What do I do? where do I start? depressed and lost.

[Jvi9]

I'm currently 25 years old, about to be 26, 187 CM tall, fat, about 260 pounds, I don't know my exact body percentage but it's above 30% for sure.
the worst of it all is that I'm all skinny fat, no muscles.

I have no idea what to do. I really don't. I have read SO MUCH information about this whole world and the more I read the more I get confused and have absolutely no idea what to do or where to start, there are so many methods, fasting, cycling, body composition, carbs cycling, this and that, what am I supposed to pick? how am I supposed to know what is the right choice for me?

I've lost weight before and gained it back, I never calculated calories, never really had a lifting program, I just ate less and trained outside, my highest weight was about 286 pounds, I lost 55 pounds fairly quick in 6 months(that was like 3 years ago), then my body probably entered into hiatus, after that I gained back some weight, then lost some again and more, and then for the past 2 years I gained a lot of it back up to 260 pounds, again, I never counted calories or kept macros, I just ate less.

I just feel lost and I have no idea what to do, I'm tired of being skinny fat.

but the thing is, what do I do? how do I make sure I'm not gonna end up making mistakes?

creating a menu? how? keep macros, sure, but what values? every guide or a person's video says something else, some say more protein and fat and less carbs, some say way more fat and less protein and carbs and some say more carbs, how the heck am I supposed to know what to do?
almost everyone has an interest of money, no one really teaches you what to do by yourself.
I've payed nutritionists and trainers before, all they do is giving me the generic food and training program they give everyone, without really teaching me anything or taking my body type and condition into consideration, I cannot be dependent on a trainer/ nutritionist for the rest of my life, I don't have the money for that, I want to learn how to do and build up my body by myself. but no one is out there to really teach the whole deal of it.

when it comes to building a menu, even if I knew the right macros for me as an individual, I wouldn't know how to actually build meals, I'm not really a cook, I don't know how to cook, each food product contains all of the 3 macros so I have no idea how to calculate that thing, and the biggest problem I have of them all is that I literally cannot keep eating the same things every single day, I tried it before, after 4-5 days my body cannot bring itself to eat it, I feel repulsed by the food I cannot stand cottege cheese or canned tuna, and eating chicken breast every single day is just a nightmare for me, if there is no diversity there is no way I could keep that up, and I don't know how to create diversity because I don't know what possible meals and dishes are out there and how to bring them in into a fat cut menu and because I don't know how to cook.

even the most little things like calculating food end up driving me nuts and confused, some things cannot be calculated, some food don't have nutrition facts attached to it, what if I buy scaled meat from a butcher? how would I then know how much calories/protein and fat there is to it? how could I calculate that?
and what about family meals? if my family are cooking something, am I forever deemed to never eat such meals again because I wouldn't be able to calculate its macros and calories?

every workout and food plan on the internet is completely generic, how am I supposed to know what would work for me and what not? as an individual who is skinny fat and with a lot of body fat, losing fat will also mean I will lose muscle, so even if I end up reaching my fat % goal, I will still look like **** due to no muscle in my body, what do I do with that? everyone says to do something different, again the generic stuff.
people also don't take into consideration hormones level and such, me for example, I have low testosterone, I read many times that testosterone is a very important hormone for losing fat and building muscle, that means that if mine is low, I might gonna have problems losing fat or gaining muscles.

besides all that I do not even know how to lift weights, I don't know the correct postures for all those lifts or how much weight to lift or how to even start, never really done them before, and that's a whole other issue, everyone says something else, to the point that I am so confused it just puts me off.

I'm sorry for all the rant, I just really feel lost and have no idea what to do, I tried seeking help before but from my experience many people don't really understand themselves and the ones who do just seek money and not really want to share the real stuff.

feels bad.


Edit: I have added pics of my body right now

[dipatel13]

For starters, you need to make changes to your lifestyle and diet that you can maintain long term. Don't look at fat loss as happening in a month or two. It will take longer than that.

Go back one page and read the sticky: don't look past the basics. All the info you need to start is there.

[Furybox]

You are overthinking it.

You're very out of shape.
Diet: eat less, and probably cleaner too. Work out what it is that got you here and cut the sweets etc
Exercise: burn more calories. Swim, bike, run, weights, whatever. Just do more.

As you see results, decide if you're happy with the progress, ramp it up a bit if not.
Take progress photos to remind yourself from where you've come.

My guess is, with the above mindset, you'd only be getting to the point of "I should count macros to achieve more" when you're sub 200lbs

Small steps

[fade2green514]

Start with protein rich foods you like.

For me it's Robert Irvine's chicken that he put on YouTube on bodybuilding.com's YouTube channel. It's some really good fat burning stuff

Once you learn a little about cooking get to the gym and get yourself a trainer if you know nothing about working out. If you know the basics then get lifting and take advantage of some noob gains.

[latverian41]

Things will get better if you start making the right choices. That's not gonna take your depression away cause your lacking chemicals in the brain but slowly you will! Find more and more to be happy and proud ablkut as you make proper choices.

I'm just now coming out of an eight year spiral of co plete misertamd desperation . Not having any sense of self worth and value. I was a totally doffreremt human being inside my body and brain.

Only here within the last few weeks have I started to regain !my self and my true persona. Its scary when you wake up one day and have no care or feeling for anything that you use to value and treasure. You don't care what happens to you or what you do or look like.I hope you don't get to where I just came from cause I wouldn't have made it without help and a long line of crazy against the odds occurances that saved !me.

Good luck bro

[Bean100]

Start at 2400 calories (ignore macros for now) for the day. This is the amount that you can eat everyday (give or a take a few either way). Eat balanced meals, so every meal contained a vegetable, a protein, a carbohydrate and a fat. You don't need to set exact meal times or space it out a certain way. It could be 3 500 cal meals and 3 300 cal snacks or 3 800 cal meals and 0 snacks. Do what works for you. It's also okay to change the schedule from day to day.

Every food has a certain amount of calories. Use myfitnesspal to look up calorie amounts for foods that don't have a package label. Also confirm that the serving size is correct. Buy a food scale and weigh your food! So if you have a raw chicken breast and it is 1 oz, it is 35 calories. There will be multiple calorie entries to choose from, and some might differ a little based on who entered it. If you need to, take an average of the high and low.

From here, log everything you eat into myfitnesspal and it will total the calories for you. Go and give it a try and come back with any questions.

[CommitmentRulz]

Can we have a heart to heart?

Reading your post almost sounded like all these reasons/excuses why it was just too hard for you to figure out what to do. How did you get in the situation you're in now? You ate too much and didn't move enough.

So, first of all: EAT LESS. MOVE MORE. Start now. Not tomorrow. Not after you "get all the answers" so you can do this perfectly. EAT LESS. MOVE MORE. Start reading the stickies that we recommended to you, above, Dipatel13: don't look past the basics.

As you gain some momentum, you'll need to introduce more specifics. Do you need to lift weights? Absolutely. But you can do that once you've dropped 20 pounds and you're in a groove and feeling good about the progress you're making.

You can do this. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll see progress. Start now. Drop the sugary drinks. Move more. Doesn't have to be "exercising", can be taking long walks. Start now. Cut back on the size of desserts. (Notice I didn't say eliminate.) Start now. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. You get the idea... Good Luck!

[mjf100215]

OP is a troll.
He's received the same quality advice since 2014 and continues to post the exact same request over and over. Don't waste your time.

[Jvi9]

I am not a troll. sadly people here seem to auto give negative reps ff a person complains or shows difficulties, without listening to them.

You guys ignore the fact that I have stated that I have already lost about 60 pounds, I did eat less, I did work out, but even after 60 pounds less I still looked like **** because I was still skinny fat.
I lost fat but I also lost muscle mass, and after 60 pounds eating the way I was eating did not help anymore because my body weight got stuck, nothing changed. not counting calories I probably ate too less so my body adapted quickly and hit hiatus.

eating less without paying attention to the calories will only get you to a certain point, which has happened to me. 60 pounds less, still fat, still looking like crap, not losing more fat despite eating well, probably due to metabolism adaptation.

and this case bring me to this post, which is how I don't understand a single thing about the whole nutrition and calorie counting, macros and such.

I already did all the steps you guys talk about here, it got me to 60 pounds less and then stopped working.

[hhhshovel]

I am not a troll. sadly people here seem to auto give negative reps ff a person complains or shows difficulties, without listening to them.

You guys ignore the fact that I have stated that I have already lost about 60 pounds, I did eat less, I did work out, but even after 60 pounds less I still looked like **** because I was still skinny fat.
I lost fat but I also lost muscle mass, and after 60 pounds eating the way I was eating did not help anymore because my body weight got stuck, nothing changed. not counting calories I probably ate too less so my body adapted quickly and hit hiatus.

eating less without paying attention to the calories will only get you to a certain point, which has happened to me. 60 pounds less, still fat, still looking like crap, not losing more fat despite eating well, probably due to metabolism adaptation.

and this case bring me to this post, which is how I don't understand a single thing about the whole nutrition and calorie counting, macros and such.

I already did all the steps you guys talk about here, it got me to 60 pounds less and then stopped working.

dude your 260lb, you obviously need to continue losing weight. I lost 50lb and now I'm 210 and I look the exact same as I did at 260. You just gotta keep on going. ppl like us are at such high BF% that we need to get down to 18% to notice a good change. you have to count calories. You have to eat high protein and fat, but don't worry about how much exactly, just eat as much as you can withing your deficit.

Stop trying to make it like a sprint, weightloss and fitness is a lifelong marathan. if you aren't prepared to dedicate a lot of time into this, then nothing we say can help you. a couple months of weightloss is nothing compared to how you most likely got to your high weight (prolly took years to reach the weight that you started at). Once you realize all this, you will finally be able to lose weight and change.

[Adare1]

Happy to help, but you need to stop crying and being so mopey. It's pathetic.

[Jedee]

I am not a troll. sadly people here seem to auto give negative reps ff a person complains or shows difficulties, without listening to them.

You guys ignore the fact that I have stated that I have already lost about 60 pounds, I did eat less, I did work out, but even after 60 pounds less I still looked like **** because I was still skinny fat.
I lost fat but I also lost muscle mass, and after 60 pounds eating the way I was eating did not help anymore because my body weight got stuck, nothing changed. not counting calories I probably ate too less so my body adapted quickly and hit hiatus.

eating less without paying attention to the calories will only get you to a certain point, which has happened to me. 60 pounds less, still fat, still looking like crap, not losing more fat despite eating well, probably due to metabolism adaptation.

and this case bring me to this post, which is how I don't understand a single thing about the whole nutrition and calorie counting, macros and such.

I already did all the steps you guys talk about here, it got me to 60 pounds less and then stopped working.

Congratulations on losing 60 pounds so far!! in your own words, you would "still look like ****" if you are still overweight despite losing 60lbs...but rather than let that de-motivate you, think that if you continue on this path, that you will eventually be happy with the way you see yourself

You said your body weight got stuck and nothing changed, after losing 60lbs, your caloric needs will change which could be one reason you got stuck - in order to gauge though, you need to accurately track your calories but you said that you are not doing that.

You are correct about eating less without paying attention to calories will only get you to a certain point, but I have read on this forum that metabolism adaptation is unlikely - I think it is more likely you are not consuming the right amount of calories due to not accurately tracking them.

Read the threads and articles that the other respondents guided you to. Don't get overwhelmed so easily and frustrated and then give up and resign to "not understanding a single thing", which I sense is what is happening. Don't take this the wrong way, however you are 25 years old and I assume you can do multiplication and by coming on these forums, you know how to research on the internet.

1 gram of Carbs = 4 calories
1 gram of Protien = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories

Look at the food nutrition label and do the math - or better yet, if there is a nutrition label, chances are it has the calories in a serving.

For foods without a label such as scaled meat like you mentioned - buy a food scale, weigh it, use an app like myfitnesspal or calorieking to see what the nutritional content is, do the math. Over time you will learn to even eyeball how much food you are having if a scale is not available, like when you eat out.

Your situation clearly bothers you a lot so turn all of that frustration into energy to do the things you think you cannot do because if anyone on here can do it, then so can you if you just believe in yourself a bit more.

[DanLincoln]

I am not a troll. sadly people here seem to auto give negative reps ff a person complains or shows difficulties, without listening to them.

You guys ignore the fact that I have stated that I have already lost about 60 pounds, I did eat less, I did work out, but even after 60 pounds less I still looked like **** because I was still skinny fat.
I lost fat but I also lost muscle mass, and after 60 pounds eating the way I was eating did not help anymore because my body weight got stuck, nothing changed. not counting calories I probably ate too less so my body adapted quickly and hit hiatus.

eating less without paying attention to the calories will only get you to a certain point, which has happened to me. 60 pounds less, still fat, still looking like crap, not losing more fat despite eating well, probably due to metabolism adaptation.

and this case bring me to this post, which is how I don't understand a single thing about the whole nutrition and calorie counting, macros and such.

I already did all the steps you guys talk about here, it got me to 60 pounds less and then stopped working.

All the information you need is on this forum, stickies in this and the nutrition section. If you read them all and still don't understand the I suggest you seek alternative help and go back to school, there is no excuse now a days for not meeting your goals. All the information you will ever need is a click away