Choosing entries

dscapps1972

Hi everyone! I’ve been tracking my nutrition with MFP for 3 weeks now … and have gained weight. Sigh. I’m trying to lose about 15 lbs that my body very quickly put on over a couple of months with no changes in usual diet and exercise. I’ve had blood work recently, my thyroid and pituitary had low values but the dr wasn’t impressed and asked if I was stressed. *face palm. So here I am for the first time in my life (I’m 50) trying to lose weight before it gets too far out of control. This weekend alone, a trip to San Antonio packed on 4 lbs. Watching what I eat and counting calories, doesn’t seem to be working. I’ve been given 1200 calories per day unless I exercise then I’m allowed 1500-2000, depending on what I do. Protein is 76g per day, which is really hard to do, I’ve been getting around 60 daily. My question is, when eating out how do I know which log choices to make? I’m noticing things like Chicken Fajitas can range from 300 to 1300 calories. I’m just wondering if I’m under choosing the calories I’m consuming or am I fighting my thyroid and nothing I do without treatment will help?? Please help this petite girl getting obese quickly!

cwolfman13

I can pretty much guarantee that you didn't put on 4 Lbs of actual fat in a weekend...that math doesn't math. Presumably you ate out for most of the weekend...restaurant foods tend to have loads of sodium which is going to exacerbate water retention. If you flew on an airplane, you're also going to have airplane bloat.

For eating out, large chains provide nutritional information and most of them can be found in the database. If it's a local place, it isn't required to provide nutritional information so you just have to make your best educated guess...I just pick the same menu item I'm eating from a restaurant that has nutritional information provided. For something like chicken fajitas it is going to really depend on how much of everything you ate...I live in NM and chicken fajitas usually come with sides of beans, rice, guac, sour cream, etc along with the chicken, veggies, and tortillas. I could easily see eating an entire meal being closer to the 1300 calories whereas 300 calories would probably only be eating the chicken, veggies, and a couple of tortillas and ignoring the rest. When I'm trying to cut weight, I tend to really limit the amount I'm eating out because those calories are largely outside of your control.

Most likely you are underreporting calories coming in...you are also probably overreporting calories out. to go from 1200 to 2000 calories with exercise, that would be at least a couple of hours of fairly strenuous cardio to burn 800 calories...we don't really burn as many calories as we think we do. That level of effort would also likely be offset by a decrease in NEAT calories (non exercise activity) due to fatigue.

sollyn23l2

Get a 2nd opinion from another doc. If you did gain 15 pounds in just a couple months without any changes, that could be concerning. I'm not so worried about your thyroid as other issues. Docs should look into why your pituitary levels are low to start.

dscapps1972

@cwolfman13 I actually do exercise for a couple hours sometimes. Long distance cycling, hours of jetski driving, hours upon hours of skating, etc. it’s maybe only 3-4 times a month, most of my exercise is the usual 45-60 mins of moderate cardio or weight lifting. But thank you for the information, it’s definitely helped me think in a more appropriate direction.

dscapps1972

@sollyn23l2 thank you, I started looking for different Drs today. Specifically an endocrinologist.

sollyn23l2

dscapps1972 wrote: »

@sollyn23l2 thank you, I started looking for different Drs today. Specifically an endocrinologist.

Perfect. An endocrinologist should be able to help you figure out those hormone issues a bit better.