Weight-loss struggles amongst so many success stories
Replies
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svlofthouse wrote: »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?!?
Not sure how the food industry would help.
The pills and fad diets are all garbage. Ignore them.
But, to you third point, I do have to agree. It takes a lot of "common sense" to get through the garbage that is being pushed through social media, magazines, Dr. Oz, the mighty "O" and others. The good thing is that once you realize most of what you read is crap, the actual way to lose weight, burn more than you eat, is not that complicated and makes making good choices easier.12 -
Not all foods are created equal... I have learned that overall. Nutrition is even MORE important - what you think is healthy? might not be... Most people, when they start to diet, and look for a calorie deficit, just eat the same foods they were eating before, but less... and of course they lose weight, but it gets harder as time passes, and eating habits have to be changed. There are some great (good information) comments for you on this thread.14
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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?
I appreciate this and can totally relate. I have lost about 50 lbs and kept it off for years. However, I still have struggles with binges, getting the last 10 lbs off for good, relationship with food, etc.
I have also not wanted to log my binges. One thing I can say with 100% certainty, logging or not logging has nothing to do with your weight loss progress. I know that is blasphemy to say on MFP. I have found that logging can actually make me more obsessed and guilty about food. Logging food is ok for a time for some people, but it is not a natural way to live life in the long term.
Logging is easy. The hard part is getting to the bottom of our issues that cause us to binge.
Good luck!7 -
svlofthouse wrote: »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?!?
It's both easy and hard. Depends on your lifestyle.
Modern packaging has tons of information concerning nutrition. That helps. The issue is most processed items have TONS of sodium. A good guide is that you should average between 1-2mg of sodium per Calorie (Kcal) consumed each day. One can of chicken noodle soup with 2 servings is 200 calories total, but 690mg of sodium per serving! That's past the minimum, and over half-way past the maximum sodium you should consume each day.
I'm not someone who preaches "Paleo" or "Organic", especially if you are on a budget. That being said, those products are sometimes better than average consumer products when it comes to nutrition. Not always. Also, low/no sugar usually means high fat, and low/no fat usually means high sugar. I would say having a big freezer, and cooking/prepping meals and desserts in advance makes it easier. You are in control of your nutrition. I spent a day making a ton of food yesterday, and now I have meals for the next couple weeks ready to go.
Ultimately, it comes down to research. The tools are out there to make that part easy. It's the time and effort that makes it hard.
As a side note, I buy small containers/bags for snacks. I pre-measure and leave them in my drawer at work. That way I can pull it out and know what I'm getting without having to measure or do any thinking. Also, it's nice if you want to share... :-)4 -
@bigbandjohn that sodium tip is excellent and I’ll start using that. MFP’s always telling me that I go over my sodium guideline.
I’ll also try that meal prep and snack trick. Especially snacks - I try not to snack but sometimes lunch seems an awfully long way away!0 -
svlofthouse wrote: »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?!?
Yup, sometimes it is, I still go to KFC some days, even when I bring my lunch...1 -
svlofthouse
All I can offer you is my experience. I weighted 240 and I’m 5 foot 4 in. I had a gastric bypass because I had tried everything, and nothing worked. I lost the weight and was down around 120, but I gained it back to 160. So I had to find a solution, and everyone will tell you will power is the key. For me, it was finding a support group who ate like I did. I changed the way I ate removing sugar and most carbs, weighing and measuring every. Not everyone needs to weight and measure, but for me I have too because I can’t tell 2 lbs of protein from 4lbs. Honestly, I’m a piggy and can justify eating the 4 lb too. I have to be accountable for what I put in my mouth, and using a scale and logging it helps. The other thing that has really help me is preparing my food ahead of time and taking it with me. Sometimes I can’t get health food in places and I have to pack my own food.
Hope this helps...keep trying.3 -
LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »If you don't log you are only cheating yourself. Log everything, that way it might make you make different choices. Learn from it. It takes time to lose weight, so try to be patient and stick with it, you will be glad you did.
I tend to agree with this. Logging those surplus calories is painful, right? EXACTLY. It forces you to take a hard look at what you did, rather than stay in denial.1 -
I ate almost a full pound in extra calories in the last 2 days...not something I like, but why use this app if all you do is log the one day out of 7 you eat right? I mean if you want to remain ignorant on why you're not losing weight, yea...I can see why you would do that.5
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Try leaving bread, potatoes, rice, pasta,cereal, and anything with sugar out of your diet. Stock up on Dannon yogurt, 80 calories, keep boiled eggs on hand, and turkey slices, a little fruit. Very carefully, log everything you eat. You will lose weight18
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rachelannette wrote: »Try leaving bread, potatoes, rice, pasta,cereal, and anything with sugar out of your diet. Stock up on Dannon yogurt, 80 calories, keep boiled eggs on hand, and turkey slices, a little fruit. Very carefully, log everything you eat. You will lose weight
And after a week or 2, chances are you’ll have an epic binge!
How about instead of that extremely limited diet, eat foods you like, weigh and log (not just log), stay in your deficit and you will lose weight - kind of how I lost 98 lbs eating bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereal and sugar along with many other foods.17 -
rachelannette wrote: »Try leaving bread, potatoes, rice, pasta,cereal, and anything with sugar out of your diet. Stock up on Dannon yogurt, 80 calories, keep boiled eggs on hand, and turkey slices, a little fruit. Very carefully, log everything you eat. You will lose weight
And after a week or 2, chances are you’ll have an epic binge!
How about instead of that extremely limited diet, eat foods you like, weigh and log (not just log), stay in your deficit and you will lose weight - kind of how I lost 98 lbs eating bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereal and sugar along with many other foods.
^^This
or, in other words:
If your favourite food doesn't fit into your plan ... change the plan, not the food.
Reality beats plans any time of the day.
And don't forget: It is NOT the end of the world to exceed your calory limit. What IS bad though is to not learn the lesson your body just provided.8 -
rachelannette wrote: »Try leaving bread, potatoes, rice, pasta,cereal, and anything with sugar out of your diet. Stock up on Dannon yogurt, 80 calories, keep boiled eggs on hand, and turkey slices, a little fruit. Very carefully, log everything you eat. You will lose weight
And after a week or 2, chances are you’ll have an epic binge!
How about instead of that extremely limited diet, eat foods you like, weigh and log (not just log), stay in your deficit and you will lose weight - kind of how I lost 98 lbs eating bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereal and sugar along with many other foods.
I agree.... I'm not the type to recommend total denial especially if you love something. What worked for rachelannette may work for you, or it may not. For me, what worked was moderation. I strictly did do the shiritake pasta substitute for a while and it helps, but even so having real pasta occasionally is nice.
Heck, most nights when doing super strict, I had a small Peppermint Patty as a snack. that 50 calories was a welcome treat. Again, we are all different.
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rachelannette wrote: »Try leaving bread, potatoes, rice, pasta,cereal, and anything with sugar out of your diet. Stock up on Dannon yogurt, 80 calories, keep boiled eggs on hand, and turkey slices, a little fruit. Very carefully, log everything you eat. You will lose weight
And after a week or 2, chances are you’ll have an epic binge!
How about instead of that extremely limited diet, eat foods you like, weigh and log (not just log), stay in your deficit and you will lose weight - kind of how I lost 98 lbs eating bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereal and sugar along with many other foods.
Yeah it’s so hard. You want to lose weight, but a restrictive diet (that would work for weight loss) eventually causes a binge that sabotages your efforts. Do you believe that all calories are created equal??0 -
svlofthouse wrote: »rachelannette wrote: »Try leaving bread, potatoes, rice, pasta,cereal, and anything with sugar out of your diet. Stock up on Dannon yogurt, 80 calories, keep boiled eggs on hand, and turkey slices, a little fruit. Very carefully, log everything you eat. You will lose weight
And after a week or 2, chances are you’ll have an epic binge!
How about instead of that extremely limited diet, eat foods you like, weigh and log (not just log), stay in your deficit and you will lose weight - kind of how I lost 98 lbs eating bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereal and sugar along with many other foods.
Yeah it’s so hard. You want to lose weight, but a restrictive diet (that would work for weight loss) eventually causes a binge that sabotages your efforts. Do you believe that all calories are created equal??
A calorie is a calorie, not good, nor bad it is a calorie. Having said that we decide what foods, hence what calories we will eat each day. And how they fit into the plan we are following. For me I admit I have a reason to not eat some types of Carbs because I am a type 2 diabetic and the carbs impact my blood sugar. So I make the decision to not eat as many starchy Carbs as what is the norm for many people. But so I do not go off the rails and binge, once a week I will have a so called treat. And I log all foods, and weigh everything before I eat it. And have found it works. What I have learned from MFP is weigh, log, find a plan that works. I also pre-plan, and weigh out all my snacks for the coming week. So I can just grab them. That has been a huge help.7 -
svlofthouse wrote: »
Yeah it’s so hard. You want to lose weight, but a restrictive diet (that would work for weight loss) eventually causes a binge that sabotages your efforts. Do you believe that all calories are created equal??
A can of Coke (140 calories) is less healthy and less filling than 140 calories worth of lettuce. Although, 140 calories of spinach has more of certain nutrients (e.g. iron) than the lettuce and is as filling. Mind you, if you cook the spinach, water will cook out and the perceived portion will become a lot smaller for the same amount of calories.
Calories = energy. Nutrients are separate from the formula.
1gram carb or protein = 4 calories
1gram fat = 9 calories
So, based on those numbers, not all calories are equal. Also, a carb acts different in your body than protein, and both are different than fats. Different types of fats also act different. That reminds me, different types of carbs act different as well (sugars vs. starches).
Sorry if I'm overcomplicating things.0 -
svlofthouse wrote: »rachelannette wrote: »Try leaving bread, potatoes, rice, pasta,cereal, and anything with sugar out of your diet. Stock up on Dannon yogurt, 80 calories, keep boiled eggs on hand, and turkey slices, a little fruit. Very carefully, log everything you eat. You will lose weight
And after a week or 2, chances are you’ll have an epic binge!
How about instead of that extremely limited diet, eat foods you like, weigh and log (not just log), stay in your deficit and you will lose weight - kind of how I lost 98 lbs eating bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereal and sugar along with many other foods.
Yeah it’s so hard. You want to lose weight, but a restrictive diet (that would work for weight loss) eventually causes a binge that sabotages your efforts. Do you believe that all calories are created equal??
A calorie is a calorie just like a dollar is a dollar. It's just a unit of measurement, but obviously you want to use that dollar or calorie well. You need to figure out what foods fill you up at a calorie level you can fit. Some days you can use 200 calories on a cupcake because you managed to get lots of filling and nutritious food in below your goal. Other days it doesn't work out that way.
You don't get bonus points for eating a 100% virtuous foods/drinks diet. You have to find the balance, and that's very individual. I try to prelog all my protein, veggies, and whole grains and see where I stand. Then see if I can fit some treats or not. I try to focus on getting enough of what I need more of, rather than what I need to avoid. I find when I do that it all works itself out :drinker:7 -
You don't get bonus points for eating a 100% virtuous foods/drinks diet. You have to find the balance, and that's very individual. I try to prelog all my protein, veggies, and whole grains and see where I stand. Then see if I can fit some treats or not. I try to focus on getting enough of what I need more of, rather than what I need to avoid. I find when I do that it all works itself out :drinker:
Well said!0 -
The only thing that helps me is to stay off the scale! I know for some people this has the opposite impact, but for me, when I weigh myself and don't see a number I was hoping for, I get EXTREMELY discouraged. Nothing can cause me to binge faster than not losing as much weight as I hoped. I get that this may sound weird, but for some reason in my head if I "didn't lose enough", something happens subconsciously in my head that causes me to say screw it, I'm not succeeding so what's the point?!
I realize my thoughts are NOT true, but in my head, telling myself that it's enough just doesn't work. I weigh myself once per month. This helps me not be as obsessive, and usually seeing a more substantial drop because I've waited a whole month between weigh ins makes me feel more motivated.
Good luck!3 -
bigbandjohn wrote: »svlofthouse wrote: »
Yeah it’s so hard. You want to lose weight, but a restrictive diet (that would work for weight loss) eventually causes a binge that sabotages your efforts. Do you believe that all calories are created equal??
A can of Coke (140 calories) is less healthy and less filling than 140 calories worth of lettuce. Although, 140 calories of spinach has more of certain nutrients (e.g. iron) than the lettuce and is as filling. Mind you, if you cook the spinach, water will cook out and the perceived portion will become a lot smaller for the same amount of calories.
Calories = energy. Nutrients are separate from the formula.
1gram carb or protein = 4 calories
1gram fat = 9 calories
So, based on those numbers, not all calories are equal. Also, a carb acts different in your body than protein, and both are different than fats. Different types of fats also act different. That reminds me, different types of carbs act different as well (sugars vs. starches).
Sorry if I'm overcomplicating things.
No that’s fascinating. I’d really love to know more; especially about the different types of fats and carbs.
I’ll definitely have a think about the differences between nutrients and calories the next time I meal prep.0 -
svlofthouse wrote: »rachelannette wrote: »Try leaving bread, potatoes, rice, pasta,cereal, and anything with sugar out of your diet. Stock up on Dannon yogurt, 80 calories, keep boiled eggs on hand, and turkey slices, a little fruit. Very carefully, log everything you eat. You will lose weight
And after a week or 2, chances are you’ll have an epic binge!
How about instead of that extremely limited diet, eat foods you like, weigh and log (not just log), stay in your deficit and you will lose weight - kind of how I lost 98 lbs eating bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereal and sugar along with many other foods.
Yeah it’s so hard. You want to lose weight, but a restrictive diet (that would work for weight loss) eventually causes a binge that sabotages your efforts. Do you believe that all calories are created equal??
Yep - pretty much. The only exception might be alcohol. If I had started out on such a restrictive diet, (like the other times I lost weight put gained in back within a year) I never would have made it as far as I have or been able to maintain my loss so far.1 -
bemyyfriend0918 wrote: »The only thing that helps me is to stay off the scale! I know for some people this has the opposite impact, but for me, when I weigh myself and don't see a number I was hoping for, I get EXTREMELY discouraged. Nothing can cause me to binge faster than not losing as much weight as I hoped. I get that this may sound weird, but for some reason in my head if I "didn't lose enough", something happens subconsciously in my head that causes me to say screw it, I'm not succeeding so what's the point?!
I realize my thoughts are NOT true, but in my head, telling myself that it's enough just doesn't work. I weigh myself once per month. This helps me not be as obsessive, and usually seeing a more substantial drop because I've waited a whole month between weigh ins makes me feel more motivated.
Good luck!
I’m actually the same. A bad scale day (and I know that might just be water weight) can lead to a total spiral off my plan.
I do want to see my numbers go down, but it’s not everything. However, some days I just cry because my appearance feels like everything and I can’t get it how I want it to be, but I also know that I’m so so much more than a number or an ideal cultivated by the media.0 -
svlofthouse wrote: »bemyyfriend0918 wrote: »The only thing that helps me is to stay off the scale! I know for some people this has the opposite impact, but for me, when I weigh myself and don't see a number I was hoping for, I get EXTREMELY discouraged. Nothing can cause me to binge faster than not losing as much weight as I hoped. I get that this may sound weird, but for some reason in my head if I "didn't lose enough", something happens subconsciously in my head that causes me to say screw it, I'm not succeeding so what's the point?!
I realize my thoughts are NOT true, but in my head, telling myself that it's enough just doesn't work. I weigh myself once per month. This helps me not be as obsessive, and usually seeing a more substantial drop because I've waited a whole month between weigh ins makes me feel more motivated.
Good luck!
I’m actually the same. A bad scale day (and I know that might just be water weight) can lead to a total spiral off my plan.
I do want to see my numbers go down, but it’s not everything. However, some days I just cry because my appearance feels like everything and I can’t get it how I want it to be, but I also know that I’m so so much more than a number or an ideal cultivated by the media.
Selecting what looked like a likely time-frame via eyeballing my weight trendline:
November 7, 2015: Scale: 166.3
December 6, 2015: Scale: 166.8 <-- OMG +0.5lbs nothing is working time to throw in the towel!
November 7, 2015: Weight Trend: 169.1
December 6, 2015: Weight Trend: 166.8 <-- actual approximate underlying weight change: -2.3lbs
I was not even dealing with water retention due to exercise.
Or, as is much more common for probably the majority of MFPers, water weight variations due to the time of the month.
Once a month is NOT the answer.
Trending weigh app or web site and looking at weight trend over time is a much closer answer.
Understanding yourself and how your weight changes an even better one...3 -
As far a weight monitoring goes, I find that I can swing as much as 5 lbs during a week, even with strict dieting. An example would be weighing in at 249, the next day at 252, and the following day at 247, then back to 248. To see the fewest swings, I try to weigh myself at the same time every day, wearing the same thing. My rule is 2 days of weight loss before I accept it (i.e., if I hit 237, I check the next day to verify). I also never accept more than 1 lb of loss at a time. Others may argue against it, but one day I lost 7 lbs - but it was due to a stomach bug. Not real weight loss there. It was mostly back 2 days later.
Over time, I have gotten use to the pattern, and in many ways understand the causes for me. YMMV.
For now, daily. Once I hit my goal, weekly or bi-weekly is about all I plan to do for maintenance.1
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