Calorie goal feedback

kshama2001

langstontl wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I didn't see where you said how much you weigh now, but if it were 150 pounds, your sedentary TDEE ought to be in the 1550-1650 range (if you're average for your demographics), so 1300 would be about half a pound a week loss in theory. Half a pound a week is reasonable at 5-10 pounds to go.

The thing about slow loss is that the scale can extra much be a lying liar that lies, when it comes to *seeing* fat loss, even when it's actually happening. Most of us bounce around a couple of pounds because of random water weight/digestive contents fluctuations day to day. Half a pound a week fat loss can play peek-a-boo on the scale with that for weeks at a time, sadly. I was losing a few vanity pounds in maintenance over a period of months super-slowly recently (on purpose, didn't feel like doing a big cut). There was around a month in there where even my *weight-trending app* thought I was maintaining, sometimes even gaining, let alone what things looked like based on day-to-day scale readions. However, based on long logging experience, I was quite confident that I was still losing fat slowly. Sure enough, eventually it showed up on the scale, as expected . . . in about week 6, if I recall correctly.

A complicating factor in your scenario is that it's possible for a long-ish period of loss to lead to relatively more slowly creeping water retention, as a stress effect. Have you taken any maintenance breaks, or had any meaningfully over-goal days along the way since April?

You mention listing exercise separately. Since your diary is open (helpful!) I see that you're also synching a Garmin. The totals don't look unreasonable, to me (again, this is a guess without knowing your current weight). I don't synch my Garmin (long story), so others may have better insights about whether there could be pitfalls there in some way.

Since you have the device synched, your MFP activity level setting doesn't matter to your final calorie goal (assuming you also have negative adjustments enabled). The activity level setting will just trigger bigger or smaller calorie adjustments when MFP and the tracker synch, depending on whether the setting is closer to or farther from your what your tracker sees as your calorie burn.

As far as satiation, it appears that you're coming in well below your protein goal quite frequently. It's not universal, but many people find protein filling. Experimenting with increasing that might be fruitful.

I'm sure I'm biased by my personal experience, but if I ate that little protein at breakfast, I'd be hungry all day. It may be idiosyncratic, but I discovered early on that I need a good amount of protein at breakfast, then more spread through the day, to feel full.

Your fiber's up and down a bit, it looks like, but usually pretty close to the recommended level (IIRC that's 25g for women, though I don't pay much attention to that as I always exceed it 😉). That's another factor that affects satiation for a lot of people.

You do seem to be getting a good assortment and reasonable quantity of veggies/fruits and so-called whole foods generally, which is another thing many people find helpful for satiation.

Overall, based on posts here, it seems like satiation can be quite individual, but maybe more protein and more consistent fiber levels would be things to experiment with.

Sometimes, too, people find that eating timing matters, i.e. how many meals/snacks, what time of day, what relative size, what nutrient composition of each, so that could also be a thing to experiment, starting with noticing if there are days when you're more/less hungry, and if so what's different about those days; or noticing when during the day you tend to be most hungry, and using that to identify food timing variations to try. Everyone's different, but I found it more effective to eat a bit of something (usually protein in my case) if I was getting really hungry and mealtime wasn't soon, vs. letting that hunger advance. YMMV. (Some do better with rigid time schedules, I do better with flexible ones.)

In your situation, I'd be inclined to stick with slow loss, expect it to require patience, and do some eating experiments to see if satiation can be improved. (Maybe throw a maintenance break** in for a couple of weeks, just to take some pressure/stress off.)

Just some thoughts. Hope you're able to find a satisfying solution!

** http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1 for info about the science and practice of maintenance breaks, in case you haven't previously seen it.

A lot of great information. First, I weighed in this morning at 134. My goal is 128-130. I agree I do not get enough protein. Struggling with that. I use to eat much better in the morning but I started a new job several months back and I have to be there earlier than my past job and I end up grabbing and going instead of thinking through my breakfasts. Fiber is something I hadn't even thought to consider. I will try to increase that and see how that works. I do need to work on my timing as well. I guess I need to start experimenting. Things that worked in the past don't seem to work now.

Thank you for your input @AnnPT77

Please temporarily (or permanently) swap out Sugar or Sodium for Fiber so you and we can see how you are doing with hitting your fiber goal.

Also try increasing your protein for your breakfasts and snacks and see if that helps.

TinaLeigh67

@kshama2001 I have reset my diary to show fiber. I worked in some protein this morning and will continue to make a better effort of it. I did find that I stayed full longer with this mornings breakfast than I have been

AnnPT77

langstontl wrote: »

@kshama2001 I have reset my diary to show fiber. I worked in some protein this morning and will continue to make a better effort of it. I did find that I stayed full longer with this mornings breakfast than I have been

Hooray, good news! 😊

TinaLeigh67

Well, I feel I did well with the protein yesterday. I seemed to feel more full throughout the day. Was looking forward to seeing how today went as well with the increase but I overslept this morning. Fortunately I prepared my days worth of food for work last night. I grabbed in and threw it in my lunch bag as I was running out the door. I get to work looking forward to my oatmeal with protein powder added and it wasn't in my bag. I grabbed everything but my breakfast. It's going to be a rough day

I really appreciate all the input. I increased my calories and I'm working at increasing my protein and fiber. Time will tell. Thank you all very much

kshama2001

langstontl wrote: »

Well, I feel I did well with the protein yesterday. I seemed to feel more full throughout the day. Was looking forward to seeing how today went as well with the increase but I overslept this morning. Fortunately I prepared my days worth of food for work last night. I grabbed in and threw it in my lunch bag as I was running out the door. I get to work looking forward to my oatmeal with protein powder added and it wasn't in my bag. I grabbed everything but my breakfast. It's going to be a rough day

I really appreciate all the input. I increased my calories and I'm working at increasing my protein and fiber. Time will tell. Thank you all very much

Sorry about the oatmeal

Hooray to everything else!