Still feeling terrible on 1200-1500

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umiushi
umiushi Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
24 y.o female. I've been on this diet for a month now. I started off at 189, lost 12 lbs (mainly within the first 2 weeks) and am now 177. I was at 1200 calories and felt awful, but in an attempt to feel better, I increase to 1500 occassionally. Problem is its been a month and I still feel terrible. I'm exhausted and can only just barely function to stay awake, I can't even do strenuous exercise even if I wanted. I am still having cravings that are not going away and my mind is constantly saying "when are we going to eat next?" I can hardly focus. This gets especially worse around my period and nothing I do ever helps. This is even with allowing myself to eat foods I like from time to time. My weight loss has plateaud.

According to the MFP app, I am always eating the right balance of carbs, fat and protein. I've had my thyroid checked multiple times over the last 5 years or more, and it's always come back normal despite low thyroid symptoms.

Replies

  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    What have you set your weight loss goals to? If it's more than a pound a week it may be too aggressive. Also you haven't plateau'd don't worry, what you're experiencing is water weight fluctuations, that 12 pounds in 2 weeks will be mostly water weight, in the last 2 weeks you will have continued losing fat but regained some of that water weight back (water weight both exaggerates and masks weight loss it's completely normal and unavoidable), it is nearly impossible to lose 12 pounds of fat in 2 weeks unless you are extremely obese, 12 pounds in 4 weeks is also 3 pounds a week which is still a very aggressive amount of loss and that is why you are feeling so out of it.

    Slow down and up your calories aim for 1 pound a week this is a marathon not a sprint, steady maintainable loss means you won't be losing too much lean mass/muscle which may screw your metabolism in the long run and you end up yoyoing when you give up, do what you can without making yourself miserable, you can do this. xxx
  • lilysillycat
    lilysillycat Posts: 159 Member
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    have you checked your blood sugar?
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    re: thyroid results - there is a huge range of "normal" for thyroid - .5 to 4.5 - so even if you are in the normal range, your body might not be in your optimal range - @CSARdiver probably has more technical info on it

    it sounds like you have cut your calories too much - personally, I adhere to the eat more, do more theory - I'm losing about .25-.5 a week but I'm eating 22-2500 cal a day - so I'm getting adequate recovery and being able to work out mor
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    There are other things that can cause fatigue. Such as some vitamin deficiencies, low iron. That might not be your issue - but wanted to throw it out there as a possibility.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    umiushi wrote: »
    24 y.o female. I've been on this diet for a month now. I started off at 189, lost 12 lbs (mainly within the first 2 weeks) and am now 177. I was at 1200 calories and felt awful, but in an attempt to feel better, I increase to 1500 occasionally. Problem is its been a month and I still feel terrible. I'm exhausted and can only just barely function to stay awake, I can't even do strenuous exercise even if I wanted. I am still having cravings that are not going away and my mind is constantly saying "when are we going to eat next?" I can hardly focus. This gets especially worse around my period and nothing I do ever helps. This is even with allowing myself to eat foods I like from time to time. My weight loss has plateaued.

    According to the MFP app, I am always eating the right balance of carbs, fat and protein. I've had my thyroid checked multiple times over the last 5 years or more, and it's always come back normal despite low thyroid symptoms.

    Welcome! Congrats on your progress you've made.

    Can you disclose your height/weight and goal weight? My initial guess is that you created too dramatic of a calorie deficit and feeling horrible due to insufficient intake. No hurry - take it slow and think marathon over sprint. Your body tolerates small changes well - dramatic changes not so much. How many calories does MFP set for you? What is your set rate of loss?

    Any hormonal imbalance is going to be compounded around your period. Hormones are free cylcing and several have competing receptor sites.

    I would avoid strenuous exercise in the meantime. Focus on light exercise for now until you get treated - even walking 30 mins/day can have a dramatic impact in the long term.

    Have you gone to see an endocrinologist? You need to search out one that will work with you and conduct a full thyroid panel including TSH, fT3, fT4, and rT3. The defined "normal" range since 2002 for TSH is 0.2-2.0. As @deannalfisher stated it is fine to be outside this range if you "feel" normal, but this is clearly not the case with you.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,898 Member
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    umiushi wrote: »
    24 y.o female. I've been on this diet for a month now. I started off at 189, lost 12 lbs (mainly within the first 2 weeks) and am now 177. I was at 1200 calories and felt awful, but in an attempt to feel better, I increase to 1500 occassionally. Problem is its been a month and I still feel terrible. I'm exhausted and can only just barely function to stay awake, I can't even do strenuous exercise even if I wanted. I am still having cravings that are not going away and my mind is constantly saying "when are we going to eat next?" I can hardly focus. This gets especially worse around my period and nothing I do ever helps. This is even with allowing myself to eat foods I like from time to time. My weight loss has plateaud.

    According to the MFP app, I am always eating the right balance of carbs, fat and protein. I've had my thyroid checked multiple times over the last 5 years or more, and it's always come back normal despite low thyroid symptoms.

    Couple questions:
    1. How tall are you?
    2. How many more pounds do you want to lose?
    3. What weekly weight loss goal did you chose?
    4. What percentage of the calories that you earn from exercise do you eat back?
  • Kathryn247
    Kathryn247 Posts: 570 Member
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    It seems no one has asked this yet - are you getting enough good sleep at night, with a regular bedtime and wakeup time? I changed my bedtime to half an hour earlier and it made a world of difference to my energy and alertness level. Good sleep is good for weight loss, too. Hang in there!
  • Tried30UserNames
    Tried30UserNames Posts: 561 Member
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    Regarding the thyroid test you may have had, you likely had a TSH test. That's a pituitary test that sometimes correlates to thyroid hormone levels. Find a doctor who will test your thyroid...free t3, TPO AB, TgAb, reverse t3. Make sure the doc looks up from the computer and actually touches your neck
  • xchocolategirl
    xchocolategirl Posts: 186 Member
    edited May 2017
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    I agree with the others who mentioned we need to know your height and weight.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Yes, we'd need to know your height. And like the above poster, WHAT are you eating? What makes up those calories. That can make all the difference in the world when eating at a deficit.
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
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    I'd just like to throw in that the "right" balance of protein, carbs, fat that MFP sets may not be the best for you. Many users consider MFP's protein goal an absolute minimum, and NOT a number to stay below. When you are in a calorie deficit, muscle loss is usually an unintended consequence unless you are eating protein in a bit of a surplus and keeping your muscles stimulated. Setting your protein goal a little higher also helps keep you satiated longer.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
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    umiushi wrote: »
    I've had my thyroid checked multiple times over the last 5 years or more, and it's always come back normal despite low thyroid symptoms.

    For most people, 1200 right off the bat likely means you are pursuing a weekly goal that is too aggressive. But since your symptoms pre-dated your attempts at weight loss, I'm thinking the problem lies elsewhere, as others have mentioned.
  • Slimpossible007
    Slimpossible007 Posts: 16,218 Member
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    Put your goal weight into MFP say you want to maintain that weight, you might be surprised at how many cals you could be able to eat each day!

    I'm 5 6 and my final goal weight is 140 lbs .. to maintain my goal weight I am allowed 1820 cals a day (according to MFP)

    So for my diet I just make sure I never go over 1820 cals each day, I'm eating for the body I eventually want.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Pursue this with a doctor.
  • kayeroze
    kayeroze Posts: 146 Member
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    My question is, are you eating back your exercise calories too? Like is the 1200 a Net amount or Total amount? I agree what the others are saying, but you've describe symptoms and not the regimen you're going through with stats.
  • Lynnmi07
    Lynnmi07 Posts: 131 Member
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    Are you drinking enough water? Being dehydrated can cause fatigue.
  • KosmosKitten
    KosmosKitten Posts: 10,476 Member
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    There are other things that can cause fatigue. Such as some vitamin deficiencies, low iron. That might not be your issue - but wanted to throw it out there as a possibility.

    ^^ This. I felt horrible eating at a higher amount (1600 or so daily) until the doctor suggested I supplement D3. He ran some tests and found out I was horribly deficient compared to normal results.

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