discouraged

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JennyLovesJimmy
JennyLovesJimmy Posts: 4
in Motivation and Support
I've tried for three years to lose some weight that I gained and it's been impossible so far! I've done things like this many times, I've eaten 1300 calories a day while burning hundreds of calories every day for six months at a time, I've tried every possible combination and I haven't had any progress. It's been incredibly frustrating. I stopped trying, stopped working out and stopped keeping up with my food intake several months ago, just because I was so discouraged. Is anyone else going through this? Has anyone gone through this, and eventually started making progress - and what did you do? I decided to try again, but I feel kind of hopeless about it. I don't have the money to pay for Weight Watchers or a gym membership. Stupid bills.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,081 Member
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    Start today by logging everything you eat. Spend $15-20 on a digital food scale..

    You don't need a gym membership, there is plenty you can do without a gym.

    Consistency and patience is all you need.

    Here, this is really helpful:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants



    Welcome to the site.:flowerforyou:
  • JennyLovesJimmy
    JennyLovesJimmy Posts: 4
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    I think I probably was eating more calories than I realized, because the programs I was using didn't have a lot of the exact things I was eating so I had to guess what may be similar. Also I didn't count my alcohol intake....haha. That's probably the main thing. I like whiskey for sure, and I like going barhopping with friends, and alcohol has a lot of calories, carbs and sugar. Anyway, until I stopped exercising several months ago, I was doing pilates and HIIT at home for 60 minutes 6 days a week. I was in great shape and my butt was super lifted and firm! Haha. But I still couldn't lose the weight. Maybe a lot of it was muscle weight at that point, and all of it's fat weight at this point. Thanks, I'll check out that link!
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    Welcome! Great advice already. If you weren't losing weight, you weren't in a calorie deficit, so I'm going to assume that your calorie counting was off (it is very common).
  • janessafantasma
    janessafantasma Posts: 312 Member
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    I don't have a gym membership or a fancy digital kitchen scale and I don't use dieting programs. I am also on a tight budget because I am a full time college student and I only work part time. Make sure you log everything you eat, for me, that is where I had to start. I thought I was eating healthy but after using MFP to log my food intake and have it breakdown my fats, carbs, proteins, etc...it really helped me out and I was able to adjust my diet so that I was able to see where I was going wrong. I also found out that I had celiac's as well. It can be a long road for some people but don't get discouraged.
  • lucan07
    lucan07 Posts: 509
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    I use scales and weigh everything one of the biggest helps to me at the start was reading this

    http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/

    It has all you need to know and if you log accurately and are honest with yourself the weight will come off, I have lost consistently at a rate of 1.2kg per week since reading this and joining MFP.
  • JennyLovesJimmy
    JennyLovesJimmy Posts: 4
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    I did start measuring everything exactly today, so hopefully that will help with the calories. And I exercised for the first time in forever last night, and am creating my workout for today and all this week since I won't have time to figure it out again until next Sunday. So hopefully!
  • Debbie_Ferr
    Debbie_Ferr Posts: 582 Member
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    I did start measuring everything exactly today, so hopefully that will help with the calories. And I exercised for the first time in forever last night, and am creating my workout for today and all this week since I won't have time to figure it out again until next Sunday. So hopefully!

    Great job! you can do it !
    One. Day. At. A. Time.
  • janessafantasma
    janessafantasma Posts: 312 Member
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    I did start measuring everything exactly today, so hopefully that will help with the calories. And I exercised for the first time in forever last night, and am creating my workout for today and all this week since I won't have time to figure it out again until next Sunday. So hopefully!

    Try Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I love it and it is only about 30 minutes so its great if you're busy and don't have a lot of time and you get results.
  • ScottH_200
    ScottH_200 Posts: 377 Member
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    I think I probably was eating more calories than I realized, because the programs I was using didn't have a lot of the exact things I was eating so I had to guess what may be similar. Also I didn't count my alcohol intake....haha. That's probably the main thing. I like whiskey for sure, and I like going barhopping with friends, and alcohol has a lot of calories, carbs and sugar. Anyway, until I stopped exercising several months ago, I was doing pilates and HIIT at home for 60 minutes 6 days a week. I was in great shape and my butt was super lifted and firm! Haha. But I still couldn't lose the weight. Maybe a lot of it was muscle weight at that point, and all of it's fat weight at this point. Thanks, I'll check out that link!

    Well, at least you're honest it seems ;-)
  • D8vidFitness
    D8vidFitness Posts: 104
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    How consistent were you when you said you worked out for 3 years? What is your routine once you're at the gym?
    I've had a gym membership ever since I was 13, it wasn't until last year when I decided to focus on consistent lifting.
    At that time I was goofing around, balling it up, and macking on girls that were my age @_@ good memories..

    but anyhow, pick any exercise and stay committed.

    Best of luck!
  • JennyLovesJimmy
    JennyLovesJimmy Posts: 4
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    I didn't work out for three years straight, no sir! Just off and on. This past year I worked out from February-August, which was the longest stretch for me since I was in college.

    I used to do/am doing again youtube exercise videos. I would do at least an hour of the videos, some days focusing on cardio or a particular body region, some days doing a full body workout. Blogilates was always my favorite. The instructor is kind of silly, and I'm not a huge fan of pop music, but she was motivational at the same time. She makes it a lot of fun. Some of her videos are really easy but some of them are really difficult - try some of her HIIT workout plans from this past summer and you'll see! Kettle bell swings followed by burpees with a pushup followed by....etc, I can't remember, but similar things, totaling up for an hour that includes HIIT cardio. It was the best feeling ever, to see my stamina and strength growing. I shouldn't have stopped just because I got discouraged that I wasn't losing weight. It's about more than losing weight.

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