Who wants to share their open food diary?

blue_eyes1978

I am not sure if there is a thread of just MFP members who's diaries are open.
I am 5'9 196 I have been following MFP since April and I have logged faithfully I have lost some. But before that I was working out and kept really good track of my food intake with paper and pen.

I am not extremely happy with my loss. I feel I have tried so hard and only have dropped 12 pounds. And this is since January. I am getting discouraged. I have to be 100% honest I never really had to try so hard to lose weight. I used to work full time a very strenuous physical job and kept in shape and didn't need to work out I was literally getting paid to stay in shape while I did my job. It was factory work not a gym or anything like that but it worked for me.

Now I am A SAHM and things are different. I find my self not as active. I let my eating habits slip to what I could afford. What was easy and cheap to make. It all added up to an extra 25 pounds. It makes me so frustrated.

I also know a lot of people having the gastric sleeve and or the by pass surgery. Some of who I was always much smaller than. Just turns out they all have dropped a lot of weigh and are weighing in less than I am. I am struggling to lose and I feel so lousy about it. I am very happy for them but since they are now thinner and feeling good I feel they are judging me. Like hey know you know how we felt kind of thing.

I took a few days off from logging just to maintain and am ready to move forward with my head held high and drop these 25 pounds. I need some ideas fresh ideas for eating. I was adding a lot of cottage cheese, lentils chicken, salmon patties, tuna fish PBJ, toward the end I started to eat crappier. Honestly I was getting burned out.

I was putting a lot of effort in and not seeing results so I got sloppy. I was adding in walking and work outs and my scales wouldn't move or would go up. It has been about 5 days I think that I have maintained so, I am hoping for the best if you have a open diary please post here and let me know.

I would love to see how I can change my eating habits to start losing. I was walking 2 miles in the morning and was planning to up it to 4. My work outs were 5 days a week and I mixed them up I found a nice variety and some ranged from 28-50 minutes.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! I appreciate you time and everything this community has to offer!

Caletara

My diary is open. Feel free to look! I have an Up24, so I put myself as sedentary and let the Up calculate my calories burned. I tend to treat myself on the weekends-- I go to the mall and walk around for about 5 miles and then eat some sushi. It's expensive but low calorie and high protein. And it feels like cheating even though it's not! I found that totally helps me.

Have you double checked there is nothing medical holding you back? I struggled to lose weight until I realized (stupidly) that my gluten intolerance was preventing me from losing weight and even helped trigger my Hashimoto's. (maybe i should stop eating it huh?) I also found taking some fish oil or krill oil helped cool the inflammation in my body and helped lose the weight easier.

I'm not low carb but I do find that keeping my carbs under 150 helps me lose weight and the way I feel. You're bound to slip up. We all do. We're human. Just keep getting back on that horse and don't be too hard on yourself.

I hope this helped!

blue_eyes1978

Caletara wrote: »

My diary is open. Feel free to look! I have an Up24, so I put myself as sedentary and let the Up calculate my calories burned. I tend to treat myself on the weekends-- I go to the mall and walk around for about 5 miles and then eat some sushi. It's expensive but low calorie and high protein. And it feels like cheating even though it's not! I found that totally helps me.

Have you double checked there is nothing medical holding you back? I struggled to lose weight until I realized (stupidly) that my gluten intolerance was preventing me from losing weight and even helped trigger my Hashimoto's. (maybe i should stop eating it huh?) I also found taking some fish oil or krill oil helped cool the inflammation in my body and helped lose the weight easier.

I'm not low carb but I do find that keeping my carbs under 150 helps me lose weight and the way I feel. You're bound to slip up. We all do. We're human. Just keep getting back on that horse and don't be too hard on yourself.

I hope this helped!

Thank you!!

stephierue

Feel free to look at mine. I find it helpful to look at others & get ideas.

Caletara

In case it's easier here's the link to my diary. myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/Caletara

terbusha

Hi! My diary is open as well. Feel free to check it out

I'll just say that you are on the right track. You've dropped 12 lbs. You should be proud of that accomplishment. Are you where you want to be, no. Are you moving in the right direction, yes! It's a journey. Focus on developing healthy behaviors and over time, you'll get to where you want to be. I always think of where I want to be in 10 years from now. Will taking a few more months to get there matter in the long run, not really, but I certainly understand your frustration. That's why I always try to keep the long term perspective. It's taken me 2.5 years to get to where I am now, and I'm ok with that. I think you'll do great. I can tell that you're determined. You've got this! You may just need to optimize your methods.

I'm happy to help out in any way you need. Just let me know if you need some help

blue_eyes1978

Caletara wrote: »

In case it's easier here's the link to my diary. myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/Caletara

Thanks!! The link was a great I appreciate you sharing

princessbride42

You're welcome to check out my diary. It's open I think. I am currently at maintenance so someone I go over my goals a little.

BWBTrish

But yours is closed to friends...why?

Lounmoun

My diary is open and I log every day. I don't have a special diet or medical conditions.

mcsyp88

My diary should be open... I'll have to check and change it if it isn't.
With the exception of April and May, I've lost 40 lbs since January. And over 4lbs in the past two days (I got back on track this week).
I don't feel as if I am starving myself, because if I am hungry I will eat. But I have completely changed my eating habits and what I eat as well.
I also work out 6 days a week with cardio and core training.
Drink plenty of water! I cannot stress that enough. I drink a gallon a day of just water.

blue_eyes1978

TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »

But yours is closed to friends...why?

I will figure out and open it

blue_eyes1978

It should be open.. now I haven't logged in a few days... Any pointers if you view mine I am open minded and would love to have feedback if you see something I should change I am ready to do this!

sarahlifts

Mine is open.

raelynnsmama52512

Mine is open again. I haven't been consistent with logging lately, and I'm trying to get back on the right track (for the 50th effing time it seems ) but you are more than welcome to add me and take a peek!

girlviernes

My diary is open. In general, I am very consistent with logging. I had a couple of off weeks in the past month though. However, there are months of good logging. I've also been eating a lot more convenience foods lately so sodium is through the roof, but hitting my macro goals. Generally I'm aiming for 120g of protein a day, no specific fat or carb goal, but I try to keep sugary/starchy carb to 30g or less per meal (this is due to a medical condition, insulin resistance), and fiber above 25g. Macros are about 35% carb, 40% fat, 25% protein.

Emilia777

blue_eyes1978 wrote: »

It should be open.. now I haven't logged in a few days... Any pointers if you view mine I am open minded and would love to have feedback if you see something I should change I am ready to do this!

Now that you asked, I hope you don’t mind if I share a few thoughts
- I would re-assess whether you really need to be at 1200 calories a day: if you could be losing 1lb/week at more than that, that’s what I’d do. There’s no sense in pushing too hard if you don’t have to.
- Log everything, every day.
- Use a food scale: 1/2 cup of watermelon? No one knows what that really looks like. Weigh everything you eat, especially fruit, because those calories add up
- Keep doing the above for as long as it takes to reach your goals

I know how easy it is to get discouraged, but if you set a higher calorie goal you won’t feel as deprived, it’ll be easier to keep it up for a long time, and you will still see results! Also, keep in mind you will see a lot of weight fluctuations because of water retention/TOM, especially if you’re exercising, and that weight loss is not linear: some weeks you’ll loose consistently, other weeks nothing will happen. This is normal. Don’t let the scale psych you out. It’s all a head game and you have to be strong and confident that you’re doing all the right things and stuff is happening to your body even if you don’t see it. To this end, I’d start taking measurements too and tracking those as well.

Edited to add: I’d also try to eat a bit more protein than 60g/day (one guideline is 0.8g/lb), because that helps hold on to your lean body mass: you want to lose fat, not muscle . Resistance training is also great for this: any kind of weight lifting would only do you good in the weight loss process. In terms of exercise, I would also eat back only about half my exercise calories, because those burns tend to be overestimated.

IAmAPearl

Mine's also open to everyone.
I log mostly every weekday, and am trying to get used to logging on the weekends too.
I'm a SAHM with 3 kids, and they all eat what I eat and make.

blue_eyes1978

Emilia777 wrote: »

blue_eyes1978 wrote: »

It should be open.. now I haven't logged in a few days... Any pointers if you view mine I am open minded and would love to have feedback if you see something I should change I am ready to do this!

Now that you asked, I hope you don’t mind if I share a few thoughts
- I would re-assess whether you really need to be at 1200 calories a day: if you could be losing 1lb/week at more than that, that’s what I’d do. There’s no sense in pushing too hard if you don’t have to.
- Log everything, every day.
- Use a food scale: 1/2 cup of watermelon? No one knows what that really looks like. Weigh everything you eat, especially fruit, because those calories add up
- Keep doing the above for as long as it takes to reach your goals

I know how easy it is to get discouraged, but if you set a higher calorie goal you won’t feel as deprived, it’ll be easier to keep it up for a long time, and you will still see results! Also, keep in mind you will see a lot of weight fluctuations because of water retention/TOM, especially if you’re exercising, and that weight loss is not linear: some weeks you’ll loose consistently, other weeks nothing will happen. This is normal. Don’t let the scale psych you out. It’s all a head game and you have to be strong and confident that you’re doing all the right things and stuff is happening to your body even if you don’t see it. To this end, I’d start taking measurements too and tracking those as well.

Edited to add: I’d also try to eat a bit more protein than 60g/day (one guideline is 0.8g/lb), because that helps hold on to your lean body mass: you want to lose fat, not muscle . Resistance training is also great for this: any kind of weight lifting would only do you good in the weight loss process. In terms of exercise, I would also eat back only about half my exercise calories, because those burns tend to be overestimated.

Thanks so much I will start using the scale now more often. I have wondered if my not weighing migh have ben hindering my weigh loss. I will have to change my settings I was at 2070 and recently changed my settings to sedentary is when the 1200 calories started, I log my exercises and my see where I can eat more. So I might change to lose less per week and see where it puts my calorie in take. I will add more protein also. I love salmon patties so I will look forward to those changes. I really appreciate everything.

Emilia777

Sounds like you’re right on track . Speaking from experience, I started with 1200 calories, hated my life, increased that to 1400 and felt a lot better. Still lost plenty of weight! There is a middle ground. Salmon patties sound yummy! Best of luck, I have the utmost confidence that you will succeed

blue_eyes1978

Thanks so much just hearing some one tell me that makes me feel good!!
I honestly haven't told anyone really close to me how hard I am trying, because I don't want them to make me feel worse than I make myself feel when I don't succeed. Not sure they would but they would try and make me feel ok with the skin I'm in and I have been trying to be ok with it for too long. The time is now to make it change. So thank you again. I look forward to this long journey and I feel very confident right now

SoUl_ReBeL2021

Another thing you might want to try is having your vitamin D level checked to see if you are deficient, that can also really put a big damper on weight loss. I was deficient in vitamin D and take vitamin D3 daily now and I have managed to lose around 10 pounds.

blue_eyes1978

O.K so I changed my setting to lose 1 pound per week and my activity is still at sedentary so this is what my new goal looks like.

blue_eyes1978

How does that look still too low!? I know when I log it will show me more calories to eat back so I' just trying to get my plan straight so I can stick right to it. Kiddos have base ball I wont be back on until later. Thanks everyone I appreciate everything!

Emilia777

That looks good to me! And a lot less restrictive than 1200, which is a definite bonus . And exercise calories are definitely nice, though I would advise you to only eat around half because they tend to be overestimated.

Maybe other people will pitch in too - I don’t want you to take my word for it lol.

coolfry

I keep mine open to keep me accountable, even when its bad. I find pre-logging/planning to be my best bet for staying on track.

BWBTrish

looks nice and when you eat back around half your exercise calories it then it looks even nicer lol

Weigh everything...really everything. Don't go by serving sizes or cups and spoons...and you are good to go
Well you can see my diary

arditarose

Mine is open. It can be a bit of a hot mess on a day to day basis because I have a weekly not a daily goal, but it could give you some ideas. I'm a pre-logger.

lemurcat12

My diary is open. It was pretty consistent last year except perhaps December (I started in mid March at MFP). It was also consistent in January but since then has been more spotty or else I've been eating at maintenance. I've just restarted serious logging and an actual deficit this week, though.

I used to eat back exercise calories but now do TDEE method where I do not.

karahm78

My goal is 1200 currently, but my desk job can be very sedentary during the week. However, I wear my Fitbit so it I move more I earn more, and I DO eat the earned calories for the most part. It does encourage me to move more, but on days that I sit most of the time I eat less. On the weekends when more active I eat a good deal more than 1200 since the Fitbit gives them to me.

ndj1979

my diary is open.

Are you using food scale OP?

do you eat back 100% of exercise calories?