Terrified to ask, but getting frustrated
Replies
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What I can see I looked back in your diary a week. You go way over your macros. Mainly fat and a few days over carbs and calories. Keeping up with your macros will help you. It's not easy at first but will get better0
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A couple things I noticed about your diary....
You have a lot of prepackaged salads, but there is never any dressing. Do you eat it without? If you use dressing, make sure to add that because most salad dressings are filled with calories, sodium & fat.
My other question, are you measuring your foods or just guessing? I see mostly pre-packaged or restaraunt type foods that appear to not always go with everything else, so it almost looks like you are just picking something that may be close to what you are eating. Often times we think that we are estimating over the calories we are eating, but in reality, we are not estimating enough calories. It looks to me as if it is possible that you need to weigh and measure your food and stop estimating.
And where are the fruits and veggies
Add more fresh fruits and veggies to your diet, that will help as well (from my experience).
Best of luck :drinker:0 -
I would cut back on the fast food and per packaged foods (lean cuisines) for a bit and that will decrease your sodium. Try to eat fresh foods and track closely. Don't go over your cals for a couple weeks and you should see results0
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Are you honest with your portion sizes? I can make my food diary look pretty darn good, but in reality it's not right. How many ounces are really in that chicken breast? Did I count out and only eat 24 bite sized tostitos? Did I measure out the 2 TBSP of peanut butter or salad dressing? If your not doing that, start there. You will be surprised.
Great job so far in your weight loss. Don't let this slow you down. It could be a plateau. I have had 2 now. One lasted for 2 1/2 months and the other lasted 5 weeks. They suck. But I also dropped a jean size and only lost 4 lbs. Your body is changing and you are doing a good thing. Keep up the great work!!!!0 -
I should also note that the meal times don't necessarily reflect when I'm actually eating it. sometimes when I eat a cookie or something I'll trow it in dinner because it's the first thing I clicked.....0
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Omg, THAT helped me.0
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I would suggest not "drinking your calories". After looking at your diary, I notice you have a lot of coffee drinks from Starbucks and what not. I would cut back on empty calories and instead eat something more fulfilling. Of course, it is possible to lose weight while eating or drinking anything, but I prefer to eat my calories and feel full instead of drinking them and getting hungry later. Just a suggestion.0
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Ok, I know that asking this is asking for people to pick me apart, but I think I may be at the point where I need that now.... My weight loss has puttered to a stop already and I really just got started. My weight has been fluctuating since the beginning, but it was trending down... Now it just seems stuck between 303-300. I got down to 299, but it went back up right away and now won't go back down again.
I did have some issues where I think I was overestimating calorie burn from zumba, which I now adjusted so I only eat back 100 calories on those days, so that should be taken care of (the past week anyway)
Also, I will state now that I don't eat super clean. I try to stay in my calorie limit although I have days when I binge and I have days when I just go a bit over, but even when I go just a bit over, I should still be eating at below maintenance....
What am I doing wrong?! at this weight and this early in the game I should be losing super quickly, right?!
Ok... deep breath.... bring it on.....
went through a few days in your diary. forget about eating clean everyday i suspect your biggest challenge is not eating junk everyday. kfc, mcdonalds, etc. i bet if you added sodium to your list you would be over (significantly) each day just based on what you are eating. focus on just eating healthy less fast food/processed food/convenience food and i bet the weight will start to come off again. make sure you're drinking lots and lots of water.
we all enjoy convenience food from time to time but not almost everyday like what's in your diary. try not to use the quick add calories because while you're adding the calories you're not adding the fat, fiber, protein and i did notice you go over in fat almost daily. if you were eating healthy fats that would be one thing but you really are not - it's fat from greasy processed food.
get yourself a food scale and a heart rate monitor. start measuring/weighing your food - doing this will help you in the long run.
good luck to you and just remember you didn't gain the weight overnight. you won't loose it overnight either. you are doing very well and should not get discouraged!
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Your goal seems extremely low for someone who is 300 lbs. Is that with the 'lose 2lb a week' setting?
Either way, the main culprit is that you're probably not weighing your food properly and are probably eating more than you think.0 -
How long have you been stalled?
And clean eating doesn't matter much. As long as you're eating at a deficit you should be losing weight, so don't worry about that too much.
Yup. If all else is equal (meaning no metabolic issues or underlying medical issues, subclinical or otherwise) you should be losing if a deficit exists.
I say it this way because this didn't happen with me. I was subclinical (T2D) for a number of years and only JUST got diagnosed, and under control.
For the first time in 15 years, I've been able to lose weight as the calculators predict for everyone. I'm special, but apparently, not *that* special :laugh:0 -
I'm not a fan of eating clean, I believe in everything in moderation, but fast food every night is not moderation. Your sodium intake must be through the roof. I noticed you don't track it, and I'm assuming it's because it's always in the red.
Sodium can really make you retain water and hide all your weight loss. Also, a lot of your meals seem to be fairly generic, so you are only taking a rough guess at how much you are actually eating.
My advice; get a scale, do some home cooking and monitor your sodium levels.0 -
I took a quick look at your diary, and here is what I think is going on. This is what happens to me when I eat like you have been...
Day 1: I am on this! I am going to eat so well, I'll have 200 cals for breakfast, my lean cuisine for lunch and dinner is another lean cuisine and now I get to have a little snack to tide me over. I'll do Zumba today and I am going to kick this diet's *kitten*!!
Day 2: Woot! I got this! Way under my calories again today! Zumba me crazy!
Day 3: OK. I can do this. It's another Lean Cuisine, but that's OK, because I'm staying under my calorie goal. But I think I need more than just a little snack tonight, Zumba kicked my butt today. I'm just a little over, that's OK.
Day 4. Sigh, I'm going to do it. I just need to get through today. Another Zumba class, geesh, I'm tired.
Day 5. F@$k this *kitten*. Somebody give me a goddamn pizza. A big one. And a bottle of wine
Day 6. Ugh, what did I do? Gotta get back on this...tomorrow.
My recommendations?
1. Skip the prepared foods. Find some nice, FILLING foods that give you energy. Save the Lean Cuisines and take out for the days you're desperate and can't spare the 10-20 min. it takes to make something.
2. Give yourself more credit for the Zumba. Find a HRM and use it. I guarantee you that you're burning more than 100 cals.
3. Measure AND LOG everything, at least in the beginning, so you have a good understanding of what a serving of food really looks like.
4. Most of all, don't try so hard! Take each day one at a time and make simple, healthy changes that you can live with for the rest of your life. The rest will follow.0 -
One thing I would do as a general health thing is add a lot more fruits and veggies to your diet. I would imagine you are severely lacking in micronutrients that you need. I know cleaning and cutting the veggies can be a pain, which is why we clean and cut them on Sundays and Wednesday nights if we are running low. We package them into ready to grab containers.
Relax and step back and evaluate what you are really doing. In your Zumba classes are you sweating up a storm and struggling to breathe, or are you able to carry on a conversation? If the answer is the second one, you probably aren't burning many calories. Are you really logging everything you eat, dressings, dips, condiments, drinks? These can add up. One day of bingeing can also undo a full week of work.
Are you taking your measurements? I find that I'll go a few weeks where I lose weight, but not inches, then I'll go a few weeks where I'll even gain back some of the weight, but that is when my measurements go down.0 -
You're not consistent is the reason. If you binge and go over that means you're not consistent with your program. Fix that first and you losses should continue.Ok, I know that asking this is asking for people to pick me apart, but I think I may be at the point where I need that now.... My weight loss has puttered to a stop already and I really just got started. My weight has been fluctuating since the beginning, but it was trending down... Now it just seems stuck between 303-300. I got down to 299, but it went back up right away and now won't go back down again.
I did have some issues where I think I was overestimating calorie burn from zumba, which I now adjusted so I only eat back 100 calories on those days, so that should be taken care of (the past week anyway)
Also, I will state now that I don't eat super clean. I try to stay in my calorie limit although I have days when I binge and I have days when I just go a bit over, but even when I go just a bit over, I should still be eating at below maintenance....
What am I doing wrong?! at this weight and this early in the game I should be losing super quickly, right?!
Ok... deep breath.... bring it on.....
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
^^^^^
THIS
Consistency is key. If you are not consistent, that is likely where the problem lies. Just as an experiment, don't go over your calories for a week.
Secondly, how carefully are you measuring what you eat? It is very easy to go over when you are not measuring everything. Ideally use a kitchen scale for what you can, and measuring cups and spoons for the rest.0 -
Agree with many of the comments here. You've definitely been given some good advice. Are you logging every single thing you're eating? I saw a comment about salad but no dressing logged. What about drinks? Are you drinking any juice/soda/coffee? Every single thing you eat needs to be logged. I also saw some fast food on there- are you getting fries or dipping sauce?
If you aren't losing weight, my guess would be that you aren't accurately logging everything and you're consuming more than you're burning. There's always the chance, if you just started, that you're retaining water from exercise. Finally, a binge a few times a week could easily put you over your calories and cause no weight loss. Something to consider there as well.
Also, at 300 lbs, you can lose weight on A LOT more than 1500 calories. I would recommend calculating your TDEE and eating 20% less than that. You want to lose weight on as many calories as you possibly can.0 -
As much as I'm not a huge proponenet of clean eating, I do think finding a healthier balance may help you. You've got some salads in there, which is good but I'd try to eat more fruits and veggies and more fresh foods at home rather than all the packaged and prepared stuff. And not just because it's healthier but because whole foods tend to stick to us longer. If you're eating a lot of breads and cookies and sugary coffee drinks, those tend to burn up quickly so you're hungry again and therefore eating more than you may want to in a day. But if you eat a good balance of lean proteins, healthy fats (good job on the coconut oil BTW) and complex carbs (fruits, veg, whole grain), those foods tend to help you stay full longer so you're not as tempted to give in to the less healthy snacks.
Ultimately though it's does come down to calories in vs calories out. Try harder to stay within your daily calorie goal. Planning foods for the week helps me a lot in this regard. I'm usually able to pre-log my day's food most days. This week was off because I didn't have time for that planning/preparing last weekend, so I did a lot of overeating on the fly. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes!0 -
I would suggest getting a HRM and tracking sodium. Sodium is tricky sometimes and, if you're eating lots of prepared food and fast food, will mess with your weightloss.
Once you do that, decide that you want this and stick to a plan that works. Maybe limit eating out to once a week, or only at Subway or someplace you can get a reasonable meal. Don't go too far too fast or you may burn yourself out before you even get going.
Good luck on everything! Never be afraid to ask for help (but be prepared for some negative people if you ask in the general forums)! 0 -
ok... I should also mention....
When I eat at home I do measure EVERYTHING!!! I count my chips out one by one and I measure EXACTLY one tbs of coconut oil, etc.
when i eat out i do estimate or use the same foods from other restaurants, but I do try to make sure the portion sizes are the same. So i will try to cut out eating out more (but it's hard with my husband who is a junk food addict) but that is no excuse. I CAN eat at home and I WILL make that a new focus....
when it comes to eating prepackaged meals.... this one is hard too. the funny thing is I LOVE to cook!!! It's what I went to school for.... BUT I have a hard time making my own food without crap tons of salt, butter, cream and all the things in the world that taste so darn good!!!! and I find it harder to keep track since i don't know how to measure as I go when I'm cooking meals... So i figured I'd be better off eating something already portioned and already calculated..... Also, the packaged salads come with dressing that is already included in the calorie count which is why i like them. they hold me accountable for not just dumping dressing on and saying "yeah...that looks like 2tbs"
I do have a HRM and that was what made me lower my exercise calories down to 100/session. My HRM and MPF were saying I burned 1000 or more calories, but when I did the math, my actual average bpm came to only burning 300, so i figured if i put 100, i would be under no matter what and I would be better off.....
oh and another thing... i do not drink juice and i log every coffee I drink!!! I swear i do!!!!!!!0 -
You have your calories in/calories out out of balance, it really should be that plain, regardless of macro balance.
1) If you don't have a hrm, buy one to assist you in getting your best estimate for calorie burn during cardio activity
2) If you aren't measuring and weighing everything, change your approach as very few of us have a real accurate eye for such things.
3) pick up some weights, this will help you retain some lean mass while losing fat, which helps reduce bf% more quickly.
4) stay away from more generic food items, ie: Kroger salad +1 topping (an no mention of dressing - what's in the salad, what was that topping?
5) Along with your basic macros, pull your sodium into your diary. I'm not saying this because I track mine or over ths long run it will necessarily deter you from losing wieght, I'm saying this because you eat a lot of processed foods (which I personally don't have an issue with execpt see #6) and therefore it may benefit you if you have other health concerns (hypertension) to watch your levels. I suspect that you're consuming sodium at rates that are pretty much off the charts.
6) Processed foods, while tasty and easy, are not the best souces for a) nutrition or b) food efficiency. If you have a habit of binging I propose you have single servings of yogurts, fruits, lean meats, whole grains, and avocados or other fat sources available as opposed to frozen or prepackaged meals. Lately I've been eating a load of grapes or watermelon instead of the bag of chips or sweets I want (not that I don't eat chips or sweets, just trying to get back into moderation).
7) Don't try to eat low fat/cab/etc . . . both of these balance with your proteins to make you feel full. When I eat low fat and low carb instead of moderate fat and moderate carb I have a greater tendency to binge.0 -
ok... I should also mention....
When I eat at home I do measure EVERYTHING!!! I count my chips out one by one and I measure EXACTLY one tbs of coconut oil, etc.
a scale is better than a measuring cup
when i eat out i do estimate or use the same foods from other restaurants, but I do try to make sure the portion sizes are the same. So i will try to cut out eating out more (but it's hard with my husband who is a junk food addict) but that is no excuse. I CAN eat at home and I WILL make that a new focus....
If you look at websites the consumer reports tested calories to those the restaurants publish can be +/- 300 calories or more
when it comes to eating prepackaged meals.... this one is hard to. the funny thing is I LOVE to cook!!! It's what I went to school for.... BUT I have a hard time making my own food without crap tons of salt, butter, cream and all the things in the world that taste so darn good!!!! and I find it harder to keep track since i don't know how to measure as I go when I'm cooking meals... So i figured I'd be better off eating something already portioned and already calculated.....
you can still cook with butter, I do . . . there are somethings that just require butter. Sour cream I substitute Greek Yogurt (makes it even tangier and works the same, even having to bring to room temperature), using herbs and spices can help with flavoring too. When you just can't substitute, eat an appropriate portion. As you're cooking having your phone with you and if it goes into the dish scan it using the mobile app recipe builder. If your concern was sodium, then you might be surprised by the amount of sodium in the prepackaged foods. Also, as you should know, sea salt will get you there quicker and with less sodium than table salt.
I do have a HRM and that was what made me lower my exercise calories down to 100/session. My HRM and MPF were saying I burned 1000 or more calories, but when I did the math, my actual average bpm came to only burning 300, so i figured if i put 100, i would be under no matter what and I would be better off.....
No. Not "better off" but under. my understanding is that at around 300 pounds a vlcd may not be as detrimental to your health as it is at a lower weight, however it can be detrimental to your progress. Getting within a pretty good estimated percentage for calories in/calories out is important to continued positive progress. Up that estimate, if your still afraid at least go with the more conservative number of 300, but I would go slightly higher.0
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