HELP HELP HELP :(

My first time dieting I lost 38 pounds in one Summer easily. I gained all if that back and more and this is my second time and i've lost 20 pounds atm and still going. My advice to you would be to have a cheat meal, it always always always helps me become unstuck. I think your body gets used to the healthy food you are putting into in and it makes it harder to loose pounds. If you have a cheat meal, your body will remember again that you're eating such healthy food and start to loose again. It always works for me.


-Savannah

Cheating = doing something wrong.

Don’t have a cheat meal, cheat day, cheat anything. Make small changes daily that involve better choices this way your body, most importantly your mind has time to adapt. I'm all for massive action and making changes for the better by throwing away everything in your pantry that isn't healthy and boom no more that is it I'm done! The problem with this is a majority (not everyone) of people have trouble with relapse by doing this. Making lifestyle changes replace unhealthy habits with more healthy habits. Make your changes slowly over time. You didn’t get fat overnight you’re not going to get skinny that way either. The reason we relapse is because we try to do too much all at once and then we shut down and binge. Avoid that make small changes every day and before you know it, you’ll look in the mirror or at something you’ve just done and go “I don’t believe it.” But you should because that is the new you.

My first time dieting I lost 38 pounds in one Summer easily. I gained all if that back and more and this is my second time and i've lost 20 pounds atm and still going. My advice to you would be to have a cheat meal, it always always always helps me become unstuck. I think your body gets used to the healthy food you are putting into in and it makes it harder to loose pounds. If you have a cheat meal, your body will remember again that you're eating such healthy food and start to loose again. It always works for me.


-Savannah

Cheating = doing something wrong.

Don’t have a cheat meal, cheat day, cheat anything. Make small changes daily that involve better choices this way your body, most importantly your mind has time to adapt. I'm all for massive action and making changes for the better by throwing away everything in your pantry that isn't healthy and boom no more that is it I'm done! The problem with this is a majority (not everyone) of people have trouble with relapse by doing this. Making lifestyle changes replace unhealthy habits with more healthy habits. Make your changes slowly over time. You didn’t get fat overnight you’re not going to get skinny that way either. The reason we relapse is because we try to do too much all at once and then we shut down and binge. Avoid that make small changes every day and before you know it, you’ll look in the mirror or at something you’ve just done and go “I don’t believe it.” But you should because that is the new you.

I agree. I feel the key word here should be "moderation".

I have to admit, I've never heard of a body getting used to healthy food, and needing junk food to kickstart it into losing weight. :huh:

There is a bit of research about it reseting leptin levels ( a hormone ) but honestly I think that the poster posting that advice was joking at OP. Who knows.

There's no way to even know if OP's diet reflects what she described in the first place, and I'm inclined to believe it is not, because on a 1,200 kcal diet of all white meat and veggies while working out she should be losing a few pounds a week and she's not.

Here are some tips that worked great for me while keeping a healthy diet:

Break up your meals/snacks into 5-6 per day to keep your metabolism fueled and your blood sugar levels from spiking, every 3 hours or so.

Reduce your portions and include a protein with the meals (3-4oz).

Drink min 8 glasses of water a day

Do a minimum 30min of cardio 4X a week, you should be sweating with effort by the 10 min mark. After 20 min is when you hit the fat burn mode and burn more efficiently.

Eat within 30min after a workout

Limit yourself to 1 protein shake a day (make sure it has low or no sugars).

Lots of veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, kale, asparagus - avoid potatoes, peas, corn, and carrots) and no more then 2 servings of fruit per day (mixed berries, 1/2 grapefruit or apple, no tree or tropical fruits in general as they have a higher sugar level) with a protein for snack.

Snacks: apple with 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 apple sauce cup with 1 scoop vanilla protein mixed in, 1/2 cup dry curd with 1/4 mixed berries, 1/2 grapefruit with 1 plain or whole wheat rice cake

Good carbs: Rolled or steel cut oats or 2 slices wheat toast for breakfast / Meals: yams (1/2 cup), brown rice (1/2 cup cooked) X2 day and not after 3pm. Avoid white foods (rice, potatoes)

Breakfast: 1/2 cup rolled oats (unflavoured) with a protein shake, or 1/2 cup egg whites with spices and pepper
Condiments: no ketchup, mayo, soy sauce etc as they are high in sugars

Proteins: egg whites, chicken, lower fat fish, turkey, lean, low fat red meats max 2X a week, dry curd. No pork, no skin, trim fat.

Give yourself one cheat meal (in moderation) every week so you don't feel you are going without everything you love.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

1. Meal timing is personal preference.
2. Your metabolism is always working..it is a 24 hour type of thing.
3. Exercise (all types) are good for fitness.
4. Sugar is not evil, it is a carb.
5. Fruit is awesome (even the tree kind)
6. Unless there is a medical condition, there is no reason to avoid certain foods.
7. Accurate logging does wonders...

My first time dieting I lost 38 pounds in one Summer easily. I gained all if that back and more and this is my second time and i've lost 20 pounds atm and still going. My advice to you would be to have a cheat meal, it always always always helps me become unstuck. I think your body gets used to the healthy food you are putting into in and it makes it harder to loose pounds. If you have a cheat meal, your body will remember again that you're eating such healthy food and start to loose again. It always works for me.


-Savannah

Cheating = doing something wrong.

Don’t have a cheat meal, cheat day, cheat anything. Make small changes daily that involve better choices this way your body, most importantly your mind has time to adapt. I'm all for massive action and making changes for the better by throwing away everything in your pantry that isn't healthy and boom no more that is it I'm done! The problem with this is a majority (not everyone) of people have trouble with relapse by doing this. Making lifestyle changes replace unhealthy habits with more healthy habits. Make your changes slowly over time. You didn’t get fat overnight you’re not going to get skinny that way either. The reason we relapse is because we try to do too much all at once and then we shut down and binge. Avoid that make small changes every day and before you know it, you’ll look in the mirror or at something you’ve just done and go “I don’t believe it.” But you should because that is the new you.

I agree. I feel the key word here should be "moderation".

I have to admit, I've never heard of a body getting used to healthy food, and needing junk food to kickstart it into losing weight. :huh:

It was more about the mindset. The body will do its best to process whatever you put into it to keep it going. Junk food is like water in gas, not good but the car will still go. However if you just put in good food its not going to instantaneously fix the problem. Time by putting in the good fuel will eventually fix it. However the Mindset and habits of eating junk food or having cravings is what kills people. Like when they eat that piece of cake and then go well I've messed up today now and then go on a binge of 2500 calories and then that triggers something where they fall back into old unhealthy patterns. You've got to eat the cake but say no to the ice cream that day, small changes. Or eat the cake and the ice cream at smaller portions. I feel having a cheat meal sets people up for failure. However if you eat it, log it and work hard every day to hit your daily goals. Don’t deprive yourself of things you enjoy because eventually it will catch up to you. Enjoy life it’s the only one you have. It’s not a ton of time each day to log your food but could help you save a lot of time on this earth.

Again, not disagreeing with you at all. Moderation is something that both has to be practiced mentally and physically. Like you said "no to the ice cream that day, small changes. Or eat the cake and the ice cream at smaller portions." BAM. Moderation.

Realize that controlling calorie intake is most important to controlling weight.

"Most weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake. However, evidence shows the only way to maintain weight loss is to be engaged in regular physical activity."
"To maintain your weight: work your way up to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent mix of the two each week."
(The page explains moderate & vigorous.)
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html

So start logging, measure your food intake accurately & honestly.
If you are at a calorie deficit, you will lose weight.

I want to lose 30 lbs by my birthday October 19th, if not at least by Halloween.
What exercises should I be doing?
Diet ideas?
Do protein shakes help?
I'm 5'8, calorie goal 1200.
I go to the gym for minimum 45 mins/3-4 times a week. Cardio for at least 20 of those minutes.

Go have a look at my blog, specifically the posts about goal-setting and exercise.

At 5'8", the top end of a healthy BMI range is 160 lb. Here's a BMI chart: http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf
So to get there, you've got 47 lb to lose.
Going at a healthy rate of no more than 2 lb per week, that will take 24 weeks (6 months).
In 3 months you can reasonably expect to lose half that, or about 24 lb.

Don't go below 1200 cal per day unless you're supervised by a doctor, and actually that's probably way too low for you.
To maintain your current weight, you need 2070 cal.
To drop 1 lb per week, cut 500 cal = 1500 total intake.
To drop 2 lb per week, burn another 500 in exercise every day. To do that, you're going to need to up your cardio. Start with the recommended 30 minutes 5x per week & work up to at least 45 min, preferably an hour.
Don't eat back your exercise calories unless you're really hungry that day - don't make a habit of it - and then only eat 1/3 to 1/2 of what you burned. (MFP way overestimates calorie burn.)

Add or increase weightlifting. By itself it doesn't burn a lot of calories (compared to cardio), but it builds muscle and muscles burn several times what fat burns for the same mass. Note that when you add muscle and lose fat the scale may not change much, but your measurements will show it because fat is puffy and muscle is compact.

No, protein shakes probably won't help because they're usually loaded with sugar & also because for some strange reason our bodies don't register calories when we drink them like happens when we eat food, so you won't feel full.
Eat real food, whole food, as non-processed as you can, for the majority of your calories. If you want more protein, have eggs, fish, chicken, beans, hard cheese.

If you can exercise before breakfast, do it. You've been running on stored carbs (glycogen) all night, so you're closer to starting to burn fat than you would be after you've eaten something.