WTF???

kr1stadee

I love that you seem to be reading every piece of advice, and not hair-flipping or pulling the rude card!

(I think I saw that it's your birthday? Happy Birthday!!!)

Do you have a phone or device that you can load apps to? I don't have a smart phone, but I do have an iPod. I am able to log foods without internet (granted the database is more limited without connection), but it syncs when I do get onto the internet. You would be able to track everything, and stick within your goals, even if there isn't any wifi!

leonmedwards1

Firstly, you don't lose weight through exercise. It will help you look and feel better, but really, to drop the pounds you have to concentrate on your diet.

This! You lose weight in the kitchen, you get fit in the gym. Weigh, measure and log every single bite that goes in your mouth.

This is absolutly the best advise that you have been given on here!

Stop half-assing it. You cannot say that nothing is working when you are not really trying. You cannot log one day and then not the rest of the week and wonder why that doesn’t work. Log EVERYTHING! Like others have already said, write it on paper, write it on the back of a cardboard box for that matter, just log it.

Stop eating back your exercise calories. You do not need them. Drop you count to around 2000 and stick to that. Just because you walk around in the pool for a little while does not mean that you can stop and grab a Big Mac on the way home. You need to eat right 99% of the time and treat yourself every once in a while. Add a lot of fruits and vegetables to your everyday food intake. I do not know how old you are but I am 31 and I have been eating horribly for most of my life. So when you hear that everyone needs a cheat day, well I am assuming that like me you have had several years of cheat days and so more cheat days is not really needed. No certain food makes you gain / or not gain weight, but the excess of bad foods is the problem. As long as you are honestly sticking to your calorie count, watching your fat and sodium then you will lose weight. That is a fact.

You have to be committed to this to make anything that you are doing work. The weight is not going to simply fall of on its own. Think about what you are going to eat every day before you eat it. Pre-log. Carry a water bottle around with you where ever you go. I am currently down 90 lbs from where I was at a year and a half ago. I plateaued for a very long portion of that time and it drove me nuts! I could not figure out what was going wrong. Then I figured it out. I stopped tracking, I stopped paying attention to the food. I was counting on my exercise to take care of it all. However, as others have said on here, you have to be consistent. Eating right is going to take care of 2/3 of the problem. Exercising is only a little bit of it. If fast food is easier to get because you are busy, stop it. Pre make meals, carry good snacks…I have 3 kids, a demanding job and a wife who is as busy (if not more) as I am, so I know about being busy. Do not opt for the easy route. Park at the back of the parking lot. Take the stairs (go slow if it hurts your knee or back or whatever it was that you said you have pain in). Burn more calories, but not so you can eat more…burn them so you can lose more!

Good luck…It’s time to get serious.

Mgregory723

I love that you seem to be reading every piece of advice, and not hair-flipping or pulling the rude card!

(I think I saw that it's your birthday? Happy Birthday!!!)

Do you have a phone or device that you can load apps to? I don't have a smart phone, but I do have an iPod. I am able to log foods without internet (granted the database is more limited without connection), but it syncs when I do get onto the internet. You would be able to track everything, and stick within your goals, even if there isn't any wifi!

Thanks....I see no reason to be rude because I did post and ask for advise and ppl are just expressing their opinion (which I am grateful for)

Yes, yesterday was in fact my 46th birthday. So thank you! I recently got a smart phone (Android) but it says that there is not enough room for it to download (I have one app on it) I think it is a not-so-smart-phone!! LOL

kr1stadee

I love that you seem to be reading every piece of advice, and not hair-flipping or pulling the rude card!

(I think I saw that it's your birthday? Happy Birthday!!!)

Do you have a phone or device that you can load apps to? I don't have a smart phone, but I do have an iPod. I am able to log foods without internet (granted the database is more limited without connection), but it syncs when I do get onto the internet. You would be able to track everything, and stick within your goals, even if there isn't any wifi!

Thanks....I see no reason to be rude because I did post and ask for advise and ppl are just expressing their opinion (which I am grateful for)

Yes, yesterday was in fact my 46th birthday. So thank you! I recently got a smart phone (Android) but it says that there is not enough room for it to download (I have one app on it) I think it is a not-so-smart-phone!! LOL

I'd look into the space issue on the phone. Do you take lots and lots of photos? If so, maybe dump them onto a computer/thumb drive? Was the phone new or used? It may not have been wiped.. (This may be from left field, my phone is as dumb as they come!!) Or clearing the cache?

pbrahan

Firstly, you don't lose weight through exercise. It will help you look and feel better, but really, to drop the pounds you have to concentrate on your diet.

This! You lose weight in the kitchen, you get fit in the gym. Weigh, measure and log every single bite that goes in your mouth.

This is absolutly the best advise that you have been given on here!

Stop half-assing it. You cannot say that nothing is working when you are not really trying. You cannot log one day and then not the rest of the week and wonder why that doesn’t work. Log EVERYTHING! Like others have already said, write it on paper, write it on the back of a cardboard box for that matter, just log it.

Stop eating back your exercise calories. You do not need them. Drop you count to around 2000 and stick to that. Just because you walk around in the pool for a little while does not mean that you can stop and grab a Big Mac on the way home. You need to eat right 99% of the time and treat yourself every once in a while. Add a lot of fruits and vegetables to your everyday food intake. I do not know how old you are but I am 31 and I have been eating horribly for most of my life. So when you hear that everyone needs a cheat day, well I am assuming that like me you have had several years of cheat days and so more cheat days is not really needed. No certain food makes you gain / or not gain weight, but the excess of bad foods is the problem. As long as you are honestly sticking to your calorie count, watching your fat and sodium then you will lose weight. That is a fact.

You have to be committed to this to make anything that you are doing work. The weight is not going to simply fall of on its own. Think about what you are going to eat every day before you eat it. Pre-log. Carry a water bottle around with you where ever you go. I am currently down 90 lbs from where I was at a year and a half ago. I plateaued for a very long portion of that time and it drove me nuts! I could not figure out what was going wrong. Then I figured it out. I stopped tracking, I stopped paying attention to the food. I was counting on my exercise to take care of it all. However, as others have said on here, you have to be consistent. Eating right is going to take care of 2/3 of the problem. Exercising is only a little bit of it. If fast food is easier to get because you are busy, stop it. Pre make meals, carry good snacks…I have 3 kids, a demanding job and a wife who is as busy (if not more) as I am, so I know about being busy. Do not opt for the easy route. Park at the back of the parking lot. Take the stairs (go slow if it hurts your knee or back or whatever it was that you said you have pain in). Burn more calories, but not so you can eat more…burn them so you can lose more!

Good luck…It’s time to get serious.

^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^

I was SO wrong in my head FOR so long - I associated exercise with weight loss. Now I'm beginning to really accept and understand that it's my dietary habits that lead to a healthy (or unhealthy) weight and the exercise is for making my body look better once the fat layers have decreased!
Whenever I would lament my size, my husband would say "It doesn't seem like you eat very much" - and I've heard others state that they don't eat much/snack/eat sweets, etc. What we THINK we consume and what we actually consume are SO VERY different.
**Try not to even think about the exercise except to think to do it. I wouldn't even worry about the calories you are or aren't burning via exercise.
**Log everything every day. Give yourself permission to eat real foods - but log them honestly.
**Invest in a food scale (I love the OXO from Amazon with the pull out thingy) and try to stick to foods that are easy to measure and weigh. (Multiple ingredient foods like casseroles are very hard to accurately enter unless they come premade with a barcode on them - MFP has the capability to scan barcodes which automatically finds that item in the diary).
If you're doing these things, then there's ONE MORE important thing you MUST DO...
STAY WITHIN YOUR CALORIE GOAL.
Do these things and you'll lose! Just don't be discouraged as it comes off slowly.
Best of luck to you!
Paula

donnace7

I am nowhere if I don't log ALL of my food. You don't have to log online necessarily. I've kept a small notebook (purse size) and logged that way - at least you can get your calories jotted down and keep track.When I do exercise, I rely on the readouts on the equipment, which I don't think are that accurate anyway, so I don't eat my exercise calories. I don't really burn enough to justify it.

I am really, really good at conning myself, so I have to make an effort to accurately log what I'm eating.

Also, it helped me to look at exercise differently - exercise helps my back feel better - that's why I do it. When I only saw exercise as a weight loss tool, I got really discouraged because it wasn't working for me. I had to do a reality check and realize that if I burn 200 calories at the gym, that justifies my eating ONLY 200 more calories (which isn't much:)) - it does NOT justify a fried chicken dinner, which I had myself believing. Only people that exercise extremely strenuously daily and burn hundreds of calories in one session really lose weight this way. Most of us aren't like that, though. Its all about what we're eating.

Please know I share your frustration!! Hubby has threatened to throw out the scale more than once because sometimes I really let it get to me. We all need to hang in there!

Good luck to you and to us all!!

mmjensen2010

When you are just starting on a food logging program, like using MFP, it is really important to log everything! I mean everything down to the 3 almonds you grabbed on the way out of the house. These kind of oversights can cause you to not be as much under your calorie allotment as you might think. Also, the best (ok one of the best) investments into my health that I have made is a food scale. Some people say I am anal, but I weight everything I put on my plate. Even when I cook recipes I weight the total finished product and for each serving I take subsequently I weight it and divide by the total grams/ounces to get the serving size I am eating. Which brings me to my final suggestion on a healthy lifestyle program....Cook at home as much as possible!! Stay away from fast food. If you really need to stop and get a quick meal, research the options available at fast food places so you know what you can have there that wont break your calorie budget. Most places have nutrition out there. Even with that said, cooking at home is the best way to control the ingredients, portion, and quality of food you are putting in your body. And if you get a craving for something figure out how to make a healthy version of it at home so you don't ever feel like you are depriving yourself. Just stick with it and really be serious about your healthy lifestyle.
Good Luck!

YaGigi

You eat too much food and you don't have any control over it. You overestimate your exercise calories so you allow yourself eat even more. I'm surprised you're not gaining weight this way.

I'd suggest you work on your diet and life style with a doctor.

I am dieting with a doctor visit once a week.

princesspea234

Do you log everyday? Are you honest about what you log? Do you weigh and measure everything you put into your mouth? Do you eat protein first? These are vital to weight loss!

Thank you for you comment. Here are your answers: I try to log in everyday when I have access to the intenet. Yes, I am honest about what I put in my mouth. I weigh but I haven't really measured along the way. I have a really-really hard time eating in the morning, I have to force myself.

She's talking about weighing your food. It really makes a difference. Weigh your meats raw... You'll be surprised what 3-4 ounces really looks like... it's teeny and a portion size. You can find a food scale at Wal-mart, target or even bed bath and beyond.

KimHDB

I know how you feel...I went through this a couple of years ago. I was working out and eating properly faithfully and managed to lose about 25lbs...then I got stuck... I talked to a fitness trainer, I tried changing my eating patterns...anything I could think of. 6 months of constant aggravation and I just gave up. Nothing seemed to be working. I reverted to my old patterns and gained 20 of those lbs back. Looking back, I realize I likely was not eating well enough. I was a horrible tracker. I FELT really good and fit though...stairs were nothing and I was walking daily and working out 3x a week. I was fitter and I wish I had stuck it out. So don't give up. Start tracking just on paper if you have to and keep working out. You may not see a difference on the scale for a while but your body knows its good. YOU definitely don't want to revert and lose what progress you've made.

I have just signed up today and feel overwhelmed with what I need to lose but hope that tracking daily will get me to open my eyes up to what I'm doing wrong.

princesspea234

Thanks again for all the great advise.....I knew that opening up my dairy I would get some back lash about my eating (which is fine) and I am NOT making excuses just telling the truth on why I haven't logged in.I did do the pen and paper thing but I got lazy. I do need to STOP eating junk and I guess up until I didn't think that I eat that much, thanks for pointing that out, that's why I posted in the first place.

I am not working right now and I cannot afford to buy the things I need, I know it sounds like more excuses but it is my reality. Same with food at the moment. Circumstances aside, I WILL try to make this work. I do want to be around for my loved ones. I really cannot tell you how grateful I am for all the responses. Your advise will be taken!!

Farmer's markets are in full swing right now. Look up one close to you and you're probably going to spend quite a bit less than you spend at the grocery stores. Many of them sell fresh produce, meat, eggs and cheese.

Also, I would start logging your calories ahead of time and planning your meals. That way there aren't any surprises along the way when you do log and you always stay in the correct range.

And if you know you are going to have to eat out or have a treat... Find a way to fit it into your calories... Either by omitting something else from the day or looking at the restaurant's website and picking something low calorie prior to going out. Soon... you'll be able to remember what's healthy at key places and it'll become second nature.

LOG EVERYTHING... EVEN GUM! Switch to diet soda...It may be hard at first, but then when you try to drink a real soda in a month or two it'll taste WAY to sweet. It's about making good habits and changing your lifestyle. It seems like you haven't made this a priority yet. It's like drinking... An alcoholic won't quit drinking for his loved ones or his job... Not until he realizes it's a life and death situation and becomes willing to change his WHOLE life will he change.

Also, it seems that seeing a nutritionist would be a good idea. They can discuss the proper balanced diet for you and help you to develop a diet plan with the right amount of calories. Often, colleges will have students that will offer their services to you at little to no cost. At this point, you can't afford to continue to make the food choices you're making.

I wish you the best of luck! We're all here to support you!

princesspea234

You seem like a very nice lady, so I hate to question your honesty, but do you really tread water for 90-120 minutes? That's an awful lot of work. I don't think I could do it for more than a few minutes myself. If that's a typo or an overestimation, you are "earning" a lot more calories than you should probably be consuming.

This too... I work out consistently... zumba, weights, running, full day hikes... I weigh a little under 125 pounds and when I went to the lake this weekend, I treaded water for a little over an hour.... with breaks holding onto the hubby's kayak for a few minutes at a time and I was exhausted.... Felt like I could eat a horse.... Needed to sit and relax the rest of the day.

The next day I hung out in the lake and just kinda splashed around in an inner tube, floated on my back and did some moderate swimming.. It was tempting to log it the same way as I had the day before, but I would've been lying to myself.

SonicDeathMonkey80

Be consistent in your logging.

The daily Faygos and high-sodium (crap) foods are going to bloat you like a tick. Sure, you can lose weight eating Little Caesar's and drinking the orange nasty, but I prefer to get more nutrition for my calories. And I like to eat. A lot. Your body is only going to perform as well as the fuel you put into it.

Be consistent in your logging.

Don't overestimate your calorie burns. It might make you feel like you're accomplishing a grand feat, but you're really falling into a false sense of security.

Did I mention "be consistent in your logging"?

danarandallreed

Thanks for all the replies. I was wondering about the calories earned. I have been eating them, but it did not seem to make sense to me. If I am truly hungry, it will eat them, but if not...I am going to cut back to the calorie intake I should have without exercise.

QueenWino

A swimming note: I have a huge pool and swim regularly. I am 42, 280.5lbs, and also wear a polar ft7 heart rate monitor when I am swimming. I do freestyle, butterfly, side stroke, etc as hard as I can, for as long as I can, until I am red faced, arms falling off, legs vibrating, gasping for breath, and I've sustained it as long as possible before I think one more second and I might die. This isn't play swim, grab a kid, laugh, toss in the water, swim after, grab, laugh, rest w/o realizing it, have fun time, this is brutal time. The most my HRM has ever read is 332, and that is because I am so out of shape I can't get my body to go harder, longer. I have worn my HRM while treading water for hours and it won't even register above 100. It sounds like you aren't in a position to buy an HRM right now so please don't log the swimming at all in your log, It is giving you a false sense of calorie deficit that won't help you. Good luck.

Mgregory723

A swimming note: I have a huge pool and swim regularly. I am 42, 280.5lbs, and also wear a polar ft7 heart rate monitor when I am swimming. I do freestyle, butterfly, side stroke, etc as hard as I can, for as long as I can, until I am red faced, arms falling off, legs vibrating, gasping for breath, and I've sustained it as long as possible before I think one more second and I might die. This isn't play swim, grab a kid, laugh, toss in the water, swim after, grab, laugh, rest w/o realizing it, have fun time, this is brutal time. The most my HRM has ever read is 332, and that is because I am so out of shape I can't get my body to go harder, longer. I have worn my HRM while treading water for hours and it won't even register above 100. It sounds like you aren't in a position to buy an HRM right now so please don't log the swimming at all in your log, It is giving you a false sense of calorie deficit that won't help you. Good luck.

I think people have gotten the wrong idea about me swimming. I do not play in the pool the whole time. I do exercises I found online, plus; I kick my legs until they hurt, I swim back n forth in pool without a break until I am out of breath, and so much more. With that said, I am not going to log in my swimming anymore. I can see that it is not easy to figure out. Thank you for you comment.

Mgregory723

Be consistent in your logging.

The daily Faygos and high-sodium (crap) foods are going to bloat you like a tick. Sure, you can lose weight eating Little Caesar's and drinking the orange nasty, but I prefer to get more nutrition for my calories. And I like to eat. A lot. Your body is only going to perform as well as the fuel you put into it.

Be consistent in your logging.

Don't overestimate your calorie burns. It might make you feel like you're accomplishing a grand feat, but you're really falling into a false sense of security.

Did I mention "be consistent in your logging"?

LOL Yeah I got it "Be constant in logging" Stop drinking and eating crap.......Will do and thanks for your comment!

sweetcurlz67

You've gotten some GREAT advice on this thread! I won't repeat it, but just say: GOOD LUCK & YOU CAN DO IT!!!! :flowerforyou:

jljshoe1979

I am new here too. I am confused as to how many caloires i should be eating. My BMR is 1882 calories a day. My exercise plan shows buring approx. 350 calories a day - 4 days a week. I cannot excersise very strenously as i have low back and feet issues along with fibromyalgia. Anyway for my daily caloric intake should it be 1882 or should I be addng in my exercise calories and eat approx. 2232 a day.- which doesnt make sense. RIght now (only 4 days in) i am having trouble hitting 1200 a day. thanks for the help!

Here is the best explanation I've gotten recently for the "how many calories to eat back daily" delimma. Hope it helps (quoted from another post):

There is no debate if you understand the tool you are using. MFP is essentially a NEAT method calculator (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis)...which means when you set your activity level, you do NOT include exercise...just your day to day job and hum drum. This makes exercise an extra activity that needs to be fueled. The NEAT method is often used for people unfamiliar with exercise as it gives them incentive to get off their fat *kitten* and move...but they don't have to...they can eat those 1200 calories (sedentary) and lose weight...but if they do happen to get off their *kitten* and move they are rewarded with add'l calories. This is how MFP works.

Other calculators like TDEE calculators incorporate your estimated exercise calories in you activity level...so you wouldn't eat them back. It works out 6 of 1 when you do it right. When I did MFP my NET calorie goal was 1850 to lose one Lb per week...with exercise I grossed about 2100- 2200 calories per day. When I switched to the TDEE method (which included my exercise in my activity level...TDEE = 2700...multiply that by 80% to get roughly 1 Lb per week loss goal...= 2,160 gross calories. See...6 of 1.

You just need to stick with a method...some people do MFP...some people set to maintenance and try to create a deficit with exercise alone..some people do TDEE - X%...you just have to understand which method you are using and what tool you are using.
Edited by cwolfman13 On July 23, 2013 12:16 pm