About to Throw In the Towel

skullshank

2 things to avoid every day, as much as possible, are sodium and sugar.

Sodium is like a holding tank for your body. It clings to water (in anything you eat or drink), among other things and encourages bloating! Tossing that out of the equation will make you FEEL like a million bucks.

Sugar literally turns to fat. And almost always that fat makes friends and then refuses to leave. Who invited that guy to the party?

My personal success (and I've totally been exactly where you are) has come from forcing myself to eat 5-6 small meals a day. I say forcing because I generally don't enjoy eating *ducks for cover from flying rotten food*. I know. It's weird. But I just do it to be healthy. I try to find the most filling low-calorie foods and just munch on something every two to three hours all day.

Try keeping your starches early in the day (like breakfast and lunch), and as the time passes grab the veggies, nuts, fruit and lean protein. Avoid eating within two hours of bed time if you can!

Your body is different from mine, so what works best for you might take some experimenting. This is just what has worked for me, and has broken me of plateaus more than once!

I hope it helps, and I wish you the best!!

sfhudgens

That helps a ton!!! Thanks kind of put a whole new prospective on it!!!

ruffnstuff

Thank YOU, OP, for being someone who reached out for help, told the truth about cals consumed, and actually took the good advice given without calling people mean. Seriously...that happens all the time. Too many just want validation for their excuses. You seem to genuinely want help. Good for you, and good luck. If you keep at it with moderation and honest logging, I'm confident the lbs will start to come off. They sure did for me.

ninerbuff

The science of weight loss actually works. Lots of people think they can beat the system, most to no avail. Do EVERYTHING right for 30 days. If in 30 days that you've been CONSISTENT, and nothing happens, then you'll be justified in saying that the program doesn't work.
Haven't seen one yet that it didn't work for.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

PLAID1977

Great Advice! Thanks Dan!!

PLAID1977

Okay, So I thought about just throwing the towel in but i didn't.
I upped my Calories so I only lose .5 a week. Seems slow but hey, its better than yo'yoing up and down.
I started to skip counting calories and only watch my protien cause i was told eating 100 grams of protien
will help me lose weight. but i am addicted to putting in my food, whether its bad or good

Shoot for 200g protein then.

Listen, heres the deal!
I'ts not about what food you eat and what fractions of what macros that really count.
What matters is YOUR lifestyle.
If you want to take off pounds that you put on over the past 5, 10, 15 years, i's going to take time to reverse engineer your body to do the opposite of what its taught to do.
Fix the following before even attempting weight/fat loss.

1) Sleep 7-9 hours a night.
2) Eat on a schedule everyday.
3) Manage stress
4) Nutrition (70/30)
5) Exercise in moderation

Sleep: Slow wave and REM sleep is when the body repairs itself. If you are sleeping less than 7 hours a night, you may not be reaching and utilizing this very important part of sleep. Studies indicate up to a 30% increase in insulin resistance in people who sleep less than 7 hours a night.

Eat on a schedule: The body likes homeostasis and will try to adapt to it in nearly everything you do. Eating on a schedule will help regulate specific hormones that will help your body operate better during the day. You'll have less stress, better utilization of nutrients, and once you find what works for you, you'll rarely be hungry.

Stress: Most people think of panic driven people when I mention stress. What i'm really referring to is systemic stress. Dieting too low for too long. Training too hard but not taking in enough energy. Not sleeping correctly. Not recovering from exercise fully. sure we all have stressful days but once you have sleep and an eating schedule, psychological stress tends to reduce and you generally will be in a better mood. Managing physical stress is all about eating to fuel your exercise and activity, and sleeping or taking days off from exercise to fully recover. Best means of slowly learning how you react to physical stress is to keep a journal next to your bed. First thing upon wakening, take your resting heart rate. Do this for a week to get a general reading. If you are exercising too hard and not sleeping enough, the rate will rise.

Nutrition: Eat anything you like in moderation. Period. Try to stick with whole foods 70% of the time, and 30% eat whatever you like so long as you aren't allergic. Period. Don't worry about paleo, low-carb, Keto, Atkins, SouthBeach, or any other fad diet. Most of those are complete bull**** and its unnecessary. You'll find that doing this will take the stress out of buying food. 70% of your cart should be whole foods and 30% can be whatever you like. As for macros, since you stated you like tracking food, I prefer a 40/30/30 breakdown. Beware of the pitfalls of orthorexia though.

Exercise in moderation: Unless you are a Navy Seal, you don't need to exercise everyday. Walking is a must! But as for weight lifting or pilates or spin class or whatever type of exercise you prefer, you don't have to do it every day. It's good to work out, but in a deficit while losing fat, you'll want to have that recovery time. My recommendation is to take up weight lifting 2-4x a week. Get a gym membership anywhere except planet fitness. Planet fitness doesn't offer personal trainers, nor do they have the type of equipment you can use to streamline your fat loss. In fact, they offer pizza thursdays....yep....awesome.
If you cannot afford a gym membership, hit up amazon for the following: Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade, or Dinosaur Bodyweight Training by Brooks Kubik. Both books will show you step by step how to take calisthenics, and transform your physique. they both have carefully laid out plans on what exercises to perform, as well as plans that match your schedule.


Hope that helps.

Great Advice!! Thanks Dan!

mbennett024

I don't know what to tell you about your weight loss becoming stagnant....but I do know from personal experience that if you wear Spanx or some other type of slimming, tight-fitting underclothes it will hold your fat in place a little better and not allow it to flap about violently. Hope this helps.

Hahaha I laugh because this is the most annoying part of exercise for me, all the damn fat jiggling and flopping ugh lol it's painful, really! Good tip.

skinny4me2be

Okay, I changed it to only lose .5 a week and it is now saying that I can eat
1,630 Calories a day

Now, here's the thing. Here's the trick. Here's the MAGIC that everyone wants: just eat that. Every day. Eat that number. That's enough calories where you can eat pizza, or drink wine, or eat chocolate... everything in moderation. Just keep at that number. BUT IF YOU OVEREAT ONE DAY, try not to stress. Just pick up again tomorrow. 1630. Every day. You'll binge less. You'll be happier.

But be honest and accurate and weigh your food as best you can.

Bumping--lots of GREAT info in this post!

sfhudgens

Awesome information! Thanks everyone!!

WhyLime113

Also, if you've set the built-in calculator to say you have a sedentary lifestyle, make sure to eat back your exercise calories. You need to replenish those calories because those calories are your energy source for the exercise.

redhotsc

So many great comments on here! I personally have reduced my processed sugars and found other exercises to do. There are plenty of things out there to do that don't involve extra areas of the body flying around that you can also do with the kids around. I have a four year old and one year old. I have found that I can plug them into Mickey Mouse for 15-20 minutes and I can ride the bike or do kettlebell workouts while they are temporarily plugged in. I know it is not the best for them...but what is 15 or 20 minutes? I can also get out the yoga ball and do some core exercises in the yard or the living room while they play. Think outside of the box. Best of luck.

VelcroButt

Thank you, My friend and I were walking 30 minutes every day at lunch, but now i can't walk at lunch i work thru lunch leaving my excercise when I am with the kids and sometimes they jog with me sometimes they power walk and then i hear "mommy slow down" lol...
but i will try that and just go from there...
Maybe I was just trying to hard to get it off too fast

I realize this isn't your primary concern but have you tried putting your kids on bikes or roller skates (if they already know how to skate) while you run? I can actually get a decent run in with my kids this way.

psych101

wow - an OP who actually took advice and didn't jump back down everyone's throat when it was offered! Awesome!

I wish you all the best OP!! :flowerforyou:

blytheandbonnie

Bump

SLLRunner

Okay, Yes I know my Diet goes back and forth...I do excercise, (and when i run my fat hurts..) lol i try to eat for the most part healthy. I like dr pepper and try to stear clear but have my foul ups. but for the most part i have flucuated the same dang 5 pounds for the last 2 years.
So yes, I feel as if AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

I notice though, yes somedays i go OVER my calories. and other days i am under. Its set at 1200 which i hate but dang it i want my fat to fall off not hurt so i don't want to eat back the ones i burn. but i am starting to think that is what is hendering my weight lose...................;

If you have been fluctuating by five pounds over the last few years, that means that you are maintaining because weight naturally fluctuates.

If you are maintaining, you are eating way more than 1200 calories most days, therefore you are not in a calorie deficit.

Do you log your food? If yes, do you log every single thing you eat?

Do you weigh all solid foods and measure all liquids?

Do you log exercise calories? If so, where do you get your burns estimates from? Gym machines and MFP and phone calorie burn apps have high calorie counts.

Raising calories is never the answer to why you are not losing weight, but it is the answer to properly fueling your body while staying within a calorie deficit. First, make sure you are properly logging calories in/calories burned, THEN look at whether you feel you need more calories to better fuel your body.

raggiemom

great info here...thanks

wilsoje74

I guess I could do that instead of stressing.
And I guess I could actually eat back what I burn in activity lol.
I will try that and see where it goes.

Or keep doing what you are doing which isn't working. Try something that you can stick to.

PJPrimrose

I didn't read all the posts so forgive me if this is a repeat. The diet advice sounds solid. Exercise can be fun! What your doing sounds hideous (makes my fat hurt eeee) find an exercise you'd love to do and start there! Dancing, self-defense,weight lifing, biking, hiking, swimming, Oriental Dance, or working out to a video at home!

easjer

Some awesome advice here. Good luck OP - glad you're sticking it out, and I hope you are feeling better with the increase in calories.

Therealobi1

wow - an OP who actually took advice and didn't jump back down everyone's throat when it was offered! Awesome!

I wish you all the best OP!! :flowerforyou:

thats because the delivery of their advice was professional no sarcasm. good post

sfhudgens

Thanks!