What am I doing wrong?

supplemama

:huh: At 5'6" and 145, she is 10 lbs. BELOW overweight BMI.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.pdf

True. I assumed she was basing being overweight on whatever her goal weight is, as I do. I'm also 5'6 and my goal weight is 130 pounds, which is right in the middle of the BMI charts. So yah, I'm not overweight but I'm not where I need to be for my goals and peace of mind.

Serah87

Do you use a digital food scale? More than likely your not eating in a deficit. You need to weigh everything, you would be surprise how much over eating you maybe doing.

albayin

I wouldn't call that a pound "gaining". You perhaps like me, hit a weight where our body "likes" to stay at. It takes extreme patience and hard work to break this plateau...However, I am at loss of finding solution myself. Good luck~

misskris78

The breastfeeding might be key. Some women don't lose while breastfeeding - they gain. There are a lot of hormones at work when you're breastfeeding and I don't pretend to know the details. Don't stop if it's working for you and your toddler, but you may see some change when you both decide it's time to move on.

spintronicus

Thanks for the replies! I couldn't read them all yet, hopefully during nap/down time, but wanted to answer the exercise thing. My kids (3 and 1.5) love Jillian and Shaun T. LOL. my older calls Jillian "the jumping jacks lady". And I make the most of those 30mins by really, I mean really pushing myself. With JM, I burn around 350-400 according to the HRM. And I add another 30-45 mins after they go to sleep at night. That second exercise isn't usually as intense since I also try to work from home and need to organize my research, catch up on reading etc while exercising.

Before hashimoto's and kids I weighed 120-125 with regular exercising. I'm really uncomfortable in my own body now.

Need to prepare lunch for the kids now but I'm looking forward to reading the replies. Thanks again!

spintronicus

My toddler fell asleep in the carrier while I was posting my previous reply and I have a few minutes while my husband fixes a lunch for ODS.

YDS is almost 20months old. Breastfeeding at this point for him is usually for comfort. He eats 3 meals a day and healthy snack in between. I don't think I'm depriving him of anything. I asked his pediatrician about it and she said fine. I'll ask the nutritionist my endo works with, too. Just to be safe.

I don't feel extra hungry because I stuff myself with greens and veggies. I can happily eat some cabbage sautéed in little bit of oil (i measure) or green beans cooked with olive oil and tomatoes. I can munch on a bunch of parsley leaves to suppress my hunger until dinner time. I grew up that way.

I was 146.2 today, 145 yesterday, 144.4 the day before. And 143.8 and 143 the week before. That's what I don't understand.

So should I weigh the eggs I eat for breakfast or the cabbage I'm cooking. The whole cabbage took my 5-6 meals to eat. Do you think it'll make a huge difference?

At this point, I'll try anything due to frustration. I lost 20lbs in a year without dieting but being active. Then, I gained some back and decided to count my calories.

I take levothyroxine 45 mins before breakfast and take my vitamins in the evening.

editorgrrl

I take levothyroxine 45 mins before breakfast and take my vitamins in the evening.

I went from taking it w/ a few sips of water and waiting 35 minutes to taking it w/ a full glass of water & waiting an hour. And my weight loss sped up. I made no other changes. The two may be completely unrelated, it may be the placebo effect. But there's no harm in trying it yourself. Weight loss takes lots of trial & error to find what works for you.

Shuuma

I was 146.2 today, 145 yesterday, 144.4 the day before. And 143.8 and 143 the week before. That's what I don't understand.

So should I weigh the eggs I eat for breakfast or the cabbage I'm cooking. The whole cabbage took my 5-6 meals to eat. Do you think it'll make a huge difference?

I think you should weigh every single thing you put into your mouth. It sounds ridiculous, but when I started weighing everything and measuring each tiny thing, I realized I was underestimating my calories by a wide margin.

This morning, I scrambled eggs for the family and just put what I wanted to eat into a bowl and measured it. 173g is more than two eggs, but I thought I had put two eggs worth in my bowl. (Just remember to zero out your scale when you put your bowl/plate/cup on it so you are only measuring your food--I totally messed that up at first!)

If you use oil, measure it and log it. If you drink milk, measure it and log it. (4 oz of 2% milk is 65 calories! That's more than a square of dark chocolate!!)

It has been so surprising to me to see where the calories hide. Once you see where your calories are coming from, you'll be able to make adjustments as needed. Nursing can burn ~200 calories a day alone. Also, drink a ton of water. Moms need water for milk production, but it also keeps you hydrated enough that your body won't retain as much water.

ETA: Maybe put away the scale for a few weeks and measure, instead. I haven't lost a pound for two and a half weeks, but my clothes are even looser than they were last week. Inches lost=fat lost. Sometimes we lose 2 lbs of fat but gain enough muscle that the scale says nothing, even when our tape measures say lots!

BeckyKoyle

Have you tried measuring yourself? You might have lost inches, but not weight. If you are working out you are gaining muscle, which is smaller than fat, but weighs more. So, instead of going by the scale, measure yourself.

spintronicus

I'll try to weigh my food as well. I cook from strach in bulk, like 10 quarts for red lentil soup and freeze. Then measure by volume and divide for calories. I weigh the lentils for my recipe book, eyeball the size of the onion, measure the tomato paste and oil by volume. I assumed this would give me a good estimate of calories. I'm an engineer and I love experimenting with recipes so my recipe book always had these details. When I bake, I weigh everything and divide it by the portion size in the end.

I'm eyeballing the raw veggies I eat during the day (i don't eat much fruit because it triggers my hypoglycemia symptoms) since I assumed if I'm at 1000cals deficit I can't be eating that much to gain weigh, kwim? I'll still try it though. My kids drink green smoothies and I measure the fruit by volume and eyeball the amount of greens. And have a cup myself sometimes.

I need to get better at measuring myself. I admit after the first two weeks with Jillian, I noticed that my abs were more visible and defined as much as it could be with my weight. But measurement I took last time was before gaining some of my lost weight and I didn't see any difference between then and now with the tape.

I'll ask the nutritionist if I might be eating too little. Might be, idk.

I'll try to take my meds an hour before with a full glass of water. This thyroid issue messed up too many things in my life already. I wouldn't be surprised if it's just one more hormone related issue.

Mr_Knight

You are eating more than you think.

Without seeing your diary, it is difficult to suggest where your logging might be going wrong.

alstond07

Great information to help me understand about calories in and calories out.

spintronicus

I appreciate the concern an I'll take that into account but I don't really eat junk food. The last oreo I ate was when I was in college more than ten years ago. I also don't graze between meals. I'll bring my food list to my nutritionist. I'm really not being snarky as I believe maybe I'm eating too much, who knows but I'm deliberately trying to explain myself. I even bake my own granola bars and weigh everything before baking. Though, the last granola bar I ate was couple weeks ago.

WannabeSC

Sounds crazy but once or twice I've plateau'd and only started losing again when I increased calories....Not the case with my holiday plateau, just eating more this month.

editorgrrl

Srsly, Hashimoto's messed w/ my body & my mind. I gained 20 lbs. in 2012, and was so uncomfortable in my body. I was diagnosed in the early fall, and started logging in late November. It took a while to get accurate & honest, but I worked hard at it every damn day. And I've lost 21.5 lbs. to date. It was bloody hard work.

My non-Hashi friends just don't get it. So I'm here to tell you that you can do this. But it won't be quick. Do not give up.

NavyKnightAh13

just glancing over this, its obvious you either need to eat more, or get more accurate in measuring your food.

How do you work out 6 days a week with a small child??????

It is possible as I got a almost 3 year old but im lucky if I can get 45 mins in at least 3 days a week

I have a 2 year old, plus housework, plus college, plus work. It does happen, but I am lucky to get it in before going to bed.

billsica

I'm at 1000cals deficit I can't be eating that much to gain weigh, kwim? I'll still try it though. My kids drink green smoothies and I measure the fruit by volume and eyeball the amount of greens. And have a cup myself sometimes.

I need to get better at measuring myself. I admit after the first two weeks with Jillian, I noticed that my abs were more visible and defined as much as it could be with my weight. But measurement I took last time was before gaining some of my lost weight and I didn't see any difference between then and now with the tape.

Try a 500 calorie deficit.
Your 1 - 5 pound fluctuations are water weight. You need to ignore this and figure out your average, then work off of that.

..also lift heavy.

I have a 1 and 3 year old. Its all I can do to get 2 workouts a week in.

Warchortle

I don't trust products like FitBit.. All I do is figure out my maintenance with 0 exercise... then I just workout (don't track it) and then use that as my deficit.

sredders

Don't forget that your body can fluctuate up to 3lbs from day to day. If you are going to weigh yourself every day, make sure you weigh around the same time every day (this is what my Dr. told me anyway). She also said to eat at a deficit, but not at a huge deficit. "Stay around a 300 calorie deficit and the weight should come off. Too deep of a deficit and your body will go into starvation mode, and try to convert as many calories you can into fat." This is what she told me. I have this on the front page of my journal to remind me.

chani8

I weigh my eggs and cabbage, every.single.day.

If you seriously want to lose, then you have to seriously do the math.