Help! What am I doing wrong?

ladyofbusterbear
ladyofbusterbear Posts: 4
in Introduce Yourself
First off, I'm so mad at myself for getting this heavy. I've been working out 3-4 days a week (heavy cardio) since April and started counting calories July 1. I haven't lost any weight and my clothes are still tight. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I know it gets harder to lose the older I get, but this is weird. I'm 5'4 and in mid 30s. I get tired easily with a stressful job, but I've been forcing myself to go to the gym and to resist late night drinking and eating.
SW: 160
CW: 159
GW: 125
My friend who has similar stats as me just slightly taller and she lost 6lbs this month! I've got an open food diary if anyone wants to take and advise what I can do differently to see some results.

Replies

  • tlmclennan
    tlmclennan Posts: 26 Member
    The first thing I noticed in looking at your diary is that you are eating a lot of sodium. I know MFP says 2500 for a daily, but it really should be kept under 1500. Sodium retains water.

    The other tips may be to make sure you are logging every calorie eg did you log if you used olive oil to cook something, or were the weights or portions of the foods correct?

    The other thing is calories burned can be a little on the high side on MFP. Get an HRM to make sure you are really burning what you think you are.

    Good luck.
  • ladyofbusterbear
    ladyofbusterbear Posts: 4
    Thank you! I guess I've been so obsessed with the calorie counting I didn't realize all the sodium I've been putting in my body.
    I've adjusted the calories burned when working out, however I will get my own HRM instead of depending on the machines.
    Thanks again ????:smile:
  • DomVitagliano
    DomVitagliano Posts: 24
    Ok so I had a brief look at your diary and this is what I could see...

    You're not eating enough and everything is pretty processed. You need to be eating more substantial meals, for example breakfast, you should be eating porridge with fruit, or an omelette with toast, not just 12 almonds and cherries and a coffee to wash it down. It's like your body is in starvation mode, I don't think it's getting enough calories so it's hanging on to everything.

    Definitely lower the sodium, some of those prepacked meals you are consuming have your entire days sodium allowance in there. Eat fresher ingredients and then you know what's in your body. I've only just learnt about sodium so I'm keeping a close eye on that one because I retain fluid quite badly.

    Maybe also compare what your friend is having to what you are having and that also may give you a better understanding of why it's working for her. Don't necessarily eat foods just because they work within the calorie allowance, actually be more aware of what you are consuming. Doing some research definitely helped me...

    Good Luck :)
  • ladyofbusterbear
    ladyofbusterbear Posts: 4
    Wow, I've been really ignorant about my sodium intake:
    http://my.clevelandclinic.org/healthy_living/nutrition/hic_low-sodium_diet_guidelines.aspx
    Hopefully this next month will be better!
    Thank you for the feedback.

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