am i just torturing myself?

kateadrianne
kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
i started going to the gym last week. it is my 7th session today. i usually spend 1 hour doing cardio, 30 mins stationary bike and 30 mins elliptical. then my trainer would ask me to do some abs, shoulders, triceps and legs exercises. every session was a very tiring one. but i am not seeing any results. i am still fat. my body still hurts when i do those exercises.


when it comes to eating, i really limit myself. yesterday and today i was below 1200, just 1100 i think. but last weekend i ate a lot. my boyfriend likes making me eat a lot. ugh and of course i cant resist food. but now im trying hard to diet. its like i ate small amount of food in the morning, then large amount at lunch, then fruits or just cookies at night. then lots of water. is that a healthy diet? wew. im new to this dieting because i used to eat a lot of food, whatever kind and whenever i want to. and now look what it has gotten me into. :( a 20 year old worrying about weight. im supposed to be enjoying my body but noo i got out of control. wewww. :((


is it too early to expect for results? or something is wrong with my exercise and diet? im 160lbs now, and havent lost even one pound. help! thanksss

Replies

  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    Nothing you are doing should be torturous. The healthiest is to go for slow, consistent change by developing habits that you can use throughout your life. That means starting to exercise in a way that you're not going to give up as soon as you hit goal weight. That also means not starving yourself, but instead being more aware of what you eat and how much you eat. You can look at my diary if you want to see what I'm doing.
  • o2bADyer
    o2bADyer Posts: 208
    Unless you got to the point that you're at NOW in seven days, you won't undo the damage that quickly either. Hang in there!! It's a process...but you're on the right track. Make sure you are drinking LOTS of water too.
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @bathsheba, thank you! i went through your diary. i saw that you stick to healthy foods and maintain a below 1500calories but more than 1200calories a day. i am afraid that if i ate more than 1200 calories i will not lose weight. but now im afraid that my body would be in a starvation mode and not lose weight. wew.but thank you! i really want this to work. i want this to be my lifestyle not just a thing for a month or so. thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @itsamoore, thank you! yes i will! i have to! hehe its now or never! :) thank you for saying that, i really confused if im doing it the right way. thank you! yes im learning to love water! i used to drink only coke and juices before. ugh anyhow thank you for the reply and good luck in pursuing your goals! :)
  • qtiekiki
    qtiekiki Posts: 1,490 Member
    Maybe you should open up your diary, so we can comment on your diet. Eating fruits or just cookies at night doesn't sound great. You can eat light at night, but I think it will do you better if you have lean proteins and veggies instead. I would also eat at least 1200 calories. To make this a lifestyle, you need to find exercises/workouts/sports that you enjoy. If you feel like you are torturing yourself, you won't stick with it.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    2 hours a day 7 days a week is excessive for someone who wasn't at the gym before. Be careful of your limbs, especially your knees. With exercise, don't be surprise if the weight drops slower (you're building muscle). Make sure you refuel your body so your muscles can repair. Take measurements, you'll probably see it there first (chest, waist, hips, butt, legs etc). Give it a month if you're exercising to notice results. It took 15 pounds for other people to start noticing I lost anything (but I wasn't exercising, so I was still all flab). It took me a month of exercising and noticing a difference in a picture for me to notice results.

    You are eating far far far far far to little. With moderate exercise several times a week I was eating 2200 calories a day. You're eating half of that and moving a lot more and more often. If you eat anywhere below your TDEE (BMR+exercise calories), you'll drop weight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate#BMR_estimation_formulas

    Step 2 is TDEE, eating below this number will make you lose weight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation

    It's likely the first results you'll see will be glycogen depletion http://en.wikipedia.org
    /wiki/Glycogen#Glycogen_depletion_and_endurance_exercise Glycogen is good for you, it gives you energy and helps you repair muscles and gives energy to other organs. It's not a weight you want to get rid of. You want to get rid of fat. Also, exercising excessively tends to be bad at this. There's an optimum amount of time where if you graphed it, your power output would shoot up, then it starts to level out. It goes up, but a whole lot slower.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    2 hours in the gym each time is just asking to get burned out...and quickly.

    4 times a week at an hour a session is plenty. Make sure you give yourself some rest time.
  • TheDrBuchanan
    TheDrBuchanan Posts: 89 Member
    My trainer says that no woman should eat less than 1200 calories per day to keep the metabolism going and avoid going into 'conservation mode'. Any lower than that, and your metabolism will slow down and prevent weight loss. To increase the metabolism and improve weight loss, she recommends eating within the first hour after waking and every 3-4 hours after that (giving you about 5 meals per day and at least 240 calories per meal). If you have a long day and need to eat a 6th time, eat an 'extra' 240 calories to keep the metabolism going strong (bringing you to 1420 for the day).

    Of course, these recommendations can be tweaked to meet each person's current condition and long-term goals. However, I think that this will be a good starting point. Try meeting these guidelines for a couple of weeks and see if things don't improve.
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @qtiekiki, i was not aware that my diary is hidden. thank you for informing me. im really new to this. thanks. :) im afraid if i ate dinner, i might not be able to control my appetite. wew. sometimes i feel im just torturing myself maybe because i have this unrealistic idea that if i do both exercise and diet i would see results quickly. ughhh thank you for the reply. good luck in achieving your goals! :)
  • lowpro1983
    lowpro1983 Posts: 305 Member
    Don't expect to lose weight quickly. Make sure that you are eating a minimum of 1200 calories per day. It sounds to me like your workouts are pretty intense - imagine what your body feels like when you haven't nourished and fueled it properly? You have to take care of your body to see results. That means eating healthier foods, exercising, drinking plenty of water, and getting enough sleep/rest. You might not see extraordinary results in a week...maybe 2 weeks...maybe a month - but you have to realize that it takes TIME. Also, normally when I work out more I see loss in inches, but not necessarily lbs.

    Eat healthy, drink water, exercise, plenty of sleep/rest - consistency.
  • delaney056
    delaney056 Posts: 475
    Give it some time! You didn't gain weight overnight, and you won't lose it overnight either. Maybe you should try decreasing the frequency of your exercise, or change it up a bit so that you don't get bored and you keep your body guessing. Find something you love doing. You should definitely be eating more due to the level of activity you're doing. If your body isn't properly fueled, it will catch up with you and you will no longer have the energy to do the workouts your doing.
    You're definitely on the right track! Just listen to your body and give the process some time. It's taken me 6 months to lose the weight I've lost!
    Good luck! :)
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @ codergal, im not an active person. i have no sports or anything. so yes going to the gym is like forcing my body to adapt quickly to something im not used to. its hard for me but i really want to lose weight. thank you for your suggestion! i would definitely buy a tape measure this weekend! :))) hmmm maybe i would eat 1500 calories now. thats all i can manage. i think if i eat more than 1500 i cannot burn them. hehe thank you for the url as well, i dont know a thing about those glycogen before. hehe :)) thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @kdiamond, hmmm i have this thinking that i have to go to the gym more often because i put minimal effort in doing exercises. i really dont know. but yes i think i have to rest besides sat and sun. because when i get home. im so tired and i cant study anymore. thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    You are eating far far far far far to little.

    This.

    You need to either quit going to the gym or up your calories substantially. Like double them. Or you are going to physically burn out bad AND become acquianted with a very long and unbreakable plateau.

    Overstressing your body casues it to release hormones that prevent fat loss.

    If you want to exercise heavy, you have to fuel that exercise. If you want to eat a very limited diet, you have to avoid most exercise.
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @thedoctorbuchanan, thank you for thattttt! i need that informationnnn! :)) i would definitely eat tomorrow! a lot! more than 1200! hehe :)) thank you! i will be on retreat tomorrow until saturday so i have no choice but to eat 5x a day. and i needed that right? i dnt want my body to prevent itself from losing weighttttt. wew. thank you again! good trainer btw, my trainer just asked me to do exercise and said diet. thats it. haha thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @lowpro1983, thanks! yes i will buy a tape measure this weekend. :) hmmm i think i will just do what im doing now, and eat more healthy foods, then check my weight after a month. :) i think by that time, i would shred some pounds right? hehe oh yes sleep! i lack sleep definitely! :( because im a graduating student and working with my thesis at the same time, i have sometime 4 hours of sleep. or if i came home tired. i end up doing nothing and just sleep the whole night. i definitely need to balance everything out. wew. thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    @bathsheba, thank you! i went through your diary. i saw that you stick to healthy foods and maintain a below 1500calories but more than 1200calories a day. i am afraid that if i ate more than 1200 calories i will not lose weight. but now im afraid that my body would be in a starvation mode and not lose weight. wew.but thank you! i really want this to work. i want this to be my lifestyle not just a thing for a month or so. thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)
    No problem, and feel free to friend me!

    Also, this past week was actually an unusually low calorie week for me. Most days, I eat in between 1500 and 1800! That assumes I'm being good with exercise, though. :)

    Something you may want to do is to look at MFP's BMR calculator in the tools section. BMR is how many calories your body needs in order to carry out its basic functions (breathing, digesting, heart pumping, etc.). You want to eat at least that many calories per day in order to stay healthy. Then, as long as you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight.
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @delaney056, first of all congratulations on the 30lbs you lost! im happy for you! :) hmm yes thats right but gaining weight is easier than losing haha! awful truth :( anyways i dnt knw wat i love doing. i dont have any sports. hmmm but i love it when i exercise and i could feel sweat on my body and face.. i feel so hmm effective. hehe i think i would hold on to that feeling :) thank youuu! i need that good luck! thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @madroch, thank you! i need that patience! if only i could buy patience! haha :) thank you for the good luck! :) thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @waldo56, hmmm i think i would add my calorie intake to 1500 to 1800. :) i dnt want to quit to th gym because i sweat there. and since im a couch potato, i think i will not lose weight if i dnt move. thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    @ codergal, im not an active person. i have no sports or anything. so yes going to the gym is like forcing my body to adapt quickly to something im not used to. its hard for me but i really want to lose weight. thank you for your suggestion! i would definitely buy a tape measure this weekend! :))) hmmm maybe i would eat 1500 calories now. thats all i can manage. i think if i eat more than 1500 i cannot burn them. hehe thank you for the url as well, i dont know a thing about those glycogen before. hehe :)) thank you for the reply and good luck in achieving your goals! :)

    Actually, I'm willing to bet you burn well into the 2000s if not 3000. If you're willing to put your stats (height weight age) I can show you your TDEE calculations.
  • alaliberte
    alaliberte Posts: 205
    I agree with kdiamond--2 hour sessions at the gym for someone new (or someone with experience) is too much. You are doing too much. I would expect your trainer to know better. You should leave feeling tired, but not totally wiped out.

    I've been doing triathlons for three years and I've never put in that much time in one day unless it's once a week/ twice a month and it's my long distance training day...this might be different for some really long distances racers--I'm only doing sprints.

    If you do too much, you run the risk of hating the gym and your routine. The point is to have fun. I'm also a yoga teacher and I've seen some students go from weak to very strong in about 6 months effort. If you want to tone, you could try it.

    Slow down, listen to your body and the weight will melt off with time and patience. Oh yeah...and cookies for dinner is probably not a good idea. Try carrot sticks with peanut butter for something lighter...

    Good luck--you got this!
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @codergal, yes im afraid!! here im interested with the calculations hehe 20 years old. 5'5 height. 160lbs thank you so much!!
  • kateadrianne
    kateadrianne Posts: 20 Member
    @alaliberte, the two hours is not straight two hours. one hour for cardio. and the other for strength and breaks too. hehe carrot sticks? hmm i will think about that. hehe im not a fan of veggies, but fruits i can manage. :) yess i dont want to happen that, i dnt want to hate my gym thank you very much. patience patience. hehe again thank you for the reply and good luck in reaching your goals :)

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