Hi all, another post looking for help if you can spare it xD

Squidgeypaws007

Hi all,

Great thread here, a mine of info - really useful.

I'm biting the bullet here and posting to ask for some help with what I'm doing. I've asked a few times on my newsfeed but my great pals have been unable to help with whatever my issue is. I'm wary of posting in the general forums, not because I can't take feedback, but because you get a huge variety of opinons and it's often hard to sort out the total crap, from the actually useful stuff, so this group looks great

Anyway, this is an ongoing thing so I'll summarise.

I lost 20Ibs last year, going from 172-152. Bf% 40-25. In November I took some advice and took a week break from my routine, diet and exercise. That is where my issue started.

After that I started to gain and lose the same couple of Ibs (152-150 and back), in January I gained a Ib and a bit and then stalled totally, sitting at 153 (and a bit).

My weight then stayed completely steady until July, when I took part in a 100km walk and broke a couple of bones in my foot. I was completely useless for 6 weeks after that, stopped logging my food and was limited to as far as I could get on my crutches. My weight dropped to 148 (the lighest I've ever been).

I steadily increased my exercise as soon as I could bear weight, first walking 5k 3 times a week, to running it. My weight increased again to 150. Then about 7 weeks ago (from now) I started lifting again. Initally with water weight I got to 160Ibs (impressive I know) and then about a week after that I dropped to 155 and have sat there ever since.

I have seen some lovely recomp going on, loss of inches on waist/thighs, gain of a 0.5cm on biceps (I know it's not much, but I like it xD), abs showing through etc.

So the question now is: how do I lose the fat and the extra Ibs? Just the fact that I have essentially been stalled since Jan (excusing the atrophy of the summer) is driving me a bit nuts!

Some extra info:
-I use QUICK ADD calories to a NEGATE my calorie burns (I like logging them in my diary, it helps me track and keeps my motivation up).
-I work on a week-week principle with the calories e.g. one day over and one day under essentially cancels out in my head (if I have a lot of extra calories missed in the week I'll eat them back over the weekend).
-I try to build in a couple of hundred calories per week to allow for forgotten calories, so if you see extra quick add calories in my diary that's what I'm doing with them.
-I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian (if that's any use to you!).
-I changed my kcal goals from 1733 to 1600 last night thinking just to lower my calorie intake, so my diary might look a bit weird.




Provide your stats (height/weight/age/bodyfat% if you know it/etc): 5'5"/155Ibs/27/23%

What's your current gross intake of calories, on average?
-1733 (have changed my goals just yesterday to 1600 before I found this group, was going to try 1600 net).

What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? (GRAMS, not percent!)
-120p/160c/53f

Do you use a food scale and measure everything?
-I use a scale on the majority of items - save for pre-packaged items or when my husband cooks.

Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?)
-Yes - as well as I can remember, often I log in the evening if I've not had a chance to do it during the day.

Do you take cheat days or days off?
-Yes. Kind of. I allow myself some fancy food once or twice a week but IIFYM.

How much weight have you lost so far and over what time period?
-18Ibs over 22 months.

Describe your activity (exercise and non exercise) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months?

-Teacher: long periods standing/walking a day.
-4 weight workouts per week (heavy as I can go, 5reps, 5 sets)
-3 cardio workouts per week (1x40 mins, 2x20 mins)

-n.b I substitute some weights for cardio on days where I am unable to make the gym for whatever reason and combine my split sets into whole body - usually only one day per week and rarely.

-Changes:
-Will be adding 2 x 60 minute cardio sessions to my routine.

How long have you been stalled and if it is not a complete stall please be very specific as to how much you have lost over the stalled period.

-If we look aside from the anomoly over the summer it's 11 months now.

-If we look at after the summer we're at 6 weeks now.

Are you breastfeeding?
-No

Do you have thyroid issues/risks or PCOS?
-Not that I know of.

Your help would be greatly appreciated. My diary is open

(Also, please look past last week - it's atypical to my usual. If you feel it has something to do with things then by all means use it, but as I say, it's not my usual eating pattern.)

Thanks :flowerforyou:

SideSteel

Tagging.

To make sure I understand correctly with your use of quick adds:

For example if you have a goal intake of 1700 calories and you exercise and burn off 300 calories, you log that exercise and MFP then sets your goal to 2000. You then do a quick add of 300 calories which puts your gross intake at 2000 calories. But you didn't actually eat those 300 calories. So your diary for that day will show that you ate 2000 calories but you really ate 1700.

Is this correct?

laserturkey

Tagging.

To make sure I understand correctly with your use of quick adds:

For example if you have a goal intake of 1700 calories and you exercise and burn off 300 calories, you log that exercise and MFP then sets your goal to 2000. You then do a quick add of 300 calories which puts your gross intake at 2000 calories. But you didn't actually eat those 300 calories. So your diary for that day will show that you ate 2000 calories but you really ate 1700.

Is this correct?

That's the way I understood it, too.

I think that sort of hocus-pocus with the numbers needs to stop. I think it would be helpful to be strictly accurate with your logging, insofar as that is possible. That includes weighing foods that are pre-portioned out, too. I find a great number of things that weigh more than the amount indicated on the packaging. My sliced bread was actually about 12% more bread per slice than the label said. Over time, that sort of thing adds up.

I also think it is important to look at measurements here, especially with the strength training you're doing. Is the weight on the scale really that useful? I'd go with the measuring tape instead.

Are you taking adequate rest days to let your body recover from the workouts?

SideSteel

. Is the weight on the scale really that useful? I'd go with the measuring tape instead.

It's not a matter of using one metric and disregarding others as much as it's a matter of using multiple metrics and knowing how to interpret them and use them accordingly.

Measuring tape can be useful and should be used as one metric but the scale shouldn't be disregarded.

laserturkey

. Is the weight on the scale really that useful? I'd go with the measuring tape instead.

It's not a matter of using one metric and disregarding others as much as it's a matter of using multiple metrics and knowing how to interpret them and use them accordingly.

Measuring tape can be useful and should be used as one metric but the scale shouldn't be disregarded.

True, but I think in this case OP is far too focused on the scale.

Squidgeypaws007

Tagging.

To make sure I understand correctly with your use of quick adds:

For example if you have a goal intake of 1700 calories and you exercise and burn off 300 calories, you log that exercise and MFP then sets your goal to 2000. You then do a quick add of 300 calories which puts your gross intake at 2000 calories. But you didn't actually eat those 300 calories. So your diary for that day will show that you ate 2000 calories but you really ate 1700.

Is this correct?

Yes, that is correct

ETA: I don't know if that messes anything up, I'm not so good with maths, but I thought it would just cancel the exercise out - so instead of not adding my exercise, I can still do that but negate it in the diary?

Squidgeypaws007

That's the way I understood it, too.

I think that sort of hocus-pocus with the numbers needs to stop. I think it would be helpful to be strictly accurate with your logging, insofar as that is possible. That includes weighing foods that are pre-portioned out, too. I find a great number of things that weigh more than the amount indicated on the packaging. My sliced bread was actually about 12% more bread per slice than the label said. Over time, that sort of thing adds up.

I also think it is important to look at measurements here, especially with the strength training you're doing. Is the weight on the scale really that useful? I'd go with the measuring tape instead.

Are you taking adequate rest days to let your body recover from the workouts?

Hey Laser, thanks for commenting Although I know the numbers are an awkward gig I find it hard to stay motivated unless I have a display of what I've done over the week - which is why I did so well in exercise when I was part of the HBC challenge.

Thanks, I'll make sure to measure everything including pre-packaged!

Yes, I resta lot since the break, you may have noticed I don't do as much - my foot can't take as much still

And I know, but I would still like to drop the excess fat, which will come off in terms of Ibs

Squidgeypaws007

Taking out a duplicate post

Squidgeypaws007

True, but I think in this case OP is far too focused on the scale.

You may feel that I am, maybe I am - but surely each of us has our separate goals. Whilst you might want to lose all of the measuring tape, I would like to drop the extra Ibs - not because I'm scared of my weight, but because at 155ibs and 65 inches I am overweight. If I were going from a healthy 130 to a 135 in MUSCLE, I'd not be bothered - but in MY eyes the logic is that with the Ibs coming off so will the fat.

Unless you can lose fat without losing weight? Surely that would only happen at an equal gain of muscle/loss of fat and surely you'd have to have very low body fat, or very high muscle gain for that to work? If that's incorrect I can rethink everything

Furthermore, you'll notice in my original post that I've mentioned my loss of inches/gain of inches and loss of body fat and you'll have noticed NSVs in my newsfeed from the same things. I don't personally feel that I am scale obsessed, but I do feel it's an important part of the whole journey. How can I be making true progress if my scales don't match up?

SideSteel

Tagging.

To make sure I understand correctly with your use of quick adds:

For example if you have a goal intake of 1700 calories and you exercise and burn off 300 calories, you log that exercise and MFP then sets your goal to 2000. You then do a quick add of 300 calories which puts your gross intake at 2000 calories. But you didn't actually eat those 300 calories. So your diary for that day will show that you ate 2000 calories but you really ate 1700.

Is this correct?

Yes, that is correct

ETA: I don't know if that messes anything up, I'm not so good with maths, but I thought it would just cancel the exercise out - so instead of not adding my exercise, I can still do that but negate it in the diary?

It doesn't mess anything up as far as your actual results, but it messes up your ability to look at average intake over large time periods because the intake that MFP has recorded for you will not match your actual food intake. You are telling MFP that you are eating more than you are actually eating.

I don't use MFP's default methods but apparently there is a way to set the calorie expenditure to zero so that when you log your exercise, it doesn't add in additional calories to eat. Then, you wouldn't have to quick-add calories that you are not eating.

SideSteel

. Is the weight on the scale really that useful? I'd go with the measuring tape instead.

It's not a matter of using one metric and disregarding others as much as it's a matter of using multiple metrics and knowing how to interpret them and use them accordingly.

Measuring tape can be useful and should be used as one metric but the scale shouldn't be disregarded.

True, but I think in this case OP is far too focused on the scale.

I don't know how you're getting that from the information provided. The OP is providing Sara and I with specific information that we require so that we can diagnose her stall in weight loss.

Sarauk2sf

Tagging.

To make sure I understand correctly with your use of quick adds:

For example if you have a goal intake of 1700 calories and you exercise and burn off 300 calories, you log that exercise and MFP then sets your goal to 2000. You then do a quick add of 300 calories which puts your gross intake at 2000 calories. But you didn't actually eat those 300 calories. So your diary for that day will show that you ate 2000 calories but you really ate 1700.

Is this correct?

That's the way I understood it, too.

I think that sort of hocus-pocus with the numbers needs to stop. I think it would be helpful to be strictly accurate with your logging, insofar as that is possible. That includes weighing foods that are pre-portioned out, too. I find a great number of things that weigh more than the amount indicated on the packaging. My sliced bread was actually about 12% more bread per slice than the label said. Over time, that sort of thing adds up.

I also think it is important to look at measurements here, especially with the strength training you're doing. Is the weight on the scale really that useful? I'd go with the measuring tape instead.

Are you taking adequate rest days to let your body recover from the workouts?

Hi!

While we appreciate your input, we actually ask people not to give input on intake threads as it becomes confusing for the OP when they start to get lots of conflicting advice, as well as harder and more time consuming for us to give advice. One of the reasons that we started this group was to specifically avoid that.


Please see the rules re posting in threads. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/861596-please-read



.

Squidgeypaws007

It doesn't mess anything up as far as your actual results, but it messes up your ability to look at average intake over large time periods because the intake that MFP has recorded for you will not match your actual food intake. You are telling MFP that you are eating more than you are actually eating.

I don't use MFP's default methods but apparently there is a way to set the calorie expenditure to zero so that when you log your exercise, it doesn't add in additional calories to eat. Then, you wouldn't have to quick-add calories that you are not eating.

Oh really? Ok I'll have a look in the settings and see what I can see

Squidgeypaws007

And hi Sara

Squidgeypaws007

I don't know how you're getting that from the information provided. The OP is providing Sara and I with specific information that we require so that we can diagnose her stall in weight loss.

Thank you I tried to give as much info as possible, if I've missed anything let me know!

Sarauk2sf

It doesn't mess anything up as far as your actual results, but it messes up your ability to look at average intake over large time periods because the intake that MFP has recorded for you will not match your actual food intake. You are telling MFP that you are eating more than you are actually eating.

I don't use MFP's default methods but apparently there is a way to set the calorie expenditure to zero so that when you log your exercise, it doesn't add in additional calories to eat. Then, you wouldn't have to quick-add calories that you are not eating.

Oh really? Ok I'll have a look in the settings and see what I can see

You just put the calorie burn at 1 when you enter it. For some reason you cannot put to zero.

Sarauk2sf

And hi Sara

*waves hi*

Squidgeypaws007

You just put the calorie burn at 1 when you enter it. For some reason you cannot put to zero.

I did this a while ago but completely lost motivation for doing the exercise - I like the feedback I get from my pals and also seeing the numbers increase through the week - hence why I've been quick adding to negate.

Something else I meant to say but have completely forgotten.

ETA: that's it. Completely irrelevant now I come to think of it. Just that I'd looked at the support forums when Steel said and there's no other way than the way Sara just said.

andeey

SS and Sara will give the advice, this is just a quickie comment about the exercise count ... I use the 1 calorie in MFP concept and then immediately add a comment to that with the actual burn and what I did. I found that over time, I still got the "motivation" part by doing that and my pals comment on my workouts, which gives me that super tingly feeling of joy. So, you may want to just try that and see if it helps as a compromise.

Back to the experts...

laserturkey

Tagging.

To make sure I understand correctly with your use of quick adds:

For example if you have a goal intake of 1700 calories and you exercise and burn off 300 calories, you log that exercise and MFP then sets your goal to 2000. You then do a quick add of 300 calories which puts your gross intake at 2000 calories. But you didn't actually eat those 300 calories. So your diary for that day will show that you ate 2000 calories but you really ate 1700.

Is this correct?

That's the way I understood it, too.

I think that sort of hocus-pocus with the numbers needs to stop. I think it would be helpful to be strictly accurate with your logging, insofar as that is possible. That includes weighing foods that are pre-portioned out, too. I find a great number of things that weigh more than the amount indicated on the packaging. My sliced bread was actually about 12% more bread per slice than the label said. Over time, that sort of thing adds up.

I also think it is important to look at measurements here, especially with the strength training you're doing. Is the weight on the scale really that useful? I'd go with the measuring tape instead.

Are you taking adequate rest days to let your body recover from the workouts?

Hi!

While we appreciate your input, we actually ask people not to give input on intake threads as it becomes confusing for the OP when they start to get lots of conflicting advice, as well as harder and more time consuming for us to give advice. One of the reasons that we started this group was to specifically avoid that.


Please see the rules re posting in threads. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/861596-please-read



.

My apologies! I hadn't even noticed this post was in a specific group. I'll keep mum from now on.

SideSteel

Hey!

In order for us to make a reasonable recommendation, we will need to see data that represents your actual food intake. The current data set doesn't provide that due to the quick add feature.

However, I believe MFP will allow you to go back into your diary and remove quick adds. If you would like us to look at your intake and potentially make adjustments, we would like you to go back for at least two weeks (3-4 weeks would be ideal) and delete the quick adds in each daily food diary. If you do this, and notify us when it's complete, we can then re-run your averages.


The alternative suggestion would be to stop using the quick add feature in the manner you are currently using it, and log accurately moving forward, and contact us in two weeks with an update where we would then look at that two week data set.