Am I eating enough?

LucidPanda

I noticed you haven't logged any oils or things, what did you cook the meat and omelettes in?

Also the homemade omelette with cheese recipe (unless you added it in yourself) probably isn't the best because you don't know the amount of oil or cheese or anything.

What about condiments? Ketchup, mayonnaise, things like that can add quite a few calories

I use the zero calorie non stick spray and the omelettes are homemade with three eggs and a slice of cheese. Also I dont use condiments.

cookiealbright

You are not logging your Crystal Light. What did you drink at McDonald's? Drink calories are still calories. If you are gaining weight eating what you diary says you are eating you are retaining water. You may be eating more than you think. You say you don't like fruit or vegetables, none of them? Try some again cook them differently. My husband eats spinach cooked in vinegar with hard boiled eggs. (I think it's gross - I like my spinach plain) He also puts garlic in most all vegetables, again I like mine plain. I don't think he really likes them either, but he makes them in a way so he can still eat them. Good luck to ya! :flowerforyou:

LucidPanda

You are not logging your Crystal Light. What did you drink at McDonald's? Drink calories are still calories. If you are gaining weight eating what you diary says you are eating you are retaining water. You may be eating more than you think. You say you don't like fruit or vegetables, none of them? Try some again cook them differently. My husband eats spinach cooked in vinegar with hard boiled eggs. (I think it's gross - I like my spinach plain) He also puts garlic in most all vegetables, again I like mine plain. I don't think he really likes them either, but he makes them in a way so he can still eat them. Good luck to ya! :flowerforyou:

I only drink plain water or one of the two crystal light packs everyday. I also have a coffee with splenda in the morning

LucidPanda

I have a juicer and I liked the juices I made, but there is no way for me to tell how many calories are in the juice. I am afraid if I start juicing all go over my calorie budget..

bumblebreezy91

I'll keep this calorie goal for a week, and I wont eat fast food at all. I'll also drink more water. Thanks for all the help everyone.

Let us know how you're doing.

Be careful not to deprive yourself too much or you risk binging. If you're not someone who can make dramatic life changes cold turkey (like a lot of people are), you'll be setting yourself up for failure by setting a goal of "no more fast food ever again, as long as I shall live" if you're someone who has been frequently eating fast food (and depending on it for a majority of meals throughout the week--especially with someone in the hospital and all that stress). My suggestion is to cut back until you're at a level where you're comfortable with the amount of fast food still in your life (whether that's eliminating it for good, or going once every other week for lunch). Plan to pack snacks and meals for the duration of your stay at the hospital each day, which will eliminate your need for fast food. Plan for days when you want to have your meal at a fast food place. You are in control. You have planned this out.

It's a lifestyle change, don't do anything now that you're not willing to do for the rest of your life (no fad diets). Just take it a day at a time. The most important thing is to be both persistent and consistent simultaneously, and to log on MFP meticulously.

Best of luck to you!

bumblebreezy91

You are not logging your Crystal Light. What did you drink at McDonald's? Drink calories are still calories. If you are gaining weight eating what you diary says you are eating you are retaining water. You may be eating more than you think. You say you don't like fruit or vegetables, none of them? Try some again cook them differently. My husband eats spinach cooked in vinegar with hard boiled eggs. (I think it's gross - I like my spinach plain) He also puts garlic in most all vegetables, again I like mine plain. I don't think he really likes them either, but he makes them in a way so he can still eat them. Good luck to ya! :flowerforyou:

I only drink plain water or one of the two crystal light packs everyday. I also have a coffee with splenda in the morning

The Crystal Light packs still have calories in them, and they need to be logged.

LucidPanda

Thanks for the support everyone. I'll try and do a better job of logging everything.

bagge72

I would say that you probably aren't logging everything. At your weight, it just doesn't make sense. You could go several weeks on that low calorie of a diet, and lose a lot of weight each week with out any problem. You should have lost a ton of weight your first week alone, because of water weight, unless you aren't drinking enough water to compensate for all of the sodium in the cheese, pizza, and mcdonalds you are eating.

Sharbear73

That doesn't make any sense at all. You should drop at least a pound a day eating what you say you eat and at your weight. Something doesn't add up.

1Cor1510

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1187899-in-place-of-a-roadmap-short-n-sweet-reposted

The information in the link above is invaluable, it takes a little time to gather the information you need, but it is worth it! Reading the original post of this is what helped me figure this all out and lose my first 30 lbs two years ago. Good luck!

Brandolin11

Well if you just noticed you were up this morning my guess would be the pizza hut on sunday did it from the sodium intake, that will really effect water weight. Did MFP give you the 1800 calorie number? It seems that you could eat more than that and still very successfully lose. Make sure you meet that goal because there are some days you are way over and other days you are way under, if you even out your consumption and try to aviod the sodium a little bit that will help decrease the fluctuations you will see.

They gave me 2400 calories a day, but everyone in my family said that was to much, so I decided to go with 1800.

With all due respect to your family, who I'm sure does care about you.... unless they are certified nutritionists, I'd tell them to kindly keep their unscientific opinions to themselves.

amandamotley

At the risk of sounding like a moron, am I missing something here? It looks like your goal cals are set at 1800, but macros are 340g carbs, 91g fat, and 136g protein. That adds up to (340*4) + (91*9) + (136*4) = 2723. Am I crazy?

Brandolin11

I'll keep this calorie goal for a week, and I wont eat fast food at all. I'll also drink more water. Thanks for all the help everyone.

Wonderful place to start! Although I'd reco bumping up to the 2,400 if that's what MFP said.

And remember what I said about being HONEST.

Try doing this for one week (just one little week): record LITERALLY every bite that goes in your mouth! If you eat a CRACKER, in it goes to MFP. I have a sneaky suspicion you're going to discover that you're eating a lot of B.L.T.'s (Bites, Licks, and Tastes) that are adding up to a ton of cals. Let's find out, shall we?

AliceDark

That said you are a 23 year old male at 5'8" and 447 lbs. A quick calculation at http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ says you could be eating 3400 cal a day and losing weight at a 20% calorie reduction rate. You can ease your way in to lowering calories. There is no need to drop down to 1800 immediately unless advised by your doctor. How did you come up with that number? MFP, another calculator, your doctor, what?

I agree that dropping down to 1800 immediately seems unnecessarily difficult. It's going to take a long while to lose what you need to, so finding something you can stick with for the long haul is really important. 2400 still sounds low, but definitely better than 1800! When people told you that was too high, do you know what they were basing that on? I would bet money they weren't taking into account the math involved in weight loss. Have you tried logging a few days of your pre-diet menu to get an idea of what you were eating before? 2400 is probably still a huge reduction.

It takes some time to get into the swing of logging things, and also takes some time for your body to figure out what's going on. Try just logging for a week or two, sticking to a consistent calorie goal, and see what happens. Consider it baseline data collection before you make any adjustments.

erickirb

At the risk of sounding like a moron, am I missing something here? It looks like your goal cals are set at 1800, but macros are 340g carbs, 91g fat, and 136g protein. That adds up to (340*4) + (91*9) + (136*4) = 2723. Am I crazy?

You are correct. OP go back in so goals and re-set them. I have no idea how MFP gave you so many carbs/Fat, what % are you set at?

bumblebreezy91

Well if you just noticed you were up this morning my guess would be the pizza hut on sunday did it from the sodium intake, that will really effect water weight. Did MFP give you the 1800 calorie number? It seems that you could eat more than that and still very successfully lose. Make sure you meet that goal because there are some days you are way over and other days you are way under, if you even out your consumption and try to aviod the sodium a little bit that will help decrease the fluctuations you will see.

They gave me 2400 calories a day, but everyone in my family said that was to much, so I decided to go with 1800.

Is everyone in your family a registered dietician or a doctor?

If not, go back to what MFP had set for you. You're overeating because 1800 is 600 calories lower than what you were recommended to have as an intake. That's an entire meal or several really terrific snacks to keep you going between meals (try an apple with two tablespoons of peanut butter as a snack).

Find some fruits and veggies that you can tolerate. You might eventually find more that you like, but having a couple of go-to fruits and a couple of go-to veggies can be helpful to get you started. Try apples with peanut butter, celery with peanut butter. I love to make fresh baby spinach salads with carrot slices and cherry tomatoes and cucumbers and then I use a half-cup of cottage cheese as a "dressing." It's really good.

If you're in a colder climate like I am, some fruits will be coming back into season soon, and that will give us more variety.

Keep at it.

brett1117

If you're 447lbs you need to see a DR and get on a supervised weight loss program!!

wilsoje74

where are your fruit and veggies?? All that fast food is so high in fat content.

I dont really like fruits and veggies. I wish I did.

I would try to start