Weight loss

Hi guys,

I am new to this community and I was wondering if I could get some tips regarding weight loss.

My name is aneesh
I am 25 years old and have a height of 170 cm
And now I am having a weight of 111 kg or 244.7lbs
2 years ago I weighted around 130kg or 286lbs
I went walking in the morning everyday and I have now reached the weight of 244.7lbs. But now I hit a road block. I can't seem to reduce more than this. I don't know what is going on. I am walking like 3kms daily to my work place. I had also reduced my calories intake to less than 1000. Still no avail. I don't know whether this is the right place to ask this but what am I doing wrong here?How to reduce to my ideal weight. I am stuck at my current weight for 5 months straight. Please help me

Replies

  • QueenofHearts023
    QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
    edited February 2016
    To lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn. Enter your stats into the Myfitnesspal app, and your weight loss goal, and stick to the calories the app gives you.

    Weigh all solid food with a food scale and measure all liquids with measuring cups.

    It doesn't matter how much exercise you do - if you eat more than you burn, you will not lose weight.
  • QueenofHearts023
    QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
    edited February 2016
    Also - the minimum amount of calories for a male to consume is 1500, and 1200 for a female. Any lower than that and you will start losing muscle and bone mass and become malnourished.

    You claim to be eating less than 1000 calories a day? Then you should be losing weight. No exceptions. So you are eating more than you think you are, not weighing EVERYTHING or not weighing accurately or underestimating how much you burn during exercise or a combination of the above.

    Solid food measured in measuring cups is not accurate. It must be weighed in grams with a food scale. Liquids are not accurate weighed, and must be measured in measuring cups.
  • Aneeshn630
    Aneeshn630 Posts: 27 Member
    Also - the minimum amount of calories for a male to consume is 1500, and 1200 for a female. Any lower than that and you will start losing muscle and bone mass and become malnourished.

    You claim to be eating less than 1000 calories a day? Then you should be losing weight. No exceptions. So you are eating more than you think you are, not weighing EVERYTHING or not weighing accurately or underestimating how much you burn during exercise or a combination of the above.

    Solid food measured in measuring cups is not accurate. It must be weighed in grams with a food scale. Liquids are not accurate weighed, and must be measured in measuring cups.

    Hi queenhearts023,

    OK here is my weekly routine, in the morning I wake up around 7:30am and will have a glass of Green tea with lemon around 11:00 am I will be having my breakfast which is mainly outside food which will be 1 or 2 dosa and some curry. In the afternoon if I had skipped my breakfast then I will have one plate chapati(3) chapati and a lime juice with sugar. If I had my breakfast then I will only drink a glass of lime juice from my work place. At night before I leave I will have either buy one omelet and toast or will have a pack of biscuit which is chocolate chip cookie biscuits. (will have both if I am really hungry) after coming back to my room I will take my Asthma medication ie formonide 200. This my daily week day routine(in between sometimes I will have one or 2 cups of coffee other than that nothing else)
  • bendyourkneekatie
    bendyourkneekatie Posts: 696 Member
    How are you determining the calories in the food you're eating?
  • Aneeshn630
    Aneeshn630 Posts: 27 Member
    katem999 wrote: »
    How are you determining the calories in the food you're eating?

    Hi katem999,

    Well I mainly use my fitness app. If it is anything wrapped then I will scan the barcode on the packet if not then I will manually input it.
  • bendyourkneekatie
    bendyourkneekatie Posts: 696 Member
    Are you weighing your food?
  • Aneeshn630
    Aneeshn630 Posts: 27 Member
    katem999 wrote: »
    Are you weighing your food?

    Weighing my food? What does that mean? Is it something like on the food packets it is mentioned like 200grams? Is that what weighing your food mean?
  • QueenofHearts023
    QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
    edited February 2016
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    katem999 wrote: »
    Are you weighing your food?

    Weighing my food? What does that mean? Is it something like on the food packets it is mentioned like 200grams? Is that what weighing your food mean?

    Yes weigh your food with a food scale. My lunch is for example 100grams of chicken breast with 150grams of vegetables and 30grams of cheese. It's the only way to be sure how many calories you are eating. Then you enter those foods and the amount you are eating in this app, which will tell you how many calories they add to your day.

    You should also weigh packaged food that already has the weight on them, as they are not always accurate.
  • Aneeshn630
    Aneeshn630 Posts: 27 Member
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    katem999 wrote: »
    Are you weighing your food?

    Weighing my food? What does that mean? Is it something like on the food packets it is mentioned like 200grams? Is that what weighing your food mean?

    Yes weigh your food with a food scale. My lunch is for example 100grams of chicken breast with 150grams of vegetables and 30grams of cheese. It's the only wat to be sure how many calories you are eating. Then you enter those foods and the amount you are eating in this app, which will tell you how much calories they add to your day.

    You should also weight packaged food that already has the weight on them, as they are not alwayd accurate.

    Oh in that case I am not weighing my food. When I have my food I normally take into account the calories and number of pieces that I am having. In the mornings I normally eat in restaurants on my way to office. After the breakfast i will check the calories in myfitness app. According to that I will adjust the rest of my day's food intake.
  • QueenofHearts023
    QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    katem999 wrote: »
    Are you weighing your food?

    Weighing my food? What does that mean? Is it something like on the food packets it is mentioned like 200grams? Is that what weighing your food mean?

    Yes weigh your food with a food scale. My lunch is for example 100grams of chicken breast with 150grams of vegetables and 30grams of cheese. It's the only wat to be sure how many calories you are eating. Then you enter those foods and the amount you are eating in this app, which will tell you how much calories they add to your day.

    You should also weight packaged food that already has the weight on them, as they are not alwayd accurate.

    Oh in that case I am not weighing my food. When I have my food I normally take into account the calories and number of pieces that I am having. In the mornings I normally eat in restaurants on my way to office. After the breakfast i will check the calories in myfitness app. According to that I will adjust the rest of my day's food intake.

    How can you know how much calories you are eating if you don't know the weight of the pieces? A chicken breast can be anywhere from 100-300grams of meat. That's a huge margin for error.

    Maybe skip the restaurants and make your meals ahead of time, then just grab them and go. At least that way you know what you are eating and how much. One restaurant meal can be between 1000-1800 calories... for ONE meal.

    Buy a food scale and weigh everything.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,131 Member
    You have no way of knowing how much oil and other ingredients are going into street food and it doesn't sound like you have experience with cooking yourself.

    Furthermore your food sounds very deficient in complete proteins and there is a good chance that you may be actually malnourished in spite of your weight.

    Dahl with whole wheat would form complete proteins but chapati or roti by itself might not.

    When you lose weight you lose both fat and lean mass. Sufficient protein helps you retain lean mass.

    Sufficient quantities of incomplete proteins may give you enough of the amino acids they are deficient in to not require that you eat a complementary protein to get enough of the deficient one.

    However if you are eating small quantities you may not be eating enough quantity for this to happen. Which means that by preference you should eat a complementary protein that has the amino acids the first protein doesn't.

    Having said all that (sorry for the digression) we come back to the fact that you have no idea how much food you're eating.

    Some curry could be a bowl of 1000 Cal worth of curry, or it could be 2 tablespoons and 120 Cal worth of sauce to wet your bread in.

    And if you have Dahl prepared by yourself with no oil vs dahl that has been prepared with a lot of oil the difference could be just as big (each tablespoon of oil is 120 Cal) So a full plate of dahl with some onion can range from 300 cal to 600 just by having the onions cooked in plenty of oil

    MFP is not well geared for ethnic food and the database entries are pretty generic. They will give you an "idea" about Indian food values; but, you would be much better served to make your own recipes starting from base ingredients. Which it doesn't sound like you are ready to do.

    Sorry my friend. You will have to give your health priority and make changes in your life that allow you to take more control.

    You are stalled because:

    You are used to walking and unless you walk more and faster your caloric expenditure has fallen by a good 20% compared to when you first started.

    You do not know how much you are eating, so you could in fact be eating a lot more than 1000 cal. Or less even. you just don't know.

    You are possibly malnourished which means that your body may be taking steps to protect you by lowering your core temperature, getting you to reduce your fidgeting, making you feel more lethargic all of which make it slightly harder for you to lose weight.

    I would seriously consider cooking my own food and bringing it to work with me. If you know what you eat you can plan how much you have to move to balance out. .
  • Aneeshn630
    Aneeshn630 Posts: 27 Member
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    katem999 wrote: »
    Are you weighing your food?

    Weighing my food? What does that mean? Is it something like on the food packets it is mentioned like 200grams? Is that what weighing your food mean?

    Yes weigh your food with a food scale. My lunch is for example 100grams of chicken breast with 150grams of vegetables and 30grams of cheese. It's the only wat to be sure how many calories you are eating. Then you enter those foods and the amount you are eating in this app, which will tell you how much calories they add to your day.

    You should also weight packaged food that already has the weight on them, as they are not alwayd accurate.

    Oh in that case I am not weighing my food. When I have my food I normally take into account the calories and number of pieces that I am having. In the mornings I normally eat in restaurants on my way to office. After the breakfast i will check the calories in myfitness app. According to that I will adjust the rest of my day's food intake.

    How can you know how much calories you are eating if you don't know the weight of the pieces? A chicken breast can be anywhere from 100-300grams of meat. That's a huge margin for error.

    Maybe skip the restaurants and make your meals ahead of time, then just grab them and go. At least that way you know what you are eating and how much. One restaurant meal can be between 1000-1800 calories... for ONE meal.

    Buy a food scale and weigh everything.

    A Restaurant meal can be 1000 Cal? I don't get it. How come one small breakfast will have 1000 calories. Whenever I enter the data into myfitness app my breakfast calories doesn't go beyond 500 unless I try
  • Aneeshn630
    Aneeshn630 Posts: 27 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    You have no way of knowing how much oil and other ingredients are going into street food and it doesn't sound like you have experience with cooking yourself.

    Furthermore your food sounds very deficient in complete proteins and there is a good chance that you may be actually malnourished in spite of your weight.

    Dahl with whole wheat would form complete proteins but chapati or roti by itself might not.

    When you lose weight you lose both fat and lean mass. Sufficient protein helps you retain lean mass.

    Sufficient quantities of incomplete proteins may give you enough of the amino acids they are deficient in to not require that you eat a complementary protein to get enough of the deficient one.

    However if you are eating small quantities you may not be eating enough quantity for this to happen. Which means that by preference you should eat a complementary protein that has the amino acids the first protein doesn't.

    Having said all that (sorry for the digression) we come back to the fact that you have no idea how much food you're eating.

    Some curry could be a bowl of 1000 Cal worth of curry, or it could be 2 tablespoons and 120 Cal worth of sauce to wet your bread in.

    And if you have Dahl prepared by yourself with no oil vs dahl that has been prepared with a lot of oil the difference could be just as big (each tablespoon of oil is 120 Cal) So a full plate of dahl with some onion can range from 300 cal to 600 just by having the onions cooked in plenty of oil

    MFP is not well geared for ethnic food and the database entries are pretty generic. They will give you an "idea" about Indian food values; but, you would be much better served to make your own recipes starting from base ingredients. Which it doesn't sound like you are ready to do.

    Sorry my friend. You will have to give your health priority and make changes in your life that allow you to take more control.

    You are stalled because:

    You are used to walking and unless you walk more and faster your caloric expenditure has fallen by a good 20% compared to when you first started.

    You do not know how much you are eating, so you could in fact be eating a lot more than 1000 cal. Or less even. you just don't know.

    You are possibly malnourished which means that your body may be taking steps to protect you by lowering your core temperature, getting you to reduce your fidgeting, making you feel more lethargic all of which make it slightly harder for you to lose weight.

    I would seriously consider cooking my own food and bringing it to work with me. If you know what you eat you can plan how much you have to move to balance out. .

    Hi PAV888,

    Unfortunately most of the things you have said is right even though I hate to admit it.

    Yes, I was walking 1.5 km and later on i had figured out that I was in fact walking slower and slower everyday I just doubled my effort. I just started walking 3km and also started using the stairs in my office rather than the elevator. So I think the physical part is covered.

    And about your second statement, yes considering from what I heard from the community it looks like I don't know how to measure food. I just thought it will be like basic according to the number of items you eat+ calories but I seem to be mistaken.

    I know I might be malnutritioned but I know people who eat only one grape to reduce weight and you know what they succeeded in that.

    And about your last one yes I would also like to do my own cooking. But due to many reasons which includes the main reason of all, "I cannot cook" and i don't have anything to cook including the microwave and even if I Learn to cook and buy all the utilities I don't think on my busy schedule I will be able to cook.

    All I can do right now is that I will cut down my food intake even more. Which means maybe having food only once a day or go for a vegan diet and see for a next few months
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    You have no way of knowing how much oil and other ingredients are going into street food and it doesn't sound like you have experience with cooking yourself.

    Furthermore your food sounds very deficient in complete proteins and there is a good chance that you may be actually malnourished in spite of your weight.

    Dahl with whole wheat would form complete proteins but chapati or roti by itself might not.

    When you lose weight you lose both fat and lean mass. Sufficient protein helps you retain lean mass.

    Sufficient quantities of incomplete proteins may give you enough of the amino acids they are deficient in to not require that you eat a complementary protein to get enough of the deficient one.

    However if you are eating small quantities you may not be eating enough quantity for this to happen. Which means that by preference you should eat a complementary protein that has the amino acids the first protein doesn't.

    Having said all that (sorry for the digression) we come back to the fact that you have no idea how much food you're eating.

    Some curry could be a bowl of 1000 Cal worth of curry, or it could be 2 tablespoons and 120 Cal worth of sauce to wet your bread in.

    And if you have Dahl prepared by yourself with no oil vs dahl that has been prepared with a lot of oil the difference could be just as big (each tablespoon of oil is 120 Cal) So a full plate of dahl with some onion can range from 300 cal to 600 just by having the onions cooked in plenty of oil

    MFP is not well geared for ethnic food and the database entries are pretty generic. They will give you an "idea" about Indian food values; but, you would be much better served to make your own recipes starting from base ingredients. Which it doesn't sound like you are ready to do.

    Sorry my friend. You will have to give your health priority and make changes in your life that allow you to take more control.

    You are stalled because:

    You are used to walking and unless you walk more and faster your caloric expenditure has fallen by a good 20% compared to when you first started.

    You do not know how much you are eating, so you could in fact be eating a lot more than 1000 cal. Or less even. you just don't know.

    You are possibly malnourished which means that your body may be taking steps to protect you by lowering your core temperature, getting you to reduce your fidgeting, making you feel more lethargic all of which make it slightly harder for you to lose weight.

    I would seriously consider cooking my own food and bringing it to work with me. If you know what you eat you can plan how much you have to move to balance out. .

    Hi PAV888,

    Unfortunately most of the things you have said is right even though I hate to admit it.

    Yes, I was walking 1.5 km and later on i had figured out that I was in fact walking slower and slower everyday I just doubled my effort. I just started walking 3km and also started using the stairs in my office rather than the elevator. So I think the physical part is covered.

    And about your second statement, yes considering from what I heard from the community it looks like I don't know how to measure food. I just thought it will be like basic according to the number of items you eat+ calories but I seem to be mistaken.

    I know I might be malnutritioned but I know people who eat only one grape to reduce weight and you know what they succeeded in that.

    And about your last one yes I would also like to do my own cooking. But due to many reasons which includes the main reason of all, "I cannot cook" and i don't have anything to cook including the microwave and even if I Learn to cook and buy all the utilities I don't think on my busy schedule I will be able to cook.

    All I can do right now is that I will cut down my food intake even more. Which means maybe having food only once a day or go for a vegan diet and see for a next few months

    Going vegan won't cut down on your food intake. It will just reduce the number of foods that you eat. But caloriewise, you could easily end up eating the same or even more.

    And one grape? You couldn't go very long just on that.
  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
    edited February 2016
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »

    OK here is my weekly routine, in the morning I wake up around 7:30am and will have a glass of Green tea with lemon around 11:00 am I will be having my breakfast which is mainly outside food which will be 1 or 2 dosa and some curry. In the afternoon if I had skipped my breakfast then I will have one plate chapati(3) chapati and a lime juice with sugar. If I had my breakfast then I will only drink a glass of lime juice from my work place. At night before I leave I will have either buy one omelet and toast or will have a pack of biscuit which is chocolate chip cookie biscuits. (will have both if I am really hungry) after coming back to my room I will take my Asthma medication ie formonide 200. This my daily week day routine(in between sometimes I will have one or 2 cups of coffee other than that nothing else)

    What kind of dosa and how big? How much curry? How much sugar do you put in the lime juice? How many eggs in the omelet? And are there any fillings? Is there oil or butter used to cook the omelet? What kind of toast? How many slices? Is there butter or jam on the toast?

    You need to figure out all of these things to figure out calories. If you can't eat at home and weigh everything, then you'll most likely need to just reduce your intake. Don't eat the biscuits or have about half what you normally have. Dont eat 1 or 2 dosa, eat half a dosa. Put half the sugar you normally put in your lime juice. Eat half the curry you normally eat. Eat half the omelet instead of the whole thing. I suspect you are eating much more than 1000 calories.

    You don't have to make all these changes at once, but gradually take things out of your diet until you start seeing results.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,131 Member
    edited February 2016
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    [
    Unfortunately most of the things you have said is right even though I hate to admit it.

    Yes, I was walking 1.5 km and later on i had figured out that I was in fact walking slower and slower everyday I just doubled my effort. I just started walking 3km and also started using the stairs in my office rather than the elevator. So I think the physical part is covered.

    And about your second statement, yes considering from what I heard from the community it looks like I don't know how to measure food. I just thought it will be like basic according to the number of items you eat+ calories but I seem to be mistaken.

    I know I might be malnutritioned but I know people who eat only one grape to reduce weight and you know what they succeeded in that.

    And about your last one yes I would also like to do my own cooking. But due to many reasons which includes the main reason of all, "I cannot cook" and i don't have anything to cook including the microwave and even if I Learn to cook and buy all the utilities I don't think on my busy schedule I will be able to cook.

    All I can do right now is that I will cut down my food intake even more. Which means maybe having food only once a day or go for a vegan diet and see for a next few months

    @Aneeshn630 I thought a little bit more about your situation and I have the following things to say as well meant advice to you:

    a) Put minimums not maximums to physical activity. Your goal should be a continuous improvement process.

    b) DO NOT reduce the types of food you eat or go vegetarian only (or ANYTHING only) until you get a much better understanding of carbohydrates (glycemic load), proteins (compete/ complementary), fats (saturated vs mono or poly-unsaturated), fiber, vitamins... so that you have a reasonable chance to make decisions that will keep you healthy.

    c) understand that this is YOUR health. Your other activities, schedule, work, social life, may suffer a bit so that you have time to handle your own health.

    d) Based on your responses I seriously doubt you are actually eating only 1000 Cal. I usually consider a one plate indian buffet serving with up to one naan NOT dripping in ghee to be about 1200-1500 Cal. This is while drinking water, no samosa, or chutneys, or chai, or sweats.

    To log you have to break down things to their constituent components and estimate the weight of each component.

    How do you estimate an Omelette? I can go to iHOP and get a ham and cheese omelette that contains some pancake batter to fluff it up and a lot more fat during the cooking process than I would use at home, plus lots of cheese, and it will come in at over 1200 Cal. Before I add some jam and peanut butter to (pre slathered with margarine) toast. Or I can order iHOP's egg white omelette with turkey bacon and less fat in the cooking process, and it comes in at under 450 Cal with a side of fruit (or do the same thing at home for 350!)

    so

    e) the only solution without you changing things a lot by either hiring someone to prepare food for you according to your own specifications, or learning how to cook and getting a gas (or induction) cooktop, is to cut down on food.

    BUT DON'T GO CRAZY AND CUT EVERYTHING AT ONCE.

    Cut things down... smartly.

    Lime with sugar? reduce the sugar. Replace sugar with sucralose.

    When you order food, ask that they don't add or minimize oil. Ask for things that are not fried if available. Eat more bindi than potatoes. Cauliflower instead of rice :smile: (starches have more calories than veggies. legumes also have a lot of calories relative to veggies but they are a major protein source). Eat leaner cuts of meat. Eat fresh fruit, or items that are simple to estimate because they are made from few ingredients.

    reduce deserts. Cookies are deserts. If you're hungry have food instead of desert. Eat some fresh vegetables (cucumbers, onion). make your own raita and have lots of it instead of other things.

    Use MFP to guide you to caloric "bargains". Find things that fill you up for less calories (and double check that you haven't fallen victim of a scam (bad database entry) and that your caloric bargain truly is a caloric bargain (google is your friend there!)

    f) VERY IMPORTANT. Start using a trending weight program. Libra for android, happy scale for iphone, www.trendweight.com in conjunction with a free fitbit.com account (available without a fitness band), or www.weightgrapher.com if you need to enter the data manually.

    Stop looking at your scale weight and start looking at your trending weight.

    You should seek to enter about 20 days worth of data before the "pipeline" has enough data to come up with a trusted weight trend, but even before that you should be able to see the direction your efforts are taking you to.

    g) DO NOT TRY TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST.
    Seek to make long term changes that you feel confident you can keep to over the next 5 years.
    If you are doing something you don't think you can keep doing for AT LEAST two years... you should reconsider whether it is something you should be doing at all.
    Say no to short term solutions you can't stick to long term.

    If you are obese (BMI >30), seek to have trendweight showing you as losing between 0.5lbs and 1.5lbs a week (multiply by 0.4536 for kg)
    If you are overweight ( 25<BMI<30), seek to have trendweight showing you as losing between 0.5lbs and 1lbs a week)
    If you are of normal weight (BMI<25), seek to have trendweight showing you as losing between 0.25lbs and 0.5lbs a week.

    Adjust your eating and exercise according to your results via trendweight (or the other weight trend program you pick to use--I am mostly familiar with, and use, trendweight myself).

    Note that you weight yourself at the same time every day, preferably in the morning, after successfully using the bathroom, before eating or drinking anything, using the same scale, positioned on the same piece of un-yielding level floor, dressed the same way (usually naked), and with your scale having a good battery. Anything else... is invalid data. Seek to improve your data :smiley:

    Good luck
  • Aneeshn630
    Aneeshn630 Posts: 27 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    [
    Unfortunately most of the things you have said is right even though I hate to admit it.

    Yes, I was walking 1.5 km and later on i had figured out that I was in fact walking slower and slower everyday I just doubled my effort. I just started walking 3km and also started using the stairs in my office rather than the elevator. So I think the physical part is covered.

    And about your second statement, yes considering from what I heard from the community it looks like I don't know how to measure food. I just thought it will be like basic according to the number of items you eat+ calories but I seem to be mistaken.

    I know I might be malnutritioned but I know people who eat only one grape to reduce weight and you know what they succeeded in that.

    And about your last one yes I would also like to do my own cooking. But due to many reasons which includes the main reason of all, "I cannot cook" and i don't have anything to cook including the microwave and even if I Learn to cook and buy all the utilities I don't think on my busy schedule I will be able to cook.

    All I can do right now is that I will cut down my food intake even more. Which means maybe having food only once a day or go for a vegan diet and see for a next few months

    @Aneeshn630 I thought a little bit more about your situation and I have the following things to say as well meant advice to you:

    a) Put minimums not maximums to physical activity. Your goal should be a continuous improvement process.

    b) DO NOT reduce the types of food you eat or go vegetarian only (or ANYTHING only) until you get a much better understanding of carbohydrates (glycemic load), proteins (compete/ complementary), fats (saturated vs mono or poly-unsaturated), fiber, vitamins... so that you have a reasonable chance to make decisions that will keep you healthy.

    c) understand that this is YOUR health. Your other activities, schedule, work, social life, may suffer a bit so that you have time to handle your own health.

    d) Based on your responses I seriously doubt you are actually eating only 1000 Cal. I usually consider a one plate indian buffet serving with up to one naan NOT dripping in ghee to be about 1200-1500 Cal. This is while drinking water, no samosa, or chutneys, or chai, or sweats.

    To log you have to break down things to their constituent components and estimate the weight of each component.

    How do you estimate an Omelette? I can go to iHOP and get a ham and cheese omelette that contains some pancake batter to fluff it up and a lot more fat during the cooking process than I would use at home, plus lots of cheese, and it will come in at over 1200 Cal. Before I add some jam and peanut butter to (pre slathered with margarine) toast. Or I can order iHOP's egg white omelette with turkey bacon and less fat in the cooking process, and it comes in at under 450 Cal with a side of fruit (or do the same thing at home for 350!)

    so

    e) the only solution without you changing things a lot by either hiring someone to prepare food for you according to your own specifications, or learning how to cook and getting a gas (or induction) cooktop, is to cut down on food.

    BUT DON'T GO CRAZY AND CUT EVERYTHING AT ONCE.

    Cut things down... smartly.

    Lime with sugar? reduce the sugar. Replace sugar with sucralose.

    When you order food, ask that they don't add or minimize oil. Ask for things that are not fried if available. Eat more bindi than potatoes. Cauliflower instead of rice :smile: (starches have more calories than veggies. legumes also have a lot of calories relative to veggies but they are a major protein source). Eat leaner cuts of meat. Eat fresh fruit, or items that are simple to estimate because they are made from few ingredients.

    reduce deserts. Cookies are deserts. If you're hungry have food instead of desert. Eat some fresh vegetables (cucumbers, onion). make your own raita and have lots of it instead of other things.

    Use MFP to guide you to caloric "bargains". Find things that fill you up for less calories (and double check that you haven't fallen victim of a scam (bad database entry) and that your caloric bargain truly is a caloric bargain (google is your friend there!)

    f) VERY IMPORTANT. Start using a trending weight program. Libra for android, happy scale for iphone, www.trendweight.com in conjunction with a free fitbit.com account (available without a fitness band), or www.weightgrapher.com if you need to enter the data manually.

    Stop looking at your scale weight and start looking at your trending weight.

    You should seek to enter about 20 days worth of data before the "pipeline" has enough data to come up with a trusted weight trend, but even before that you should be able to see the direction your efforts are taking you to.

    g) DO NOT TRY TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST.
    Seek to make long term changes that you feel confident you can keep to over the next 5 years.
    If you are doing something you don't think you can keep doing for AT LEAST two years... you should reconsider whether it is something you should be doing at all.
    Say no to short term solutions you can't stick to long term.

    If you are obese (BMI >30), seek to have trendweight showing you as losing between 0.5lbs and 1.5lbs a week (multiply by 0.4536 for kg)
    If you are overweight ( 25<BMI<30), seek to have trendweight showing you as losing between 0.5lbs and 1lbs a week)
    If you are of normal weight (BMI<25), seek to have trendweight showing you as losing between 0.25lbs and 0.5lbs a week.

    Adjust your eating and exercise according to your results via trendweight (or the other weight trend program you pick to use--I am mostly familiar with, and use, trendweight myself).

    Note that you weight yourself at the same time every day, preferably in the morning, after successfully using the bathroom, before eating or drinking anything, using the same scale, positioned on the same piece of un-yielding level floor, dressed the same way (usually naked), and with your scale having a good battery. Anything else... is invalid data. Seek to improve your data :smiley:

    Good luck

    Thanks PAV8888

    The only thing I am frustrated is that whatever that worked previously is not working right now. Now I know why.

    But I do have some questions regarding what you have told me



    1)i didn't understand this trend weight program? Is it something like I have to weigh myself everyday and enter it in the Libra app?

    2) what is the food that doesn't have calories and will fill you up. Is it like veggies? Can you give me some examples?

    3) About the proteins part can I get the start having sugarless protein bars instead of going on a hunt for protein enriched foods?

    4) what is sucralose? Is it like artificial sweetener? When I Googled it is mentioned as a health risk

    5) can I compensate my vitamin loss by vitamin supplements? Is is really bad for me?

    6) How much fat can I have in a day(assuming each and every food we have will have atleast 3g fat

    7) sorry it is so long but it is my first time hearing so many things which I don't know about weight loss. But I still have a lot of questions if you don't mind me asking which is the best place/community that I can know more about weight loss. Like the vitamins necessary for the body during Weight loss or the food to stay away from. Those kind of things.

    Last but not the least @PAV888 you have given me so much information thank you so much
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,131 Member
    edited February 2016
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    But I do have some questions regarding what you have told me

    1)i didn't understand this trend weight program? Is it something like I have to weigh myself everyday and enter it in the Libra app?
    2) what is the food that doesn't have calories and will fill you up. Is it like veggies? Can you give me some examples?
    3) About the proteins part can I get the start having sugarless protein bars instead of going on a hunt for protein enriched foods?
    4) what is sucralose? Is it like artificial sweetener? When I Googled it is mentioned as a health risk
    5) can I compensate my vitamin loss by vitamin supplements? Is is really bad for me?
    6) How much fat can I have in a day(assuming each and every food we have will have atleast 3g fat
    7) sorry it is so long but it is my first time hearing so many things which I don't know about weight loss. But I still have a lot of questions if you don't mind me asking which is the best place/community that I can know more about weight loss. Like the vitamins necessary for the body during Weight loss or the food to stay away from. Those kind of things.

    You may want to make separate posts with various questions if you can't find answers to give other people the opportunity to answer some of them too.

    1--yes. instead of focusing on single weight measurements that reflect fast changing "water" weight, you are watching the trend of your underlying weight level. The programs that do that work best by having a data point each day.

    2--yes. plain veggies probably have the fewest calories. Cucumber, celery, lettuce, even spinach have very few calories compared to their bulk. From there it really depends on what is available and in your budget. For example fish or ham can often be found at or under 1 Calorie per gram. I consider 1 calorie per gram to be a good bargain :smiley: 0% fat, high protein Greek type yogurt tends to be around 100 Cal per 175 gram... an even better bargain calorically speaking. Be careful: some fruit actually has a good amount of calories; but fruits are not bad options compared to sweets for example.

    3--I certainly eat protein bars. However I fully expect that the quality of the protein is far inferior to that available from relatively less processed food. I tend to use protein bars to replace chocolate bars and when I don't have time to deal with food, or am lacking a better alternative.

    Use them, but unless you only plan to eat protein bars for the rest of your life figure out what kind of food you can eat that provides you with the protein you need

    4--Sucralose is an artificial sweetener commercially known (among other names) as Splenda. You will certainly find a lively debate about how bad artificial sweeteners are for you. Almost every protein bar I've ever seen is sweetened with artificial sweeteners. I used to avoid artificial sweeteners and consume sugar. I now avoid sugar and consume artificial sweeteners. You can certainly lose weight by incorporating real sugar in your diet. I just find it easier to reach my caloric goal by consuming sweeteners. Note that there are thousands of products that pose risk to your health. Nitrates, artificial colors, the air you breathe, the pesticide residues in the vegetables you eat, heavy metals in the fish you eat, antibiotics in the meat you eat. Your life... your decision :-)

    5--we have no clue how much you are eating or not eating. A registered dietician or equivalent may be able to help you design a balance diet with all the vitamins you need. A lot of people take vitamins. Some vitamins need fats to be soluble. some are absorbed better with calcium. Other people may be better able to advise you on vitamins. I tend to eat a wide variety of food and hope that is enough :-)

    6-- you can not make an assumption about how much fat each food has. it depends on how it was cooked. 15g of fat is a tablespoon. A teaspoon is 5g. You can enter your height, age, sex, activity level, and a reasonable deficit in MFP (may I suggest that -500Cal a day, 1lb/0.5kg a week is a reasonable goal for someone who is not particularly active ). MFP will then suggest a % of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Males can get away with eating less fat that females. Note that many people find themselves more full if they eat food that is high in fat and protein and chose to limit carbohydrates instead. I am not one of them; but, that option does exist.

    7--You may want to read the first post in every section of the forum. It contains links to other posts where a lot of issues associated with weight loss are discussed. It is not laid out as a course, so a lot of exploring may be needed. but it is a good start.
  • Aneeshn630
    Aneeshn630 Posts: 27 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Aneeshn630 wrote: »
    But I do have some questions regarding what you have told me

    1)i didn't understand this trend weight program? Is it something like I have to weigh myself everyday and enter it in the Libra app?
    2) what is the food that doesn't have calories and will fill you up. Is it like veggies? Can you give me some examples?
    3) About the proteins part can I get the start having sugarless protein bars instead of going on a hunt for protein enriched foods?
    4) what is sucralose? Is it like artificial sweetener? When I Googled it is mentioned as a health risk
    5) can I compensate my vitamin loss by vitamin supplements? Is is really bad for me?
    6) How much fat can I have in a day(assuming each and every food we have will have atleast 3g fat
    7) sorry it is so long but it is my first time hearing so many things which I don't know about weight loss. But I still have a lot of questions if you don't mind me asking which is the best place/community that I can know more about weight loss. Like the vitamins necessary for the body during Weight loss or the food to stay away from. Those kind of things.

    You may want to make separate posts with various questions if you can't find answers to give other people the opportunity to answer some of them too.

    1--yes. instead of focusing on single weight measurements that reflect fast changing "water" weight, you are watching the trend of your underlying weight level. The programs that do that work best by having a data point each day.

    2--yes. plain veggies probably have the fewest calories. Cucumber, celery, lettuce, even spinach have very few calories compared to their bulk. From there it really depends on what is available and in your budget. For example fish or ham can often be found at or under 1 Calorie per gram. I consider 1 calorie per gram to be a good bargain :smiley: 0% fat, high protein Greek type yogurt tends to be around 100 Cal per 175 gram... an even better bargain calorically speaking. Be careful: some fruit actually has a good amount of calories; but fruits are not bad options compared to sweets for example.

    3--I certainly eat protein bars. However I fully expect that the quality of the protein is far inferior to that available from relatively less processed food. I tend to use protein bars to replace chocolate bars and when I don't have time to deal with food, or am lacking a better alternative.

    Use them, but unless you only plan to eat protein bars for the rest of your life figure out what kind of food you can eat that provides you with the protein you need

    4--Sucralose is an artificial sweetener commercially known (among other names) as Splenda. You will certainly find a lively debate about how bad artificial sweeteners are for you. Almost every protein bar I've ever seen is sweetened with artificial sweeteners. I used to avoid artificial sweeteners and consume sugar. I now avoid sugar and consume artificial sweeteners. You can certainly lose weight by incorporating real sugar in your diet. I just find it easier to reach my caloric goal by consuming sweeteners. Note that there are thousands of products that pose risk to your health. Nitrates, artificial colors, the air you breathe, the pesticide residues in the vegetables you eat, heavy metals in the fish you eat, antibiotics in the meat you eat. Your life... your decision :-)

    5--we have no clue how much you are eating or not eating. A registered dietician or equivalent may be able to help you design a balance diet with all the vitamins you need. A lot of people take vitamins. Some vitamins need fats to be soluble. some are absorbed better with calcium. Other people may be better able to advise you on vitamins. I tend to eat a wide variety of food and hope that is enough :-)

    6-- you can not make an assumption about how much fat each food has. it depends on how it was cooked. 15g of fat is a tablespoon. A teaspoon is 5g. You can enter your height, age, sex, activity level, and a reasonable deficit in MFP (may I suggest that -500Cal a day, 1lb/0.5kg a week is a reasonable goal for someone who is not particularly active ). MFP will then suggest a % of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Males can get away with eating less fat that females. Note that many people find themselves more full if they eat food that is high in fat and protein and chose to limit carbohydrates instead. I am not one of them; but, that option does exist.

    7--You may want to read the first post in every section of the forum. It contains links to other posts where a lot of issues associated with weight loss are discussed. It is not laid out as a course, so a lot of exploring may be needed. but it is a good start.

    Thanks PAV888 :)