Can't seem to lose weight

stevedbrown

You definitely have to measure your food. Past that, you have to be careful with the myfitnesspal numbers sometimes - I'd say the calories on your pork chop lunch sounds low.

I'm around the same weight, doing a baseline 1800 + whatever I burn with cardio, weight is definitely dropping off. I eat smallish meals and eat a couple of pairs of granola bars during the day. I'd definitely recommend doing a little more cardio - eating less can tend to make your body run a little cold. I lift for 15 minutes and do around an hour of cardio every day (biking to work helps here).

regal8r

Thanks everyone for the input. The trainer said to shoot for 50% carbs, 30% protein, 20% fat but I'm gonna try it the other way and see what happens.

regal8r

You definitely have to measure your food. Past that, you have to be careful with the myfitnesspal numbers sometimes - I'd say the calories on your pork chop lunch sounds low.

I'm around the same weight, doing a baseline 1800 + whatever I burn with cardio, weight is definitely dropping off. I eat smallish meals and eat a couple of pairs of granola bars during the day. I'd definitely recommend doing a little more cardio - eating less can tend to make your body run a little cold. I lift for 15 minutes and do around an hour of cardio every day (biking to work helps here).

I thought about buying a bike because I only live about 2 miles from my job.

Graelwyn75

Reduce your carbs (or watch your carb intake). Its not just about calories you really have to be mindful of what kind of food your are eating and when. If you can't get to 2100 cals its because you are likely eating too much carbs, realize everything has a carbohydrate in it. If you did it mathmatically and you stuck to more proteins you would find getting that digit is easier to hit. So determine what percent of Protein, Carbs and Fat you should be eating and it will help. Its really not just about the Calories. I could eat 1200 every day and GAIN weight.

If you eat high amount of carbs your body isn't going to process them as energy but just store as fat. So in turn you will see the scale not move even though you are working out gaining muscle, but your measurements will likely be changing and your BF % might slightly change.

Logging everything is important. I mean every nibble. Its a calorie. Also I find "slow" digesting protein before bed, help from waking up starving and actually I lose some lbs quicker (example cottage cheese, Low fat).

But honestly. I just did my hubs macros. He is 6'0 and about 250lbs right now, and probably close to 35ish+ BF%. His macro break down starting out, then adjusting, will be 2500 calories, 250g Protein 187.5g carbs and 82.5g fat. Then we will be aiming for the gym 5x a week mostly lifting and some cardio. 100 of those carbs will likely come from fruit and veggies, the other 87 will be your brown rice, sweet potatoes, etc.

The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn at rest. Reason why lifting is very important. EVEN FOR WOMAN!!!

Also, READ. Check out www.Bodybuilding.com The more you read about nutrition the better off you are. I have read sooooo many articles etc. on clean eating, macros, when to eat certain proteins/carbs in the day etc. Its over whelming but just take one step at a time and make small changes and keep with it. I know thats hard but just keep it up. No one did it over night or in 2 months. Most people who have REALLY changed their body took them AT LEAST 9 -12 months. So don't give up!!!!

what are you on about?
As long as someone is remaining in a deficit, the carbs they eat are not going to simply be converted to fat.
And you could gain weight eating 1200 calories? Orlly? I do not think so.
I do not know where you are getting your information from but it is seriously flawed.

UmmSqueaky

You definitely have to measure your food. Past that, you have to be careful with the myfitnesspal numbers sometimes - I'd say the calories on your pork chop lunch sounds low.

I'm around the same weight, doing a baseline 1800 + whatever I burn with cardio, weight is definitely dropping off. I eat smallish meals and eat a couple of pairs of granola bars during the day. I'd definitely recommend doing a little more cardio - eating less can tend to make your body run a little cold. I lift for 15 minutes and do around an hour of cardio every day (biking to work helps here).

I thought about buying a bike because I only live about 2 miles from my job.

Don't fall into the trap I did last year and eat more because you're biking. I regularly bike commuted to work, 15 miles round trip, 4-5 days a week from April until August. And I gained 10 lbs while doing it, because I thought, hey, I biked, I can go out to eat for lunch There's a saying that floats around MFP - abs are made in the kitchen. Weight loss is primarily about what we eat, exercise is for health. Get yourself that food scale (and a bike) and have at it!

Mr_Excitement

I expect you're eating more than you think you are. Do you log absolutely everything, and weigh food?

Just looking at the log you posted, I expect that count is low. People usually put sugar, butter, or both on their oats, for instance, and I don't see anything logged with it. Do you eat it plain?

Pork chops also tend to have some dressing up that increases their caloric content, but I don't see any barbecue sauce or anything like that.

Peanut butter is really easy to measure wrong, and it's very calorie dense.

You know what I mean-- that sort of thing can add up quickly.

Another thing that can sabotage you very easily is having a day each week where you just go nuts and forget about logging. It's incredibly easy to wipe out the deficit you've built through the week with a single binge day.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Here's an example of a typical day for me. I haven't eaten supper yet but its pretty similar to my lunch.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k240/Joshua_Hafner/dailyfood_zpseb998c97.jpg

It's not really what you eat typically that's important, its just really helps to see the whole picture over days and weeks.

But still need to know -
Are you logging exercise and eating those calories back or do you just eat 2100? (could be seen in diary)
How do you measure your food?
Do you log everything?

I'm not eating the calories I burn, i'm not measuring food (yet), and I try and log everything as accurately as possible

Step #1 - start measuring food. A scale is best and fairly cheap, measure the rest. Without measuring your food you really have no idea how much you are really taking in. If you aren't losing weight, you are likely eating more than you think.

I do agree with above posts about changing macros, but the most important thing is creating a calorie deficit.

QFT

Start measuring. If you start biking you may find that you're hungrier, and without logging your food accurately you won't realize if you start eating more than normal.

regal8r

I expect you're eating more than you think you are. Do you log absolutely everything, and weigh food?

Just looking at the log you posted, I expect that count is low. People usually put sugar, butter, or both on their oats, for instance, and I don't see anything logged with it. Do you eat it plain?

Pork chops also tend to have some dressing up that increases their caloric content, but I don't see any barbecue sauce or anything like that.

Peanut butter is really easy to measure wrong, and it's very calorie dense.

You know what I mean-- that sort of thing can add up quickly.

Another thing that can sabotage you very easily is having a day each week where you just go nuts and forget about logging. It's incredibly easy to wipe out the deficit you've built through the week with a single binge day.

I don't put sugar or butter in my oatmeal, just oats, unsweetened almond milk, plain yogurt and some kind of fruit or 2tbsp of peanut butter.. I try and stay away from sugar and saturated fat as much as possible. The chops were breaded with the kraft fresh take