Need some advice

kellehbeans · February 2012

Hi there,

I have been trying to lose weight since Christmas. I have been using the app on my phone, and I've lost a stone (hooray!) but for the past 6 weeks I've lost nothing.

I don't understand, because I did start off eating 1200 calories a day, ensuring a wide spread of nutrients, I do not binge eat and I cut out all the bread (I've had about 3 pieces of bread since the start of the year!) I have now bought me down a lot, calorie-wise, which I know is unhealthy (but I lost a LOT of way doing it before, however I did used to be anorexic so my metabolism is very poor), but I was hoping it would help. I do not binge eat, I only had a good meal on Valentines meal which was highly unhealthy, but I realize you can have a 'relaxing day' every now and again, and I found at the beginning of the year, if I did this, I'd lose more weight in the coming week.

I have completely cut out the caffeine, I have 3-5 cups of tea a day, (Redbush tea) with no sugar and a tiny bit of semi-skimmed milk, I eat a cup of soup for lunch and a small meal at dinner time. I drink 8 pints of water, no fizzy drinks, no sugary-bad-for-you-foods (only now and again to contain the cravings so I don't go stupid at a later date). I find that I put on weight if I eat 3 proper meals a day, especially breakfast. I do not eat dinner late, I eat it at 5pm so I have plenty of time to digest before going to bed. I also sleep very well, from 8 hours to around 12, depending if I get really tired.

However, I exercise regularly, if I am not doing Zumba, I walk 2 miles to work and I do 100 stomach crunches a night to try and contain stomach muscles and hope that these muscles will build to speed up my metabolism.

I measured myself last night and found that I am now 40" bust, 34" waist and 40" hips. It made me almost cry because I used to have a perfect hour glass figure, I used to be 36:26:36, and now I've put 4" around the bust and hips and 8" around my waist. I've tried eating healthily, I've tried exercise, but my weight hasn't budged from 13 stone for 6 weeks.

Does anyone have any tips? I am an office worker so it's hard to be moving all the time, and I was wondering whether or not being at school was the reason I lost weight because I moved around more (although only slightly more than my job?) This job entailed of me eating a lot of takeaways and I just want to lose it all again - but I have no ideas on how to lose more if I'm attempting to do it all right.

I keep thinking I've lost weight because I can fit into some clothes, but it turns out according to my scales I haven't, and with my measurements I haven't because those are about a size 14-16 when I used to be around a size 6-8.

The only place it looks like I have lost weight is in my face, and I have no idea why.

I am 5'4, 19 and 13 stone, so I am obese according to my BMI and at risk. I also smoke (only 3-5 a day), but I'm not sure if this actually affects it. Would a diet like the Cambridge Diet help me further? Diet pills do not work, and I tried these although I had already read a million and one reviews saying they didn't work!

Please help, thank you in advance!

EDIT: I also was on anti-depressants at the end of last year, but I stopped them because they kept making me want to eat. My doctor tried to help me find tablets that would not make me crave the weirdest of things but my weight has stuck.
I also am on the pill, but that has never made me put on weight in the past. I thought it would be my period because I heard it retains water in your body, but that does not appear to be the problem.

kirstyg1980 · February 2012

you need to make your diary public then you will get more useful answers

kellehbeans · February 2012

Consider it done, however I haven't written in it for like a month, I got so disheartened by not losing any weight.

kirstyg1980 · February 2012

that could answer a lot then!!!! You need to enter everything you eat or drink, even the butter or mayonnaise in your sandwich - you'll be surprised at how many calories mayonnaise has in it

You also look from what you say that your not eating enough 1200 calories a day is fine if you aren't exercising but you say you do a fair bit

seeing as your diary is a bit empty, have a look at mine from yesterday - I exercised twice, lunch time body attack, evening 30 day shred dvd, I ate close to 2000 and still had a few spare

They say you should eat your exercise calories back, I aim for around half

since doing this I have dropped half a stone, like you I would eat very little then exercise and my body held onto the fat as it wasn't getting enough calories

SueGeer · February 2012

I had a quick look at your diary & noticed that for every day you have logged less than 1200 calories, which will make it harder for you to lose weight. MFP recommends a minimum of 1200 calories a day to safely lose weight........any less than that & your body could go into starvation mode where it hangs onto every calorie it can get cos it doesn't know when it's next meal is coming. Try eating more calories, more fruit & veg.........also eat back your exercise calories too.......just try & keep your net firgure at 1200 per day. Also give it more time........you've been trying to lose weight since Christmas & so far you've lost a stone.....that's great! However, if you've given up logging, it will be very hard for anyone to advise you.

Don't get disheartened.........these things take time.

We're all here for you......and to prove it I've just added you as a friend

Sue

x

kellehbeans · February 2012

that could answer a lot then!!!! You need to enter everything you eat or drink, even the butter or mayonnaise in your sandwich - you'll be surprised at how many calories mayonnaise has in it

You also look from what you say that your not eating enough 1200 calories a day is fine if you aren't exercising but you say you do a fair bit

seeing as your diary is a bit empty, have a look at mine from yesterday - I exercised twice, lunch time body attack, evening 30 day shred dvd, I ate close to 2000 and still had a few spare

They say you should eat your exercise calories back, I aim for around half

since doing this I have dropped half a stone, like you I would eat very little then exercise and my body held onto the fat as it wasn't getting enough calories

Thank you for your response :-)

I used to add everything, I guess I forgot my account name. Maybe I should look into it and attempt to find out what I used to do!

I try and cut out even butter, I don't tend to eat sandwiches anymore. This is why I don't understand this, and why I'm not losing. I lost so much doing exactly the same before, but for some reason it's all holding on. Will it eventually just start going again? I really am thinking of doing a diet plan from the Cambridge diets, and I have tried replacing my calories from exercise but it just makes me gain weight. My body is so messed up and I have no idea what to do about it because I am so uncomfortable!

kellehbeans · February 2012

I had a quick look at your diary & noticed that for every day you have logged less than 1200 calories, which will make it harder for you to lose weight. MFP recommends a minimum of 1200 calories a day to safely lose weight........any less than that & your body could go into starvation mode where it hangs onto every calorie it can get cos it doesn't know when it's next meal is coming. Try eating more calories, more fruit & veg.........also eat back your exercise calories too.......just try & keep your net firgure at 1200 per day. Also give it more time........you've been trying to lose weight since Christmas & so far you've lost a stone.....that's great! However, if you've given up logging, it will be very hard for anyone to advise you.

Don't get disheartened.........these things take time.

We're all here for you......and to prove it I've just added you as a friend

Sue x

Very sweet, this made me smile. :-) I will start recording more, I think it'll help, I think I do need to watch what I am doing. Like I've said before, I used to eat around 300-500 calories and I lost loads and loads of weight, but as a child I was very overweight.

I've never used these forums before but I think I will start using them more, everyone is nice and it is helping me put my confidence up!

jonski1968 · February 2012

8 pints of water a day is a lot of water...

lisa28115 · February 2012

I am right there with you girlfriend
i have lost nothing since xmas
very discouraged
1200 calories a day is HARD!!!

I was told i may not be eating enough calories

message heybales or helloitsdan ..they are good to help you out

kellehbeans · February 2012

I am right there with you girlfriend
i have lost nothing since xmas
very discouraged
1200 calories a day is HARD!!!

I was told i may not be eating enough calories

message heybales or helloitsdan ..they are good to help you out

Hey there, yes it is! I can deal with 1200, but whenever I do eat that many, I feel like I am eating WAY too much! But I am eating too few, because I have this thought on my head, like last time that this will help me. But it doesn't appear to, so I think I should increase my calorie uptake! I'm just so worried because i have such a slow metabolism.

AntWrig · February 2012

I am right there with you girlfriend
i have lost nothing since xmas
very discouraged
1200 calories a day is HARD!!!

I was told i may not be eating enough calories

message heybales or helloitsdan ..they are good to help you out

Hey there, yes it is! I can deal with 1200, but whenever I do eat that many, I feel like I am eating WAY too much! But I am eating too few, because I have this thought on my head, like last time that this will help me. But it doesn't appear to, so I think I should increase my calorie uptake! I'm just so worried because i have such a slow metabolism.

Please read:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

melaniecheeks · February 2012

It's good that you're feeling supported here, that's one of the strengths of MFP.

And I agree with the suggestion of recording in your food diary - do that for a week and then analyses and see if there are any obvious areas that you could change.

Good luck!

ask4itall · February 2012

Don't get discouraged...you can do this...some people just take a little more time to show results than others. Let me address the exercise portion since that is absolutely the easiest thing to do:

Zumba is fun...but building lean muscle-mass and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) burns fat. Here is my simple but effective formula to weight loss:

Weight Loss Mathematics:

30 minutes of weight training 3x/week

+ 12 minutes of HIIT cardio 2x/week

+ eat 5-6 smalls meals/day

+ make sensible food/drink choices every day

= enjoy your new body by summer

(trust me on this...I have a degree in Mathematics)

Saludos....

http://www.facebook.com/fitwithfig

AntWrig · February 2012

Don't get discouraged...you can do this...some people just take a little more time to show results than others. Let me address the exercise portion since that is absolutely the easiest thing to do:

Zumba is fun...but building lean muscle-mass and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) burns fat. Here is my simple but effective formula to weight loss:

Weight Loss Mathematics:

30 minutes of weight training 3x/week

+ 12 minutes of HIIT cardio 2x/week

+ eat 5-6 smalls meals/day

+ make sensible food/drink choices every day

= enjoy your new body by summer

(trust me on this...I have a degree in Mathematics)

Saludos....

http://www.facebook.com/fitwithfig

Pretty much this.

Minus the multiple meal part, and cardio.

JennieAL · February 2012

You probably aren't eating enough calories. In fact, I saw nothing but tea logged in your diary. So, start logging and try to be as accurate and consistent with it as you can. It can be hard, yes. But if you are determined to figure out what needs to be done, then that's the best way to start. Get a digital kitchen scale if you don't already have one.

You need to use one of the online calorie calculators to figure up how many calories you need to maintain... and then subtract around 500 calories per day there you go. Just set yourself to be at a 3500 per week deficit because 3500 calories is 1 lb. That's a good starting point.

Cardio isn't even necessary to lose fat, only the calorie deficit. Not to say that cardio won't help... just don't overtrain. And consider adding in some strength training to help maintain your lean muscle as you lose.

kellehbeans · February 2012

You probably aren't eating enough calories. In fact, I saw nothing but tea logged in your diary. So, start logging and try to be as accurate and consistent with it as you can. It can be hard, yes. But if you are determined to figure out what needs to be done, then that's the best way to start. Get a digital kitchen scale if you don't already have one.

You need to use one of the online calorie calculators to figure up how many calories you need to maintain... and then subtract around 500 calories per day there you go. Just set yourself to be at a 3500 per week deficit because 3500 calories is 1 lb. That's a good starting point.

Cardio isn't even necessary to lose fat, only the calorie deficit. Not to say that cardio won't help... just don't overtrain. And consider adding in some strength training to help maintain your lean muscle as you lose.

Thank you for responding.

I have scales at home, and I was weighing out my food, as well as a jug to measure out liquids. This was what I was doing for breakfast, but I found that I was losing nothing so I just cut out breakfast. I used to just drink a cup of coffee in the morning, and I found that helped my metabolism out. I have decaffeinated tea now, because I thought caffeine was helping me retain too much water. I'm not sure whether I drink too much water or anything, it would be helpful to know if that would do any damage.

I may have a walk to the shop at lunch time and buy me a salad to help me with my calories, as I have only a small cup of soup which is only 76 calories.

JennieAL · February 2012

Cutting out breakfast in and of itself is not going to cause you to lose more. What time you eat has NOTHING to do with it. This is a fact.

Just focus on figuring out what your maintenance calories are for you height/weight/age/gender/activity level etc, then set up your MFP goals to get you into a slight deficit. I go with about a 20% deficit, 500 calories or so per day. 3500 per week.

Do not worry about a little bit of caffeine. It also isn't going "boost" your metabolism really, it will give you a feeling of more energy, sure. And that's temporary. As long as you aren't consuming massive amounts of caffeine (which could then cause problems with your adrenals, and then your insulin) you will be fine.

kellehbeans · February 2012

Cutting out breakfast in and of itself is not going to cause you to lose more. What time you eat has NOTHING to do with it. This is a fact.

Just focus on figuring out what your maintenance calories are for you height/weight/age/gender/activity level etc, then set up your MFP goals to get you into a slight deficit. I go with about a 20% deficit, 500 calories or so per day. 3500 per week.

Do not worry about a little bit of caffeine. It also isn't going "boost" your metabolism really, it will give you a feeling of more energy, sure. And that's temporary. As long as you aren't consuming massive amounts of caffeine (which could then cause problems with your adrenals, and then your insulin) you will be fine.

Cutting out from how much I have been eating and going back to around 1200, will this damage my weight loss?

JennieAL · February 2012

Cutting out breakfast in and of itself is not going to cause you to lose more. What time you eat has NOTHING to do with it. This is a fact.

Just focus on figuring out what your maintenance calories are for you height/weight/age/gender/activity level etc, then set up your MFP goals to get you into a slight deficit. I go with about a 20% deficit, 500 calories or so per day. 3500 per week.

Do not worry about a little bit of caffeine. It also isn't going "boost" your metabolism really, it will give you a feeling of more energy, sure. And that's temporary. As long as you aren't consuming massive amounts of caffeine (which could then cause problems with your adrenals, and then your insulin) you will be fine.

Cutting out from how much I have been eating and going back to around 1200, will this damage my weight loss?

I don't know. I don't know your stats. You will need to use something like this to figure up how many calories you need to eat: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

Go with a 10-20% deficit once you calculate your maintenance calories using your RMR and other info. You can also Google the online calorie calculators. The Mifflin-St Jeor formula is probably best to go with, from what I understand.

kellehbeans · February 2012

Cutting out breakfast in and of itself is not going to cause you to lose more. What time you eat has NOTHING to do with it. This is a fact.

Just focus on figuring out what your maintenance calories are for you height/weight/age/gender/activity level etc, then set up your MFP goals to get you into a slight deficit. I go with about a 20% deficit, 500 calories or so per day. 3500 per week.

Do not worry about a little bit of caffeine. It also isn't going "boost" your metabolism really, it will give you a feeling of more energy, sure. And that's temporary. As long as you aren't consuming massive amounts of caffeine (which could then cause problems with your adrenals, and then your insulin) you will be fine.

Cutting out from how much I have been eating and going back to around 1200, will this damage my weight loss?

I don't know. I don't know your stats. You will need to use something like this to figure up how many calories you need to eat: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

Go with a 10-20% deficit once you calculate your maintenance calories using your RMR and other info. You can also Google the online calorie calculators. The Mifflin-St Jeor formula is probably best to go with, from what I understand.

Thank you! I will check these out.

According to a calculator, to maintain my current weight I need 2046 calories. So I guess it would want me to eat 1500? Do you think that 1200 is more than satisfactory for my body weight?

fionarama · February 2012

Don't get discouraged...you can do this...some people just take a little more time to show results than others. Let me address the exercise portion since that is absolutely the easiest thing to do:

Zumba is fun...but building lean muscle-mass and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) burns fat. Here is my simple but effective formula to weight loss:

Weight Loss Mathematics:

30 minutes of weight training 3x/week

+ 12 minutes of HIIT cardio 2x/week

+ eat 5-6 smalls meals/day

+ make sensible food/drink choices every day

= enjoy your new body by summer

(trust me on this...I have a degree in Mathematics)

Saludos....

http://www.facebook.com/fitwithfig

this is the most brilliant advice ever!!!! Go with it! Also I notice as well as not eating your full calorie you aren't eating very clean, pizza and crispies , junky sort of stuff. Instead of crispies Oatmeal for instance. Eat cleaner, lots of grilled skinless chicken breast and white fish, salads and brown rice/wholewheat pasta. Much better. It does make a difference as your training results will be better as well.

jmatthews75 · February 2012

8 pints of water a day is a lot of water...

Not really. A gallon a day is doable if you space it out. thats my goal for a day.

JennieAL · February 2012

Cutting out breakfast in and of itself is not going to cause you to lose more. What time you eat has NOTHING to do with it. This is a fact.

Just focus on figuring out what your maintenance calories are for you height/weight/age/gender/activity level etc, then set up your MFP goals to get you into a slight deficit. I go with about a 20% deficit, 500 calories or so per day. 3500 per week.

Do not worry about a little bit of caffeine. It also isn't going "boost" your metabolism really, it will give you a feeling of more energy, sure. And that's temporary. As long as you aren't consuming massive amounts of caffeine (which could then cause problems with your adrenals, and then your insulin) you will be fine.

Cutting out from how much I have been eating and going back to around 1200, will this damage my weight loss?

I don't know. I don't know your stats. You will need to use something like this to figure up how many calories you need to eat: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

Go with a 10-20% deficit once you calculate your maintenance calories using your RMR and other info. You can also Google the online calorie calculators. The Mifflin-St Jeor formula is probably best to go with, from what I understand.

Thank you! I will check these out.

According to a calculator, to maintain my current weight I need 2046 calories. So I guess it would want me to eat 1500? Do you think that 1200 is more than satisfactory for my body weight?

If the 2000 is correct for you, then no less than 1600 per day. That's at the high end. A 20% deficit. You don't want to dip too low. You need to let go of this 1200 that you are holding onto... Just let that go. Your body simply requires more calories than that.

JennieAL · February 2012

Don't get discouraged...you can do this...some people just take a little more time to show results than others. Let me address the exercise portion since that is absolutely the easiest thing to do:

Zumba is fun...but building lean muscle-mass and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) burns fat. Here is my simple but effective formula to weight loss:

Weight Loss Mathematics:

30 minutes of weight training 3x/week

+ 12 minutes of HIIT cardio 2x/week

+ eat 5-6 smalls meals/day

+ make sensible food/drink choices every day

= enjoy your new body by summer

(trust me on this...I have a degree in Mathematics)

Saludos....

http://www.facebook.com/fitwithfig

this is the most brilliant advice ever!!!! Go with it! Also I notice as well as not eating your full calorie you aren't eating very clean, pizza and crispies , junky sort of stuff. Instead of crispies Oatmeal for instance. Eat cleaner, lots of grilled skinless chicken breast and white fish, salads and brown rice/wholewheat pasta. Much better. It does make a difference as your training results will be better as well.

Clean eating is relative. Don't get hung up on eating "clean" when you haven't even acclimated to the fact you aren't eating ENOUGH calories yet. Eat enough, then worry about what you're eating. You will still lose weight if you eat pizza, ice-cream, etc. My diary is proof.

kellehbeans · February 2012

Cutting out breakfast in and of itself is not going to cause you to lose more. What time you eat has NOTHING to do with it. This is a fact.

Just focus on figuring out what your maintenance calories are for you height/weight/age/gender/activity level etc, then set up your MFP goals to get you into a slight deficit. I go with about a 20% deficit, 500 calories or so per day. 3500 per week.

Do not worry about a little bit of caffeine. It also isn't going "boost" your metabolism really, it will give you a feeling of more energy, sure. And that's temporary. As long as you aren't consuming massive amounts of caffeine (which could then cause problems with your adrenals, and then your insulin) you will be fine.

Cutting out from how much I have been eating and going back to around 1200, will this damage my weight loss?

I don't know. I don't know your stats. You will need to use something like this to figure up how many calories you need to eat: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

Go with a 10-20% deficit once you calculate your maintenance calories using your RMR and other info. You can also Google the online calorie calculators. The Mifflin-St Jeor formula is probably best to go with, from what I understand.

Thank you! I will check these out.

According to a calculator, to maintain my current weight I need 2046 calories. So I guess it would want me to eat 1500? Do you think that 1200 is more than satisfactory for my body weight?

If the 2000 is correct for you, then no less than 1600 per day. That's at the high end. A 20% deficit. You don't want to dip too low. You need to let go of this 1200 that you are holding onto... Just let that go. Your body simply requires more calories than that.

I'm just worried that after eating so little calories then upping it to about this then maybe make me gain weight. I will stop skipping breakfast, but I'm not sure what is the best thing to eat for breakfast. I am also thinking of swapping cow's milk back to soya milk.

You have been very helpful, thank you very much. :-) Thinking about, I have constantly been tired with the amount of calories I have been eating so maybe this is a wake up call posting on here. I'm just so terrified of upping my calories.

JennieAL · February 2012

It's ok, you might gain a little. But you also might not. Hard to say, since there are so many variables involved. Try not to be scared to increase, it will turn out better in the long run! I'm facing a similar fear... I'm starting Spike days soon and will be doubling my calories one day of the week!

We'll see how all that goes... but others have reported good things! So, I'm going to be brave and try

Good luck! Eat what your body needs first and foremost, and only then will have the proper baseline to start from.

kellehbeans · February 2012

It's ok, you might gain a little. But you also might not. Hard to say, since there are so many variables involved. Try not to be scared to increase, it will turn out better in the long run! I'm facing a similar fear... I'm starting Spike days soon and will be doubling my calories one day of the week! We'll see how all that goes... but others have reported good things! So, I'm going to be brave and try

Good luck! Eat what your body needs first and foremost, and only then will have the proper baseline to start from.

I guess I'm just going to try hard to eat more healthy and perhaps when it's a nice day like today, go for a walk. :-) I'm going to walk to the shop and go and get a salad and I may have my cup of soup as well as the salad to help me boost my calories for the day.

Good luck, I hope all goes well for you. :-) It sounds interesting, but if people have reported good things then I would expect good things!

Need some advice

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