Dropped soda completely .. Pounds not falling off??

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    6 Lbs per week really isn't realistic at all. You might see a drop like that initially if you lose a lot of water weight, but typical losses are going to be much smaller. It's also not linear...you don't necessarily lose week to week...it's a general trend over time.

    I'm hypertensive and one of the reasons I started here on MFP was because I needed to track my sodium intake. It can be difficult at first, particularly if you're accustomed to just grabbing a lunch meat sandwich or whipping something up from a box or can...but eventually you get used to eating more whole, nutrient dense foods, and your body will actually crave them.

    With your BP issues, definitely see if you can get your sodium under control and other dietary changes...exercise should help to. If it continues to be high though you really need to get in a see a doctor...untreated HBP is not a good thing at all. I ultimately had no success fixing my hypertension issues with diet and exercise...my hypertension is pretty much just heredity...so I take meds to keep it under control but continue to rock my fitness and nutrition anyway.
  • kmcosgrove115
    kmcosgrove115 Posts: 260 Member
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    I am a whole food plant based eater - alot of what you eat (meat, dairy, oil and processed food) will give your body a ton of inflammation, even at a reduced calorie intake, not to mention contribute to so many diseases like heart issues, cancer, diabetes and more.

    I became certified in WFPB nutrition from eCornell and if you really want to see your body respond, eat only a whole food plant based lifestyle and watch - I switched about a year ago, am launching a business in PA but plan to remote help patients with Skype or any other video means as well and can help guide you to transitioning to much better food while your body responds and lets go of the weight you want to see come off - esp if your pic with that little baby is yours - you want to live a long time for your kids......

    Just my 2 cents - try renting the movie Forks Over Knives on Netflix or Amazon Video - it is what got me to change overnight after a lifetime of illness that was getting worse and worse by the day!
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    Your BP is high. Your sodium should be reduced. By sticking to more of a whole food diet (deli meats, cured meats have LOTS of sodium) you can reduce sodium.
    Also if you're not losing weight after cutting 1400 calories, then somewhere you're recouping the calories back in your diet.

    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

    I was going to say something along these lines too. Now that it's not through soda, where are you getting your sugar? less deli meats, be honest about your intake, measure everything, scales are better than measuring spoons. be honest.
  • cw822
    cw822 Posts: 107
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    Hello,

    My name is Josh P. I am 27years old and have recently started using the 'pal for tracking my daily intake.. I am 6'5" tall and was 270lbs when I began back on January 13th. The tracker teamed with our company's virgin health miles is helping me keep tabs on what I eat and helping me make changes..

    Well as a little background I was used to consuming on average 3 - 4 44oz Mt Dews a day.. which is about 1400 - 1600 calories worth of SODA alone. The soda was the first to go.. I went straight cold turkey on it.. straight to water and koolaid made with splenda. My friends assured me that the pounds would just fall off.. but as of yet they haven't.. I know that perhaps I am being a bit impatient.. but I would have thought that cutting 1400 calories out of my daily intake would have made the pounds fall off..

    As of now I am not exercising yet.. Plan to start but just haven't yet. Will this help..

    Also I am consuming a large amount of sodium in my daily diet.. Can this cause me to hold water / consume alot of water?

    My blood pressure has been extremely high lately (144/99 is most recent reading) , can this be tied to the lack of caffeine? Dietary Change?

    How can I lessen my sodium intake?

    I usually eat a bowl of cereal for b-fast, a deli meat sandwich and a serving of chips for lunch, and some sort of meat/potato/salad for dinner..

    Any chimes in or help would be appreciated

    Stop eating crap food...that is deli meats and chips - notoriously high in sodium. And it's only been 14 days, years of bad eating habits will not be gone in just two weeks.
  • Sweetredpoison
    Sweetredpoison Posts: 66 Member
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    For 1 serving size for a tiny bit of hamburger helper you could have a lot more food and even more nutritious. Try to have some real food.. like a baked potato instead of the instant potato stuff. I would add more fruits and veggies and maybe instead of eating 3x a day add in snacks staying within your calorie range. I LOVE going out to eat.. but they add oil and butter and I don't really trust the posted calorie count on those items. HANG in there!
  • jayjay12345654321
    jayjay12345654321 Posts: 653 Member
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    You didn't quit drinking soda. You traded Mountain Dew for Coke.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,247 Member
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    I am a whole food plant based eater - alot of what you eat (meat, dairy, oil and processed food) will give your body a ton of inflammation, even at a reduced calorie intake, not to mention contribute to so many diseases like heart issues, cancer, diabetes and more.

    I became certified in WFPB nutrition from eCornell and if you really want to see your body respond, eat only a whole food plant based lifestyle and watch - I switched about a year ago, am launching a business in PA but plan to remote help patients with Skype or any other video means as well and can help guide you to transitioning to much better food while your body responds and lets go of the weight you want to see come off - esp if your pic with that little baby is yours - you want to live a long time for your kids......

    Just my 2 cents - try renting the movie Forks Over Knives on Netflix or Amazon Video - it is what got me to change overnight after a lifetime of illness that was getting worse and worse by the day!

    Forks Over Knives is a biased piece that is very good at leaving out information and making sure to only promote their own agenda. Like all documentaries really. I would NEVER base my life on a single documentary.

    And, there is nothing wrong with meat, dairy, oil, OR processed foods in moderation. All the scare mongering is pathetic and sad and needs to stop.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    You have logged 4 full days of food. You lost 3 pounds in 4 days averaging 2575 cals a day.
    What is your complaint??
  • SchroederNJ
    SchroederNJ Posts: 208 Member
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    Just eliminating soda won't cause pounds to drop off --- if you are still taking in more calories than you need, the decrease in soda may not have a negative effect on the scale, but rather would only slow the increase of more weight
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,324 Member
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    its not about WHAT you eat as much as it is about HOW MUCH.

    patience is so key in this process, and your loss will likely not be linear. there will be ups and downs.
    weigh and measure everything you consume, stick to a healthy deficit, and you will succeed.
  • stillnot2late
    stillnot2late Posts: 385 Member
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    I understand your struggle with that salt. It took me a whole year to leave it alone, little by little I finally got cured. But I still have an occasional bought food that is loaded with it. I had to train myself to use morton lite, then I had to train myself to use just an ordinary salt substitute. yuk. Finally got that pressure down. I think you can do it, just keep up the good work and realize what all you have to do so you can enjoy things in moderation for health reasons.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    You didn't quit drinking soda. You traded Mountain Dew for Coke.

    ^^This! Seriously. Don't title a tread "dropped soda completely" when you have only gone one day without it.

    Before you will have any success, you have to learn to be completely honest with yourself. Replacing Mountain Dew with Rum and cokes will get you nowhere.

    ETA Also, change your trackers to include Protein. You don't need to have cholesterol on there. Losing weight will take care of your cholesterol. If you don't get enough Protein in your diet, the weight you do lose will be mostly from muscle tissue, which can lower your metabolism and cause you to regain your weight if you go back to eating normal calorie amounts.
    A man your size should be eating at least 150g of protein a day.
  • cw822
    cw822 Posts: 107
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    You didn't quit drinking soda. You traded Mountain Dew for Coke.

    ^ This! And you're eating nothing but fast food and/or processed foods, again super high in sodium and and high calorie content w/o a lot of real nutritional value. Start making your own meals (NOT Hamburger helper or instant potatoes) so that you can control what goes into your food and thus, your body.
  • rgchildress
    rgchildress Posts: 5 Member
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    It looks like you have a carb heavy diet, and yes the sodium will slow your weigh loss down. Try limiting your bread/grains/ potatoes to just once a day. For example if you eat cereal in the morning make sure it is a high fiber/ high protein cereal and lay off the sandwich at lunch and the potato at dinner.
  • ig109
    ig109 Posts: 12
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    Alright I get it.. I had a day of a weekend where i had far too much food.. didn't even realize I had eaten that much until it was too late.. Im just getting into this..
  • mdhummel
    mdhummel Posts: 201 Member
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    I think the pounds would drop if you cut out the processed foods and ate more fruits and vegetables.

    Since you have a newborn (congrats!) and time is an issue you could swap the cereal in the morning for a protein shake, or scrambled eggs, or fruit and yogurt. All of these are quick meals that don't involve too much time in the kitchen. Swap the sandwich and the chips for a salad with chicken or maybe dinner leftovers from the night before. It's all about baby steps. So if the salad is too much trouble at first why not trade the chips for an apple and use whole wheat bread on the sandwich for more fiber? If I had a busy day at the office sometimes I just make an egg white and vegetable omelet for dinner. It's fast and full of protein and vegetables. Those steam fresh bags of vegetables are a great time saver as well.

    Best of luck!
  • cw822
    cw822 Posts: 107
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    Alright I get it.. I had a day of a weekend where i had far too much food.. didn't even realize I had eaten that much until it was too late.. Im just getting into this..

    You didn't just have a day of "too much food" - you have several days of unhealthy food. Look at the your diary, virtually everything you consume is loaded w/sodium. It's not just the amount of calories you consume, it's also WHAT you consume. Substituting Coke for MD doesn't really count as making a healthy choice.
  • asciident
    asciident Posts: 166 Member
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    Have you looked at the calculators that help you figure out how many calories to eat? 1900 seems low for a 270lb younger man.

    Just plugging your age, height and weight in here http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ your BMR is over 2500 calories a day. That's the minimum calories you should be eating.

    I was going to mention this too. 1900 cals/day for your sex, height, weight, age seems pretty low. You don't want to eat too far under your BMR unless advised by your doctor. Better to pick a reasonable weight loss rate and bring down the cals slowly as you lose weight.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    Alright I get it.. I had a day of a weekend where i had far too much food.. didn't even realize I had eaten that much until it was too late.. Im just getting into this..

    Try not to feel like you are being picked on here. You are getting some good advice, so be open to change.
    That 4000 calorie day was NOT too much FOOD. It was too many calories, which most of them were empty.

    You need to focus on getting real food in your diet, especially protein. You can manage to do that with some occasional fast food if you like, but make better choices.
    Think of calorie budget like a money budget. Are you going to blow all your paycheck on video games and Lottery tickets, or are you going to pay your rent and utilities bills first?

    Calories spent on sodas and alcohol give you zero healthy nutrients.

    I know you can't change years of bad habits overnight. You can start with a couple of changes at first and ease into it.
    The first two I would suggest is- stop drinking your calories, and get the proper amount of protein in your diet. Once you start eating more protein, you will find yourself not getting as hungry and reaching for the chips.
  • Mgregory723
    Mgregory723 Posts: 529 Member
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    Starting is always going to be the hardest part. Start out by slowly getting away from processed foods and going to 1-5 ingredient foods like; meat (no lunch meat) fruits and fresh or frozen veggies. Boxed foods, lunch meat and frozen meals are very high in sodium.

    Trading one soda for another is not quitting, drink diet soda if you have to have one or try the flavored fizzy water, that helped me kick the Mt. Dew habit and once in while I have diet Dew if I feel the urge. DRINK LOTS OF WATER!!

    Once you get past the first few weeks of not having processed foods, you will feel better. The key is to make changes you can live with. Switching things around, finding new ways to love food for food.

    Learn to read labels, this has helped me a lot. Get away from white anything including; rice, white bread and sugar. Try whole wheat 100% bread, brown rice, and try a sugar substitute like Stevia.

    My macro's are set at 50% protein, 30% carbs and 20% fat - try that for a while. My cravings for sugary foods are nearly gone!

    These are things that have helped me along way. And I have to say it is a process! You are NOT going to lose the weight overnight and your head must be in the game. You can't lose the weight if you are really not wanting to give it 100%!

    *disclaimer - I am no expert, I myself have lots to lose..... Everyone has to find what works for them, their reason why.

    Good luck to you. :smile:

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