Weight-loss struggles amongst so many success stories
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cmriverside wrote: »What the *puppy* is a 3000 calorie deficit anyway?
Just noticed this.
*puppy* is my schtick
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Oh for cavorting *kittens'* and *puppies'* sake. The OP used deficit instead of overage in their OP and I continued using their terminology instead of fixing it.16
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If you ate 1,000 more calories than you your daily goal, that happened, whether you tracked it or not. It's way more beneficial to be honest with yourself and know where you stand than to pretend it didn't happen and live in denial. Try to think of it simply as feedback, and don't beat yourself up about high-calorie days. They happen to all of us!
Also, you mentioned having to choose the closest "preprepared" item on the app to estimate your calories. MFP has a recipe builder - you can set up recipes for anything you make. (Or you can always add individual ingredients.)11 -
funjen1972 wrote: »Remember...the reason it's called a success story is because it is not easy.
Exactly, it's not a success PAMPHLET...lol.
I HATE logging my cheats and calorie overages, but I do it anyway. No one but me really notices anyway so the only person I'd be cheating by not being honest is myself.
You have to be consuming more calories then you are burning, it's as simple as that. One of my early realizations is that yes, I was eating well but I was skipping logging certain things. I'd log that I ate 1/4 cup of potatoes...but not the butter I put on it. I'd log that I had chicken, but not the marinade it was baked in. I was easily consuming 400 calories more a day just in condiments!
Weight loss doesn't REQUIRE exercise, it does help though. Muscle weighs more then fat but muscle also helps burn fat.
Now, you are not logging everything by your own admission, so I'd take one week and PROMISE yourself you will be 100% honest and log EVERYTHING, from salad dressing to sugar in your coffee, one week is easy to do. I'm betting you'll see a big difference. Like I said, the only person you are cheating is yourself. You are worth more then the lies you tell yourself.
Yes, the food database isn't perfect, sometimes I have to find an approximation of the meal I just ate (this week I had pesto pasta from a restaurant not listed) so I had to find a similar food from another restaurant and use that. When in doubt I add a few extra calories, but that's just for my own piece of mind.
I have a cheat day once a week and ONLY once a week, but the healthier I get the less I seem to need my cheat day. I eat more protein to fill me up, eat a crap load of veggies and meal prep. Most people say they don't have time, but I'm betting you have an hour at night to put stuff together for the next day.
Also I dion't count dessert as a cheat, for me it's necessary for my sanity. I have a mini peanut butter cup each night after dinner...but I just have ONE. I used to sit down and eat 6 or 7, but in all honesty that was mindless munching and not enjoying the chocolate. Pick one thing that gives you joy ( a latte from Starbucks, a chocolate, a cookie) and work it into your calorie allowance. It'll help you keep your sanity.
Don't give up! A year from now wouldn't you want to look back at your hard work with pride instead of giving up? It's not easy, if it were easy every person would have a rock hard body in one week. You can do this, if I can...anyone can. Each goal I hit I buy myself something special to look forward to, maybe you could do something similar since it sounds like you are going this alone like I am.
All of this is just my opinion but I hope you can find what works for you.
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OP, I know what you mean. Most people here want to sound positive and upbeat, so we talk about our successes and things that have worked. All our glasses seem half-full, and all the eggs are sunny-side up.
Plus, as least as I see them through the lens of the internet, everyone on here but me has reached their goal weight and is maintaining with little or no trouble. (And they’re all good-looking, financially stable, and smell nice.)
In case you have the same tendencies, I can assure you that none of those things are true of me. (Well, sometimes I do smell kind of nice.)
I’ve lost forty pounds to reach goal, and gained it all back in a year. I’ve lost 70 pounds to reach goal, and gained it all back in four years. Six year ago, I lost forty pounds with MFP, which was less than 1/3 of the way to goal, and then gained 35 of it back. I’m here to try, try, again; for the reason that trying is so much better than not trying.
Flipping the egg back to sunny-side up, the thing that worked for me, when things have worked, is logging. Every last morsel, and every huge binge.
My diary is open: you can see that I have entries for 5 Calories or so for a dash of vinegar, and a couple thousand Calories for half a tub of ice cream and a tube of raw cookie dough.
I think the thing that makes logging work for me is that thinking and writing and calculating brings the food consumption the the forefront of my brain. Without logging, my food just tends to go hand to mouth to stomach to sensations of pleasant taste and satiety, and no higher logical or analytic functions ever get involved.
tl;dr - None of us are perfect, and I’m not even close. But when I have been successful at losing weight, it’s because I was logging everything I ate.28 -
bobsburgersfan wrote: »If you ate 1,000 more calories than you your daily goal, that happened, whether you tracked it or not. It's way more beneficial to be honest with yourself and know where you stand than to pretend it didn't happen and live in denial. Try to think of it simply as feedback, and don't beat yourself up about high-calorie days. They happen to all of us!
Also, you mentioned having to choose the closest "preprepared" item on the app to estimate your calories. MFP has a recipe builder - you can set up recipes for anything you make. (Or you can always add individual ingredients.)
Yeah thank you, I’ll definitely start to just log everything, even if it’s hard. I think that might be what I need to finally start to lose weight.
I’m terms of the inaccurate logging, I use the recipe builder for recipes I make, but have no clue really what goes into things I’m served. However, I have to eat this or I will really be letting weight loss take over my life. How do I stop it becoming all consuming?
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@wmweeza thank you so much. That was really inspirational and interesting so read. Maybe I’m going too strict and that’s causing my binges. I’ll take your advice for a week at least and see how it goes!1
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I think that if you are clear about the purpose of logging, it won't be so hard. The purpose is not to take over your life, it is to help you eat less, in a way that is acceptable to you. You can think of it as your personal strategy to have the cake and eat it too - eat food you like, but less of it, so you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. That is the success story - people have accepted the limitations that are, but found ways to enjoy life within those boundaries. That's why (in addition to what @Evelyn_Gorfram said) you don't hear so much about the struggles of successful people.svlofthouse wrote: »I’ll definitely start to just log everything, even if it’s hard. I think that might be what I need to finally start to lose weight.
I’m terms of the inaccurate logging, I use the recipe builder for recipes I make, but have no clue really what goes into things I’m served. However, I have to eat this or I will really be letting weight loss take over my life. How do I stop it becoming all consuming?7 -
Oh for cavorting *kittens'* and *puppies'* sake. The OP used deficit instead of overage in their OP and I continued using their terminology instead of fixing it.
You aren't helping!! You're part of the problem! (said with all the hugs and lols - and thanks for explaining. Please to use sarcasm font next time. Kthanksbye.)4 -
Wow guys! I weighed how much mashed potato I was eating for the first time. Eye opening!
I’ll be so much more careful with logging from now on, and hopefully I’ll still be able to fit treats in so I don’t binge.
Thank so all so much for your advice - let’s make this one a success story as well!21 -
@svlofthouse - One more thought -- I have found that people respect it when I tell them I packed my food, that I can't do restaurant food because of working on weight loss and an athletic goal. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't, but could be worth a try.7
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Haha. I remember the first time I weighed my normal mashed potato serving and saw how many calories it equated to. I took half off the plate. I now cook several potatoes at once, mash them - and freeze it in smaller portions. That way, when I next want mash with my meal, I won't overdo it by feeling it's a waste to just cook one potato.
As for your original use of the term 'deficit', I assume you mean seeing a red, negative number on the Food tab under Total Calories for the day, whereas almost everyone else on here thinks of a deficit as the number of calories below maintenance that they eat in order to lose weight.
I have a vague idea as to what my maintenance number is - so if I go over on my calories but am still under my maintenance, I don't feel quite so disappointed with myself.6 -
svlofthouse wrote: »Wow guys! I weighed how much mashed potato I was eating for the first time. Eye opening!
I’ll be so much more careful with logging from now on, and hopefully I’ll still be able to fit treats in so I don’t binge.
Thank so all so much for your advice - let’s make this one a success story as well!
Yep. Keep weighing your foods. You will see all kinds of surprises sadly.
Best of luck; you can do it!2 -
One more note that I'd like to add, add exercise into your routine if you can, is it needed to lose weight- no, but if I didn't exercise a few days of the week, I'd never be under my kcal goal. I find it helps my sanity and makes me feel better, more then losing weight has...
And yes it's very discouraging seeing what a serving looks like..
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If for some reason you are unable to weigh the food that you are now consuming, opt to decreasing the portion size. Start the meal by getting rid of a part of your regular portion (maybe half of it) and then sitting down to eat the rest. If what you were eating was maintaining you at the same weight, getting rid of half of it is definitely going to put you in calorie deficit.7
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A lot of comments i see here are missing your point completely. I know how you feel, i'm there at the moment too. I used to be a personal trainer and gained 26kg since my burnout 2 years ago. Struggled for a long time to get back in line, only recently was able to overcome my completely destroyed motivation and dedication to get me atleast back on the right track.
The only way i overcame this issue is to try and find a way to keep me from losing heart when i'm losing motivation.
I've tried to make it simple for myself, i make fuckups. Tons of them. I think we all do, and this is part of being or becoming fit. When i do, i have a few "golden" rules to prevent me from getting into some sort of ripple effect which grows on you.
This results in my 3 basic tips that i can give you, which are in my opinion the only things that get you forward and past this rough time are:
1. Accept whats happening, if you binged, log the binge to log the actual outcome and keep track of your own behaviour over time.
2. Do NOT compensate for binging the day after. THIS is what causes the ripple effects. The day after, you continue like it never happened, accepting that the day before might have been a lost day. If you do however compensate for it, you'll increase stress. Which is both mentally and physically heavier than the lost day on its own.
3. Trust on the fact that overtime, this consistency will level out and become easier.
And i do not want to demotivate you, but this struggle will never go away. Even when you're becoming fit, you'll have binges. But at that point you have learned to trust that the amount of binges are mere dust and hardly noticable in a fit and generally healthy lifestyle.
I'll not trouble you with specifics on food or workout, you've seen the comments, you've read the forums and tips. Consistency and discipline when motivation is burned to the ground will get you there.14 -
@RonRoff thank so so much, that’s really helpful. Now I can maybe understand why the binges happen. I’ll never try to compensate again and I’ll keep working through it!2
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Yasss 😍 I know I feel so much better when I exercise! Got to get the endorphins flowing!One more note that I'd like to add, add exercise into your routine if you can, is it needed to lose weight- no, but if I didn't exercise a few days of the week, I'd never be under my kcal goal. I find it helps my sanity and makes me feel better, more then losing weight has...1 -
climberbry wrote: »The first question should be: "Do you have an exercise routine that includes resistance training?"
I dunno. I've had to work hard to train myself to resist a bevy of things. From fritters to not logging to magical thinking. Must. Continue. Resistance.9 -
@svlofthouse I logged a thousand calorie deficit yesterday by not logging the thousands of calories I ate. The sun came up. The earth kept spinning. Let's all have another go at it, shall we?
Speaking of bread, I found a Pepperidge Farm thin sliced whole wheat bread. It's <40 calories per slice. That might help.3 -
Stop thinking that you're going to see results quickly. You didn't gain weight overnight. You're not going to lose it overnight.
I know it's difficult to stick with a diet for a while b/c we want everything NOW. We want to see results NOW. But that's just not how your body works.
Find a diet that works for you and just stick with it. Your results might not be fast like some folks, but your journey isn't theirs.
Stop sabotaging yourself. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and STICK WITH IT. Are you going to be more happy eating some bread and staying at whatever weight? Or will you feel better eating healthy and getting healthier? Will you be proud of yourself for cheating b/c you're in self pity mode? Or will you be proud for sticking to it even though your results are slow coming?
And don't trust the scale. Take measurements and take progress pictures.3 -
15 g protein with every meal, especially breakfast, and 6 mini-meals a day helped me avoid binges.1
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svlofthouse wrote: »I really applaud everyone who has been able to lose weight and keep it off. However, even when I’m carefully logging, I don’t lose weight. I eat fairly healthily but get downhearted when I can’t see results. This leads to a bread binge and I hate cheating in logging, but I can’t bring myself to log a thousand calorie deficit. What can I do?
Hi.
I have struggled all my life. If I have learned anything it can be frustrating. Yes, I am finally having success after nearly 30 years of obesity, but it's not without it's challenges. Here is what I have learned over the years, and what has helped.
First, what works for one person doesn't always work for you. I have friends who had success with one diet plan, but it failed for me.
Second, fad diets are just that... fads. We don't always know the long term affects of a fad diet. In fact, many people have severe "swingback" from fad diets.
Third, plateaus happen. I was doing a "biggest loser" competition at work, and decided to push the limits with a 1200-1300 calorie/day diet (minimum for an average male). I did good for about 6 weeks, then I lost 1 lb over the next 2 weeks. Not from lack of trying, but my body fought back from the extreme weight loss I was experiencing.
Now, to contradict my first note, I am going to tell you how I ultimately found a path to weight loss. Perhaps it will help you in your choices.
To begin, I made a promise I plan on keeping. I have a good reason, not just my health. I decided to start with cutting back. Over a year passed and some success. Ultimately, it was not enough. I started tracking in April and set a 1-1/2 lbs/week goal. It was a good starting point. After a couple months into this, our "biggest loser" competition started at work. I switched to 1200-1300/day goal for 3 months. As noted above, I plateaued in the middle of it, but still ended up over 30 lbs down in the end. I am just wrapping up a month of maintenance, and starting to lose weight again. Mind you, only 2 lbs in the last month. I still have less than 40 to go.
If I were to go back to the beginning, I would have started tracking earlier. I think starting small, going strict, then going back to a lighter loss is best. I find that I am not as hungry since I stopped the 1200/day. It makes what I eat seem like a lot more.
I'd also like to add, about 15 years ago I went to a diet and fitness program for 4 weeks. That helped immensely, but unfortunately I didn't stick to it. I do apply a lot of what I learned in my habits today. I also realize it's going to be a project for me for the rest of my life to maintain my good habits. I committed to never buying a larger size again, and have gotten rid of all of my larger clothes as I finished.
Have I gone over? Yes, and I log it. The only person not logging things hurts is you.
Also, don't beat yourself up for an occasional binge. In fact, some people set aside a binge day once and a while. However, just because you have a binge day, try not to get too crazy.
I'll admit, I have days I am still hungry, but after 30+ years of overeating, my stomach is enlarged, and it may never recover fully. It's the cost of my sin.
I will admit publicly for the first time, I was a 60" waist a few years back, and I am down to a 38". Because of my physical build I plan to go 2 more inches, but no more. Most of my progress was in the last year, and the last 10" in the last 8 months. I have another friend who had lost a lot, and put it back on. Recently had bariatric surgery. Many people end up overeating after that and re-streching, and I hope that it doesn't happen this time, but only time will tell in that case.
To wrap up, I did find one item that helped during my strict times. It is called "shiritake noodles". It's a low-calorie pasta substitute. I will admit it smells like fish (for the refrigerated/wet packs), but once cooked and mixed with some sauce there is no fishy taste or smell, and it is quite a good substitute. Some brands are better than others. As to wich ones that you would have to learn on your own. My tastes/texture feelings could be different than yours.
My next step will be keeping it off this time. As noted, a commitment to my wardrobe was step one. Also, a weekly or bi-weekly weigh in and a promise to myself to diet if I gain more than 10 lbs to get back to my final goal. Giving myself a range to weigh I think will help, rather than an exact weight to frustrate/obsess over.
Best of luck, and don't give up.
ADDITION: I should note that I also try to plan as much of my meal plans in advance. If you know what your dinner is for certain, you can change options for lunch if you need to, or know if it's OK to have a snack if you get hungry in the afternoon. Otherwise, I tend to eat lighter during the day to save calories for dinner.6 -
svlofthouse wrote: »I really applaud everyone who has been able to lose weight and keep it off. However, even when I’m carefully logging, I don’t lose weight. I eat fairly healthily but get downhearted when I can’t see results. This leads to a bread binge and I hate cheating in logging, but I can’t bring myself to log a thousand calorie deficit. What can I do?
Are you sure you haven't had results and are you weighing your food? Sometimes the results are there but just slower than I would like. For example, It seems like I've been in the 220's forever but I lost weight last month.0 -
kommodevaran wrote: »You aren't carefully logging if you don't weigh everything and using valid database entries.
Definitely agree about database entries. I look up foods sometimes online to double check when there is a large disparity in entries and I don't know the exact calories.1 -
AustinRuadhain wrote: »@svlofthouse - One more thought -- I have found that people respect it when I tell them I packed my food, that I can't do restaurant food because of working on weight loss and an athletic goal. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't, but could be worth a try.
Many restaurants now post nutritional information online. Planning ahead helps if you want to eat out from time to time. Heck, I've even been able to stop at "Ronald's Place" for lunch when on the road because I knew what I could get. Many menu's even have the information published if it's a last minute thing.
Funny story. A group was heading to Texas Roadhouse for lunch. I had just finished the competition and figured I could be careful since they had salads. It turned out a small sirloin with 2 sides of steamed broccoli and another veggie was fewer calories than any "dinner salad" with lowfat dressing they had.
Don't deny yourself going out. Research places people tend to go in your area so if you want to join them you can comfortably go out without worrying about your diet.1 -
@JeromeBarry1 I’ll try to get that bread, but I’m trying to have Vogel’s bread because it’s got loads of protein in it. However, a lower calorie alternative might be good if a bread craving does occur! Thank you so much0
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@LiLee2018 I totally see your point, thanks for spelling it out. It can be hard on MFP because the drastic weight loss journeys are very promoted, but I guess eating more healthier and feeling better is also a good achievement!0
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@bigbandjohn thank you so much for sharing your story. I aspire to that level of will power and I know I’ll get there!! We can all do this together right 😇0
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I wish the food industry made it easier to live more healthily. Not even lose weight because there are loads of pills and fad diets to ‘help’ you there.
It’s hard to make good choices in this day and age. Who agrees?!?7
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