Bandwagon? Can anyone direct me?

C1131

I started posting this in a previous post and then realized I was trying to hijack it.

I'm also in need of motivation, though I'm just trying to FIND the bandwagon not having had a chance to fall off. I think the biggest sabotage to my day is that when I log my food in MFP, I get told that eating what I do, I'll weigh ~8 #s less in 5 weeks. So, I keep eating like that and *surprise* there is no weight loss.

I'm at a bit of a quandry over this. I find that wearing my FitBit really does motivate me to move more. However, when FitBit talks to MFP and it tries to estimate my calorie burn, something clearly goes awry. End result is that if I log, I feel entitled to eat as I wish--since I typically end up with 700 or more calories 'short' of what FitBit & MFP think I've burned. I've cranked both devices back to the lowest levels allowed so I must be something of a marvel for caloric efficiency.

Scene: I've walked my 10K steps for the day, I've done my Daily Burn workout--without logging it, I've eaten 1300 calories but MFP is telling me that I've got another 500 calories to eat just to get to a 500 calorie deficit. Temptation is lurking.

How are you ladies managing to lose? Do you stick to the 1300 calories or whatever your BMR is calculated to be? Do you have devices tattling to MFP saying that you are exercising and not being sedentary?

Nillalis

I haver also been at this point to decide how much to eat back and i surfed some stuff and this is what i found and decided to go after.

MFP decides your calorie need after how much you move daily and mainly from what kind of profession you have. If your a desk person your sedentary and so on. then during the day you exercise and mfp tells you that you can eat it back.

from what i read mfp and most other apps estimate calories burned high simply because we like a app that shows us we burned lots, is my guess. so if you eat it all back already there you see a small reason you don't loose.

i have also read that its only really hard exercise that you need to eat back so like walking and yoga that is my main burners one don't need to eat back.

For me to limit my self i have decided that walking and yoga i don't need to eat back but i may if i want eat back 50 % of it. Biking and running i eat back 50 % min and 100% max as i believe that apps show me more calories burned compared to what might be the truth.

good luck in setting up limits that hopefully will work for you.

jc4mee

Have you started to lose at all? It looks like you have been a member since November, so I'm not sure if you have lost something. Perhaps you are at a plateau. Are you getting sufficient protein?

With all of that being said, I have struggled to lose at times. Seems that the harder I would work out the less I would lose. I would be hungry from burning the calories and I would eat more, but still remain under what the program said I should have. Never really found the right combination to lose the weight like I saw others doing. I ended up being satisfied with being 10 pounds above my goal weight (but have gained some back now and need to get things back under control). When I cut back on my exercise I actually found it a little easier to lose the weight.

That's probably not much help, but I do hope that you find the right combination for you as far as diet and exercise to get the weight off!!

C1131

Hi Jc4Mee,

Actually, I haven't lost anything at all--if I don't count my typical +/- 4 #s variations. I do also have the issue that if I exercise it becomes harder to lose. Right now I'm really stiff from a couple harder workouts so it 'looks' like I've gained 3#s in the last 5 days. I know it's just the water retention from sore muscles and Tylenol, but it's annoying all the same. However, exercise is my lifeline for sleep and stress reduction so I'm not going to stop.

Honestly, I don't know how I could eat much better than I do without doing something quite radical. I spent 5 years figuring out some food allergies so I'm now what my husband calls a 'special ed' eater--I need to know exactly what's in my food if at all possible and I try very hard to stick to simple, pure food sources verified Gluten, Dairy & Soy free. I saw a nutritionist along the way and I do work hard to meet the goals of 20g of protein at each meal and 2 snacks with 10g of protein. I don't eat fast food, I don't eat much 'junk', I eat lots of home-cooked, high veggie content food.

This, however, makes counting calories a good bit harder as I need to enter every recipe exactly and know exactly how many portions I'll get out of what I've cooked--really before I've cooked it or fully portioned it. It's WAY easier to count calories if you are just reading the numbers off of a label. I suspect that this is one of my stumbling blocks with figuring out weight loss. When I lost 65#s on Weight Watchers I always had a pre-packaged lunch and much more of my food came with a label on it, heat & serve.

My only other known challenge is that since I'm having trouble sleeping and I do have days where I'm at work in the afternoon 'eating to stay awake'. For me that means a worst case scenario of eating rice cakes and raw almonds, but eating nonetheless. If I've realized that I'm going to feel that way I'll bring cut raw veggies to fill that niche.

A couple of times in the past few years I've hit some kind of 'sweet spot' where my body will just decide to lose weight. I don't feel like I'm doing anything differently but I'll start losing ~1#/wk. It will last until I get a food allergy exposure or some other life disruption. Then, nothing. Just haven't been able to recapture that magic.

Nillalis

for any one to help you more than we already have we kind of need to know more about you.
how tall you are, how much you weigh, what kind of exercise you do, how long you do it and how intense.
it would also help to know what kind of work you have- like desk job or a job that you move a lot in.
Do you count your every day moving like walking to car and walking inside grocery store as exercise or is that just part of your 10.000 steps and not counted as calories burned.

what you eat and so we can see as you have your diary open to all and as far as i can see its fine some days might be a bit low in protein but thats all.

C1131

Hi Nillalis,

I guess I'm kind of skeptical about anyone reading this and 'fixing' the problem. I'm more curious what you are doing that has worked for you--particularly if you have had problems losing weight. How did you figure out what worked?

For the record I'm 51, 5'5" and weigh 156#s, 140#s is acceptably thin for me so I don't have a lot to lose. I tore the meniscus in my left knee about 2 years ago and I've not been able to keep off some weight gain, up from mid 140s to mid 150s.. My body really likes mid 150s but now that jogging is not an option and menopause is a factor I'm seeing that I want to gain weight again.

I sit at work, although I have a reminder that goes off every 30 minutes for some kind of stretch or exercise. I wear a FitBit and it tracks all steps, not just the formal 'walks'. FitBit talks to MFP which then estimates calorie burn based on a sedentary lifestyle, base 1200 calories per day. I do 30 minutes of basic calisthenics via Daily Burn 6 days/week (squats, lunges, planks, etc.) which I do not 'log' but FitBit counts any steps. If I'm not at work, I try to keep moving: gardening, being outdoors, housework, playing with dogs, etc. When I do a fitness analysis I rank in the top 10% for my age.

I'm also not in the middle of the bell curve of adult women. I've had weight problems since I was in early childhood--when I ranked in the bottom 10% of fitness for my age. I also was constantly sick, apparently due to food allergies that I didn't figure out until I was in my 40s. Prior to figuring that out my weight was a constant challenge and at one point got up to low 200#s. I still have a digestive system that doesn't work well, a body that is a challenge to manage. (And, yes, I do lots of things to try to make that work better.)

I'm trying to see if I can get back to a lower weight without locking myself down to 1300 calories per day--there have been a few moments in the past that I have managed that for a brief few weeks. If I dial back the calories that far I do lose weight, but it seems to be because I don't exercise--loss of muscle. When I start working out it just comes right back. And if I want to sleep these days, I have to move.

Cheers!

Nillalis

Looks like you are doing a lot and i agree you don't have a lot to lose but 140 could be done even if it might be hard to maintain.

recently i my self was standing still and even gaining some but i knew it was cause i had added a lot of exercise. my next plan when my shoulder and body is up for it is to start lifting weights. i read a lot about it and those that lift the right way seem to be able to eat more be slimmer and spend less time totally/week on keeping it that way.

have a look at this link and also go to the homepage and read about resetting your metabolism. maybe you get started with that before i do and can let me know how you are doing

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/sv/groups/home/102-new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-nrol4w

C1131

I do feel that finding some way to increase my metabolism is critical. From my present perspective, getting my body to be happy enough to do that is the challenge.

Here's the hit list for improving your metabolism from Web MD:

Do weight training (check -- doing that)
Do sprints/high intensity exercise (can try to do this cycling, when I try this on the treadmill my knee gets annoyed)
Get plenty of sleep (this is just inaccessible for me right now, maybe in a few years...)
Eat often (check!)
Eat well (check!)
Stay cold--burn more calories in cold environment (Did I mention menopause? My sweaters are very lonely right now)
Be active when you can (Check!)

However....

I am wondering if my body is always trying to pack on the pounds because I don't digest food well. Even though I get enough calories--hence weight loss is hard--maybe my body never digests things well enough so it isn't getting enough of all the stuff it needs (whacked out theory #497, thank you very much). I went out and got some digestive enzymes at lunch because my stomach wasn't feeling well and it seems to have improved my afternoon. I'm going to give those a try for a bit and see if that helps.

Novelty fact: One of the times that I managed to lose weight was right after a friend conned me into doing a 'cleanse' that included digestive enzymes, fiber and the usual clay. Since I eat rather oddly I didn't need to make any other changes in my diet to conform to the cleanse program. At the time I had been working with a personal trainer for 12 weeks and to my annoyance had not lost any weight, gained about 5 pounds. Oddly on the second week of the cleanse and for a few weeks after I was losing 1#/wk. Unfortunately subsequent attempts with a cleanse seemed to always divert into severe digestive distress due to some allergic reaction. In the end I chalked it up to just 'it took 12 weeks to get to the point where I had enough lean body mass to burn calories'. But the weight loss didn't last more than 4-5 weeks and then I was back to pounding iron with no weight loss. Not too long after that I had a job change and couldn't keep the trainer or the intense workout schedule. Life happens.

Nillalis

well seems like your doing all the stuff i can think of that would help so only reason not loosing weight would in my guess be.

1. your body isn't happy and like to keep the pounds.

2. your not doing something as well as it needs to be done (but to me it sounds as you do)

good luck with your cleansing

Sharonmdenham

susantarcher

I stick to my calorie goal--not including the calories I get back from exercising. It's working for me. 32 lbs. since Jan. 1.

C1131

Susan,

What exercise do you do and what is your daily calorie goal?

susantarcher

I'm eating about 800-1000 calories a day and walking 5 days a week. I am under a doctor's care since I'm eating so few calories.