Calorie counting no longer working??? HELP!

Hello everyone,

I'm a 28 year old female, 5'7, and my weight has been fluctuating between 140-160 lbs ever since I've gained my freshman 15. My ideal goal weight is 135 which I attainted for the first time 4 years ago through calorie counting (1200 cal/day) and going to the gym (Curves) 3 times a week in a matter of 3 months (starting weight was 158).

Since then I've gone up and down the weight ladder a few times, each time just as succesfully as before (and within 2-3 months) until my wedding in November last year when I managed to reach my ideal weight again.

Well, between the honeymoon, married life, birth control pills and gall bladder surgery, I managed to go up to my highest weight ever (164) until I decided to get back on the wagon and watch my calories and hit the gym again.

Here's the problem- I have been unable to lose the weight like I used to anymore, I mean I managed to lose about 6 lbs in 2 months, when I would have normally lost double the amount, and if I stray a TINY bit it is SO easy for me to gain the weight again, and recently I am not losing ANY weight and actually starting to gain some more back even though I'm doing exactly what I did before. Excercise no longer tones me up and I am just so frustrated and don't know what to do about it!

Is it the birth control pills (which I have stopped since they lead to my gall bladder disease), getting closer to 30, no gall bladder or did I just completely mess up my metabolism through my years of yo-yo dieting?? Maybe a combination of all??

I don't want to give up but it is so demoralizing when you watch the needle on the scale go UP after working so hard everyday to make it go down :(

Any feedback on what the problem could be and how to fix it would be great, or if anyone has gone through the same thing, could yo share how you've overcome it? I am a firm believer in calorie counting but right now it just doesn't seem to be working for me anymore. HELP please!

I think you are having trouble because you are aiming for too low a calorie level (1200 is only appropriate for people smaller and less active than you), and doing this for too long has messed with your metabolism.

Try aiming for a slightly higher intake, like 1500-1600, and don't get scared if you do gain a few pounds at first. You're going to have to let your metabolism recover before you continue to lose weight.

I agree w/ Amethystgirl. I am 28 5'8" and weigh about 145. I lost 30 pounds this year by eating 1500 calories at first, but for the last few months I've eaten 1700-2200 a day depending on my workouts. My deficit is 300-700 on most days.

My tips: Measure all your food, eat 1500-1700 cals a day, and do something active every day...even if it's just a half hour walk.

you can do it! :)

Thank you both for the advice, I actually had begun to up my calories but that is when the weight starting to creep up again and so I guess I freaked out and went back down to 1200. My issue is that I have in the past successfully lost on 1200 (more than once) and not sure what has triggered the issue this time... I think I will try to up the calories a bit for now...

Congrats on the 30 lb weight loss mperic! I wish I had known better and started w/ 1500 as we both have similar stats and I'm sure it would have helped my metabolism to take it easy at first.

What else can one do to salvage a ruined metabolism and how long does it take on average?

I would jst avoid eating less than 1500 calories. I know that it worked for you in the past, but you said you gained it back, right? It's hard for us taller girls to fend off hunger at such low calories so after a while, we become hungier than we were in the first place and end up over eating.

As far as metabolism, as we age that gets slower and slower, but eating the right amount of cals and healthy foods works, but excersise will stir up your metabolism the most when combined wiht a proper diet.

Check with your doctor, it's possible that you have a thyroid problem or some other underlying issue.  Barring that try resetting your body's expectations.

Put away the scale for the next month.  Over the next two weeks eat at maintenance and then maintain a 500 calorie deficit between diet and exercise.  Give that a couple of weeks as long as you're feeling fine and your clothes aren't getting tighter, then cut another 100-300 calories (no more than 1,000 deficit and a minimum of 1200 net calories).

Hey,

 I was just reading an article on how 80% women in America 'underreport' the amount of calories they are eating by up to 300 calories per day (IMAGINE THAT!!).  Even those who are keeping a journal sometimes underestimate the portion sizes, caloric intake, etc... be very honest with yourself about the accuracy of your portions... sometimes we forget even that teaspoon of fat free creamer in our coffee which counts for 15 calories.

  Beware of 'starvation mode' like a few of the ladies mentioned.  Try upping your intake with healthful foods, fibers, vibrant color veggies and fruits, low fat dairy products, etc... and up your exercise a bit, if you can.

  If all of this doesn't work, then check with your doctor.

  Good Luck and don't give up!!  Slow loss is more likely to stay off than a quick one!!!

I feel your pain.  When I started counting calories at the start of 2008 I was 290 lbs, lost 50 lbs in 10 months.  Then I stayed at 240 for almost a year.  Recently I changed my habits (moved, started school) and finally I'm starting to see a little bit of change, but I'm still not losing as much as I 'should' be by the numbers.  I have a daily calorie deficit of ~750, which should translate to about 1.5 lbs per week.  At the moment I'm getting about 1.5 lbs per month.

I have to say that your other contributors may have already given you the answer.  At one point during my 10-month winning streak, reducing calories had become so easy that I went down to about 1700-1800 (with a burn of about 3100/day), and my weight-loss stalled.  It took me three weeks to pull out of it.

It's difficult, but exercise more and eat more.  Also, make sure you're checking with your doctor.  (That's my next step, once my health insurance kicks in.)  And this time, once you've lost the weight, do your best to keep it low.  One strategy I've heard that seems to work well (a friend of mine that lost >200 lbs uses this method) is: continue to check your weight every 2-4 weeks, and don't stop counting calories.  If calorie counting is a major pain and you think you don't have to do it, at least make sure to count calories for one week out of every month or two, just as a reality check.

Good luck!

Original Post by nadia_mayl:

Hey,

 I was just reading an article on how 80% women in America 'underreport' the amount of calories they are eating by up to 300 calories per day (IMAGINE THAT!!). 

 Actually the "underreporting" is closer to a THIRD of the daily calorie total.  If someone else was watching over our shoulder, and measuring and writing, you can pretty much be certain that most of us would fail miserably in our estimation of total calories consumed.

I don't think underreporting is the issue, because if I am underreporting now, chances are I was equally underreporting the past few times I went to 1200 and lost a lot of weight. Also, I use mainly boxed dinners (healthy choice, etc...) for almost all my meals (except breakfast) that have the calories counted out for me to the 'T' and so I want to say my counting is pretty much accurate (drink a lot of water to balance out the excess sodium in those meals btw).

Just not sure how I could have messed up my metabolism in a matter of a few months, and I was overeating during that time, not under eating...

lionpaw, I'm glad you managed to break out of it, I think I will take the advice above and go up to my maintenance number and work out extra as you suggested then slowly cut down calories.

I had a question about activity level though, do you put that you are "highly active" if you've just started a highly active routine, or does that apply to people who have been highly active for a while and therefore have a higher metabolism, I just don't think I should go with highly active if I have just begun since it takes a while to build up my metabolism, does that make sense?