I can't ever seem to lose weight
EricaKemp44
Posts: 9 Member
I need help, I can't ever seem to lose weight , and it's starting to tear me down. I can't live like this anymore
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Replies
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Do you actually track your intake? Aside from thyroid problems, the law of physics applies to everyone; simply eat less than you burn. For accuracy, a food scale works the best.6
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Have you started weighing your food and staying within the calorie goal MFP gave you?1
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Aww, it's all right. We'll help get you there. You CAN do this, I promise. Everyone has to start somewhere.
Let's talk about what you're doing so far, and get a handle on where the problem might be. Are you using your MFP diary to track your food intake? How much weight do you have to lose, and how many calories are you eating? What kind of exercise do you do, if any?5 -
I'm eating so much junk food, it's hard to get away from it. I'm 289lbs , and rising. I have hit my breaking point , I can't do this anymore0
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EricaKemp44 wrote: »I'm eating so much junk food, it's hard to get away from it. I'm 289lbs , and rising. I have hit my breaking point , I can't do this anymore
Well, you found MFP. It's a great tool to help you gain control of what you eat. It's entirely up to you. You will get out of it what you put into it.
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AlabamaMama224 wrote: »EricaKemp44 wrote: »I'm eating so much junk food, it's hard to get away from it. I'm 289lbs , and rising. I have hit my breaking point , I can't do this anymore
Well, you found MFP. It's a great tool to help you gain control of what you eat. It's entirely up to you. You will get out of it what you put into it.
^^this
I remember that feeling, too. I was almost 250 lbs when I realized it, and it was scary. It's okay, thiugh, because it's also reversible. Start using MFP if you haven't already. Just try tracking what you eat so you know what you're dealing with. Get used to doing that so that when you start, it becomes second nature.3 -
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EricaKemp44 wrote: »I'm eating so much junk food, it's hard to get away from it. I'm 289lbs , and rising. I have hit my breaking point , I can't do this anymore
You still didn't answer if you're tracking. Junk food isn't the problem. It's the portions. Hell, I'm eating a snack bag of potato chips right now. And I have been plenty successful on my journey.
Start tracking, get a cheap food scale, weigh all of your food, and go from there. Weight loss is all about calories in, calories out.
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Likely hormonal (thyroid, adrenal, cortisol, leptin, adoponectin) imbalances. Know any good Integrative Docs? They can test your saliva/blood work and help you to the right path. But let your frustrations work for you to add things, rather than taking them out. For example, add a healthier snack to your routine every week, and eventually you will crave less. Coconut oil helps with processed carb cravings. Doing things like parking farther away to be more active, and walking daily starting where you can and increasing 10min a week until you get to 60. Treating yourself to non-food self-care things daily, like baths, books, massage, mani-pedi, meditation, journaling about fun stuff, anything that fills your heart, and makes you less likely to grab a bag of something. Conscious eating, conscious eating, conscious eating! Before you eat something, take a breath, grab a glass of water, and give yourself 2 min, reflecting, "do I really want to eat that?" You may say yes, you may say no. Either answer is fine, as long as it is a conscious decision. That can really help. Best of luck! Friend me!1
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How much weight in food should I eat in a day?0
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EricaKemp44 wrote: »How much weight in food should I eat in a day?
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1399829/step-by-step-guide-to-losing-weight-with-myfitnesspal
Start here.2 -
Likely hormonal (thyroid, adrenal, cortisol, leptin, adoponectin) imbalances. Know any good Integrative Docs? They can test your saliva/blood work and help you to the right path...
At this point I'd say it's much more likely that the OP is simply in a caloric surplus and needs to establish a proper intake, then track and log properly to maintain it. At least that's what I would try before going and spending a bunch of time and money on exams and blood tests. Better to start with the simplest possible solutions and work up to the more complicated ones.10 -
Likely hormonal (thyroid, adrenal, cortisol, leptin, adoponectin) imbalances. Know any good Integrative Docs? They can test your saliva/blood work and help you to the right path...
At this point I'd say it's much more likely that the OP is simply in a caloric surplus and needs to establish a proper intake, then track and log properly to maintain it. At least that's what I would try before going and spending a bunch of time and money on exams and blood tests. Better to start with the simplest possible solutions and work up to the more complicated ones.
Its never a bad idea to know where you are health wise and get a simple checkup. A blood test at her local doc would not cost much at all and its 15 minutes of her time.
Whilst deciding on a doc checkup, OP make sure your mindset is in the game of losing and truly ready. The only thing you need to purchase is a food scale. Use that with the MFP app and you are on your way. Eat the things you love already, just eat them within the calorie allotment MFP gave you to adhere to a calorie deficit to lose weight.
Read all the stickies at the beginning of the forums, educate your self and do searches on the things you deem important to you to help you lose weight. The community is here to help you..
Forget today and yesterday,, start here.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help-must-reads#latest
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Likely hormonal (thyroid, adrenal, cortisol, leptin, adoponectin) imbalances. Know any good Integrative Docs? They can test your saliva/blood work and help you to the right path. But let your frustrations work for you to add things, rather than taking them out. For example, add a healthier snack to your routine every week, and eventually you will crave less. Coconut oil helps with processed carb cravings. Doing things like parking farther away to be more active, and walking daily starting where you can and increasing 10min a week until you get to 60. Treating yourself to non-food self-care things daily, like baths, books, massage, mani-pedi, meditation, journaling about fun stuff, anything that fills your heart, and makes you less likely to grab a bag of something. Conscious eating, conscious eating, conscious eating! Before you eat something, take a breath, grab a glass of water, and give yourself 2 min, reflecting, "do I really want to eat that?" You may say yes, you may say no. Either answer is fine, as long as it is a conscious decision. That can really help. Best of luck! Friend me!
Aside from the possibility of hormonal imbalances; I think FOOD (especially the palatable kind) is FLAT OUT ADDICTING AF (and some of us--whether through genetics or how we were raised/environmentally/psychological factors--are more likely to fall prone). It comforts you and can feel extremely pleasurable in the moment--especially when you're at a very high weight and you're alone and lack confidence (who would honestly date me looking like this?) and feel stuck and hopeless. It's almost self-medicating in a way. It develops into a habit over a span of time and tricks your brain into thinking you're still hungry (but it's really FALSE hunger). And old habits die hard. Ur intense desire to eat floods your mind in the moment and clouds rational thought--until you're finished and start feeling like utter worthless crap, promising (even crying) to yourself that you're never gonna eat pizza or brownies or mcdonald's again! Then it hits you again a couple nights later (sometimes suddenly, unexpectedly, almost like a force to be reckoned with)...and it doesn't matter that you've gained weight on top of your already obese bmi or meditated or worked out or had a healthy, high-protein snack or ate 3 filling, balanced meals or wrote in your journal listening to your favorite music or even NOT that hungry--you're gripping for control and fighting with your thoughts until you eventually CAVE and that cheeseburger and fries with loads of ketchup in the privacy of your car at the drive-thru feel like the BEST thing in the world. It's like that saying: "I'm depressed because I eat too much. I eat too much because I'm depressed." Horrible, horrible cycle that damages you mentally and crushes your spirit along with opening you up to diseases that can threaten your life.
Honestly, sometimes STRONG pharmaceuticals from a psychiatrist along with talking to a highly-regarded psychologist (CBT is key) REALLY help. If finances are an issue, talking to a good counselor regularly who can somehow connect with your primary care physician can help too.
But if it wasn't for the help of a potent prescription drug like the amphetamine Vyvanse at a high dose (which is a Schedule 2, controlled substance that has ACTUAL FDA-approval to help those who struggle with over-eating/bingeing; especially from an emotional standpoint) taken every single day; I probably would still be in the 200's today; fluctuating up and down constantly, miserable and hating life as I write this. Was it a potentially addictive drug? yes. Did I get addicted? no. Will others? maybe. But sometimes, u have take risks in life with the hope of the benefit outweighing the danger in the long-run.
Once you get yourself out of that damn, self-destructive cycle and reach a point where you've really made progress; you're a lot more motivated to keep moving forward until you can finally sit back and maintain all your efforts (medicated or not)!
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I hear ya. There's no magic bullet, one solution answer. Food intake is important, even foundational, but emotional eating and internal chemistry won't allow you to have any will power if you don't start there. Also will power is proven to be a finite resource, so if you are using will power alone, you will eventually cave. Thus research shows that the best way is not to limit intake as a starting place, but letting it naturally occur as you start to eat real foods with more nutrients and micronutrients and enzymes that help you rebalance your biochemistry.
Erica, I would suggest to find a yummy green drink like Pineapple lemongrass Amazing Grass Green Superfood, or whatever is palatable for you to start and try it for one week. When you're ready for a next step, there are a billion to choose from.
The reason I say add, and not to limit yourself, is because loosing weight is not a punishment, and we are trained (socially) to think it is, and that we are "less than" when we don't fit the media's image of healthy. Reframing your thinking to make this an act of self-love is the only motivator that is productive for longterm results. (Not "I wanna loose weight, not cuz my doc said I have to, not cuz I want to be accepted,, cuz I hate how I look/feel etc.) This concept is fully researched and presented very well in a book called "No Sweat." Even if you can only look at this first week as an experiment in loving yourself, try that. It takes practice, and just being open to the possibility of belief at first.0 -
EricaKemp44 wrote: »I'm eating so much junk food, it's hard to get away from it. I'm 289lbs , and rising. I have hit my breaking point , I can't do this anymore
You can. Start by throwing out all the junk food. If you can't bring yourself to throw it out, give it to a local food back. Do not buy more.
Do you cook? Do you meal plan? Learn to do both.
If you haven't already start tracking your food here on MFP. Read labels. Learn what one portion is; you will be shocked.
Once you have better understanding of what you are eating you will have a base from which you can cut down. Losing weight really is all about expending more calories then you take in. It's not about austerity. You don't have to completely give up anything. You simply need to eat less of it.
Take baby steps. With help of this site you can lose weight if you do what the app says.
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Likely hormonal (thyroid, adrenal, cortisol, leptin, adoponectin) imbalances. Know any good Integrative Docs? They can test your saliva/blood work and help you to the right path...
At this point I'd say it's much more likely that the OP is simply in a caloric surplus and needs to establish a proper intake, then track and log properly to maintain it. At least that's what I would try before going and spending a bunch of time and money on exams and blood tests. Better to start with the simplest possible solutions and work up to the more complicated ones.
This ^^aaaand thisAlabamaMama224 wrote: »
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if you are looking for help please give everyone here more info...
Your stats?
how many days do you workout?
whats your diet look like?
how many calories are you eating?
whats your workout program look like?
have you been cheating on your diet?
Makes it alittle easier to see where you are going wrong.
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You dont know if you can't lose weight if you haven't ever tired to lose weight before. You found MFP. That's the first step. Set up your account and eat the calories it tells you to eat. Invest in a food scale and start exercising.2
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EricaKemp44 wrote: »I'm eating so much junk food, it's hard to get away from it. I'm 289lbs , and rising. I have hit my breaking point , I can't do this anymore
You have to want to make the change in your diet/exercise in order for it to work. In the past when I wasn't ready to make a change then I would keep gaining and never change anything. Once you get to the point of "wanting" to be thin and healthy more than you want to overeat then you will be able to do it. My favorite quote is "nothing tastes as good as being thin feels."
Also, if you could share more about your days as far as your exercise, walking, eating habits, how many calories per day, list of items you eat daily, etc that would help others to be able to give you better advice. I will say that weighing and measuring anything that goes in your mouth is the first place to start.0 -
I was at the same weight in 2009. It wasn't until a year ago was really ready to work on my weight. Now I am at 249 and dropping. Once I got started with MFP I found that it really doesn't have to be that hard and you really don't have to give up any of the kinds of food you enjoy. All you have to do is the following:
Buy yourself a food scale and get comfortable with using it.
Set up your My Fitness Pal account and enter all of your stats.
Weigh all of your food and log it into your diary before you eat it.
Try to eat only as many calories as MFP says you should.
Don't get worked up over holidays and eating out. You will learn how to work with those things in time. You do not have to give up birthday cake and Christmas dinner. You don't have to give up McDonalds, Starbucks, candy bars, potato chips, bread or anything else. You just have to learn to keep them in their place. And in time you might realise you don't want them as often or as much because you have started to retrain yourself on how you think about food.
At first MFP may give you what seems like a lot of calories. Trust me you were eating a LOT more than that before you started and the deficit will be big enough for you to lose weight.
Don't give up, label and bad or otherwise demonize any foods you like. Just eat less of the calorie dense stuff and more of the low calories things. Be balanced. There is nothing wrong with a little "junk food" every day as long as you stick to your goals.
Yes you will mess up. In order to actually really ruin a week of eating well you would have to eat 10,000 calories. You aren't too likely to do that in a day. Yes it will slow down your weight loss. No that isn't the end of the world. Start again tomorrow. You are allowed to not be perfect.
If you are going over your calories log it anyway. Be honest with yourself. Plus when you see the numbers you might realise that what felt like a horrible binge might just have been a maintenance day or even still in a small deficit.
Start reading labels at the store. Really. I often find that something I think I want becomes a lot less attractive if I read the label. Or maybe I will decide I can make it fit and want it enough to do so.
Be patient. Sometimes your weight will go up instead of down, even though you know you did it all right. Lots of things can cause false readings on the scale. TOM, Excess sodium, water retention due to new or heavy exercise....
My diary is public. I eat around 2200 calories a day. (5'5" Highly active daily life) I also eat back all or most of my exercise calories. I determine those by what my Fitbit Charge HR picks up as a workout and log the time and calorie burn it reports. I do not allow steps to be counted as exercise. (Fitbit does not adjust my daily calorie goal) You can see that I eat a huge variety of things. It might give you some ideas on what to eat.
You can do this,
Are you ready?
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