I DO NOT want to give up, but I'm miserable and need help...
OK guys,girls,chicks... I honestly need a kick in the butt and some good advice.
I feel miserable. I lost about 20 pounds this year, give or take, since January 1st 2010. It has not come back, which is good. Yay me!
But no. Not yay.
I lost those 20 pounds in the first 3 months. After April 2010, NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. My weight has been between 176-174 and has not budged since then. I've been keeping my calorie budget (1300 calories). Then I tried zigzagging for a month with no result. Then I tried going down to 1500 calories a day, which is stupid I know, but I tried, and again no result. I'm back to sticking to my 1300 calories/day budget, 30g of fat max. I've been exercising as regularly and even more than I was at last winter. I go to the gym 2-3 times a week, I jog, I lift weights. And I'm not losing any weight/inches! It's been over 6 months now, and I wanted to be at my goal weight by my birthday which is in 3 weeks. I am over 40 pounds away from that goal as we speak. I feel miserable. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't want to be one of those people who "are just meant to be big". I'm not. I'm tiny underneath all this. And I need to find out what to do to start losing weight/inches again, because I feel like giving up. What's the point if I'm never gonna get any smaller? I'm sick of this weight, it felt great at first, but now it feels horrible and huge, and I'm sick of it and want out, but everything I've tried has given me 0 result.
Seriously, what can I do to kick start my weight loss again? I'm so desperate to see the scale going down again, and with winter coming I'm terrified of GAINING weight over the holidays and the cold months. I don't know what's going to happen if I can't lose any more weight. I'm only 5'3" and I weight roughly 175 pounds right now. Obese. My goal weight is 127 pounds, but at 140 I will no longer be "overweight". I cannot give up now. Not that I can give up later, but ESPECIALLY not when I haven't even made it out of the "obese" category. I want to be healthy and I want to like myself, right now, I'm just ridiculously depressed about this. What can I do??
I am always wary of challenges of losing X amount of weight by a particular timeline because my body has never cooperated in that way.
I've been on one gigantic plateau for the last 10 months too -- I am anywhere between 182-178. Only recently have I broken the 178 lbs mark.
I've had to play around with diet, exercise, supplements, doctors, etc., and MOST OF ALL, I've had to come to the conclusion that this is less about weight loss and a lot more about healthy habits, healthy living.
Yes, it sucks that 10 months later, I haven't dropped tons of weight. If my body lost 1 pound a week, I could have been at my goal weight by now!
But, I also know that I'm eating a million times better than before, exercise is part of my healthy life, and my bloodwork is perfect, slowly, but surely, my weight will come off.
Have you been to a doctor? You need to rule out any metabolic problems that could be stalling your weight loss.
Have you played around with your ratios (more protein, less carb, or vice versa)?
Are you weighing/measuring everything that goes into your mouth? Are you writing all of it down?
Have you tried eliminating processed foods?
Have you been sleeping 7-9 hours every night?
Is there a lot of stress in your life?
Are you drinking enough water?
(these last were important for me - we need water to metabolize fat, we need sleep to lose weight, too much stress can impede weight loss.)
Well, you could give us more information, such as how do you track your calories, etc. But, I think the only thing I feel like suggesting right now is, have you tried talking with your doctor, and perhaps having a consult with a dietitian? I think you might need more input than 3FC-ers can provide.
You'd be surprised what a change in the typed of foods you are eating could do for you.
For me personally I can work out my hearts content, eat 1500 of average food and lose a little or I can work out my hearts content, eat 1700 of clean non processed food and lose 1-2 lbs a week.
As a person who is in the same boat i completely understand where your comming from and i've also had the same issues and thoughts about giving up but one thing i've come to realize is that its all about commitment and self confidence. I've tried many diet plans and weightloss supplements and yes some have produces results and others have not but it always comes back to the same issue of the weight being there and my goals not being met, but im here to tell you that you have to keep pushing and working towards your goals and will power in combination with commitment will produce the results your searching for.
Good for you on your committment to exercising, that's really impressive. I agree with Ncunceo about processed foods vs clean foods. It's a lot easier to lose on simple homemade food.
Don't give up, even though it's hard not seeing the results you want. Maybe your arteries are cleaner, who knows!
To be perfectly honest, you sound like you have been banging your head against a wall. You basically tried adjusting one minor part of the weight loss game - calories.
Some of these were mentioned already, but here is the mental checklist I used to inventory when thinking of stalls:
- is my stress level in check? (high levels of stress hormones in the body make you crave carbs, and pack on lbs even when reducing caloric intake!)
- am I eating the right foods for me right now? (this changes for me, but generally if Im stuck...I fall back on lean protein, a varied mix of veggies, not much fruit, and no all carb products...I do eat carbs, just not bread or pasta really). I also make sure my fiber and protein levels are >25g and >65g respectively.
- am I really being challenged by my workout and getting enough? Our bodies habituate to workouts, so we need to constantly change it up to keep them effective. Make sure weight training is in there too.
- am I sleeping enough?
- am I hydrating enough?
- how is my energy? If it is low, why? Bad sign, means one of the above is likely out of wack or another health issue needs to be investigated.
If all of those check out, make sure you are using more tools than the scale to measure! I distinctly remember a period where it took me 3 months to go from 183 to 181, but I lost 10+ inches!
Thanks everyone for your suggestions... I only wish I hadn't tried all of them.
For 2 months I tried a high protein-low starch diet, kinda paleo but less strict, that didn't work. I've lowered my fat intake to 15g a day for a month, without any result.
I'm 24 years old BTW. And I'm not into any sort of commercial diet, just calorie counting and exercising.
I haven't had fried chicken in years. I don't remember what a hot dog tastes like, honestly. I've been eating clean food since before I graduated high school (which was wow, 7 years ago!). I was over 220 pounds back then, and when I ruled out junk food I lost 42 pounds. Then I plateau'd between 185-198 until last year when I joined this forum and decided to lose the rest of my extra weight. I try to buy most fruits and vegetables organic, and I have a bakery next door where I get freshly baked multigrain bread when I want it. I don't eat much dairies, usually milk in my morning smoothie and that's it for the day. Greek yogurt sometimes, maybe once a week. I usually have a portion of meat a day if any, I'm not a big fan. Usually grilled chicken or fish, I rarely have pork or beef ever. I limit my starch to 2 portions a day, usually both eaten at lunch but it really depends. I eat whole grains, quinoa, bulgur wheat, rye beads, barley... sometimes I'll have pasta, a couple times a month. Sometimes potatoes. The bulk of my diet is vegetables. I eat lots of broccoli, yam, beans, carrots, mushrooms, cabbage, peppers, squash of all kinds... I love black beans and add them to most of my vegetable dishes. I don't eat LOTS of fruit but I do eat them a couple times a day, as snacks or as a dessert. I've pretty much taken any cereal, rice crisps and frozen waffles out of the house and they are not allowed back in. I rarely eat "real" dessert, only at restaurants or something like that, and it's always counted in my calorie budget. I have a sports bottle at my desk at work and I fill it up with water once when I get in, once after lunch, and once before I go home, which would be 1.5L of water. Then there's random glasses I drink at home, + if I go to the gym the bottle gets filled 2 more times. So I'm pretty sure I'm drinking enough water. I also don't drink soft drinks at all (they burn my mouth!) and I rarely have juice. So none of that. I do like tea, I have lots of herbal teas, but I usually don't add any sugar to them.
I use FitDay to track my calories and nutrient intake, sometimes I forget to fill it in but on those days I usually have all my food tracked in my phone. I've been reading labels since I was 12 and my diet-obsessed grandmother taught me why it's important.
I get a free gym membership through my work so I do cardio at the gym 2-3 times a week, they also have a track so I usually jog for the equivalent of 1 mile. I'm doing P90 at home right now, week 3. I also walk about 2 miles a day getting to and back from work.
I usually sleep 6-7 hours on week days. On the weekends I get to sleep in a bit more hehe. I have a pretty stressful job, high-pressure environment, deadlines and all, but we all have those. And I do have a history of anxiety and panic attacks, but I have a prescription for that. It's not a daily pill though so it's not altering my body chemistry and wouldn't be the cause of this plateau.
And unfortunately, I am taking my measurements, and they haven't changed either. Which is why I'm so upset about this. If my weight was the same but I was losing inches I would have no problem with it. But I'm not, so there is something now working here... but I don't know what. I've been to my doctor at the very beginning of this new journey to make sure I was good to go, that was about a year ago now (although I've seen my doctor a couple times in between now and then and everything is still normal). I've had bloodwork done on my first visit, was weighed, measured, fat-o-meter'd, etc. My blood pressure is perfectly normal, so is my blood sugar, I have no medical issue, no hyperthyroidism, no PCOS, no diabetes, no clinical depression, no eating disorder, I don't even ever get the freaking flu! UGH! It's so frustrating not to know what I need to do...
Wow. Sure sounds like you're doing everything *right*. I can't even begin to comprehend just how frustrated you are.
I doubt this is your issue, given that it looks like you've examined everything with a fine tooth comb, but I've gotta ask - is there any way at all that you're underestimating the amount of calories that you're ingesting??? Not measuring correctly for instance, eating larger portions (amounts) than you're accounting for? That bread from the bakery - perhaps it's more calories than you think. Are there any cheat meals or days? Again, I'm reaching here.
Wow! Ok yeah that sounds mega ultra frustrating and somewhat mysterious.
The only remaining advice I have is:
- Talk to your doctor if you havent already, and be as detailed as you were in this post. Be demanding and persistent. Ask what potential medical issues you should be screened for. After reading your update my first thought was has this girl had her thyroid checked! Not sure of something else like a hormonal imbalance or one of the rare cases of a sluggish metabolism or something. Maybe even food allergies?
- Stress. You noted you are prone to it, and that you *treat* it when it happens. But in my personal experience, solving my stress without even changing my diet or exercise has led to 20+lb weight drops in short amounts of time. I really think this is important and often overlooked, we cant just medicate and manage stress...we need better solutions. I read this great book called "Undoing Perpetual Stress: The Missing Connection Between Depression, Anxiety and 21st Century Illness" you might want to look into. I also sought out all sorts of crazy treatments to see what worked for me...sounds out there...but acupuncture and hypnotherapy (really more like guided meditation), daily meditation, massage and other things have really, really helped.
- Lymph blockage. Most people know we have major lymph nodes, but I didnt know until pretty recently we have a lymph system that runs right under the skin all over our bodies. It helps to flush toxins, eliminate fat, etc. Interestingly, it does not have a pump (like the heart is for the circulatory system). I had some lymphatic drainage work done and do some maint at home..it was all really easy and has DEF helped me...especially in the extremities where fluids more easily collect.
Hang in there, I'm in the same situation and I just force myself to keep pushing forward. It is hard to lose weight but you have to hang in there, we're here to support you and help keep you motivated.
I'm hanging in there! I can't just stop what I'm doing... healthy food and physical activity is part of me now, and I don't think I could just start eating junk and stop exercising. It would be a horrible idea, too.
I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing so far and hope that the scale starts going down again soon. I'm going on vacation with my partner and my family(parents/sister and her DH) in 2 weeks and will probably be doing a lot of walking, and we rented a house so we don't have to eat out all the time and I can cook for myself there, which is going to be great and so I'm not panicking about ruining my efforts while on vacation.
My mantra right now really is "At least you didn't gain any weight back... at least you didn't gain any weight back..."
And hopefully that will make me stay focused and will help me get through this plateau and down to a healthy weight. It's just so hard to keep pushing when there is no result for so long despite your efforts. But I guess I'll have to suck it up.
Just want to throw another possibility or 2 out there - hormonal imbalances can wreak havoc with weight loss -even in someone as young as you are. My niece
had some problems in her early 20's and after all kinds of tests which showed nothing wrong, ,someone decided to check her hormonal levels and they were really skewed. I don't know exactly what she had to do or what she took but it was temporary and her problems eased a lot -some altogether.
On another note, you might consider going for a true metabolic test so you can find out how many calories you should be consuming.
Also, check your % of body fat vs. muscle -since you may need to increase your muscle ratio to help burn the fat. (more attention to weight/resistance work than cardio for a bit)
I am having a similar problem and having done the above suggestions, I know where my issues are and am working to improve/change what I need to do to lose weight. ( I need to lose a LOT of weight and on the very 1st week of a strict medically supervised diet where the average weight loss is 5lbs. or more depending on size of course - I lost 2 so I know how you're feeling and wish you luck.
I DO NOT want to give up, but I'm miserable and need help...
