Had to buy bigger clothes...
Libby283
Posts: 288 Member
I spent the day shopping for bigger clothes. I am watching my calories, sticking to 1200 calories without eating back my exercise calories, using my elliptical and gaining weight. Go me...
I just don’t lose on 1200 calories. I am pretty sure it has something to do with me having an eating disorder in my younger days. My body learned to use less calories. I did a few calculators online and it said I need to be in the 1000 range to lose weight.
I am being so exact that today I drank a margarita so I have only eaten chicken and fajita vegetables as my only meal.
I feel like I am destined to have to exist on eating salads with no meat and dressing for the rest of my life, in order to get my slim body back. Or spend hours a day working out.
I just don’t lose on 1200 calories. I am pretty sure it has something to do with me having an eating disorder in my younger days. My body learned to use less calories. I did a few calculators online and it said I need to be in the 1000 range to lose weight.
I am being so exact that today I drank a margarita so I have only eaten chicken and fajita vegetables as my only meal.
I feel like I am destined to have to exist on eating salads with no meat and dressing for the rest of my life, in order to get my slim body back. Or spend hours a day working out.
27
Replies
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What is your height and weight?
How long have you stuck to your plan and not lost weight?
Are you using a food scale, and would doing so be a problem considering your past ED?12 -
5’3” and 170.0
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I am ok with weighing food. Four years ago I dropped down to 128 when my iud was expired. I started gaining when I got a new one. I did do a lot of 800 -1000 calorie days though.
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I have been hovering at this weight 168-171 since January 28th. I was 163 December 26th.0
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Based on the information you've given, it's highly likely that even though you believe you're eating 1200 calories per day, you're not. This doesn't mean that you're lying, it just means there are issues with your logging. If you open your diary, users can help you rectify these issues and get you on the right track.23
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I feel confident in my logging. I am logging exactly the way I did 4 years ago when I lost 50 lbs. I have never been a big eater. I have always ordered kids meals, or eaten a small portion of a meal and thrown the rest out.
I think 1200 is too much for me. Which is ridiculous in itself because no one should be limited to 1200 calories. I drank a 600 calorie margarita yesterday. Obviously that didn’t allow for 3 meals or much food at all.23 -
sorry to hear you are struggling.
Unless you have an untreated health issue that directly impacts weight gain/loss, the odds greatly point in the direction that you are eating more than you think you are. Even a year in this time of losing weight I am finding issues in my logging. I realize it sounds ridiculously simple but most if not all of us made many errors starting out and still do many months in.
It could be in the measuring (how accurately you weight), weighing cooked VS raw and/or selection of entry in the database (many are wrong).
it could be you are not accurately logging the "half a meal" you pick from others (meaning you are under logging some of that).
would you be open to opening up your diary even just temporarily so we can take a peak and maybe suggest things?14 -
There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
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I know this is my first post, so you might be skeptical. I am not much into posting on message boards, but was browsing through the forum, saw your post and couldn't help myself.
I think it is time for you to stop counting calories and reset your metabolism first. From what you are saying it looks like your body might have hormonal imbalance and slow metabolic rate. By eating so little you will damage it even further. I would suggest to do whole30 for a month. No need to count calories, can eat 3 times a day + snacks and never feel hungry. It is hard, because you can't eat certain foods or drink alcohol, nor can you weigh yourself during that time, but it completely resets your body and it only takes 30 days as long as you do not slip up. I've done it about 6 years ago on a recommendation from a friend, because of an eczema that wasn't going away and my mum did it last year to help her with under-active thyroid. At the end of the month I had tons of energy, slept better, lost weigh (5kg from 63 to 58, I am the same height as you) and had the most amazing looking skin. Eczema never came back, weight stayed at 58 for a few years afterwards and I was not on any diet or counting calories, plus eating cakes, lol, I do have a sweet tooth. My mum felt much better and lost some weight as well.
After you do whole30, start counting calories, but do use calorie cycling method instead of eating set calories flat every day. It keeps your metabolism higher and you do not feel like you have to eat salad every day. Do 2:1 and 3:1. which means, eat low calories for 2 or 3 days and then 1 day eat at the maintenance level or higher. Make sure that you always stay within calorie limit for a week. It works well and you can eat what you want on high days as long as you do not overindulge on sugar. At the same time do carb cycling as well. Eat low carb on low days and high carb on high days. Make sure you get enough protein on low calorie days as this will help you not to lose muscle mass.
Use this website to determine how many calories you need:
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp
Switch to expert mode when using it and then download the chart and keep it. It is very detailed and worth adding a few columns in excel to log your actual weight and calories eaten to keep track of a weekly total. See how it compares to their predictions day to day. I've been using it it since joining here and it is accurate to about +-0.3kg, at least in my case.
About me: 40 yrs female, weight 62.6kg, height 5.3" (joined 45 days ago weighing 68kg. Reason: gained 8kg during a year of recovery after a nasty car accident)68 -
On another thread several people were discussing weight gain with IUDs. Whatever causes it, these were long time MFP users who had no trouble maintaining until they got the IUD, gained a noticeable amount of weight in a short time, then lost it without difficulty when it was removed. For some a different variety of IUD did not cause the weight gain. Some felt they were eating more because the hormones made them constantly hungry, others felt they were eating as before but gaining weight, but regardless, getting rid of the IUD solved the problem. So if you do feel this is the cause of your issues, it may be worth exploring other birth control.10
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I eat the same as I always have and gained the weight. You can see on my progress chart the steady climb.
I showed my doctor. He did agree that it does appear to be a steady 50 lb gain every time I get an iud and a 50 lb decrease when it expires.
He tested my hormones and said it was all normal so he does not see how the iud causes it.
I am 40 and not yet menopausal. I don’t want to take chances on an unwanted pregnancy. We struggled with finding birth control that prevented pregnancy. The iud works in that area8 -
I know this is my first post, so you might be skeptical. I am not much into posting on message boards, but was browsing through the forum, saw your post and couldn't help myself.
I think it is time for you to stop counting calories and reset your metabolism first. From what you are saying it looks like your body might have hormonal imbalance and slow metabolic rate. By eating so little you will damage it even further. I would suggest to do whole30 for a month. No need to count calories, can eat 3 times a day + snacks and never feel hungry. It is hard, because you can't eat certain foods or drink alcohol, nor can you weigh yourself during that time, but it completely resets your body and it only takes 30 days as long as you do not slip up. I've done it about 6 years ago on a recommendation from a friend, because of an eczema that wasn't going away and my mum did it last year to help her with under-active thyroid. At the end of the month I had tons of energy, slept better, lost weigh (5kg from 63 to 58, I am the same height as you) and had the most amazing looking skin. Eczema never came back, weight stayed at 58 for a few years afterwards and I was not on any diet or counting calories, plus eating cakes, lol, I do have a sweet tooth. My mum felt much better and lost some weight as well.
After you do whole30, start counting calories, but do use calorie cycling method instead of eating set calories flat every day. It keeps your metabolism higher and you do not feel like you have to eat salad every day. Do 2:1 and 3:1. which means, eat low calories for 2 or 3 days and then 1 day eat at the maintenance level or higher. Make sure that you always stay within calorie limit for a week. It works well and you can eat what you want on high days as long as you do not overindulge on sugar. At the same time do carb cycling as well. Eat low carb on low days and high carb on high days. Make sure you get enough protein on low calorie days as this will help you not to lose muscle mass.
Use this website to determine how many calories you need:
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp
Switch to expert mode when using it and then download the chart and keep it. It is very detailed and worth adding a few columns in excel to log your actual weight and calories eaten to keep track of a weekly total. See how it compares to their predictions day to day. I've been using it it since joining here and it is accurate to about +-0.3kg, at least in my case.
About me: 40 yrs female, weight 62.6kg, height 5.3" (joined 45 days ago weighing 68kg. Reason: gained 8kg during a year of recovery after a nasty car accident)
Metabolism doesn't actually need resetting. https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/metabolic-damage/
As we shrink, it slows down. That's normal, natural, and pretty much inevitable.
Counting calories isn't essential to weight loss, but being in a calorie deficit is. Counting is probably the easiest way to ensure a deficit, but there are plenty of people losing or maintaining without doing it. Unfortunately, when you aren't tracking, gaining is also very possible. That's because people in general don't do so well with estimating food intake. We tend to underestimate our food intake and overestimate our exercise burns. Portion sizes creep up.
Calorie/carb cycling is one way of eating that can help someone stick to a deficit, but it's not necessary for weight loss.
This article is worth a read: https://sigmanutrition.com/refeeds-macro-cycling-non-linear-dieting/
The part that stands out for me:The lesson is simply this: get the fundamentals in place and practice becoming consistent with them.
Get a majority of your intake from minimally-processed, “real” food, whilst leaving enough discretionary calories to allow you to eat your favourite foods.
Hit a calorie intake that matches your goal. Whether this is via tracking calories or from simple portion control is up to you.
Eat in a way you can see yourself doing for life. Don’t eliminate things you know you are going to exert massive willpower to never eat again.
Get adequate amounts of the macronutrients. Aim for close to 2 g/kg BW for protein, sometime more depending on the context. Get somewhere between 1.0-1.5 g/kg BW of dietary fat, depending on your preference for more/less carbs.
Be consistent with lifestyle stuff like exercise, sleep and stress, all of which I’ve talked about ad naseum.
If you prefer linear dieting, do that. If you prefer to cycle calories or macros, do that.
Do whatever you need to in order to stick to these. Do that and no protocol is going to bring you much of an added benefit. Where those approaches can come in handy is if they make it easier for you to adhere to your diet.
Should I do [insert name of protocol/approach]?
To be clear, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with carb/calorie cycling (or IF, Keto, or other ways of eating that don't necessarily focus on counting calories). But there's nothing magical about it. At the end of the day, no matter how it's packaged, weight loss comes down to eating fewer calories than you burn. Everything else is about finding a method that you can adhere to longterm.
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I eat the same as I always have and gained the weight. You can see on my progress chart the steady climb.
I showed my doctor. He did agree that it does appear to be a steady 50 lb gain every time I get an iud and a 50 lb decrease when it expires.
He tested my hormones and said it was all normal so he does not see how the iud causes it.
I am 40 and not yet menopausal. I don’t want to take chances on an unwanted pregnancy. We struggled with finding birth control that prevented pregnancy. The iud works in that area
There are non-hormonal options. IUD, diaphragm, condoms.7 -
Don't know what calculators you are using but based on your height, weight and age, even with a sedentary lifestyle (you haven't mentioned exercise) your "safe" caloric goal to lose weight is 1354. You may not be getting enough calories and hence your body tries to store fat because it's not getting enough nourishment.
Additionally, as we age our metabolism slows down. This doesn't mean there is anything wrong medically, just that the body doesn't utilize food the way it used to. We also start losing muscle mass at age 40 to the tune of 2% per year in some people.
Try altering your macros. Choose more protein, less carbs and fat. Make sure your carbs are coming from whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Stay away from diet products (especially diet soda) and anything processed/packaged.
Try to keep your sodium levels between 1600mg - 2300mg. Excess sodium causes both men and women to retain water and can cause inflammation.
And above all start exercising regularly, preferably resistance/weight training. Muscle is 3 times more metabolically active meaning it burns 3 times more calories! You don't need to "bulk up" so don't think that exercise involves 3 hours a day and a 5000 calorie dinner!
Remember too that sustained weight loss takes time and effort and realistically there is no end date...it's a journey, not a destination...hence the term lifestyle change40 -
The most common reason not to lose weight in your stated situation is due to logging errors. Opening your diary to public would help people coach you in this area. I can understand that you might be reluctant to do so and that’s your choice.
I know you stated that you are confident in your calorie intake. I’d encourage you to take a look at your own diary and look for areas to improve (we all have areas we can improve upon). Then set a simple goal for this week to meet that one goal and log your food as accurately as possible for this week. If you have a day where you go over your calories, just log it. The data is more important than complying with your calorie goal. Each week look back at your diary and consider if you might make different choices this week.
My gut says you are likely eating more than you think but you may have been estimating your calories or not consistently logging everything. I had an occasion this week where I had no memory of eating a fiber bar, but the empty wrapper on my desk and the taste of peanut butter in my mouth indicated I had. It really impressed upon me that I often eat more than I think even when trying to be mindful.15 -
OP, people are notoriously bad at measuring and remembering how much they ate. Even RDs failed miserably at estimating their intake. Portion Creep is a real thing - you slowly and almost imperceptibly serve yourself a teensy bit more one week to the next, and a year later you are eating 300 cals a day more than you were a year ago, but to you it looks exactly the same.
I was 100% sure I was eating 1400 cals or less per day and not losing weight when I started here. After reading the same advice here over and over again I tightened up my logging and found I was actually eating 1700-1800 cals per day. How did I tighten up my logging?
1. I used a food scale for all solids and semi solids as often as possible.
2. I double checked the entries I was using in the database - many are user entered and don't contain correct data.
3. I stopped using generic and recipe style entries I found.
4. I got real honest with my self and started logging everything - condiments, cooking oils, beverages, nibbles, cheat meals, binges.
If you did undereat for a long period of time, it is possible your BMR would've adapted slightly, but not enough that you wouldn't be losing weight with your stats on those calories.
We are all giving you the advice that helped all of us, because we want you to succeed! Obviously you can ignore us, but wouldn't it be better to find out its as simple as a logging issue, rather than some unsolvable mystery?
Regardless of how you proceed, I hope you figure it out. :flowerforyou:16 -
Log, in grams, every single bite or sip ***before*** you ingest it.
You don't need to log water or SOME diet pop with less than 2 Calories per litre.
That sucralose package you put in your coffee? It has calories when you look at the 100g value... so log it. So does black coffee. Log it.
Every day whether you hit your calories or not... you log. No days off. No partials. No tasting of food while cooking without logging it BEFORE you open your mouth. Yes you log gum. And the one sip of a drink from your friend's glass. BEFORE you have it. WEIGHT IT and LOG IT!
<Oils and ice cream and whipped items are often more than 1ml per gram, so you have to watch those depending on the entries you use!>
Get a step tracker or use your phone. Work up to at least 10,000 steps a day, every day. Avoid spending any one hour you're awake moving less than 2-3 minutes per hour. No watching tv and reading books or Facebooking is out. Go for a walk if you have time for that.
Let me know in a month how it went.
At that point increase your calories because you will be losing too fast.16 -
I eat the same as I always have and gained the weight. You can see on my progress chart the steady climb.
I showed my doctor. He did agree that it does appear to be a steady 50 lb gain every time I get an iud and a 50 lb decrease when it expires.
He tested my hormones and said it was all normal so he does not see how the iud causes it.
I am 40 and not yet menopausal. I don’t want to take chances on an unwanted pregnancy. We struggled with finding birth control that prevented pregnancy. The iud works in that area
If you're certain that you don't want any chance of pregnancy, have you considered sterilisation? Any surgery comes with some risks (and I wish my husband would have agreed to do it instead of me, as both surgery and recovery is easier on men!), but I don't regret it - it freed me of the constant nagging worry about an unwanted pregnancy.
If you always have the same problem when you have an IUD, then it seems to be quite clear that the IUD is causing some kind of issue. However, do look closely at your logging and the entries you're choosing as well. If you really are eating 1200 calories, you should be losing something.9 -
My previous eating disorder and ocpd make me ridiculously accurate at logging. I don’t drink soda, use fake sweeteners or eat much meat. With the exception of alcohol and coffee with milk and sugar, I only drink water and unsweetened tea. I don’t chew gum. I log candy. I eat the same meals over and over. Generally I have a Greek yogurt, banana or skip breakfast. I eat lots of chick fil a Cobb salads with nuggets and no dressing. Sometimes I have two of day with a Greek yogurt for breakfast. That with my yougurt and coffee is 1200 calories...11
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I eat the same as I always have and gained the weight. You can see on my progress chart the steady climb.
I showed my doctor. He did agree that it does appear to be a steady 50 lb gain every time I get an iud and a 50 lb decrease when it expires.
He tested my hormones and said it was all normal so he does not see how the iud causes it.
I am 40 and not yet menopausal. I don’t want to take chances on an unwanted pregnancy. We struggled with finding birth control that prevented pregnancy. The iud works in that area
Yay, another doctor who treats the labs and not the patient! Yay!
[/snark]
Seriously, get a Paragard IUD then. The Paragard was here before the Mirena and it works, just no progestin like the Mirena. You'll likely have heavier bleeding, longer bleeding, and uterine cramping with but there will be no exogenous hormones to argue with such a MD/DO if they are/are not affecting you systemically.
He will balk because of the cost of the IUD in removing it/replacing it, but it's really not his choice. Go to a Planned Parenthood if you have to for removal if he continues to refuse, and you won't fire him over it, and you are not comfortable removing yourself to force the replacement without his input.
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Since you have previously had an eating disorder it would be advisable to talk to your treatment team about safe strategies before moving forward with your weight loss goals. They may advise you against calorie counting and come up with a strategy to ensure you get proper nutrition while slowly working toward your goals.12
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My previous eating disorder and ocpd make me ridiculously accurate at logging. I don’t drink soda, use fake sweeteners or eat much meat. With the exception of alcohol and coffee with milk and sugar, I only drink water and unsweetened tea. I don’t chew gum. I log candy. I eat the same meals over and over. Generally I have a Greek yogurt, banana or skip breakfast. I eat lots of chick fil a Cobb salads with nuggets and no dressing. Sometimes I have two of day with a Greek yogurt for breakfast. That with my yougurt and coffee is 1200 calories...
The one thing I see in what ou say here is the bit about eating lots of food from one specific restaurant.
Is it possible that the person who makes the salads has changed since the last time you needed to lose weight? restaurant calorie counts are notoriously inaccurate, and something like a salad, where things are piled into a bowl, is a prime place for there to be an error in counting that could affect your outcomes if you eat there regularly. There are a number of ingredients in that salad that could cause a big swing in calories with just a slightly more generous hand in composition (cheese, bacon, etc).10 -
My previous eating disorder and ocpd make me ridiculously accurate at logging. I don’t drink soda, use fake sweeteners or eat much meat. With the exception of alcohol and coffee with milk and sugar, I only drink water and unsweetened tea. I don’t chew gum. I log candy. I eat the same meals over and over. Generally I have a Greek yogurt, banana or skip breakfast. I eat lots of chick fil a Cobb salads with nuggets and no dressing. Sometimes I have two of day with a Greek yogurt for breakfast. That with my yougurt and coffee is 1200 calories...
The one thing I see in what ou say here is the bit about eating lots of food from one specific restaurant.
Is it possible that the person who makes the salads has changed since the last time you needed to lose weight? restaurant calorie counts are notoriously inaccurate, and something like a salad, where things are piled into a bowl, is a prime place for there to be an error in counting that could affect your outcomes if you eat there regularly. There are a number of ingredients in that salad that could cause a big swing in calories with just a slightly more generous hand in composition (cheese, bacon, etc).
Agreed. Nobody can say they are fully confident in their logging if they eat takeout a lot, especially twice per day. The salad is 550 calories according to the site but can be a lot more than that depending on who makes it. I had an Amy's Organic cashew noodle bowl last week. The nutritional facts said 480 calories but by weight it was actually 610 calories. There really is that much variance.12 -
And eatery staff tend to be especially (and unhelpfully) generous towards regulars who they like.12
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My previous eating disorder and ocpd make me ridiculously accurate at logging. I don’t drink soda, use fake sweeteners or eat much meat. With the exception of alcohol and coffee with milk and sugar, I only drink water and unsweetened tea. I don’t chew gum. I log candy. I eat the same meals over and over. Generally I have a Greek yogurt, banana or skip breakfast. I eat lots of chick fil a Cobb salads with nuggets and no dressing. Sometimes I have two of day with a Greek yogurt for breakfast. That with my yougurt and coffee is 1200 calories...
Typically, out of frustration, posters who have stated the same thing become defiant against feedback and suggestions. Do yourself a huge favor and ask yourself, do you REALLY want to see what’s going on here, then apply the methods that have proven time and time again to be effective. It is impossible to gain weight/fat in a deficit. Period. Get a food scale and weigh everything in grams for 2 weeks. It doesn’t matter how much you eat, it matters the quantity of the calories. Someone can eat 1 cheesecake slice a day and nothing else and gain weight if it’s from the Cheesecake Factory. Don’t let your little quantities fool you. I repeat, weigh your food on a food scale and log everything. That way you can see for yourself what is happening physiologically.21 -
@Libby283 you are sort of trying to argue this both ways.
If you are convinced that it is your IUD and not your energy balance and your logging that are holding you back, then concentrating on everything else other than the IUD is a bit of a waste of time in terms of getting the best results for your particular situation, right?15 -
My previous eating disorder and ocpd make me ridiculously accurate at logging. I don’t drink soda, use fake sweeteners or eat much meat. With the exception of alcohol and coffee with milk and sugar, I only drink water and unsweetened tea. I don’t chew gum. I log candy. I eat the same meals over and over. Generally I have a Greek yogurt, banana or skip breakfast. I eat lots of chick fil a Cobb salads with nuggets and no dressing. Sometimes I have two of day with a Greek yogurt for breakfast. That with my yougurt and coffee is 1200 calories...
Hmm... I would say the food choices you make might be not that great if you try to fit into 1200 a day. Bananas are healthy, but notoriously high in calories and will not fill you up for long. Eating an omelet made out of 2 eggs with some white mushrooms and onions and a spoonful of tomato passata on top would keep you satisfied till lunch and rake in less calories than banana+ yogurt. Chick fil a Cobb salad supposed to come to around 430 calories, replacing that with a home made big bowl of salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, raw red pepper and a spoonful of sour cream) or lots of steamed or roasted low calorie veg + a 100g of meat or fish would come in at a less than 350 calories. Alcohol is another high calorie "food" that has no nutritional benefit, as well as acting as an appetite stimulant. If you did calorie cycling, then on high calorie days it is a treat, however on 1200 a day that is not a healthy choice.
This is not a criticism, just my opinion
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grinning_chick wrote: »I eat the same as I always have and gained the weight. You can see on my progress chart the steady climb.
I showed my doctor. He did agree that it does appear to be a steady 50 lb gain every time I get an iud and a 50 lb decrease when it expires.
He tested my hormones and said it was all normal so he does not see how the iud causes it.
I am 40 and not yet menopausal. I don’t want to take chances on an unwanted pregnancy. We struggled with finding birth control that prevented pregnancy. The iud works in that area
Yay, another doctor who treats the labs and not the patient! Yay!
[/snark]
Seriously, get a Paragard IUD then. The Paragard was here before the Mirena and it works, just no progestin like the Mirena. You'll likely have heavier bleeding, longer bleeding, and uterine cramping with but there will be no exogenous hormones to argue with such a MD/DO if they are/are not affecting you systemically.
He will balk because of the cost of the IUD in removing it/replacing it, but it's really not his choice. Go to a Planned Parenthood if you have to for removal if he continues to refuse, and you won't fire him over it, and you are not comfortable removing yourself to force the replacement without his input.
The price shouldn't be an issue, as those will last 10 years. I think, I went through 4 of this type in 30 years, and never had a problem, especially not with weight gain. (I blame my chocolate addiction for a few pounds off and on.) However, they work with a copper layer, and if there is a sensitivty to copper, then there might be an issue. Never make an attempt to remove those yourself, though. Bad idea and worse advise. Also, removal and not having an immediate replacement means no protection. That's probably not the idea of the exercise..1
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