Help!

Enchanta
Enchanta Posts: 5 Member
edited November 27 in Motivation and Support
I'm trying so hard to lose weight: I started at 11st5 and after four months I'm now at 10st10. I'm faithfully eating 1200 calories a day and exercising every other day, doing pilates workouts and interval training. I'm all set up to lose two pounds a week but it's not coming off at all some weeks, and coming off incredibly slowly other weeks. I don't know what else I can do and I'm really starting to despair. I used to weigh 8st5 and was relatively happy at that weight but since being diagnosed with MS, nothing I do seems to shift the weight. Doctors and nurses have refused to help me until I become obese but I really don't want to get to that stage!! I put the weight on when I had a relapse and couldn't move well but since being in remission I have taught myself to walk and run again and I try to be as active as I can. I cook most of my food from scratch and eat healthily. What am I doing wrong? I'm getting so depressed about my inability to lose weight.

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    You are expecting to lose faster than your body can sustain - at your weight, 1 pound is sustainable.
  • Enchanta
    Enchanta Posts: 5 Member
    Before I had MS and gained all this weight, I could easily lose 3 pounds in a week or ten days though, and that was when I was between 7 and 8 stone. I just don't understand how it's possible to be at a calorie deficit, exercising well and not losing weight. Some weeks I even gain! I'm going to decrease to 1000 calories a day if I don't start losing soon but I'm really hoping that won't be necessary as I'm exhausted as it is!
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    As she said above, you don't have the weight to lose 2 pounds a week. It would drop you under 1200 calories, which is not recommended. How are you measuring your intake?
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    MFP is configured so that it won't give you a calorie goal below 1200. That means that if you're plugging in inputs that would cause it to drop below 1200, it automatically spits out 1200. Theoretically, you could tell it you want to lose 3 or 5 or 8 pounds per week, and every time, it would tell you to eat 1200. That means that 1200 doesn't automatically mean that you're going to lose 2 pounds per week; it may mean that you've hit the floor in terms of its recommendations.

    Here's an easy way to check to see if you're getting a real recommendation or if you've hit the floor...if you tell it that you want to lose 1.5 pounds per week, how many calories does it recommend? Every 1/2 pound per week you want to lose is equivalent to a 250 calorie deficit, so as you adjust your goal, you should see your recommended calories jump by 250 every time. If you change your goal and don't see your recommended calories increase, that's your sign that you've hit MFP's recommendation limit.
  • Wendyanneroberts
    Wendyanneroberts Posts: 270 Member
    You have been diagnosed with MS, even though it is in remission. You have also worked hard at regaining your current level of fitness. At this point I would recommend focusing on your health, not just weight loss.

    Focus on a healthy well balance diet, with adequate "fuel" to maintain your health. You state that your already exhausted, under eating will only make matters worse. Your general health will suffer.

    I suggest resetting a target for 0.5lb to 1lb a week loss at the most. To increase your calorie target. Apart from being better for your general health, with more energy, you will probably end up burning more calories, to aid weight loss.
  • Fursian
    Fursian Posts: 566 Member
    Enchanta wrote: »
    Before I had MS and gained all this weight, I could easily lose 3 pounds in a week or ten days though, and that was when I was between 7 and 8 stone. I just don't understand how it's possible to be at a calorie deficit, exercising well and not losing weight. Some weeks I even gain! I'm going to decrease to 1000 calories a day if I don't start losing soon but I'm really hoping that won't be necessary as I'm exhausted as it is!

    In response to the first bold: This only applies to the morbidly obese, and even then it is sketchy whether they should lose that much in that time frame...

    In response to the second bold: The lowest myfitnesspal states a person can eat, on their site, to lose weight is 1200 calories, going under is not advisable and can seriously damage your health if you are not getting enough nutrition. When I say "seriously damage", were talking problems that are not glamorous or sexy, in any way...

    I'm assuming you're wanting to make lifestyle changes, that are healthy, and sustainable for the rest of your life, so really advise on reading up and educating yourself some more.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Enchanta wrote: »
    Before I had MS and gained all this weight, I could easily lose 3 pounds in a week or ten days though, and that was when I was between 7 and 8 stone.
    You didn't lose 3 pounds of fat in a week at 8 stone. When you don't eat, your intestines are emptied, that's all.
    I just don't understand how it's possible to be at a calorie deficit, exercising well and not losing weight. Some weeks I even gain!
    You're either not in a true calorie deficit, or you're retaining water (could even be from new exercise), or not patient enough to keep going through water weight fluctuations.
    I'm going to decrease to 1000 calories a day if I don't start losing soon but I'm really hoping that won't be necessary as I'm exhausted as it is!
    Yeah, you could do that, or you could check if you're really eating what you think you're eating, and really lose weight. Without being exhausted and hungry.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,985 Member
    Enchanta wrote: »
    Before I had MS and gained all this weight, I could easily lose 3 pounds in a week or ten days though, and that was when I was between 7 and 8 stone. I just don't understand how it's possible to be at a calorie deficit, exercising well and not losing weight. Some weeks I even gain! I'm going to decrease to 1000 calories a day if I don't start losing soon but I'm really hoping that won't be necessary as I'm exhausted as it is!

    You can't truly lose 3lbs in one week week in week out unless you're morbidly obese. 1 lbs equals 3500kcal, hence 3lbs equals 10500kcal. You'd need a daily calorie deficit of 1500kcal to lose that much.
  • Enchanta
    Enchanta Posts: 5 Member
    Ok, I'm not saying I lost three pounds a week, week in week out. I'm saying if I really needed to lose a few pounds to fit into a costume or dress, I could eat a little bit of fruit or veg each day and otherwise starve myself and the weight would fall off if I was also exercising. Now, I could eat 200cals a day for a week and lose nothing. I'm worried that this means my metabolism has stopped functioning properly. (Yes I have tried increasing my calorie intake and exercise rate to speed up my metabolism and this did not work.) I'm not saying any of this is healthy. I've been on the borderline of an eating disorder for most of my adult life. Not being able to exercise for a while when I was really ill with my MS has pushed me further into this territory, as well as being overweight. I can't think about anything else; I feel disgusting all the time. I've been stuck in overweight territory for three years now and I've been trying to lose weight for two of those years. I have been more than patient, I have followed several doctors' recommendations and still not lost the weight. I do know how to measure my calorie intake properly and how to weigh my portions - I'm not stupid! I'm just really struggling with a lot at the moment and really hoped that someone would have some words of support and/or something which had worked for them?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    People are trying to help, not imply that you're stupid. If you could really eat 200 cals and not lose weight, you need to get to the ER of a teaching hospital as you would be a true medical miracle.

    In order for any of us to help, you need to lay down some clean and accurate data. Stop thinking about how it used to be - you can't go back. Dwelling on how it used to work for you is just making it harder for you to see how progress can look.

    Get a food scale and set your goal to lose 1 lb per week. Start logging everything - whole food, processed food, condiments, cooking oils, nibbles, bad days. Use a food scale for all solid food, everything except liquids. Double check that the entries you are using in the database are correct - many are user entered and wrong. After 4 weeks, if you still aren't losing, come back on the boards and temporarily set your diet to public.

    I'm sorry you're struggling. Please take a deep breathe and commit to being kind to yourself as you move forward. It actually can help!
  • Enchanta
    Enchanta Posts: 5 Member
    It just looks like some people are trying to help but some are just trying to suggest I'm lying. I went for a week in May, eating one banana and one apple per day and put on half a pound. I don't know how it happened either. That's why I'm asking for help. I do weigh my portions and log everything. I'm eating 1200 a day, with weekends sometimes going up to 1500. I really am trying. I'm not feeling very kind toward myself at the moment - not until my body starts cooperating and dips below the overweight range!! I know I need to try, I'm just not in a good place right now...
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Here's the problem though. If you are 150 lbs, eating 1200 cals and exercising on top of that, and barely losing half a lb per week, either there is something wrong with your numbers or you have a medical condition that needs a doctor's attention.

    We get tons of people here who insist they know how to log, but when they open their diary and willingly engage in a dialogue about it they find lots of missed calories. Not because they're stupid or lying, but because logging is not a natural skill and sometimes requires an extra pair of eyeballs. If you don't want to entertain that, it makes it hard for us to come up with other ideas.

    I'm not familiar with MS so I have no idea if that could be playing a role. Do you get regular blood work done? Have you had your thyroid checked? How tall are you - is it possible that 8 stone was underweight and not a realistic goal anymore? I'm just brainstorming at this point.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited July 2018
    We humans always hear and see things through a filter, so maybe you have misheard (misread) some of what has been written in here. That on top of many common misconceptions, that also are not completely your fault for falling for - some ideas are spread around to deliberately confuse people, so we are more willing to part with money, as well as try hard to do impossible things - no wonder you're fighting back. How does trust work? Who can you trust when you feel desperate and hopeless? Our suggestions don't sound like much, but they are based on sound science. We have no flashy words that can sway a heart, but we sincerely want you to succeed, and to do that, you have to control what you can control, and those things are simple enough - weighing accurately and hitting calorie target, which produces a measurable and predictable result - a pound of fat lost for every 3500 calorie you have been eating less than burning. So when you instead of tightening up logging and being more patient so you can see the results of your effort, worry about your metabolism has stopped, as if it could do that, you are trying to control things you can't control, and then you are frustrated, and we actually get frustrated too.

    Then there is the language - I need to point out lying and trying. Many of the things we do and say are things we are not aware of. When we say that we are trying, we imply that we don't really think it's going to work. Some things we do, are not completely in our hands, but weight management is not one of those things. When we eat less, we lose weight. All of us. When you don't know how to do something correctly, you can still think you are, and refuse to check it out. It's to protect our "self"; and it's necessary and natural to do that, but sometimes it hurts us. You can know for certain, that if you're not losing weight, over time, you're not in a calorie deficit.

    When you're asking for help, do you want to hear that what you're doing, is working pefectly, just push on? You just said you were struggling and felt disgusting and not really losing weight? People are time and time again saying what worked for them, weighing accurately, sticking to calorie goal, patience.
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