Been trying for years and I'm still miserable...advice?
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nytoco
Posts: 18 Member
I'm 18, 5'1", and 125 pounds (as of 3 weeks ago. I used to weigh myself daily but haven't had access to a scale as I've been abroad on vacation)
I was always a skinny kid, underweight, could eat what I wanted and it never caught up until I was around 12, when I started to carry more weight in my gut. I was worried about that, but figured that I could never get fat, because I had never faced repercussions for my reckless eating before. But after I got my first period at almost 13, I put on 30 pounds in about 3 months and, at 4'11", became slightly overweight.
I've been trying for the past 5 years to lose that weight and get down to 105 but nothing is working and I really feel trapped. I'm not sure what I should be doing, and after overeating tonight and feeling like a guilty pig, I'm really just sick of the shame and I want the fat on my body to be gone.
I've been eating 1200 calories a day, but I find that difficult to do without being really hungry. I have a sweet tooth and a tendency to snack, but I'm usually a healthy eater - I cook a lot of my own food, I'm a vegetarian, and a solid half of what I eat is raw fruits and veggies. Usually on a day with no exercise where I just stay inside all day (so no increased appetite) I log about 1300-1400. Eating only 1200 is incredibly difficult, I basically have to skip a meal to get that result.
My exercise level is pretty sedentary - I don't like exercising. The gym makes me miserable. Running makes me miserable. I can't ride a bike (long story). The two things I've found I do like, however, are dancing and swimming. So when I start college in the fall I'm planning on signing up for a dance class (2 days a week), swimming once a week, and forcing myself to strength train at the school gym twice a week. Does that sound like sufficient exercise if I want to lose 20 pounds by my birthday (January 22), if I start working out again around September 1st? Should I be upping my caloric intake? To what?
Thanks in advance.
I was always a skinny kid, underweight, could eat what I wanted and it never caught up until I was around 12, when I started to carry more weight in my gut. I was worried about that, but figured that I could never get fat, because I had never faced repercussions for my reckless eating before. But after I got my first period at almost 13, I put on 30 pounds in about 3 months and, at 4'11", became slightly overweight.
I've been trying for the past 5 years to lose that weight and get down to 105 but nothing is working and I really feel trapped. I'm not sure what I should be doing, and after overeating tonight and feeling like a guilty pig, I'm really just sick of the shame and I want the fat on my body to be gone.
I've been eating 1200 calories a day, but I find that difficult to do without being really hungry. I have a sweet tooth and a tendency to snack, but I'm usually a healthy eater - I cook a lot of my own food, I'm a vegetarian, and a solid half of what I eat is raw fruits and veggies. Usually on a day with no exercise where I just stay inside all day (so no increased appetite) I log about 1300-1400. Eating only 1200 is incredibly difficult, I basically have to skip a meal to get that result.
My exercise level is pretty sedentary - I don't like exercising. The gym makes me miserable. Running makes me miserable. I can't ride a bike (long story). The two things I've found I do like, however, are dancing and swimming. So when I start college in the fall I'm planning on signing up for a dance class (2 days a week), swimming once a week, and forcing myself to strength train at the school gym twice a week. Does that sound like sufficient exercise if I want to lose 20 pounds by my birthday (January 22), if I start working out again around September 1st? Should I be upping my caloric intake? To what?
Thanks in advance.
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Replies
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Fill out your mfp profile to lose .5 pounds per week. Log your exercise. Eat all of your mfp goal calories and at least 50% of your exercise calories. Don't set a time goal for your weight loss.0
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You also should really consider some form of resistance training. If you want your weight loss to be fat and not muscle you need to do resistance training 3x a week minimum and eat a good amount of protein, about 0.8-1g per pound of body weight.0
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Talk to your parents about how you feel, if you have not already done so, and discuss seeing a therapist. If you are in school, college etc, perhaps a counselor could help there. You have a very negative body image, as if you have not managed to accept the changes your body has been through after puberty. Based on your stats, there is no way you look fat as you seem to think. Could be that you can afford losing a few vanity pounds or building some muscle might help, but I doubt you have 20 lbs to lose. I do not think that what you are feeling is unusual, I know myself and pretty much all my friends, and my own daughter now, have been through such phases, but if you have been feeling this bad for years, you definitely need to work on building up some self esteem and confidence, and the rest will follow.0
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I swam very well as a teen and signed up for Beginning Swimming in college for my PE - easy A. After the first class, the instructor just let me swim laps when she wasn't enlisting me to help others float on their back or something. And I got my easy A.
When I showed up for Intermediate Swimming, she said, "You! I knew that was your name on my list. Go!" and pointed to the lap swimming section do the pool. Another easy A. I highly recommend a PE you already do well. College is hard enough without stressing over stupid credits.
Try setting your goal to 1 pound a week or half a pound. It will probably give you more calories to eat while still losing. Don't go hungry! Also, fruits and veggies are so healthy that there is no good reason not to fill up and remain full. Try lifting weights, too. It's good for you and may give you the toned look you're after!0 -
I'm 18, 5'1", and 125 pounds (as of 3 weeks ago. I used to weigh myself daily but haven't had access to a scale as I've been abroad on vacation)
I was always a skinny kid, underweight, could eat what I wanted and it never caught up until I was around 12, when I started to carry more weight in my gut. I was worried about that, but figured that I could never get fat, because I had never faced repercussions for my reckless eating before. But after I got my first period at almost 13, I put on 30 pounds in about 3 months and, at 4'11", became slightly overweight.
I've been trying for the past 5 years to lose that weight and get down to 105 but nothing is working and I really feel trapped. I'm not sure what I should be doing, and after overeating tonight and feeling like a guilty pig, I'm really just sick of the shame and I want the fat on my body to be gone.
I've been eating 1200 calories a day, but I find that difficult to do without being really hungry. I have a sweet tooth and a tendency to snack, but I'm usually a healthy eater - I cook a lot of my own food, I'm a vegetarian, and a solid half of what I eat is raw fruits and veggies. Usually on a day with no exercise where I just stay inside all day (so no increased appetite) I log about 1300-1400. Eating only 1200 is incredibly difficult, I basically have to skip a meal to get that result.
My exercise level is pretty sedentary - I don't like exercising. The gym makes me miserable. Running makes me miserable. I can't ride a bike (long story). The two things I've found I do like, however, are dancing and swimming. So when I start college in the fall I'm planning on signing up for a dance class (2 days a week), swimming once a week, and forcing myself to strength train at the school gym twice a week. Does that sound like sufficient exercise if I want to lose 20 pounds by my birthday (January 22), if I start working out again around September 1st? Should I be upping my caloric intake? To what?
Thanks in advance.
For the first bold, this:Fill out your mfp profile to lose .5 pounds per week. Log your exercise. Eat all of your mfp goal calories and at least 50% of your exercise calories. Don't set a time goal for your weight loss.
Plus make sure you are getting enough protein and fat - that helps me with my sweet tooth. Another help for that is not getting too hungry. Have meals planned in advance.
For the second bold - the beauty of exercise is it give you more calories
Is there anywhere you can swim now?
Have you tried yoga? What about walking? I don't like treadmills at the gym but love walking in the woods with my mp3 player.
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Fill out your mfp profile to lose .5 pounds per week. Log your exercise. Eat all of your mfp goal calories and at least 50% of your exercise calories. Don't set a time goal for your weight loss.
...why? I set it to .5 and my goal is still 1200
(it was at 1 pound a week before)Talk to your parents about how you feel, if you have not already done so, and discuss seeing a therapist. If you are in school, college etc, perhaps a counselor could help there. You have a very negative body image, as if you have not managed to accept the changes your body has been through after puberty. Based on your stats, there is no way you look fat as you seem to think. Could be that you can afford losing a few vanity pounds or building some muscle might help, but I doubt you have 20 lbs to lose. I do not think that what you are feeling is unusual, I know myself and pretty much all my friends, and my own daughter now, have been through such phases, but if you have been feeling this bad for years, you definitely need to work on building up some self esteem and confidence, and the rest will follow.
I really do, though. If I look at myself in natural sunlight, I just look terrible. I have cellulite all over my thighs, but it's worse in the back, and it's on my stomach, too. I've got love handles and pointy saddlebags. And I have stretch marks all on my upper thighs. That's not something that comes from normal weight gain in a barely pubescent girl.kshama2001 wrote: »I'm 18, 5'1", and 125 pounds (as of 3 weeks ago. I used to weigh myself daily but haven't had access to a scale as I've been abroad on vacation)
I was always a skinny kid, underweight, could eat what I wanted and it never caught up until I was around 12, when I started to carry more weight in my gut. I was worried about that, but figured that I could never get fat, because I had never faced repercussions for my reckless eating before. But after I got my first period at almost 13, I put on 30 pounds in about 3 months and, at 4'11", became slightly overweight.
I've been trying for the past 5 years to lose that weight and get down to 105 but nothing is working and I really feel trapped. I'm not sure what I should be doing, and after overeating tonight and feeling like a guilty pig, I'm really just sick of the shame and I want the fat on my body to be gone.
I've been eating 1200 calories a day, but I find that difficult to do without being really hungry. I have a sweet tooth and a tendency to snack, but I'm usually a healthy eater - I cook a lot of my own food, I'm a vegetarian, and a solid half of what I eat is raw fruits and veggies. Usually on a day with no exercise where I just stay inside all day (so no increased appetite) I log about 1300-1400. Eating only 1200 is incredibly difficult, I basically have to skip a meal to get that result.
My exercise level is pretty sedentary - I don't like exercising. The gym makes me miserable. Running makes me miserable. I can't ride a bike (long story). The two things I've found I do like, however, are dancing and swimming. So when I start college in the fall I'm planning on signing up for a dance class (2 days a week), swimming once a week, and forcing myself to strength train at the school gym twice a week. Does that sound like sufficient exercise if I want to lose 20 pounds by my birthday (January 22), if I start working out again around September 1st? Should I be upping my caloric intake? To what?
Thanks in advance.
For the first bold, this:Fill out your mfp profile to lose .5 pounds per week. Log your exercise. Eat all of your mfp goal calories and at least 50% of your exercise calories. Don't set a time goal for your weight loss.
Plus make sure you are getting enough protein and fat - that helps me with my sweet tooth. Another help for that is not getting too hungry. Have meals planned in advance.
For the second bold - the beauty of exercise is it give you more calories
Is there anywhere you can swim now?
Have you tried yoga? What about walking? I don't like treadmills at the gym but love walking in the woods with my mp3 player.
No, I can't swim for a while since I recently got a tattoo, but I don't have pool access here anyways.
I've tried yoga on video and found it painful and not worth it (as it doesn't burn many calories). I like the idea of it, though. I also just really hate feeling my rolls squishing together in a lot of the positions, to be honest.
I forgot to mention this in the OP, but I have cholinergic urticaria, which is usually triggered by walking/running so I try to avoid that unless I have somewhere to go. Also, I can't afford good exercise shoes at the moment, and the shoes I use give me knee pain.
Sorry to be such a negative Nancy who turns everything down. I really am taking everything posted into account, and I appreciate all feedback! I just want to make sure I can actually do this right, for once in my life.0 -
I've been eating 1200 calories a day, but I find that difficult to do without being really hungry. I have a sweet tooth and a tendency to snack, but I'm usually a healthy eater - I cook a lot of my own food, I'm a vegetarian, and a solid half of what I eat is raw fruits and veggies. Usually on a day with no exercise where I just stay inside all day (so no increased appetite) I log about 1300-1400. Eating only 1200 is incredibly difficult, I basically have to skip a meal to get that result.
You may feel more satisfied if you eat more protein and fats. Really try to hit those goals.
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/healthnutrition/tp/protein.htm
https://www.theveggietable.com/blog/vegetarianism/nutrition/protein/
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I am 5'2" and have been doing 1200 calories for 35 days. It sucks that the weight comes off so slow. The key for me not feeling hungry is to have protein and fat for breakfast. This fills me up for hours and I can add carbs throughout the day. I am not anti carb, but I do noticed that for me, carbs in the morning makes me fight hunger for the rest of the day.
Good Luck!0 -
I am under5', 54, and lost 30 pounds since January.... Maintaining now at 120. There really is no secret here. If you don't feel comfortable eating at 1200, you need to settle for really slow weight loss, which is going to happen anyway given you are already at a healthy weight..... Or you find SOMETHING you can and will do to move a little more to give yourself a couple hundred more calorie deficit per day to hit half pound a week. Since you only like swimming and dancing, but you can't swim right now because of your new tattoo, that leaves you with dancing. Close your bedroom door, turn on the music and get busy. One half hour of general type dancing will buy you roughly 122 calories for instance. If there is a will, there is always a way Either eat a little less, move a little more, a combination of both, or try to recomp to get the look you are after. Best wishes at college 0
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Fill out your mfp profile to lose .5 pounds per week. Log your exercise. Eat all of your mfp goal calories and at least 50% of your exercise calories. Don't set a time goal for your weight loss.
...why? I set it to .5 and my goal is still 1200 (it was at 1 pound a week before)Talk to your parents about how you feel, if you have not already done so, and discuss seeing a therapist. If you are in school, college etc, perhaps a counselor could help there. You have a very negative body image, as if you have not managed to accept the changes your body has been through after puberty. Based on your stats, there is no way you look fat as you seem to think. Could be that you can afford losing a few vanity pounds or building some muscle might help, but I doubt you have 20 lbs to lose. I do not think that what you are feeling is unusual, I know myself and pretty much all my friends, and my own daughter now, have been through such phases, but if you have been feeling this bad for years, you definitely need to work on building up some self esteem and confidence, and the rest will follow.
I really do, though. If I look at myself in natural sunlight, I just look terrible. I have cellulite all over my thighs, but it's worse in the back, and it's on my stomach, too. I've got love handles and pointy saddlebags. And I have stretch marks all on my upper thighs. That's not something that comes from normal weight gain in a barely pubescent girl.kshama2001 wrote: »I'm 18, 5'1", and 125 pounds (as of 3 weeks ago. I used to weigh myself daily but haven't had access to a scale as I've been abroad on vacation)
I was always a skinny kid, underweight, could eat what I wanted and it never caught up until I was around 12, when I started to carry more weight in my gut. I was worried about that, but figured that I could never get fat, because I had never faced repercussions for my reckless eating before. But after I got my first period at almost 13, I put on 30 pounds in about 3 months and, at 4'11", became slightly overweight.
I've been trying for the past 5 years to lose that weight and get down to 105 but nothing is working and I really feel trapped. I'm not sure what I should be doing, and after overeating tonight and feeling like a guilty pig, I'm really just sick of the shame and I want the fat on my body to be gone.
I've been eating 1200 calories a day, but I find that difficult to do without being really hungry. I have a sweet tooth and a tendency to snack, but I'm usually a healthy eater - I cook a lot of my own food, I'm a vegetarian, and a solid half of what I eat is raw fruits and veggies. Usually on a day with no exercise where I just stay inside all day (so no increased appetite) I log about 1300-1400. Eating only 1200 is incredibly difficult, I basically have to skip a meal to get that result.
My exercise level is pretty sedentary - I don't like exercising. The gym makes me miserable. Running makes me miserable. I can't ride a bike (long story). The two things I've found I do like, however, are dancing and swimming. So when I start college in the fall I'm planning on signing up for a dance class (2 days a week), swimming once a week, and forcing myself to strength train at the school gym twice a week. Does that sound like sufficient exercise if I want to lose 20 pounds by my birthday (January 22), if I start working out again around September 1st? Should I be upping my caloric intake? To what?
Thanks in advance.
For the first bold, this:Fill out your mfp profile to lose .5 pounds per week. Log your exercise. Eat all of your mfp goal calories and at least 50% of your exercise calories. Don't set a time goal for your weight loss.
Plus make sure you are getting enough protein and fat - that helps me with my sweet tooth. Another help for that is not getting too hungry. Have meals planned in advance.
For the second bold - the beauty of exercise is it give you more calories
Is there anywhere you can swim now?
Have you tried yoga? What about walking? I don't like treadmills at the gym but love walking in the woods with my mp3 player.
No, I can't swim for a while since I recently got a tattoo, but I don't have pool access here anyways.
I've tried yoga on video and found it painful and not worth it (as it doesn't burn many calories). I like the idea of it, though. I also just really hate feeling my rolls squishing together in a lot of the positions, to be honest.
I forgot to mention this in the OP, but I have cholinergic urticaria, which is usually triggered by walking/running so I try to avoid that unless I have somewhere to go. Also, I can't afford good exercise shoes at the moment, and the shoes I use give me knee pain.
Sorry to be such a negative Nancy who turns everything down. I really am taking everything posted into account, and I appreciate all feedback! I just want to make sure I can actually do this right, for once in my life.
Then go set it to maintain and eat somewhere between 1200 and that number.
I can't lose the weight for you. Eat less, move more, or do a combo. Or stay at your current weight.0 -
I have found that 5:2 works for me, I have lost 40 lbs in 3 months with a mixture of 5:2 and 4:3. Look on the fast diet forum for help.
Ginette0 -
As much as you say you don't like exersise, you have to find something!! I used to love working out, but arthritis won't let me like I used to, the pain isn't worth it. I can't stand just walking, its sooo boring! (adhd) So I've found disc golf. I get to do something!! While I'm walking. I suck at it but it gives me something to think about while I'm walking so I love it! My girls like yoga and it get them out and about and its very good for them. They are your age.
3 years ago I weighed 320, I'm 6'4, now I'm down to around 260. I know its not a lot short term, but I didn't diet much and wasnt hungry all the time. My wife says I look good, my girls say I look good! And I feel good without the pain of going to have the gym. And it's mostly because I play disc golf every chance I get!! It's free too, except to buy the discs. It's just my thing.
Swimming is very good for your whole body! It's low impact and great for the core muscles.
I guess what my advice to you is find some thing that gets you moving and you like to do it!!!!! even if its a dance class! If you don't like it, you won't do it for long.
Good luck! Never give up! Never!!0 -
I plugged your stats into the Fitness Frog calculator, listed you as sedentary (and you aren't), and it gave your TDEE as 1624. For lightly active, it gave just over 1900. No doubt you're hungry on 1200 because it's way too little. You're close to your goal; you can't expect to lose quickly and not be horribly hungry. Why not manually change the calorie goal to 1424 and make sure to eat all the calories you burn from exercise? You'll be a lot happier, and you'll still lose steadily at just under half a pound a week. Sometimes I adjust my calorie intake to only be a 0.25 pound/week loss. I'm not a fan of torturing myself.0
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