What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?

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  • pavrg
    pavrg Posts: 277 Member
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    Are you increasing your exercise intensity on a regular basis? "Settling in" to your routine and failing to push yourself to improve can cause a plateu, especially as you lose weight and thus burn fewer calories per cardio exercise session. With only 70 days into your program, you should still be able to increase the intensity every week at a minimum.

    Also, as a basic thumbrule multiply the amount of calories the machines tell you that you burned by 1/2 - 2/3. You'll have to reduce the exercise minutes you put into MFP because it doesn't let you adjust the calories. Running/walking is a lot more accurate to calculate than an elliptical or bike, though.
    Personally I log weight and BF% every day.
    Do you find bf% changes significantly day-to-day? Just asking because I log bf% once a week and weight everyday. I find that the biggest variable in bf% is going to be my weight fluctuation as the other measurements have little to no varience on a day-to-day basis.
  • 1princesswarrior
    1princesswarrior Posts: 1,242 Member
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    Is there a reason you have breakfast and a mid-morning snack set up but don't eat them?

    Also, 39 lbs since July is really fast weight loss (congrats!) so I would start slowing down or it is going to be really hard to maintain. MFP is set up so you eat back your exercise calories and still lose at a steady rate. Like others have said, a HRM is a really good investment, I have a Polar FT4. Use a food scale to weigh everything, you will be surprised how far off measuring cups and spoons are.

    I see a lot of tortillas in your diary. Maybe replace half of those with whole grain bread, that will help with fiber. There are whole grain low calorie breads out there. Try adding more fruit and some nuts or nut butter. Pick a macro percentage and try it for at least a month, then tweak if you have to, don't completely rearrange. I use a 35% protein, 35% carbs, and 30% fat division. You need carbs and fat. Log everything you drink too. I aim for a gallon of water a day but that's all I drink. Drinking more water will help with water retention, especially with the high sodium. I hardly ever cook for myself because of time but I've learned where to avoid high sodium. Over the winter I will throw stuff in the crockpot.

    I weigh daily and to plot my weight looks like I tried to make a straight line writing with my weak hand while drunk or having my dog write a straight line.

    Good luck!
  • graceire
    graceire Posts: 323 Member
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    All the advice its very helpful but it seems many of you guys weigh-in several times a week. Its that a good idea? I only do it once a week. Should I change this practice?

    That's a personal choice. The scale can fluctuate all week--if you can handle that and not freak out over a "gain," then weigh more frequently. Personally, I weigh everyday because I like getting the full picture. I only update my weight when its a verified loss (i.e. see the same weight or lower two days in a row).
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    you need to stick with something longer than a week. like, 6-8 weeks.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Personally I log weight and BF% every day.
    Do you find bf% changes significantly day-to-day? Just asking because I log bf% once a week and weight everyday. I find that the biggest variable in bf% is going to be my weight fluctuation as the other measurements have little to no varience on a day-to-day basis.

    BF% is dropping right along with weight (it better be, or LBM is being lost!). Over the course of a week, the values fluctuate inside a range of 1-1.5%.

    Not sure if that answers your question...?
  • pavrg
    pavrg Posts: 277 Member
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    I was asking about the other measurements you take for bf% on a daily basis. Eg I gained a lb from yesterday to today, but waist/hips/etc are all the same so bf% went down by .2 in a day, but that's solely due to normal weight fluctuation.

    I find if I take those measurements on a weekly basis that there's enough of a change to measure a difference.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    I was asking about the other measurements you take for bf% on a daily basis. Eg I gained a lb from yesterday to today, but waist/hips/etc are all the same so bf% went down by .2 in a day, but that's solely due to normal weight fluctuation.

    I find if I take those measurements on a weekly basis that there's enough of a change to measure a difference.

    Oh, I see. No, I only take body measurements monthly, I use machines for BF% measurements.

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