Cant move the scale...HELP!

smh5zx

Hi all,
In a 25 yo female about 173 pounds and 5'6". I've been overweight all my life and was 230 pounds by sixth grade. I lost quite a bit of weight as a teenager and got down to around 160. I noticed recently the pounds creeping back on and got serious again about weight loss. Id like to get down to about 145-150, which is lighter than I have ever been. But it seems a lot harder this time around! I've stopped the gain, but have only lost about 1-2 pounds in the 40ish days since I started using MFP. I exercise about 4-5 times a week (including 1-2 with a personal trainer) and am obsessed with my fitbit and MFP diary tracking. Some things I think are making it harder to lose this time around:

1) alcohol. Wasn't a factor as a child and it is just not realistic for me to give this up completely in my life right now. I try to be very diligent about tracking alcohol calories but it's tough.

2) travel. I travel a lot for work (about 4 days every other week) and stay in hotels. This forces me to eat out. I try to make this as healthy as possible and stick to places that document their nutrition information but it's no substitute for home cooking and I know it, but what can I do?

I'm looking for any advice people have to offer that could help get me moving, especially if you are a fellow traveler. My diary is public and any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

chandanista

I had a 2 week trip for work in January. I had a room with a fridge and a microwave so I purchased veggies, frozen meals, 100 cal popcorn, string cheese, yogurts. I also stuck to scrambled eggs and fruit at the continental breakfast. I sorted out the veg and planned my days. My diet was boring but I lost 5 pounds those two weeks.

chulipa

Buy a small electric grill and take with you

rohenie2016

I have been working out... but my scale doesn't work. ..it's stuck. ...

rileysowner

What is your calorie goal? What is you age, height, weight. What is your goal weight.

Eating while travelling has the difficulty of not knowing how closely they follow their own recipe. Many cooks/chefs are very free with sauces and butter. As for home cooked, do you use a digital kitchen scale to measure you food portions? If not, that may help, at least at home, to get the calories in number closer to reality.

lynn_glenmont

If you can't move the scales, you need someone who is physically present to help you move them. We can't do this for you over the Internet.

Or if you go to the gym and lift heavy for a while, you might be able to move the scales yourself. But I think you shouldn't worry about taking your scales with you when you travel.

Wait -- are these the big heavy scales they have in doctor's offices with counterweights?

Kullerva

Travel with food. I am entirely serious. When I was shipped off to torture camp...er, I mean Bible camp as a child, I knew I would be force-fed meat and processed crap for weeks on end and that this would make me ill, so I packed granola bars, Cheerios, dried fruit, nuts--anything nutritionally dense that wouldn't spoil. The only problem I ever had was that the other kids would constantly try to find/steal my stash of the "good stuff."

Control your food, control your weight loss. It's really that simple. Most food scales are small enough to carry with you, too.

smh5zx

Portable food scale is a great idea thanks for that one!

ReaderGirl3

chandanista wrote: »

I had a 2 week trip for work in January. I had a room with a fridge and a microwave so I purchased veggies, frozen meals, 100 cal popcorn, string cheese, yogurts. I also stuck to scrambled eggs and fruit at the continental breakfast. I sorted out the veg and planned my days. My diet was boring but I lost 5 pounds those two weeks.

We're staying in a hotel next week with the same set up. I don't eat in the morning so I'll be skipping the continental breakfasts, and I'm bringing some low calorie food options that don't need to be refrigerated and can be microwaved (soups, oatmeal/fruit etc), and then we'll eat out at night so I'll jump online before we go to check calorie info of wherever we go. A little bit of pre-planning goes a long way!

EddieP50

I had a business trip the first of March. The hotel had breakfast and all of their items were in the MFP database. For lunch we ate at the cafeteria of the distribution center and they had nutrition data displayed for all their items. The problem was dinner when eating out. Most of the places had no nutrition data and were not in the MFP database. I tried to pick something I thought would be low calorie and then search for something similar in the MFP database to log so I would have a general idea of calorie intake.

Amazon has some mini digital scales you could use for travel. If the hotel has a mini fridge or full size fridge you could pick go to a local supermarket or Walmart and get some items that you know you can control the calories. I am going to have to travel more this year and next, so I know it can be a challenge. One of the hotels I've stayed at in the past and probably will again has suite rooms with a full size kitchen and a super Walmart across the street.

JanineAytekin

You may be insulin resistant. Look into a ketogenic diet. I was overweight for over 35 years, and this is truly the only thing that has helped me. I just launched ketogenic site which has recipes for a ketogenic diet. You could visit the site at: myketopal.com

xbrains

Well, you don't have to eat out. You could cook a steak in your hotel room. Lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMbD7Qjm2uM

I try to choose "healthy" food for take out from a restaurant or buy sandwiches when I'm in the "Food tastes better when someone else makes it" zone.

size102b

Alcohol isn't great for weightloss as you'll retain water once drinking and it's empty calories

eldamiano

If you cant move the scale, just ask a friend to move it for you.....

ilex70

You may want to really rethink the alcohol. Some studies have reported that it reduces fat oxidation. Can you at least limit it to once a week?

Whether or not alcohol is “fattening” is a very controversial subject, mainly because the main fate of alcohol is NOT to be stored as fat. In fact, less than 5% of the alcohol you drink is turned into fat. Rather, the main effect of alcohol is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy.

In fact, just two drinks of vodka and sugar-free lemonade, with each drink containing just under 90 calories, has been shown to cut whole body lipid oxidation (a measure of how much fat your body is burning) by more than 70% [2].

Eating while traveling is a challenge. Ladies in an online fitness group I am in do all kinds of things to deal. I've seen the usual...protein bars, microwave oatmeal, string cheese, fruit, etc....and then some that do actually take a Foreman type grill with them to cook chicken/steak in their room to eat with bagged salad. Of course this will be easier if you are in a hotel with a fridge/microwave and if there is reasonably easy access to grocery stores. A downtown hotel in a big city would likely be a tougher go.

yirara

Ask the hotel kitchen or a restaurant to prepare a meal to your wishes. Ask for steamed veggies, cooked potatoes without anything put over them, and ask if they can grill a steak or chicken breast without marinade on a roast oven or any other way that doesn't require cooking oil. Japanese has some nice options as well: eat a huge pile of edamame, pickled veggies if available and a miso soup with lots of veggies and maybe fish or chicken. Then have a handfull of simple nigiri sushie with only fish and no mayonnaise or other originally un-japanese ingredients.

SezxyStef

I travel for work as well...the first thing I do when I get to the hotel is to find the closest grocery store and go buy healthy snacks etc.

I eat lunch and dinner out but choose lean chicken, salads, seafood etc.

I still drink but choose vodka or light beer.

I exercise while travelling even if it's just a walk.

I do not travel with my food scale tho as most places have nutrition online now.

and you are correct giving up alcohol is not feasible if you enjoy a couple drinks here and there....just choose less calorie dense drinks such as wine spritzer or light beer or vodka.

My fav with vodka is clubsoda with water flavoring...

size102b wrote: »

Alcohol isn't great for weightloss as you'll retain water once drinking and it's empty calories

to this comment...there is no reason it can't be drank while losing weight...it's like saying you can't eat pizza or chocolate...it's not good for weight loss.

The key is to find a WOE that you can sustain after you have lost the weight not just to lose it.