Please Shame ME

chel325

Hey Everyone,

I weigh 132-130lbs and I am 4'11.
My goal is to get around 100-115lbs and it seems impossible because I keep over eating and binging.

My calories were originally at 1200 but I was really failing with that because I'm quite active. Working out 6x a week lifting plus running (training for a 10k) and then my rest day is Yoga and walking. The 1200 wasn't enough and I'd wake in the middle of the night and grossly over eat.

So the month of August I'm trying to stick to 1500 roughly and hoping that possibly I can lose weight like .5lbs a week. So far my weight has just gone up.

Please go into my diary, tell me everything I'm doing wrong and give me all of your honest to God opinions on what I should do.

I'm thinking if by Sept I haven't lost and I'm still gaining I'll go back to 1200 and possibly try and cut carbs back (I'd really prefer not as it's not sustainable for me but I'm seriously getting desperate.)

Tell me what I'm doing wrong and I have thick skin so lay it heavy to get your point across!

Notes: I have a fitbit and it says I burn an average of 1900 - 2000 calories daily activity included. AVG 16k steps on non-running days, 25k on running days

janjunie

@chel325 your entries list food items in pieces, packages, grams and ounces. You need to make sure you are weighing everything that goes into your mouth on a food scale in grams for better accuracy.

wishfuljune

I flipped through your diary super quick and noticed that you typically go over in sodium intake. If you lower your sodium intake, you might start to see yourself dropping some pounds. You're also going over in carbs, and I'm also a short person (5'2") and my macros really affect the scale if I'm not on top of what I'm putting into my body.

I also agree with @janjunie - you have to weigh your food.

jeffkirkwold

Cutting carbs back IS SUSTAINABLE IF you add in fats. Fats are healthy and keep you satisfied longer. Try it for a few days and see if that doesn't help. I'm at 80% fat, 15% protein and 5% carbs and used to be a sugar/carb monster. No cravings for carbs anymore now that I added in fats like butter, coconut oil, salmon, olive oil, bacon, fatty beef, etc. Try it, you only have the weight to lose.

VeryKatie

If your fitbit is correct, then 1500 will give you a 1 lb a week loss. Give it a try. I think you're on the right path - you identified your issues, took responsibility, and came up with a plan.

However, your backup plan (if 1500 doesn't work) should be to try a 250 calorie deficit (so 1650-1750) if you're still binging though, rather than go back to something you know doesn't work (1200 calories - no carbs won't help if you're eating that much of a deficit. You will still feel too hungry).

With only 15-30 lbs to go, 0.5 lb loss a week is fine. That's where I get 250 calories from. It's better to make a little progress each week than to continue binging and gaining.

An alternative might be to try either 1200 plus eating back 50% of your exercise calories OR 1500 plus eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

I think that would be the main problem. Eating too little for how active you are (causing you to over eat in the end).

Looks like you're set to eating 40% protein, 30% fat, the rest carbs.. so if you get your food to meet those macros as best possible, that won't be the reason you feel hungry (if still hungry, it's either not enough fiber or not enough calories). If you still feel hungry, try adding more fiber (which if you don't have diabetes or aren't insulin resistant I would personally recommend tracking instead of sugar in your diary). Aim for 25-35 g fiber a day too. It might be hard with only 30% carb. You can play around with that a bit too. A lot of people do 30% protein, 30% fat, 40% carb.

What is that Asian looking entry in your diary today? Don't just trust the bar code scanner. It's wrong like 50% of the time for me. Make sure your entries are correct and that they match the packaging.

Also... start weighing your food. You have 2 slices of bread in there today. An actual slice is probably bigger than that. Get a food scale that measures in grams (which is more accurate than ounces). With not much left to lose, you might have to be more diligent on logging.

When I eat out, I typically log all the food as 1.1 of a serving. I hope to cover any overage the kitchen did with oils and serving sizes by doing this. You can try that too. Remember also for some foods the restaurants will be sneaky. Online their nutritional info will list the salad without dressing, or the pasta without sauce, or for 1/2 the plate, or without sides, etc. So really be on the lookout for that and add the missing items as well (eg. McDonald's has their salad dressing listed under condiments).

Also, try to make sure at least 80-90% of your calories come from nutrient and macro dense foods (meat, dairy, fiber, veg, fruit, etc). Save the 10-20% for treats. I noticed on Aug 10 that 27% of your 1573 calories came from cupcakes, mochi (?), and popcorn. Those foods are less likely to make you feel full. And that doesn't even consider that your lunch with pizza (while not inherently bad) didn't contain a lot of protein for the number of calories (I find pizza typically leaves me hungry).

Nuts also pack a high calorie punch. If you find they keep you feeling full, then keep going for it... but personally, even though they're high fat, they never feel like a lot of food to me. Again, on Aug 10 you had nuts twice that day. Maybe just stick with one time a day max (I'm including the peanut butter).

I also notice you're having what appears to be a protein drink in the morning frequently - with bread and peanut butter. Again, this isn't necessarily bad. But eating food rather than drinking a drink might make you feel more full.

You can try playing with your calorie distribution. If you're eating at night, why not try a smaller breakfast or lunch so that you can have a bigger dinner? I also tend to snack a lot in the evening... a small after work snack helps me not eat before I make dinner, and a bigger (like 800-900 calorie) dinner helps make me feel full. You can also try eating dinner later in the evening, like around 8:00 to help keep you full while you sleep.

janjunie

Cutting carbs is not necessary for weight loss. Cutting carbs can be beneficial for people with diabetes, PCOS or can help those that can't otherwise control their cravings. Carbs are a great energy source and one the OP needs considering how active she is. Cutting carbs and sodium will only result in water weight loss, not fat loss.

rebel_26

jeffkirkwold wrote: »

Cutting carbs back IS SUSTAINABLE IF you add in fats. Fats are healthy and keep you satisfied longer. Try it for a few days and see if that doesn't help. I'm at 80% fat, 15% protein and 5% carbs and used to be a sugar/carb monster. No cravings for carbs anymore now that I added in fats like butter, coconut oil, salmon, olive oil, bacon, fatty beef, etc. Try it, you only have the weight to lose.

isnt your muscle wasting away at such low carbs? 5% is an awful low number i wouldnt recommend doing that for along period of time.

to OP in regard to tracking intake also ensure your selecting the right caloric value. There is much mis-information in the search foods options. if you have barcodes to scan that is a better way to go but even than I have even seen them come up incorrectly so worse case google the food for calories as opposed to trusting the MFP data if you cannot get the info to match from package to default searches in App.

cee134

enterdanger

I hate to say this since I know weighing food is the biggest pain ever...but I think you might be eating more than you think. Also, It looks like you eat out a lot...(I know I do) It's so hard to really estimate those calories. And I'm always going to choose a local place over a chain that might post their calories. I think these are where the issues lay. It's not your calorie goal or exercise, it's the counting. With my schedule, eating out is a way of life and it really hurts my diet, but would it be possible for you to try a week or two without eating out? If you are a student, I know that might not be realistic, but I think this is where you are having the issue.

a7acrewood63

I'm sorry, I'm new here, and this post caught my eye. Isn't there a bigger picture here? How do you look? How do you feel? Healthy? Fit? Why do you want to weigh 100ish lbs?

VeryKatie

a7acrewood63 wrote: »

I'm sorry, I'm new here, and this post caught my eye. Isn't there a bigger picture here? How do you look? How do you feel? Healthy? Fit? Why do you want to weigh 100ish lbs?

Because of her height at 130 lb, BMI puts her in the overweight category. And she said 100-115 lb probably to get to 18.5-24.9 BMI and then judge by how she looks or feels. That's my guess. That's a BMI of 20.2 - 23.2 which is a reasonable goal. It's a weight on either side of exactly the middle. She has already done a really super job though and she does look great - so I agree with you there!

leanjogreen18

You say you keep overeating and binging? For me eating full fat, protein,fibre and getting 7-8hrs of sleep at night along with drinking plenty of water help me stay full.


You've got this!

Dayle1984

Just on a very quick (less than 2 min) look at your diary, I agree with the others. It looks like you may not be measuring properly, or at all. Do you just use what comes up in the database for your entries? I've heard that info is not usually reliable, so I look up ingredients online and create items under my recipes and foods. For example you have 2 tbsp. of PB listed on 3 different dates, and it is listed as 70 cal, 90 cal, and 178 cal. 2 tbsp. of PB would be 180-200 calories depending on the brand I believe. I would also echo what someone else said about trying to eat out less, and eat less packaged foods. It takes time and energy but it is worth it. Finally, my nutrition coach suggested I do not eat carbs at breakfast, since I workout in the evening, not sure if that would be applicable to you. All the best!

chel325

wishfuljune wrote: »

I flipped through your diary super quick and noticed that you typically go over in sodium intake. If you lower your sodium intake, you might start to see yourself dropping some pounds. You're also going over in carbs, and I'm also a short person (5'2") and my macros really affect the scale if I'm not on top of what I'm putting into my body.

I also agree with @janjunie - you have to weigh your food.

Yes I have a reaaaall problem with salt! This doesn't even include the stuff I add salt too.

Okay I am going to start focusing on macros, so I def need to lower carbs and up protein right

chel325

Dayle1984 wrote: »

Just on a very quick (less than 2 min) look at your diary, I agree with the others. It looks like you may not be measuring properly, or at all. Do you just use what comes up in the database for your entries? I've heard that info is not usually reliable, so I look up ingredients online and create items under my recipes and foods. For example you have 2 tbsp. of PB listed on 3 different dates, and it is listed as 70 cal, 90 cal, and 178 cal. 2 tbsp. of PB would be 180-200 calories depending on the brand I believe. I would also echo what someone else said about trying to eat out less, and eat less packaged foods. It takes time and energy but it is worth it. Finally, my nutrition coach suggested I do not eat carbs at breakfast, since I workout in the evening, not sure if that would be applicable to you. All the best!

Omg I didn't notice that. Yeah I usually weigh almost everything I eat if I can. That peanut butter is 180 per tsp which I believe is 32g. This morning I only had like 17g which might be why it's 70 cals.

Yes I am going to start eating less packaged foodsyou're right. When I lost weight earlier in the year I was eating almost everything home cooked because I didn't have money. Now I have people paying for me to eat out and I'm not losing! So you are completely right in that! I'm going to do a no eating out September challenge for myself.

Okay so I actually had someone suggest that I eat carbs during the day vs night because I work out in the morning and the evening after work and I should have a lighter protein focused dinner

chel325

enterdanger wrote: »

I hate to say this since I know weighing food is the biggest pain ever...but I think you might be eating more than you think. Also, It looks like you eat out a lot...(I know I do) It's so hard to really estimate those calories. And I'm always going to choose a local place over a chain that might post their calories. I think these are where the issues lay. It's not your calorie goal or exercise, it's the counting. With my schedule, eating out is a way of life and it really hurts my diet, but would it be possible for you to try a week or two without eating out? If you are a student, I know that might not be realistic, but I think this is where you are having the issue.

Yes don't worry I agree with you. I do weigh most of my things but I must be skipping some things! And yes I've been eating out way too much lately! I noticed early on in my weight loss I was very poor so I homecooked everything, now I've got someone who wants to take me out to dinner all the time and my weight is stuck! Coincidence? I think not! I am going to go all of Sept with no eating out, I don't really like it anyway as I stress about the calories lol.

Thank you for your advice!:)

chel325

VeryKatie wrote: »

If your fitbit is correct, then 1500 will give you a 1 lb a week loss. Give it a try. I think you're on the right path - you identified your issues, took responsibility, and came up with a plan.

However, your backup plan (if 1500 doesn't work) should be to try a 250 calorie deficit (so 1650-1750) if you're still binging though, rather than go back to something you know doesn't work (1200 calories - no carbs won't help if you're eating that much of a deficit. You will still feel too hungry).

With only 15-30 lbs to go, 0.5 lb loss a week is fine. That's where I get 250 calories from. It's better to make a little progress each week than to continue binging and gaining.

An alternative might be to try either 1200 plus eating back 50% of your exercise calories OR 1500 plus eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

I think that would be the main problem. Eating too little for how active you are (causing you to over eat in the end).

Looks like you're set to eating 40% protein, 30% fat, the rest carbs.. so if you get your food to meet those macros as best possible, that won't be the reason you feel hungry (if still hungry, it's either not enough fiber or not enough calories). If you still feel hungry, try adding more fiber (which if you don't have diabetes or aren't insulin resistant I would personally recommend tracking instead of sugar in your diary). Aim for 25-35 g fiber a day too. It might be hard with only 30% carb. You can play around with that a bit too. A lot of people do 30% protein, 30% fat, 40% carb.

What is that Asian looking entry in your diary today? Don't just trust the bar code scanner. It's wrong like 50% of the time for me. Make sure your entries are correct and that they match the packaging.

Also... start weighing your food. You have 2 slices of bread in there today. An actual slice is probably bigger than that. Get a food scale that measures in grams (which is more accurate than ounces). With not much left to lose, you might have to be more diligent on logging.

When I eat out, I typically log all the food as 1.1 of a serving. I hope to cover any overage the kitchen did with oils and serving sizes by doing this. You can try that too. Remember also for some foods the restaurants will be sneaky. Online their nutritional info will list the salad without dressing, or the pasta without sauce, or for 1/2 the plate, or without sides, etc. So really be on the lookout for that and add the missing items as well (eg. McDonald's has their salad dressing listed under condiments).

Also, try to make sure at least 80-90% of your calories come from nutrient and macro dense foods (meat, dairy, fiber, veg, fruit, etc). Save the 10-20% for treats. I noticed on Aug 10 that 27% of your 1573 calories came from cupcakes, mochi (?), and popcorn. Those foods are less likely to make you feel full. And that doesn't even consider that your lunch with pizza (while not inherently bad) didn't contain a lot of protein for the number of calories (I find pizza typically leaves me hungry).

Nuts also pack a high calorie punch. If you find they keep you feeling full, then keep going for it... but personally, even though they're high fat, they never feel like a lot of food to me. Again, on Aug 10 you had nuts twice that day. Maybe just stick with one time a day max (I'm including the peanut butter).

I also notice you're having what appears to be a protein drink in the morning frequently - with bread and peanut butter. Again, this isn't necessarily bad. But eating food rather than drinking a drink might make you feel more full.

You can try playing with your calorie distribution. If you're eating at night, why not try a smaller breakfast or lunch so that you can have a bigger dinner? I also tend to snack a lot in the evening... a small after work snack helps me not eat before I make dinner, and a bigger (like 800-900 calorie) dinner helps make me feel full. You can also try eating dinner later in the evening, like around 8:00 to help keep you full while you sleep.

Thank you! This was extremely helpful! The Asian dish is this ramen thing I bought from Koreatown lol! It's all in japanese but I have another with english writing and it says 430 for the whole pot so I'm hoping that's the same with this one. I need to just start fixing my own lunch like before. Yeah and I actually weighed the bread today, one was bigger and the other was under the barcode portion but I didn't put them in properly due to laziness. So I def need to be more diligent in weighing.

chel325

janjunie wrote: »

@chel325 your entries list food items in pieces, packages, grams and ounces. You need to make sure you are weighing everything that goes into your mouth on a food scale in grams for better accuracy.

Hmm so I checked back and I noticed is while I'll scan the package and log it that way, I actually weigh the food and make sure that amount equals the exact serving size based on the package.

So for instance, with the cottage cheese I think the serving size on the package is 32g even though when I logged it it says .5 cup. I weigh out the 32g and eat only that amount. So I am weighing nearly everything even if it doesn't appear. Even the frozen red robin steak fries I had I weighed them out but when you scan the barcode it says 10 pieces. On the package it says 10 pieces (xx grams) with the grams listed next to it. Same actually with the pizza. It was 114g but when you ring it up it says like .3 pizza lol

I am really slack on slices of bread so I need to be more diligent definitely. Also I need to stop the eating out. I think I only ate out once this week (subway) so that's a good start right.

VeryKatie

chel325 wrote: »

VeryKatie wrote: »

If your fitbit is correct, then 1500 will give you a 1 lb a week loss. Give it a try. I think you're on the right path - you identified your issues, took responsibility, and came up with a plan.

However, your backup plan (if 1500 doesn't work) should be to try a 250 calorie deficit (so 1650-1750) if you're still binging though, rather than go back to something you know doesn't work (1200 calories - no carbs won't help if you're eating that much of a deficit. You will still feel too hungry).

With only 15-30 lbs to go, 0.5 lb loss a week is fine. That's where I get 250 calories from. It's better to make a little progress each week than to continue binging and gaining.

An alternative might be to try either 1200 plus eating back 50% of your exercise calories OR 1500 plus eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

I think that would be the main problem. Eating too little for how active you are (causing you to over eat in the end).

Looks like you're set to eating 40% protein, 30% fat, the rest carbs.. so if you get your food to meet those macros as best possible, that won't be the reason you feel hungry (if still hungry, it's either not enough fiber or not enough calories). If you still feel hungry, try adding more fiber (which if you don't have diabetes or aren't insulin resistant I would personally recommend tracking instead of sugar in your diary). Aim for 25-35 g fiber a day too. It might be hard with only 30% carb. You can play around with that a bit too. A lot of people do 30% protein, 30% fat, 40% carb.

What is that Asian looking entry in your diary today? Don't just trust the bar code scanner. It's wrong like 50% of the time for me. Make sure your entries are correct and that they match the packaging.

Also... start weighing your food. You have 2 slices of bread in there today. An actual slice is probably bigger than that. Get a food scale that measures in grams (which is more accurate than ounces). With not much left to lose, you might have to be more diligent on logging.

When I eat out, I typically log all the food as 1.1 of a serving. I hope to cover any overage the kitchen did with oils and serving sizes by doing this. You can try that too. Remember also for some foods the restaurants will be sneaky. Online their nutritional info will list the salad without dressing, or the pasta without sauce, or for 1/2 the plate, or without sides, etc. So really be on the lookout for that and add the missing items as well (eg. McDonald's has their salad dressing listed under condiments).

Also, try to make sure at least 80-90% of your calories come from nutrient and macro dense foods (meat, dairy, fiber, veg, fruit, etc). Save the 10-20% for treats. I noticed on Aug 10 that 27% of your 1573 calories came from cupcakes, mochi (?), and popcorn. Those foods are less likely to make you feel full. And that doesn't even consider that your lunch with pizza (while not inherently bad) didn't contain a lot of protein for the number of calories (I find pizza typically leaves me hungry).

Nuts also pack a high calorie punch. If you find they keep you feeling full, then keep going for it... but personally, even though they're high fat, they never feel like a lot of food to me. Again, on Aug 10 you had nuts twice that day. Maybe just stick with one time a day max (I'm including the peanut butter).

I also notice you're having what appears to be a protein drink in the morning frequently - with bread and peanut butter. Again, this isn't necessarily bad. But eating food rather than drinking a drink might make you feel more full.

You can try playing with your calorie distribution. If you're eating at night, why not try a smaller breakfast or lunch so that you can have a bigger dinner? I also tend to snack a lot in the evening... a small after work snack helps me not eat before I make dinner, and a bigger (like 800-900 calorie) dinner helps make me feel full. You can also try eating dinner later in the evening, like around 8:00 to help keep you full while you sleep.

Thank you! This was extremely helpful! The Asian dish is this ramen thing I bought from Koreatown lol! It's all in japanese but I have another with english writing and it says 430 for the whole pot so I'm hoping that's the same with this one. I need to just start fixing my own lunch like before. Yeah and I actually weighed the bread today, one was bigger and the other was under the barcode portion but I didn't put them in properly due to laziness. So I def need to be more diligent in weighing.

Hahah ok I just wanted to check the Asian thing! Last time I scanned my corn on the cob it came up with some Asian entry that wasn't correct.

enterdanger

I struggle with eating out too. As a single person I was too poor to eat out. When I did it was a big deal and I'd get an appetizer or dessert with my entree because it was a special occasion, and always the drinks! For my husband eating out was a way of life. When we first got together and had dual income it was awesome and we ate out a couple times a week, him with his salad and me with my steak and cheesecake....I gained quite a bit. But I paid him back. Once we were married he put on 30lbs with each of my pregnancies (I only put on like 20 with my sons). lol.

chel325

enterdanger wrote: »

I struggle with eating out too. As a single person I was too poor to eat out. When I did it was a big deal and I'd get an appetizer or dessert with my entree because it was a special occasion, and always the drinks! For my husband eating out was a way of life. When we first got together and had dual income it was awesome and we ate out a couple times a week, him with his salad and me with my steak and cheesecake....I gained quite a bit. But I paid him back. Once we were married he put on 30lbs with each of my pregnancies (I only put on like 20 with my sons). lol.

Omg that's exactly what happened! I started dating this wonderful man who loves to take me out vs me being super poor when I was alone! I'm going to ask him to join me in having a No-Eating-Out September with me! It's romantic to cook together I think