What am I doing wrong in my diet.

MoniqueChene

Hi all

So I decided to change my lifestyle 3 weeks ago , started eating much healthier and stopped all sweets and other rubbish food but the weight loss just isn't going the way I would prefer it to go!

Typical day:
Breakfast - Hard Boiled egg , Sometimes teaspoon of cottage cheese.
Snack-small green apple
Lunch - Meal replacement shake
Dinne- salad or steamed veg with either fish/ chicken .

This is a drastic change from my normal days food which was packed with high carbs and sugar.
Anyone have some advice as to why I'm not loosing anything ??

louise13dunstan

From what u have posted, protein may be low. Maybe try and switch from meal replacement shakes to a good protein rich lunch.

kathrynjean_

Weight loss comes from nothing more than a calorie deficit. Are you weighing all of your solid foods and measuring all of your liquids?

amyepdx

You say "typical day" but is that every day for the last 3 weeks or are there "not-typical" days in there that are throwing you off?

MoniqueChene

I Guess I could step it up when it comes to weighing in...
This might be a silly question but how would I know what portion size is right for me?
I'm not following any specific diet as everything is ideas I get off different sites...

minniemoo1972

What would you prefer it do? You don't say what you lost.....but it seems pretty low in calories and unsustainable long term. Eat the calories mfp sets for you.

Ready2Rock206

Seems rather extreme and very low calorie. Get a food scale - eat as many calories as MFP says you should. Doesn't matter the foods or the quantity of each individual food as long as you're in a calorie deficit.

vegasleo79

I would take a more moderate approach, this seems a little drastic to me. Are you working out? Eating those calories back? You can eat more and even have a treat here or there and still lose weight.

chandanista

A teaspoon of cottage cheese really?

How many calories is MFP claiming you are eating in a day? Your whole day looks like one meal. Except the cottage cheese, I eat many bites of that.

Yi5hedr3

Insufficient data.

Linziyo

MoniqueChene wrote: »

This is a drastic change from my normal days food which was packed with high carbs and sugar.

That sounds like a drastic change for anyone. I could never get through this on such a little amount of food... I have trouble believing that you are even in a safe caloric range. I eat many of the items you have mentioned within a day... plus a lot more, and even I have trouble getting my calories up enough.

Be careful with that.

xtina315

Too little food.

benzieboxx

There's no way I could stick to a diet like that. Honestly from that small amount of food, you are most likely eating more than you think. Or you're not being honest about some possible snacking going on through the day.
Why exactly are you restricting yourself so much? Weight loss doesn't have to be some miserable experience. I eat all of the foods that I love every day.

As far as portions go, start weighing your stuff out. Don't go crazy and eat an entire helping of something. Like a whole pizza by yourself. Want some pizza? Log it and weigh the portion you want to eat.

quiksylver296

chandanista wrote: »

A teaspoon of cottage cheese really?

How many calories is MFP claiming you are eating in a day? Your whole day looks like one meal. Except the cottage cheese, I eat many bites of that.

That was my thought, too.

Check this out, OP.

dolliesdaughter

I don't think you are eating minimal calories.

elphie754

dolliesdaughter wrote: »

I don't think you are eating minimal calories.

If she wasn't she would be losing weight.

itsbasschick

that should be very low calorie, but i find myself wondering about that meal replacement shake - what shake is it, how is it made. also how are the fish or chicken measured and prepared and what dressing - if any - are you using on your salads?

btw, eating nothing but an egg, one spoon of cottage cheese and an apple is low calorie but it isn't actually healthy.

MoniqueChene wrote: »

Hi all

So I decided to change my lifestyle 3 weeks ago , started eating much healthier and stopped all sweets and other rubbish food but the weight loss just isn't going the way I would prefer it to go!

Typical day:
Breakfast - Hard Boiled egg , Sometimes teaspoon of cottage cheese.
Snack-small green apple
Lunch - Meal replacement shake
Dinne- salad or steamed veg with either fish/ chicken .

This is a drastic change from my normal days food which was packed with high carbs and sugar.
Anyone have some advice as to why I'm not loosing anything ??

stealthq

elphie754 wrote: »

dolliesdaughter wrote: »

I don't think you are eating minimal calories.

If she wasn't she would be losing weight.

She's young and female, so water retention not unlikely. No info on weight, so she may be at a healthy weight and wanting to lose vanity pounds. Normal fluctuations could still be masking loss.

85Cardinals

A tablespoon of cottage cheese would be way more satisfying than a teaspoon. Maybe splurge on a large apple too, try a Gala.

jwcanfield

MoniqueChene wrote: »

I Guess I could step it up when it comes to weighing in...
This might be a silly question but how would I know what portion size is right for me?
I'm not following any specific diet as everything is ideas I get off different sites...

Have you followed the steps here on MFP to figure out what your daily intake should be? Then measure and log what you eat. That first step, figuring out what your daily intake should be, will be a major part of getting things rolling for you.

KristenNagle1

I think you're eating too little. But I recently ate an entire large container of cottage cheese in one sitting. So maybe you shouldn't ask me. . .

Lounmoun

Check the accuracy of your logging if you are not losing weight as expected after several weeks. Get a food scale and use it. Make sure you are choosing accurate entries from the database when you log.

You need a calorie deficit to lose weight. You do not have to eat a special diet.
You need to eat in a way you can sustain long term. Restricting your diet a lot, replacing meals with shakes, choosing an aggressively low calorie goal can make it difficult to sustain your diet and weight loss over time.

sanfromny

OP, you just joined MFP yesterday so how were you keeping track of calories before that? You need to eat to what is recommended by MFP and make sure you are putting everything in accurately.

Mentali

I'm also curious about that teaspoon of cottage cheese. That makes me wonder about the accuracy of your logs, as I really can't imagine literally measuring out a teaspoon of cottage cheese to eat...which leads me to believe you don't mean the measurement, but a small spoon used for tea which changes things. If you measure everything like that, those extra 50 calories here and 100 calories there add up very quickly. They can come from the parmesan crusting on your fish, the breading on chicken, chicken skin, a sugar-heavy marinade....food is only as healthy as you prepare it

kshama2001

MoniqueChene wrote: »

Hi all

So I decided to change my lifestyle 3 weeks ago , started eating much healthier and stopped all sweets and other rubbish food but the weight loss just isn't going the way I would prefer it to go!

Typical day:
Breakfast - Hard Boiled egg , Sometimes teaspoon of cottage cheese.
Snack-small green apple
Lunch - Meal replacement shake
Dinner- salad or steamed veg with either fish/ chicken .

This is a drastic change from my normal days food which was packed with high carbs and sugar.
Anyone have some advice as to why I'm not loosing anything ??

If this were indeed a typical day you would be losing weight unless the meal replacement shake and dinner were unexpectedly high in calories.

Perhaps you are restricting too much on days like this and then erasing your deficit on other days.

There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

gainwait

What you say you are eating looks very low in calories. They say a minimum of 1200 calories a day should be consumed. I wouldn't be surprised if your body's metabolism isn't slowing down to compensate for your sudden lack of food. Read this - https://authoritynutrition.com/starvation-mode/

hellofromtheoutside

It really Depends on how much calories all of that is.
Like the shake, it might be one cup, but if that cup have a million calories it won't do u any good
How a bout the salad, do u eat it plain? Or u pile a bunch of cheese, croutons, and lots of dressing on it?
If u are really just eating what u said, u should be losing weight.

DanSTL82

Get a food scale, and weigh, measure, and log everything you eat. If you eat less calories than you are burning, you will lose weight, regardless of the specific types of food you're eating.

Since you haven't lost weight in the past 3 weeks, that means you are eating exactly the amount of calories your body burns each day, or more. You have to eat less calories than your body burns every day in order to lose weight.

MoniqueChene

Thanks for all the advice , I really appreciate it.
I have lost a total of about 4kg but as soon as I start eating more than I have previously stated (still watching carbs and choosing healthy options) It becomes a complete yo-yo on the scale.
I'm new to the scene and still learning so please bear with me

MoniqueChene

I never go over my recommended calories from MFP.
I do cardio for about 30min a day (I know it's not much but better than nothing)
I would like to loose another 15kg (which is what I picked up from my pregnancy)

DHLFITNESS25

I would recommend Flexible Dieting: IIFYM(If It Fits Your Macros)

You can still enjoy foods you love as long as they fit to your macros. I have a post on how to calculate your macros. I have been doing this for a while now and its great. Down 14lbs!! And its very easy to stay on track unlike some diets that basically make you starve yourself.