Any advice? I feel stuck.

So what I've picked up from this is:

1. You typically don't want to be patient and lose weight the proper way.
2. You know that what you've been doing in the past doesn't work in the end.
3. You know that eating 1000 calories per day isn't the right way to go about it but you don't know what is.

Obviously, it's time for you to make a mindset change about how to go about losing weight. A lifetime of yo-yo dieting such as you've been doing is damaging to your body and your health. Every time you severely restrict your calories you not only set yourself up for failure (because it just isn't sustainable long term) you lose muscle mass. Over our lifetimes, the loss of muscle mass is one reason why our metabolisms slow down as we age. That means that the older we get, the harder it is to lose weight. If you keep on with your pattern of yo-yo dieting, by the time you reach your 40s and 50s the struggles you have now in your teens will be much, much worse. It's time to break the cycle.

Forget what you think you know about weight loss. You don't need to eat "healthy" or "clean" to lose weight. You don't need to spend hours in the gym doing cardio exercises. There's no magical combination of foods to eat (or avoid) unless you have a medical issue. Eating after a certain time of day won't store fat. No foods "burn fat" and you can't reduce fat in one specific area by doing something special. Drinking excessive amounts of water doesn't have any special affect on weight loss. I think that covers most of it.

First of you, you need to understand that you didn't end up with the body you have over a couple of weeks. Expecting to drop all of the weight you want to lose won't happen in a couple of weeks, either. Patience and commitment are both required to be successful. Motivation waxes and wanes but if you commit to the changes you need to make and are dedicated success will come.

Weight loss is all about eating fewer calories than your body burns over a period of time. If you aren't losing weight then you aren't eating few enough calories. It's almost always that simple. That doesn't mean, however, that you should be eating 1000 calories per day, because you most definitely shouldn't. MFP is set up to be easy so trust it for now and then judge the results in a few weeks and make adjustments as necessary. Enter in your personal information and MFP will calculate how many calories you would need to maintain your current weight. Then, choose an appropriate rate of loss and MFP will subtract the calories it will take to lose that much weight per week. Here's a good guide along with the amount of calories MFP will subtract:

Pound per week goals
75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range (-1000 calories per day)
Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range (-750 calories per day)
Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range (-750 calories per day)
Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range (-500 to -250 calories per day)
Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range (-250 calories per day)

Since you want to lose 15-25 pounds, you could start with 1 pound per week for now but that will need to be adjusted to .5 pound after awhile. (Even if you don't manually adjust, until it reaches 1200 MFP will start lowering your daily calorie goal since you will then burn less calories because you weigh less.)

Exercise isn't needed for weight loss. You lose weight through a calorie deficit (eating less calories than you burn. However, exercise is important for fitness and health. Exercise will also give you more calories to eat. You do want to eat at least half of your exercise calories to maintain the deficit MFP has already built in to your calorie goal. Unless they are very large and/or male, exercising is likely how most people eat 1800-2000 calories per day and still lose weight. In other words, if MFP gives me a goal of 1300 calories to eat each day in order to lose 1 pound per week and I run 6 miles, which gives me another 600 calories, I would be eating 1900 calories and losing 1 pound per week.

motelbooks wrote: »

That's another problem I have. I have very little muscle and I get tired quickly from exercise. I've tried that but I don't have the time or energy to exercise enough every single day for there to be a big enough deficit to significantly contribute to weight loss. At least that's how it seems.

The Catch 22 with exercise is that you'll typically have more energy with exercise than without. There's an adjustment period, sure, but it's worth it if only for that reason.

motelbooks wrote: »

I've been trying to lose weight for years. I'm 5'3 and at my highest weight I was 150 lbs. I'd go on very unhealthy diets trying to lose weight and get to about 142 lbs then quit and gain back the weight. Then I stopped trying to diet for a while and I ended up around 136 lbs. Don't ask me how because I have no idea what I did for that to happen. But I'm still not at the weight I want to be and I also have a pretty high body fat percentage (in the high 20's). I want to lose 15-25 more lbs, depending on how I feel when I get to that weight. I've started dieting again but because I have a pretty low BMR (about 1500), I'm always trying to restrict my calorie intake to 1000 or so because losing less than a pound a week would just feel terribly slow. However, I know restricting that much isn't good. I see people here eating 1800-2000 calories a day and losing weight and I have no idea how. Can someone please explain to me if I'm missing something or give me any advice on how I should go about losing the extra weight? And any weight loss advice in general would be great

Some advice that helped me, I hope it helps you:
"The time will pass anyway. What's the rush?
You can do what you've always done and get the same results you've always had or you can take your time, do it differently, and make it work.
Treat it as a different way of living rather than "quick fix then back to normal". Normal hasn't been working, you need to change your normal."

Try changing small things one by one. When the first habit has stuck, change the next thing. Bit by bit they add up to a new way of living.

I started by being more active, a small walk after work each day. When that became normal I bought smaller plates and reduced my portion sizes. When I found MFP I started weighing everything as I was cooking. Bit by bit a new normal emerges and this one is a lot healthier.

Good luck, you can do this!

Pretty much what I wanted to say has be summed above, but I do want to add something about exercise. I have very bad asthma, so exercise was SUPER hard for me. It's gotten better, but I'm still not in good shape. The thing is, I waited so long to start because I thought it had to be all or nothing. It doesn't. You can start small and slow and work your way up. Takes longer that way, but it DOES work. A good way to start is to go outside and pick a direction. Walk for 10 minutes, turn around and walk back. Don't have to walk fast, just walk. If it takes you 10 minutes to get two doors down, that's ok. Need to start somewhere after all! If you don't want to go outside, go to the mall. Or a big store. There's lots of places indoors you can use that are free, just have to find them. Once you get used to that, you can up your speed or time, but if takes you a month or two to get used to it, that's fine. As long as you're starting, you'll be able to improve. As an example, when I first started seriously trying in January, I was slow. Now, I can walk at the same speed as my husband, which is nice.

And I know people dismiss the "park at the end of the parking lot" tricks as silly, but I don't. It's not much, but it's SOMETHING, and as long as you're doing some kind of activity, you'll start to build a foundation for later. Now, the small tips like that don't really work for adding calories burned to your day, so I don't bother adding them to MFP. But at least I was doing it, and getting that few extra steps in. Over the course of the day, that can add up.

SueInAz wrote: »

dubird wrote: »

Pretty much what I wanted to say has be summed above, but I do want to add something about exercise. I have very bad asthma, so exercise was SUPER hard for me. It's gotten better, but I'm still not in good shape. The thing is, I waited so long to start because I thought it had to be all or nothing. It doesn't. You can start small and slow and work your way up. Takes longer that way, but it DOES work. A good way to start is to go outside and pick a direction. Walk for 10 minutes, turn around and walk back. Don't have to walk fast, just walk. If it takes you 10 minutes to get two doors down, that's ok. Need to start somewhere after all! If you don't want to go outside, go to the mall. Or a big store. There's lots of places indoors you can use that are free, just have to find them. Once you get used to that, you can up your speed or time, but if takes you a month or two to get used to it, that's fine. As long as you're starting, you'll be able to improve. As an example, when I first started seriously trying in January, I was slow. Now, I can walk at the same speed as my husband, which is nice.

And I know people dismiss the "park at the end of the parking lot" tricks as silly, but I don't. It's not much, but it's SOMETHING, and as long as you're doing some kind of activity, you'll start to build a foundation for later. Now, the small tips like that don't really work for adding calories burned to your day, so I don't bother adding them to MFP. But at least I was doing it, and getting that few extra steps in. Over the course of the day, that can add up.

Fantastic for you! It's always awesome to hear about someone who has come so far. You're doing the right things and you definitely have the right mind set. I usually include the same type of information about starting slow, park at the back of the lot, take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. but my post was already far too long. My point is, your post is spot on. The little things do add up and more importantly they can add to bigger things.

I started 4 years ago as a 45 year old couch potato who had been really active in her 20s and early 30s. I started out with a walking/weight loss challenge at work where we got a free pedometer. I soon discovered that most days I didn't walk more than 1500 steps per day! My house is small, my car was parked close to the office building and I sat at my desk all day long. So I started walking on my 15 minute morning and afternoon breaks every day. Then I added walks at lunchtime, parking farther away, using the downstairs bathroom on the other side of the building... anything to get more steps on my pedometer during the day. I found MFP when I decided to get serious about losing 15 pounds and looked around for a site to track my food. A few weeks later I realized that walking wasn't really enough for me so I started Couch to 5K. The first few runs I couldn't run for more than 15 seconds at a time but I kept at it and slowly built up my running time. By the end of that year I ran a couple of 5K and 10K races and then a half marathon. I've run many more races since that time and last year I added weight lifting.

Starting slow and building on your changes allows you to make a comfortable progression without getting overwhelmed. Feeling too restricted and overwhelmed by it all is the biggest reason most people stop trying to lose weight. In the past 4 years I can't say that I "lost the weight and kept it off" because I've certainly bounced up and down some but with the weight lifting I've also adjusted my goals and my weight isn't my largest focus anymore.

Well you kinda stole my lines about calories, so I had to say something! XD

Seriously, it's good that you've found a system that works for you! So many people don't realize that there isn't one-size-fits-all weight loss plan, and it's nice to see someone that has realized that. Makes me feel like I'm not just taking shots in the dark!

Dieting is just bad in general; it signifies an end and when it ends, you will then go back to the way things were before. You need to make a lifestyle change and something you are happy with and can do long term/for the rest of your life. Also, eating only 1000 calories a day, you're body is probably in starvation mode so it is going to hold onto the fat in your body to survive, so I would recommend increasing your intake. You also get tired quickly and cannot exercise because your body is not getting enough calories to survive let alone exercise.