problems with staying on track and eating the right foods ect
shanunie
Posts: 7 Member
Good morning/ afternoon everyone.
Ive been on my weight loss journey for 1 yr and im still the same weight or more when i started. I need help with portion sizes, foods to eat. Im in the Los Angeles area. I also try to walk but my back hurts so bad. going to see a P.T. thursday to see if they can help me. but anyway, I see alot of the people on here do not share their food diary. Why is that? we are here to help, even if we are eating bad or not. Guru's on here as well, dont say anything, dont share or even talk to some of us sometimes. I just want help! same food i eat, chicken, yams, brown rice, veggies. i want something new. any help?! thanks in advance
Ive been on my weight loss journey for 1 yr and im still the same weight or more when i started. I need help with portion sizes, foods to eat. Im in the Los Angeles area. I also try to walk but my back hurts so bad. going to see a P.T. thursday to see if they can help me. but anyway, I see alot of the people on here do not share their food diary. Why is that? we are here to help, even if we are eating bad or not. Guru's on here as well, dont say anything, dont share or even talk to some of us sometimes. I just want help! same food i eat, chicken, yams, brown rice, veggies. i want something new. any help?! thanks in advance
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Replies
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It's not really about what you eat for weight loss, it's more about how much you are eating so seeing others food diaries won't really help you if you want to lose weight. For weight loss you have to eat less than you burn a day. Calories in vs calories out. In order to have a better idea of how much you are truly eating, like portion control, get yourself a food scale. Weigh every single thing that passes your lips. There were some stickies here that could help you with weighing foods, if you do a board search it will most likely pop up.
Also, after being here for a 3 months now I noticed the "gurus" do offer lots of good advice.0 -
You're eating more than you're burning. This is not a question of "what" but of "how much."0
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Yeah, I leave my diary open for all to see. But, mine is not really a good example of what to eat, lol. There are some helpful people here. But, a Google search is usually a faster and easier way to get meal plans and recipes.0
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well i will try this. Is there a "portion" size for how much meat, ect you should eat on a daily basis?0
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Good morning/ afternoon everyone.
Ive been on my weight loss journey for 1 yr and im still the same weight or more when i started. I need help with portion sizes, foods to eat. Im in the Los Angeles area. I also try to walk but my back hurts so bad. going to see a P.T. thursday to see if they can help me. but anyway, I see alot of the people on here do not share their food diary. Why is that? we are here to help, even if we are eating bad or not. Guru's on here as well, dont say anything, dont share or even talk to some of us sometimes. I just want help! same food i eat, chicken, yams, brown rice, veggies. i want something new. any help?! thanks in advance
I prefer to keep my diary private. There have been a few times where I would make an argument on a forum post, and another MFP member would look into my diary, scrutinize everything, and then make a counterargument along the lines of "Well you went over your calories on June 1st, so you're wrong." I also keep information about my insulin dosages and blood sugar trends within my diary, and I don't think anyone wants to read through that boringness.
It doesn't matter if we're eating "bad" or not. All that matters for weight loss is calories in being less than calories burned. I could eat 1200 calories of broccoli or 1200 calories of Twinkies, but as long as I'm logging accurately and eat less than what my body burns per day, then I will lose weight.0 -
well i will try this. Is there a "portion" size for how much meat, ect you should eat on a daily basis?
It is, and it isn't. Official guidelines are usually like this: http://www.webmd.com/diet/control-portion-size which I think is pointless.
You can eat like you want, just use your food diary here at MFP and track your calories. If you hit your calorie goal every day (+/- 50 calories), you'll lose weight. Tracking macros as well, will help you achieve a balanced diet.
This link is better than the one above, and elaborates what I meant to say: https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/food-essentials/how-much-do-we-need-each-day/what-serve - it's actually very good, if you disregard the fear of (saturated) fat, which is good for you.0 -
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well i will try this. Is there a "portion" size for how much meat, ect you should eat on a daily basis?
That is going to be up to your goals. Maybe you have room for 6 oz of meat, maybe only a "serving" which is often 4 oz. Maybe you went over on something you had for lunch, so whoops- you can only have 3 ounces for dinner tonight. If you've been trying to lose weight for a year, you're simply eating too much. Plug in your stats to my fitness pal, buy a food scale, weigh all your food, and eat the number it gives you.
Some people keep their diary closed, because they can. It's a personal choice. Mine is open, if you'r looking for ideas.0 -
well i will try this. Is there a "portion" size for how much meat, ect you should eat on a daily basis?
You can eat what you want as long as it fits your calorie goals.
If you pre-log some or all of your food in your diary then you can see how those portions fit your goals and make changes before you eat.
I pre-log my whole day and find that helpful.
If you want a guide to how many servings of meat, vegetables or grains you might look at something like choosemyplate.gov
If you are looking for new recipes I like these sites:
budgetbytes.com
skinnytaste.com
food.com
allrecipes.com
Pinterest is also a good place to find food ideas.0 -
I don't share my diary because people won't criticize something they can't see. You lose weight by eating fewer calories than you burn.0
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Just eat a little bit less and see what happens. Make your usual plate, and then put 1/4 of it back and see how you feel when you're done. Likely you'll be satisfied, not stuffed (maybe not even full) but it'll be enough.
This is really how I started and some times I do it now when I'm about to over eat.
What's your calorie goal? Just try to meet it today. Don't think too far ahead just yet. Just try it today
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Maybe you could make your diary visible so people could offer some more specific advice and suggestions?
Since I can't see it, I can only offer general advice. Start by talking to your doctor and getting accurate starting numbers Input your Height, Weight, and Age into one of the many TDEE calculators, like Fitness Frog's, and then consider what percentage deficit you are comfortable with, based on your personal activity and hunger level. If I could look back through your past weeks and months of eating I could suggest a range to try for. If walking hurts, don't do it until you get your back issues treated. You don't want to be causing more damage. Try hand weights, dance, gentle yoga. Put on a cd you love and just move to it for half an hour. It counts.
There is no magic formula. But you do need to take into account that if you keep doing what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. If you've been doing this for a year, steadily, with no changes, then talk to your doctor and see what she suggests. There might be a medical reason. Health comes first, then weight loss. Tune the health and weight loss will follow. Make sure you get enough good carbs, fats, and protein, drink water, and move in a way that doesn't hurt or stress you out. So many people hit their dieting like 'Ok now I gotta eat exactly 1000 calories of CLEAN foods and then eat BACON WRAPPED WHEATGRASS and do 5,000 minutes of the Screaming Kickboxing Workout until I get a nosebleed and then DETOX with JUICES!!!' Maybe that works for somebody, in which case, more power to them. But you have to do what's right for your body.
Oh and to answer your question, 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day for the average sedentary (non-active) woman is a good number to shoot for. Here is a good calculator you can use: http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/protein.asp0 -
Good morning/ afternoon everyone.
Ive been on my weight loss journey for 1 yr and im still the same weight or more when i started. I need help with portion sizes, foods to eat. Im in the Los Angeles area. I also try to walk but my back hurts so bad. going to see a P.T. thursday to see if they can help me. but anyway, I see alot of the people on here do not share their food diary. Why is that? we are here to help, even if we are eating bad or not. Guru's on here as well, dont say anything, dont share or even talk to some of us sometimes. I just want help! same food i eat, chicken, yams, brown rice, veggies. i want something new. any help?! thanks in advance
As already mentioned, to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you are putting in. There are 3,500 calories in a lb. So you have have a combination of eating less than you normally do and burn more (exercise) more than you normally do to the tune of 3,500 calories to lose a pound in a week. I find it helpful to think of it like a checkbook. I have 1,200 calories to work with in a day. There are online charts to find out how many calories to eat based on your weight and the amount of weight you want to lose.
A helpful trick I've found is to drink half a16 oz bottle of water before each meal so I am not as hungry when I do eat. Also, eat lots of green veggies/salad at each meal (up to half of your plate.) There are charts you can look up online to find out what portion sizes are, but you can't just look at it you have to weigh the food or be very accurate in your visualization. Your eyes really do envision a bigger portion. I'm always surprised at what a portion is when I weigh food. For example, when making a sandwich with cold cuts each slice of meat is roughly an ounce so if you are putting 4 slices of meat on a roll, it's about 4 oz. But, I've had it weigh up to 5oz for 4 slices. So it is important to weigh. I have started to use very little cheese because I consider it a calorie bomb. Only a little goes a long way! (Can you tell I'm writing this just after lunch!)
Another tip is when adding foods that you didn't normally eat, do it slowly. Add only one or two a week so you get used to it. Last week I made Quinoa for the first time. I never ate it before so I had to rely on my husband to tell me what to do with it. He had only had it as a salad when they order food in at the office, so my first attempt at it was a salad. We were walking all over the store looking for it when he tells me it has to be in the appetizing department because it is a salad. I knew it wasn't a salad but a grain. I'm trying to get him to understand and I tell him "Are potatoes a salad? Is pasta a salad? You've had them prepared as a salad but they are not salad." When relaying the story at a class someone said to me, "You put dressing on it? I have only made it hot!" So, everyone has a different take on foods. That's what makes this forum interesting. By the way the quinoa has no taste on its own. It's what you add to it that gives it flavor.
And, another tip, since you will be preparing foods with little to no fat and salt, you have to replace the flavor you lose by adding seasoning and herbs. Try experimenting with a new one a week to add to your pantry so the expense isn't too much all at once. I make seasoning blends that are no salt to make quick work of it. When I need it I grab it.
What have you been doing to lose weight?
Good luck on your journey. Try to keep the faith.0 -
Good morning/ afternoon everyone.
Ive been on my weight loss journey for 1 yr and im still the same weight or more when i started. I need help with portion sizes, foods to eat. Im in the Los Angeles area. I also try to walk but my back hurts so bad. going to see a P.T. thursday to see if they can help me. but anyway, I see alot of the people on here do not share their food diary. Why is that? we are here to help, even if we are eating bad or not. Guru's on here as well, dont say anything, dont share or even talk to some of us sometimes. I just want help! same food i eat, chicken, yams, brown rice, veggies. i want something new. any help?! thanks in advance
OP your diary isn't open for others to see, so not exactly sure why you're complaining that others don't have their diaries open??
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Hey my doc told me the size of one fist is the limit on how much you should eat at one time and should eat threw out the day. Like munch on nuts dried fruit ect.0
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thank you all for your support. sorry for the late response. my diary is open to "friends" and thats what i was referring to. I have bought a scale to weight my food portions. just needed new ideas for food. portion size. new year new journey. I hope you all are having a awesome 2016! this fight will continue.....#gonnafight #iwillwin #timetogetitright
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thank you all for your support. sorry for the late response. my diary is open to "friends" and thats what i was referring to. I have bought a scale to weight my food portions. just needed new ideas for food. portion size. new year new journey. I hope you all are having a awesome 2016! this fight will continue.....#gonnafight #iwillwin #timetogetitright
How much have you lost since you posted?0 -
Hello,
I think the forums are really helpful especially the getting started option. Do you have a good scale? Weighing your food will give you a better idea so you can input it into myfitnesspal for more accuracy, and so you can enter your calorie amout. I have been on this site on and half for a few years, and I haven't been going through people's diary. I think there is a thread where people posted if they have an open diary if you're curious you can look at that. The best tip that hAs been working for me is the CICO ( calorie in calorie out) in order to lose weight you need a deficit . If you eat at maintenance you won't be losing weight. Use the goals that my fitness pal recommends, it automatically calculates at a deficit for you before you're even workout! If you do workout that just means you can eat a bit more. MFP and the machines usually overestimate, so eating back 20 to 50% if your calories is recommended often by users here. Some people choose not to eat it back and keep the higher deficit. I personally eat back about 30% it's often a cup of green grapes and it feels me up pretty well! I started in 2013 on this app lost 20 pounds, worked out 4 times a week, and ate at 1200 calories. However , after I switched to an office setting I stopped using the app and stopped trying. And now I am back at it again! I started late December, and I am down 13 pounds. I eat about 1200 to 1300 calories, and I still go out to eat reduced it to about 2 times a week. Good luck on your journey !! And feel free to add me if you want 0 -
I keep my diary private because I don't want to hear from people who think you should only eat "clean" telling me that I was wrong to eat a cookie, or to blast me because I eat chocolate every night.
That said, there are other ways to help people besides having an open diary. There are tons of knowledgeable people here who offer help every single day. I don't know why you feel that these "gurus" don't share or don't help.
Other than this one, I don't recall seeing any threads started by you asking for help, and you only have 7 posts to your name, so I don't know how you can possibly feel ignored.
My advice to you would be to get out of the "woe is me, nobody will help me" mindset and get started. Put your information into MFP and eat food to meet the calorie goal it gives you. Eat what you like, in portions that fit your goal. Get a food scale, weigh everything and log it faithfully. Of course, you may be doing that now, but I can't tell because--Oh, Sweet Irony!--your diary is closed.
Good luck!
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Rather than complaining about people who don't open their diaries (people have perfectly valid reasons for not doing so, not that anyone even needs a good reason to maintain their privacy if that is what they prefer), it might be more helpful to make a post asking for those with open diaries to share their names with you. In fact, instead of just asking for open diaries, you may ask for open diaries of a specific type -- people who eat the same types of food that you eat.
But I'm a bit confused -- you say you want to see the diaries of those who eat what you eat, but you also say you want something new. This seems contradictory. Do you mean you want new recipes for those foods? If so, the "Recipes" forum may be more helpful than viewing the diaries of others.
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ive never quite understood the infatuation with people wanting to see diaries. i have mine public, so people can see you can eat and drink "normal" food and still lose weight - and if someone is having problems losing weight, having an open diary helps those trying to assist simply by giving us an idea of if your logging is accurate (and 9/10 times it is NOT but thats neither here nor there)
but if you look at my diary, you can see what i eat, but since i use the recipe builder for so much stuff it doesnt really tell you how its prepared. so you see a cabbage casserole thing i had a few nights ago, but you cant see the amounts or ingredients, so... is not much use to anyone.
i think people a lot of times want to see RECIPES and in that case, the recipe forum is great or the 800,000 low calorie recipe websites on the web are useful
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