Starting not to care

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So this past week, I decided to majorly start to diet. I've eaten less than 1100 calories per day. I've ran 10 miles, walked 5. I kayaked the other day. I totally gave up pop and all things that could be considered junk food, as well as bread. And my "snacks" consist of fruit. I got on the scale today and lost 1 pound. That might not be a huge deal, but compared to what I was doing before (never working out and eating very badly), one pound seems to not even matter. I've dieted my entire life, so I understand that there are ups and downs, but I feel like I'm dieting correctly this time and working out 6 days per week. I guess I'm just defeated.
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Replies

  • shamcd
    shamcd Posts: 178 Member
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    You can bust your *kitten* for weeks and not see results on the scale, but the key is consistency...STICK WITH IT, it will happen. It sounds like you may be doing too much and restricting your calories to the point that you're mentally fatiguing yourself. Only consuming 1100 and running 10 miles would kill me, I can't imagine keeping that up. Bump up you calories a bit and work in the foods that you love, there's no need to cut out entire food groups. If it fits into your calories, eat it :) You'll be much happier and more apt to stick to a healthier lifestyle.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    I think the problem is that you have unrealistic expectations...

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRdfT1azIludhzsWzka51gPJ0p0GEX5Eqfs3hIkrXTGPmVDP5-d
  • GunnyGirlTN
    GunnyGirlTN Posts: 10 Member
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    Kayaking! I'm so jealous!
  • peachyfuzzle
    peachyfuzzle Posts: 1,122 Member
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    1100 calories per day, plus doing cardio is a terrible idea. You could be doing major damage to yourself eating that little, and exercising that much.

    But, if you don't really care about your health, then you're likely eating more than you think you are, or are overestimating your calorie burns. Depending on how close you are to your goal, 1lb/week is pretty standard.
  • CarlydogsMom
    CarlydogsMom Posts: 645 Member
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    What @shamcd said. Well put. Agree that you're just pushing yourself too hard, too fast, and not giving yourself enough energy in the way of food to keep this up. And you're viewing your decisions re: food as "giving X up, giving Y up..." instead of looking at this as "eating A for my health, eating B for nutrition" or seeing that you CAN have A, B, AND X and Y, using your brain and intuition to guide you into the balance of foodstuffs that you need and like and can stick with.

    This won't last, too, if you depend on "motivation" and "will power" to pull you through in the long term. Motivation and will power fade away, or come and go in fits and spurts. Instead, losing weight is a decision you make as a lifestyle choice. You don't have to motivate yourself to brush your teeth every day; you just do it, right? Decide what you want, and just do it. Be consistent; get off track on a day? Get back on track the next day, don't just hang it up if you mess up one meal or one day.

    I would add it might be easier to do that if you made some specific goals. Do you want to lose a certain percentage of body fat? Do you want to maintain as much muscle mass as you lose? How much? That helps you figure out a plan of action. Don't forget: cardio helps you burn calories for weight loss. Resistance exercises like weight lifting helps you maintain your lean muscle mass while you're losing. A combination of both is one of the more ideal scenarios to overall health and longevity.

    Good luck.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    You gave up after 1 week? Realistically how much did you expect to lose in a week? More than .5/1lb is unrealistic, it took more than a week to put on the weight and realistically it will take more than a week to lose weight. You need to be consistent and patient. You should read these and then continue to re-read them on your weight loss journey:

    http://fit101.org/the-step-by-step-guide-to-losing-weight-with-myfitnesspal/
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

    there are so many great threads and tools here to help you on your journey but NONE of them will if you don't have patience and unrealistic expectations.
  • RedArizona5
    RedArizona5 Posts: 465 Member
    edited May 2015
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    I used to run 3 times a week for like 30-60 and eat immediately after something easily digestible to recover muscle damage.
    I ate 1300 calories and it melted off me. Less running and bump up cal just a lil and that might give you metabolism some more juice to burn fat.
    Last year I ran 1 hour 2 times a week and ate nearly 3000 calories and was a size 4 and 130-132 pounds.
    I don't know what your stats are but to eat pizza, drink beer, eat and snack what i wanted to and rock a bikini out! Thats awesome to be able to eat and look wonderful.
    I don't run so I'm up to 145 (lost inches though) and still under my high school weight but anyways I'm working on my core these days through pilates and elliptically for resistance because muscles are important. If I can look good and eat and feel strong like i can kick somethings **** then that would mean success to me ^_^ I just try to watch my calories now since i can't run them off.
  • tarcotti
    tarcotti Posts: 205 Member
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    You didn't put on the weight overnight, so it won't come off overnight either. I lose 1lb per week too, that's a good amount per week to lose. At the very most, people on average can lose 2 lbs per week, but that is usually if they are a LOT heavier than you are. Slow and steady wins the race, you are doing fine and you don't need to give up so soon...and don't cut out XYZ like other stated, that doesn't work.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    You are NOT "dieting correctly this time" either - you are setting yourself up for failure and doing a lot of damage to your system at a very young age...Go and read all the sticky's on top of the Weight loss and diet forum, and use it.....
  • HealthyFreya
    HealthyFreya Posts: 41 Member
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    Try not to become too extreme in your ideas as well. Eat at least 1200 calories and exercise moderately. Don't beat yourself up either if you have bad days because we all have them. The goal is consistency and by the sounds of what you did over the past week it would be very hard to keep that regime up for months and months, and stay happy. You probably feel exhausted and grouchy as anyone would from doing what you did. A pound is still a pound so well done! Maybe try to give your body a bit more time to achieve it's goals as well so that you don't go all out in a week and then stop because you feel demotivated. Good luck, you can do this! Feel free to add me as a friend if you want for motivation :smile:
  • adoud1
    adoud1 Posts: 17 Member
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    When I started this journey 5 weeks ago, I hit it the same way as you, and wanted everything to fall off the first week! LOL, I felt the same way. "If I can sit on my *kitten* and do nothing and maintain my weight, or eat less and exercise three times a week, and maintain my weight, why the hell would I want to exercise and eat right??!!"
    But my husband kept reminding me it wasn't a race, it was a lifestyle change. I was in it to improve my heart health, my overall health, and WHEN the weight came off, all the better. I resolved not to get on the scale for the first two weeks so I wasn't watching the "numbers". After 5 wks now, I'm down 10lbs. I eat 1100 calories a day, power-walk 30 minutes after my lunch 5xwk and go to the gym for an hour twice a week. It will begin to come off, but you have to do it correctly and choose something you can stick to. I knew I couldn't go to the gym everyday, I have too much else to do, but I certainly could walk on my lunch-hour for 30 minutes every day. Choose something you can stick to or it's too easy to give up. Good luck and hang in there! :)
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
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    Eat at least 1200 cal, exercise in a sustainable way, and realize that weight loss is not linear. It is not a quick fix, but improving your health is worth the effort.
  • Drakhan
    Drakhan Posts: 30 Member
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    A pound a week is pretty good. It's actually the recommended rate. You might want to try a weight charting app like Libra if you're feeling let down by it. It's based on the Hacker's Diet model and weights each weigh in and gives you an idea of the average calorie deficit a day that you're maintaining to hit that point. And then it draws a trend line based on your actual weigh ins and weight loss/gain. So you can see that even though your actual weight bobs up and down, there's a definite pattern of progress. It's really good for those days you gained half a pound after killing yourself in a workout.

    I don't know your weigh in routine but try to make sure you're weighing in at the same time and in the same clothing and in the same condition every time. I know that seems obvious, but drinking a glass of water right before you weigh in will add weight. I can lose a pound by emptying my pockets and jeans weigh more than slacks, etc. I can gain two or three pounds by weighing while my hair is still wet.

    I'm just pointing this out because if you weighed yourself a week ago when you first woke up (when we're usually at our lightest) and hadn't gotten dressed yet and then a week later, weighed yourself before you went to bed (when we're at our heaviest from eating all day) while wearing jeans and a t-shirt -- you probably lost more than a pound.

    If you really want to be accurate and consistent, weight in naked in the morning after you've finished in the bathroom and before breakfast. That way, the scale won't be picking up whatever you just ate, variations in the weight of your clothing, etc.

    And another thing you need to keep in mind is that you're working out hard. I mean really hard. And dieting hard. So what's going on is that you're losing fat and gaining muscle. Since muscle is denser and heavier than fat, if you replaced a fist-sized ball of fat with a fist-sized ball of muscle ... you gained weight. If you're building muscle *and* losing weight ... there's nothing to be discouraged about there. In fact, you might want to slow down the workouts a little (or up your calories) to make sure your body can support the new muscle while you're getting into shape.
  • Allterrain_Lady
    Allterrain_Lady Posts: 421 Member
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    That much cardio on 1100 calories a day is a very bad idea, in my opinion. Regardless on your stats.
    You didn't gain muscles with what you did: that much of a deficit, a lot of cardio for ONE week.
    A lot of things can explain such a 'small' loss (TOM? Water retention? Constipation?...) but it's a loss.
    Goal weight is NEVER gonna happen in one week.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    Sorry you might be going through the motions, but you are on track to fizzle out because you havent prepared well enough for the journey ahead. Take a breath and rethink your approach otherwise you are going to have burnt out within a few weeks and thats entirely foreseeable and preventable. Dont make it harder for yourself than it needs to be. Think about the whole journey in front of you and this is only one week, dont expect instant consistent results, it doesnt work that way. You will also have some triumphs (dont let it go o your head) and you will also have some tougher times. Youve lost 1lb which is good, its 1lb further to your goal, unless you quit.

    Patience, perspective and preparation will serve you well. Focus on your logging and weighing, exercise can come later, but the emphasis should be on consumption and deficit creation. 1000 calories is not enough it should be 1200 minimum plus some exercise calories. Giving up doesnt get you any closer to where you want to be.
  • tackemar
    tackemar Posts: 21 Member
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    I appreciate everybody's advise on here because some of it had never crossed my mind before. MFP had my calories at 1,290 per day and I was averaging on having about 200 left at the end of the night. I guess it never occurred to me that I would probably need more throughout the day on the days that I was doing cardio. One of my goals are to run in a 5k or 10k with a good time, so I have been trying to run one 5k per day, or walking it if I was tried, 5 times per week. I definitely expected to lose more weight this week, since I have started to run more and replace my diet with healthier things. That is what had me feeling the most defeated. I'm not going to give up, since I am trying for a lifestyle, but I think there is a large population who feels similar to how I am feeling. It's almost heartbreaking to stand on that scale after weeks of work and see very little change, especially when you really put a lot of effort into it. I'm willing to put in the effort and I'm patient enough to stick with everything, but it is definitely hard when I don't see the change that I'm looking for. Anyways, it's nice to see all the support and advise on here. It has really helped to change my mood throughout the day and to not be so unrealistic. Thank you to everybody
  • mamabear1114
    mamabear1114 Posts: 140 Member
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    You may be losing inches and not pounds. If you gain muscle mass you will not see a difference on the scale. Take your measurements. :)
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    I do understand, its a pain if it doesnt move, but then you have to dig your heels in and work harder or just be patient. Honestly I just laugh at it because im 100% confident it will pay off eventually. Not eating enough cna make you feel a bit miserable as well.

    You state you wnat to run a good time. One tactic against becoming scale obsessed is to use other measures the tape measure, how your clothes fit as well as exercise times and performance. Record your times and watch your fitness improve. Be a winner and learn how to make it happen.
  • avalonms
    avalonms Posts: 2,468 Member
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    I agree with Madeline_land plus 1 pound loss per week is about what is recommended. It's hard to lose more than that on a sustainable diet. Make some adjustments along the way and hang in there.
  • thatgirlpdx
    thatgirlpdx Posts: 3 Member
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    The best tip I can give you is NOT to step on the scale for the first month. Or, at max, every other week. As others have stated, loosing 1-2 pounds a week is the the healthy way to loose weight, but that can be discouraging when you try so hard for a week and only see a 1 pound result. Instead, just trust in yourself. Don't let the scale influence your resolve or bring you down. Stay away from it for as long as you can, continue doing what you are doing and your body will adjust and by the time you do step on a scale in a few weeks to a month--you will be pleasantly surprised.