What am I doing wrong?!?!
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Doesn't sound like you're doing anything "wrong." I hate this mindset of wrong/right. Also, I don't like how people are picking apart your food diary like, oh you overate this one day. One or two days will not make a difference and I think it's more helpful to look at it over the course of like a week or so. Some days you're over, some you're under and some you're right on. It evens out over time. Also, please eat back at least some of your exercise calories, you need them. Also, I think MFP underestimates calories burned for certain things, they are often under what my run trackers give me for calories burned - I don't wear a heart monitor or anything, though, so that's just my guess but at my weight I burn about 100 calories per mile and MFP doesn't give me 300 calories for 3 miles, but whatever.
I didn't catch what type of exercise you do but if you are not running you should try it, it is a great, great way to drop weight. I recommend hot yoga also as a way to burn calories and detox your body. Also, this is not backed by anything other than my own opinion, but you might be at the point where you should drop your calorie intake a little if you want to keep going. I started at #159, 1200 cals per day, running and yoga (and eating back all my exercise calories) and pretty quickly got down to 130. I occasionally eat fast food and often go off the rails on the weekends, but I just keep going. I gained about 9 lbs back recently and so I'm back on the plan now, 1200/running and it's coming off again. Not saying you should drop to 1200, I have a pretty small frame and do not seem to burn calories easily.
Oh, and for people who say eat your big meal at breakfast and a small dinner - that's BS. Eat the calories whenever you want, doesn't matter. I'm like you - I save up my calories to have more at dinner so I can get through the evening without snacking. Good luck, keep on keeping on.
In May, she was over her calorie goal by at least 200 on 12 days. Most of those days were much higher than 200, some being 1000-2000. That isn't a day or two. To me that could be a significant factor especially when paired with the possibility of other inaccuracies.0 -
I am looking at your diary....
You weigh/measure everything...but you log like you don't
1cup of avocado...not weighed
butter not weighed 0.06cups is 1tbsp...
Lunch meats in slices
bacon logged in slices
Paleo ice cream...1 serving
cheese not weighed
salmon burger not weighed (might be from a box but that doesn't matter)
I see oz measurments instead of grams...if you weigh why not use grams?
I see starchy veggies in cups
Generic entries 1 whole fruit
granulated stevia logged in 0.19cup
beef brisket logged as 0.5 piece
cup cakes not weighed
pie not weighed
protien powder logged in scoops
spinich dip not weighed
macaroni salad logged in cup
I saw other items but assumed they were homemade and you used the recipe builder.
Now this list might seem a bit OCD but if you are weighing you need to start logging like you are weighing...
For example 1 cup of avocado...calorie dense food
cheese in cups again calorie dense food
Why use oz at all use grams it is more accurate
Even packaged food as the calories etc are not always 100% on those.
If you can't find entries in grams make them or edit existing ones for your use later.
When you look at my diary 98% of the items are in grams and those that are not are weighed I just haven't gotten around to making my own entry...ie egg whites...scanned in using phone app but weighed out and I weigh out my eggs too...large egg is suppose to e 53grams...I find they are anywhere from 52-58g...I weigh them and you will see 1.09 egg..because it was 58g.
As well using oz weights leaves a lot of room for error.
IMHO there is enough room for error here to question if you are eating in a deficit. For me personally same stats as you when I started here...5 ft 7 179lbs...I ate on average 1750 calories a day and I am currently sitting at 152 after 1 year...I have lost over 20inches and gone down from a size 16 to a size 6...and if you compare our two food diaries there are significant differences in our entries....
If after 6 months your weight hasn't moved and you have tried different eating methods, you exercise and are careful with that it's time to look at your logging...not just weighing but your logging...the entries you use, the measurments you use when logging etc.
Ugh, back to this again.
Ok... packaging often shows grams and slices in the serving, but the correct entries on MFP don't always reflect the grams amount. For instance, one serving of the deli turkey is a certain number of slices or 56 grams. I count out 56 grams on the scale, but the entry says the number of slices, but it's the correct info. It's just that the MFP info is not going by grams.
Cheese is weighed, dip is weighed, everything was weighed on my scale.
A cheese serving is a 28g 1/4 cup. I measure out 28g and the MFP entry says 1/4 cup.
The odd amounts like "0.6 cup" or "0.19 cup" are there because it's weighed.
I cut up the damn avocado and put it on the scale, and use the non-asterisk entries using the 100 grams entry, to enter the grams entered. For instance, if my avocado weighs 170 grams, I use the 100 grams entry at 1.7.
I stated at the start of my post that everything is weighed, I stated in the middle of the thread that everything is weighed, and I'm stating again, every thing is weighed.
E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G
I-S
W-E-I-G-H-E-D
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Doesn't sound like you're doing anything "wrong." I hate this mindset of wrong/right. Also, I don't like how people are picking apart your food diary like, oh you overate this one day. One or two days will not make a difference and I think it's more helpful to look at it over the course of like a week or so. Some days you're over, some you're under and some you're right on. It evens out over time. Also, please eat back at least some of your exercise calories, you need them. Also, I think MFP underestimates calories burned for certain things, they are often under what my run trackers give me for calories burned - I don't wear a heart monitor or anything, though, so that's just my guess but at my weight I burn about 100 calories per mile and MFP doesn't give me 300 calories for 3 miles, but whatever.
I didn't catch what type of exercise you do but if you are not running you should try it, it is a great, great way to drop weight. I recommend hot yoga also as a way to burn calories and detox your body. Also, this is not backed by anything other than my own opinion, but you might be at the point where you should drop your calorie intake a little if you want to keep going. I started at #159, 1200 cals per day, running and yoga (and eating back all my exercise calories) and pretty quickly got down to 130. I occasionally eat fast food and often go off the rails on the weekends, but I just keep going. I gained about 9 lbs back recently and so I'm back on the plan now, 1200/running and it's coming off again. Not saying you should drop to 1200, I have a pretty small frame and do not seem to burn calories easily.
Oh, and for people who say eat your big meal at breakfast and a small dinner - that's BS. Eat the calories whenever you want, doesn't matter. I'm like you - I save up my calories to have more at dinner so I can get through the evening without snacking. Good luck, keep on keeping on.
In May, she was over her calorie goal by at least 200 on 12 days. Most of those days were much higher than 200, some being 1000-2000. That isn't a day or two. To me that could be a significant factor especially when paired with the possibility of other inaccuracies.
Damn. Great job, Detective 3dogsrunning! It may come pretty easy for you, but sometimes we forget how much work it is to click through a diary looking for hints and putting the overall picture together0 -
Try eating less processed foods and eat fresh fruit and vegetables. The stuff you have chosen is full of sodium. I checked you diary and you cant maintain this way of eating for life.
Is this some kind of joking general response?
There are several days recently and especially in the past couple of weeks where I have 3-4 servings of veg not just in one day, but also in one setting.
Just last night I had an entire 12 ounces broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and half a head of cabbage in my dinner?!?!
Maybe it's not apparent as it's logged as "California Medley" and "Crack Slaw".
That's a whole lot of veg. And I eat a whole lot of veg. So...
Not sure what you're talking about.
There may be a night where I skip it all and just have eggs for dinner (Wednesdays usually) but for the most part I wouldn't consider my diet lacking in veggies at all.
On the 23rd I had sweet potato, carrots, squash, AND onions in the same meal. Garden fresh! Very sustainable!
22nd I had half a cucumber and about 8 oz of steamed green beans.
The 19th I had homemade fajitas with plenty of red, yellow and orange peppers.
The 17 I had homemade fajitas with plenty of red, yellow and orange peppers.
16th I had broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and squash.
15th I had avocado and carrots
the 14th I had plantains, avocado, apple AND mango
13th summer squash (garden fresh) and green beans
12th squash
11th bananas and avocados
10th sweet potato and onions
9th broccoli, cauliflower and carrots
7th garden squash
6th, cabbage, jicama, carrots, garlic and red onions in "jicama slaw" broccoli
5th, cabbage, jicama, carrots, garlic and red onions in "jicama slaw" broccoli, cauliflower and carrots
4th cabbage, jicama, carrots, garlic and red onions in "jicama slaw" and jalapenos
3rd cabbage, jicama, carrots, garlic and red onions in "jicama slaw"
1st olives and avocados
And that's just June.0 -
Try eating less processed foods and eat fresh fruit and vegetables. The stuff you have chosen is full of sodium. I checked you diary and you cant maintain this way of eating for life.Is this some kind of joking general response?
While there are a lot of helpful knowledgeable people here, there are also people who have no idea what they're talking about. Eating more vegetables is not going to make you lose weight. Being at a calorie deficit is.
I know you've already been questioned about the weights/measures of your food. I would be what people call an "inaccurate logger" because I don't have time to create new entries for food and be super OCD. I weigh everything, but if I can't find one in grams, I use whatever's there and just make sure it matches the calories I actually ate.
You said you "cheat" sometimes. Do you log cheats? I log everything I eat, even if it's terrible. Unlogged cheating can really add up, especially when you don't have that much weight left to lose.0 -
Doesn't sound like you're doing anything "wrong." I hate this mindset of wrong/right. Also, I don't like how people are picking apart your food diary like, oh you overate this one day. One or two days will not make a difference and I think it's more helpful to look at it over the course of like a week or so. Some days you're over, some you're under and some you're right on. It evens out over time. Also, please eat back at least some of your exercise calories, you need them. Also, I think MFP underestimates calories burned for certain things, they are often under what my run trackers give me for calories burned - I don't wear a heart monitor or anything, though, so that's just my guess but at my weight I burn about 100 calories per mile and MFP doesn't give me 300 calories for 3 miles, but whatever.
I didn't catch what type of exercise you do but if you are not running you should try it, it is a great, great way to drop weight. I recommend hot yoga also as a way to burn calories and detox your body. Also, this is not backed by anything other than my own opinion, but you might be at the point where you should drop your calorie intake a little if you want to keep going. I started at #159, 1200 cals per day, running and yoga (and eating back all my exercise calories) and pretty quickly got down to 130. I occasionally eat fast food and often go off the rails on the weekends, but I just keep going. I gained about 9 lbs back recently and so I'm back on the plan now, 1200/running and it's coming off again. Not saying you should drop to 1200, I have a pretty small frame and do not seem to burn calories easily.
Oh, and for people who say eat your big meal at breakfast and a small dinner - that's BS. Eat the calories whenever you want, doesn't matter. I'm like you - I save up my calories to have more at dinner so I can get through the evening without snacking. Good luck, keep on keeping on.
In May, she was over her calorie goal by at least 200 on 12 days. Most of those days were much higher than 200, some being 1000-2000. That isn't a day or two. To me that could be a significant factor especially when paired with the possibility of other inaccuracies.
This is so true.
This is in the middle of my 6-week stint trying low-carb dieting.
The idea behind ketogenic dieting was to count carbs, not calories, and eat 80% fat in your macros. So I went over on calories a lot during that 6 weeks.
I logged everything, but I didn't "calorie-count" in the traditional sense, but tried not to go over 20 net carbs. I was wondering what kind of effect that would have on me long-term and maybe messed with my metabolism.
But I never lost weight on it. Never gained. Everything has just been steady 180's.
But the Keto made me sick, that's why I quit it, I didn't want to live without lots of fruits and veggies anymore.
But I was hoping now that almost all of June was passed, I'd have more progress.
*sign*0 -
Try eating less processed foods and eat fresh fruit and vegetables. The stuff you have chosen is full of sodium. I checked you diary and you cant maintain this way of eating for life.Is this some kind of joking general response?
While there are a lot of helpful knowledgeable people here, there are also people who have no idea what they're talking about. Eating more vegetables is not going to make you lose weight. Being at a calorie deficit is.
I know you've already been questioned about the weights/measures of your food. I would be what people call an "inaccurate logger" because I don't have time to create new entries for food and be super OCD. I weigh everything, but if I can't find one in grams, I use whatever's there and just make sure it matches the calories I actually ate.
You said you "cheat" sometimes. Do you log cheats? I log everything I eat, even if it's terrible. Unlogged cheating can really add up, especially when you don't have that much weight left to lose.
Yes, I log everything.
I am the OCD logger.
I log the cheats (by which I mean cheating from Paleo, not from logging AKA chocolate candy bar from yesterday which is clearly logged, as well as the diet soda pop the day before.)
OCD logging is fine.
I'm hoping it becomes a useful tool so when I figure out what does actually work to move this plateau I can recognize it and replicate it later.0 -
Try eating less processed foods and eat fresh fruit and vegetables. The stuff you have chosen is full of sodium. I checked you diary and you cant maintain this way of eating for life.Is this some kind of joking general response?
While there are a lot of helpful knowledgeable people here, there are also people who have no idea what they're talking about. Eating more vegetables is not going to make you lose weight. Being at a calorie deficit is.
I know you've already been questioned about the weights/measures of your food. I would be what people call an "inaccurate logger" because I don't have time to create new entries for food and be super OCD. I weigh everything, but if I can't find one in grams, I use whatever's there and just make sure it matches the calories I actually ate.
You said you "cheat" sometimes. Do you log cheats? I log everything I eat, even if it's terrible. Unlogged cheating can really add up, especially when you don't have that much weight left to lose.
Yes, I log everything.
I am the OCD logger.
I log the cheats (by which I mean cheating from Paleo, not from logging AKA chocolate candy bar from yesterday which is clearly logged, as well as the diet soda pop the day before.)
OCD logging is fine.
I'm hoping it becomes a useful tool so when I figure out what does actually work to move this plateau I can recognize it and replicate it later.
I meant OCD like "I can't find this in grams so I have to create a whole new entry." If I find an entry and it's in "cups" and it matches the calories for 28 grams (or whatever serving) I log that. I agree, be OCD about knowing how many calories you ate, but not how it looks in your diary like others have mentioned.0 -
With a plateau that long, it seems clear that your calorie target is too high. I'd adjust to 1500-1600 and see how that goes for a bit. Even if there's inaccuracy in your food log, rather than people arguing over it, the simple solution is just to drop calories a bit further. Don't go crazy, but just decrease by something like 250 calories/day and see where that takes you.
And as for keto, you're wrong when you say you're not supposed to track calories on a keto diet. Every macro calculator I've seen for keto gives you fat/protein/carbs/calories - Atkins generally suggests people don't track calories unless they aren't losing weight, and then says they should set a daily caloric target. But no wonder you didn't lose on keto if you ate excess calories. Anyways, that's in the past and if you felt poorly while doing keto, you definitely shouldn't do keto.
Reduce your calories a bit further, hold that for 1-2 months, and see if you don't notice some progress.0 -
I'm afraid that is the only answer Park.
It just seems insane that I have to drop down to 1,350kcal diet when I'm exercising 5-6 times a week at 183 lb just to create a deficit. I thought dropping it down to a goal of 1,600 sounded reasonable.
I guess not.
levitateme, I've confirmed, corrected and created more entries in this data base than I'm proud of, as well as using the recipe tool every time I cook. :-/0 -
Going from a 16 to a 12? Wow! My advice is to throw your scale out, keep doing what you're doing, and CELEBRATE.
After all, isn't the whole goal to be smaller and more fit? Who cares about weight when that's obviously happening?
i agree. sounds like youre firming up and gaining muscle. maybe dont worry about the # (weight) so much.0 -
I'm afraid that is the only answer Park.
It just seems insane that I have to drop down to 1,350kcal diet when I'm exercising 5-6 times a week at 183 lb just to create a deficit. I thought dropping it down to a goal of 1,600 sounded reasonable.
I guess not.
levitateme, I've confirmed, corrected and created more entries in this data base than I'm proud of, as well as using the recipe tool every time I cook. :-/
I don't seethe need to drop to 1300 calories right away.
I suggested on the first page even dropping 100 calories to start which is often recommended.
And I also suggested eating less take out food since it can make it much harder to get an accurate estimate.0 -
Try decreasing your Calorie net to 1400! Make sure you drink plenty of water, maybe once in a while drink a protein shake! How often do you eat out?0
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I'm afraid that is the only answer Park.
It just seems insane that I have to drop down to 1,350kcal diet when I'm exercising 5-6 times a week at 183 lb just to create a deficit. I thought dropping it down to a goal of 1,600 sounded reasonable.
I guess not.
levitateme, I've confirmed, corrected and created more entries in this data base than I'm proud of, as well as using the recipe tool every time I cook. :-/
I don't seethe need to drop to 1300 calories right away.
I suggested on the first page even dropping 100 calories to start which is often recommended.
And I also suggested eating less take out food since it can make it much harder to get an accurate estimate.
So, 1,500 net for awhile? That's far less intimidating than any less, LOL.
I drink protein shakes, I almost "have" too because I lift.
Not to bulk up, to recover. :-)
I don't eat out very often, I would say on average once a week or less.
Usually on a weekend or special occasion.
When I do I get the same thing almost every time, McDouble no ketchup, no bun, OR 6 sushi and chicken on a stick from the Chinese place.
But if I get invited for a family thing or special occasion I'll go, but my day-in-day-out is about %95 from my kitchen.
I am very dedicated to my fitness, but I'm also a single mom that works full time, and sometimes reality kicks in hard when it comes to the juggle/struggle.
:-)0 -
The big thing is to just play with the numbers and reevaluate as you go. If you're not losing at your given weight for a period of 6 months, there's really no way you're in a caloric deficit. Water retention can mask losses for maybe 2-3 months, but there's no way to continually retain more and more water beyond that point. Honestly it doesn't really matter if the reason you need to reduce calories is due to less accurate logging (not saying that's case!), reduced TDEE, the phase of the moon, or something else - you know from your data that you're more or less at maintenance and thus you need to make a slight tweak to your calories. I wouldn't drop super low - just something like .5lb/week and give that some time to work. The other option is to try and add more cardio, but sometimes that's more difficult because cardio takes time.0
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For me what broke my plateau was IIFYM (if it fits your macros), upping my water, and along with IIFYM, measuring my grams on the food scale TO THE GRAM 0
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forget the scale...you are getting smaller, you are probably building muscle which is heavier than fat...keep up the great work, screw the scale!0
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I was at 170's for 6 months. I hated it.. I am now lifting heavier, eating more carbs but sticking to 1400 a day and slowed down my cardio to 4 days a week. 60 days later and 13 lbs lights.0
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For me what broke my plateau was IIFYM (if it fits your macros), upping my water, and along with IIFYM, measuring my grams on the food scale TO THE GRAM
What macros do you recommend?
I've been asking all over MFP what macros to aim for and why.
Please include a source or link or something so I can research further :-)0 -
I was at 170's for 6 months. I hated it.. I am now lifting heavier, eating more carbs but sticking to 1400 a day and slowed down my cardio to 4 days a week. 60 days later and 13 lbs lights.
Amazing transformation!
I read your very inspirational profile!
Why do you think you stalled out so long?
I am partially wondering if I've done something to my metabolism, or if because I've already lost so much (but really, 65 lb over the course of two years doesn't seem like a lot, but size 24 to 12 does) or if my body is just stalling out because it's shocked about the weight loss. Or if I really am just eating too much. Or if hormones are acting up. Or if I damaged myself trying Keto.0
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