Desperate need of help / advice / suggestions

BudhiRooh

Hey all,

I'm not new to MFP (returning) but I've not been able to utilize MFP to my weight loss advantages. I blame it to my unawareness of how to use the app to it's fullest, not logging in food and exercise daily and not having enough knowledge for food intake and calories.

At my highest I was 242 lbs (Dec 2013) and have been able to lose 36 lbs so far (25 lbs in the last 5 months). Now, for the past 2 months, my weight is almost stuck. It was 210 / 209ish throughout October, 209 / 208ish first two week of November, 207 / 206ish for the last two weeks of November. I seem to gain a pound and lose a pound the other day. Today I was 206 in the morning.

My first major goal was to be at 199 lbs before the new year and now it doesn't seem that I would be able to achieve it. Although, I would still love to think losing another 8 pounds is achievable and I've four weeks to do that.

Now, the problem:

My main issue is with food. Because:

a) I'm not good at counting calories
b) I do not know which food I should consume more
c) I've no idea how much should I eat
d) I've a medical condition PCOS which makes my weight loss journey difficult
e) I do not WEIGH my food before putting it in my mouth

According to MFP:
Daily Nutrition Goals
Calories 1780
Carbohydrates 223 g 50 %
Fat 59 g 30 %
Protein 89 g 20 %

My food intake: (A rough idea what I usually take for breakfast, lunch and dinner)

Breakfast:
2 fried eggs with 3 whole wheat bread slices
or
1 cup frosties / cereal with 2 % milk
or
fruits (1 pears, 1 apple, 2 kiwis)
1 cup tea with creamer

Lunch:
Egg salad sandwich with whole wheat
or
big bowl of spring mix salad (with capsicum, onion, spring onion, feta cheese crumbles, tomatoes, cilantro leaves etc) with olive oil dressing (2 - 3 tbsp)
or
Baked fish (tilapia or salmon) with fresh baked vegetables (1 potato, 1 cup peas, 1 capsicum, 1 tomato)

Evening:
1 cup tea with creamer

Dinner:
usually handful of nuts such as pistachio, walnuts, almonds

So, basically my day is a mix and match of the foods mentioned above. I really want to incorporate more vegetables in my food but I do not know how to do it? Do you've any link for good vegetable recipes. Although I'm a meat lover but at the age of 33 I really believe I now need to incorporate vegetables in my food.

I've read at so many places that we should be weighing food before consuming it. I'm planning to get a digital scale but after getting it how should I be using it? How do i get to know how much food I should consume after weighing it?

Can anybody give me an idea how I should divide 1780 calories in a healthy way?

These days, I'm avoiding to eat anything after 6 PM because I believe I gain weight if I eat something in dinner. Is that true? Because if next morning while weighing myself, I would gain weight I would blame it to my dinner.

Apart from this I'm taking walking seriously. I walk 1 hour daily. I'm now trying to start weight lifting as well.

I'm getting organized with my exercise routine, it's the food intake that's making me frustrated. I'm at height of disappointment with myself and really feel like quitting every day as my hard work is not showing on the scale. Please help and please tell me losing another 8 pounds is achievable in the next 30 days !!

Please feel free to add me as a friend and / or show me your success stories, food diaries so that I can get some inspiration. Thanks

malibu927

Weighing food won't change the calorie count MFP gives you, but it'll give you a much better chance that you're eating 1780. You can divide it up any way you wish, as meal timing/frequency/size do not matter (especially eating after 6 PM...it's 8:10 here and I just finished dinner). Focus primarily on nutritious foods that will help you meet your macro and micro goals, then add in treats as you can.

arditarose

a) I'm not good at counting calories -The app does it for you
b) I do not know which food I should consume more--Foods you like, that keep you full, and that help you meet your nutritional needs
c) I've no idea how much should I eat-The amount MFP tells you
d) I've a medical condition PCOS which makes my weight loss journey difficult-But doable
e) I do not WEIGH my food before putting it in my mouth-Weigh your food, it makes a difference.




Eat 1780 calories. Weigh your food. Eat things you like, but you might have to make some adjustments if smaller portions of the things you normally eat don't keep you full. Meal timing does not matter.

Also, congrats on your loss so far. You just need to log properly now and you'll be back at it.

ETA, my calorie goal is at what yours is for today. Feel free to look at my diary. I weigh my food, though I have been using the same can of tuna for ever and it's always under weight so I stopped.

BudhiRooh

arditarose wrote: »

a) I'm not good at counting calories -The app does it for you
b) I do not know which food I should consume more--Foods you like, that keep you full, and that help you meet your nutritional needs
c) I've no idea how much should I eat-The amount MFP tells you
d) I've a medical condition PCOS which makes my weight loss journey difficult-But doable
e) I do not WEIGH my food before putting it in my mouth-Weigh your food, it makes a difference.




Eat 1780 calories. Weigh your food. Eat things you like, but you might have to make some adjustments if smaller portions of the things you normally eat don't keep you full. Meal timing does not matter.

Also, congrats on your loss so far. You just need to log properly now and you'll be back at it.

ETA, my calorie goal is at what yours is for today. Feel free to look at my diary. I weigh my food, though I have been using the same can of tuna for ever and it's always under weight so I stopped.

malibu927 wrote: »

Weighing food won't change the calorie count MFP gives you, but it'll give you a much better chance that you're eating 1780. You can divide it up any way you wish, as meal timing/frequency/size do not matter (especially eating after 6 PM...it's 8:10 here and I just finished dinner). Focus primarily on nutritious foods that will help you meet your macro and micro goals, then add in treats as you can.

thanks

BudhiRooh

arditarose wrote: »

a) I'm not good at counting calories -The app does it for you
b) I do not know which food I should consume more--Foods you like, that keep you full, and that help you meet your nutritional needs
c) I've no idea how much should I eat-The amount MFP tells you
d) I've a medical condition PCOS which makes my weight loss journey difficult-But doable
e) I do not WEIGH my food before putting it in my mouth-Weigh your food, it makes a difference.




Eat 1780 calories. Weigh your food. Eat things you like, but you might have to make some adjustments if smaller portions of the things you normally eat don't keep you full. Meal timing does not matter.

Also, congrats on your loss so far. You just need to log properly now and you'll be back at it.

ETA, my calorie goal is at what yours is for today. Feel free to look at my diary. I weigh my food, though I have been using the same can of tuna for ever and it's always under weight so I stopped.

When you say weigh your food, how exactly do you do it? How would I know this much amount I should be eating?

1403mandycat

I got stuck in a 6 week plateau after losing 30lbs & managed to get it moving again by severely restricting carbs (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes) & breaking the 3 meals per day routine by eating more protein rich meals (6 per day, even if 3 of them were only protein shakes). I don't weight protein, I eat it until I'm full & the scales started going downwards again almost immediately. Different things work for different people but anything's worth a try. It's really demoralising when you're working hard but the scales are stuck.

knelson095

When I started weighing my food I just used the serving suggestion on the package and went from there depending on how much I want and my calories for the day.
A typical serving of meat is 4 oz., or 113 grams, but you could do more or less, depending on hunger and how many calories you have. I weigh the meat raw before I cook it, but you could do either as long as you choose the corresponding entry from the database.
I usually do around 100 g servings of veggies (broccoli, spinach, etc.) per portion with dinner and I always add butter or olive oil. There are raw and cooked entries for veggies, too.
Measure everything liquid with measuring cups and spoons, weigh all solids.
Maybe try pre logging for awhile to see how you like to balance your days best.
It doesn't matter when you eat, that comes down to personal preference. I don't eat until later in the day because I prefer bigger meals so I save them up for the evening. Also, I'm naturally not hungry in the morning. Not eating after six would make me miserable, but if it works for you and you are happy doing that, it's fine. Just don't feel like you have to.
Weight fluctuates all the time. If you are up one morning it could be any number of things, usually it's just water weight. If I have a jump up on the scale it's most likely because I had more salt the day before, or I ate more carbs than usual.

Good luck OP and congratulations on your losses so far! We started at the same weight and I got stuck for a few weeks where you are now. It finally started moving again and I got below 200 a couple weeks ago, honestly the best feeling I've had so far on this endeavor. If you stay consistent the scale will move. Weight loss is a practice in patience for sure...

NikkiMichelleS

BudhiRooh wrote: »

Eat 1780 calories. Weigh your food. Eat things you like, but you might have to make some adjustments if smaller portions of the things you normally eat don't keep you full. Meal timing does not matter.

Also, congrats on your loss so far. You just need to log properly now and you'll be back at it.

ETA, my calorie goal is at what yours is for today. Feel free to look at my diary. I weigh my food, though I have been using the same can of tuna for ever and it's always under weight so I stopped.

When you say weigh your food, how exactly do you do it? How would I know this much amount I should be eating? [/quote]

Start with what a standard serving size is.
Carrots: 3 ounces. Weigh 3 ounces worth of carrots on the scale; eat that. If you want, double it. Log it accurately.

With other fruits or veggies, weigh it before eating. Log that specific amount. Example an apple: weigh it, then try using a specific USDA "apple" entry. Enter in the exact grams of the apple.
Same with snacks, chips, pretzels, nuts, etc. Weigh out close to a serving size, if possible, based on the package suggest. Or, simply weigh your evening snack of nuts & enter it. You should know intuitively if it feels right. Eating a pound of nuts, excessive; eating a couple ounces is probably better. But then that depends on your goals.

Same would go for your salad: weigh the ingredients, or at the very least measure it out. Use a tablespoon if you need to, but do measure the oil in your dressings.
Weigh your fish before eating it. Log it accurately.

Other suggestions: pre-log your meal so you have an idea how many calories it is. This will help guide your eating and food choices.
Example: input your daily breakfast of 2 fried eggs (weigh them first!!) And three slices of whole wheat bread (Yes, weigh that bread, get in the habit.)
How many calories is it?

Based on 1700 cal target, you could eat roughly three 500 cal/meals, plus 200 cal in snacks. Or break it down any way you want really, spread your calories throughout your day as it suits you.

Just start somewhere. Start with tea & creamer. Log it. Every time you drink it. It becomes easier & quicker as you make it a habit. You'll also start understanding portion sizes and how much you can/should eat to meet your goals.

Good luck! You can do it. Just start today.

azulvioleta6

You are making this very complicated. There are a lot of things to learn, but the best thing to do is to take it one step at a time. A good first step would be to pre-track a day and then weigh and measure your food precisely. Just focus on tracking EVERYTHING and being accurate. Once you've done that for a couple of weeks, then you can start to worry about other things. You don't need to know how many calories anything has--just look it up as you track.

Look at the total calories, but also at the key macros--protein, fat and carbs. The beauty of pre-tracking is that you can get an idea of whether or not you are on track before you ever even put anything in your mouth.

The automatic setting for macros will give you more carbs than someone with PCOS should be eating. There is a lot of disagreement about how many carbs someone with the condition should be getting, and no two people will tell you the same thing about what you should be doing. Just to get you started, 100G might be a good number to aim for, though most of us need to go lower. I find that things like cereal and bread spike my blood sugar to a ridiculous degree, especially if they are not consumed with significant protein or fat. If I eat grains, they are whole grains--brown rice (very small portion), oatmeal, quinoa, etc. If you must have bread, have one piece in a day, not five, and make it a multi-grain bread.

I would suggest something like this:

BREAKFAST
cottage cheese or Greek yogurt with a 1/2 serving of fruit (some are better than others--look for high fiber or low GI (half an apple; 1/2 C cherries, etc.)
-or-
vegetable omelette with 1 oz cheese
-or-
1/2 C oatmeal with a tiny amount of dried fruit and something with a bit of fat (i.e. peanut butter)

LUNCH
brown rice bowl (1/2C cooked rice, beans, salsa, cilantro, cheese, green onions, olives, etc.)
-or-
veggie soup and a chicken breast

SNACK
crudite with Greek yogurt ranch dressing or peanut butter for dip
-or-
yogurt cup (low-sugar yogurt)
-or-
1 oz mixed nuts
-or-
protein powder smoothie
-or-
fruit + fat (cheese, nut butter, etc.)

DINNER
turkey or beef patty with 1 oz cheese
green salad or kale salad
roasted yam/sweet potato

Exercise is also really important with PCOS. It sounds like you are getting on track with that, and it will certainly make a difference.

mlinci

Couple of things that come to mind:
- your weight is in a downward trend, which is great. Small steady loss is great, don't focus too much on losing a particular amount by the new year
- Using a scale is something you'll learn the more you use it. You may be surprised to learn how few or how many calories are in certain foods.
- You may want to start using the scale by continuing to eat exactly as you have been for a couple of days, and weighing all the food you've been eating anyway to see how many calories it translates to. For example, take a chunk of feta cheese that corresponds to how much you usually put in your salad. Then weight it and make note of calories in it. Same for all other ingredients, including snacks, condiments and drinks. Then, dependent on what your total calories come up to, you may choose to continue doing the same you've been doing, or make small adjustments to your food choices or amounts. You are clearly on the right track, so it's unlikely you have to make huge adjustments.
- My first guess would be to check the amount of nuts you are eating in the evening - as they are your only food in the evening, I'm guessing you are hungry when you're eating them, and you might unknowingly eat more in calories in nuts than you would have in a full meal, if you don't control the portion size.
- eating slightly less of the foods you like is the best thing you can learn to help you with maintaining a healthy weight in the future (rather than avoiding them altogether)

azulvioleta6

OK, veggies. A lot depends on what you like. Try new things, but don't force yourself to eat veggies that you hate.

The key is to pre-prep so that they are easy and ready to go. Here is what I generally have on hand:

1. Green salad, no dressing. Lettuce, spinach and a variety of other non-starchy chopped veggies. I add to this and tailor it to different meals. It can also go on a sandwich. Keeps for up to a week in a big Tupperware container with a folded paper towel in the bottom to soak up moisture. If I am traveling a lot, Mason jar salads in single servings are handy--search Pinterest for a million ideas on these.
2. Kale salad. Kale is a great nutritional value and it grows in the garden year-round with no work. I vary the salad a bit by season, but it generally has kale, cranberries or pom arils, chopped nuts and parm. I add balsamic vinegar right when I serve it.
3. Crudite. Carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, sliced red peppers, radishes, pea pods...whatever you like. Very portable and great with hummus, yogurt ranch, nut butters, etc. It can also become a stir fry.
4. Veggie soups...sometimes more appealing during the winter than a cold salad. I do about 10 different ones on a rotation--chicken veggie, tortilla soup (no tortillas), minestrone, choppino, etc. Pinterest is a good resource for soup recipes. Again, these keep for quite a while in the fridge, and you can freeze them too. I sometimes do homemade marinara or ratatouille instead of soup and eat those with a very small serving of whole-grain pasta.
5. Whatever cooked veggies you like. Personally, I find green beans a good nutritional value and they are filling and keep well. I also love yams/sweet potatoes. Yes, they are starchy, but they are also very satisfying/filling and come with lots of flavor and vitamins, so I consider them a good use of the carb budget. You can bake up a bunch of sweet potatoes ahead of time--wash well, coat with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and bake for 90 minutes at 350 degrees F. Or you can cut sweet potatoes/yams like French fries or in rounds and bake them at the same temperature for about 30 minutes. They cook well on the grill too, wrapped in foil.

If you don't have the time or inclination to do your own prep, there is nothing wrong with buying pre-prepared veggies at the grocery store. Look in the produce section, but also in the salad bar. Costco has some really nice pre-prepped salads that aren't terribly high in carbs.

azulvioleta6

Your lunch salad sounds great--have it WITH the fish, or with a chicken breast, meat patty etc. and you've got it made.

I will add you--feel free to nose around my diary, but you might want to ignore the last 3 weeks or so as I have been off track/inconsistent. I also eat fewer calories than you do.

Is there a reason why you are not having a full dinner?

arditarose

BudhiRooh wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

a) I'm not good at counting calories -The app does it for you
b) I do not know which food I should consume more--Foods you like, that keep you full, and that help you meet your nutritional needs
c) I've no idea how much should I eat-The amount MFP tells you
d) I've a medical condition PCOS which makes my weight loss journey difficult-But doable
e) I do not WEIGH my food before putting it in my mouth-Weigh your food, it makes a difference.




Eat 1780 calories. Weigh your food. Eat things you like, but you might have to make some adjustments if smaller portions of the things you normally eat don't keep you full. Meal timing does not matter.

Also, congrats on your loss so far. You just need to log properly now and you'll be back at it.

ETA, my calorie goal is at what yours is for today. Feel free to look at my diary. I weigh my food, though I have been using the same can of tuna for ever and it's always under weight so I stopped.

When you say weigh your food, how exactly do you do it? How would I know this much amount I should be eating?

Look at the back on the label and decide how much you want and fits your day. For example, I eat lean turkey and the serving size on the back is 4oz, but I prefer 6 oz and I make that fit into my day-so I weigh out 6 ounces. Another example-my powdered peanut butter serving is 12 grams, but I often prefer 16 or 18 grams so I weigh it as such and log. It will obviously be more calories than the 12gram serving.

zoeysasha37

Start by just learning how to use a food scale properly. Don't make this harder then it has to be.
Learn how to weigh your foods. For example, if the package says a serving of oatmeal is 43grams then put 43 grams of oatmel on the scale. ( if you want more, add more. If you like less, take some away)
So let's say you decided on 43grams of oatmeal, add that to your food diary. Then also add in anything else you are eating with it. Weigh everything first before eating it. Include things like butter, toppings and condiments because those things add up.
After you've learned how to weigh and log your foods accurately then move on to picking which foods you want to eat to have a well balanced diet.
You can play around with what food combinations you like that will also fit into your day.
Most importantly, remember it comes down to calories. To lose weight, all you need is a calorie deficit. Eat less then you burn. It doesn't matter if you eat before bed ( I saw you mentioned something about not eating at night ) what matters is your calories for weight loss.

StaciMarie1974

Getting a food scale, learning to use it, and pre-logging will help you I think. The main advantage of the scale is it improves your accuracy. Right now you're aiming for 1780 per day but you really don't know how much you're actually consuming. You're losing at the rate of almost 1 pound per week. You're still losing, which is good, but expect faster results. You are likely eating more than you think due to estimation errors.

Using the food scale, you can know how much of something you are actually consuming. Such as if you eat a banana, and it weighs 120 grams, you log it as 120 grams. The key here is to choose accurate entries in the MFP database, ones that have serving size as grams. (Avoid the ones that are 1 medium or 1 large of something.)

This is what I mean by pre-logging: generally by mid-morning I will have a plan in place for the day in terms of what I'm having (or have already eaten) for breakfast/lunch/dinner and various snacks. I log those things, and it helps me to fit it all in. I do then adjust as my actual eating my vary. Such as last night I had ham, and went back and changed the quantity as my pre-logging was a guess on weight. And sometimes I make changes, like Monday night I had edamame instead of asparagus. By prelogging I know where I am in terms of calories, and if I'm particularly short on something like protein. That also helps me plan the rest of the day. Such as if I prelog and have 250 calories left and I'm short on protein: I'll increase protein in a meal and/or add a high protein snack.

StaciMarie1974

Ps-as to how to weigh. Most scales have a tare button. Example for a sandwich:

Put plate on scale, turn it on. Or tare it if already on.
Add bread to plate. Note the weight in grams. Tare.
Add ingredient 1 to bread. Note the weight in grams. Tare.
Repeat for other ingredients.

Log bread & ingredients. If the listing in MFP has the option to set serving size to grams, then this is an easy method to choose. Such as if serving size is 100 grams and your bread is 70 grams, then you have .7 servings. Or if serving size is 1 gram, enter 70 servings.

If the listing is based on the package data, such as canning bar codes, you may need to do some math. The bread I use on sandwiches is supposed to be 41 grams for 2 slices. Its often 45-49. If its 49, and supposed to be 41, then the math: 49 divided by 41 = 1.195. Rounded off, I would log it as 1.2 servings.

When you first get the scale, give yourself time to get used to it. See what you're really eating (# of cals per day). Then you can look at your log and see if you need to make changes. Like if you're really coming in at 2000 then you'd want to find areas to cut back. Maybe using a lower cal bread, or having slightly smaller portions of things. Increase low cal veggies and trim back some on higher cal starches.

jgnatca

I'd say with over thirty pounds lost you know more than you give yourself credit for. Weigh everything for a whole day and see what the results get you. You are eating good fats and they add up quickly. Check how much oil you fry your egg in.

kshama2001

Examples of how I incorporate more vegetables:

Breakfast - scrambled eggs with onion, red pepper, and swiss chard or bok choy
Lunch - sandwich with a side of 3.5 ounces / 100 grams broccoli. (I weigh it to make sure I'm getting more of it - previously I had about 2 ounces per serving.)

I love peas but have been counting them as a starch rather than a vegetable. However, Eatwell does not so I may have to rethink that.



http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/eatwell-plate.aspx

kshama2001

Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School's version is the Healthy Eating Plate. Knowing almost half of my plate should be fruits and vegetables is a helpful mental picture. I like the UK version better because they put potatoes with the starches rather than seemingly excluding them.


http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate-vs-usda-myplate/