Diet and exercise not working.

Question
QUESTION: I am 285 pounds, and 27 years old. I started dieting about 6
weeks ago, I eat under 1000 calories a day most days,
usually around 800-900, and exercise 6 times a week. I do
half an hour of yoga every morning, then 25 minutes of
cardio and weight training 4 days a week, and 1 hour of
vigorous cardio 2 days a week. Since I am obese I expected
to lose weight - pretty fast to be honest, as I was almost
completley sedentary before, and ate a lot of food. But I am
really struggling to lose weight. I have lost some, but it's
just stopped coming off in the last 2 weeks. What else can I
do? I don't usually feel the need to eat more than 1000
calories, I eat low calories foods, and am enjoying it, but
with the weight not coming off, it's very hard to carry on.

ANSWER: HI Victoria,

Congratulations for hanging in there for 6 weeks!
Under 1000 calories is a terrible diet to follow, seriously. Not only will it leave you unsatisfied and undernourished, but you cause your body to decrease your metabolism (not helpful for weight loss!) because it believes you are starving.

I'm not sure what your idea of a good rate of weight loss is. You can lose over a pound a week on 2000 calories--that's twice as much as you're eating now, and you'll still be 50 pounds lighter this time next year! I know it sounds awful to wait that long, but if it's a reasonable eating plan then you can stay on it indefinitely. In the case of what you're trying now, what do you think will happen when you go off the low-calorie diet restriction? Usually, people gain back all the weight when they go back to their usual eating habits.

When you say it stopped coming off in the past 2 weeks, does that mean you only lost a pound? Or nothing at all? Or are you gaining back weight?
Does the calorie level sometimes get so restrictive that you end up eating more because you feel like you're starving?

You are doing a great deal of exercise! It's a wonderful habit to get into and this should definitely help you lose weight over time. What could be happening is a bit of gain in your muscles, so the scale is not reflecting "fat", but rather some lean weight gain and perhaps even some water weight gain as your muscles are growing.

If you'd like to have a dialog you can e-mail back and we can get this all straightened out and get you on a good regimen to reach your goals.

In the meantime, keep up the good work! And eat more!!!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks for your reply.

These last two weeks I have not lost a pound, no matter how
hard I try. I would like to eat 2000 calories, but believe
me when I say, from personal experience that if I ate 2000
calories a day I would only gain weight. In fact on most
days before dieting I ate around 1800-2000 calories a day,
as I have a habit of keeping a food journal. I gained my
weight that way.

I watch my diet very closely, weighing everything, which is
why I am confused about my weight loss. I should say I used
to be anorexic, about 9 years ago, I got very thin, which is
why although I am not eating a high calories diet now I do
eat well. For breakfast I eat fruit, a grapefruit, or
bananas, or fruit salad, for lunch I have a vegetable stir
fry, and for dinner lean meats with something like cous
cous, rice, or chick peas, occasionally potato. I don't
allow myself to go hungry, and will have snacks throughout
the day of either fruit or crackers. Once I lose my weight I
intend to slowly increase my calories, hopefully I can avoid
putting it back on.

But I really would appreciate your help, I just don't know
what to do, and I don't want to fall back on bad habits
because I get despondent about weight loss and I know how
important it is that I carry on trying to get healthy.

thanks for your help

Answer
Hi Victoria,

Well thank you for sharing the very personal information about your past. Considering that you have a history of eating disorders, there may be something behind that which is contributing to your weight gain as well.
I'm sure that you have a good idea of what 1000 calories is, too--many people think they are eating 1000 calories when they are really eating much more. But weighing your food! Goodness :)

My best advice would be to find a dietitian in your area and make an appointment. I'm not sure how health insurance works in your country? But this is your best bet to get your specific needs addressed by a knowledgable professional.

I wish I could help you with a simple bit of advice, but it's all a bit more complicated than that! I do wish you well and would love to hear how things turn out.  

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