Keep gaining weight. Please help, I'm just so frusterated.

DrStarfish
DrStarfish Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
I was wondering if anyone has anything that can help. I keep gaining weight. I have been heavy most of my life. I am in my late 20s and I weight about 350 lbs at 6', I lost over 100 lbs on Atkins but I felt terrible. I don't even like meat and I was vegetarian for years. When I was vegetarian I was probably 220ish and maintained that fairly steady. I started meat again and gained and gained until I was almost 360. I started Atkins and got down to about 250 lbs. I felt so sick all the time and my liver was physically hurting. So I was like I cannot do this anymore. I went back to vegetarian, but I am gaining weight like crazy.

I eat anywhere from 1,400 - 1,600 on most days. Generally for breakfast i have fruit and hot tea (no sugars). Fruit varies by day, but sometimes a grapefruit, a cup of grapes, some berries, or something like that. Lunch varies some too, but a frequent one is cooked spinach, red beans, and brown rice. Dinner varies too, but it might be about a cup of cooked quinoa, some hummus and carrots, baked cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, and black beans and jalapenos. If I am hungry between that, I'll get something like carrots or radishes and hummus (I make it and use very little oil) or berries, occasionally raw almonds.

I walk on the treadmill about 3-5 miles. Only maybe a mile of that is jogging. It's hard with my size. I do yoga for about an hour. A few times a week I have 15 lb weights that I use. I do as much of a sit up as I can for as long as I can, normally only 30-35. I can't do any pushups that aren't the "girl" pushups (I don't mean that in an insulting way, I have no idea what they are actually called, that is all I have ever heard). I park in the farthest spot at work, I get up and walk around the campus several times a day (fairly large university campus), and I always take the stairs.

I'm just so frustrated. What am I doing wrong?? My thyroid isn't the best. I take 90 mg of armour thyroid for the past 5 or 6 years now. I haven't had it checked in about a year because my health insurance sucks something bad and I am a grad student living on almost nothing.

What else can I do? What should I cut from my diet? What else can I do to exercise to help? I am just so depressed. I hate myself. So much. I have always been the fat ugly girl. I am sick of mean comments. I am sick of how people treat me. I'm sick of people acting like I am eating nothing but pizza and cake all day. I can't remember the last time that I ate pizza or cake or "junk" food in general. I cook at home 99% of the time (business lunches that I just can't avoid, but limit to salad or luckily often they have hummus and veggies!).

I will literally take any advice, just please don't be cruel. I know I am gross. I'm trying.

Replies

  • charming12u
    charming12u Posts: 49 Member
    Can you open your food diary?
    Are you really measuring, or just eyeing the amounts and guessing?

    I too eat a fair amount of hummus, but a serving size for most brands are 2 tbsp (which is pretty tiny compared to what I would normally scoop out and eat)

    I was a fairly carb heavy vegetarian for years, then about a year ago went carb heavy vegan, and added an extra 10 pounds on my already curvy thighs.

    January decided to make some changes and moved away from the convenience foods, and the weight is coming off slowly.

    Keep up the work outs, your doing great there!

    And don't get too down on yourself. It's going to take a while! When you can get your thyroid checked, do so. If your meds are too low, cutting out food isn't going to help, and you'll just be cranky and hungry.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Are you really measuring, or just eyeing the amounts and guessing?

    This...
  • a_stronger_me13
    a_stronger_me13 Posts: 812 Member
    Opening your diary would be a big help.

    But, if you truly are eating that few of calories you would be losing weight, assuming there is no medical condition involved that would affect your metabolism. It can be extremely easy to underestimate how much we eat if we aren't weighing food out, especially foods that are calorie dense like cheese, some fattier meats, ice cream, nut butter, etc. The other thing is that MFP exercise calorie burns aren't always very accurate either and they typically overestimate how much we've burned.

    Do you weigh your food? Do you consistently log what you eat, aka every day?
  • mialsya
    mialsya Posts: 188 Member
    I will literally take any advice, just please don't be cruel. I know I am gross. I'm trying.

    No, you are not gross. One of the things that I had a huge problem with, and still do, is self-sabotage. I will log my food and then see I am under my goal and go ahead and slip something else in. I would convince myself that I was doing so well that a cheat meal wouldn't hurt me or skipping the gym for that day was fine since I could make it up another day. I'm not saying you're doing this. My point is attitude is everything. STOP THINKING OF YOURSELF AS GROSS. Everyone is beautiful. Everyone has wonderful redeeming qualities that just may need uncovering. You are working so hard, are so dedicated, are so aware of your need to get healthy. These are huge positives. This puts you way ahead of others. Use these things as a foundation to build on. Your self confidence will help melt that fat away as well, if not better than an hour on a treadmill (though the treadmill is still a necessity)!
  • Julesoola
    Julesoola Posts: 51 Member
    Is this diet change and weight gain all recent? Carbohydrates are more hydrophilic (carry more water with them) than proteins or lipids, so when you switch from Atkins to a vegetarian based diet that includes carbs, you're going to see a substantial rise in water weight. It'll steady out and you'll start losing once things settle down most likely.
  • anitad51
    anitad51 Posts: 1 Member
    I was also battling to lose weight with a thyroid condition. Even after taking medication I still battled to lose weight. Then I started analysing my food using MFP and saw that my sugar and fat count was too high ,as I love fruit and nuts. My calorie count was always beliw the goal amount but I didn't lose weight until I cut back on the sugar and fat. I hope thus helps you.
  • haymancm
    haymancm Posts: 280 Member
    What worked for me: 1) drink more than 1/2 my body weight in oz for water 2) cut out pasta, rice, bread, little dairy 3) eat lots of bunny food (leafy greens & veggies) 4) weigh daily to gain momentum & motivation 5) get a heart rate monitor for workouts to measure burned calories accurately doing cardio 6) get a fitbit to record steps, walking more than 10k steps/day 7) have an inner desire to never give up, no matter what!!! 8) workout 6 days/week for 60 min/day!!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Wow, really love the carbs, huh?

    That amount of carbs doesn't cause you to get hungry like 30 -90 min after eating them?

    Unless you weigh all that sugar (ya, it's sugar, caught your comment on no sugar in tea next to fruit, so you may not be aware), fruit can pack a punch of calories you may be way off on.

    And your body does require fat, important for hormone control. Don't try to cut it out.

    And where is your protein now?

    Right now you are probably getting the typical muscle mass loss, or did already, and with thyroid problem, your energy burn daily isn't what you think.

    And bad logging is wiping out the deficit to that lower value.
  • UmmaOfThree
    UmmaOfThree Posts: 31 Member
    First thing... learn to relax. Stress causes overeating. I do it. Everyone does it. Try to look outside of just diet and exercise. Focus your attention on things that you enjoy doing that are not food related. Do you like to read, garden, paint, etc. Try to find exercises that you enjoy. Do you actually enjoy walking on the treadmill? How about dancing? You can just turn on some music and dance in the privacy of your own home. Yoga is GREAT! It is not only relaxes you, it burns calories, stretches your muscles and builds strength.

    Try to have lots of healthy food choices around the kitchen so that when you feel that urge to nibble, you can just grab the item (such as carrots or celery sticks and hummus - SO GOOD esp. if you are or were a vegetarian). Make sure you're getting enough protein and healthy oils (eating an avocado every day is very satisfying). This will satiate your appetite.

    Feel free to add me! Lotsa love!
  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
    So, if you have a thyroid issue there is a chance it could be affecting your weight and not be under control despite the medication. My advice would be to follow up with a doctor, even if your insurance does suck. That is more from a health perspective than a weight perspective though.
    You diet seems legit but not being able to see your diary makes it hard to tell - especially if you're 'cheating' on a regular basis, not measuring, or nibbling w/o logging items through the day.
    Keep doing your walking and body weight excercises. Muscle burns more than fat so don't be afraid to find more body weight excercises and work up to doing the full version.
    Learn to love your body and your body will love you. It sounds corny but if you think of yourself as being gross than your habits follow and you will de-motivate easily. Daily, find something, anything, that you like about yourself. "I like my hands!" "I like my eyes!" "My calves Rock!" and recognize it. Even if it's only one thing right now, focus on it and don't worry about what you don't like. "power of positive thinking" - Visualize yourself being where you want to be. Most importantly: don't give up. Good things come to those who work!

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