Unable to lose weight regardless of what I do.

Almost a month ago, I decided to start making a real effort to lose weight. I'm 21 years old, 5 feet 11 inches, and 225 pounds. I've seen a lot of heavyset people who can still look good, but I look lumpy and misshaped. I want to look better to improve my confidence.

I spent a solid day researching weight loss. The key seemed to be this: Everyone has a number of calories they can consume to maintain their current weight. Creating a 'calorie deficit' means taking in fewer calories than the maintenance. Every single source on the internet told me that my maintenance level was 2400ish. They also advised not trying to lose more than two pounds a week, so I cut my calories down to 1900 and resolved to burn maybe 200 or 300 a day with 30-45 minutes of exercise. I also resolved to eat healthier. I'm not eating tons of fruit and vegetables yet, but really bad stuff - microwave burritos, pizza, soda, ice cream - is completely out.

After one week, my weight didn't change. At one point during the second week, my weight dipped down from 225 to around 222. By the end of the week, I was back at 225. Shortly after the end of the third week, I woke up one morning to find myself at 230. It's been four days and I'm still at 230. After making an effort to eat healthier and exercise, things I haven't done ever in my life, I have ended up gaining five pounds. This is extremely discouraging.

I'm doing everything correctly. Every source seems to tell me this, so the logical thing to do is to continue. But what if I keep gaining? Do I cut my calories more? I keep hearing that eating too few calories causes your body to go into 'starvation mode' and can make you gain weight. Eating too many causes weight gain too. And it's starting to seem like there's something weird about me, and I can't trust any calculators or formulas to figure out how many calories I can eat. I really want to get started losing weight but at the moment it seems I either can't or I'll have to spend months and months trying to figure out exactly how to do it.

Well all I can see is that maybe you need to do more exercise? It seems like that might help? I dunno. Of course it could be that maybe your body is just getting set up, and after that it'll start losing weight?

I'm not an expert, just a helpful guesser. XD

I know it's hard not to, but please don't get discouraged.  Weight fluctuates constantly for various reasons, but rest assured that you didn't gain 5 pounds of fat overnight.  In all liklihood, you're retaining water.  Personally, I can gain 5 pounds over the course of a day.  A lot of women gain quite a bit of water weight sometime around their period.  And eating a lot of sodium or not drinking enough water can make you retain water.

For me, I barely lost anything during my first 2 months of counting calories.  If you've just started excercising, you may be gaining a little bit of muscle, but more importantly, your muscles will hold a lot of water while they're repairing themselves, and they'll start to store more glycogen, which also holds water.  This is a good thing.  But it can mask fat loss on the scale.

Have you taken your measurements?  They're a much better assessment of whether you're losing fat than the scale is.  The scale can't tell the difference between a pound of fat and a pound of water.

Most importantly, don't give up!  You've made healthy choices for your life, and they come with more rewards than just weight loss.

I hope you get some results soon, but it could take a few more weeks. The only things I can think of to suggest are:

• Make sure you are measuring (edit by measure i meant accurately ie weighing) all your food accurately, drink included.
• Drink 8 glasses of water a day
• Have a day off exercise every few days (maybe 2 days off a week) if you want eat around 1800 on those days but don't go lower. This should mean you can really go for it when you do exercise rather than feeling sore.
• Swap your exercise around and make sure some is muscle building.

Other than that stick at it! You sound like you are going in the right direction, good luck .

Water weigt is a serious possibility - er probability.  Dont let the extra gain bother you.

But skip "measuring" your food.  WEIGH every portion.  It makes a huge difference.  Especially on calorie dense foods.  In all likelyhood, if you are measuring instead of weighing your portions you are eating hundreds of calories more than you think you are. 

All of the above suggestions are true.   I would add:

Only look at the scale in the morning (less water) and definitely use tape (waist, thighs, etc) (muscle is denser than fat, so it weighs the same on the scale but will look smaller)--for example I got down to a size 2 (I was only about 25lbs overweight) through major exercise and portion control but at this size 2 I'm 5 feet tall and 115 lbs.  A friend of mine who is a 5/6 and the same height does not work out and weighs 105.   I do cardio stuff 3 times a week @45min and weights the other 2.  You can find many methods of exercise on the www.

Keep going, don't quit--you're doing the right things just making premature assumptions with your observations.   It took 2 months before ppl noticed my changes.  You are probably retaining water, during my period week I gain up to 6 pounds!!! :(

Keep us posted!  Good Luck!

Number one: Don't get discouraged. That's the best piece of advice -albiet hard to implement- you could get right now. The illogical mode of thought is that you could actually GAIN weight via fat by eating better, cutting calories and exercising.

I think you haven't given yourself enough time. I am not overweight drastically, but I struggled losing just 10 pounds (out of 20) in over 6 months. I was exercising and eating better, and nary a pound would budge. In fact, I would actually gain weight. This happens to me all the time. But this time, I didn't give up. But after about 4 months, the weight started to move. My clothes were already fitting better by then, but it wasn't as quick as I thought.

If you are new to fitness and weight management the amount of information out there can be overwhelming. But you are doing the right things. A poster above suggested weighing your food, this is great advice for newbies. You'll be amazed how many calories you're getting in some servings. Also, I am not sure what you are doing for exercise, but I suggest compound strength building moves that also double as cardio. You can get a Jillian Michael's DVD called 30 Day Shred and be fine with that as long as you want. I did the first part of the 30 Day Shred for about 2 months! But she is motivational, and her method is sound and efficient, and you only need a couple hand weights, a mat and an 6' x 6' square of empty floor. You will get strong, and your body will change with her dvd's.

So give yourself time, and be patient with yourself. Keep your head down and keep working at it, results will come. The more you do this, the better you'll get at refiguring your caloric and exercise needs.

Oh yeah - some may disagree with me here - but stop visiting the scale. In the beginning, especially with a lot of weight to lose, the scale will do exactly what it is doing to you. LIES! Your body is changing from the inside out. Visit it every few weeks or even month. When the weight starts coming off, then think about the scale as a way to monitor yourself, but for now, stick with a measure tape and your clothing.

Also, I strongly recommend keeping an eye on your fibre and make sure you're getting at least 25g.  I would advocate increasing your exercise as well.  Make sure you get cardio as well as weights and resistance.  Also, as you increase your exercise, make sure that you're getting enough protein.  A non active person needs 0.9*(weight in kilos), and active person needs 1.0*(weight in kilos) and a very active person needs 1.1*(weight in kilos).  I found the protein and fibre things were both key in my weight loss.  The most important thing is to trust the process, and log everything (I mean EVERYTHING diligently).  The spray oil you use, the bit of mustard, those things add up. 

And don't worry about the gain (that's SO easier said than done).  After 6 months of intensive work, and diligent healthy eating, I got down to 65 lbs lost, and then in the last two weeks I've gained 5 back. I was SO irritated and angry, and, in fact ashamed. There are lot of rough emotions that come with weight gain, but please try not to be hard on yourself.  Trust the process, work hard and you will get where you're going.  The weight gain was getting me so down that I put my scale away and vowed not to weigh in again until next Monday morning.  Measure yourself, and look for other ways to see success.  You will see it, just trust the process!!!

Good luck!

Your maintenance level is really just a rough idea of how many calories a day you should have.1900 calories times 2 days is over 1 pound so you are eating over 6 pounds of food a week.

If you are losing 200 - 300 calories from 30 - 45 mins of workout a day,Then you should do different exercises.Push Ups,Sit Ups,and Pull Ups (if you can do them) are great exercises to start with,Lifting weights is also a huge plus.Though Im sure you know if you work out a lot then you will gain muscle and muscle weighs more then fat.

Also drinking of a lot of water can have you gain water weight if you drink more then the recommended amount.Also eating a lot of salty foods can make you retain water thus making you weigh more.So I suggest cutting back on your Salt intake.

Good luck.

Drinking too much water is really difficult and drinking so much you retain water is practically impossible. Although salt can  cause retention that is normally only where people are drinking under the recommended amount of water, ie almost everyone.

Upping water intake to about 8 glasses a day is right for most people to see what you need look here http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercal culator.htm

Just thought I'd mention that I had the same problem with losing weight and had my hormones tested. Turns out I have very low progestrone and high estrogen which makes it nearly impossible to lose weight. Infact you continue to put on weight. So maybe get some tests done to rule it out?