Diary critique?

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rshudson87
rshudson87 Posts: 12 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey there everyone!

I've been watching what I eat and upping activity now for two months. I am currently down 18 pounds. My general goal is to eat somewhere between 1200-1400 calories and workout. I am mostly vegetarian too for ethical and ecological reasons but I do eat a lot of protein heavy meat substitutes. I use a fitbit and sync it with mfp and I don't eat back anything.

Over the past two weeks I haven't seen the scale budge. Like at all. My question is if I'm eating too little maybe? When I login to fitbit I am consistently getting an "under budget" rating in calories. I average around 12k steps a day and workout near daily in some capacity. Is it possible to have too large a deficit from exercise?

If anyone out there has a second, I would love love love some feedback on my diary or my plan or anything. I'm getting restless and it is hard to get my tush to the gym every day when I am not seeing success.

Replies

  • rshudson87
    rshudson87 Posts: 12 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/rshudson87

    A link to make it extra convenient for you. Please please!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I notice you have some solid foods in weights and others in cups. Are you mixing the measurement methods?

    If you have a scale, you might try throwing some of your most commonly eaten foods on it to see if you're eating more than you think. You have things like "1 tortilla" and "1 patty," so comparing those to the weight listed on the package may help you see if you're eating more than you think. I have had some packaged items, including meat substitutes and baked goods actually weigh more than the package weight and in these cases the calories you're consuming would be higher than you think.

    But, I wouldn't get super worried after two weeks. If you are someone who menstruates, could this be a time of the month when you're retaining more water? I also carry extra water when I'm ovulating and then again the week before my period.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Oh, also your diet seems to be higher in sodium (which is fine for people without a reason to limit it, my diet is too). That makes me even more prone to hold on to water at certain times of the month, this could be a factor for you right now as well.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    How are you measuring your food? (Food scale, measuring cups/spoons, eyeballing, etc.)?
  • rshudson87
    rshudson87 Posts: 12 Member
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    In all honesty, my most important objective is always just to make sure I log it. There are certainly days I eyeball more to make sure I'm still logging. If I do that, I tend to overestimate rather than underestimate.

    Very low blood pressure so I don't watch sodium, but I do definitely menstruate. And am currently in the middle of a kinda jacked up delayed cycle/extended PMS disaster. I was actually worried that my diet was impacting that too. Sorry if that's all tmi.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
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    Weight loss isn't linear. Water weight fluctuations can hide weight loss, especially in women. It's best to look at your trend over time. Here's a recent 3-month trend for me where every day was at or below my calorie goal:

    53hzylopq2cq.jpg

    If your method has been working in the past and you are getting adequate nutrition, I'd recommend that you just stay the course except for getting in the habit of using the food scale to measure all solids (and any liquids for which you have weight info) rather than volume.
  • rshudson87
    rshudson87 Posts: 12 Member
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    Goodness I wish there was a happy scale that synced up with Fitbit!!! Seeing something like that would make me feel so much better.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited April 2017
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    rshudson87 wrote: »
    Goodness I wish there was a happy scale that synced up with Fitbit!!! Seeing something like that would make me feel so much better.
    TrendWeight. That's where I got the chart above. I made a Fitbit account, even though I don't have a Fitbit, so that I could use TrendWeight online.
  • rshudson87
    rshudson87 Posts: 12 Member
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    5'7
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    rshudson87 wrote: »
    In all honesty, my most important objective is always just to make sure I log it. There are certainly days I eyeball more to make sure I'm still logging. If I do that, I tend to overestimate rather than underestimate.

    Very low blood pressure so I don't watch sodium, but I do definitely menstruate. And am currently in the middle of a kinda jacked up delayed cycle/extended PMS disaster. I was actually worried that my diet was impacting that too. Sorry if that's all tmi.

    Not TMI at all, it's relevant to what is going on here. Given my experiences with delayed periods, I suspect you may be retaining some more water weight than usual.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    It is possible to suffer ill effects from eating too little: lack of energy, excessive loss of lean mussle mass, damage to internal organs. But lack of weight loss is not possible from 'eating too little'.

    A 2 week stall is most likely water weight. Your water weight fluctuates, but can be temporarily increased for TOM/hormones, increased sodium intake, stress, lack of sleep, muscle repair, etc. Example: Today I'm 128.5 while I was 125 2 days ago. I did not 'gain' weight, but my water weight is up due to TOM and home made eggrolls. Even low sodium soy sauce has a lot of sodium!

    As to whether or not you need to eat more, judge by how you feel. But regarding the 2 week stall, have patience.

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