Help! A week later

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faegirl22
faegirl22 Posts: 60 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I took everyone's advice and measured or weighed the majority of my meals this past week to see how I was going. It turns out I have a pretty good eye for serving size as my meat serving size is usually under (I measured out 3oz of steak and put a piece back because it was too much), starches about right on, if I have them at all and veggies were only an ounce or two over. For all in one pan stuff (like stir fry) I put it in a serving bowl and weighed it and weighed out my serving, again, tended to be more than I usually take and eat, I got full before I could finish the whole serving. I brought an extra set of measuring spoons to the office to measure my peanut butter and I do only use 1 tablespoon even with the serving size being
What could be keeping me from shedding the extra weight I want to? I walk daily and have started working out daily, either swimming for cardio or a strength building on Dailyburn.
I've been stuck since November and am so frustrated!

Replies

  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
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    Are you tracking sodium?
  • kandell
    kandell Posts: 473 Member
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    If you've been accurately measuring and countin your burns, you may need to talk to your doctor about health conditions or medications that could be affecting your weight loss.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
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    well, its been a week. only a week. if you don't have much to lose it can be a slower process. I guess we could analyze everything for you, daily calorie needs, are you wearing a HRM, are you eating back your calories, are you doing TDEE? ah, so many factors.
  • Josalinn
    Josalinn Posts: 1,066 Member
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    Well, it has only been a week and you said "majority of your meals" so that isn't exactly an accurate accounting of you calories if you are skipping measuring some meals.

    Are you over estimating how many calories you need in a day? Are you eating back too many calories from exercise? If you just started working out hard this week your body could be holding onto water to repair your muscles. Stress will also cause you to hold onto weight.

    keep measuring, keep moving, and keep smiling. If you eat a t deficit, move and don't stress it should come off.
  • hhnkhl
    hhnkhl Posts: 231 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Sodium intake...
    If you really want to notice a change in weight...
    You should cut down on your sodium...
    Even if you consume under the amount given...
    You will have water retention due to the amount.
    If you really want results...
    I'd cut it to 1,500 mg...
    That's just me though.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    From your diary your measuremenst are not in grams but often using things like cups, servings , small or large, which are estimations. If you weighed the majority then you arent weighing them all. Please post your height and weight, starting weight and cw as well as when you started.

    Your diary is open which was helpful, will have a look later if nobody else gets to the bottom of it, but once you have tightened your logging and started some exercise, then id be waiting another 3 weeks .

    It will boil down to what spoon says most likley. medical condition would be much rarer, but deal with the most likely first.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    edited March 2015
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    A serving of meat is more than 3oz because 85g of meat is just sad unless used as a topper on a salad (even then I'll have more than 100g). Following arbitrary serving size guidelines =/= proper tracking for YOUR (caloric) needs.

    PB needs to be weighed. All solids and semi-solids need to be weighed. If you can't drink it as-is, weigh it.
    Homemade - Sirloin Steak - Grilled, 3 oz (85 g) 207 0 12 23 48 0
    Homemade - Sauteed Onion & Sweet Pepper, 3/4 cup cooked
    Homemade - Brisket, 1 oz 44 0 2 6 22 0
    Homemade - Barbeque Pulled Pork, 1.25 ounces

    No. Look up the type of steak you ate and the condition you weighed it in, not some generic recipe. When I enter top sirloin cooked from my private database (based off of USDA info) it's only 150-ish calories, since I trim off all the extra fat (grosses me out, not for weight loss). This entry doesn't specify how much of the fat was even cut off. Also use your own recipes, not generic crap from the database.

    You are also not eating back any of your exercise calories. Meaning you eat 1000 calories, then you burn 600 on top of that, you are in essence netting about 400 calories if we assume the burn estimate is 100% accurate. Eat back at least half of your exercise calories.

    Your mandarin oranges are always coming up to 76g. This is inaccurate, no fruit weighs exactly the same.

    Cucumber - With peel, raw, 0.5 cucumber (8-1/4")
    Generic - Jasmine Brown Rice, 1/4 cup

    Weigh instead of measure.

    Generic - 2 Fried Eggs, In Non-Stick Pan, No Butter, 2 Eggs
    Why would this entry's calories differ from this one?
    2 - Baked Eggs, Large, 2 eggs
    Just log 2 raw eggs for the appropriate size that you buy (or weigh the eggs).

    You have many entries that don't look weighed at all - are you consistently ONLY using the default serving size of these items or just not bothering to adjust for how much you actually weighed out?

    "Zynga - Donut, 1 donut (could be more calories) " what?

    These examples are repeated throughout your diary.

    You're eating more than you think.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
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    If it doesn't budge in a month, go see your doctor and get thyroid hormones, iron levels, vitamin D and calcium levels checked. Those things can affect how well your body burns what you feed it. The simple idea of calories in/calories out is based on the assumption that your body is functioning normally.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    hhnkhl wrote: »
    Sodium intake...
    Perhaps the stir fry as well as the peanut butter...
    Peanut butter is high in sodium, carbs, fat, and sugar.
    Maybe you should remove the stir fry oil, and peanut butter.
    Weigh yourself a week later.

    Unnecessary because CICO. Even if sodium masks scale weight losses there would still be weight loss. OP has only been attempting to log properly for a week now so....

    The-Ring-naomi-watts-32958630-498-274.gif

    not long enough.
  • hhnkhl
    hhnkhl Posts: 231 Member
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    ana3067 wrote: »
    hhnkhl wrote: »
    Sodium intake...
    Perhaps the stir fry as well as the peanut butter...
    Peanut butter is high in sodium, carbs, fat, and sugar.
    Maybe you should remove the stir fry oil, and peanut butter.
    Weigh yourself a week later.

    Unnecessary because CICO. Even if sodium masks scale weight losses there would still be weight loss. OP has only been attempting to log properly for a week now so....

    The-Ring-naomi-watts-32958630-498-274.gif

    not long enough.

    oh....
    i guess that works.
  • faegirl22
    faegirl22 Posts: 60 Member
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    It's been a lot longer than a week, going on 4 months now. My serving sizes weren't any smaller just because I was weighing/measuring, they were pretty well the same, if not bigger. And I didn't measure every meal because my lunches are premeasured from when we freeze them in tupperware.
    As far as the measurements being in servings, I take the entire meal we made, put it in a bowl to weigh it and divide by how many servings we were meant to get out of it and take that much. I'm not sure I could do much less calories, I already end up going to bed hungry and I've had a few bad blood sugar dips.
    I am 5'2, currently 144.6 lbs, I'd like to be 120 and I've been trying to lose since after my honeymoon in November. Consistently logging my food since after Xmas. I started swimming twice a week in December (though not as consistent as I should be) I try not to eat back exercise calories unless I was snow-skiing and burning 800-1000 calories.
    I've been thinking about going to the doctors, I know I have high iron but my mom also has hypothyroidism
  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    edited March 2015
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    It sounds to me like because you feel you were overestimating your meat calories, you believe you must be pretty good, if not overestimating on all your portion sizes, but that's not necessarily true. Don't torture yourself this way. :( Just start weighing and measuring. Find a way to do it.

    I have hypothyroidism, only started medication six years ago with my symptoms going back approximately ten years, it's pretty significant but I lost weight when I was accurately counting and controlling my calories. Do go to the doctor if you suspect hypo-T for sure. It's extremely important so make that appointment now. BUT it will still be CICO...whether you're hypo-T or not hypo-T, whether you start medication or not. I remember my father-in-law telling me that after I started my Levo, I'd "lose ten pounds right off the bat." But that definitely didn't happen and I suspect that it did for him because when he was DXd, he also went on a diet. Not a coincidence. ;)

    But seriously, just start weighing and measuring. As far as the blood sugar dips, how are you assessing that? Do you have a glucose monitor? Have you seen a doctor regarding this?
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    faegirl22 wrote: »
    It's been a lot longer than a week, going on 4 months now. My serving sizes weren't any smaller just because I was weighing/measuring, they were pretty well the same, if not bigger. And I didn't measure every meal because my lunches are premeasured from when we freeze them in tupperware.
    As far as the measurements being in servings, I take the entire meal we made, put it in a bowl to weigh it and divide by how many servings we were meant to get out of it and take that much. I'm not sure I could do much less calories, I already end up going to bed hungry and I've had a few bad blood sugar dips.
    I am 5'2, currently 144.6 lbs, I'd like to be 120 and I've been trying to lose since after my honeymoon in November. Consistently logging my food since after Xmas. I started swimming twice a week in December (though not as consistent as I should be) I try not to eat back exercise calories unless I was snow-skiing and burning 800-1000 calories.
    I've been thinking about going to the doctors, I know I have high iron but my mom also has hypothyroidism

    See my above post about your logging inaccuracies.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    A whole week???? OMG!!!

    That and having 3oz of steak be "too much" is making my mind boggle.
  • carolnbuck
    carolnbuck Posts: 1
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    I have found that cardiovascular alone (walking) does not create weight loss for me. I absolutely have to do weight training to add muscle before I will lose weight, and even then, it takes a lot longer than a week. I am surprised you didn't lose any water weight that week. Salt intake high?
  • faegirl22
    faegirl22 Posts: 60 Member
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    carolnbuck wrote: »
    I have found that cardiovascular alone (walking) does not create weight loss for me. I absolutely have to do weight training to add muscle before I will lose weight, and even then, it takes a lot longer than a week. I am surprised you didn't lose any water weight that week. Salt intake high?
    My salt isn't too high, I don't each much processed food. I've picked up bodyweight training but I hate hate lifting weights, between my bad shoulder from an old injury and early onset arthritis in my knees, it's just not enjoyable at all and it's really hard for me to stick to. I'm hoping the tactical bodyweight program will be a way to work around that
  • Sassy_xo
    Sassy_xo Posts: 44
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    I know how you feel. It can be so frustrating to feel like you are doing all the right things and are still not seeing results!
    A couple things to consider:
    - Are you drinking plenty of water? Your body needs a lot of water, especially if you are working out. It will keep you hydrated, help flush out toxins and excess sodium, prevent water retention, and help keep you feeling fuller throughout the day. I always keep a water bottle with me and sip on it constantly. Logging your water really helps too. I don't drink soda or juice or anything., so I always thought I got plenty of water. It was very eye opening for me when I started logging my water to see that I really wasn't getting nearly enough! Try drinking more water and tracking it!
    - Are you being completely honest and accurate with your measurements and logs? Even seemingly insignificant things can add up quickly, and if you are not being 100% accurate with what you log, it can make a big difference! For example, do you ever measure out your food and then grab a little extra out and pop it in your mouth right then? That is extra calories not being logged. Do you put condiments that are unmeasured on your food and not log those? Those can add up very quickly. I know you say you are using a scale to measure, but do you eyeball your portions often? I've found that measuring cups and spoons and a digital scale are usually much needed. Obviously if you go out to eat or eat at someone's house, you can't rely on those, so that is when it is good to eyeball. But, if you are at home and have those resources available, always use them! Even if you are usually pretty accurate when you eyeball your portions, there is a big difference between "pretty close" and actually getting the exact amount for what you are logging. Even just being off by a little bit can alter your calorie intake and cause you to not see results, especially if you are off a little bit at each meal. Plus, your hunger level and mood can affect the portions you are eyeballing out without you even realizing. Obviously you don't have to measure out your food forever, but since you are not seeing the results you want right now, I would recommend going back to measuring and weighing exact amounts for the time being, at least until you start to see steady weight loss again.
    - Have you adjusted your calorie needs? If you have lost weight during this process, your body will not require the same amount of calories each day to function. If you want to continue to have a calorie deficit so you can lose weight, you will need to lower the calories you consume as your body weight decreases. MFP can adjust this for you as you log your weight and adjust your goals., but I find it is also a good idea to calculate manually for yourself using a BMR calculator found on a reliable website. A dietician can also help you with this process!
    - If you really are being accurate 100% with logging everything you are eating and burning and continuously update your goals, have you considered getting in to see your physician? If you are doing all the right things and not seeing improvements, it could be some sort of health issue, such as a hormonal imbalance, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, or a thyroid issue, among many other things Your doctor can do a quick physical and maybe some blood work if they see a need to, and may be able to offer you further suggestions to help you in your weight loss.

    Sorry this post got a bit long. Hope you were able to read through it and find some things that could be helpful to you. Good luck! :)

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