Please critique my diet, not losing weight

ewhip17

At the risk of being too "micro"..... I'd be suspicious of that calorie count for the pork chops. You list them at 280 and sometimes have them twice per day, and I realize that is a pretty standard MFP food entry. But everything I see with a bit of research lists 8oz of pork chop at anywhere from 380 - 505 calories per serving. If true, this would be anywhere from 200 - 425 calories a day off on your log. It's hard with items like this as they vary wildly depending on where you look, but I tend to estimate really high on them just to be safe.
Just a thought - genuinely trying to help.

jenniferhanisch5

At the risk of being too "micro"..... I'd be suspicious of that calorie count for the pork chops. You list them at 280 and sometimes have them twice per day, and I realize that is a pretty standard MFP food entry. But everything I see with a bit of research lists 8oz of pork chop at anywhere from 380 - 505 calories per serving. If true, this would be anywhere from 200 - 425 calories a day off on your log. It's hard with items like this as they vary wildly depending on where you look, but I tend to estimate really high on them just to be safe.
Just a thought - genuinely trying to help.

Thanks that is genuinely helpful.

trogalicious

Okay I guess I don't understand how 1700 calories average, before any exercise is too much to lose any weight in four months when I exercise at least an hour most days with high intensity. But obviously you're right as its not working...

looking at your diary, you're not accurately logging. how many grams of applesauce are in that 1/2 cup?

for a few days, log everthing your way... then weigh everything and log it elsewhere. Look for differences.

All that being said, you're either eating more than you think you are... or you're eating at/above your TDEE.

If you aren't losing, the simple answer is "eat less" instead of "eat clean, cut this, do this workout, etc"

marcia724

I was sticking to my calories and not losing weight the same as you. .. until I started eating clean. Lots of veggies and protein...and there it was! I've lost 9 lbs in a month!

likitisplit

Okay I guess I don't understand how 1700 calories average, before any exercise is too much to lose any weight in four months when I exercise at least an hour most days with high intensity. But obviously you're right as its not working...

Okay starting off I'm 5'10 and 199lbs.

I will address the coffee first, I know this is a poor spot in my diet. But I'm actually coming from 1-3 frappucinos a day.

Second I know my veggie count is low, I just don't particularly like them. But will make am effort to incorporate them into my diet more.

I do have a food scale so will start using oz more than cups for measurement. But how I get 8oz of pork chops evrytime? I slice them when cooked and put them in baggies.

I have been using mfp for calorie expenditure. I'm currently a charge nurse so I'm pretty sedentary at work with bursts of activity. I will be moving to a different position which I hope to be more active in. I work three nights a week. 14 hours a night. I do not usuaally eat my exercise calories back because I do believe they are too high. I do have a heart rate monitor somewhere I need to find it.

Thank you all for your advice

None of that matters, you're eating to much. A lot of people told you the same thing they just said it differently.

Overestimating exercise calories? The bottom line is CI-CO. Unless you have a metabolic issue, you can figure out the actual formula inside the black box of your metabolism by looking at the result.

If you are maintaining, then CICO is balanced. End of story. If your tracking tells you differently, you need to revise your tracking.

tar0809

Ok so I viewed a few weeks of your log and your going over carbs, sugar and sodium ALOT!! yeah that needs to stop asap, a lot of people always say oh just watch calories and don't worry about macros, not really you have to watch EVERYTHING that mfp puts up(calories, carbs, fat, protein, sodium and sugar, too much of all these will make you fat or just not lose weight. if you stay within calories but go over anything else all the time it will hinder weight loss! Try to stay within the goal for all of them, once in a blue moon I too go over something and that's ok but try not to go over everyday!

odusgolp

I have been using mfp for calorie expenditure.

If no one has already addressed this, the MFP calorie burns are far... far... far... to high. Get a HRM. And good luck!!

stealthq

At the risk of being too "micro"..... I'd be suspicious of that calorie count for the pork chops. You list them at 280 and sometimes have them twice per day, and I realize that is a pretty standard MFP food entry. But everything I see with a bit of research lists 8oz of pork chop at anywhere from 380 - 505 calories per serving. If true, this would be anywhere from 200 - 425 calories a day off on your log. It's hard with items like this as they vary wildly depending on where you look, but I tend to estimate really high on them just to be safe.
Just a thought - genuinely trying to help.

Thanks that is genuinely helpful.

Just reiterating because I had an 8oz pork chop this past weekend. With a marinade (that got scraped off prior to cooking) of fish sauce, a little oil, and brown sugar, calorie count was supposedly 545 cals. Man, it was good

tar0809

Ok so I viewed a few weeks of your log and your going over carbs, sugar and sodium ALOT!! yeah that needs to stop asap, a lot of people always say oh just watch calories and don't worry about macros, not really you have to watch EVERYTHING that mfp puts up(calories, carbs, fat, protein, sodium and sugar, too much of all these will make you fat or just not lose weight. if you stay within calories but go over anything else all the time it will hinder weight loss! Try to stay within the goal for all of them, once in a blue moon I too go over something but it will usually be one thing and it wont be that much more!

That's weird, i only watched calories and lost 225lbs... I guess it doesn't work.

That's great that you were able to only watch calories and still lose weight but for most people it just doesn't work that way. too much salt, sugar, carbs and fat are not good for health or weight loss. I know that's how it works for me and many other people I know.

trogalicious

Ok so I viewed a few weeks of your log and your going over carbs, sugar and sodium ALOT!! yeah that needs to stop asap, a lot of people always say oh just watch calories and don't worry about macros, not really you have to watch EVERYTHING that mfp puts up(calories, carbs, fat, protein, sodium and sugar, too much of all these will make you fat or just not lose weight. if you stay within calories but go over anything else all the time it will hinder weight loss! Try to stay within the goal for all of them, once in a blue moon I too go over something and that's ok but try not to go over everyday!

stealthq

Okay I guess I don't understand how 1700 calories average, before any exercise is too much to lose any weight in four months when I exercise at least an hour most days with high intensity. But obviously you're right as its not working...

Okay starting off I'm 5'10 and 199lbs.

I will address the coffee first, I know this is a poor spot in my diet. But I'm actually coming from 1-3 frappucinos a day.

Second I know my veggie count is low, I just don't particularly like them. But will make am effort to incorporate them into my diet more.

I do have a food scale so will start using oz more than cups for measurement. But how I get 8oz of pork chops evrytime? I slice them when cooked and put them in baggies.

I have been using mfp for calorie expenditure. I'm currently a charge nurse so I'm pretty sedentary at work with bursts of activity. I will be moving to a different position which I hope to be more active in. I work three nights a week. 14 hours a night. I do not usuaally eat my exercise calories back because I do believe they are too high. I do have a heart rate monitor somewhere I need to find it.

Thank you all for your advice

None of that matters, you're eating to much. A lot of people told you the same thing they just said it differently.

Overestimating exercise calories? The bottom line is CI-CO. Unless you have a metabolic issue, you can figure out the actual formula inside the black box of your metabolism by looking at the result.

If you are maintaining, then CICO is balanced. End of story. If your tracking tells you differently, you need to revise your tracking.

I'll use an extreme example to drive my point home. What if she doesn't revise her tracking and just cuts calories by 2000?

Err, OP thinks she's eating 1700 and doesn't eat exercise calories back. How does she cut 2000 cals, exactly? Eat nothing and exercise more?

I know what you're getting at, though. Yes, if she manages to reduce actual calories by setting her target lower, then of course she will start to lose.

Here's the problem, though - that probably works if you tend to eat the same things frequently. You can just cut out 10% of your usual amount of breakfast cereal, etc. But if you have a varied diet, you need to develop the skill to log pretty accurately (none of us are going to be perfect in this regard) because 10% less of yesterday's pint of cherries just does not translate well into today's baked potato without the calorie info.

trogalicious

Here's the problem, though - that probably works if you tend to eat the same things frequently. You can just cut out 10% of your usual amount of breakfast cereal, etc. But if you have a varied diet, you need to develop the skill to log pretty accurately (none of us are going to be perfect in this regard) because 10% less of yesterday's pint of cherries just does not translate well into today's baked potato without the calorie info.

It's not a problem unless they decide they aren't worth it. Develop the skills, practice, and do as well as you can... and see results.

Or... you can just not.

MinnieInMaine

At the risk of being too "micro"..... I'd be suspicious of that calorie count for the pork chops. You list them at 280 and sometimes have them twice per day, and I realize that is a pretty standard MFP food entry. But everything I see with a bit of research lists 8oz of pork chop at anywhere from 380 - 505 calories per serving. If true, this would be anywhere from 200 - 425 calories a day off on your log. It's hard with items like this as they vary wildly depending on where you look, but I tend to estimate really high on them just to be safe.
Just a thought - genuinely trying to help.

Thanks that is genuinely helpful.

The cut of pork matters too. Pork sirloin chops are about 113 cal per 3oz portion but pork center rib chops are about 179 cal per 3 oz portion. I'm honestly not sure why there is such a difference but that's from both nutritional labels on the meats that I've seen in stores and confirmed on the USDA food databse (link below).

I used to think all pork must be as lean as the sirloin until I actually checked the labels. Yikes!

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods

Jdburnside

Personally I think the number of calories you have might be okay but you aren't actually eating that because of the inaccurate data as someone else mentioned above. Say forexample your goal was 1400 but it seems like you are actually eating about 2000 still because of the food choices and all the inaccurate data.

One example I seen was a Caramel Frappuccino Grande and it listed there was 0 grams of sugar. I looked it up and it has in between 60 and 64g of sugar HOWEVER FDA allows companies to be 20% off so you could really be drinking about 77g of sugar which is outragoues for one drink or any drink at all really because water is 0.

I used to love Frappe's, thats what I got until I seen how much sugar they have. I really don't go to Starbucks much now but if I do I get the Tazo Passion Tea (On the website it now is called Teavana Passion tango tea but it tastes the same)
You can get it regular or with lemonade mixed in. Regular unsweetned has 0 zero but could be a little off because of the above 20% discussion. The Passion Lemonade Unsweetned (except the lemonade of course) has 12g of sugar.

If you drink coffee for energy try teas, many have caffeine and alot of health benefits like green tea among many others.

I am no nutritional expert BUT I know ~70grams of sugar in one beverage is too much. You really shouldn't even have 70grams of sugar in a whole day if you can try to avoid it.

GOOD LUCK

leggup

Looks like a lot of high-calorie items (pork chops, syrup, caramel sauce, "chicken stir fry- 1 serving) are entries made by other people without weight measurements. It's all well and good to skip out on weighing fruit and veg if you're losing weight consistently, but if you're stalling, start weighing! At 1650 calories a day you should be losing 1 lb/week. So, 1,700 calories a day, just under 1 lb/week. Some of these entries are very suspicious (avoid all entries with the words homemade, homecooked, recipe). User the recipe builder and a food scale to measure unpackaged items.

Also, I don't see any cooking oils, but I see things like eggs, stir fry, crabcakes (Homemade--- did you make them? if not, this entry is not accurate), etc.