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Weight Loss Help
I have been dieting for over 3 months now (1250 calories a day) after I always just used to eat whatever I wanted, I don't even know how many calories a day, probably close to 3000 if not more. My activity level has slightly increased, but I am so busy with work/school that I hardly have time to get a real workout in. I do live in the city so I would say I walk between 2-4 miles a day. When I started dieting, I was about 220 pounds and I am almost 5'10, so classified as overweight. Through this diet I have only lost 7 lbs in 3 months! I thought since I was making such a drastic lifestyle change I would lose way more weight than this. I make sure I am getting enough carbs/protein/fiber each day, drink tons of water, avoid artificial sweeteners, etc. What am I doing wrong?! I also currently went off all medications and used to be on birth control, zoloft, and pantaprozole.
Don't count calories.
It works only for the short-run.
I have once limited myself to 1200 calories/day for a whole year. My period stopped coming for almost a year. Because obviously you haven to eat up to at least your BMR for your body to function properly.
Yes I lost 10 kg. But I became anorexic. The following year I had to put on weight and I began to binge eat.
The solution?
Jist don't count calories.
Stick to whole foods.
Stop when you are full.
Take snacks when you feel hungry.
Feel like something sweet in the afternoon? Thats your body telling you your blood sugar is low.
Trust me. The best way to lose weight is to understand and listen to what your body needs :)
Deprivation -> Binge -> Deprivation
As long as this yo-yoing goes, you ruin your metablolism and it becomes harder to lose weight each time. Because your body fears deprivation and stores those calories as fat.
It works only for the short-run.
I have once limited myself to 1200 calories/day for a whole year. My period stopped coming for almost a year. Because obviously you haven to eat up to at least your BMR for your body to function properly.
Yes I lost 10 kg. But I became anorexic. The following year I had to put on weight and I began to binge eat.
The solution?
Jist don't count calories.
Stick to whole foods.
Stop when you are full.
Take snacks when you feel hungry.
Feel like something sweet in the afternoon? Thats your body telling you your blood sugar is low.
Trust me. The best way to lose weight is to understand and listen to what your body needs :)
Deprivation -> Binge -> Deprivation
As long as this yo-yoing goes, you ruin your metablolism and it becomes harder to lose weight each time. Because your body fears deprivation and stores those calories as fat.
COMMUNITY LEADER
I agree that you probably aren't eating enough calories each day, if you're only eating 1200/day... You can't just pick an arbitrary number of calories and decide that's how many you'll eat. You have to calculate what your body needs, based on your age, height, current weight and activity levels. The more you weigh, the more calories you're going to need to eat in order to keep your metabolism from slowing down too much.
MedHelp has an excellent food diary that will help you calculate your needs and to keep track of exactly what you're eating throughout the day. You can even scan bar codes in order to make it easier to track your food.
I also agree that you need to make sure you add an adequate amount of healthful fat to each meal. Fat makes you feel more satisfied and keeps you feeling fuller for longer. Fiber, such as that found in fresh vegetables, also, helps keep you feeling fuller and because fiber isn't digested, it won't increase your blood glucose levels either.
All of that said, you might want to check with your doctor and have some simple blood tests done to make sure you don't have hypothyroidism or insulin resistance, both of which are known to make it difficult to impossible to lose weight... I have them both, so weight loss is always a struggle for me.
For thyroid function, you should ask for Free T3, Free T4 and TSH and for insulin resistance, ask for fasting blood glucose and hemoglobin A1c. Because of your age, I'd also suggest that you also get checked for PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), which also makes losing weight very difficult.
MedHelp has an excellent food diary that will help you calculate your needs and to keep track of exactly what you're eating throughout the day. You can even scan bar codes in order to make it easier to track your food.
I also agree that you need to make sure you add an adequate amount of healthful fat to each meal. Fat makes you feel more satisfied and keeps you feeling fuller for longer. Fiber, such as that found in fresh vegetables, also, helps keep you feeling fuller and because fiber isn't digested, it won't increase your blood glucose levels either.
All of that said, you might want to check with your doctor and have some simple blood tests done to make sure you don't have hypothyroidism or insulin resistance, both of which are known to make it difficult to impossible to lose weight... I have them both, so weight loss is always a struggle for me.
For thyroid function, you should ask for Free T3, Free T4 and TSH and for insulin resistance, ask for fasting blood glucose and hemoglobin A1c. Because of your age, I'd also suggest that you also get checked for PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), which also makes losing weight very difficult.
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