[CatSykes]

Hello everyone,

I only realised a few months ago just how much weight I've put on over the past year...more than 11 kgs! Recently, the in-laws asked my outright if I'm pregnant. I cried for days and slumped even further into depression (and excessive eating). I look and feel horrible, nothing fits yet I'm determined NOT to buy clothes in my current size.

The annoying thing is that after the birth of my daughter three years ago, I got back to a sensible weight (the one I'm aiming for now) in a matter of weeks. So it's not even pregnancy weight!

Reasons? Stressed, depressed, comfort eating (and drinking), working full-time and looking after my daughter the rest of the time. I've been taking the depo contraceptive injection for the past couple of years which I think has made matters much worse as well.

So, here I am, just starting out. I've tried repeatedly over the past few months and failed every time. But this time I've stopped the depo injection, and just started using a gym "regularly" (i.e., every day this week so far - got to keep this up obviously!) and seeking further support from people who know how tough this is.

My main concern now is that I've gotten so far into a mess that I'm not sure my motivation can carry me along for the duration - I'm aiming for 600 cals a day currently (not counting coffees, drinks etc so in reality it's higher) plus gym in order to get a quick reward which fingers crossed will help carry me forward.

Looking forward to chatting with the members here and hopefully moving forward together!

x

[Jacqui_D]

Hi Cat! You've come to the right place! You will find lots of support here, even when you feel your motivation wavering. Although I don't count calories anymore, I spent most my life counting calories and I can tell you that 600 calories a day are too few calories when you are not exercising. Add exercising on top of that and your body will fight you, because it will believe you are in starvation mode and it will slow your metabolism down on you. Once you get past those initial water lbs dropping off, you'll struggle to lose more weight, not to mention you'll feel weak, and then you'll be likely to throw in the towel. You really need to up your calories to at least 1200 calories so that your body won't work against you. Now, if you want to do intermittent fasting, which I think is like 5 days 1200 calories, 2 days 500 calories (or something like that), I believe there is a thread on here about it and you can check that out. I just don't want you to become discouraged because you are trying to eat only 600 calories a day. That's just not enough, and your metabolism is not going to like it. Anyway, I'm glad you are here! You will learn a lot and meet lots of wonderful people! Good luck!

[Creativian]

Cat, and I agree with Jacqui. 600 calories a day is starvation, and is liable to lower your metabolism so that your body will burn even fewer calories. You can lose weight without punishing yourself.

[CatSykes]

Thank you Jacqui and Creativian. I do feel pretty rotten (and irritable) at the moment but get such a boost to see the weight drop each morning. Kicking myself so hard that I let myself get like this! How COULD I gain 1kg per month?

Actually, I tried this approach a few months ago and after a few days the weight stopped coming off and I couldn't understand why. I wasn't exercising which I thought might be the problem. It's worked in the past but I wasn't as overweight as I was now (and younger of course!).

Ok, I'll look into the fasting days and higher calorie days :-)

I just wish I could move forward....I can hardly think of anything other than "when I'm slim I'll be happy"

Thanks again for the support - and huge congrats on the progress you've both made

x

[Lecomtes]

Welcome Cat! I know what it feels like to become wrapped up in thoughts of "I'll be happy when I'm slim.", I'm so sorry you're feeling that way. Kudos on your renewed resolve to be healthy. Even though I don't look thin at all, I feel so much better about myself when I eat better and stay active. I'm glad you're thinking about upping your intake from 600, I've managed to lose a good amount of weight at about 1500 kcals (a bit more if I've gone jogging/cycling that day). Best of luck to you and welcome to 3FC!

[CatSykes]

Hi Lecomtes, thank you...I'm really glad I found this forum. I've felt really alone in this (and alone generally in fact) so I'm hoping the support will help me succeed where I've failed before.

[Lecomtes]

You are not alone. 3FC has really opened my eyes to that.