Look at my diary

diannethegeek

I think it's easier to drink water from a sports bottle. I know that sounds silly but you just grab it take a mouthful close it and get on with your day. Where as getting a glass and going to a tap involves thought. For that reason I keep a 700ml bottle of water with me at all times. The tap water here is rank aswell so I put it in a old fashioned glass lemonade bottle in the fridge, it's better somehow when it's has settled......Well now i just sound like the crazy water lady! seriously tho I manage atleast 2 1/2- 3 litres a day.

P.s I also love milk we never drank water at home the choices were milk or sometimes coke, seems healthy as a child but as a dieting adult it's shocking the sugar and calories in a pint of milk you could easily down in 10mins lol.

I agree, when I actually read the "Nutrition Information" on the milk carton I bought at work, I almost dropped it... and I am the type to cry over spilled milk...or at least lap it up with my tongue(depending where it fell).

Anyway - I have noticed Milk destroys my sugar intake for the day, consistenly. I will grab a sports bottle from home and see if that helps my water issues, thanks for the tip

I do enjoy vegetables, but with a growing baby she's always the priority and tends to eat them left right and center...Guess I have to stock up a lot more than I have been buying... lol...I miss my veggies, and good fruits.

Are the following fruits and veggies really good?(They are the ones I enjoy)

-Bananas
-Raspberries
-Peaches
-Kiwi
-Apples the odd time.

-Broccoli
-Cauliflower
-Carrots
-Red, yellow, orange peppers


I'm just not sure which fruits would be better than others, same for veggies.

Try not to get caught up in labeling fruits, veggies, or any foods as good vs. bad. If they fit into your calorie and macros for the day and you like them then you should eat them.

jim180155

Are the following fruits and veggies really good?(They are the ones I enjoy)

-Bananas
-Raspberries
-Peaches
-Kiwi
-Apples the odd time.

-Broccoli
-Cauliflower
-Carrots
-Red, yellow, orange peppers


I'm just not sure which fruits would be better than others, same for veggies.

Those are all good. Keep in mind that fruits will be more calorie dense than veggies, so try to eat more veggie volume than fruit. But they're all good.

And throw some spinach in there. If you don't like it yet, learn to.

__freckles__

Here you go:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

1250 is way too low. I also see you have a kid, so you're definately not sedentary, even with a desk job. You're probably lightly active. Set your weight loss to 1 lb per week. If you lose too much too fast, you're going to lose a lot of LBM along with fat and probably won't like the results when you reach your goal weight. Slow and steady win the weight loss race.

Oh, and this is always a good one to throw in there: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Good luck! :flowerforyou:

diannethegeek

I think my calorie goal is set so low because of my activity level...I have a desk job, it doesn't burn many calories sitting on my butt all day...I think that's the main driver for the calorie thing...if I change it to light activity it gives me 1,440 or something like that.

Would that be a more realistic calorie goal?

You all are posting so fast it's tough to keep up lol.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

Linked above. It's going to help you set a more realistic calorie goal.

__freckles__

Try not to get caught up in labeling fruits, veggies, or any foods as good vs. bad. If they fit into your calorie and macros for the day and you like them then you should eat them.

^^This one has the smartz. All food is good in moderation. Even ice cream. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Eat what you like, fit it into your macros and be happy.

JonnyMacAwesome

Jonny, your diary only seems to go back to 5/26. I'm assuming that's when you started MFP and started tracking your calories. Your ticker says you've lost 3 pounds so far. If all that is correct, I don't see why you're not happy. Three pounds in a week and a half is good.

I agree with the others that 1250 calories sounds way too low. You're a 200 pound 29 year old. I'm a 154 pound 60 year old and I'm eating more than you are. If MFP only gives you 1250 calories for a 2 lb/week weight loss, I'd consider switching to 1 lb/week. I'm getting hungry just thinking about 1250 calories.

And get yourself a scale. Your weight will be the most consistent if you weigh in first thing in the morning, before you eat or drink anything but just after a trip to the bathroom.

I'm also only 5'8" Jim(not sure how tall you are), but yes, the scale will be bought in the next few days. The last time I did 2 lbs/week(over 2 years ago) it worked fine, and I didn't exercise then at all...I was losing weight for my sister-in-law's wedding(the wife made me do it). It worked really well, and quickly.

I will definitely keep weighing in first thing in mind and set a reminder on my phone.

The main reason I am not happy is I feel my initial 3lbs lost has been a farce, either I had something in my pocket the first time and not the next, whatever the case may be...It just doesn't seem to me that it would be all that accurate - it seems like too much in too little time...I just want consistent weight loss(and at a decent rate)

0somuchbetter0

I'm nauseated just looking at all the milk you drink... :noway: Really...I haven't drunk a glass of milk since I was 10 years old. blech... LOL

But seriously, as much as you love the stuff, you're drinking way too many calories, and, as others have said, not eating enough vegetables and fruit. You're young and male...you should probably be eating a lot more than 1250. Figure out your BMR and TDEE and then eat about 15% less than TDEE. Once you figure all that out, you'll be much happier eating bigger, more balanced meals, getting all your nutrients, and having the energy to work out. Those vegs and fruits you list are fine...try adding leafy greens (the darker the better).

You can still lose weight eating junk food and drinking milk, as long as you're in a calorie deficit, but your body will be much healthier and happier eating a greater variety of healthy foods.

Finally, learn to drink water. Your body is 50-65% water. Be a big boy and just do it.

Good luck. :flowerforyou:

__freckles__

I'm also only 5'8" Jim(not sure how tall you are), but yes, the scale will be bought in the next few days. The last time I did 2 lbs/week(over 2 years ago) it worked fine, and I didn't exercise then at all...I was losing weight for my sister-in-law's wedding(the wife made me do it). It worked really well, and quickly.

I will definitely keep weighing in first thing in mind and set a reminder on my phone.

The main reason I am not happy is I feel my initial 3lbs lost has been a farce, either I had something in my pocket the first time and not the next, whatever the case may be...It just doesn't seem to me that it would be all that accurate - it seems like too much in too little time...I just want consistent weight loss(and at a decent rate)

Again, if you lose weight too fast, you're going to lose a lot of LBM along with fat. Not good. You want to lose as much fat as possible but keep your LBM. Eat at a slight deficit, lose 0.5 - 1 lbs per week and start a progressive lifting program.

JonnyMacAwesome

Here you go:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

1250 is way too low. I also see you have a kid, so you're definately not sedentary, even with a desk job. You're probably lightly active. Set your weight loss to 1 lb per week. If you lose too much too fast, you're going to lose a lot of LBM along with fat and probably won't like the results when you reach your goal weight. Slow and steady win the weight loss race.

Oh, and this is always a good one to throw in there: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Good luck! :flowerforyou:

I put sedentary because along with my desk job, lately I've been working 12+ hours per day, and only get to see my baby for about an hour before bed time... Hopefully things will slow down here soon and I can get back to my 9-10 hour days with a few extra hours for the family.

I will change it to Lightly Active though, but for now I can't see myself dropping the loss to 1 lb/week.

@Jim - I used to like spinach, when it is smothered in balsamic vinegar to the point I can't taste it. Even the texture, bleh...That's gonna be one heck of a change to "get used to"


Thank you all so far for the tips and suggestions, I am taking notes and will hopefully be able to post in the "Success Stories" thread one day some months from now...

I truly appreciate it

sianquin

All veggies are good, as are all fruits but most are high in sugar. Might not work for you but I had a personal trainer who told me to aim for one peice of fruit a day and as many veggies as I could bare to eat, when I did for the first time ever My MFP was no longer in the red for sugar. So like someone else said everything good if it fits your macro's.

You do need to eat more, I'm a 27 year old, 5ft 4, 150lb female and I eat 1440 calories a day (sometimes more depending on hormones and exercise)

Good luck I'm off to bed as sleeps also good for weightloss

jim180155

The main reason I am not happy is I feel my initial 3lbs lost has been a farce, either I had something in my pocket the first time and not the next, whatever the case may be...It just doesn't seem to me that it would be all that accurate - it seems like too much in too little time...I just want consistent weight loss(and at a decent rate)

No matter what you do, your weight will bounce around from day to day, sometimes up, sometimes down. It can take a couple weeks before you can even see a clear pattern to it. And then you're only compounding the effect by weighing yourself in the middle of the day.

Don't worry too much about the scale. It will seem to have a mind of its own at times, and maybe it does. In the meantime, just do what you're supposed to do: log all foods and eat at a deficit. Your weight will come down. Focus on controlling what you can, and that is what you're putting in your mouth. If you follow your plan, the rest will come.

JonnyMacAwesome

Good luck I'm off to bed as sleeps also good for weightloss

Tell that to my daughter, maybe she'll allow me more than 4-6 hours of interrupted sleep per night lol.

RawIndian

I will cut Salt completely (other than the salt that naturally occurs in fruits and veggies)

And I am going to shamelessly recommend that you eat raw fruits and vegetables for a big portion of your daily calorie needs.

sianquin

It doesn't get better I'm afraid my 4 year old woke me up in the middle of the night 2 nights ago to tell me he'd wet they bed, so sorting that was fun. And school runs are even less fun lol.

JonnyMacAwesome

No matter what you do, your weight will bounce around from day to day, sometimes up, sometimes down. It can take a couple weeks before you can even see a clear pattern to it. And then you're only compounding the effect by weighing yourself in the middle of the day.

Don't worry too much about the scale. It will seem to have a mind of its own at times, and maybe it does. In the meantime, just do what you're supposed to do: log all foods and eat at a deficit. Your weight will come down. Focus on controlling what you can, and that is what you're putting in your mouth. If you follow your plan, the rest will come.

Thanks Jim - I only weigh myself in the middle of the day to be consistent, but I'll definitely strike it out so I don't make it too much of a habit.

Thank you for the encouragement, I will continue trying to work in everyone's tips and suggestions here...

I changed my activity level to light (left the 2lbs/week alone) and it bumped me to 1,580 calories per day...when I changed it to 1.5 lbs per week it said like 1,800...for me that's too much to play with...but maybe it will be more necessary when I have more fruits and veggies in the diet.

levicrouch

The biggest red flag i see is that in your exercise diary, walking for 15 minutes is listed as 194 calories burned.

Burning 194 calories in 15 minutes is almost 13 calories a minute. For a 200lb person to burn 13 calories\min they would need to be running.

Next orange flag would be calories, they seem too low, but i wouldn't ding you for that too much. If you have entered you info correct, it should be correct as well.

It would seem you are doing a net calorie strategy (where you eat back exercise calories). Which is fine, but be careful how much you estimate for calories burned. If incorrect (like i see for walking), you could end up over estimating your burn.

If interested, you could look into calculating TDEE and setting macro nutrient goals. With TDEE you would have a more consistent caloric intake each day, and not worry about calories burned during exercise or 'eating back exercise calories'.

Info here:
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=calculating+TDEE+and+Macros

Forgot to add: For a 200 lb person my PA calorie estimator shows walking at about 7 calories a minute burned.

JonnyMacAwesome

The biggest red flag i see is that in your exercise diary, walking for 15 minutes is listed as 194 calories burned.

Burning 194 calories in 15 minutes is almost 13 calories a minute. For a 200lb person to burn 13 calories\min they would need to be running.

Next orange flag would be calories, they seem too low, but i wouldn't ding you for that too much. If you have entered you info correct, it should be correct as well.

It would seem you are doing a net calorie strategy (where you eat back exercise calories). Which is fine, but be careful how much you estimate for calories burned. If incorrect (like i see for walking), you could end up over estimating your burn.

If interested, you could look into calculating TDEE and setting macro nutrient goals. With TDEE you would have a more consistent caloric intake each day, and not worry about calories burned during exercise or 'eating back exercise calories'.

Info here:
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=calculating+TDEE+and+Macros

Forgot to add: For a 200 lb person my PA calorie estimator shows walking at about 7 calories a minute burned.

Chart:
Your Weight (lbs) Low Intensity Medium Intensity High Intensity Very High Intensity

100 1 cal/min 3 cal/min 7 cal/min 11 cal/min
120 1 cal/min 4 cal/min 8 cal/min 13 cal/min
140 1 cal/min 5 cal/min 9 cal/min 15 cal/min
160 2 cal/min 5 cal/min 11 cal/min 18 cal/min
180 2 cal/min 6 cal/min 12 cal/min 20 cal/min
200 2 cal/min 7 cal/min 13 cal/min 22 cal/min
220 2 cal/min 7 cal/min 15 cal/min 24 cal/min
240 3 cal/min 8 cal/min 16 cal/min 27 cal/min
260 3 cal/min 9 cal/min 17 cal/min 29 cal/min
280 3 cal/min 9 cal/min 19 cal/min 31 cal/min
300 3 cal/min 10 cal/min 20 cal/min 33 cal/min

Low Intensity:
Gardening, softball, volleyball, golf, weight lifting

Medium Intensity:
Walking, mowing, tennis, biking, skating, light aerobics

High Intensity:
Jogging, stair machine, racquetball, swimming

Very High Intensity:
Running, stair climbing, cross country skiing, jumping rope

*Hopefully the chart looks ok, it is tab separated and works in excel, maybe not so much in a free text field.

It's what the machine tells me...maybe I have used the wrong item to put it under...but I am walking, using an incline of 13/15 ... that's where the biggest burn comes in I think, and at a pace of 4-4.2... 4 what, I couldn't tell you, but since I'm in Canada, let's say 4-4.2 km/h...at the end of my walk today on the treadmill - it said 194...so I am walking, but at a very brisk pace, I see people beside me jogging at 4.5...

That might be the problem is that I am using the wrong "walking" description MFP has provided me in my search...I'm not sure how I would ever classify any kind of walking as "intense", but this is probably the most intense walking I've ever done regularly.

Does that make it seem less ridiculous? ...I know when MFP calculates my calories it's a lot less and I manually change it from what the machine I was using has posted...

__freckles__

I will change it to Lightly Active though, but for now I can't see myself dropping the loss to 1 lb/week.

Apparently I'm not getting my point about losing LBM across as well as I'd hoped. Or maybe you really don't care and just want to lose big numbers. Whatevs, it's your body.

JonnyMacAwesome

Apparently I'm not getting my point about losing LBM across as well as I'd hoped. Or maybe you really don't care and just want to lose big numbers. Whatevs, it's your body. But, here's one more try:

http://www.burnthefat.com/fast_weight_loss_warning.html

It's not that I don't care - but my main focus is losing weight...gaining muscle is secondary, it fills the time between different cardio activities I have been doing daily.

However, in an effort to consider your suggestion more, I will change my goal to 1.5 lbs/week. I do still want to lose my chub quickly, and I'm not super concerned for toning or gaining muscle...at least not yet.

diannethegeek

No matter what you do, your weight will bounce around from day to day, sometimes up, sometimes down. It can take a couple weeks before you can even see a clear pattern to it. And then you're only compounding the effect by weighing yourself in the middle of the day.

Don't worry too much about the scale. It will seem to have a mind of its own at times, and maybe it does. In the meantime, just do what you're supposed to do: log all foods and eat at a deficit. Your weight will come down. Focus on controlling what you can, and that is what you're putting in your mouth. If you follow your plan, the rest will come.

Thanks Jim - I only weigh myself in the middle of the day to be consistent, but I'll definitely strike it out so I don't make it too much of a habit.

Thank you for the encouragement, I will continue trying to work in everyone's tips and suggestions here...

I changed my activity level to light (left the 2lbs/week alone) and it bumped me to 1,580 calories per day...when I changed it to 1.5 lbs per week it said like 1,800...for me that's too much to play with...but maybe it will be more necessary when I have more fruits and veggies in the diet.

Just for comparison's sake, I'm a 5' 8" 180 pound 31-year-old female and I lose weight on 1700-1800 calories without any planned exercise (and no kiddos to chase around, either). You should probably be eating more than I am.