I want to give up

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heish7146
heish7146 Posts: 30 Member
edited January 2017 in Motivation and Support
I'm really beginning to have the "*kitten* its." I have been consciously eating within my calorie goal, and exercising 3-5 times a week and the scale is not budging. What's the point of this crap is nothing is changing?

I'm not perfect. Some days I do eat over my goal.
I'm eating mainly veggies and lean meats. If I do chose to eat grains, they are whole grains.
I drink at least 6 glasses of water a day goal is 8-12, and have cut out my daily Diet Pepsi. (At most I have two a week)

I started slowly with exercising
Cardio
- 20 mins/3 days for for first week
-30-40 mins/5 days second week
-50-60 mins /4 days third week
-40-60 mins/ 3 days fourth week
-This week I've begun to add strength training

And before someone jumps on this... muscle weighs more than fat. My clothes fit the same. I'm discouraged, I'm pissed, and I want to give up.
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Replies

  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    Are you weighing your food on a digital scale?

    Can you open your food diary?
  • heish7146
    heish7146 Posts: 30 Member
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    I am not, but have considered it.

    I sent you a FR
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
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    Posting this from another thread as it's just as appropriate here:

    Look on the bright side, you didn't gain either. :wink:

    Several things to keep in mind:
    1. Weight loss is not linear and you might not lose weight regularly like clock work.
    2. New exercise can (and often does) lead to water retention. Your body needs the water to help repair the muscles from the unusual new strain.
    3. How certain are you of your calorie consumption? Some database entries can be way off (user submitted), so always check against the nutrition labels or the usda entries (especially if it sounds too good to be true. 50 cals for 100g chicken? I wish...)
    4. addition to point 3: how are you measuring your food? Are you guesstimating? Using cups and spoons? A scale?

    Most important:
    Don't give up on yourself. It takes time and patience to lose. I started at 50kg to lose and I'm down 30kg with 20 left. I started in 2014 (MFP in 2016) and I'll probably still be working on losing in 2018...

    You can do this!
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    No wonder you are pissed. I would be pissed too (in fact, I have been doing much the same as you, and I was). Let me suggest another strategy: Eat and train in a way you would like to eat and train, even if it didn't lead to weightloss. To lose weight, all you need is a calorie deficit, but it needs to be consistent. So find a diet/exercise regimen that 1) provides a calorie deficit and 2) you easily can stick to.
  • mdcromer
    mdcromer Posts: 8 Member
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    Do you have any way, such as a wearable activity tracker with a heart rate monitor, to somehow see if your workouts are effective? At 40-60 minutes and 1 month, you should be walking out of the gym looking like you jumped in the pool with your clothes on. If not, your workouts may not be intense enough to actually be effective. While any exercise is great and should not be stopped, good effective exercise comes at a price. As you exercise more and your body becomes more efficient at maintaining temperature, you will sweat at the drop of a hat and a lot. I don't like to spend a lot of time working out. I prefer to challenge myself by improving factors such as speed and distance in the same amount of time working out. You should also be increasing the intensity along with the time. While going through the weight loss process, working out will get easier but workouts should not. You will definitely see progress with a combination of a good diet and good exercise. Also, weight plateaus suck! You may have a week when no weight comes off but you are working out like a machine. This is when you have to stay the course and be strong. The weight drops will kick back in again.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    heish7146 wrote: »
    I'm really beginning to have the "*kitten* its." I have been consciously eating within my calorie goal, and exercising 3-5 times a week and the scale is not budging. What's the point of this crap is nothing is changing?

    I'm not perfect. Some days I do eat over my goal.
    I'm eating mainly veggies and lean meats. If I do chose to eat grains, they are whole grains.
    I drink at least 6 glasses of water a day goal is 8-12, and have cut out my daily Diet Pepsi. (At most I have two a week)

    I started slowly with exercising
    Cardio
    - 20 mins/3 days for for first week
    -30-40 mins/5 days second week
    -50-60 mins /4 days third week
    -40-60 mins/ 3 days fourth week
    -This week I've begun to add strength training

    And before someone jumps on this... muscle weighs more than fat. My clothes fit the same. I'm discouraged, I'm pissed, and I want to give up.

    First, you don't have to cut out your Diet Pepsi if you don't want to. There's nothing wrong with drinking diet drinks (not sure if you're worried about aspartame or them causing more hunger but that's not something you should worry about.)

    Second, you've been doing great with easing into the exercise. Kudos to you for not going crazy with it from the start and injuring yourself.

    Third, the point of eating well and exercise is overall fitness. I have to believe that you'd like to be healthier in addition to slimmer. Right now you are working on the healthier part by eating better and moving more.

    Fourth, it sounds like you need to cut back on food a bit. If you want to start using a scale, that's one way to get a good gauge of how much you are eating so that you know where to cut back. If you aren't using a scale and don't want to, you can simply look at your food log and cut back what you've been eating compared to it. Either option can work. You just need to figure out which is preferable to you.

    Best of luck to you!
  • PoundChaser2
    PoundChaser2 Posts: 241 Member
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    I feel your pain. Im having the same issues I workout I eat within my calories and nothing. I keep plugging away as long as Im not gaining I feel like im winning.
  • Bex953172
    Bex953172 Posts: 4,097 Member
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    Good that you're getting scales!
    I was estimating way off when I did it first time round and like you had no results!

    I used to blob it on my plate and be like "ermm about 100-150g" WRONG I put a similar amount on with scales 300g!!! And I was doing this with everything.
    Now I weigh every last thing even if it's a slice of cheese! (I just keep my scales out on the side)

    And since 1st Jan I've lost 6lb! (Based on -2lb/week MFP settings)
  • aelunyu
    aelunyu Posts: 486 Member
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    Ok! Don't get sad or frustrated just yet. You're within a community of people trying to help. I see that you've just this week started the strength training and that's awesome! I always advise to incorporate some kind of resistance training. That just might be the ticket to ongoing progress, afterall.

    If you're not seeing results in a few weeks, I'd probably dial back food a little more, and ramp up exercise. Cardio is such a weird thing. The more you do, the more you'll have to do to keep losing weight, so I strongly recommend limiting it to within an hour (unless you want to be doing it incrementally more in the future).

    You're on the right path, and I'm glad you reached out for support, so don't give up!!!!!
  • RunawayCurves
    RunawayCurves Posts: 688 Member
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    Stick at it but get a scale
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU
  • Kamaro1983
    Kamaro1983 Posts: 22 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    heish7146 wrote: »
    I am not, but have considered it.

    I sent you a FR

    there's your answer... you're eating more than you think.

    This is what fixed my issue and it takes a while for some people to start dropping even after doing everything right. Took me a whole mth
  • heish7146
    heish7146 Posts: 30 Member
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    Reaverie wrote: »
    I feel your pain but everyone here is right.. FIRST do it for health. Don't worry about your weight. Make a goal instead to eat under your calorie deficit.. even if it's .5 a month. Then decide what exercise to do and do it slowly. Work your way up to doing more.

    I started at 300lbs ... I'm 303! It's been 4 weeks and I gained to 306 and within the past week dropped 3 of those extras. I'm PISSED. And it doesn't help when the morons come out of the woodwork with false advise saying I must be eating more calories than I think I am when only I know what I was eating like before compared to now. Or that walking doesn't count as an exercise cause mfp already calculated in 3000 steps for sedentary. What they failed to consider is that I don't carry a pedometer with me during shopping or normal every day activity. I ONLY count the sustained 30 minute walks I force on myself as extra. It WILL come off.. but I am starting slow.

    I started with 1 mile a day the first week, taking 30 minutes just to walk it.. pouring sweat and gasping for air at the end. That's 2.0 mph. The slowest. But for someone who has done nothing more, that was an achievement! 2nd week I got that down to 25 minutes and did it twice a day. 3rd week, twice a day and 20 minutes. Now I'm up to 1.5 miles twice a day at 3.0 mph. AND I'm eating LESS! I still haven't lost any. As far as I can Tell, my clothes fit the same. The ONLY change is that.. I can walk 3 miles a day! And I haven't died yet! I feel MUCH better too. Back is killing me.. legs.. tummy.. butt.. all burn even after I sit down.. and my heart rate is 129 bpm when I walk so I know I'm doing cardio now.. so I just have to be patient.


    It will happen and I won't quit when I'm on the verge of a life changing break through. You keep going too. Once exercise becomes easier we can reassess everything else and make small changes to correct any mistakes.

    This sums it up. I know what I was eating like versus how I eat now. I know that instead of sitting on my butt I am working out 40-60 minutes at least 4 times a week. I too have only seen/felt a difference in my ability to do my cardio. And I know the intensity thing but I have been keeping my heartrate around 160 so that doesn't make sense that it isn't intense enough.

    Regardless, I am putting one foot in front of the other. Conintuing these healthy lifestyle changes. The other day I was just so discouraged. I appreciate everyone reaching out. I will get there. We all will.
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,862 Member
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    I've been stuck for a week. I measure and weigh my food. But, I don't weigh ALL of the solids. Like the videos showed. Your weight will drop, just stick with it. You're doing great. And fantastic job on the 3 mile walks Reaverie!! Great start!!!
  • Reaverie
    Reaverie Posts: 405 Member
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    fiddletime wrote: »
    I've been stuck for a week. I measure and weigh my food. But, I don't weigh ALL of the solids. Like the videos showed. Your weight will drop, just stick with it. You're doing great. And fantastic job on the 3 mile walks Reaverie!! Great start!!!

    Thanks! As an added bonus, my sciatica has pretty much dissapeared. That alone keeps me walking.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
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    Sometimes it just takes awhile. Stick with it, tweek here and there until it starts working. Weighing your food and portion control is a must. Try to be patient. I suggest taking your measurements and keeping a journal. I do mine weekly, but you can do monthly. When you hit a point where you're not losing you can pull it out and see your inches lost--that can boost you up and get you back on track.

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