Feel at a loss!

kiay131982

I feel like I need some buddies willing to open up their food diaries to me so I can get some inspiration and help!

My story I am 37 and 5 ft 4... Joined Mfp 2 years ago at 146lb. I was running 5k three times a week but thats it. Quite soon after I got quite poorly and ended up losing a fair bit of weight, had to stop running as I was too exhausted and having loads of medical test to work out if I had a gastro disease. This went on for just over a year. When I recovered (I do not have a gastro disease) my weight shot up in the space of a month to 160lb.
I tried getting back into running but got plantar fasciitis and then an achillies injury. At a loss I found a Personal Trainer, I started working out with her twice a week... This was back in September.. So 7 months. I also started an aerial silks class once a week. Im now also able to start picking up the running a bit (not quite managing a 5k again yet but working on it).
However in this time I have not consistently lost any weight and its getting me down, i might go from 160 to 155 or so, but it bounces up and down between them.

I stopped tracking food in January as I felt like I was getting nowhere... My PT told me to focus on protein and avoid Processed foods.
However 3 months on and I am still sitting at the same weight. I started tracking again last week and really need guidance. I never manage to hit protein targets... Ever. We dont buy food with single use plastic packaging and havent for over 2 years - I really dont want to compromise on that. It makes protein powders impossible to source. I bought one big plastic tub a while back as we can reuse it... But its not something I can do monthly. We eat meat maybe twice a week. So my only main source Of protein is eggs and I cant physically eat enough of them..
I know its my diet letting me down... I just dont know how to fix it...

Can anyone help?
I worked out that my protein target needs to be about 124g, im lucky to hit 60g..

harper16

Are you counting calories and tracking your food? Being in a calorie deficit is needed to lose weight.

kiay131982

harper16 wrote: »

Are you counting calories and tracking your food? Being in a calorie deficit is needed to lose weight.

Yes, Im weighing every last thing and sticking to my allowance. I have only been back at doing that for a week, I was doing it consistently for most of last year and stopped in January feeling deflated at no progress. I didnt lose or gain weight between January and now though... Just continued to bounce around those same 5lb..

Lietchi

Are you also measuring yourself? You could be gaining some muscle mass, losing some fat mass and still weight the same, but be losing inches?

If protein is a problem, that seems less likely though. Have you read this thread for protein ideas?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10244142/list-of-foods-with-highest-protein-calorie-percentage/p1
Eggs aren't the only option.

Aside from that, how many calories are/were you eating? You were weighing everything, but also making sure you were using correct food entries in the database?

kiay131982

Lietchi wrote: »

Are you also measuring yourself? You could be gaining some muscle mass, losing some fat mass and still weight the same, but be losing inches?

If protein is a problem, that seems less likely though. Have you read this thread for protein ideas?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10244142/list-of-foods-with-highest-protein-calorie-percentage/p1
Eggs aren't the only option.

Aside from that, how many calories are/were you eating? You were weighing everything, but also making sure you were using correct food entries in the database?

Hi. I confess that I am not consistently measuring. I measured at the start so I do have that written down somewhere, but I actually found those numbers more upsetting for some reason so I avoid. I will measure.
Before I got a PT I was eating 1200 calories as my target max. Which I now know is not great, especially when working out. My calorie target is currently set at 1460 from MFP but I do allow myself exercise calories if I feel hungry. I scan items with barcodes and will google check something if calories look iffy.

I will check out the protein thread, thanks!

Lietchi

Fitted clothes should be a good indicator as well, if they are getting looser or not.

I also scan barcodes, but I always check against the package. I can't even count the number of times the values were wrong (but maybe US and UK foods are less prone to errors than Belgian foods).
Weighing cooking oil/butter is definitely a must too, in case you haven't been doing that. I'm always shocked to see how many calories a 'bit' of olive oil adds.

I know it's not much help, but your calorie goal sounds like it should be working, providing that your logged food is correct and you're not a statistical outlier with regards to your metabolism.

kiay131982

Yeah I weigh butter and will include the whole amount of oil added to a pan even when its cooking for the whole family. I weigh milk in my coffee too.

I guess I need to just keep on going. Its just a little demoralising after adding in all the exercise to still not see any real results 7 months later. I kinda thought I would feel happier in my skin by now.

Lietchi

kiay131982 wrote: »

Yeah I weigh butter and will include the whole amount of oil added to a pan even when its cooking for the whole family

Do you mean you will count (random numbers for illustrative purposes) all 20grams of oil added to the vegetables, even if you're only eating a third of the vegetables?

kiay131982

Lietchi wrote: »

kiay131982 wrote: »

Yeah I weigh butter and will include the whole amount of oil added to a pan even when its cooking for the whole family

Do you mean you will count (random numbers for illustrative purposes) all 20grams of oil added to the vegetables, even if you're only eating a third of the vegetables?

Yes, because I cant work out how much I actually had and would rather over count than under. So (as hubby cooks) hubby will write down the weight of everything he adds to a stir fry for example, and I will be able to eyeball the veg and know I have had roughly a quarter and log a quarter of them... But i would log the teaspoon of oil he fried them all in.

Lietchi

Hm, I have to say I'm more precise. I log the total weight of the dish (including the weight of the oil) and weigh my own portion, so I know precisely how much I'm eating of everything.

Your method would lead me to seriously overestimating my calories, considering how many calories oil contains and how much we use.

kiay131982

I guess it depends what hes cooking, if its a total one pot then i probably would do that, or if its a batch cook so hes planning on there being leftovers then I would work out the dish weight and my portion... I would still over egg the oil though. We dont tend to use alot of oil however so I dont think that one ingredient is my downfall

kshama2001

kiay131982 wrote: »

I feel like I need some buddies willing to open up their food diaries to me so I can get some inspiration and help!

My story I am 37 and 5 ft 4... Joined Mfp 2 years ago at 146lb. I was running 5k three times a week but thats it. Quite soon after I got quite poorly and ended up losing a fair bit of weight, had to stop running as I was too exhausted and having loads of medical test to work out if I had a gastro disease. This went on for just over a year. When I recovered (I do not have a gastro disease) my weight shot up in the space of a month to 160lb.
I tried getting back into running but got plantar fasciitis and then an achillies injury. At a loss I found a Personal Trainer, I started working out with her twice a week... This was back in September.. So 7 months. I also started an aerial silks class once a week. Im now also able to start picking up the running a bit (not quite managing a 5k again yet but working on it).
However in this time I have not consistently lost any weight and its getting me down, i might go from 160 to 155 or so, but it bounces up and down between them.

I stopped tracking food in January as I felt like I was getting nowhere... My PT told me to focus on protein and avoid Processed foods.
However 3 months on and I am still sitting at the same weight. I started tracking again last week and really need guidance. I never manage to hit protein targets... Ever. We dont buy food with single use plastic packaging and havent for over 2 years - I really dont want to compromise on that. It makes protein powders impossible to source. I bought one big plastic tub a while back as we can reuse it... But its not something I can do monthly. We eat meat maybe twice a week. So my only main source Of protein is eggs and I cant physically eat enough of them..
I know its my diet letting me down... I just dont know how to fix it...

Can anyone help?
I worked out that my protein target needs to be about 124g, im lucky to hit 60g..

Well, like others have said, it's the calorie deficit that is the most important thing. However, I am willing to discuss protein.

Your protein target seems high. What do you get when you multiple your goal weight by 0.6 and 0.8? Is that target range more doable?

Vegans are able to get enough protein without meat or eggs. How often do you eat legumes?

Tell me more about your single-use plastic restriction - is that just hard plastic, so are plastic bags ok? What if you are making bulk purchases? My mom just got 25 pounds of black beans that her health food store ordered for her.

kiay131982

Hi thankyou
Multiplying my target weight by 0.6 is way more acheivable... Is it target weight Im meant to use? Not current?
I will still have to make an effort to reach that, but it feels more within grasp. We eat legumes alot in place of meat, so hubby will cook bean chilli and lentil bolognese.

The plastic is all encompassing really. We dont buy anything in any type of plastic, no bags, no plastic lids or pourers, no plastic seals around jars. I bought the hard protein powder tub as we knew we had a use for it, but I felt bad for doing so. We shop at zero waste stores and take our own containers to fill. Its completely our decision and our restriction, I understand that, but its one that weve lived by for over 2 years and its important to us. X

kshama2001

kiay131982 wrote: »

Hi thankyou
Multiplying my target weight by 0.6 is way more acheivable... Is it target weight Im meant to use? Not current?
I will still have to make an effort to reach that, but it feels more within grasp. We eat legumes alot in place of meat, so hubby will cook bean chilli and lentil bolognese.

The plastic is all encompassing really. We dont buy anything in any type of plastic, no bags, no plastic lids or pourers, no plastic seals around jars. I bought the hard protein powder tub as we knew we had a use for it, but I felt bad for doing so. We shop at zero waste stores and take our own containers to fill. Its completely our decision and our restriction, I understand that, but its one that weve lived by for over 2 years and its important to us. X

Yes, easiest way to calculate ideal protein while losing weight is to use 0.6 to 0.8 times goal weight.

I love the idea of zero waste stores! Do they carry vital wheat gluten? From that you can make seitan, which is high in protein. If they don't, ask them to.

Seitan seasoning is very flexible. Just use your favorite spices and sources of umami. I don't care for nutritional yeast and am not vegan so use Parmesan cheese. https://yupitsvegan.com/basic-homemade-seitan/

I assume you've asked them to carry bulk protein powder as well?

Protein powder can be a good supplement, but it's not mandatory. When I spent three years in yoga communities, I knew plenty of healthy and fit vegans who filled their protein requirements from foods like legumes and seitan.

janejellyroll

kiay131982 wrote: »

Hi thankyou
Multiplying my target weight by 0.6 is way more acheivable... Is it target weight Im meant to use? Not current?
I will still have to make an effort to reach that, but it feels more within grasp. We eat legumes alot in place of meat, so hubby will cook bean chilli and lentil bolognese.

The plastic is all encompassing really. We dont buy anything in any type of plastic, no bags, no plastic lids or pourers, no plastic seals around jars. I bought the hard protein powder tub as we knew we had a use for it, but I felt bad for doing so. We shop at zero waste stores and take our own containers to fill. Its completely our decision and our restriction, I understand that, but its one that weve lived by for over 2 years and its important to us. X

I've heard of some people making their own protein powder from stuff like rice, hemp, or dried peas. If you have a blender, this may be an option. I don't have a recipe, since I've never tried it. But I have tried pre-made protein powder from those sources and it is a good option for me.

kiay131982

@kshama2001 no I havent seen wheat gluten in any of them, I can ask though. We do have nutritional yeast. I have asked about protein powders but none of the stores local to us have sourced it yet (they try to source their stock in a loop system so that any packaging it arrives to store in goes back to the seller/manufacturer and is reused.) Using goal weight for calculations is so much better... Thankyou for enlightening me!

@janejellyroll thats actually something I will look into... I hadnt thought to try making my own, thanks!!