Really discouraged!
 

I don't know but I am just so discouraged this morning. I have tried to do this weight loss thing the right way this time and I immediately lost 2.5 lbs and not a week later, still ON the same exact eating/exercising plan and I am back to where I was when I started?

I gave up sodas over a yr ago..and gained weight...most ppl lose!

This past week I have completely cut out ALL junk food, no candy, sweets, ice cream...no chips...no snacking in between meals....I stopped eating an hour and half to 2 hours before bed. I've started doing cardio twice a day, 30 in the morning and 30 in the evening. I'm only eating what I am supposed to be. No milk, cheese or bread/pastas.

So what gives? WHAT is wrong with me? :(

There is nothing wrong with you!! *hugs* You'll get there. Are you only eating the 3 meals a day and not having a healthy snack in between? Maybe your not getting enough calories..

I am eating snacks n between but they are things like bananas or light and fit yogurts..nothing "bad".

So sorry to hear your discouraged. I've been there!! I heard somewhere that bananas didn't help weight loss... they act like a sugary-starch in the body... so I cut them out and I'm eating strawberries instead... just a thought. Also, you might need to add some whole grains (ya said no grains or pastas). Keep on your exercise plan. Be patient!! =)

I have been eating brown rice..does that help?


I also think I haven't been drinking enough water either..maybe that's the thing? I hate drinking plain water, I have never been able to honestly..

It can be discouraging, I know :( Just hang in there though. The time is passing whether you lose or gain -- and if you stay on a healthy plan the scale WILL go down, I promise.

You may need to tweak your plan (add more calories or something) and also go longer between weighing in. The scale can vary up to 8lbs depending on water retention, muscle gain, where you're at in your cycle, sodium intake etc...

Hang in there!

Brown rice = good! Then moderation is key. I think 1 cup = 220 calories

Plain water-- maybe add a splash of cranberry juice, lime or lemon. I prefer cranberry... I saw Jillian recommended it in one of her exercise/diet books.

Keep looking forward! =)

You don't have to count calories for the rest of your life (unless you want to), but I think you should honestly and accurately record your calories for 2 weeks to see what you are eating. Every bite! It's hard to tell from your post what the issue might be, because we don't know what you are really eating! "Trying to eat well" and "Recording exactly what you eat" are two different things.

And, give it time. Chart your weight loss and look at it over time. Individual weighings can be affected by so many things - your period, salty food, etc.

:hug:
Nothing is wrong with you! Our bodies react to different diets, and excersize differently than another body would. Sometimes our body just need time to adjust to a new lifestyle. You can't just do something one week and expect it to be the miracle drug. The miracle is doing it week in and week out. Stick with it, give your body time to reclaim the new lifestyle you are giving it, and it will make a difference.

I agree with Glory....I thought I was eating right until I starting paying attention to portion sizes and counting calories.....I was exercising and "eating right (I thought)" I lost 17 lbs and then got stuck at 240 (I was discouraged bc that I knew I still had 70 lbs to lose- or more)...I started calorie counting and continued my exercising and lost 4.5 lbs the first week. Keep us updated! I use sparkpeople website to help me keep track of my intakes for now...it has really helped me----along with the support from 3FC!

Oh I have been recording what I am eating which is why I am so discouraged. I have also been counting calories..this is from my food log..I have eaten these things and ONLY these things everyday since last Monday..

Breakfast 1/2 coffee and a bowl of grits
Snack banana
Lunch 1/2 cup brown rice with 1 tbsp of hot salsa mixed in
Dinner 1 cup beans
Snack banana, yogurt and strawberries


Breakfast 1/2 cup coffee & yogurt
Snack banana
Lunch 1 cup beans
Dinner 1 cup beans 1/2 cup brown rice

1/2 grits for breakfast
yougurt for snack
steamed/roasted veggies for lunch
banana
yougurt
more steamed/roasted veggies for dinner
baked apples with no sugar added for snack


yogurt=light and fit 60 calorie cups
coffee=non dairy creamer no sugar
grits=no butter
roasted/steamed veggies= brushed ONLY with dijon and garlic

If this is all you ate in a day, then you are not losing because you are starving yourself to death. What kind of a lunch is 1/2 a cup of brown rice with some salsa? Where is your protein? Don't you any meat? if you are a vegetarian, where is at least a small truckload of tofu?

What I did to budge the scale was instead of 3 meals, I started making one big meal every morning (something with lots of veggies, healthy, etc).. and then I ate it over the whole day every 2 hours.
Sounds weird, but I am basically eating 5-6 little meals instead of 3 regular ones.

I'm with Tomato. Where the heck is the protein? Is that even enough calories? If you dont eat enough calories your body goes into starvation mode and that may be what happened.

Where's your protein?

eggs
egg whites
lean meat
chicken
tuna
fish

I don't mean to be rude here...

But where the heck is all the water!? I don't see ANY "500 ml water" anywhere in that daily menu plan you shared with us.

I myself drink the Aquafina grape splash because I too can not STAND the taste of ordinary water. It's 5 calories a bottle and there's just enough flavor to make me want to guzzle it.

And are you exercising every day too? I don't mean 4 hours a day type stuff... But if you add in some light to moderate cardio, as in leg lifts, squats, using a step, situps or even weight training, your body will rev up and start burning those extra calories.

Just trying to help you out here... (I seem to be better at giving advice than taking it! LOL )

I drank 3 bottles of water a day (I'm easing into it) and I do 30 mins cardio morning and 30 minutes elliptical at night..

The meal with the rice and salsa was the first day I started and did not eat enough so I started eating more beans and veggies. I do not eat red meat and have not in 19 yrs, I do eat chicken but I was on the 9 day fat smash detox period and was not allowed any meat or chicken until tomorrow which will be day 10.

You have to see where I came from to begin with. I am coming off of bad eating habits all together and trying really hard to not give into those things.

My days used to look like this:

Breakfast: Coffee
Lunch: nothing
snacks: 2 bags of 100 calorie gummies and 100 calorie ice cream sandwich
dinner: 350 calorie lean cuisine meal
snack: BBQ chips, ice cream sandwich
before bed time: 2 cheese sandwiches on whole wheat dipped in ranch

Drinking nothing all day but coffee sweet tea and NO exercise.


So I am very much trying to do this right..I just cannot afford to see a personal trainer or pay someone to tell me how to do it. I am just winging it the best way I can.

I completely gave up sodas a yr ago which I used to drink 3-4 cans of root beer every single day and I gained 13lbs when I did that! And 2 yrs ago I quit smoking after 19 yrs of it and gained weight (expected though). I have not had any sweets etc since I started doing this...I just feel helpless right now.

It's like no matter what I do I'm wrong. :(

I agree with everyone else. You have drastically cut your calories, and you are not getting nearly enough protein. If you dislike meat, try the vegan meatless burgers, they are tasty and have high protein and fiber counts.

I also use SPARKPEOPLE to track my daily intake. It might be a good tool for you, it will estimate a calorie range for you based upon your goals, weight, activity level. This may help you get started to see how much you should be eating each day.

Hang in there Tonyia.. Ive been stuck at the same weight for a couple weeks now..but not giving up.. the others are right though..because I know Ive probably been stuck because Im not drinking enough water and just like you..Im not eating enough calories.. Funny thing is Im making an extra effort to eat more and its still not enough. I in no way have an eating disorder..I just dont make the time to pack on the right amount of calories from the right foods. I live in Dominica and healthy food is expensive man!! :)

I did the fat smash and ate a lot more than that during phase 1. I'd look up some phase 1 recipes.

Sautee some veggies in oil, eat some vetegable soups, definitely more beans, etc.

Just think, if you were in a terrible plane crash and all you had to eat were a few packages of airline peanuts and you had to hike over grueling territory to safety, what would you want your body to do?

It shouldn't be a surprise when your body reacts to extremely low calories and increased exercise by lowering your metabolism, cannabalizing muscle and holding on to fat reserves. Quite frankly, that's what I would WANT it to do. I would want it to keep me alive!

For your body, everything is "life and death." It put that extra weight on your body for JUST THIS SITUATION. It's actually pretty amazing.

I used to diet like that. I just wanted the weight to be off THIS SECOND and I would DO ANYTHING to accomplish it. That never worked for long. I sometimes experienced a sense of extreme well being when I started eating very little, but even that makes sense biologically. In the short term, if you really need food, do you want to feel clear headed and energized while you scrounge for food?

Now, I respect and appreciate how my body will work to keep me safe. I work WITH my body. I give it the calories it needs to feel safe, to know the famine is over, the wagon train has reached California, that I am home from the plane crash.

For generations, thousands and thousands of years, getting the calories to stay alive has been a challenge, not some quick trip to the grocery store. Don't think of yourself as a modern woman with an ATM card and a Super Walmart, think of yourself as a prehistoric woman with a body that was made to gorge in times of plenty and hold on to that fat when times are lean.

*caveat* I believe that this only works in the short term, of course, people who are truly starving for long periods of time will lose weight and die. Your body is amazing, but not miraculous. Even though I do think that long term starvation will lead to weight loss, I still wouldn't recommend it! Your body will eat itself, including valuable muscle, like heart muscle, to stay alive as long as possible. This could lead to irreperable damage. Or, in my case, I don't have the "will power" to starve myself. Too many low calorie days and I binge. Which makes me feel rotten and leads to more deprivation, which leads to more binging, YMMV.

I know exactly what starvation will do, that is how I lost weight until I was in my late 20's. I am trying to do it the right way by eating this time it's just I am confused I guess about what's right and what's wrong for me.

Tonyia, I'd say you just need to adjust things to make sure you get the calories and the protein right. Getting enough protein when not eating meat can be hard to work out, but it's not impossible. If you do eat eggs, milk, and chicken occasionally, then things are easier.

Most of us have heard that eating beans and rice provides complete protein, but the missing part there is that you have to eat quite a lot of beans and rice to get enough protein--and then you wind up going too high on carbohydrates. So, foods like yogurt are good. Eggs are good. Also, you can buy protein powder to mix in milk to make a higher-protein shake. Veggie burgers are also a good idea.

The main thing I see in your menus, though, is just plain not enough food. I entered your foods for one of your days into FitDay (online tracker) and came up with 700 calories. Really, that's not enough. You could eat double that and lose weight, IMO--but you also need to change what you're eating.

Good luck!
Jay

Hang in there girl! :hug:


(and omg...please don't think I'm stalking you, but this is Tracy, K9-Crazy Tracy...hehe, I came here to research this Fat Smash diet and look who I find!)

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HEY! lol This is awesome!