight loss journey is consistency, accurate record-keeping, and adjustment. For at least 5 or 6 weeks, you should be consistently hitting your net calorie goal. If after those few weeks you haven't lost any weight/inches, or in fact you've gained, take your net calorie goal down by a little bit and experiment with that level for a few weeks (trying to be as consistent as possible every day). Continue experimenting, always for several weeks at a time, until you find what works for you.

Good luck!

annenhie

I'm no expert but looking at your diary you pretty much eat back all your calories lost from exercise too.
I know most people here say you should eat it back but I find that only eating half of my calories back tend to make me lose weight.
My food calorie allowance here is 1200 calories but I eat 1500 when I can. I usually log about 1000 calories lost from exercise.
Just find a food intake that makes your body lose weight. Hope that makes sense.

Seesawboomerang

What did you set your activity level at? Sedentary, lightly active, etc?

What is your weight loss goal? 1lb a week? Or more/less?

Are your calorie burns based on MFP estimates, or a heart rate monitor?

Adjusting your activity level to sedentary and logging all activity based on readings from an HRM will be most accurate.

If not able to play with the numbers, in the first instance you could not eat back half of your exercise calories and see how that works for you.

Be patient.

Do you feel better generally? Because that is worth much more than weight loss and inch loss.

Alanhalil

If you're going to the gym often maybe you're gaining muscle? You might not actually be losing weight but you should see a visible difference when looking in the mirror.

rml_16

So I glanced at your diary and you eat a lot of processed, somewhat high in sodium foods and very litttle fruits and vegetables. That might be part of the issue.

And you may very well be eating too much in general. Not everyone has the same basal metabolic rate and while some women can eat 2,500 calories a day and maintain or lose, we can't all do that, regardless of how much we're exercising.

strongmindstrongbody

If I were you, I'd average my calorie intake over the past couple of weeks, set my current calorie goal to 100 or so less calories than that average, and not eat any exercise calories back. This got me out of my weight loss funk. Good luck!

Busymomof003

I looked at your food diary. A couple suggestions.... take them or leave them. I don't know if it will really help! But I wouldn't eat all your exercise calories... Just in case they're not accurate. I would also eliminate oatmeal and oatmeal products. I know it's a healthy 'whole' grain, but my husband went through a period where nothing was much different but he couldn't drop weight at all... and his breakfast of choice had changed to oatmeal. Also, juice is just sugar, unless it's tomato juice- it's just a shot of sugar for your system. It' looks like you don't drink too much at any time, and maybe it's your way of eliminating soda or something, in which case that's a positive step... but one to maybe eliminate in the future. Also, a doctor who was telling my all about MFP recommended I weigh my meat before it's cooked and add that weight to my tracker. So 3 oz of uncooked chicken will then be about 2.5 oz of cooked meat. I don't know how you do it, but that can be hidden calories we're not aware of. HTH!

JayWalk39

Just looking at your diary, I can see that your calories are high, protein is WAY to low and carbs are to high. Need to get your macros in order.

Stick to around 1800 calories regardless of your calories burned (for a more specific goal you need to calculate your TDEE), at least .8 grams of protein per poun, .4 grams of fat per pound and fill the rest with whatever. Lower the carbs and you can see faster results (at least in some people).

franklinsmom

I didn't see any results for a while using MFP. I did two things that helped me begin to see results:

1. I got a heartrate monitor for working out. I found that MFP was over-estimating my calories burned big time. I love being able to really track what I'm burning off (or what I'm NOT burning off!).

2. I stopped eating back all the calories from working out.

The change is slow, but I keep telling myself: If I keep going, I WILL see results.

rml_16

.8 grams of protein per poun

.8 per kg, not pound. Some say 1 per pound of LEAN BODY MASS, which is not the same as per pound.

kjm_723

You skipped a lot of days logging in July. Log every day, every bite.

vikingpower80

Keep after it! When I started I was coming off a shoulder injury and had to change my entire workout idea..much less my attitude. That was almost six months ago. The same kind of thoughts started crossing in my head..how will I get down to where I want to be? Will I EVER get there again and still be as strong as I was? Well I stuck it out and as of today I'm less than a pound away! If you believe you can achieve you will...yes it's hard, most things worthwhile in life are. Mix your workouts...vary your cardio...keep it interesting.

wilsoje74

I only looked back a few days, but for a female I'd say you are eating a lot. Many meals 500-700 cals. I don't know your stats, but I know I eat about 1400 per day. Maybe 1700 when I exercise. What type of exercise do you do to burn 900?? That also is very high but maybe you exercise a lot. I burn about 300-400 exercising (running and weights) and occasionally 600-700 if I do a long run (yesterday I ran 6 miles and it was 637 cals). You eat a lot of processed food and snacks. Try one processed snack a day not several. That is your treat. Everything else should be real food. Veggies, fruit, dairy, proteins, etc. I think you need to decrease your cals to maybe 1800 max.

CollieFit

I looked back over a few days and you're tucking in quite a bit with many days coming in at over 2000+ cals.

What's your TDEE??

JayWalk39

.8 grams of protein per poun

.8 per kg, not pound. Some say 1 per pound of LEAN BODY MASS, which is not the same as per pound.

Nope! General guidelines below, however I estimated at the lower end of the protein scale as a minimum recommendation.

And yes, I understand that there are studies that range all over the place and there is no one size the fits all!

"General 'bodybuilding' guidelines for protein would be as follows:
- Moderate bodyfat and training load = 2.2-2.8g per kg TOTAL weight (about 1-1.25g per pound)
- Very Low bodyfat or Very Low Calorie or High training load = 2.4 - 3g per kg TOTAL weight (1.1-1.35g per pound)
- High bodyfat, high calorie, or low training load = 1.6 to 2.2g per kg TOTAL weight (.75 - 1g per pound)"

rml_16

.8 grams of protein per poun

.8 per kg, not pound. Some say 1 per pound of LEAN BODY MASS, which is not the same as per pound.

Nope! General guidelines below, however I estimated at the lower end of the protein scale as a minimum recommendation.

And yes, I understand that there are studies that range all over the place and there is no one size the fits all!

"General 'bodybuilding' guidelines for protein would be as follows:
- Moderate bodyfat and training load = 2.2-2.8g per kg TOTAL weight (about 1-1.25g per pound)
- Very Low bodyfat or Very Low Calorie or High training load = 2.4 - 3g per kg TOTAL weight (1.1-1.35g per pound)
- High bodyfat, high calorie, or low training load = 1.6 to 2.2g per kg TOTAL weight (.75 - 1g per pound)"

Where in the OP does it say she's bodybuilding?

bnorris2013

I have to agree with everyone else you are eating WAYYY to much

I also concur the question what kind of exercise are you doing to be burning 700-900 looking at your pictures you don't look very big so you don't burn that many calories per hour even with the hardest of training honestly this looks like your 2-3 hours of vigourous exercise

What I would suggest doing is cut yourself back to eating what MFP gives you Which is 1520 - If you exercise eat back 1/3 of your burn calories so if you think you burned 900 calories eat back a 300 calorie HIGH PROTEIN snack

See what that does for you I bet you start losing weight

JayWalk39

.8 grams of protein per poun

.8 per kg, not pound. Some say 1 per pound of LEAN BODY MASS, which is not the same as per pound.

Nope! General guidelines below, however I estimated at the lower end of the protein scale as a minimum recommendation.

And yes, I understand that there are studies that range all over the place and there is no one size the fits all!

"General 'bodybuilding' guidelines for protein would be as follows:
- Moderate bodyfat and training load = 2.2-2.8g per kg TOTAL weight (about 1-1.25g per pound)
- Very Low bodyfat or Very Low Calorie or High training load = 2.4 - 3g per kg TOTAL weight (1.1-1.35g per pound)
- High bodyfat, high calorie, or low training load = 1.6 to 2.2g per kg TOTAL weight (.75 - 1g per pound)"

Where in the OP does it say she's bodybuilding?

"Hitting the gym" and "bootcamp" requires a muscle build. Bodybuilding implies adding muscle and reducing fat...not becoming a HULK. Increase in muscle mass will result in a leaner body and higher metabolism / fat loss. And this is another reason why I suggest the lower end of the protein scale.

Snikkee

weight loss is one huge *kitten* experiment. IT IS frustrating, and will continue to be. Give your new diet and work out routine at least 6 weeks, if you have no results after being committed and consistent for that amount of time, change something in your diet or your work out routine.
Eating clean consists of

Lean meats: such as lean beef, turkey, chicken breast, fish
whole wheat, brown rice, veggies, lots and lots of veggies, and fruit.

your work outs should incorporate a mix of different things, such as:

HIIT
Tabata
heavy lifting

These are things that have worked for me. Everyones body is different, and everyones results are different.

rml_16

.8 grams of protein per poun

.8 per kg, not pound. Some say 1 per pound of LEAN BODY MASS, which is not the same as per pound.

Nope! General guidelines below, however I estimated at the lower end of the protein scale as a minimum recommendation.

And yes, I understand that there are studies that range all over the place and there is no one size the fits all!

"General 'bodybuilding' guidelines for protein would be as follows:
- Moderate bodyfat and training load = 2.2-2.8g per kg TOTAL weight (about 1-1.25g per pound)
- Very Low bodyfat or Very Low Calorie or High training load = 2.4 - 3g per kg TOTAL weight (1.1-1.35g per pound)
- High bodyfat, high calorie, or low training load = 1.6 to 2.2g per kg TOTAL weight (.75 - 1g per pound)"

Where in the OP does it say she's bodybuilding?

"Hitting the gym" and "bootcamp" requires a muscle build. Bodybuilding implies adding muscle and reducing fat...not becoming a HULK. Increase in muscle mass will result in a leaner body and higher metabolism / fat loss.

Oh dear. You are going to be eaten alive.

JayWalk39

.8 grams of protein per poun

.8 per kg, not pound. Some say 1 per pound of LEAN BODY MASS, which is not the same as per pound.

Nope! General guidelines below, however I estimated at the lower end of the protein scale as a minimum recommendation.

And yes, I understand that there are studies that range all over the place and there is no one size the fits all!

"General 'bodybuilding' guidelines for protein would be as follows:
- Moderate bodyfat and training load = 2.2-2.8g per kg TOTAL weight (about 1-1.25g per pound)
- Very Low bodyfat or Very Low Calorie or High training load = 2.4 - 3g per kg TOTAL weight (1.1-1.35g per pound)
- High bodyfat, high calorie, or low training load = 1.6 to 2.2g per kg TOTAL weight (.75 - 1g per pound)"

Where in the OP does it say she's bodybuilding?

"Hitting the gym" and "bootcamp" requires a muscle build. Bodybuilding implies adding muscle and reducing fat...not becoming a HULK. Increase in muscle mass will result in a leaner body and higher metabolism / fat loss.

Oh dear. You are going to be eaten alive.

Not really. I understand you cannot gain muscle and lose weight at the same time because you need a calorie deficit, however you NEED protein to preserve the muscle that you have...especially while doing exercise like Bootcamp and the gym (which I take it as meaning weight training). What about that is not true???

Snikkee

if you are working out a lot, you do need to be eating more, BUT clean food. I am 5'4 I weigh 157 and I work out about 2 hours a day 5 days a week. I eat 1500-2000 calories a day and I am still losing weight.