not losing weight

Question
I'm female, 44, 5'4" and 229.  I've lost 10 pounds on a liquid diet in the last three weeks, but 9 was lost the first week. It isn't easy, but for week two I only lost 6/10 of a pound.  I still am not losing.  I'm so sad about this.  I'm not following the diet perfectly, but clearly am not way off. With the amount of weight I have to lose, I should be losing.  Saturday, I had a salad for lunch, light supper and two of the protein drinks during the day.  I gained three pounds.  I was told I didn't have to follow any exercise program for now, but I'm always active.  I did buy a Pilates machine which I have just put together and will use daily.  Why am I not losing weight?  Why is it so easy to gain weight when I clearly know I did not eat too much....there were plenty of things I would have preferred to have ordered!!  I'm really getting depressed.  Ever since having kids I felt I've had hormonal issues, but no one seems to listen.  Thyroid is fine.  Have high BP, am on Diovan, but it wasn't too high, just "passed" having high BP and was started on that.  I really see mysself retain water if I skip taking Diovan as it helps release water.  Am I hopeless?  I can't tell you how depressed I am over this.  I really hope you can help.  Thanks.

Answer
Lisa,

There are a couple of problems that you can fix if you would like to lose weight. You said:

"I'm not following the diet perfectly, but clearly am not way off"

"...there were plenty of things I would have preferred to have ordered!! "

"I was told I didn't have to follow any exercise program for now, but I'm always active."


First of all, if you weren't "way off", you wouldn't have gained weight. You can't blame the diet, or God, or your metabolism. The only way to lose weight is to understand that everything you put in your mouth goes on your hips. It's the same for everyone. The reason some people are smaller or larger than you isn't magic-they simply eat more or less than you do. Some people are lucky enough to have a smaller appetite, but they're the minority (2 in 3 Americans are overweight). You have to make the connection between your behavior and your weight. If you gained three pounds, then you ate more than you should have. End of story. So, how did you end up eating more than you should have?

Obese people don't sit in front of food and conciously decide to eat more than they really want. Instead, obese people tend to vastly underestimate the calories in food. You mentioned that you ordered your salad... that was a HUGE MISTAKE.   Most restaurant entree salads are 2,000 calories and up. Your calorie intake should be 1600-1800 calories daily in order to lose weight, so even just eating the salad and nothing else all day would have been enough to keep you from losing.

So in order to get on track, you need to start counting calories. Forget everything you know about serving sizes, because that's how you ended up nearly a hundred pounds overweight. If you like your protein shake diet, then stay with it, but count every calorie that you eat. Never, ever, guess at portion sizes or servings. Always measure. A standard set of measuring cups is all you'll need. I guarantee that if you measure everything and don't exceed 1,800 calories daily, you'll lose weight steadily. If you start Pilates, you'll lose even more.

Here's some web sites you'll want to look at:

www.nutritiondata.com - number of calories in non-packaged foods
www.sparkpeople.com - calorie tracking website with a lot of support and encouragement available
www.dietfacts.com - calories in many chain restaurant foods

Good luck!
Melissa

1. Prev:Low potassium and high potassium foods
2. Next:Owerweight or body image problem?