I give up. Gained weight since I started

I think this increase in calories and increase in exercise is not working for me.  I am continually increasing my weight and I have played around with 1800-2000 cal for the past 6 months. The dietician I have been seeing has given up on me.  I don't know if I should eat more calories and keep getting fatter and fatter or starve myself....eventually I'll waste away. If I sound desparate it is because I am. I have dieted and fought my weight all my life.  WW did not work, low calorie, you name it.  I work out 6-7days per week.  burn 500-700 calories most days and weight train 2-3 times per week.  I have exercised for 25years and weight trained on and off.  The past 6 months I have stepped up my intensity and frequency on the weight training and aerobic exercise.  I am 48 5'5 205 last week and 210 this week.  I just would like to cry and not eat at all.  Thanks for letting me vent but I think I 'll just give up

Nooooooooooo!!!! Don't quit! Are your clothes fitting differently? It could be that you're replacing fat with muscle. Why not try to decrease your calories a bit more... try 1500-1700 maybe? That's not starving yourself! Just keep up at it!

I have felt like giving up a lot when it came to dieting.  Guess what I did and just 3 weeks ago found myself at an all time high of 289 lbs.  I have lost almost 7lbs. I think and need to keep working.  Adjust your calories and your activity.  Take a day or two off and start again.  It will happen.  Muscle weights more and it will take alot to loose weight when you are building muscle.  Try skipping the lifting a week and see what happens.  You may just need to rejump start your body.  What ever you do don't give up.  I know how you feel and you don't want to be in my situation.  I wish I would have found this site when I weighed 210 about 10 years ago.  Keep it up it will happen!

Angie

Have you seen your doctor?  There are several medical conditions that can affect weight-loss.  Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, thyroid problems, PCOS.... Have you been tested for any of these?

I have been tested for all those...I have PCO and on glucaphage, had  a hysterectomy and on the Climara Patch, became hypothyroid after the hyster.  I just don't know how many calories I should eat.  I am an excellent person to follow prescribed calories but I just don't know HOW MANY to eat.  I had a  test done with a special machine that said at rest my calorie expenditure is 1650.  An exercise physiologist recommended 2000 cal due to by 500-700 cal burn per hour during exercise.  I have never eaten so high before when I am trying to lose weight. I was on WW 8 years ago and lost 25 pounds but they got discouraged  with me and told me to eat 1000 cal!!!  That obviously did not work. See why I am discouraged.  I am getting ready to go spend 2hours in a gym this am and gain weight and eat enough to sustain what I exercised.   I am becoming obsessed as I continue to gain

I have been tested for all those...I have PCO and on glucaphage, had  a hysterectomy and on the Climara Patch, became hypothyroid after the hyster.  I just don't know how many calories I should eat.  I am an excellent person to follow prescribed calories but I just don't know HOW MANY to eat.  I had a  test done with a special machine that said at rest my calorie expenditure is 1650.  An exercise physiologist recommended 2000 cal due to by 500-700 cal burn per hour during exercise.  I have never eaten so high before when I am trying to lose weight. I was on WW 8 years ago and lost 25 pounds but they got discouraged  with me and told me to eat 1000 cal!!!  That obviously did not work. See why I am discouraged.  I am getting ready to go spend 2hours in a gym this am and gain weight and eat enough to sustain what I exercised.   I am becoming obsessed as I continue to gain

I would try eating 1400-1500 cals.  (The BMR for someone at your age and height at 140lbs is around 1400)  Change your excercise around a little.  After doing an excercise about 6 times your body gets used to it and it becomes less effective.  Add more weight to your training, or less weight and more reps, less rest in between each set, put an incline on the treadmill or add more resistance to an elliptical...just change up what you have been doing.

Make sure you are eating properly.  Try eating 10-20 % fat, 30-40 % protein and 45-50% carbs.  Drink tons of water!

When you have not weight trained continually, starting a weight training program can cause a small muscle gain.  This will only continue for about 6 weeks because after that unless you are eating more than you burn it is pretty much impossible to gain muscle.  This could be that 5lbs you are seeing + water weight. 

Don't get discouraged, you will get through this and we are all here to help you!

I wish I was at 140!! I am currently at 209 up from 205 last week. I have changed my exercise routine.  I have been pretty intense with my exercise routine for the past 6-8 months so this is nothing new.  I am just trying to figure out how many calories to eat.  I have been on the ADA diet for 1600, 1800 and 2000. and no change.  I really appreciate all the responses and offer for help. That is encouraging.  I welcome all advice and support.  Thank you

I don't know...2000 cal may just be too much for you, especially if you have a sluggish thyroid. Generally, I think that people who are having trouble losing weight are eating too much for their individual situation.  It's that simple. I'm one of the unlucky ones who can exercise all damn day, but if I consume as much food as I want, I will continue to gain and gain. I have to limit myself to about 1200 to 1500 everyday. It's the only way. I just gain weight like crazy on any more than that :(  It really sucks, but some of us just need a lot less food than we want. some of us also just need a lot less food than other people need.

But there is no one formula that is going to work for everyone.
Can you consult an endocrinologist for advice? You've got glandular issues that some others don't have.

Don't give up......try this http://www.accuweight.com/ I lost 50 lbs on this.....its weird, but its effective.  I too had tried every diet known, and just continued to gain.  I was working out twice a day, eating about 1500-1600 calories and gaining.  My chiropractor told me about this (only advertises word of mouth); she lost 70 lbs on this.  Husband is now on it and has lost 41 lbs......I'm on transition (meaning adding back foods) and expect to be eating 'normal' by summer time and wearing some hot looking bathing suits.  The nice thing is that all those muscles that I had exercised and developed can now be seen!  YAY!

1800 is probably way too much for you unless your doing high intensity cardio every day (Where are you getting the 500-700 calories from? Most treadmills tend to be off, are you spending an hour+ straight?). The thyroid issues and other problems can significantly alter your caloric needs, i'm suprised your Dietecian had you up to such at high caloric intake for your age/thyroid issues.

Try this:

Go to 1500 calories a day, consistantly for at least a few months.  If your weight continues to increase cut it back a little at a time until you start to lose.  I found this helpful Mini-meals and Metabolism.

There are a couple of nice meal plans in the CC+ Library  1500-calories in three meals a day, 1500-calories in six meals a day.

We're all different and what works for one person won't work for another.  I found that it took 3 months to find the right level

Hi eaterforlife. I just wanted to say that I am 5'5"  56 yo and 245 lb. and on hypothyroid and cholesterol meds. My BMR is just over 1700 and my burn meter gives me around 2100 - 2200 calorie allowance to just "live".   I generally am able to get my calories in at around 1300 - 1350 and still maintain 100% or less daily values for those other important things like sodium, cholesterol, sugar and saturated fats. Therefore, my daily deficit is around 800 - 900 calories per day.

There are two things that I have seen over and over on this site; one is that your deficit should be between 500 and 1000 calories a day in order to lose weight. No more, no less. Perhaps you just need to recalculate your intake and expenditure. The other is that breaking your meals down into several smaller ones a day keeps your metabolic rate at a steadier pace as well as benefitting other important things, like insulin, etc.

Whatever you do don't give up.

Honestly, it sounds like you are doing too much exercise, there is no reason for you to work out 6 or 7 days per week.  Your body needs rest and it sounds to me like you are simply over working it.  Also, take your calories and divide them into 5 or 6 meals, you should be eating about ever 3 waking hours.  Doing this will get your metabolism going and put your body to work for you.  If and when you can, go ORGANIC for Veggies and CAGE FREE/GRASS FED for meats, poultry and eggs.  Otherwise you are simply eating something that itself is unhealthy (so how could it do you any good, not only are you dealing with the pesticides that have estrogenic properties, you are eating all the soy and grains that are a not a normal part of an animals diets.  and Also, say hello to your new friend Green Tea (it's a fat burner) drink it with your meals (don't do caffeine free and don't pollute it with Splenda or any of those other unnatural sweeteners).  Not sure what kind of foods you are eating, but the only way to put your body to work is to eat natural, whole foods, nothing processed and definitely nothing SOY (it's estrogenic properties actually help your body store fat in all the unwanted places).  If you haven't already do some research on the GI Index and start incorporating some of that info into your diet.  Try working out about 3 times a week and you should never work out more than 60 minutes, anything more is counter-productive.  Focus more on weight training, but be sure you are doing multi-joint exercises as opposed to single-joint (again do some research on the web)

Oh yeah, and avoid HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP like the plague, if you start looking at labels, you will find that this little devil is in most of the "normal" food supply.

Hit up Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.

Stay positive and remember it takes time to undone anything you have done to your body.  The fact that you are here looking for support, shows that you haven't given up yet, so don't

PEACE 

Hi, first, don't give up.  My daughter has hiperthyroidism which causes her to lose weight no matter how much she eats.  Having a low thyroid level could cause weight gain even though you are eating low cal.  Why don't you have a complete physical including having your throid checked.  Doesn't hurt to check.  If this isn't that case, maybe try a lower calorie intake and less weight training.  I've been on a 1300 calorie diet since Jan 4/08 and I have lost 22 lbs to-date.  I am also 5'5' and I'm 50 years old.  Good Luck.

The problem maybe you didn't keep one diet long enough to see the result.
So don't give up this time, keep it up and don't track the weight too often.
Eat less and pick healthy food, like less in fat, more veggie.

You sound like I did a year ago.

Here is what you do... And you are going to think i am crazy.  But stop working out completely. 

100% no weights no cardio Nothing for a solid week.  Bring your food intake Way down to 1500, Next week bring back your cardio but only twice a week and Never more then an hour.  Bring in your weights but ONLY 30 minutes every three days.

What happened to me is my body just Will NOT loose weight if I am working out heavily and eating healthy.  See to Most people 30 minutes of walking a day is exercise.  I think you are probably like I was and an hour and a half of pulse pounding cardio was a workout, with an hour of weights too.  When you do that to your body, it gets SO confused!  The moral of the story is First loose weight THEN gain muscle Tone and tighten.  Your workout during weight loss should only be for upping your Metabolism...

I tested a couple of BMR calculators lately (including CC's) and in the ones I tested, I stalled and gained weight, or I promptly gained weight.  The formula I used (I know, it's "garbage" and "total nonsense", so refrain from the beatdown, please), I consistently lost between 1-3 pounds a week (considered safe and healthy) without changing my exercise habits during this time.

So I sat down yesterday and ran my information through several BMR calculators.  Some came close to each other in range, a few ran high.  I only found one that almost exactly gave me the calories I was eating before I played with the BMR.

I knew this information before because one calc had given me 1300 while another had told me to consume 2300; they vary wildly online.  So when it comes to these, I don't trust the vast majority of them for that reason. 

A BMR, modest calorie cut, and exercise should work, but when they don't, there's only two areas to blame: the diet, or the exercise plan.  In my case, I knew it was the diet because I intentionally followed the caloric guidelines for these BMR calcs.

Don't give up, we are similar in weight and height and I know I can do this.  I'm not a huge fan of exercise but I try to do it anyway.  I eat around 1300-1400 cal/day and I try to get as much fruit, whole wheat and protein in as I can.  I've lost 8 pounds since Feb 20.   I'll wager that one day you will get on the scale and it starts to drop every week because of your efforts.  

Another thing you should watch when you are doing cardio is how high your rate gets.  A higher heart rate does not mean you burn more fat.  When your heart range is approximately 55% to 80% of your max is when you burn fat, anything above this range you are burning sugar.  If you are always in that higher range and just burning sugar, you will lose weight but very very very slowly.  Make sure when you do your cardio that you stay in the "fat burning range" 

Original Post by texmez:

I tested a couple of BMR calculators lately (including CC's) and in the ones I tested, I stalled and gained weight, or I promptly gained weight.  The formula I used (I know, it's "garbage" and "total nonsense", so refrain from the beatdown, please), I consistently lost between 1-3 pounds a week (considered safe and healthy) without changing my exercise habits during this time.

No beatdown, I promise, and I apologize, because I know I was rude to you in some earlier posts. But CC+ does not have a BMR calculator, so that is part of the confusion. If you log yourself at sedentary, and look at your daily estimated burn (w/o exercise), you have to divide that by 1.2 to get BMR (estimated, of course - it's all just formulas).

And tex - I think it's awesome that you found a number that works for you. I found mine through trial and error too - and it lines up pretty well with BMR (from Harris Benedict equation). In the end, trial, error, and patience are going to be the key.