My patience is running out.

E

erikajune

New member
I know I've posted about this before but I am just so discouraged.

1. I still haven't lost any weight. Not an ounce! A little bitty ounce!! It has been a MONTH. I don't obsess over the scale but after a month I do expect to see something.
2. I am eating great! Lots of fresh fruits, vegetables and white meat. The only "big" carbs I eat are two pieces of bread ever other day or so and 1/2 cup of yogurt almost every morning. Maybe it's the fruit that's doing it? I'm drinking tons of water, too.
3. I work out every day. At least 30 minutes but usually 45 minutes. I lift free weights every other day and Friday's are my rest day.
4. I am exhausted!!! All I want to do is sleep. I can barely get up in the morning. I could barely make it through my workout just now and had to cut it short because I was getting dizzy and nauseous. And I get a horrible headache almost every single day. I thought living a healthier lifestyle was supposed to have the opposite effect?

I am so discouraged right now. I mean, what is the point of eating healthy when I can eat whatever I want and not lose weight? What's going on?? is there something wrong with me? What am I doing wrong? I must be doing something wrong.

I've attached my calorie intake for the past week: I know it looks low sometimes but I eat a lot and I'm full after every meal.
 
not eating enough. keep your cabs about where they are, and up your protein and fat. for fats, keep them at 50-80. a lot of days you're way to low. as for protein, like double it. protein should be 1g/lbs of your target goal weight. want to weigh 120lbs, well then thats 120g protein a day. that should get your macros balanced where they should be and get your calories up to a proper level,....
 
I have to agree with Jynus. Almost every symptom you've described sounds to me like not enough nutrition.
I am exhausted!!! All I want to do is sleep. I can barely get up in the morning. I could barely make it through my workout just now and had to cut it short because I was getting dizzy and nauseous. And I get a horrible headache almost every single day.
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That is an absolutely picture perfect description of someone who is not eating enough.

AT your weight you should be eating around 2100 calories a day. I also suspect that you need a lot more protein than you're getting.

Have you been to the doctor just to get a checkup and make sure that you don't need anything else? Fatigue can also be a symptom of diabetes and of thyroid issues. Normally I hesitate to suggest any hormonal issues because *most* people really don't have them. But the combination of fatigue and not losing could signal something else going on.
 
Erika,
Has it been just a month with no movement? Also were you seeing steady results on a constant basis for the first 80lbs? I could make some suggestions that could potentially gets your results moving again if you want. It would just be a diffrent way of looking at things and different ideas, but hey what have you got to lose except weight =)

I would first suggest that you get with someone at your gym and have them take your measurements and BF%. Make sure it is the old school calipers though and not the machines. That way when the scale doesn't move you will know if it's muscle or if it is other things. That way you can take appropiate action.
 
I lost 90 lbs in 2006/2007. I maintained it since then but got the depo shot in Nov 2007 and then gained 15 lbs since then. Not sure if it's because of that or if it was because I just ate whatever and didn't workout all year... But I lost the 90 lbs slowly and and I didn't count calories, I walked miles and miles every single night and stopped eating crap - but I didn't eat all that healthy either. I just stopped eating ice cream and chocolate bars every single day. I lost the weight very steady. Usually about 4-5 lbs per month. I also went through a divorce and was extremely stressed out and lost the last 30 lbs within a 2 month period.

This time, I started 2 months ago and lost 5 lbs in the first month. This month I have lost inches but no lbs. Which is great but clearly I have fat to lose...

I understand I must not be eating enough. But the truth is, I've always thought eating healthy = eating less. I don't know how to eat that many healthy calories. I need a diet guideline with NORMAL food. I am not going to make a fancy chicken lentil cranberry fru fru salad. LOL

I don't go to the gym. I am a single mother with two kids, I work full time and am a freelance web designer on the side. I can't get a babysitter to go to the gym so I do cardio workout videos. I have about 10 and I do a different one every day.

You know what's kind of funny? Last night when I realized I only has 900+ calories that day, I had two pieces of whole grain toast with piles of peanut butter and this morning I lost a lb. LOL I know, a fluke, but funny nonetheless.

Tomorrow I will go to a gym and get measured (I'll pretend I'm interested in signing up LOL) and I'll throw in a doctor's appointment for next week just to cover all my bases.

It's a little scary to think about eating that many calories though.
 
Eating less of bad food doesn't equal eating healthy. And you don't have to be a gourmet cook or spend hours a day in the kitchen to eat right.

But you talk about "normal" food ... and I don't know what that means to you. What's normal for some people is McDonalds every day and chips and sodas and candy. What's normal for someone else might be duck comfit and morels and gnocchi. If you live in Georgia, "normal" might be chicken and waffles. :) If you live in Wisconsin, "normal" might be cheese soup.

"Normal" is subjective.

What's normal to me is cooking good, real, whole food in ways that make it yummy for me. I like grilled fish and shrimp. I also like barbecue chicken. I like pulled pork sandwiches. I also like mahi with lime. I like tomato and avocado salad that takes all of 3 minutes to put together. I like to slather some peanut butter on a slice of whole grain bread. I like bananas with honey. All of that is "normal", IMO.

So I guess, my advice to you would be broaden your horizons. "Normal" has no meaning - all there is really is good, real food. If you don't want ot have to spend a lot of time cooking, I understand that. Just don't close yourself off from good food because it's not what you're used to.
 
I don't want to close myself off, I want to learn. But there are a bazzilion "healthy" cook books out there and it's overwhelming. By normal, I mean I like things plain and simple. You know, a chicken breast, some broccoli and rice. I don't like strong flavours or mixing food together (like a casserole). I know your opinion is that it's childish to be picky, LOL, but it's not that I'm extremely picky, it's I just can't stand strange textures or whole bunch of different textures of food in my mouth at the same time. So by normal, I mean boring, plain, simple.

I ate 1800 calories today and I feel really good. No headache and I'm not sluggish.
 
Ok, I gotcha now. So when you say normal, you mean pretty much plain basic food, right?

So here's a good guideline for you. Every time you eat a meal picture your plate divided into 4. 2 of those sections should hold some kind of vegetable or fruit. 1 should hold something carby or starchy (potato, rice, etc.). 1 should hold protein (egg, fish, chicken, meat, pork).

Whenever you have a snack, each snack should contain protein of some kind (cheese, boiled egg, yogurt, something like that) and some kind of fruit.

That's a very very very simplified guide for making healthy meals, but it gives you unlimited options.
 
Thanks for sharing infor here


- taux pret auto differe selon la prise en compte ... calculent automatiquement le taux pour un prêt automobile donne.
 
You aren't eating enough at all. From your calorie intake, you could raise your actual calories and proteins and lower your carbs a bit and lose a lot of weight. Another thing to try is to change the carbs you're eating. Stay away from white bread, switch it up for whole grain bread (NOT wheat bread). Instead of potatoes, have sweet potatoes (I have an incredible recipe for sweet potatoes if you want it). Eat your fruits in the morning and follow Kara's guideline above.
 
all the symtops you first listed all sound like there to do with your proportions of fat, carbohydrate and protein thats why people suggested increasing your fat/protein intake which i agree with. if your not sure on what proportions you should eat then get your metabolic type tested. this is the sure way to know and this will give you the perfect energy balance as a result, only then will the body also start to let go of the weight.

One diet never works for two dofferent people
 
i know what you mean. i have just put a similar pot up and it has been months of trying for us- at least you are not putting on more weight- if you didnt take it in hand and do somehting about it you would be steadily growing bigger and bigger until youd get to be enormous and morbidly obese- so you are making positiove impact and it is doing something, we are in the same boat entirely and it is turning out to be so much more complicated than we thought- for us it has been not enough excerciase- we still love our food but eat healthy- it juist so depressing that you have to be so obsessive about what you eat in order to lose a tiny fraction.
 
It is frustrating. I increased my calories per day and have lost some weight. My biggest problem is finding enough HEALTHY calories to eat each day. If I can't eat more than 1200 calories in a day, I don't workout.

I don't really know what else to do.
 
erikajune said:
It is frustrating. I increased my calories per day and have lost some weight. My biggest problem is finding enough HEALTHY calories to eat each day. If I can't eat more than 1200 calories in a day, I don't workout.

I don't really know what else to do.
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You know what you need?

CATS IN HATS!!!

http://i30.tinypic.com/2jfyh7c.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/1z1sbr5.jpg

See? You feel better now, don't you? Yeeeeeah, you do. That's the magic of cats in hats.
 
Ok that first one ... reminds me of Ralphie in his Christmas jammies.

He looks like a deranged easter bunny.
He does not!
He does so. He's a pink nightmare!
 
erikajune said:
It is frustrating. I increased my calories per day and have lost some weight. My biggest problem is finding enough HEALTHY calories to eat each day. If I can't eat more than 1200 calories in a day, I don't workout.

I don't really know what else to do.
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Some suggestions of healthy high calorie food choices:

Nuts - almonds, walnuts, sesame seeds. Either eat them on their own or add to salads.

Kashi cereal for breakfast. The go lean crunch variety has close to 300 calories per bowl.

Granola - add it to oatmeal or yogurts or cottage cheese.

Protein Shakes - not to replace a meal but can be a great way to up protein consumption. Add yogurt, fruits, flax seed oil and it can be an easy way to top up your calories.

Avocados and Olives - high calorie and good fat content.

Olive oil - use it on your salads and cooked vegetables

Beans - high in fiber and calories - add to salads.

Almond Butter - spread it on your toast or rice cakes.

Hummus - a couple of tablespoons - use it for snacks with veggies or put it in a tortilla with spinach, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes for lunch.
 
Honestly ... I'm not making light of your situation, but it truly boggles my mind not being able to find enough healthy food to make it to 1200 calories. Even on the days I eat very very simply, I work to keep it under 1600.

One thing that might help is to keep in mind that you don't have to stick to a single serving of what you eat - that's one way to add more calories to your meals. If a single serving of chicken is 3 oz, you can have 4 or 5 oz to add a few more calories, as an example.

What about throwing in a snack of 1/2 a peanut butter sandwich during the day? That's a really healthy snack, and it'll add 200 - 250 calories, depending on how much peanut butter you use. This is a standby snack for me - I spread 1 - 1.5 tbsp of peanut butter on a slice of bread and fold it in half. Eat with an apple, and it's a good healthy snack.

What about a cup of yogurt? Even if you buy something like yoplait or dannon, it's still a healthy snack (watch the sugar content). That's 90-120 calories (depending on the flavor and brand) and a good bit of protein and calcium.

Cottage cheese? Full fat cottage cheese is 90 calories a serving and 12g of protein.

14 almonds is 80 calories.

There are so many "simple" non-cooking things that you can add to your diet to give you a good number of healthy calories.
 
I always put sliced almonds in my salad. I have either soup or a sandwich for lunch with a salad (usually with a bunch of cucumbers). Always a non-fat dressing.

I almost always have 3/4 - 1 cup of yogurt (non-fat) for breakfast with two different fruits on the side (usually an orange or a banana or a cup of raspberries or grapes). Or Cinnamin Puffins (that crap is nasty).

I LOVE granola but have been avoiding it because of the carbs. You think that's ok to throw it in my yogurt?

In the afternoon I have either celery with peanut butter or Wasa crispbread with light Laughing Cow cheese spread (that stuff is actually good! I was afraid to try it!).

For supper I have either chicken (baked with a tiny bit of grated cheese and salsa on it) or wholegrain battered fish or eggs with half a plate of baked veggies.

It seems my carbs are rediculously high everyday. They are usually in the 160ish mark and I'm lucky if my protein hits the 60s. My fat is pretty good, between 35-50 per day. Or at least I think that's good?
 
Hm. Ok. So a few thoughts.

Always a non-fat dressing.
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Why a non-fat dressing? Salad dressings - especially those made with olive oil or canola oil are a great way to get healthy fats and some extra calories into your diet.

I almost always have 3/4 - 1 cup of yogurt (non-fat)
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Again, considering that calories are an issue for you, don't worry about "non fat" yogurt. Get the full fat kind. You'll get more calcium, and a hair more protein. Or, throw a little granola into your yogurt, sure.

It seems my carbs are rediculously high everyday. They are usually in the 160ish mark and I'm lucky if my protein hits the 60s. My fat is pretty good, between 35-50 per day. Or at least I think that's good?
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Well, the individual numbers are not nearly as important as they are in the context of the entire day's intake. 160 g of carbs for me works out to exactly 40% of my diet, if I eat 1600 calories. So, no, I don't think 160 g of carbs is anywhere near "ridiculously high" ... at all. :) If I ate 50g of fat per day, that would make my fat intake about 28% of my overall diet, which is reasonable.

It seems that your protein is what's way too low. You should be aiming for at least 30% of your intake from protein - or 1g per pound of bodyweight. Somewhere between those two figures.

There are very few people who I'd say you *need* to add a protein supplement to your diet, but for you ... I'm gonna say you really should think about adding a protein shake or smoothie to your eating plan. You need the extra calories and the extra protein, otherwise you're going to damage your metabolism by eating so very little. And by not working out - and not eating enough to work out - you're guaranteeing that you're losing lean muscle as well as fat, probably at a very unhealthy rate.
 
Good suggestions from Kara and in addition I'd suggest looking at greek yogurt as an alternative to regular yogurt - it contains almost twice as much protein.

Or look at subbing yogurt for cottage cheese - also a much higher protein content. One cup of cottage cheese - 200 calories and 31 grams of protein.

Those little cans of tuna pack a ton of protein as well - you can have one for a snack.

Instead of the non-fat dressings - again, have olive oil. One tablespoon is close to 120 calories. And is packed with good fats.

Planning out your meals ahead of time is really going to save you a lot of stress. That way you can figure out where you're lacking ahead of time and make adjustments accordingly.
 
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