I've never successfully lost weight in my life...help?

Buy a food scale and weigh everything you put in your mouth.

Aivicore. The first thing I would do is get a different doctor. Did they test you for PCOS or problems with your thryoid? There are conditions out there that can make it more difficult to lose weight.

At 21, working in a warehouse and being 6 foot tall 1400 calories is way too low for you. I would cheat on that like every day because you were probably starving! According to this calculator you could eat like 2400 calories a day and would drop over 60lbs in a year if you just did 1-3 hours of light exercise which your warehouse job definitely fufills.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

Trust MFP. Don't set yourself at sedentary since you don't have a desk job. I think with 100lbs to lose you can set yourself at 2lbs a week for your loss. Weigh and measure your food. I'm bad at this. That is why I know when I don't have a loss it's usually my own fault because I get lazy and eyeball portions.

You might even want to start off by just weighing and measuring and logging all your foods before you set your calorie goal. Get an idea of what you are truly consuming.

I always see results right away with loss (probably water weight). However, everyone is different. I would give it a full 4 weeks. If no loss, then I would re-evaluate.

When you say you are counting your calories correctly. Are you sure?
Are you using measuring cups for foods that are not liquids?
Are you counting EVERYTHING such as drinks, cooking oils, condiments?
Do you weigh your meat raw prior to cooking? Do you weight your oatmeal, rice, etc when it is dry?
Read through http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1
to make sure you are doing it right.

Walking is going to be your best bet for exercise, along with maybe swimming, or the elliptical if you have really bad joints. You could also invest in a step counter (they have an app on your iphone if you have one of those) and see if you can get in 10,000 steps a day - you work up to that if it is too hard off the bat.

If you do not mind, can I ask, how did you arrived at 1400 calories?

Just an anecdote from something that happened to me - I was having a half cup of light ice cream almost every night. At first this was fine and I lost weight ok, but eventually it slowed down even though I should have still been in deficit. Once I started WEIGHING my ice cream instead of measuring it with a cup, I realized that I was able to pack quite a bit more in the cup than the actual serving size of 60 grams. So I was probably actually having a serving and a half, and tracking it as a serving. These things add up and chip away at your deficit. So when the doctor told you that you were counting them wrong, she didn't mean you couldn't add, it's just that it can get tricky sometimes to be accurate. Definitively invest in a food scale and weigh as much as possible! Also I sent you a friend request!

Smallc10 wrote: »

When you say you are counting your calories correctly. Are you sure?
Are you using measuring cups for foods that are not liquids?
Are you counting EVERYTHING such as drinks, cooking oils, condiments?
Do you weigh your meat raw prior to cooking? Do you weight your oatmeal, rice, etc when it is dry?
Read through http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1
to make sure you are doing it right.

Walking is going to be your best bet for exercise, along with maybe swimming, or the elliptical if you have really bad joints. You could also invest in a step counter (they have an app on your iphone if you have one of those) and see if you can get in 10,000 steps a day - you work up to that if it is too hard off the bat.

This
I also use a Fitbit One not only to count steps and activity but I personally call it my Non-Activity monitor. :-)

This may be helpful..I was exercing like a fiend. Lost to 182 pounds..then last February I stopped losing weight and kept gaining..maxed out at 252 pounds despite everything I did. I cried as I watched every month my weight going up and me getting sicker and was in lotts of pain. I threw in the towel and after much bloodwork and getting imaging done and switching to a different doctor we discovered I had a ton of stuff wrong that was contributing to my weight problem including having my Grandmothers autoimmune disease. I discovered I a severly allergic on the autoimmune level to many many things I was eating accounting for the no weightloss and major inflammation throughout my system.In 5 days I have noticed a huge difference. If your not losing weight with a normal diet and exercise it is worth checking for allergies to food that may be preventing you from a healthier lifestyle..lets hope you arent allergic to things like me..I cant have soy, gluten, corn, dairy, eggs, beef, bananas, walnuts, peacons, black pepper, peppers, pineapple, mushrooms, and yeasts. This leaves me very limited food options.

I have PCOS which is practically the devil when you are trying to lose weight. What I find most effective is doing 45% protein 30% fat and 25% carbs. I am a big girl too, I used to be 320 and currently I am 292. I found that when i just went to work out 3 times a week, I would overeat on the days I didn't work out so I switched to working out 6 times a week but doing less each time. I used to do 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical (which doesn't put much pressure on your joints and is a great place to start) and 30 minutes of weight lifting (the most important part! if you are going to skip something skip the cardio not the weights) but then I switched it to mwf 15 min of cardio, 30 min of weights and TThSa 30 minutes of cardio. It not only helps me stay on track but it makes me be more mindful of what I am putting in to my mouth. Also, don't make a habit of eating back your calories. I have seen that sabotage the best of them.

In addition I don't allow myself "cheat meals" in the traditional sense. I feel like those meals gave me an excuse to eat bad and it spiraled out of control most of the time. Instead, I allow myself to have my cravings but I fit it into my calorie count. For example. I LOVE shrimp quesadillas. I found a way to make them somewhat healthy at home. I love burgers and french fries so we have a bag of french fries in the freezer and a mini frozen cheeseburger.

Take periodical pictures so that you can SEE the difference rather than weigh it. Write down the reasons that you want to get fit in the first place and superglue that sucker to your fridge. Start a weight loss countdown and put that on your fridge. Get other people motivated to go work out with you and cook healthy meals together. ANYTHING that will keep you motivated.

If you are doing something that isn't working, change it. There has to be some reason that your body isn't letting go of that weight whether its underestimating your food consumption, over estimating your calorie burn, or maybe its just a process that doesn't work for you. Play trial and error for a while until you find something thats doable long term and gives you the results that you want. There are going to be some weeks where you weigh in and you dont lose anything or you gain something back. IT'S OKAY!!!! That is NORMAL in weight loss. Not every week is going to be perfect. You have to take it day by day and look at your non scale victories (NSVs). I used to get winded going up our apartment stairs and now I maneuver them with ease. That alone makes all the sweat, tears, and blood (yes blood) worth it. Keep on trying and don't let anything get you down. If your whole heart is in it and you aren't half assing anything, the results will be there!