Fed up! Eating about 2000 cals less and gained, need advice :(
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clairabelle01 wrote: »SergeantSausage wrote: »clairabelle01 wrote: »Have you seen results simply calorie counting then?
A calorie deficit is, by definition and the Laws Of Physics, the only thing - the one-and-only-one thing that works and gets results. It is both necessary, and sufficient.
Necessary and Sufficient.
You don't need a gym. You don't need to work out. You don't need to eat certain foods. You don't need to deny other foods.
Calorie. Deficit.
How do you guarantee you are in a deficit? The best way is science. Count. Measure. Observe. Record.
It ain't Rocket Science but it is governed by the Laws of Science.
Those who accurately and diligently - with great discipline ( every-damned-thing that goes into the mouth) are those best equipped to see results and usually always see the results they are looking for.
Those who blow off, ignore, or get sloppy/lazy in counting calories are setting themselves up for failure ... and usually do fail.
So it's not the types of food you eat, for example would it make a difference if you ate 1200 cals of lean protein vs 1200 cals of pastry? Doesn't certain foods burn fat more efficiently.
I'm sorry if I seem stupid.
Yes and no.
For weight loss (as the only goal), it does not matter what food makes up your calories. This has been proven time and again. The most popular example is the Twinkie diet. Some professor ate the majority of his calories in Twinkies and still lost weight and showed improvement in health markers like blood pressure and cholesterol.
For nutrition and satiety, the types of food you eat does matter. If you only ate carbs all day, you would be so hungry that you would want to gnaw your arm off. Fats and proteins are important too. You also want to try to get enough fiber and vitamins/minerals as well. But you can work treats into your daily calories too. It won't inhibit your weight loss and will make you more likely to stick to it since you aren't depriving yourself of your favorite foods too.
Here's what worked for me:
I took it in baby steps.
1. I put my stats into MFP and just tried to stay within my calorie goal, while eating the same types of food I was before. Remember that if you do exercise, you should log that and eat back some of those calories. Your weekly deficit is already built into your daily calorie goal, so exercise gives you bonus calories since you're burning more than they expected you to.
2. After a few weeks, I realized that I could feel fuller longer if I paid attention to my macros. Macronutrients are Carbs, Fat, & Protein. I started adjusting what I ate to hit my macro goals as closely as I can. It made me eat a little healthier, but I still use ~200 calories a day for a treat and can hit those goals.
3. Now, I'm focusing more on hitting my fiber and micronutrient goals. This is taking a bigger change in what I eat, but I'm slowly improving.
It doesn't have to happen overnight. Ultimately, the number of calories you consume determine your weight loss and that's a place to start. Focusing on nutrition is important too, but you shouldn't overwhelm yourself at the beginning.0 -
You've been at this 6 days. You didn't put all this on in one day, and it's not going to come off fast either. This process takes months, years, YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. Rather than focusing obsessively on the scale, focus on making changes to your diet where you're eating an appropriate number of calories with balanced macros. Focus on getting more nutrients. Don't kill yourself in the gym; find something you enjoy that you can sustain, and make sure you eat enough to fuel your workouts. Learn to make changes that you can sustain for the rest of your life, so when you do lose the weight, you successfully keep it off.
At 56 lbs to lose, 1200 calories may be too little for you. If you're set up to lose 2 lbs a week, that's too much. 1 to 1.5 lbs/week is probably a more appropriate goal. Within that, make sure you're getting adequate protein. Without your stats I can't say for sure, but 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat is usually a safe split. Yes, eat your lean meat and veggies - you need the protein and micronutrients - but also eat food you LIKE. You will lose weight as long as you stick to your calorie goal no matter what that food is.
As for exercise, do something you find manageable. It's one thing if you're just getting back into shape after not running for a while, but if it's killing your joints, maybe try a different cardio activity until you lose a few pounds. Lifting weights will help retain your lean body mass (muscle!) while you're losing, so yes, lifting is a good idea. Be aware that it will cause water retention, and you will see fluctuations on the scale. Don't be afraid of it.
In general, stop being afraid you're doing this wrong. This is a learning process. Be patient. Do things in steps if you need to - figure out the calories first, then the macros, then the exercise. It's a lot, but it gets easier as you go.0 -
If your goal is to lose weight, there isn't much value in weighing daily. You can easily gain four pounds or more just from the weight of your food. It takes two days for it to come back out and sometimes a lot of it comes out very quickly. If you weigh once a week at the same time on the same day, your weight figures will tend to be more consistent.0
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TimothyFish wrote: »If your goal is to lose weight, there isn't much value in weighing daily. You can easily gain four pounds or more just from the weight of your food. It takes two days for it to come back out and sometimes a lot of it comes out very quickly. If you weigh once a week at the same time on the same day, your weight figures will tend to be more consistent.
I disagree. If you can take away any emotions to the number on the scale, the data you can collect from weighing daily can be very beneficial. It helped me to see daily fluctuations and watch for overall trends. Data is very valuable to me0 -
clairabelle01 wrote: »Okay so I'm 15stone 6. Yesterday was 15stone 5 so have gained a 1lb despite only eating protein veg and total of 1300 calories. I've gained a 1lb in one day
You may be better off weighing just once a week. Weigh at the same time, same scale, same conditions- like right after you wake up and use the bathroom, before you get dressed or eat anything.
You can eat pretty normally. Just log it all as accurately as possible and reduce portion sizes especially of high calorie foods.
Your calorie goal may be way to low to start with. If you tell people your height/weight/age/activity level and what your goal is you might get some help figuring out a healthy starting point.
You don't have to kill yourself in the gym to lose weight. You can lose weight with no exercise or just 30 minutes of walking.
If you start out super intense and restrictive you will probably quit and gain everything back. If you set up a sensible plan you could lose 1 lb a week and keep it off for good.0 -
You don't *have* to alter your diet too radically - most people can't do it for very long unless they happen to actually want to, weight loss aside - take baby steps and just get used to counting calories and making smaller changes to your diet over time - for me, cutting way back on junk food lunches, snacks and dinnertime "seconds" are really the only big changes I made to get my calorie count in line. I have a favourite breakfast and lunch I eat most days so all I really end up having to manage more closely is dinners to stay on track0
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You've already received a lot of good advice. I will add only that, if you do want to weigh yourself every day, you should use a spreadsheet, or a website such as TrendWeight.com, to calculate an exponentially smoothed moving average. John Walker explains why in the chapter on "Signal and Noise" in The Hacker's Diet.
One more thing: I have lost 64 pounds over the last two years (most of it in the first year) without cutting any food out of my diet. Granted, I had a fairly healthy diet before I joined MFP; I was just eating too much. But I still have wine, beer, spirits, chocolate, cookies, pasta, bread, cheese, and many other things that some "experts" claim you have to cut out to lose weight. I just don't eat a lot of them.0 -
I agree with what's been said; you don't need to cut out foods infact I personally wouldn't cut out potato and pasta and they usually release energy slowly and would be helpful if you're working out. They are totally right, I lost 15lbs a few years ago with MFP without going to the gym once. And yeah you could techniqually eat 1,200 calories of chocolate alone and still lose weight but you'll feel like crap! it's about making healthier choices within that limit. You'll soon work out when you log things that you'll get much more food for your calories if you cook yourself and eat more veggies and less processed food. But that doesn't mean you can't treat yourself! look at it as less of a diet and more of a healthy lifestyle change. It takes time, hard work and motivation- but it's totally do-able.
- Best of luck chick!0 -
Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. I'm on day 8 now and everything is logged in MFP I measure any oil I use etc, stuck to the plan this far and that's a huge step. I've had countless attempts, lasted 2or 3 days.
I know it will take time, I've a lot to lose, I just want to be on the right track. I'm desperately unhappy at this weight and I'm determined. I know it will be hard work, I did stop smoking 3 years ago with no help so have the willpower somewhere, however dieting is much harder. I know some say don't cut out anything but I am sticking with my no sugar rule. I already feel better 1 week without it, I know if I allow myself a little bit I'll end up back into old habits. I definitely overrated my way to this size.
I am going to keep weigh ins to once a week on a monday , I am obsessed with what scales say at minute, just want to know I'm doing it right. Ha
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Dont worry keep logging your calories and sticking to your target and the weight will come off. you just need to be patient. and most important never give up even if you have a rough couple of days. good luck0
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The weight of the food sitting in you gut doesn't tell you anything about weight loss. It sounds like you just want the data for the sake of having the data. That's fine, but not everyone has that as one of their goals.GiveMeCoffee wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »If your goal is to lose weight, there isn't much value in weighing daily. You can easily gain four pounds or more just from the weight of your food. It takes two days for it to come back out and sometimes a lot of it comes out very quickly. If you weigh once a week at the same time on the same day, your weight figures will tend to be more consistent.
I disagree. If you can take away any emotions to the number on the scale, the data you can collect from weighing daily can be very beneficial. It helped me to see daily fluctuations and watch for overall trends. Data is very valuable to me
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clairabelle01 wrote: »I am going to keep weigh ins to once a week on a monday , I am obsessed with what scales say at minute, just want to know I'm doing it right. Ha
Can I suggest that you take your measurements as well. Especially if you are going to start lifting.
I weigh myself everyday... I'm a bit obsessed and what I have found is that I retain a lot of water at any excuse. My largest overnight gain is 4kg which is about 9lb. No way I ate that much in one night. I find that because one meal or drink can cause such large water weight gains the only way for me to track my weight properly is to weigh every day. I have got over the emotional bit of the small gains as I can see the overall direction is down.
However the inch loss does not vary every day. I've lost 3 inches from my bust, 5 inches from my waist, 7 inches from my hips and 4 inches off each thigh. These are the things that people and most importantly yourself can see
Good luck with everything0 -
clairabelle01 wrote: »I know it will be hard work
I'm a firm believer in "if it's hard work, you're doin' it wrong" philosophy.
It's demoralizing for every day to be hard, and you'll never stick with it.
You need to consider setting a pace that will be moderately comfortable, and something you can stick with for as long as necessary. For some of us that's a few weeks/months. For others it's years/lifetime.
Make it as easy on yourself as possible. Set moderate, reasonable goals.
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SergeantSausage wrote: »clairabelle01 wrote: »I know it will be hard work
I'm a firm believer in "if it's hard work, you're doin' it wrong" philosophy.
It's demoralizing for every day to be hard, and you'll never stick with it
This this this!
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SergeantSausage wrote: »clairabelle01 wrote: »I know it will be hard work
I'm a firm believer in "if it's hard work, you're doin' it wrong" philosophy.
It's demoralizing for every day to be hard, and you'll never stick with it
This this this!
Shhh, everyone will be less impressed if they know it really isn't all that hard!0 -
I cut salt and sugar! Sodium alone will put 2 -3 lbs on the scale any day.
Drink more water (I know it sucks but it works) to keep the water retention down. You have to eat 3500 calories over maintenance to gain 1 lb. So if you eat 500 cals a day over maintenance for 5 - 6 days you will gain that lb.
I also do not drink my calories. This eliminates 200 - 300 calories that I can eat instead and keep my deficit.
Exercise is my bonus and do not eat that back unless I am eating out or I want to eat at a social gathering.
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Sometime gain can be when a food reacts wrong with your body. I found through eliminating eggs dairy and potatoes my body does better. Water gain can be a reaction0
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Clairabelle01, just wanted to toss my two cents in here. 1.) Keep your head up, your not alone out here :-) (feel free to add/message me) 2.) You seem like a hard worker, and doing things correctly. Remember good things come to those who wait. Keeping in mind a few things....When you working out you may need to adjust your caloric intake to keep your body in Ketosis (losing the weight) by working out so much may put your body in starvation mode if you don't eat enough (of the good stuff). Theres a fine line when exercise and eating to lose (everyones different). You will get there. Patience is a good thing! Once you find what works for you, have no doubts the weight WILL come off :-)0
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TimothyFish wrote: »The weight of the food sitting in you gut doesn't tell you anything about weight loss. It sounds like you just want the data for the sake of having the data. That's fine, but not everyone has that as one of their goals.
Actually, as John Walker explains in The Hacker's Diet, knowing how your daily weight compares with the exponentially smoothed moving average of your weight does provide useful information. If most of the time your daily weight is below the average, you are losing weight even if one morning you weigh 3 lb. more than the previous morning. If the daily weight is usually above the average, you're gaining weight. If your daily weight is above the average around half the time, and below it the other half, and the average is more or less constant, then you're maintaining. In that sense, daily weighings can serve as an early warning of weight gain in the way that weekly weighings don't, because your once weekly weighing is also subject to fluctuations, and it will take a lot longer to identify a trend.0 -
SergeantSausage wrote: »clairabelle01 wrote: »I know it will be hard work
I'm a firm believer in "if it's hard work, you're doin' it wrong" philosophy.
It's demoralizing for every day to be hard, and you'll never stick with it
This this this!
Shhh, everyone will be less impressed if they know it really isn't all that hard!
I know. I have a bad habit of answering "how did you do it" questions with something like "calorie counting, exercise, and a lot of hard work". It really hasn't been that hard. Sure there were times that I was a little hungry or wanted to eat something and had to tell myself no because I was already at my calories, but it wasn't a constant daily struggle.
For some reason I always feel like I have to say it. I guess its because everyone starts going on and on about how hard weight loss is and I feel weird being all meh about it.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »The weight of the food sitting in you gut doesn't tell you anything about weight loss. It sounds like you just want the data for the sake of having the data. That's fine, but not everyone has that as one of their goals.
Actually, as John Walker explains in The Hacker's Diet, knowing how your daily weight compares with the exponentially smoothed moving average of your weight does provide useful information. If most of the time your daily weight is below the average, you are losing weight even if one morning you weigh 3 lb. more than the previous morning. If the daily weight is usually above the average, you're gaining weight. If your daily weight is above the average around half the time, and below it the other half, and the average is more or less constant, then you're maintaining. In that sense, daily weighings can serve as an early warning of weight gain in the way that weekly weighings don't, because your once weekly weighing is also subject to fluctuations, and it will take a lot longer to identify a trend.
If you're eating fewer calories than you are burning, your trend will be down, whether you weigh everyday or not.
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Lots of good advice here. Even though my overall goal is to lose weight, the scale is not directly under my control. With regular weighing this past month, I've discovered I can fluctuate as much as three pounds a day! I can't let my success and my emotions be tied to the @#$% scale.
So I set behavioral goals that are entirely under my control. Your choice to eat more meat and vegetables over starchy carbs is an example. I predict that those sorts of choices will eventually show on the scale, but not right away. Count yourself a success if you make a behavioral change and stick with it.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/jgnatca/view/setting-goals-7157170 -
Starvation mode is when your body starts using muscle for energy, because there's not enough fat or carbs (glucose, glycogen) left. It's a last-ditch effort, a hope that you'll find food before so much muscle is lost that your heart or diaphragm stop working & you die.working out so much may put your body in starvation mode if you don't eat enough
That takes a _long_ time of eating considerably below your calorie needs. Months of a VLCD.0 -
In the 3 weeks before that, had you lost any weight? No? Then you're ahead, aren't you?clairabelle01 wrote:3 week before Xmas joined a gym and cut out sugar and carbs. Lost 2lb in the 3 week which was disappointing, i suppose it feels little reward for eatong chicken and veg every day and it's killing me in gym, it's definitely harder running with all this weight than it used to be a few year back. Been doing intervals, where I run at top speed for 1 minute then walk for a minute. It's harder than I ever realised, I am super unfit but pushing with all I have. I have now cut back my diet to around 1200 calories and sticking to protein and veggies, and just desperate for scales to go down, I'm on day 6
Eat a varied diet, of things you like, in reasonable portions. Don't cut out anything, unless maybe it's something you can't control eating (for me, cookies & potato chips).
This calculator will tell you not only your BMI, but how many servings of various foods to eat to maintain that weight.
If you enter your healthy goal weight, this will help you plan your food intake.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html
Don't overdo the exercise, don't throw yourself into it so hard all at once when you are out of shape & have been that way for a while. Ease into it. Don't get hurt, don't burn yourself out, don't get frustrated.
Also, 1200 cal is pretty low for an person of average height. Is 120 lb a healthy goal weight for you? Then don't eat that little. Start with dropping 500-1000 cal from what you had previously been eating (which is probably 10x your current weight). When you hit a plateau, or if you don't lose weight in a couple weeks, drop another 50-100 cal.
I'm 5'10"-ish, started at 275 lb eating 1700 cal/day. Now I'm just under 200 lb eating 1400 cal/day.
For losing (or gaining) weight, only calories matter.So it's not the types of food you eat, for example would it make a difference if you ate 1200 cals of lean protein vs 1200 cals of pastry? Doesn't certain foods burn fat more efficiently.
For health, yes, what you eat matters a lot.
And no, foods do not burn fat, only your body does that.
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