Can someone please look at my diary and explain?

dxc92

Hi everyone

I'll just let you know before you look at my diary - around about the 19th/20th January, I hadn't been logging (as much, theres blank days, half written in days) But I was just eating much and such the same as what I have been logging recently, I was just slacking for a while with the whole logging thing.

Just looked at my report on the last 180 days - I haven't lost weight at all, all it has been doing is fluctuating up and down and I am getting quite concerned, considering every week since about November, I have been doing fitness classes roughly about 4 times a week.

Example - Last Sunday I attended Metafit, CX Worx and Zumba all in that one morning. Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to Body Attack every week. And I try my best to attend Metafit and CX Worxs on Friday nights - doesn't happen every week.

If someone could PLEASE shed some light on the situation, I would be so grateful because I am starting to feel like I am wasting my time preparing my meals the night before and going to the supermarket to buy healthy food, attending all these fitness classes etc.

Thanks for any help xx


ALSO SHOULD ADD - I am 5'6... I weight 169lb or thereabouts anyway! Size UK 12.

skinnyclare

Hi ya

I'm not an expert at this weight loss game, but had a quite browse over your last week have you tried cutting out bread as you seem to have it quite a lot. I have a slight wheat intolerance so I try not to eat it any more (very hard as I love it). You can really tell a difference after a few weeks of not having any. Do you drink plenty of water? As water does really help with weight loss.

TavistockToad

i havent looked in your diary... but if you feel that eating healthy and doing regular exercise is a waste of time then you may as well stop now! arent you the least bit interested in your health at all!?

misswager

your macro spits aren't the greatest.

Macro- fat, carbs protein

I am eating to loose weight slowly while building muscle and I eat

122 g carbs per day, 22g fat (Fat macros is really hard to stick to for me. I always end up going a little over.)
148 g protein thats for ME at 122lbs

Your protein is LOW and the other macros aren't in good proportion

eating healthy is hard, stick with it. tweak the ratios

Also weight training & HIIT is superb for shifting fat Mike matthews has a superb book for women I love it

tiptoethruthetulips

It's easy to forget portion sizes and what you've actually eaten if you are not logging.

You are doing a lot of exercise, and on the days where you appear to have logged three meals calories are coming in way under.

Some days you are eating a lot of overly processed foods, these are likely to be high in sugar and/or sodium.

I would say log religiously for two to three weeks, reduce exercise a little, eat more unprocessed foods, eat all or close to the calories allocated for you to lose weight...and see how you go.

meryt88

Hi! I think you should pay more attention to reach your total calories every day, 'cause eating less will slow down your metabolism.
Also, it looks like you're not eating enough proteins, which is bad especially because you're quite active. Try to adjust these two factors and see what happens!

TwelveSticks

It's difficult to be sure, without a bigger dataset to look at, but I'd suggest the following:

1. Make sure you log everything, carefully. Measure and weigh it all if the details aren't on the packet.
2. Do it every single day - no days off. They're diet killers.
3. Eat a little more. You really shouldn't be eating less than 1200 a day, even without the exercise.
4. Eat back at least some of your exercise calories - I suggest 2/3rds of them, to allow for over-estimates.
5. Do all the above for at least 2 weeks and see how you go.

DawnieB1977

I'm the same height as you, also a UK12 and I was 154lbs before getting pregnant. I was eating 1500 calories a day and making sure I got a lot of protein in. I also don't eat more than 2 slices of bread a day.

So, if I were you I'd increase calories slightly, and cut down on things like breads and cans of soup. I think soup has a lot of salt in it. Try to have something like chicken or fish and veg for dinner rather than soup and bread.

You're welcome to look at my food diary, although I've increased calories a bit for pregnancy. If you go back to before August that'll give you a better idea. I do eat pretty much the same things now though.

beertrollruss

Hello, I took a look at your diary. I agree with skinnyclare that there's a lot of bread consumption. Bread can make you want to eat more bread depending on how your body handles carbs. I also see a lot of prepared foods in your diary. As much as you can, it's good to eat food as close to raw as possible. A calorie is not always a calorie. Some foods are harder to digest than others and it varies from one person to another. Pizza and ice cream stick to me like glue. There's so much trial and error with dieting. It's best to keep track of every thing and figure out what works best for you. If you wake up hungry, you're probably on the right track. One other thing to consider is eating 3-5 small meals a day. Large meals are hard on the body and they stretch the stomach. It's helpful to log your exercises under cardio. You may find out you need to eat more to lose weight. Too few calories will shut down your metabolism and put your body in starvation mode.

Snow__White

eat more !!!!!
1200 cals isnt enough
and try to eat back some of your exercise calories

LongIsland27itl

Is the most simple thing, if you are not losing weight then you are not in a caloric deficit, regardless of what your ratios are or what kind of food you eat. No food sticks to you like glue, unless you are eating above your maitinance level. @random poster.
You may not be tracking right or may not be tracking everything you eat also

mspoopoo

What do you drink? Do you ever have tea, coffee, soda?

Are you weighing all your food?

DawnieB1977

Is the most simple thing, if you are not losing weight then you are not in a caloric deficit, regardless of what your ratios are or what kind of food you eat. No food sticks to you like glue, unless you are eating above your maitinance level. @random poster.
You may not be tracking right or may not be tracking everything you eat also

Please explain to me now I lost more weight when I increased my calories from 1200 to 1500 then? By your theory I should've lost less as I had a smaller deficit.

Some foods don't agree with people. I don't lose as well if I eat lots of pasta and bread, yet slimming world (lots of pasta) works for some people.

dxc92

i havent looked in your diary... but if you feel that eating healthy and doing regular exercise is a waste of time then you may as well stop now! arent you the least bit interested in your health at all!?

I asked for help - not unnecesary comments - I am interested in my health, hence why I am on myfitnesspal and asking for help.

Thanks everyone else for your comments taking everything on board - I only drink water, never soda or alcohol. I think I should be eating more - I find it quite hard to eat up my calories so i shall try harder at that. I will also take on board the bread consumption and try cut that down.

I do measure my food - and on times when I dont, i always over estimate the calories.

Longisland - i log everything religiously. I dont think its that simple.

TavistockToad

i havent looked in your diary... but if you feel that eating healthy and doing regular exercise is a waste of time then you may as well stop now! arent you the least bit interested in your health at all!?

I asked for help - not unnecesary comments - I am interested in my health, hence why I am on myfitnesspal and asking for help.

i'm not sure why you are so offended... i simply meant there is more to life than a number on a scale... you can stay the same weight but improve your health, fitness and reduce bodyfat.

mamadon

It's difficult to be sure, without a bigger dataset to look at, but I'd suggest the following:

1. Make sure you log everything, carefully. Measure and weigh it all if the details aren't on the packet.
2. Do it every single day - no days off. They're diet killers.
3. Eat a little more. You really shouldn't be eating less than 1200 a day, even without the exercise.
4. Eat back at least some of your exercise calories - I suggest 2/3rds of them, to allow for over-estimates.
5. Do all the above for at least 2 weeks and see how you go.

^^^
I agree with this.

robynrae_1

i havent looked in your diary... but if you feel that eating healthy and doing regular exercise is a waste of time then you may as well stop now! arent you the least bit interested in your health at all!?

I asked for help - not unnecesary comments - I am interested in my health, hence why I am on myfitnesspal and asking for help.

i'm not sure why you are so offended... i simply meant there is more to life than a number on a scale... you can stay the same weight but improve your health, fitness and reduce bodyfat.

That is not the way the original post came across,

3laine75

Hiya. So I've had a look at 3 or 4 days and here's what I can see,

The numbers look good (if a little low) but you have a lot of 'generic' entries in there - get a bit more specific with your logging.

Personally, those macros would not work for me (you're over on fat sometimes despite eating loads of low fat products). I personally, need a good bit more protein (fills you up and helps preserve lean mass) and fat than that - try having a fiddle with those percentages.

Again, personally, I try to stear clear of 'diet' foods. Things that are marketed as 'diet', 'low- fat', 'healthy eating' tend to be full of hidden nasties - fat is not your enemy and is needed for the bodies functions.

Also if you are only doing cardio try throwing some strength training into the mix.

And take measurements and photos - sometimes these results are way better than anything you see on a scale.

Don't give up hope this helps, good luck with it.

ETA: fellow scot, same height (sadly not age) - feel free to add.

xWendyJonesx

I've had a quick look at your diary, like others have said, I personally would cut out some of the bread, I find bread really bloats me out, try and watch your Marcos, eating enough carbs, protein and fat and drink plenty of water.

Good luck.

dxc92

It's easy to forget portion sizes and what you've actually eaten if you are not logging.

You are doing a lot of exercise, and on the days where you appear to have logged three meals calories are coming in way under.

Some days you are eating a lot of overly processed foods, these are likely to be high in sugar and/or sodium.

I would say log religiously for two to three weeks, reduce exercise a little, eat more unprocessed foods, eat all or close to the calories allocated for you to lose weight...and see how you go.

Hi thank you for the advice - i didnt realise I had been eating overly processed foods, if someone could let me know which foods is the overly processed ones I shall try avoid them in future I have usually been buying fresh meat/veg from the supermarket and then cooking it for lunch the next day and having homemade soup at dinner time but im not an expert on food and which food is processed etc etc so need some advice with what to cut out

dxc92

I think bread may be my problem then - tonight I will be having no bread for lunch and dinner will try cut that out for a week or 2, re weigh myself and see if i notice a difference

GillianMcK

Again, really only looked as far as the weekend, agree with above, bit generic (home made soup, are all the individual ingredients being logged as a meal, what size is the 1.5 cups you're having), carbs are high (bread was my biggest issue as well).
Other thing I noticed is that you logged 2 fried eggs for breakfast one of the days but there's no oil logged??

I had a body fat analysis done (loads of measurement, lying on a freezing floor whilst having the 'bits' attached and the machine doing the reading) and it gave me a resting metabolic rate of just under 1800 calories, I've based my adily calories on that and aim for between 1800-1900 calories per day and take on an extra 100-200 (or 200-300 calories if I'm doing 2 exercises) on the days I exercise, so Monday I run 3miles so an extra 100-200 calories (despite myfitness pal saying it's worth nearly 500 calories, unless I have a heartrate monitor on I can't know how many calories I come close to burning and think 500 is rather generous), Tuesday & Thursday I run 4miles followed by an hours weights so add an extra 200-300 calories and Wednesday I have a PT session (and basically knackered after that), I tend to stick to full fat versions to try and avoid hidden sugars (they take the fat out and put sugar in to make it taste better, especially yogurts), I have a protein shake or mix protein powder with yogurt after weights since I've been pounding my muscles (or it certainly feels that way) and have whole milk in between running and weights for the calories without wanting to throw up half way through a class!!
Nuts/Seeds are good for increasing calories by only taking a small amount, yes they're high in fat, but it's mainly the good fats and also high in protein for muscle damage/rebuilding.

lauren3101

Simple answer: you aren't eating enough, particularly with your exercise regime.

If you find it hard to up your calories, eat calorie dense food, like peanut butter, nuts, avocado, full fat milk, cook with oil, etc.

Sodium can indeed make you retain water, this is food more in processed foods, takeaways, anything you find in a can, for example. I wouldn't worry about cutting out certain foods just yet, if at all.

meryt88

i didnt realise I had been eating overly processed foods, if someone could let me know which foods is the overly processed ones I shall try avoid them in future

I would start by changing those snacks. An alternative could be fruit with plain low-fat yogurt

carolyn000000

It looks like you have a lot of homemade foods, which is great, but sometimes it is hard to tell the calories. I had beef stew last nigh and mpf said it was under 400 calories, but I can tell how I feel today it must have been more. It looks like you are under your calorie goal which will help with if you are going over. Try to estimate on the high side and weigh everything, try to never guess. One time when I was dieting and seeing no progress i just gave up, and I gained a ton! Even if you are just maintaining it is better than gaining.

Also try adding some HIIT workouts instead of those long, marathon sessions. They are great fat burners with a long after burn.

I

jdsinau

hey there, yep bread i.e any white carbs/ grains and sugar are the worst for sticking, bread has a high sugar content as well as turning into sugar when its metabolised.

try for 2 weeks to restrict your sugar, carbs, wheat and dairy and red meat, and upping your protein,
you should also have 5 meals a day of 250 cals per meal.. this means from the time you have breakfast to the time you have dinner you are eating every 3 hrs, this is so your body is burning fat all day.

. a meal is considered a meal when it has protein in it, so 2 of your daily meals can be be in the form of a protein shake, i personally buy the Michelle bridges protein as it has the least amount of sugar and a higher % of protein. great alternatives to rice or pasta is quinoa,
if you don't want to consume soy milk try quinoa or rice milk instead, oats and berries are great breakfast or try making your own muesli to have with berries,

if you really want sweet try natvia instead of sugar and bake up some muffins, you can then have the treat without the sugar content.

i have done all if the above and dropped between .5g and a kg per week, keep up the exercise and see how you go good luck

GiveMeCoffee

From a quick look at your diary, your logging isn't always accurate, doesn't look like you are using a food scale. Some of your entries look like you used recipes that were saved in MFP database not your own, so you can't be sure what exactly you were consuming.

Log accurately and consistently

If you aren't losing you aren't in a deficit

3laine75

Hi again. Added you

As to macros, MFP is set at 55% carbs, 15% protein and 25% fat ( I think?). This doesn't work great for everyone once they start restricting calories as carbs are not that filling (just my take on it, folks). Once you add diet foods into the mix you are able to eat more of these foods that are IMO, not satisfying and quite misleading.

Now, I'm not a dietician so I'm not recommending 40/30/30 but that's what I use ( there are more complicated methods like, 1-1.5g protein per lb LBM and 0.35g fat per lb body weight but for me the above percentages fall nicely into this range).

Using these numbers, you'd have to cut back the bread/starchy carbs etc but not rule them out completely and having more protein and fat in your diet does tend to keep you 'full' for longer.

I'd say though, that regardless of whether you change your macros or not, you need to start logging accurately. E.g. Don't enter 'mashed potatoes' - log 'x g potatoes', 'x g butter(try to use the brand name)', ' x ml milk'. Or like another poster said, do not log, 'fried egg' - log, '1 small/medium/large egg' and ' x g oil'. Also weigh food instead of using entries that say cup. And if the entry is raw, weigh it raw or cooked, weigh it cooked. Seems like a hassle but it becomes second nature.

ETA: once you have entered all the ingredients for say, your homemade soup once you can then save that entry as a meal.

kagevf

Hi,

im guessing, lets say you have a goal of 145lbs, per your height and age, working out 3-4x/week

Your BMR is: 1441

Your TDEE is: 1981

like everyone said you need to eat a bit more.
its safe to say that you can eat at 1500ish calories to lose 1lb/week
under eating will just stall your weight loss.

Sylvitryinghard

maybe not enough? youre around 1000 - 1300 what I saw. Also you work out. When I was on 1200 I didnt lost a gram.

jaquwa

I was like you, staying the same, fluctuating, doing 5-6 hours exercise a week, wearing a heart rate monitor so not over estimating calories burnt (I would recommend a heart rate monitor if you don't have one). But the simple fact is, if you aren't in calorie deficit you won't lose weight. This was a really hard fact for me to swallow for months and months and I was really in denial.
I was not logging consistently and correctly and "forgot" about the odd biscuit or sweet here, but those add up.
Now I put everything on my diary and I am losing weight, 10lbs in 3 weeks.

I would start by looking at your macros, protein fat and carbs. I have my protein and carbs balanced at 35% each and fat at 30%. My fat is high, but it is made up of good fats, I keep an eye on saturated fats. Protein fills you up and also helps if you have a busy gym schedule, I'd be so sore if I didhn't eat as much protein as I do. I choose to avoid bread, potatoes, pasta and rice because I find these calorie dense, you don't get as much bang for your buck as it was.

I rarely eat processed food. Whenever I create a recipe at home I weigh everything that goes in it and create a new recipe, that way its as accurate as it can be.