What the hell am I doing wrong????

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amirahdaboss
amirahdaboss Posts: 921 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I joined MFP this past August and until about a month ago, I was steadily losing weight. I started off here weighing 155 pounds and got down to 140 at one point. I did this by eating approx. 1200 calories a day and exercising 3-4 times a week. Lately however, I've noticed I'm actually GAINING WEIGHT. As of right now I'm supposedly 151 pounds again and I don't understand what I'm doing wrong! It's getting extremely frustrating and completely stressing me out. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong and how to drop the pounds quickly again? I'd definitely appreciate it because this is making me very depressed
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Replies

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    you are somehow eating more, overestimating calorie burns, or both ..

    what have you changed about diet?
  • broox80
    broox80 Posts: 1,195 Member
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    I know all about dropping weight quick, been doing it since I was in high school. It has taken me a year to lose almost 55 pounds and I still have about 45 more to go. I finally feel like i am doing something right!! Do yourself a favor and eat at a modest deficit, exercise 3-5 times a week, drink plenty of water and you will lose! !
  • djemberhythm
    djemberhythm Posts: 9
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    I've looked at your food diary, and though your caloric intake seems to be below, or at the recommended value, your sugar consumption is consistently higher than what you should have. For me personally, sugars cause weight gain despite a caloric deficit hence I only eat naturally occurring sugars such as sugar from fruit. Try eliminating those sweets, and see if that helps.
  • amirahdaboss
    amirahdaboss Posts: 921 Member
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    I've looked at your food diary, and though your caloric intake seems to be below, or at the recommended value, your sugar consumption is consistently higher than what you should have. For me personally, sugars cause weight gain despite a caloric deficit hence I only eat naturally occurring sugars such as sugar from fruit. Try eliminating those sweets, and see if that helps.
    Thank you, I rlly do try but I have a sweet tooth lol
  • SharonNehring
    SharonNehring Posts: 535 Member
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    Are you weighing/measuring everything or just taking a guess at it? If you are sometimes guessing, you may be under-estimating your portion sizes.

    How are your carb and sodium levels? I know when I'm having too much of either, it causes a lot of fluid retention for me. Drinking more water actually helps to correct it.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    I've looked at your food diary, and though your caloric intake seems to be below, or at the recommended value, your sugar consumption is consistently higher than what you should have. For me personally, sugars cause weight gain despite a caloric deficit hence I only eat naturally occurring sugars such as sugar from fruit. Try eliminating those sweets, and see if that helps.

    no, no, no …if you are in a calorie deficit sugar is not going to cause weight gain ..you have to have a surplus of energy to gain weight and you can't have surplus energy in a calorie deficit…

    please do not use this advice OP
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    Hi,

    I think your exercise calories are overestimated and your food calories underestimated. I suspect you are not weighing your food and logging every single thing you eat.

    Before considering anything else, you need to make sure you are accurately logging calories.
  • joan23_us
    joan23_us Posts: 263 Member
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    PLEASE do yourself a favor and eat more, 1200 calories is the minimum calorie intake an adult should take and is only needed if you are pushing the last 2-3 lbs of weight to lose. I think you should put away your scale for now and actually seek professional help from a fitness trainer to measure your body composition, not all weight gain is directly proportionate to gaining bodyfat, as others noted already it could be water retention etc. and theres no other way to know if you dont get the actual body measurements. Another measure is looking at the mirror, from 140 lbs back to 151 lbs how do you look in the mirror, do you actually see a visible fat gain or maybe you gained a bit of muscle mass from your exercise 3-4 times a week, there are so many variables at play here and weighing yourself and basing progress solely on it is not gonna cut it ALL THE TIME, sometimes you need to interpret other factors. IF YOU LIKE wHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR, continue with what your doing, focus yourself instead in gaining strength or stamina. goodluck.
  • joan23_us
    joan23_us Posts: 263 Member
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    just checked your diary in the last 3 days, seems like you are consuming way too low on proteins, try switching to a high protein, high fibre, low carb diet, still consume your 1300 calories but switch your macronutrient intake to 45 percent protein, 35 percent carbs, 20 percent fats, see how you go.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    PLEASE do yourself a favor and eat more, 1200 calories is the absolute calorie intake an adult should take and is only needed if you are pushing the last 2-3 lbs of weight to lose.
    No, this is not true.
  • joan23_us
    joan23_us Posts: 263 Member
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    PLEASE do yourself a favor and eat more, 1200 calories is the absolute calorie intake an adult should take and is only needed if you are pushing the last 2-3 lbs of weight to lose.
    No, this is not true.

    so im guessing you are eating the same 500 calories a day maybe, anyone... if you hit a plateau, oxygen diet sounds great....
  • Sreneesa
    Sreneesa Posts: 1,170 Member
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    PLEASE do yourself a favor and eat more, 1200 calories is the absolute calorie intake an adult should take and is only needed if you are pushing the last 2-3 lbs of weight to lose.
    No, this is not true.

    so im guessing you are eating the same 500 calories a day maybe, anyone... if you hit a plateau, oxygen diet sounds great....
    [/quote

    :huh:
  • lmd_1979
    lmd_1979 Posts: 130
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    I upped my calories after a plateau and started losing again. Try it.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    PLEASE do yourself a favor and eat more, 1200 calories is the minimum calorie intake an adult should take and is only needed if you are pushing the last 2-3 lbs of weight to lose. I think you should put away your scale for now and actually seek professional help from a fitness trainer to measure your body composition, not all weight gain is directly proportionate to gaining bodyfat, as others noted already it could be water retention etc. and theres no other way to know if you dont get the actual body measurements. Another measure is looking at the mirror, from 140 lbs back to 151 lbs how do you look in the mirror, do you actually see a visible fat gain or maybe you gained a bit of muscle mass from your exercise 3-4 times a week, there are so many variables at play here and weighing yourself and basing progress solely on it is not gonna cut it ALL THE TIME, sometimes you need to interpret other factors. IF YOU LIKE wHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR, continue with what your doing, focus yourself instead in gaining strength or stamina. goodluck.

    1200 calories a day does not constitute an eating disorder….and OP is not gaining muscle while eating in a deficit of 1200 calories per day ..unless she is not in a deficit, then muscle gain might be a slight possibility, but not 11 pounds here…
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    PLEASE do yourself a favor and eat more, 1200 calories is the absolute calorie intake an adult should take and is only needed if you are pushing the last 2-3 lbs of weight to lose.
    No, this is not true.
    [/quote]
    so im guessing you are eating the same 500 calories a day maybe, anyone... if you hit a plateau, oxygen diet sounds great....
    Sreneesa, are you responding to my "no, it's not true" post? If so, I don't know where you are coming from, and I worry I might not have communicated clearly.

    That poster who said that you should eat 1200 calories only if you are trying to push through the last few pounds is incorrect about this. You should lose those last few pounds much slower, which means a higher calorie count.

    Besides this, there is nothing absolute about 1,200 calories. I'd starve to death if I ate such few calories. In fact, most of my entire weight loss journey I have eaten 1,600 or more, depending on my exercise habits. :smile:

    As for a plateau, any time I've hit one, I just continue doing what I'm doing, eat the same and exercise the same, and it eventually starts coming off again. Patience is a virtue when it comes to making lifestyle changes.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    PLEASE do yourself a favor and eat more, 1200 calories is the minimum calorie intake an adult should take and is only needed if you are pushing the last 2-3 lbs of weight to lose. I think you should put away your scale for now and actually seek professional help from a fitness trainer to measure your body composition, not all weight gain is directly proportionate to gaining bodyfat, as others noted already it could be water retention etc. and theres no other way to know if you dont get the actual body measurements. Another measure is looking at the mirror, from 140 lbs back to 151 lbs how do you look in the mirror, do you actually see a visible fat gain or maybe you gained a bit of muscle mass from your exercise 3-4 times a week, there are so many variables at play here and weighing yourself and basing progress solely on it is not gonna cut it ALL THE TIME, sometimes you need to interpret other factors. IF YOU LIKE wHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR, continue with what your doing, focus yourself instead in gaining strength or stamina. goodluck.

    1200 calories a day does not constitute an eating disorder….and OP is not gaining muscle while eating in a deficit of 1200 calories per day ..unless she is not in a deficit, then muscle gain might be a slight possibility, but not 11 pounds here…
    So true. Investigating food/exercise logging habits will probably resolve quite a lot.
  • Cakewalk25
    Cakewalk25 Posts: 71 Member
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    I looked at your diary and it seems a significant portion of your calories are taken up by sweet desserts, and your sugar intake is consistently way over the recommended amount. You're lacking a lot in protein, vegetables and fruit. and judging from your diary you're probably malnourished.

    When you're on such a small calorie budget you really can't afford to use calories up on "empty" calories like cookies and candy because you will never get all the rest of your required nutrients in and be within your calorie allowance. Personally (and I know some will disagree) I don't believe it's as simple as calories in calories out, it's been proven that high amounts of sugar will spike your insulin and begin to store extra energy in fat cells. This book http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Get_Fat:_And_What_to_Do_About_It talks about how it is primarily carbohydrates and sugars that make us far, not excess calories. Also, sugar affects the same area of the brain that cocaine, alcohol, nicotine etc. affect so the more you eat the more you will crave it. Try snacking on fruit the next time you get a craving for something sweet.
  • joan23_us
    joan23_us Posts: 263 Member
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    PLEASE do yourself a favor and eat more, 1200 calories is the minimum calorie intake an adult should take and is only needed if you are pushing the last 2-3 lbs of weight to lose. I think you should put away your scale for now and actually seek professional help from a fitness trainer to measure your body composition, not all weight gain is directly proportionate to gaining bodyfat, as others noted already it could be water retention etc. and theres no other way to know if you dont get the actual body measurements. Another measure is looking at the mirror, from 140 lbs back to 151 lbs how do you look in the mirror, do you actually see a visible fat gain or maybe you gained a bit of muscle mass from your exercise 3-4 times a week, there are so many variables at play here and weighing yourself and basing progress solely on it is not gonna cut it ALL THE TIME, sometimes you need to interpret other factors. IF YOU LIKE wHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR, continue with what your doing, focus yourself instead in gaining strength or stamina. goodluck.

    1200 calories a day does not constitute an eating disorder….and OP is not gaining muscle while eating in a deficit of 1200 calories per day ..unless she is not in a deficit, then muscle gain might be a slight possibility, but not 11 pounds here…

    I dont remember saying 'eating 1200 calories is an eating disorder'. I stand corrected on my original claim that 1200 is the minimum calorie intake an adult should take and is only needed if you are pushing the last 2-3 lbs of weight to lose, understand that other people might need higher depending on their metabolic capacity but my point here is you shouldn't go down that low of an intake, if you are able to research it would really help if you research on METABOLIC CAPACITY or METABOLIC ADAPTATION to really understand what im trying to say to you. A lot of people would have different belief and thats fine because fat loss is not achieved solely by ONE METHOD, there is NO RIGHT OR wrong method, SO LONG AS YOU CAN SEE DESIRABLE RESULT, CARRY ON.... what you should be concerned about it is, IS YOUR METHOD OPTIMAL for your lifestyle change and IS IT HEALTHY and best for you in the long haul, if you think its not, It is best to RESEARCH and RESEARCH MORE, knowledge is power. ALL poster in here i know have the best intentions at heart, what i am encouraging you to do is PICK THE BEST information and throw away the worst, again goodluck.
  • lamps1303
    lamps1303 Posts: 432 Member
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    You seem to have a serious sweet tooth (like most of us!) Try to minimise the cookies and sweet treats. You do not need to go cold turkey as you are likely to crave and relapse. Try to either limit yourself to one cookie a day or, even bettter, allow yourself a couple of treat meals a week where you allow yourself that frozen yoghurt or 2/3 cookies - gives you something to work towards and reward yourself for your progress and effort that week. Try not to binge though - no point doing it if you're going to exceed your weekly calorie limit. Saturday is my treat day where I may go for a meal and get myself some pick n mix at the cinema - a girl does have needs after all!

    If your sweet cravings are overwhelming, try to eat a healthy sweet treat, like strawberries with yogurt and honey, or even a low calorie hot chocolate or something?! (I think Americans say hot cocoa don't you? English girl over here!! haha)

    Good luck :)
  • emboslice94
    emboslice94 Posts: 60
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    Maybe 1200 cals isn't working for you.
    Try taking the advice of lowering sugar intake, I try to keep mine around 50, and I find I am consistently losing weight and if I don't, inches are coming off so I look better.
    Maybe try eating more whole foods!
    Eat more!
    Change up your workouts!

    You have to find something that works for you, but you always have to shake things up, your body can get used to things. And sometimes, you just change and the same old doesn't work for you anymore. There will always be trial and error, and I know this doesn't immediately answer your question and it may not be fast and maybe some of the advice may make you fluctuate more, but you have to find something you can stick to and that you're happy with. Who cares about being at your goal weight if you're miserable!?

    Good luck! If you're interested in ideas of eating whole foods, different workout strategies etc. feel free to send me a message I'd love to help if I can :).

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