beating a dead horse but what am I doing wrong?

RachelGrace1

Sometimes I will plan a meal and end up changing it, thats what the zero means, I added it but didn't eat it

jason3miles

Try to not eat all your calories back after exercising. Weight loss requires a deficit in calories. If you eat back your calories there is no deficit.

RachelGrace1

I don't drink enough water, which j will try to combat to help the sodium intake. Eating at home just isn't possible much, I am barely ever at home. I was eating oatmeal every morning, I am gonna start doing that again

RachelGrace1

Try to not eat all your calories back after exercising. Weight loss requires a deficit in calories. If you eat back your calories there is no deficit.

I think everyone will disagree with this

natalyau

I would recommend less Burger King and McD's to start with. Any time I have a meal from a fast food place I pretty much am not allowed anything else. In this case I will pick and snack uncontrollably through out the day which I don't always log in. All adds up in the end and walla.. the scales don't move. Make a healthy lunch and breakfast, only takes ten mins and is a great habit to get into.

RachelGrace1

That's why I've been so optimistic about weight loss lately, I could eat a fast food meal and not ruin my diet. I haven't felt so in control of my diet and good in years. Which makes the stall so much worse. Breakfast I can eat at home, along with taking granola bars. But some days I'm gone from 9am till 11pm, a lot of days actually. So that makes cooking a bit difficult

soupandcookies

I only looked at a few days of your diary, but it looks like you eat out A LOT. The thing is, the nutritional info on restaurant websites are estimates. Typically, the chef is not weighing and measuring everything he/she puts in your meal. You may be eating much more than you think... Just a thought.

RachelGrace1

I only looked at a few days of your diary, but it looks like you eat out A LOT. The thing is, the nutritional info on restaurant websites are estimates. Typically, the chef is not weighing and measuring everything he/she puts in your meal. You may be eating much more than you think... Just a thought.

yeah I kinda thought that. Usually I try to leave some on my plate, take off a bun, etc

RachelGrace1

I would love to cook, but everything I try to make is so tasteless and boring. I'm the worst cook lol

natalyau

Also your at a restaurant right? I would hope they provide a meal for free for you for such long shifts, maybe ask the chefs to make you a special dinner with a nice big fresh salad with a few bits of meat. I used to cook the girls all sorts of yummy healthy meals when I was a chef. You could bring a bag of wholegrain wraps and keep it in the chiller and get the chefs to fill it with some goodies.

RachelGrace1

I know this isn't the most natural or clean diet, but instead of like actual meals, would granola bars and other snacky things be
Better? Lack of time and cooking abilities have been my downfall in the past.

natalyau

Healthy food does not have to be tasteless. stock up on herbs and spices, look up recipes, educate yourself. You can't go all your life without learning to cook, Best time to learn is while you are young, if you don't learn to cook then would you feed your kids takeouts in the future? Cooking is fun man, you just gotta learn how to.

ixiHemlock

Don't eat your calories back

Don't drink soda or add sugar/cream to your coffee

SezxyStef

I see huge gaps in your diary...no lunches logged, lots of dinners not logged some days over, some days way under (ie 1000)

There is typically a few reasons people don't lose weight.

Over estimate calories burned

Under estimate calories in

You say you use a food scale but if you don't cook...
You say you use a HRM but for what? Daily activity or exercise? and does it have a chest strap?

To be blunt you are probably doing both...I have a sedentary job, lift weights, and eat 1600 a day and I lose weight...so no reason you can't if you are active and only eating 1500 a day.

ash190489

Weight training is your new best friend lift heavy and you'll see a difference!

RachelGrace1

I see huge gaps in your diary...no lunches logged, lots of dinners not logged some days over, some days way under (ie 1000)

There is typically a few reasons people don't lose weight.

Over estimate calories burned

Under estimate calories in

You say you use a food scale but if you don't cook...
You say you use a HRM but for what? Daily activity or exercise? and does it have a chest strap?

To be blunt you are probably doing both...I have a sedentary job, lift weights, and eat 1600 a day and I lose weight...so no reason you can't if you are active and only eating 1500 a day.

some days I don't eat lunch or I'll just snack, if a food item is in my snack category I'll log it as a snack. Sometimes at work I just don't have time to eat lunch so I won't. I have a food scale and if I need to measure something, like a sweet potato or grapes or chicken on the occasion I cook, I use that. I use my hrm when I work out, that's it. And yes, that is why I am so confused.

RachelGrace1

And yes it has a chest strap,, its a polar f4, and say I work out for 60 mins, actually work out, I subtract 60 cals. Maybe this is bad, I don't know. I'm just trying to be accurate

silken555

Hi Rachel!

I did a quickie calculation for you for your TDEE on the scooby calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
You can also do it for yourself there, or you can try the more mathematical way discribed here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

Here's the info I got based on the stats you posted:
BMR: 1494
TDEE: 2316
TDEE-20%: 1852

I used the following criteria to get these results:
3-5hrs per week of moderate activity
Lose fat - 20% calorie reduction

Based on those parameters, your basal metabolic rate is 1494, so you basically should never be netting under that amount. Your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is 2316. That's how many calories you would eat to maintain your current weight.
1852 is your TDEE minus 20%. This is the amount of calories you need to consume to lose weight.

You would therefore change your calorie intake on MFP to 1800cals daily. With the TDEE method, you don't eat back your exercise calories as that's already taken into account with the first parameter. Also, you need to recalculate your deficit every 5-10lbs lost seeing as your intake needs will change as you lose. Try the 1800cals for 4-6weeks...if at the end of that 4-6 weeks you are either still gaining or maintaining, then subtract 100cals and try the new amount for another 4-6 weeks. Keep subtracting 100cals if needed until you find the amount that shows a 1lb/week loss or thereabouts.

If you feel that you are more active than the 3-5hrs per week I chose to use, feel free to recalulate using the activity level you believe you are at. I would not include your work stuff because that's basically just life living and isn't really strenuous enough to be considered exercise (though sometimes I'm sure it feels otherwise!).

Concerning what areas of your body to measure.
The waist and hips is definitely not enough. Especially seeing as waist and hips may not be where you're losing right now. We can't spot reduce and so you may well be losing on your arms, chest, thighs or calves...heck, even your neck and face may be responding. The measurements I take are my arms, over bust, under bust, waist, hips, thighs and calves. I also take pictures wearing the same bikini approximately once a month to track visual progress...I shoot front, side and back. These two things are more important than the scale...they really are. I've gone 4 weeks at the same scale weight and yet 4" were nipped off my waist in that time and the same at the bust with about 2" lost on the other parameters each.

Seeing as you're obviously extremely busy, I would suggest that you take one morning a week before getting ready for the day to weigh and measure yourself...at most it takes 10 minutes to do. You can log your measurements through the Check-In link if you aren't already. First thing in the morning after you go to the bathroom, weigh yourself and then measure. You can choose whichever day is most convenient for you, but try and be consistent and use that same day for all your measuring.

I don't think you'll have to cut out your cream and sugar for your coffee...I sure don't! I would drink water instead of the soda though...it'll actually quench your thirst instead of making you thirstier. If you like flavoring, get something like Mio and add a squirt in now and then. Just measure how much you squirt!

Good luck on your journey!