Struggling!

brightresolve

kommodevaran wrote: »

brightresolve wrote: »

Lots of great advice above (and some weight loss woo also, of course; so-called starvation mode is not real!)

The scale does not lie, but the most important scale is your food scale. Weigh solids, measure liquids, use verified (green-checked) database entries, put in your own recipes if you cook, and log every bite, even the "blow-outs"!! 1300-1400 calories is not much, and it's easy to overshoot that with the best intentions (heaping half-cups, creeping portions, forgetting the butter you cooked the egg in). Then put the "odd blow-out" on top of that and whoops, you're not really eating at a deficit, you're not losing, and it's discouraging. It's really worth the effort because losing is a numbers game.

Great advice here too, just feel a strong urge to warn against the "verified" entries, that can be just as off as others, and against relying on scanning - you still need to verify the entry yourself.

Whoops yes, I too have had the experience of switching from cups to grams and suddenly having it calculate 4000 calories worth of something. Good catch and thank you.

Calories in and out are never going to be more than estimates, so tightening our logging means becoming ever more aware of where those estimates are off.

Jixil

This is a great tool for tracking how much you should be eating: https://tdeecalculator.net/. Based on what you put for your activity level, it will adjust how many calories you should be consuming. Do NOT add in extra calories after you complete a work out, as this already takes that into consideration. Often times it's those little cheat meals/snacks that end up sneaking up on you.

An important reminder that your macro splits shouldn't be a percentage. Instead it should be your weight (or goal weight) in grams. So for example, if you weigh 170lbs, try to eat that much in protein, and split the remainder of your calories between fats and carbs. In all honesty, this doesn't matter too much, but it a personal preference on what fits better for YOU.

The key thing to remember is that you must be consuming in a calorie deficit to lose weight. 500 calories less than what you need to maintain is recommended to lose a pound a week. In order to do this, you must must MUST at the minimum be keeping track of every calorie you eat. Tracking macros is what you ultimately should be doing, but tracking calories is a start. Get a kitchen scale too. You'd be surprised how much you're actually overeating. No matter how "healthy" you think you're eating, you're probably still eating too many calories as a whole, which is why you're not losing weight.

When you do keep track, make sure to not forget the little things too. Had some cream and sugar with your coffee? Don't forget to add that in. Had a handful of nuts during an afternoon snack? Make sure you weigh and track it. Had "just 1 bite" of a donut? You better track that too! Had a bag of baby carrots because they're healthy? Don't forget to track the calories! If you're truly tracking your calories, you'd be surprised how much extra you're actually consuming!

Once you do, make adjustments, keep at it and don't give up! It takes a couple of weeks minimum before you'll truly notice a difference, but when you do, it's just motivation to keep going. Good luck!