Feeling discouraged

Nice to meet you Babydoll! I hear ya! It’s tough. I’ve been on a diet for about 30 years now lol. In January I was the biggest I’ve ever been and decided to try Weight Watchers again. I’m lovin the new Freestyle program and have lost 22 lbs. maybe you should check it out. I figured I use my premium status here for some new food ideas and extra support.

Hi,
Please don't take this wrong as I am only trying to help
We are all biologically the same, if you have only lost 1lb in all that time the answer is very simple.
You're eating too many calories on a daily basis, there is also a very slight chance that you're drastically under eating also, but I would have still expected a greater initial amount of weight loss, so I doubt this is the case.

This is my advice.
A simple 500 calories deficit is enough for good weight loss.

The key to any diet is knowing exactly how many calories you need on a daily basis, and just eating under that number).

First you need to workout how many calories your body needs in a day (Total daily energy expenditure).

Weigh yourself first thing in the morning.

Input your data in this website www.tdeecalculator.net
Choose whichever activity level is closest to yourself.

Then click the cutting calories button (under the macronutrients heading), this will give you your starting calories, and what you need to stick to on a daily basis.

Try to get as close as possible to your cutting calories every day, a little over or under is fine but no more than say 20 - 30 calories either way.

Foods to eat:

Absolutely anything you want, Just weigh and track everything you eat and drink inc milk in tea & coffee etc. (don't add calories back in when you've exercised, MFP will ask if you want to do this).

Check your TDEE on a weekly or daily basis, because it obviously drops as your weight comes down, and adjust calories accordingly in Myfitnesspal.

If you want quicker weight loss you can obviously add in cardio and or resistance exercises, not only will this help build muscle but it will also create a bigger calorie deficit.
If you were to do this I would recommend just a 30 min incline walk on the treadmill or walk outside at a steady state.

Drink plenty water, at least 2-2.5 ltrs a day.

And that's it, just carry on until you are at the weight you want to be.

Good luck and have a great day!

You just started! You gotta cut yourself a little slack. At first it's so much of a change just trying to get in the habit of logging meals and measuring serving sizes and finding exercise you enjoy. It's like a toddler learning to walk. But toddlers don't give up until they can get into everything!

Try to find multiple reasons to keep it up --I remember what really kicked me into gear was when I got crazy high cholesterol levels on a health screening and decided I didn't want to be at such a risk for heart attack. I started running and focusing on heart healthy foods and when the pounds started falling off it was even more motivation!

PS you've lost a guinea pig of weight

kommodevaran wrote: »

If you're just venting, that's okay. If you want to lose weight, you have to control your calorie intake. That's what your calorie target and food diary is for. A cheat MEAL can easily wipe out a week's deficit; nobody serious about losing weight has a cheat DAY per week. You can eat anything you want, but you can't cheat. Eating whatever you want, will make cheating redundant anyway.

ugh. i needed to hear this today.

babydollzr2 wrote: »

I do control my calorie intake...hense the reason I'm on this app!! As to your comment of nobody serious about losing weight has a cheat day a week...well your wrong there...I am friends with body builder competitors and they all have 1 day where they allow themselves to have something they normally wouldn't. If you don't allow that then your body will crave it and you will over indulge in it at some point. If you want to lose weight, no you can not just eat whatever the heck you want...what's the point of trying to lose weight then...you need to eat healthy and clean. If someone eats snacks and crap everyday they arent going to lose weight. I understand that I'm not losing much since I don't have 100s of pounds to lose. I have 15 more to go and the less you have to lose the harder it is. I came here to connect with people who are willing to listen not criticise.

I have never had a cheat day in 4+ years. Do I eat the things I want? Yes, but not EVERYTHING I want. I work them in if I have the calories and have met my nutrient goals. Also some people go overboard on their cheat days and completely erase their deficit for the week.

That said, how are you measuring your calorie intake? Do you log the cheat days?

babydollzr2 wrote: »

Yes I log everything

Yes, but people are asking how you are measuring it. Do you own a food scale and use it? That's the only way to know for sure how many calories you're really eating. Take your ice cream, for example- you can cram a lot more than the serving size in a half cup measuring cup.

However, with 15 lbs to lose, if you have lost 1 lb in about 3 weeks, that's actually about right. You probably don't want to hear it, but the recommended rate of loss with that little to lose is .5 lb/week. Plus, smaller amounts of fat loss can be easily masked by water weight fluctuations (especially for women), so it could well be more than that.

If your friends & family are the ones that have told you you can't lose weight unless you "eat clean", you should probably stick around MFP. Check out the success stories and listen to the comments of successful users here on your post

babydollzr2 wrote: »

Yes I weigh and measure things...and dont cram extra in. I know its harder with less to lose...thats what I've been saying. I just wanted to see more than 1 pound and felt bad is all since last year I lost more doing the same thing. I didn't mean to start anything...people misunderstood my "cheat day" and I felt like I was being attacked.

Please don't be discouraged! Keep in mind, the same questions/issues get raised over & over again on these forums and people often cut to the chase. Usually, when people refer to a "cheat day", it means just that- an entire day of eating whatever they like- so this is likely what people assumed.

However, everyone is correct in stressing the importance of accurate logging. Particularly with so little to lose, you have almost no room for error. Your logging needs to be spot-on- weighed to the gram- and you need to be careful that you are choosing correct database entries. If you eat a homemade vegetable stir fry, and you log a random vegetable stir fry from the database, they're not going to be the same.

And truly- you don't need to eat the nutritionally perfect diet to lose weight. Telling yourself that a slice of pizza or a dish of ice cream is a failure is really not constructive. In a calorie deficit, you will lose weight regardless, and as long as you are otherwise meeting your nutrition goals, you should regularly include foods you enjoy. Since losing weight is tough, we don't want to make the process any more daunting than it needs to be.

Hang in there- you're doing great! Maybe check out the "most helpful" posts:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-health-fitness-and-diet-must-reads#latest