Weight-Loss Please HELP!!!

Weight-Loss
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legallyshe

New member
Hi, I'm new to this site but I'm hoping that I will find a lot of help and motivation here to continue to try to make my lifestyle changes.

So here's my problem,

for about 2 years, I've been severely restricting my diet off and on, sometimes as low as 200 calories a day. It was kind of a snow ball because once you start doing that, your metabolism drops so that you need to eat less calories to maintain your weight. As a result, my weight has been a constant yo yo.

I am now trying to stop this process for good with diet and exercise, but I don't want to gain weight, so I'm unsure about how to go about this. I don't want to immediately start eating a normal amount of calories because I'll gain weight very quickly. I know I need to do it gradually, but how gradual and what specific things should I eat are my questions. I am currently doing a 40 min. Turbo Jam workout 5-6 days a week. It's a high impact workout that incorporates martial arts, kickboxing and aerobics.

Currently I'm eating 800 calories a day which is very low, I know, but I've already started gaining again! I eat 4 meals a day, once in the morning, once mid morning, at lunch and afternoon snack. I don't do dinner because by the time I get home and eat, it's 6:30, which means I would have to wait until at least 8 to workout, which doesn't work. I lost weight for the first few days of this regimen (it's been about 2 weeks), but now I'm gaining again. Why is this happening? I feel like I'm stuck and short of getting professional help (which I can't afford) I don't know what to do.

Please help me! If you have knowledge, experiences or tips to share, that would be very helpful.

Thank you!
 
I don't know anything about you, other than what you posted above, but this sort of severe calorie restriction has probably screwed up your metabolism pretty badly. When you go that low in calories, your body will do everything it can to preserve fat, even if it means getting rid of lean muscle first.

You have to decide what's more important to you -- a short term ability to prevent a few pounds from coming on, or a long term healthy lifestyle. If you want the latter, then the first thing you will have to do is straighten out your metabolism by eating at maintenance for a while. This may take a month or longer. During that time you may even gain a few pounds, but at least then you can start losing weight in a healthy way.

We have an Index of WLF "Keepers", a lot of posts from WLF that contain loads of information about this situation and many others. Please take a look at these, and come back with questions.

You can win this battle, but probably not the way you've been doing it in the past. It sounds like you know that already, and are looking for a healthy alternative.
 
what do you typically eat that only totals 800 calories... i typically eat 1300 ... and by the time dinner comes around i'm really limited to 100-300 which doesn;t leave much room for food.... how can you only be at 800 and still getting all our recommended daily intakes of grains, veggies, meat, and dairy?

as for you keeping off the weight and eating more... maybe you should be doing more cardio ?
 
Thanks for the advice. You're right, I have severely screwed up my metabolism, there's no doubt about that. I am really scared, however, about eating at maintenance and gaining weight. From my experience, when I start eating more normally, the pounds pack on very quickly and then taper off, but by the time the tapering happens, I am already significantly heavier. For that reason, I have 2 wardrobes, the one for the thinner me and for heavier me. But when I get heavier, I just start restricting again and it goes away, so I'm scared to not be able to do that.

Can you tell me if there is some resource that will accurately tell me the amount of calories and breakdown of nutrients I need for maintenance? Is there any way to take my current metabolism into account? I'm afraid I've lost a considerable amount of muscle and bone mass, as well. Would these be factors in determining this? Is 1200 too low?

To answer the other question, my 800 calories consists mostly of vegetables, mixed frozen vegetables, lettuce salads, carrot sticks and a little oatmeal or cottage cheese, too. I'm certain my body wasn't getting all the nutrients it needs, nor the variety.

Thanks again!
 
Thanks TomO for the link you provided. The answer to my question may be there, the info is very helpful and just a great resource!
 
I'm new here too Legallyshe, and I'm very excited to start making new friends and have a support system to achieve my goals! This might be too personal for you so I understand if you don't want to answer but may I ask how tall you are and how much you weigh? I'm wondering how small you actually are and the fact that you are gaining weight could be a good thing. I know that people with eating disorders have a severely distorted body self image. Is it possible that you also are not aware of how small you are? I can't imagine that eating only 200-500 calories a day will put you at a healthy weight. If you ever need someone to chat with please feel free to IM me. Just try to be patient and stick with it, that's what I'm trying to do one day at a time! :jump:
 
You are in a tough spot....

I understand the desire to not gain weight by going back up to maintenance levesl of food intake, but at this point I can't see you as having much choice. The saying "you made your bed, now lie in it" comes to mind. There will be no easy solutions sadly. You DEFINITELY need to incorporate some protein into that diet or you are going to do serious harm in a big way. You can either take the lumps with a potential weight gain, or when you keel over and end up in the hospital, they will simply pump it into via IV and you wont have a choice. However the hospital situation would also negate your exercising. I can hardly believe you were able to do any kind of aerobics while eating 200 calories a day.... I owuld honestly have passed out cold, world spinning, lights out. I dont want to come off as being overly negative but really, no matter what your starting weight, 200 calories is nothing, and calories aside, your body does need nutrients and minerals not available in just veggies with a bit of cottage cheese and oatmeal. To be frankly honest I am quite worried for you. I have seen the dangerous results of such negative eating habits...

I knew a girl many years ago who damn near died because she ONLY ate veggies and salads.... Was a terrible ordeal that ended up with long term hospitalization and rehab for years..

Please do look at Toms excellent link and try to find an eating an exercise program that works for you. But in the meantime, also please do some more eating.

I hope it all works out and remember, we are all here to help if you need it!

sirant
 
Do you mind me asking what your height and current weight is?

I'm in a very similar boat as you. I trying to raise my calorie intake, so difficult to do without gult. I lost all perception of what eating normally and heathily is, this site helps a lot with that.
 
Read this to get a handle on where your calories should be http://weight-loss.fitness.com/topic/11905-weightloss-survival-guide.html

Like mentioned before, what are your stats? Age? Height? Weight? What kind of foods are you eating when you do eat?

How many pounds have you lost since you began a few weeks ago? If you lost around two or three but gained it back, there could be a reason for this as weight fluctuates based on your hydration level, glycogen stores(the energy stored in your muscles that is depleted during a work out), and time of day.

Also why do you feel that you have to wait a set time after eating to go to the gym? Is it just the time you take to prep the meal or are you trying to conform to some weird eating vs working out rule? Also what is stopping you from eating after a workout in the evening?
 
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