Not motivated

rach5ie
rach5ie Posts: 5 Member
in Getting Started
I don’t want to crush anyone’s enthusiasm but I am not motivated at all. I need to lose about 75lbs because my height is petite. On the scales my weight wouldn’t be a problem for other people but my height makes it a problem for me.

I hate exercise but I don’t drive so I walk everywhere and get exercise out of necessity. I don’t drink and I don’t feel like I overindulge in bad food but I also don’t really obsess over eating healthily. I often only eat one proper meal per day and when I track calories, I almost always come under 1500 calories per day. I usually set a goal of 1200 I usually meet that with what I eat normally.

I’m a single parent with five children so I can’t join a gym or a fitness club. I’m exhausted and the weight has been affecting my health for a few years now. I know I need to lose this weight and what I’ve been doing doesn’t seem to result in losing it at all but I don’t know what I can do differently that is going to make that difference.

I’m not one for new year resolutions but it’s a good time for trying again. But I’m lacking hope.

Replies

  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 3,624 Member
    edited January 6
    Do you weigh, measure, or estimate your food amounts? How good are you at logging everything?
    Have you tried logging everything you eat on a normal (non-dieting) day?
    Have you gone through the MFP set up with maintain weight to get the average tdee for a person your age, size, etc.?
    Is your diary open?
    Have you logged and weighed for at least a month?
  • dpdlvertin
    dpdlvertin Posts: 1 Member
    Hi Not Motivated
    You are not alone!!!! I too struggle with eating and losing weight. My kids are grown, so I don’t have meal time for family. Just me and my husband. Just like to eat. Think I am eating good, except for those goodies. They add up. Look forward to moving the scale down instead of up. I really need to do this and keep it off this time.
  • lindacreates7416
    lindacreates7416 Posts: 1 Member
    Hi. I hear you! I’m not really feeling go get um and you’ve got this vibes either. But, I know from the past weight loss experience that that doesn’t matter.

    What I’m kind of going to guarantee will work takes effort, but will pay off in weight loss.
    Track everything that enters your mouth from the samples you taste cooking to the bit off the left over on the kids plates. Everything that goes in your mouth has to go in your food diary. Right away. If you don’t have the second it takes to record it you don’t have the second it takes to pop it in your mouth. Trust me on this, let’s call it experience on my part.

    Even if you don’t set a goal until you spend a week or so just getting used to recording the intake.
    Another thing that sounds more time consuming than it really is when you get used to it is to use food scale and measuring cups and spoons for EVERYTHING! Feel like punching me? 🤣! That’s ok. I keep a cheap scale and measuring utensils together and it honestly take almost no time now. I scoop out my pasta with measuring cup. Same with sauces or whatever. The only thing I don’t measure are low carb veggies and green leafy veggies as long as they have nothing added.

    A quick way to measure meat portions is put plate on your scale, then turn it on. It should say 0. If not, press tare button. When you put your meat or whatever on it you will have quick accurate weight. You can weigh lasagna and other things this way, then just record it.

    I’m sure it’s crazy town at times for meals with 5 kids and you might be tempted to wait until end of day to record but I know from experience things get forgotten!

    I’ve been doing this for about 4 years now and have kept 50 lbs off EXCEPT for 6 months after my mom died when I ate without recording and gained about 15 lbs. I’m losing that now by going back to weigh and record and it’s coming back off.

    I’m sure this sounds like overwhelming even undoable but it is the only thing that works for me, after a week or so it is second nature.

    Also, prepping your lunch and meals will help but I think THE most important thing for you right now is to get used to measuring and counting and recording accurately

    I’m not sure how this community works, my first step in is this post, but I’d be happy to help any way I can. I was using a big name that involves watching weight but the counting system stopped working for me so I switched to this app and it is working much better for recording calories.

    I wish all the best for you!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,243 Member
    lindacreates7416 wrote: »
    A quick way to measure meat portions is put plate on your scale, then turn it on. It should say 0. If not, press tare button. When you put your meat or whatever on it you will have quick accurate weight. You can weigh lasagna and other things this way, then just record it.

    Another really good trick for things like cooking oil or nut butters, both high calorie and delicious, is put the bottle or jar on the scale without the lid and tare to zero. Start removing your nut butter or pouring your oil. Put the bottle or jar back on the scale. It will show a negative number, and that's how much you took. The bonus with nut butter is that there's still some on the knife, and since you already weighed it, you get to lick it off!
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,205 Member
    So you are saying that your calculations are that you typically eat under 1500 per day, but you remain overweight and have not been losing at that amount? Do you use a food scale when you do this? I put my bananas, peanut butter, ice cream — everything — on a food scale.

    What if you could lose the weight without really exercising? Exercise doesn’t burn as many calories as we would think, although it’s helpful with heart health and muscle density, which are important but don’t have to be a part of the initial weight loss.
  • rach5ie
    rach5ie Posts: 5 Member
    My calorie goal is 1200 if I’m tracking it and yes I usually come under that. I don’t weigh food portions and I don’t own kitchen scales. I estimate based on the fraction of the full packet. So I believe it’s pretty accurate. If I’m not sure, I estimate upwards.

    The only exercise I currently do is the amount of walking I do in my normal life. And on days when I’m more active, I eat more because I have the extra allowance added to that.

    In the past, I have come under the intended calorie goal and I have not lost any weight or, over time I have increased weight slowly. So it stopped tracking because I wasn’t seeing results at all.

    I have only started tracking again this week and I have lost a little bit already but i still feel skeptical at this point.
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,205 Member
    a digital food scale costs about $15. since what you have been doing isn’t working… what if you changed tactics.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,243 Member
    Do you mind sharing your height and weight? It's really hard to believe you're eating at that level and gaining if you have 75 pounds to lose. Perhaps your estimates aren't as accurate as you think.

    A four-foot tall woman who weighs 175 pounds should lose a half pound a week on 1200 calories.
  • rach5ie
    rach5ie Posts: 5 Member
    edited January 10
    I’m starting at 78kg/172lbs. I’m 4ft11. I’ve lost 2kg this week which is 4lbs. I really think this is just Christmas gain at this point.

    So I am losing this week. My original comment was at the beginning of the week and based on the previous two years where I’ve gained weight. Other than tracking this week, I’ve not changed anything.
  • rach5ie
    rach5ie Posts: 5 Member
    edited January 10
    I don’t want to switch to weighing my food because I don’t think it’s healthy for my mental health. I can easily add half of something to my lunch without weighing it. If I weigh everything it will be very time consuming and very likely to encourage/develop obsessive behaviours. Tracking weight is risky enough.
  • musicfan68
    musicfan68 Posts: 1,143 Member
    You aren't losing because younare guessing. Weighing your food is not that hard or time consuming. After about a week it should just be automatic and take less than a couple of minutes
    If you don't weigh your food, you really have no idea how much you are eating, and if you aren't losing, you aren't in the deficit you think you are in.

    If you think doing this is harmful, then see a therapist.
  • crb426
    crb426 Posts: 661 Member
    Even if you just weigh what you typically eat a few times, you'll get the idea of a proper portion size and may be able to stop using it as often.

    Although I've found that weighing things can have a lot of benefits and I'll weigh my coffee grounds every morning to make the perfect cup of coffee, and weigh things for recipes just because it's more accurate than measuring cups.
  • NotGvnUp_EJ
    NotGvnUp_EJ Posts: 65 Member
    One suggestion I can think of is drinking lots and lots of water. That will help keep your body flushed out and prevent water retention.

    Hang in there
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,243 Member
    crb426 wrote: »
    Even if you just weigh what you typically eat a few times, you'll get the idea of a proper portion size and may be able to stop using it as often.

    Although I've found that weighing things can have a lot of benefits and I'll weigh my coffee grounds every morning to make the perfect cup of coffee, and weigh things for recipes just because it's more accurate than measuring cups.

    This is a sure thing! One caveat though. Your eye will go out of calibration if you don't keep using the scale frequently. An advantage is that when you are away from the scale, you'll get better at estimating. Just keep that thing in calibration.

    Personal example: When I worked in an office, I'd have rolled oats, raisins, and sunflower seeds there. I'd weigh out individual servings of plain yogurt and bring them on days I drove my truck instead of ride my bike. I didn't have a scale at work. I had a pretty good idea what an ounce of sunflower seeds looked like in the palm of my hand, so I used that. Every now and then, when I was at home, I'd do the estimation thing and THEN put them on the scale to check. I often surprised myself how accurate I was.

    You can do that with a lot of foods at home. Estimate the weight, then weigh it. See how close you can get. I'd even do this with oil. I'd tare the bottle, pour some into whatever needed it (pan to make popcorn for example), then weigh how much I used. I'm actually really good at estimating eleven grams of oil.

    If you don't keep checking though, you may be surprised that your pour gets heavier. Use that scale to keep the eyeball calibrated.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,203 Member
    srregmwalsh wrote: »
    I don’t want to switch to weighing my food because I don’t think it’s healthy for my mental health. I can easily add half of something to my lunch without weighing it. If I weigh everything it will be very time consuming and very likely to encourage/develop obsessive behaviours. Tracking weight is risky enough.

    Weighing food takes less time than cups/spoons, once a person learns the tricks, and it's not much more time-consuming than eyeballing.

    That said, some people do find more precise logging to be anxiety-provoking or obsessive.

    It's possible to succeed while estimating/eyeballing, but that puts an absolute priority on estimating quantities as accurately as possible, not picking lowball estimates from the food database, not estimating exercise calories over-generously, not forgetting to log things (condiments, beverages, dressings, cooking oil, bites/licks/tastes), and that sort of thing.

    You say that you're not losing at all on your current routine until the current week. If not losing for a couple of months or more, and you don't want to get more meticulous with food logging, then it would be necessary to eat somewhat less (calorie wise), or move somewhat more. Reduce your estimated calorie intake by a couple of hundred calories, follow that for 4-6 weeks (whole menstrual period if that applies), then look at your average weekly loss over that time period. If still no loss, repeat that intervention.

    If you've been at any new routine less than the 4-6 weeks, it's too soon to tell whether it's working or not: Weight loss isn't a steady drop on the scale, it's ups and downs of a few pounds from one day to the next (maybe even one week to the next), but - if losing - the range of ups and downs will gradually drop lower.
  • BigD4678
    BigD4678 Posts: 8 Member
    srregmwalsh wrote: »
    I don’t want to crush anyone’s enthusiasm but I am not motivated at all. I need to lose about 75lbs because my height is petite. On the scales my weight wouldn’t be a problem for other people but my height makes it a problem for me.

    I hate exercise but I don’t drive so I walk everywhere and get exercise out of necessity. I don’t drink and I don’t feel like I overindulge in bad food but I also don’t really obsess over eating healthily. I often only eat one proper meal per day and when I track calories, I almost always come under 1500 calories per day. I usually set a goal of 1200 I usually meet that with what I eat normally.

    I’m a single parent with five children so I can’t join a gym or a fitness club. I’m exhausted and the weight has been affecting my health for a few years now. I know I need to lose this weight and what I’ve been doing doesn’t seem to result in losing it at all but I don’t know what I can do differently that is going to make that difference.

    I’m not one for new year resolutions but it’s a good time for trying again. But I’m lacking hope.
    srregmwalsh wrote: »
    I don’t want to crush anyone’s enthusiasm but I am not motivated at all. I need to lose about 75lbs because my height is petite. On the scales my weight wouldn’t be a problem for other people but my height makes it a problem for me.

    I hate exercise but I don’t drive so I walk everywhere and get exercise out of necessity. I don’t drink and I don’t feel like I overindulge in bad food but I also don’t really obsess over eating healthily. I often only eat one proper meal per day and when I track calories, I almost always come under 1500 calories per day. I usually set a goal of 1200 I usually meet that with what I eat normally.

    I’m a single parent with five children so I can’t join a gym or a fitness club. I’m exhausted and the weight has been affecting my health for a few years now. I know I need to lose this weight and what I’ve been doing doesn’t seem to result in losing it at all but I don’t know what I can do differently that is going to make that difference.

    I’m not one for new year resolutions but it’s a good time for trying again. But I’m lacking hope.
    The good news is that you don’t have to join a gym.
    Yes, I did, but that’s because I am starting a new life with the second chance I have been given.
    I will go into that in another thread.
    The biggest part of weight loss is simply controlling what you eat.
    Portion control. Get away from high sodium, sugar, and cholesterol foods to name a few.
    Eat high protein and fiber foods. The fiber is slower to digest so I makes you feel full longer.
    Yes exercising is good important, you have to burn calories (active calories), but what’s more important is controlling what and how much you eat.

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