Frustrated!

Poofersgrl

Hi All

I started doing MFP and exercising (leslie sansone for 20-30 mins 3-5 times per week) about 4 weeks ago. Wanting to lose 5-10 lbs (1/2 lb per week). My starting weight was 142, then a week later went to 140, then back to 142 last week, and today 143. What is going on? I only work 3 hours a day in the afternoon and am home the rest of the day. Should I try to be more active at home? I do sit on my duff alot when not doing housework. I log my foods (scan them in) don't weigh it. I have been under my calories almost every day. I do have high BP and watch my sodium. Should I not weigh myself weekly? Adjust my goals? I was hoping to reach my goal weight by end of the year. HELP!!!!! Also, how can I share my diary with you all?

TY
Kelly

randomtai

How tall are you? Are you weighing and measuring all your foods? Are you being consistent in your logging?
If you are not losing, you are eating more than you think.

Poofersgrl

I am 5ft 4 inches. I am not weighing/measuring any foods. I don't eat alot of fruit and veggies. I am being as consistent in my logging as I can. I didn't think I was eating more. At least according to MFP I am not.

randomtai

Poofersgrl wrote: »

I am 5ft 4 inches. I am not weighing/measuring any foods. I am being as consistant in my logging as I can. I didn't think I was eating more. At least according to MFP I am not.

Exactly. You do not know for sure. You have to be consistent to see any results.

TavistockToad

randomtai wrote: »

Poofersgrl wrote: »

I am 5ft 4 inches. I am not weighing/measuring any foods. I am being as consistant in my logging as I can. I didn't think I was eating more. At least according to MFP I am not.

Exactly. You do not know for sure. You have to be consistent to see any results.

agreed. buy some food scales.

Poofersgrl

I log everyday that I am home. I buy alot of frozen veggies, and processed foods. Can I still measure those? I don't log when I eat out or bring food in because I cannot do it accurately. I also don't log soda or juice, or my coffee. I drink 1 soda per day...if that.I drink at least 3 cups of water per day.

randomtai

Poofersgrl wrote: »

I log everyday that I am home. I don't log when I eat out or bring food in because I cannot do it accurately. I also don't log soda or juice, or my coffee. I drink 1 soda per day...if that.I drink at least 3 cups of water per day.

Juice and soda have calories.

Liftng4Lis

Water retention is normal when starting an new exercise program. Additionally, sodium and TOM can affect this. It's important with so little to lose, to weigh and measure everything you consume.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

kbmnurse

Increase your physical activity and get off the couch.

TavistockToad

Poofersgrl wrote: »

I log everyday that I am home. I buy alot of frozen veggies, and processed foods. Can I still measure those? I don't log when I eat out or bring food in because I cannot do it accurately. I also don't log soda or juice, or my coffee. I drink 1 soda per day...if that.I drink at least 3 cups of water per day.

so how do you know how much frozen veg you're eating?

and definitely log soda and juice, a glass of juice is about 150 cals!

shaun603

Make sure you drink enough water daily and through the day. 3 cups is not enough. You should be drinking half of your body weight in ounces of water daily. The scale is the devil when you get down to a certain weight and you can easily fluxuate 1 to 7 lbs of retained water week to week. You need to build good lean muscle mass. There is plenty of home calisthenics you can do that target each muscle group. No excuse for not doing it at least 4 times a week for 45 min to an hour judging by your schedule. Burn some calories, watch your macros, drink water and be consistant.

shaun603

Also ditch the soda.

Poofersgrl

Thank you. I will try to drink at least 6 cups per day. 3 at home and 3 at work. I do try to do my leslie sansone walking videos 30 mins each time. Just that I don't have the stamina all the time. How else can I get moving more at home? I do housework, errands etc. I don't have kids. I don't know how much frozen veggies I eat. I really don't snack much anymore, and when I do, it's something healthy. I have been under my calories each day. I also just made my diary public.

randomtai

Poofersgrl wrote: »

Thank you. I will try to drink at least 6 cups per day. 3 at home and 3 at work. I do try to do my leslie sansone walking videos 30 mins each time. Just that I don't have the stamina all the time. How else can I get moving more at home? I do housework, errands etc. I don't have kids. I don't know how much frozen veggies I eat. I really don't snack much anymore, and when I do, it's something healthy. I have been under my calories each day.

Start with the basics, which is your food intake. Once you are consistant in one part everything starts to fall into place. You should also be looking up how much you should be eating in a day. If you are feeling tired, you might not be eating enough overall.

TavistockToad

Poofersgrl wrote: »

Thank you. I will try to drink at least 6 cups per day. 3 at home and 3 at work. I do try to do my leslie sansone walking videos 30 mins each time. Just that I don't have the stamina all the time. How else can I get moving more at home? I do housework, errands etc. I don't have kids. I don't know how much frozen veggies I eat. I really don't snack much anymore, and when I do, it's something healthy. I have been under my calories each day.

you're guessing that you're under your calorie goal each day, but the scales not moving suggests otherwise!

Poofersgrl

according to MFP it says I am under my calorie goal. hmmmmmm. I also made my diary public. (look for poofersgrl) When you say start with food intake, what do you mean exactly? Also how do I find out how much should eat in a day? THis is great info, thank you.

malibu927

Poofersgrl wrote: »

Thank you. I will try to drink at least 6 cups per day. 3 at home and 3 at work. I do try to do my leslie sansone walking videos 30 mins each time. Just that I don't have the stamina all the time. How else can I get moving more at home? I do housework, errands etc. I don't have kids. I don't know how much frozen veggies I eat. I really don't snack much anymore, and when I do, it's something healthy. I have been under my calories each day. I also just made my diary public.

If you aren't logging everything and aren't weighing your food, then you can't say you're under. The first thing you have to do is be 100% accurate with your diary. Buy a food scale, use it to weigh your food, measure your drinks and log them, and don't forget about condiments/cooking oils as those can add up. All the exercise you choose to do cannot save inaccurate logging.

TavistockToad

Poofersgrl wrote: »

according to MFP it says I am under my calorie goal. hmmmmmm. I also made my diary public. (look for poofersgrl) When you say start with food intake, what do you mean exactly? Also how do I find out how much should eat in a day? THis is great info, thank you.

one entry in your diaty is 75g of green beans... if you're not weighing your food, how do you know its 75g? it could be 50g, it could be 200g...

Poofersgrl

yeah the green beans are the frozen variety, so I guess I would cook them, then take whatever amount to the scale and weigh them? Any other tips on my diary? Any help/suggestions are appreciated. TY

FitFitzy331

If you had a 12oz can of coke each day, that is about 220cals, then an 8oz glass of juice is another 100+ calories, thats over 300 right there that you aren't logging. Everything that enters your mouth, you need to log. Get a food scale, if you want to snack on an apple, weigh the apple. If you cook frozen vegetables, measure/weigh them, there's 60 calories in 2/3 cup bird's eye frozen mixed vegetables without any sauce. So example, you have 1 can of soda, 1 glass of juice, and 2/3 cup of frozen vegetables that you didn't log, that's over 400 calories that you consumed that you didn't take into account. It's very easy to go over your daily limit if you don't track every single thing you put into your mouth.

TavistockToad

Poofersgrl wrote: »

yeah the green beans are the frozen variety, so I guess I would cook them, then take whatever amount to the scale and weigh them? Any other tips on my diary? Any help/suggestions are appreciated. TY

your sodium is pretty high on account of all the packaged stuff you eat - i am not a massive 'clean' eater, but you can get a lot more food for your calories if you make stuff yourself.

Poofersgrl

so a scale like this one? http://www.target.com/p/taylor-digital-food-scale/-/A-11011109#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=food+scale.

Also, if I cannot use a food scale (hubby doesn't think I need it) how can I measure food?

Yes agreed on alot of the processed food. What about eating out at restaurants? How do I log that? I am going to try to begin to make my own items, (will start small) and look for low sodium varieties of things. I do try to buy as much low sodium items as much as possible, like chips, beans, veggies etc. Even ketchup. lol Also, how can I increase my activity at home? Besides doing the videos? I have a pedometer that tracks steps and calories.

shaun603

You need to make sure your macros are in order. Just because you may be under your calories doesn't mean your gonna lose weight. Your getting harped on here a lot about food measuring, blah blah blah. Yeah its important. Especialy if your weight training and getting serious. I know tons of people that arent measuring frozen veggies on a scale and are healthy. In my opinion you should be at 1650 calories a day and broken down to 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fats. Thats a good starting point for you. Ditch the sodas and the juices. You get vitamins better from food. Also, to much sodium is bad. It doesn't make you fat, but it does add water retention and has other health risks.

Poofersgrl

Thanks Shaun. MFP says 1530...how can I change this? I plan on weening off soda....will go from 1 per day to 3-4 per week and go down from there, and drink either green tea or water. Agree on the sodium, I am going to try to make more home made recipes where I can control the amt of sodium etc.

malibu927

Poofersgrl wrote: »

so a scale like this one? http://www.target.com/p/taylor-digital-food-scale/-/A-11011109#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=food+scale.

Also, if I cannot use a food scale (hubby doesn't think I need it) how can I measure food?

Yes agreed on alot of the processed food. What about eating out at restaurants? How do I log that? I am going to try to begin to make my own items, (will start small) and look for low sodium varieties of things. I do try to buy as much low sodium items as much as possible, like chips, beans, veggies etc. Even ketchup. lol Also, how can I increase my activity at home? Besides doing the videos? I have a pedometer that tracks steps and calories.

Chain restaurants almost all have their nutrition info posted online, so you can look it up before you go and decide what you want. If you go to a local place, though, you'll have to estimate exactly what you ate from what's in MFP's database.

Explain to your husband that this is a lifestyle change. Even just using a scale for a few weeks to see what a serving size is will do wonders.

Unknown

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Poofersgrl

agree on the sodium. I do try to cut that down as much as possible, buying no sodium/low sodium foods as much as possible. I even exchange regular stuff like tomato sauce for the no salt added one.

eldamiano

shaun603 wrote: »

You need to make sure your macros are in order. Just because you may be under your calories doesn't mean your gonna lose weight. Your getting harped on here a lot about food measuring, blah blah blah. Yeah its important. Especialy if your weight training and getting serious. I know tons of people that arent measuring frozen veggies on a scale and are healthy. In my opinion you should be at 1650 calories a day and broken down to 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fats. Thats a good starting point for you. Ditch the sodas and the juices. You get vitamins better from food. Also, to much sodium is bad. It doesn't make you fat, but it does add water retention and has other health risks.

"You need to make sure your macros are in order. Just because you may be under your calories doesn't mean your gonna lose weight. "

Wrong answer. Calorie deficit is completely and utterly where it is at.

shaun603

eldamiano wrote: »

Wrong answer. Calorie deficit is completely and utterly where it is at.

So the quality of those calories means nothing?

shaun603

MrM27 wrote: »

shaun603 wrote: »

You need to make sure your macros are in order. Just because you may be under your calories doesn't mean your gonna lose weight. Your getting harped on here a lot about food measuring, blah blah blah. Yeah its important. Especialy if your weight training and getting serious. I know tons of people that arent measuring frozen veggies on a scale and are healthy. In my opinion you should be at 1650 calories a day and broken down to 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fats. Thats a good starting point for you. Ditch the sodas and the juices. You get vitamins better from food. Also, to much sodium is bad. It doesn't make you fat, but it does add water retention and has other health risks.

A little more than just generic advice would be nice. Throwing out a percent of macros distribution doesn't work across the board. Sodas and juices are not the devil. Sodium is a pest if you have HBP, if not, enough hydration takes care of that.

If you are going to criticize us for harping on weighing food at least come in strong either your advice. There's nothing worse than someone criticizing other and then they give sub par advice.

At least I offered something other then just weighing food. I'm not criticizing anybody. How is outlining what a well balanced diet in the proper ratios subpar advice? That's just silly.

truecountrygirl

make sure you drink a lot of water and watch your sodium i can go up like 5 lbs or so by just eating something that is really salty.