About to Throw In the Towel

Have you considered setting your daily caloric intake higher and just taking longer to lose the fat in a more sustainable comfortable way?

Its set at 1200 which i hate but dang it i want my fat to fall off not hurt so i don't want to eat back the ones i burn. but i am starting to think that is what is hendering my weight lose...................;

Ding ding ding! I bet you'd find a lot more success figuring out your BMR and TDEE and eating somewhere between there. I had been stuck losing and gaining the same 5 pounds for a few months eating between 1200- 1300 calories. I was working my butt off at the gym and I was so friggin hungry and I wasn't getting any thinner.
I used this website: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to calculate my BMR and TDEE and I'm now eating around 1700 calories on week days, and probably around 2000 on weekends. And I'm losing about 1 lb a week. I don't feel like I'm not eating enough. I'm getting more sleep. I have more energy and I'm noticing a huge difference in my body. Since upping my calories in mid February, I've lost about 5-6 lbs. I'm only about 10 lbs away from my goal weight and I'm positive I'll get there.

Good luck! Don't give up on yourself. You're worth it!

Also if you don't have a food scale then get one so you can accurately log all solids, it's really odd that if you are at a caloric deficit you haven't lost in so long, so make sure to get one so you can properly calculate your intake.

2 things to avoid every day, as much as possible, are sodium and sugar.

Sodium is like a holding tank for your body. It clings to water (in anything you eat or drink), among other things and encourages bloating! Tossing that out of the equation will make you FEEL like a million bucks.

Sugar literally turns to fat. And almost always that fat makes friends and then refuses to leave. Who invited that guy to the party?

My personal success (and I've totally been exactly where you are) has come from forcing myself to eat 5-6 small meals a day. I say forcing because I generally don't enjoy eating *ducks for cover from flying rotten food*. I know. It's weird. But I just do it to be healthy. I try to find the most filling low-calorie foods and just munch on something every two to three hours all day.

Try keeping your starches early in the day (like breakfast and lunch), and as the time passes grab the veggies, nuts, fruit and lean protein. Avoid eating within two hours of bed time if you can!

Your body is different from mine, so what works best for you might take some experimenting. This is just what has worked for me, and has broken me of plateaus more than once!

I hope it helps, and I wish you the best!!

Firstly don't beat yourself up I have great days and not so great days but 1200 is very low I am 5ft 5 and weigh 163lbs I eat around 1789 and lose 0.5lb a week which is fine as I don't gain I lose but very slow but id rather that than see up and down that's where my motivation lacked so you need to find a plan that is real to your life that you can live with and not feel strict etc , yes I have to sacrifice cake some days but others I think right im having cake for lunch I log that and fit other meals around it. It has to be a lifestyle change and you have to be realistic id never stick to 1200 calories and id be starving my body, also if you want a treat exercise off a wad of calories so it fits. hope this helps , the support here is amazing and I started on 1200 calories and soon found out that was my problem

It's trial and error. I've been at this for 3 years, you'd think I'd be at my goal weight by now. Here are some things I've learned

1) Consistency is key: exercise regularly, you can't just go to the gym when ever the mood strikes you. You have to stay consistent with your food too. My biggest problem is tanking on the weekend, either I don't eat enough, or I pig out on junk food. I'm slowly changing that.

2) Change your thought pattern: It's determination, not motivation. If you want to lose weight bad enough, you will

3) Do an exercise that you LIKE doing, not one you feel you HAVE to do. I have a love/hate relationship with the gym, but after trying different types of exercises, i've realized that it's the only thing I actually do. I actually injured myself at aquafit :blushing: , I felt like a fool doing zumba, walking around me neighbourhood got boring really fast. Not to say I don't do these things at all anymore (my dog does need to walk), but I go to the gym and lift weights and do cardio as my "go-to".

4) Figure out your macros. Some people say that it's calories in and calories out. You need to figure out what works best for you. Once I admitted that my body likes between 100g - 150g of carbs a day, that's when I started losing weight. I could plow back 400g of carbs easily, even though I was working out and under my calorie goal, but I wasn't losing anything. Once you figure out your body chemistry, stick to it. I really like "if it fits your macros" because I get to work in that chocolate and chips that I enjoy so much.

5) Keep logging on here: most of this weight loss crap is mental, you need to keep focused, and what better way than to immerse yourself in conversation about weight loss and proper nutrition?

Hope this helps...don't give up! And don't forget to measure yourself, not just weigh yourself

Okay, I changed it to only lose .5 a week and it is now saying that I can eat
1,630 Calories a day

Now, here's the thing. Here's the trick. Here's the MAGIC that everyone wants: just eat that. Every day. Eat that number. That's enough calories where you can eat pizza, or drink wine, or eat chocolate... everything in moderation. Just keep at that number. BUT IF YOU OVEREAT ONE DAY, try not to stress. Just pick up again tomorrow. 1630. Every day. You'll binge less. You'll be happier.

But be honest and accurate and weigh your food as best you can.

Here's my suggestions:

(1) up your calorie goal to 1500 or so
(2) log everything accurately
(3) be honest, but also forgiving if you slip up
(4) do this for a couple months, come back and tell us how you did

This. It shouldn't cause you so much grief. Losing and being consistent isn't easy in your head. But the above is all anyone needs to do. Honest. Only thing I would add is weigh everything. No cups, no guessing. Weigh.

If you haven't read, I highly suggest: This information truly helped me:flowerforyou:

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

Don't give up, you're worth it!

^^ Dan is a great resource -- let him help you out. :flowerforyou:

I'm so glad you are going to stick around and give this another try.

Okay, So I thought about just throwing the towel in but i didn't.
I upped my Calories so I only lose .5 a week. Seems slow but hey, its better than yo'yoing up and down.
I started to skip counting calories and only watch my protien cause i was told eating 100 grams of protien
will help me lose weight. but i am addicted to putting in my food, whether its bad or good

Shoot for 200g protein then.

Listen, heres the deal!
I'ts not about what food you eat and what fractions of what macros that really count.
What matters is YOUR lifestyle.
If you want to take off pounds that you put on over the past 5, 10, 15 years, i's going to take time to reverse engineer your body to do the opposite of what its taught to do.
Fix the following before even attempting weight/fat loss.

1) Sleep 7-9 hours a night.
2) Eat on a schedule everyday.
3) Manage stress
4) Nutrition (70/30)
5) Exercise in moderation

Sleep: Slow wave and REM sleep is when the body repairs itself. If you are sleeping less than 7 hours a night, you may not be reaching and utilizing this very important part of sleep. Studies indicate up to a 30% increase in insulin resistance in people who sleep less than 7 hours a night.

Eat on a schedule: The body likes homeostasis and will try to adapt to it in nearly everything you do. Eating on a schedule will help regulate specific hormones that will help your body operate better during the day. You'll have less stress, better utilization of nutrients, and once you find what works for you, you'll rarely be hungry.

Stress: Most people think of panic driven people when I mention stress. What i'm really referring to is systemic stress. Dieting too low for too long. Training too hard but not taking in enough energy. Not sleeping correctly. Not recovering from exercise fully. sure we all have stressful days but once you have sleep and an eating schedule, psychological stress tends to reduce and you generally will be in a better mood. Managing physical stress is all about eating to fuel your exercise and activity, and sleeping or taking days off from exercise to fully recover. Best means of slowly learning how you react to physical stress is to keep a journal next to your bed. First thing upon wakening, take your resting heart rate. Do this for a week to get a general reading. If you are exercising too hard and not sleeping enough, the rate will rise.

Nutrition: Eat anything you like in moderation. Period. Try to stick with whole foods 70% of the time, and 30% eat whatever you like so long as you aren't allergic. Period. Don't worry about paleo, low-carb, Keto, Atkins, SouthBeach, or any other fad diet. Most of those are complete bull**** and its unnecessary. You'll find that doing this will take the stress out of buying food. 70% of your cart should be whole foods and 30% can be whatever you like. As for macros, since you stated you like tracking food, I prefer a 40/30/30 breakdown. Beware of the pitfalls of orthorexia though.

Exercise in moderation: Unless you are a Navy Seal, you don't need to exercise everyday. Walking is a must! But as for weight lifting or pilates or spin class or whatever type of exercise you prefer, you don't have to do it every day. It's good to work out, but in a deficit while losing fat, you'll want to have that recovery time. My recommendation is to take up weight lifting 2-4x a week. Get a gym membership anywhere except planet fitness. Planet fitness doesn't offer personal trainers, nor do they have the type of equipment you can use to streamline your fat loss. In fact, they offer pizza thursdays....yep....awesome.
If you cannot afford a gym membership, hit up amazon for the following: Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade, or Dinosaur Bodyweight Training by Brooks Kubik. Both books will show you step by step how to take calisthenics, and transform your physique. they both have carefully laid out plans on what exercises to perform, as well as plans that match your schedule.


Hope that helps.

Bumping so I can check back on Dan's advice since I'm having trouble and ready to kick this to the curb too (I know that it's slow going for me partly because I'm hypothyroid and I'm still learning how to deal with it.)