not really getting anywhere

dreamthin2012

I've been exercising for a month now..40 minutes strength training and 15 minutes cardio..One day I focus on legs next day arms and I throw a little core in. Eating my calories. Burning anywhere from 250 to 350 Cal. We eat out twice a week and I get whatever not really careful. I am fluctuating between 202# and 198#. Dying just to make it to 190# so it feels like I'm getting somewhere. Stopped sofas and tea. Drinking about 60 oz. Of water/day. HELP!

Torontonius

dreamthin2012 wrote: »

We eat out twice a week and I get whatever not really careful.

Fix that, you fix your problem. Most restaurant food is LOADED with calories because of how it's prepared.

The other thing you may want to do is ensure you're doing a lot of compound exercises when you lift weights. Don't waste time on machines and doing isolation movements. You'll get much better results with compound movements, eg:

-bent over barbell rows
-chin ups
-bench press
-shoulder press
-squats
-deadlifts

etc. more calories burned, more efficient exercises, beneficial effects in terms of hormones, etc.

CindyB97

If you are eating whatever you want and not being careful, even just two nights a week, that can cancel out any calorie deficit you might have. Especially eating out. You need to carefully track ALL the calories you eat. It's your eating, not your exercising, that will help you lose weight.

queenliz99

If you are not getting anywhere that means your calories in equal your calories out.

SueInAz

I can understand your frustration but you need to educate yourself on the mechanics of weight loss. If you aren't losing weight it's because you're eating more calories than you are burning. It is almost always as simple as that.

Are you logging all of your food and drink? Are you keeping within your calorie goal every day? Unless you are doing these things you are not likely to be successful.

How much water you drink is irrelevant to weight loss.

Keep in mind that exercise is only a very small part of the weight loss equation. What you're eating, or not eating, is much more important. If you're burning between 250 -350 calories in exercise, and eating an extra candy bar, you've pretty much negated that entire workout. This is why what you eat is more important.

malibu927

How are you keeping track of your calories?

ana3067

"eating my calories" means what? Eating maintenance? Caloric deficit?

This is why exercise is for fitness, not weight loss. People think that because they exercise they will lose wiehgt, and don't bother monitoring their intake.

lynn1982

dreamthin2012 wrote: »

We eat out twice a week and I get whatever not really careful.

This. Stop this.

SLHysell

dreamthin2012 wrote: »

.... We eat out twice a week and I get whatever not really careful. ...

This is why. In order to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you take in. Even whey you are being careful, eating out can easily cost you 1500 calories. Those rolls at the steakhouse are a couple hundred each before you even have your meal. You can be successful if you start counting and logging. Exercise won't make you lose weight. Only carefully monitoring your intake and expenditure will. And be careful. The calories burned reported on machines is often fairly over estimated. 15 minutes of cardio, for instance isn't likely to burn 350 calories.

Petzwv

I have to agree with the eating out. I was amazed at the added calories :-( Plus....track, track, track :-)

ndj1979

do you own a food scale? Weigh/log/measure everything? If the answer is no, then start doing that right away..

I agree with the others about the eating out. If you are just going out and ordering whatever you want that can add in ALOT of calories….educate yourself about the menu before you go out or try to go for some lower calorie options..like 6oz filet and grilled veggies or something...

dreamthin2012

For instance..yesterday ate my meals. Saved 1200 to eat out. Used my fitness pal to log all that I ate. After exercising had 165 Cal. Left because I burned 370. I use free weights as I realize it is a better workout. I did burn more according to my log. This is what I've been doing. I never look to see if I can eat more because I exercised.

I_Will_End_You

Agree with everyone else...you aren't in a deficit. Log accurately. If you know you're going to be eating out at a restaurant, cut calories earlier in the day or the day before to make up for it. Try to log your restaurant calories best you can so you know how much you're actually eating, and how much you need to cut.

snowflake930

Weight loss is mostly about eating at a calorie deficit. 80% calorie deficit, 20 exercise, most people (more expert than I) say. I have a co worker that runs marathons and triathlons frequently, he is super fit. He told me (and he may have been exaggerating) that it is more like 90/10. He certainly knows more about it than me.

ndj1979

dreamthin2012 wrote: »

For instance..yesterday ate my meals. Saved 1200 to eat out. Used my fitness pal to log all that I ate. After exercising had 165 Cal. Left because I burned 370. I use free weights as I realize it is a better workout. I did burn more according to my log. This is what I've been doing. I never look to see if I can eat more because I exercised.

I would not use MFP burn estimates for weight lifting they are going to be way off ..so that is part of your problem right there…

I would only eat back half of exercise calories burned...

Again, do you own a food scale?

SueInAz

I'm still a bit confused by what you say you're doing. Doing free weights work isn't going to add many calories to your day.

I lift for an hour 2 or 3 times per week and give myself 100 extra calories on those days. I hope you aren't using MFP's calorie burns to estimate... it has no idea what your level of exertion is and almost always gives you more calories than you actually burned.

Are you weighing (preferred) or measuring your food? Restaurant portions are huge and even if you're eating somewhere that they've posted calorie counts they calories can be off that number by a lot. I've seen salads at Chili's that come in over 1000 calories. Even their margarita chicken, which sounds healthy, is far more calories than I would normally eat at dinner. If you really want to be successful, you will probably need to change your mindset about what you're eating. Eating out every night makes it nearly impossible to lose weight.

dreamthin2012

I really miss my younger years when losing wasn't such a science. Hitting 40 and my second child really did me in. My whole family is over weight. I was the only normal sized person till second child. To make it worse on my feelings husband took off 100#. He eats what I eat with the exception of eating out which he chooses mostly baked fish and steamed behest. I buy him a bunch of protein smacks which he eats all day. He does a much harder more I tense workout than me. To whomever is asking about weighing food no I don't.

I_Will_End_You

dreamthin2012 wrote: »

For instance..yesterday ate my meals. Saved 1200 to eat out. Used my fitness pal to log all that I ate. After exercising had 165 Cal. Left because I burned 370. I use free weights as I realize it is a better workout. I did burn more according to my log. This is what I've been doing. I never look to see if I can eat more because I exercised.

Lifting doesn't generally burn many calories. Try cutting it in half, or even more. When I lift for 80-90 minutes, I log about 110-120 burned.

999tigger

Do yourself a favour and read the stickies on the forums. You are getting just about every basic thing wrong which means you are not eatint at a deficit, which means you will not lose weight. The other posters have all told you whats wrong and they amount to basic mistakes that are in the way of you losing weight. Correct them and you will lose.

ps its not all bad. You are doing some things right, so you basically just have to make some changes. All the information is in the stickies.

CindyB97

If you are not weighing your food, you really have no idea how many calories you are eating. Try that experiment where you scoop out a tablespoon of peanut butter, then use a food scale to actually weigh a serving. You shouldn't be surprised that most of the time, the tablespoon method can result in twice as much or more as an actual weighed serving. It's a pain at first to weigh everything, but you absolutely must or your "tracking" will be useless. After a short while it becomes habit and just part of your normal meal prep. I've been doing it for almost 2 years, not a day goes by when I don't turn on my scale at least 10 times throughout the day.

SueInAz

999tigger wrote: »

Do yourself a favour and read the stickies on the forums. You are getting just about every basic thing wrong which means you are not eatint at a deficit, which means you will not lose weight. The other posters have all told you whats wrong and they amount to basic mistakes that are in the way of you losing weight. Correct them and you will lose.

ps its not all bad. You are doing some things right, so you basically just have to make some changes. All the information is in the stickies.

This is good advice. The "stickies" are the discussion board posts at the top of each section of the messages board that have the grey "Announcement" icon on them. That should give you a really good idea of the basics and what you should be doing from the start.

Kalikel

Eat less and/or move more. That's always the answer.

Try working more healthy stuff in. Try eating out less or if you must eat out, get salads and limit the dressing.

Eating "whatever" won't help, that's for sure. You already knew that, though, didn't you?

Start tweaking and eventually, you will lose.

ahoy_m8

dreamthin2012 wrote: »

I really miss my younger years when losing wasn't such a science.

I totally identify with this. On the upside, however, the science actually works! Get a kitchen scale. You will be amazed at how much easier weighing is than estimating, and you will have much better accuracy. Plus, the online tools make tracking much easier than in your younger years. Embrace the science of it. It will work for you!

dreamthin2012

Not sure if possible but..I did the bmi thing at my gym a month ago on the 15th. It said 40.5. Looked at it again tonight and it said 33.8. Had to put in height age and weight. I have worked out almost every night. What do you all think.

justalittlecrazy

It looks like you are both counting too many calories for your workouts and eating too many calories... which means you should be happy to be maintaining, let alone losing.

As everyone else said, buy a scale. Use it. Look up calorie counts on everything from eating out. Keep track of every single thing you eat all day long right down to the ketchup you dip your fries in. Those calories add up fast, too.

Try this for a few weeks and see what happens.

malibu927

dreamthin2012 wrote: »

Not sure if possible but..I did the bmi thing at my gym a month ago on the 15th. It said 40.5. Looked at it again tonight and it said 33.8. Had to put in height age and weight. I have worked out almost every night. What do you all think.

You probably mean BF% instead of BMI. A drop of that much in BMI for me was about 35-40 pounds.

SLLRunner

Dreamthin,

By the tone of your posting, it seems to me your focus is in too many places at once--what it used to be like when you were thin, becoming overweight after having your child, eating whatever twice a week. I challenge you to only focus on what you need to do to lose weight:

1. Weigh as much of your food as possible, and that means all foods prepared at home.
2. Ensure that you are choosing correct entries. Read the sticky at the top of the weight loss forum, espeically this one: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1.
3. Log all foods you eat.
4. When you know you are going to eat out, see if you can obtain nutrition information on the food you want so that you can prelog. It's okay to eat half the meal and save the rest for lunch tomorrow.
5. For your exercise, track calories for cardiovascular only, not weight lifting. If you choose to use MFP, phone app, or internet estimates for cardio calories burned, eat only one half to three quarters of those calories back.

You can do this.

Liftng4Lis

Weight loss is about caloric deficit, you can exercise til you're blue in the face, but if your not in a deficit you won't lose. Can you open your diary?

ndj1979

SLLRunner wrote: »

Dreamthin,

By the tone of your posting, it seems to me your focus is in too many places at once--what it used to be like when you were thin, becoming overweight after having your child, eating whatever twice a week. I challenge you to only focus on what you need to do to lose weight:

1. Weigh as much of your food as possible, and that means all foods prepared at home.
2. Ensure that you are choosing correct entries. Read the sticky at the top of the weight loss forum, espeically this one: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1.
3. Log all foods you eat.
4. When you know you are going to eat out, see if you can obtain nutrition information on the food you want so that you can prelog. It's okay to eat half the meal and save the rest for lunch tomorrow.
5. For your exercise, track calories for cardiovascular only, not weight lifting. If you choose to use MFP, phone app, or internet estimates for cardio calories burned, eat only one half to three quarters of those calories back.

You can do this.

OP - do all this…immediately.