need to lose by thanksgiving and dont know what to do. HELP

OK so I have completely screwed myself...or so it feels. I went on this awful diet...and I restricted my calorie intake to 800 a day. I know thats unhealthy and bad for the metabolism but I was feeling so desperate...and it worked I lost the first 10 pounds. Now I've been at the same weight for months and the pounds are starting to creep back up on me....my goal was to lose 5 more by thanksgiving.But I dont know what to do. For the past few weeks I've been trying to repair the damage by adding more calories to get my metabolism back in gear...and I walk and exercise daily but I'm a full time student with a job and I just dont have any extra time for more work outs. But the added calories are just adding weight because of my slowed metabolism. And I tried to restrict more but anymore restricting and I'm practically anorexic. my goal weight is 115 and I'm 5 foot 1 so its not an unrealistic goal.... But I dont know what to do!!! How do I repair this? And is there anyway I can still lose the weight by thanksgiving? I have 17 days. advice please!

Mon. Nov 6, 8:55pm

may i suggest that you relax about it a bit...take a deep breath and put some time into vigorous walking to burn some calories, instead of trying to limit your INTAKE, try to improve you OUTGOING calories. this stress i sense is not beneficial for you or your efforts. starving yourself is definitely not the way to go. and what you describe is NOT anorexia, by the way. it's desperation.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 9:30 AM

I don't mean to sound calous but what is so awful if you don't lose 5lbs by thanksgiving??? I would hope you've seen why crash diets are bad. The best thing is to eat healthy, but eat enough to fuel your body, excercise regularly. If you are eating well and excercising you will lose the weight, but some times good things take time.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 10:28 AM

a bit of advice

first of all, your body needs at least 1200 calories per day to get proper vitamins and minerals as well as fuel. Especially if you're exercising everyday. You need to eat enough, and eat right (that means whole grains, lean proteins, & lots of fruits and vegetables). 800 calories a day, as you rpobably know, is not near enough and is doing you more harm than good.
What you need to do at this point is damage control. You didn't say what kind of exercise you're doing, but i highly suggest that you add in some weight training, because this will do wonders for your metabolism so that once you return to a normal diet you body doesn't react by gaining fat. It will also ensure that your walking /cardio burns fat instead of muscle mass, which is what you want. Weight training doesn't take long, so you can easily fit it into your schedule, but start really slow. You have probably lost alot of muscle because of your restirctive diet.
Also, you have to realize that when you consume so little, your body goes into starvation mode and you metabolism slows waay down. This why you haven't been losing anymore weight. Again once you return to a healthy diet, you might go through a period of gain, but if you weight train you will soon find a balance. You might not reach your goal by thanksgiving (since it's getting so close), but you will be doing the right thing. Your body will thank you, and if you stick to a healthy diet and exercise plan you will start losing again.
Good luck! Relax... you can totally do this, but you need to do it the right way. Being healthy and taking care of your body is more important in the long run than the number on the scale, and it will go down if you're doing things right anyway. Let us know how you're doing. :)

Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 11:21 AM

Can't back up the weight lifting suggestion enough. Muscles burn calories and when you went on your crash routine you probably lost muscle as well as fat. You need to build it back up and then some. It honestly takes a ridiculously small amount of time to build muscle and the benefits are incredible. HOWEVER - that muscle is going to weigh more than fat, so you may not lose that last 5 pounds, but you may notice that your clothes are looser and that you have more energy :-) A fair trade-off yes? What is more important - the number on the scale or how you look and feel?

Stick to whole grains, lean protein and high fiber veggies and eat a moderate amount of healthy fats - stay away from refined sugars and sweets and you should make some pretty rapid progress. Make sure you are logging - as a student it is easy to grab something fast here and there and that can really add up. Make sure you are monitoring yourself and examine the nutritional value of what you eat.

Good luck!

Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 4:08 PM

I agree with 408pm

I agree. Add weights to your workout. It burns alot of calories and tones your body

Wednesday, November 8, 2006, 3:30 PM

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