A life without soda, salt, alcohol, juice, red meats, etc.
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LaurenFOB2301 wrote: »I definitely know what a 4 oz. piece of chicken looks like lol
Even if you have it nailed I suggest you,make a pact with yourself to weigh and log every bite of food you take for 1 month.
At first you need to set aside the time to reserch the data on your food items as the MFP data base is full of junk and you need to verify each entry against a independent source. ( product label, diffrent website, ect, )
Don't select 1 medium banana to add to your dairy, Choose Banana 50 grams and then weigh your banana and be accurate in logging it.
I think you will be surprised at how much we do not mentally calculate even if you are trying.
The only thing that positively needs to be restricted in your diet is the calories. calories in - calories out. Be in a deficit and you lose fat. Period !0 -
Squamation wrote: »LaurenFOB2301 wrote: »Especially when the deli package states 4 oz. Other items are much more difficult to eye. Chicken is not one of them. .
You stay away from salt, and frozen packaged foods but eat pre packaged deli meats? Not judging- just sounds incongruous.
I have nothing new to add- you're eating too much and not moving enough. You need to weight everything and log it. Every day. Every meal. If you don't know then make the best guess you can.
Good Luck! If you need friends feel free to add me.
No, no, no. Not deli lunch meats! Sorry, I didn't phrase it clearly enough. Lunch meat is disgusting. Fresh chicken from the poultry section at, say, Mariano's or Whole Foods (which, up until now, I assumed people called a deli?).0 -
kenmiller75 wrote: »I saw many people post that it doesn't matter what you eat and that isn't true. I wouldn't suggest eating fast food or junk food regularly even if you keep to under your daily calorie goal. It's still important to eat healthy, just eat less calories and weigh your food. I even weigh food that is portioned out, (like eggs, bread, etc.) to get an accurate serving amount for my log. You have to burn more calories than what you consume to lose weight but eating healthy is just as important. This is a lifestyle not a quick fix.
Thanks! That's why I'm eating healthy foods. This is not a diet, but a lifestyle choice. I've turned away from much of the unhealthy habits I had in high school and college. Now, though, it does sound like I'm underestimating. Thanks for the kind words!0 -
I know it's frustrating to be overweight without fitting the junk-food scarfing, sedentary mold, but you aren't alone. At my heaviest I did fit that mold, but after I lost weight, I could gain weight on everything except greens. I don't think I could gain weight on a straight up spinach diet, but for everything else, there's calorie counting.0
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LaurenFOB2301 wrote: »I definitely know what a 4 oz. piece of chicken looks like lol
An ounce of grilled chicken is 47 calories - I think erring on the weight of this is probably not your primary problem.
Along with tightening up your serving estimates, exercise is what will allow you some slack by making more calories available for you to eat. A few hundred extra calories earned through exercise can make a world of difference!0 -
OP I agree you've gotten mostly good advice (even if it isn't always packaged the way you like) about logging accuracy. Weight loss ultimately comes down to a mathematical equation. You must consume less calories than you expend (calories in < calories out). The first thing you need to do is figure out that calories out number, which is essentially your maintenance number. You can do this a number of ways.
MFP calculates a version of this for you not including exercise, when you put in your height, weight, and activity level (I think you would be sedentary based on your earlier posts). MFP then calculates a calorie deficit for you (again without exercise) such that if you just eat that amount of food you will lose weight even if you don't exercise. If you do exercise, you should eat at least a portion of those calories burned back.
Another method is to figure out your TDEE which can be done with a number of calculators, but this includes an estimate of all your calories including exercise, and then a deficit is calculated from that. with this method you don't eat back exercise calories.
So basically to be successful you can reduce your calorie intake or increase your calorie expenditure with exercise. Either way, accuracy is critical which is why people are saying you should weigh your food and log consistently.
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OP I agree you've gotten mostly good advice (even if it isn't always packaged the way you like) about logging accuracy. Weight loss ultimately comes down to a mathematical equation. You must consume less calories than you expend (calories in < calories out). The first thing you need to do is figure out that calories out number, which is essentially your maintenance number. You can do this a number of ways.
MFP calculates a version of this for you not including exercise, when you put in your height, weight, and activity level (I think you would be sedentary based on your earlier posts). MFP then calculates a calorie deficit for you (again without exercise) such that if you just eat that amount of food you will lose weight even if you don't exercise. If you do exercise, you should eat at least a portion of those calories burned back.
Another method is to figure out your TDEE which can be done with a number of calculators, but this includes an estimate of all your calories including exercise, and then a deficit is calculated from that. with this method you don't eat back exercise calories.
So basically to be successful you can reduce your calorie intake or increase your calorie expenditure with exercise. Either way, accuracy is critical which is why people are saying you should weigh your food and log consistently.
Thank you!0 -
Wow! So many encouraging comments! I'm someone who has always needed at least 7+ hours of sleep. Perhaps your body's metabolism has slowed down a bit to conserve energy. You could always try getting a few more z's and see if that helps. Stress has a way of getting to us too, so if you have a way of de-stressing, that might be helpful too.0
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Simple - you're simply eating too many calories. All of these little things you mentioned are good that you don't eat, but that doesn't matter. You can eat cake and drink soda all day long if you're only eating 1,200 - 1,500 calories a day and still lose weight. Not eating certain things don't make you gain or lose weight. Eating too many calories make you not lose weight. You simply need to cut back on calorie consumption.0
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Wow! So many encouraging comments! I'm someone who has always needed at least 7+ hours of sleep. Perhaps your body's metabolism has slowed down a bit to conserve energy. You could always try getting a few more z's and see if that helps. Stress has a way of getting to us too, so if you have a way of de-stressing, that might be helpful too.
Your metabolism isn't just going to slow down to conserve energy just for no reason. That's not the way it works.
You are correct. There is a reason. I am suggesting that you try to look at all of the reasons why weight loss is not occurring.0 -
You must eat in a calorie deficit. You answered your own question when you said that you're not logging consistently and you're not really weighing your food. You are eating too many calories. Portion control matters, big time, no matter what you're eating. You must weigh every lick, bite, taste on a digital scale in grams to know for sure what your calorie intake is. MFP gives you a calorie allowance so you have to adhere to it most of the time to lose the weight. You can "treat" yourself by fitting the foods you love into your calorie allowance. Don't deprive yourself of the foods you love.
Read the stickies for newbies and educate yourself about how MFP works and how we lose weight. I say this because I was shocked when I actually began logging my food and realized how much I was ingesting. OMG.
Check your MFP settings, depending on how much you have to lose, set it for a modest deficit and log everything for a month. Then reassess your settings after the month. If you are going to exercise and use the MFP settings, you can eat back about 1/2 to 2/3rds of your exercise calories. Use a heart rate monitor and pedometer to determine you calorie burn estimates. Allow for inaccuracies because everything is a guesstimate until you fine tune your new lifestyle.
It's simply a balancing act. Balance your calorie allowance to lose weight; then exercise for a healthy body. Lift weights to maintain as much muscle as you can while losing fat. Losing weight means that you are losing first water weight, then fat and muscle. You want to preserve as much muscle as you can. You don't have to work out everyday -- set up a suitable work out schedule, 3 to 4 times a week is a good starting place. Some cardio and resistance training seems to work best for many people.
MFP works -- I've lost 41 pounds at the rate of approximately 2lbs. per month. Don't rush it, it takes time to fine tune the balancing act of calories in/calories out and exercise. Forget all the crap you've read in magazines. For God's sake, woman, you can do this. Don't panic, stay calm and carry on. Everyone here is trying to help you. Embrace the snark and any gifs you might see; they're awesome.
Sorry for the long post. Best regards. . .
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NoelFigart1 wrote: »@kenmiller75 You will lose weight on a calorie deficit whether you eat "healthily" or not. One of the really awful misconceptions a lot of people have is that if they eat the "healthy" foods they will lose weight. Unless they're in a calorie deficit, that is simply not so.
What CAN happen is that people will switch from eating, say, a bunch of pizza and twinkies to eating a lot of, oh I don't know, salads or something, and they'll find they lose weight. But that's because they're more satisfied on fewer calories because it's darned hard to eat enough lettuce to match how many calories are in a pizza.
That is not to say that I think people should not have the french fry to broccoli ratio heavily weighted in favor of the green stuff. But in terms of actual weight loss, it makes very little difference.
Which brings up the excellent point that weight loss and health are simply not a 1:1 ratio, either!
I think you misunderstood me. I didn't say you can't lose weight eating unhealthy. I could eat Sweet Chili Doritos for my daily 1380 calorie total and still lose weight but it's not healthy to do so. What I was trying to say is that fueling your body more with healthy foods and less with junk foods is better for you. Garbage in = garbage out.0 -
kenmiller75 wrote: »NoelFigart1 wrote: »@kenmiller75 You will lose weight on a calorie deficit whether you eat "healthily" or not. One of the really awful misconceptions a lot of people have is that if they eat the "healthy" foods they will lose weight. Unless they're in a calorie deficit, that is simply not so.
What CAN happen is that people will switch from eating, say, a bunch of pizza and twinkies to eating a lot of, oh I don't know, salads or something, and they'll find they lose weight. But that's because they're more satisfied on fewer calories because it's darned hard to eat enough lettuce to match how many calories are in a pizza.
That is not to say that I think people should not have the french fry to broccoli ratio heavily weighted in favor of the green stuff. But in terms of actual weight loss, it makes very little difference.
Which brings up the excellent point that weight loss and health are simply not a 1:1 ratio, either!
I think you misunderstood me. I didn't say you can't lose weight eating unhealthy. I could eat Sweet Chili Doritos for my daily 1380 calorie total and still lose weight but it's not healthy to do so. What I was trying to say is that fueling your body more with healthy foods and less with junk foods is better for you. Garbage in = garbage out.
Great. I'll stay away from the trash can.0 -
Get a food scale. Weigh everything. Including the cup of cherry tomatoes.0
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lunastardust777 wrote: »heres the thing eating healthy is great but it is really what you eat. my eating has changed so much in the last year and now what i call healthy now and what i thought healthy was then are two different things. currently i try to fit 6-8 cups of veggies in my diet daily if at all possible. ive changed my macros-something i havent seen much mention of. you can eat healthy but if you arent tracking macros your daily percentage of food could be actually carbs and fat. while that isnt a bad thing if your just starting out you may need more protein. also working out 6 days a week really makes a difference on your metabolism. im apart of an amazing fitness group who has taught me all of these things and more. if your interested send me a message and i can connect you with my fitness coach who can get you in the group. its all free and it has changed my life as well as it has so many others in our group!
I am interested.0
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