absolutely miserable failing weightloss epically :(

hi there not been on site long about a week but have gained 7lb since doing 1200 cals a day and 40 grms of fat, now before i was on sw and gaining on that too, my gp wont help me he just says im obviously over eating and im not fat enough for the nhs to help me anyway (charming!) i know i dont hardly drink water but i make up for it in hotdrinks. in the last 4 months i have cut down from 4 heaped sugars to one level half spoon sugar in my drinks and used to have five a day i now have 3. 3 pints of blue milk a day to 250 mls of green a day and i have had no cheese at all and i usually ate 400 grms block a week of full fat extra mature, no bread either and i used to eat bread pasta potatoes and cereal every day, i have doubled up steamed veg and salads all my meat is fat removed grilled, boiled or dry roasted, ii have no butter or oils any more and no jarred sauces at all and all this to no success im completely at a loss and im so down i cant stop crying and im hungry all the time all i do is sleep and eat. ive also increased calories to max amount too aand that didnt work either. the only time ive ever lost was when i was sick. i am so sorry for rambling on any advice or help would be greatly recieved tia x

Hi, sorry that is so discouraging! Are you exercising and eating the calories back?

I know you are not obese, but here is a very eye-opening article about people who continue to cut back calories but can't seem to lose any weight. I can really relate bc this happened to me for about a year.

I hope it helps:

Living With Obesity At 700 Calories Per Day!
By: David Greenwalt

I want you to consider a common female client. She's a woman about 5'5" and 185 pounds. A combination of a mostly sedentary lifestyle, quick-fix, processed foods and consistent excessively low calories has resulted in an incredibly stubborn fat loss scenario. Not only has it created a stubborn fat loss scenario but her ability to add body fat is remarkably strong.

Most would believe there is simply no possible way she could be 185 pounds eating mostly low calories. While it's true the average obese American created their own obesity by being a huge over consumer, a sedentary glutton if you will, many are able to maintain their level of obesity with the following formula in very precise ratios: starvation + binges + sedentary lifestyle.

An initial review of this woman's calories indicates she is just above starvation level in the 400-700 per day range. The food choices are mostly protein in this case (low-carb is all the rage you know) and there are virtually no vegetables or fruits to speak of.

Five or six days per week the calories remain low in this range, however, there are nighttime binges from time to time and weekend binges where carbs loaded with fat (doughnuts, rolls, cookies, pizza etc.) are consumed.

So while the calories are very low the majority of the time, there are one to two days per week where this isn't always the case. Even so, the nighttime binges and weekend slack offs don't amount to what you might presume would be thousands of extra calories, thus explaining the 185-pound body weight.

Very few foods are prepared from home. There are lots of fast foods being consumed. Convenience and taste rule.

I must say. Early on in my coaching and teaching career this woman was a real head scratcher for me. Isn't it calories in and calories out? Even if she's not active she's starving!

How in the heck does she stay at 185 eating an average, including all binges, of maybe 750 calories per day? She's frustrated beyond belief. She sees her friends and coworkers eating more and weighing less. Is she simply unlucky? Is everyone else blessed? And what in the world is she supposed to do to fix this, if it can be fixed?


Why Is She Not Losing Weight?


First, let me tell you why she's not losing weight. Then I'll tell you what she has to do to fix the situation. With a chronic (months and months) intake of less than 1000 calories per day and a 185-pound body weight her metabolism is suffering greatly. It's running cool, not hot. It's basically running at a snail's pace.

Think of it this way. Her metabolism has matched itself to her intake. She could, indeed, lose body fat but she's in that gray area where she is eating too few calories but not quite at the concentration-camp level yet.

If she were to consume 100-300 calories per day her body would have virtually no choice but to begin liberating stored body fat. This is NOT the solution. It's unhealthy and, in fact, quite stupid.


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Not only has her metabolism matched her intake, her body has maximized production of enzymes that are designed to help store any additional calories as fat. Anytime additional, immediately-unnecessary calories are consumed the enzymes are there and waiting to store the additional calories as fat. Her body is starved nutritionally and it has one thing on its mind - survival.

Being mostly sedentary, her metabolism (hormones play a large role here) can do a pretty good job of keeping things slow enough so that the pathetically low calories she's consuming are just enough to maintain.

But since certain enzymes are elevated, waiting for more calories so more bodyfat can be stored, every nighttime binge or weekend mini-feast will contribute to fat stores.

So on the days she's not bingeing her body does not lose fat, or if it does, it's very little. And on the few days or times she does binge a bit her body is quite efficient at storing fat. So, while she may lose a smidge of fat from starving it is quickly replaced with every binge.

Remember, these binges aren't a gluttonous 4000-calorie feast. Oh no, a binge might be 4-5 cookies worth about 500-700 calories. Nevertheless, since the binge foods are mostly carbs and fat it's very easy for the enzymes to shuttle the dietary fat into stored body fat. It's what they were designed to do.


So, What's The Solution?


Well then, now that we presumably know some valid reasons why she's not seeing a scale change and definitely no body fat change how do we fix her? We have to do something she's going to freak out over.

We have to get her eating more. Not only do we have to get her eating more but more of the right, whole foods need to be eaten. Foods lower in fat that aren't as easily STORED as body fat have to be consumed. And we have to warn her.

A Discouraging Start


We have to warn her that since she's been sedentarily living on protein with binges of carbs and fats she is likely to see a weight gain right away. It's true.
Once we begin really feeding her body with nutritious carbohydrates so she can become more active, her glycogen-depleted body will hang on to some of those carbohydrates (in skeletal muscle and liver) so she has stored energy for activity.

When her body hangs on to those carbohydrates it has no choice but to hang on to more water too. For every gram of glycogen (stored carbs) she stores she'll hang on to three grams of water.

This is not a negative response by the body but it will be interpreted by her as quite negative when she steps on the scale.

It's quite likely she'll see a five to seven pound weight gain when she really starts eating properly again. This weight gain will remain for one to three weeks before it starts moving in the other direction.

For argument's sake let's assume my Calorie Calculator and Goal Setter at Club Lifestyle suggests a 1500-calorie per day average in week one for a one-pound loss per week. First, she is going to freak out about this many calories.

For months she's been eating less than 1000 and usually around 400-700 in one to three feedings total per day. To her 1500 calories is a ton of food. And if she even begins to eat less fast and packaged-foods it will be a ton of food.

There is no doubt whatsoever that she will resist the increase. This resistance may take one to three weeks to overcome. During this period no weight loss will occur. She is too fat already in her mind and believes it will only hurt her to increase her food intake.

I mean, after all, isn't that how she got fat to begin with? In her early stages of fat gain this was probably true. She overconsumed. But as I've said already, that's not why she's staying heavy.

In addition to a freaked-out mindset about adding more food to her already overfat body she will simply find that it's all but impossible to eat four or more times per day.

She's just not hungry at first. Makes sense when you think about it. Why would she be hungry three hours after eating a 300-calorie, balanced breakfast? Her body is used to 400-700 calories per day!

So, even though she gets a plan and begins using my nutrition analyzer to log foods and meals she finds after having a balanced breakfast of 250 calories she couldn't force herself to eat meal number two on time.

It'll take several more days of realizing what is going on and being one-hundred percent honest and diligent with her logging and planning before she begins to eat her meals as planned no matter what - even if she's not hungry.

By now two to four weeks have passed and the only thing she's seen on the scale is it going up--not very encouraging if I say so myself.

Raising The Grade


After the first two to four weeks have passed she's probably beginning to consume her meals as planned although not quite like an "A" student yet. That is coming. She feels better because she's working out and is more active.
And she feels like she has more energy throughout the day because she's feeding her body more calories and the right kinds of calories.

She has finally begun eating the right kinds of fast foods (low in fat, moderate in protein) and less packaged food overall. She is making more meals from home and taking them to work for lunch rather than always grabbing something quick from a vending machine or the break room that always has some treat another employee brought in.

After another two weeks or so she's moved from a "B" grade to more consistent "A"s. She's planning her days one day ahead in the Nutrition Analyzer; she's consuming fresh veggies and fruits on a daily basis.

Her calories are almost ALWAYS in line with what is recommended by my Lean Account and she has seen her first signs of the scale moving in the right direction.

She is now dropping from 190 pounds (her high after reintroducing food and carbohydrates again) to 189.3! "Progress at last!" she says. In actuality, the entire process was progress. But that's not how she saw it in the beginning.






With a total of two to four weeks of increased caloric intake behind her and eating more consistently the right kinds of foods her metabolism has truly begun to rebound.

She didn't kill it as she thought. She only wounded it. And since our metabolisms are like kids (they are quite resilient) and she doesn't have thyroid issues or diabetes or any known wrench that could be thrown into the spokes of fat loss, she will begin, for the first time in months or years, to see results that make sense and that one would expect of someone who is active (30-60 minutes five or more days per week) and consuming a caloric intake of 1300-1500 calories per day.


Butterfly Effect: The Basics Of The Thyroid - Part 1.
Avoiding Sabotage


This process is in no way easy. I think you can see a plethora of ways it could be screwed up, sabotaged, given up on too early and so forth.
A key to success for this very common woman (men too) is not giving up too soon, having faith in the fix, and moving sooner rather than later to the increased, quality food intake.

It's going to take effort to overcome the mental hurdles of eating more food as well as the increase in scale weight that is going to occur in weeks one to three or so. It's disheartening, however, to charge hard down the weight-loss field only to get to the one-yard line and decide it's time to quit.



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Many don't realize they only had one more yard to go and they'd have had a touchdown. You gotta hang in there with this plan. It's going to take some time for the glycogen levels to be replenished and level out. It's going to take some time for mental adjustments to occur.
It's going to take some time before hunger signals are restored to anything close to normal. It's going to take time for the metabolism to rebound and not be in its protective mode.

Giving A Stubborn Body The Message


In certain, very stubborn cases, it may be necessary to eat at a eucaloric (maintenance) or hypercaloric (over maintenance) level for a few weeks to ensure the metabolism does get the signal that everything is alright and you aren't going to kill the body.
Remember, your body could care less about your desire for fat loss. It just wants to survive.


Some Take-Home Points



The most common cause of obesity is Americans are sedentary overeaters/drinkers. Nothing in this article should be construed as to say that under eating is the root cause of obesity. It's not.

It IS common for many men and women to be under eating with sporadic binges as I described here. This creates a perfect environment for continued obesity even if total caloric intake is quite low on average.

Low-carb followers or "starvers" WILL see the scale go up when calories are consumed at reasonable levels again and carbohydrates are reintroduced. Live with it. Deal with it. It's going to happen. 98% of the gain will be water.

The time it takes for mental acceptance and other adjustments to occur will vary but one should expect a two to four week window for these things to take place. Being forewarned with an article like this may speed this process up some.

Once the right types of foods are consumed and the right caloric intake is consumed and the right ratios of carbohydrates, proteins and fats are consumed on a consistent basis, then, and only then, will metabolism begin to be restored and the key to fat loss be inserted into the lock with a noticeable drop in the scale resulting.
This may take an additional two to four weeks to occur. Your metabolism is never dead or broken for good. But it may take several weeks of proper eating and activity for it to be restored.


From day one, until the first, noticeable drop in the scale occurs may be four to six weeks--maybe one to two weeks longer. Those who give up on the one-yard line will never see the scale drop as will occur when intelligent persistence and consistency over time are adhered to.
David Greenwalt

have you tried a different eating program? some people do really poorly at low-fat, high-carb; some do better with a low-carb, high-fat eating program.

the other issue: if you are eating 1200 calories a day, you are not gaining weight. there's no way. there could be a medical issue (hypothyroidism, maybe?) but i'm not a doctor, and it sounds like your doctor sucks.

something else? you could be sleep-eating. no joke. some people do it.

You CAN gain weight on a too strict deficit combined with occasional binges, especially if you do not eat back your exercise calories and you are netting way too few calories over an extended period of time. The binges don't even have to be big -- even a few cookies can do it. Read here, or see the full post I copied above: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/post/new/380938-absolutely-miserable-failing-weightloss-epically?quote=5205327

have you tried a different eating program? some people do really poorly at low-fat, high-carb; some do better with a low-carb, high-fat eating program.

the other issue: if you are eating 1200 calories a day, you are not gaining weight. there's no way. there could be a medical issue (hypothyroidism, maybe?) but i'm not a doctor, and it sounds like your doctor sucks.

something else? you could be sleep-eating. no joke. some people do it.

You CAN gain weight on a too strict deficit combined with occasional binges, especially if you do not eat back your exercise calories and you are netting way too few calories over an extended period of time. The binges don't even have to be big -- even a few cookies can do it. Read here, or see the full post I copied above: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/post/new/380938-absolutely-miserable-failing-weightloss-epically?quote=5205327

that's right - i did read that. she did mention that she's increased her calorie intake to the "max amount" and didn't mention exercising so i just assumed this wouldn't be the case. (whoops!)

I would suggest to pick a program/plan that is feasible and stick with it for a few weeks before determining success or failure, then take stock and look at what is working/what isn't and tweak your plan.

It is also important to weigh or measure everything you eat. A lot of us eat more than we think because we didn't measure out the serving size of everything that goes into our mouths.

If you use the MFP tools and set it for 1 lb/week weight loss, that could be a reasonable first step at setting up a plan. 1200 does seem on the low side. When I first joined, I did not do well on 1200 and then I upped it to about 1350, plus I ate back my exercise calories and I lost an average of 1.5 lbs per week. Everyone is different, though, so you have to find out what works for you.

You can also use tools such as the free tools on Fat2Fit.com. The Fat2Fit approach is a slow and steady approach - their philosophy is that you should eat the maintenance level of calories at your desired weight (assuming it is not below your current BMR) so that you lose the weight slowly and in a manner that is sustainable because then you don't really have to do anything differently to maintain the weight.

This journey can be frustrating at times, but if you stick with it no matter what and keep making adjustments until you start seeing some success, you WILL reach your goals.

Good Luck!

hi there not been on site long about a week but have gained 7lb since doing 1200 cals a day and 40 grms of fat, now before i was on sw and gaining on that too, my gp wont help me he just says im obviously over eating and im not fat enough for the nhs to help me anyway (charming!) i know i dont hardly drink water but i make up for it in hotdrinks. in the last 4 months i have cut down from 4 heaped sugars to one level half spoon sugar in my drinks and used to have five a day i now have 3. 3 pints of blue milk a day to 250 mls of green a day and i have had no cheese at all and i usually ate 400 grms block a week of full fat extra mature, no bread either and i used to eat bread pasta potatoes and cereal every day, i have doubled up steamed veg and salads all my meat is fat removed grilled, boiled or dry roasted, ii have no butter or oils any more and no jarred sauces at all and all this to no success im completely at a loss and im so down i cant stop crying and im hungry all the time all i do is sleep and eat. ive also increased calories to max amount too aand that didnt work either. the only time ive ever lost was when i was sick. i am so sorry for rambling on any advice or help would be greatly recieved tia x


and



hi yes i do own a food scale and use it no to the other two questions also i dont re-eat the cals i burn through exercise but only because i do what seems to me very little exercise due to bad back pelvis. i am 24 but had four babies so have very big baggy belly ive been food diary and calorie control with gp for almost a year and to no help.

well dang.
a lot going on there.
being frustrated is understandable, but your initial post, scattered thoughts aside, sounds like you did not start with a plan for nutrition and exercise, and did not have anyone to help you formulate one.
removing all the fats from your diet is unnecessary and unsound and will contribute a great deal toward your feelings of hunger and stress. No, you can't have the butter . But yes, you can have an oil such as olive or avocado.
sidesteal's question about the scale wasn't just rhetorical...you have to actually USE it to portion out food.
and you have to start exercising...many people with back problems find something, even strength training, that burns calories. scrubbing house won't really do it.
make your journal public so we can see what you eat and how much, use the tools on this site or somewhere else to calculate your basal rate and get moving.

no to the other two questions

I would recommend that you see a physician, possibly a different one considering your original post, and get your thyroid hormone levels checked as well as a fasting blood glucose test.

3.3 pints of blue milk seems a lot for one day. Are you counting those calories?

Try eating 1500 cals a day and see how you go. As others mentioned you might not be eating enough.

wow........ first give yourself a hug and a break!

It's clear things are out of control and I'm glad you're here..... there are lots of people better qualified than me to help you, but I wanted to say we're here for you and if you need to talk message me

I agree with a lot of things that have been said, and I also have to say... just take it one day at a time.

I do agree you should get your thyroid checked.

I also think that you need to look for a balance, give yourself a few things you enjoy, maybe you can have butter a couple of days a week in moderation etc.

It sounds like you are working through an injury. I have to say it is really hard when you hurt, but may I recommend going to see a physical therapist (PT). I have had neck injuries, back injuries, write injuries and have dislocated my patellas 7 times (4 on the left, 3 on the right) and I am in pain every day, but the pain I have today is less than the pain I had last week. They will help you strengthen the muscles you need to support your injuries and will help you decide on good activities for you. I will say the weight I have lost has only made my injuries feel better... there is a light!

It also sounds like your metabolism may be taking a nap - you need to look for foods that will boost your metabolism. I have heard biotin is supposed to be great for it, look up what foods have a lot of biotin (like salmon, tuna, carrots, nuts) and try to add those to your diet. Also if you can build muscle that will automatically boost your metabolism, this is something you should discuss with your PT, it isn't just about lifting huge weights, but maybe you wear hand weights while you clean, or start using resistance bands (I love them!!).

Lastly - you have to drink water... I never thought it was essential, but now that I am paying attention, it makes a huge difference. You need water to help process fiber which helps with weight loss, water will also help keep you hydrated (in a way hot drinks don't) and that will help cut down on muscle pain.

My final comment - this is a looooonnnnggg road and everyone is different. One week does not a diet ruin... it sucks I know, you work hard, you want results, but this is a life change, you have to try out what will work for you and what you can incorporate into your life forever. I promise you will not go the rest of your life without butter, granted you need to be in control of it, but that is what you need to decide for you. I would also start to take your measurments. I didn't lose a pound for weeks and weeks when I started, but then I measured and I had lost inches. Pounds are the only victory around here

I am here when and if you need me, but stick with it, maybe just try a different (and calmer) approach. Good luck to you!!!