SO FRUSTRATED. ABOUT TO GIVE UP.

Taramarie75

Looking at your diary.....Way too many starchy carbs!!!! Get your carbs from vegetables and fruits. Stop the processed food, lower your sodium.

csverdin

Don't give up!!! If you are calculating your calorie burn and intake correctly you are definitely not eating enough. That may seem confusing but when you don't eat enough your body goes into a protective mode where it is trying to prevent starvation so it actually slows down the burn rate much like a bear in hibernation. You don't want to have a negative net calories at the end of the day and you should probably have at least 1000 net.

DanaDark

Missed logging days.

Many days are over.

High sodium intake.

Exercise calories eaten back entirely or more.

I'd think that you are eating more than you think while burning less than you think. Use a food scale to weigh foods and also only eat back half your calories you burn through exercise. If the exercise is from weight lifting, do not eat those back, just ensure you have enough protein. The goal with your weight lifting is to preserve muscle mass while losing fat, not gain muscle at the moment.

levitateme

I have kind of the same story, except I stuck with lifting and eventually the numbers went back down. Be patient. Switch to TDEE-20%. You're not burning 2300 calories. Fitbits are wildly inaccurate.

ETA: I eat over my calories probably 2-3 days a week and am still losing steadily. Seriously, check your intake vs burned calories, you're probably netting more than you think.

Holly_Roman_Empire

Okay, after looking through the last couple weeks of your diary, I noticed a few things:

1) I see a lot of entries that say "1 Tbsp" or "1 piece." Or various other non-weight measurements. Start weighing your food for greater accuracy. And are you measuring out your liquids? You have some alcohol entries, which is fine, but I know a lot of people don't measure it out. They just pour it to their liking.

2) There's only a couple of days I saw that weren't logged, so good job on that.

3) Your exercise is calculated from your fitbit, so I won't really comment on that since I understand they're pretty accurate. However, since it's adding in all your activity, the end number is your TDEE. You're only eating 200-300 calories below that on most days. Inaccurate logging can completely wipe out that deficit.

Edit to ask: So I think the Fitbit One is pretty accurate, but what kind are you using? I guess whether it is accurate or not depends on how you're using it.

Fuzzipeg

II have looked at your food diary. Forgetting the days which you did not log all but one of the ones I looked at had a very high intake of salt. Salt encourages fluid retention.

I hope this comment made with the best of intentions will help. Please do not give up trying to improve your health because the situation will only deteriorate. Hang on in there because you will not be in the same place in 6 months as you are now.

levitateme

3) Your exercise is calculated from your fitbit, so I won't really comment on that since I understand they're pretty accurate. However, since it's adding in all your activity, the end number is your TDEE. You're only eating 200-300 calories below that on most days. Inaccurate logging can completely wipe out that deficit.

Edit to ask: So I think the Fitbit One is pretty accurate, but what kind are you using? I guess whether it is accurate or not depends on how you're using it.

Yep, some of them don't measure HR, and I don't trust them further than I can throw them. I guess I could actually throw one pretty far, but whatevs.

LH85DC

Looking at your diary, I'd say that there's several possible problems: you don't log everyday, it looks like you use measurements instead of weighing (or at least enter it in your diary that way), you use some generic entries instead of some of the more reliable ones, and you might be estimating. Plus you say that you're eating 1300-1400 from a TDEE of 2300, but you still count exercise calories some days, and you're sometimes over even that.

My guess is that you don't actually know exactly how much you're eating or burning at this point. Plus, you have a relatively new workout routine, which could cause water retention, and you eat a lot of high sodium foods, which could cause water retention.

Focus on logging accurately for a while. Make sure that you pick one method (TDEE- where you don't eat back exercise calories because they're already included, or MFP- where you do eat back exercise calories) and stick to it for one more month. Keep up your workout routine during that month, and make sure to drink plenty of water to try and limit water retention. After one month, look at where you are (weight, measurements, and strength gains), and then re-evaluate your goals. Don't just give up on the weight lifting now, you definitely want to keep that muscle around when you lose weight!

MagnumBurrito

I started with Stronglifts and just couldnt stick with it. I spoke to a personal trainer at my gym who set me up on a three day split. I dont get how eating more is gonna help when this deficit hasnt done a thing.

For lifting and cardio, what exercises are you doing now?

martinel2099

Re-evaluate your calories in and calories out. Also try to focus on the long term, if you are doing exactly what you say then you'll have them. Day to day numbers aren't important, trends over longer periods of time are.

Hang in there+++++

Holly_Roman_Empire

So OP, what kind of cardio are you doing? Is it running/walking and it's accounted for on the fitbit?

Ayla121

Im using the FitBit One. And what do you mean Im only eating 300 under my TDEE?

12by311

Don't give up! I know it can be frustrating.

I think you could probably tighten up your logging a little bit. I went back through your diary. The first day you started logging pretty consistently was April 28…and before that, you missed quite a few days.

Lifting makes me feel SO hungry and while trying to lose weight, I have to reign it in in a major way or I could eat (and many times "graze" ) without thought. You may be eating a bite here and there that you aren't paying attention to and that can add up.

Iwishyouwell

Don't give up!!! If you are calculating your calorie burn and intake correctly you are definitely not eating enough. That may seem confusing but when you don't eat enough your body goes into a protective mode where it is trying to prevent starvation so it actually slows down the burn rate much like a bear in hibernation. You don't want to have a negative net calories at the end of the day and you should probably have at least 1000 net.

Then there would be no such thing as people becoming emaciated and starving to death.

Even with some metabolic slow down, if she was eating at the deficit she claims she'd still be losing weight.

She's either seriously underestimating how many calories she's consuming, overestimating her calories burned, or both.

PikaKnight

Looking at your diary.....Way too many starchy carbs!!!! Get your carbs from vegetables and fruits. Stop the processed food, lower your sodium.

lol No. It's not processed foods or carbs that's the issue. It'd be the amount. :laugh:

FatFreeFrolicking

After looking at your diary, it appears you do not use a food scale. You need to weigh EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth.

You also have multiple days of no logging, you are over your calorie goal many days, you consume a lot of sodium, and a lot of alcohol/beer.

PikaKnight

Went back a bit and there were days were nothing was filled out. Did you just not eat those days?

And I notice days where you went over quite a bit. But I'm not sure if this was supposed to be refeed type days because some days were pretty low off your target with exercise.

To clarify, don't you eat your fitbit calories back from Fitbit? I know with Bodymedia, unless you go over the target burn, you don't. But it still works out because of the net amount. To add, it's always good to make sure you are choosing the correct activity levels. Don't go for a large deficit because you are trying to rush things.

But right now, it's looking like you are netting pretty low, which may cause the over days (if they aren't done on purpose for refeeding).

How long have you been stuck at the scale? Have you stop losing in measurements as well? How long for that too?


ETA: You have about 15lbs to go. You should be aiming for a 250 cal deficit, but according to you, you are at almost an 800 cal deficit. A large deficit can hurt you and probably causing you to overeat on the days you've been really over.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

wehave4

I don't have any advice to give but I wanted to say thank you for posting this thread. I am learning a lot. :bigsmile:

jkal1979

Before even trying to adjust your calorie goal or your exercise program you need to work on consistently logging your food. Make sure to use a food scale for all non liquids, don't use generic and homemade entries that are in the database and log everything.

I know sometimes it can be a little confusing trying to figure it all out when using a FitBit. I have found that for me going to the FitBit dashboard or phone app and seeing how many calories are left until I hit my TDEE keeps things in perspective and keeps me on track.

kmb1282

bump