officially overweight for the first time

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howardge
howardge Posts: 27 Member
in Motivation and Support
I know the BMI is a crap measure. Intellectually, I know that.

But I'm having a little freakout, because I've been doing 300 minutes of cardio a week but I keep gaining weight. I split a pair of jeans last week that used to be my loose jeans. I was weighed at the doctor yesterday and am officially "overweight" for the first time.

I'm feeling so discouraged.

Replies

  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,862 Member
    edited December 2015
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    Hang in there! You're doing great on the exercise part but if you aren't losing weight, that comes from the kitchen. You're eating more calories than you're burning in a day. Check your log and see what you skipped. A few things I'd noticed I forgot to log was vitamins, calcium, milk or creamer for coffee, ketchup and hot sauce. I was missing close to 100 calories a day. Log daily, weigh your food and only eat back half your exercise calories. Stay under your calorie limit and you should start to lose weight.
  • ash_law
    ash_law Posts: 70 Member
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    fiddletime wrote: »
    Hang in there! You're doing great on the exercise part but if you aren't losing weight, that comes from the kitchen. You're eating more calories than you're burning in a day. Check your log and see what you skipped. A few things I'd noticed I forgot to log was vitamins, calcium, milk or creamer for coffee, ketchup and hot sauce. I was missing close to 100 calories a day. Log daily, weigh your food and only eat back half your exercise calories. Stay under your calorie limit and you should start to lose weight.

    This. It is really hard to out-exercise a calorie surplus. A trap people can fall into is thinking that they are burning way more calories during their workouts than they really are, and MFP is notoriously bad at calculating exercise calories, so be careful about how much you eat back.
  • howardge
    howardge Posts: 27 Member
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    I havn't been logging calories (or regularly weighing myself) because I've struggled with an eating disorder and I tend to fixate on the numbers. Thats part of what makes this so hard-- trying to be healthy without letting it get crazy. For a long time the weight gain was actually a good thing. Then my weight stabilized. But over the last two years, jeeeeez.
  • vespiquenn
    vespiquenn Posts: 1,455 Member
    edited December 2015
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    I might get flack for this, and I just want to put a disclaimer that this is my personal experience. But I have a history of bulimia and restrictive tendencies (didn't fully conform to anorexia by Doctor standards), and I have found that counting calories helps me from restricting. Now, I have to add that it has taken a lot of mental work to get to a point that I can count calories without restricting, but I was in your shoes where the weight crept on until I was about 10lbs overweight. I am finding that counting calories these days is something that keeps me in check that I need to fuel my body. Like yesterday, I found myself saying that I needed to eat an extra 200 calories rather than cut. And counting calories for me helps keep me in a healthy mindset that a binge of 500cals isnt really a binge. If you're struggling, I would first try cutting out one snack item per day. Counting calories but removing the scale from the home may keep from the obsessive mindset of weighing. If it doesn't work, it might not be a bad idea to set up a plan with your doctor that helps counting calories while remaining in a healthy mindset (even if it means seeking out therapy). Tell your doctor exactly what you have here, and see what they recommend for future steps.
  • staringatthesun
    staringatthesun Posts: 38 Member
    edited December 2015
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    hi there! i too have struggled with an eating disorder in the past. have you ever been on an exchange-based meal plan? i wonder if that would be helpful. it helps to make sure that you are eating within whatever your recommended calorie range is, without you yourself having to count any calories,

    also, i'd love if you would add me, if you'd like! ☺️
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    Maybe try leaving a little food on your plate and see if that works. Or cut one snack a day, or something similar. If there were a way you could just cut a bit from what you eat, it would work, and all those tracking numbers wouldn't have to make you crazy (they made me crazy for at least a decade after my eating disorder!).

    Do you eat many full-fat dairy items? Maybe just switching to low-fat would be enough. It doesn't sound like it's many pounds if you have the patience to lose slowly. My little habits that I do normally equal 30 lbs of weight gain over time! It creeps on. It's really not much of a difference on a daily basis, though. It just adds up over time since it's over maintenance for my best weight.
  • Pandora_and_her_box
    Pandora_and_her_box Posts: 240 Member
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    vespiquenn wrote: »
    I might get flack for this, and I just want to put a disclaimer that this is my personal experience. But I have a history of bulimia and restrictive tendencies (didn't fully conform to anorexia by Doctor standards), and I have found that counting calories helps me from restricting. Now, I have to add that it has taken a lot of mental work to get to a point that I can count calories without restricting, but I was in your shoes where the weight crept on until I was about 10lbs overweight. I am finding that counting calories these days is something that keeps me in check that I need to fuel my body. Like yesterday, I found myself saying that I needed to eat an extra 200 calories rather than cut. And counting calories for me helps keep me in a healthy mindset that a binge of 500cals isnt really a binge. If you're struggling, I would first try cutting out one snack item per day. Counting calories but removing the scale from the home may keep from the obsessive mindset of weighing. If it doesn't work, it might not be a bad idea to set up a plan with your doctor that helps counting calories while remaining in a healthy mindset (even if it means seeking out therapy). Tell your doctor exactly what you have here, and see what they recommend for future steps.

    No flack from me, I think that's a great post! Sounds like you're recovering really well and have adopted a healthy mindset.

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