[S.Tram]

Oh where to begin? I have a 7 yr old. After I had her I lost all 60 lbs of pregnancy weight in a matter of months. Years later I was using the depo shot and while on it I gained 40 lbs out of nowhere. Before on it I was 95 lbs. I was off it for a year and got pregnant. Never lost any of the weight before getting pregnant despite trying. I now have a 4 month old baby. I've been counting calories and exercising every single day. I only consume 1200 calories a day and I take into account what I burn while exercising. I only drink water. And i do various forms of exercise. But i always get at least 30 min of cardio in a day. Haven't lost a pound yet. Been at this since baby was 6 weeks old. In the first 6 weeks I lost 30 of the 40 I gained during pregnancy. But the weight I'm carrying is from that stupid depo shot. I know it is. I never had to diet or exercise and was always 95 lbs at my heaviest. I was 170 when I gave birth to my newest and I'm 140 now. Nothing is working. Next im going to try a low carb diet. I have a vacation coming up in a couple months and would love to fit into a bikini again. But I'm getting extremely discouraged and very depressed. Any tips or advice would be awesome.

[mjf]

What you eat is more important than how much you eat. What foods do you eat?

Eating the wrong foods (e.g. sweets or refined carbs) can slow down your metabolism. It's also important to eat a lot of vegetables, and to get enough protein and healthy fats.

I would also suggest doing some type of strength training (in addition to the cardio), because having more muscle makes it easier to burn fat.

[S.Tram]

I eat yogurt or 2 hard boiled eggs for breakfast. Raw vegetables for lunch. Usually cucumber or broccoli and cauliflower. No dressing or a very little bit (2tablespoons at the most) of low fat italian dressing if I have it. And for dinner it's usually baked chicken or pork chops seasoned with steamed veggies and maybe a small serving of some kind of pasta. I don't eat a lot of bread cause I just don't like it. I barely ever eat sweets cause I don't like them and never have. I also have my days where I don't fallow that diet exactly but that's not very often. I also lift weights as part of my routine a couple times a week. I made an appointment with my doctor tomorrow cause I'm having stomach pain after I eat sometimes. I'm getting desperate and starting to think I have a medical issue of some kind.

[mjf]

Your diet looks ok, but you may want to check the ingredients of the dressing. Many low-fat foods have unhealthy additives. I'd suggest looking for an olive-oil based dressing (or another healthy oil). Is the pasta whole grain?

Are you sure you're eating 1200 calories per day? It looks like less than 1200, but I don't know the portion sizes so maybe I miscalculated.

Is there a specific food that causes the stomach pain? Maybe you have a food intolerance.

What type of weightlifting exercises do you do?

[S.Tram]

Im not sure what kind of weight lifting exercises I do. All I know is my husband has a weight set and I lift them. Lol. Weight lifting is something I know nothing about. I end up sweaty as **** and i can honestly say I'm stronger than I've ever been in my life. And according to my fitness pal app I'm eating 1200 a day give or take a few. I have found no correlation between the stomach pain and any certain kind of food. It just happens right after I eat and I get extremely nauseated and bloated. Sometimes the pain is so bad I curl up with a heating pad and cry. And there's been a few times the nausea got so bad I forced myself to throw up thinking it would help but it doesn't. It doesn't seem to matter what I eat when it happens. At least not that I can tell. This may be TMI but I've also had diarrhea everyday for at least a month now. Hoping my doctor can do something for me. I feel like I'm going crazy.

[IdealProteinNewbie]

All you’re eating for lunch is raw veggies with dressing sometimes? I would add some sort of protein. Also, the bloating could be from the raw veggies. Some people have a harder time digesting them than others. I do fine with tons of veggies but my best friend gets diarrhea and bloating if she eats even a reasonable amount.

[jwisener]

Make sure you are weighing your more calorie-dense foods. (Proteins, carbs, etc.) A lot of people give this advice saying that its easy to over-estimate what you're eating...but when I wasn't weighing, I was often UNDER estimating.

How are you FEELING through the day? Are you lethargic or tired at all? Are you making sure to supplement with a multi-vitamin to avoid deficiencies? (BE SURE TO RESEARCH YOUR VITAMINS! Since they aren't FDA regulated, some brands contain additives that aren't on the label, like mercury or arsenik. You can find ways to tell if your vitamin truely contains what it says if you do a little research.)

If you have any difficulty functioning, revisit the amount of calories you're eating. For me, I never could function on 1200. I do weigh more than you, which plays a role. On 1200, I was dizzy and got tunnel vision a lot. Additionally, irregular bowel habits can be a side effect of inadequate calorie intake. Water is great, but make sure you are not flushing out your electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, etc). I think speaking with a doctor is a great idea! Hopefully, he or she can do some blood work to put your mind at ease, and check for any deficiencies.

Make sure you are changing up your workouts. Even if you change it up over 2 weeks then repeat the same 2 weeks...the muscles adapt and know what you're doing. In general, the human body wants to hold onto all of its mass. If it can guess what kinds of strain (ie exercise) you're going to put on it, it will adjust your resting energy expenditure to compensate.

Also, remember that if you have gained muscle, that will add pounds...but these are GOOD pounds!