What have I done?! Help!

pennyjlm

Looking for advice and help. I'll try to keep this short.

I've been dieting for 5 years. I am to the pound where I started 5 years ago, but I probably have gone up and down 10 pounds about 4 times. So currently I am UP.

I did WW with the most success, ran half marathons, tracked calories in MFP.
I did the Slow Carb Diet and got down again.
Then about 1 year ago, I started going to a bodybuilder to write me a plan. This was the first time I was restrictive about what time of day I was eating carbs and carb cycling. Did 4 days of steady state cardio a week. (stopped running), and tried to life weights 3-4 times a week. Couldn't keep that up because there wasn't enough flexibility in the eating.

Now I'm at a different bodybuilder. His plan is more flexible, but he still does not recommend eating carbs before 5pm, and I'm counting macros. I've tracked my food for about 50 days in MFP (except I stopped tracking lettuce and other greens) He recommends lifting weights as much as possible and then adding in sprints/minimal cardio. Well... with my schedule I can probably get 2-3 days of weights right now.

SO I guess my question is.... Can someone help me reset my thinking on this? I know I read a lot of people on here that say to create a deficit and if I look at my deficit over the last 6 weeks I should be down 4-5 pounds but instead I'm up/the same. I don't feel slimmer like I've lost inches either.

I really love eating healthy and I want to enjoy whats left of these young years (I'm 27), but I feel like I'm in this horrible cycle of paying people to tell me what to do and then I can't live up to their standards and i end up at the same spot anyway. I'm a eat healthy 5 days a week, splurge Fri or Sat night kinda gal, but the math doesn't add up why I'm not losing weight!!

Can anyone take me under their wing and just set me straight??

malibu927

You'll need to open your diary for people to give advice

MelodyandBarbells

Are you using a food scale to measure all your food? If not, you can't be sure you're eating at enough of a deficit to lose 4-5 lbs. Do you eat back exercise calories? And yes, an open diary will help us give you better feedback

QueenBishOTUniverse

You'll need to open your diary for people to give advice

^^ This. Plus, any time I start a new intensive exercise regiment I'm pretty much garaunteed to stall out for 4 to 6 weeks. Sometimes the weight even goes up for a few of those weeks, but at a minimum, I will show no weight loss during that time. I've learned I just have to be patient and wait that time period out. The scale eventually starts moving in the right direction. BUT, no one will be able to say what is happening in your particular situation without seeing the specifics of what you've been eating and what you've been doing.

jojokmack

I am sure you will get many people who will help you on here.........people who are much better at this than me. I will send you a friend request as I have had success just making sure that I count everything and that I eat food as close to it's natural state as possible....i.e. fresh fruit & veg and grilled lean meat. I try to restrict my intake of processed foods but do have the occasional cook-in sauce etc.
I have lost 23lbs in 97 days,.....slowly but surely and have got my BMI down to 30, which I am quite happy about by doing this

What I don't understand, is why you want a Body-builder to write plans for you? Surely it would be a nutritionist that you would want?

pennyjlm

Opened my food diary. Thank you!

malibu927

1. It doesn't look like you're using a food scale. Without one, you're probably eating more than you think.
2. The black bean burger, is that a recipe you entered in yourself? If you're using one from the MFP database, you don't know what they've included in the recipe, and yours may be much higher.

pennyjlm

Thanks for the reply!

1. I do use a food scale and measuring spoons for most things. Why do you say it looks like I'm not? Just curious.
2. Yes I entered the black bean burger myself, but good point. Def have to evaluate the nutrition on things in the database.

MelodyandBarbells

Thanks for the reply!

1. I do use a food scale and measuring spoons for most things. Why do you say it looks like I'm not? Just curious.
2. Yes I entered the black bean burger myself, but good point. Def have to evaluate the nutrition on things in the database.

I can't believe Apple and the keyboard freezing issue with iOS 8. These cats have become sloppy

Basically I had started to write about .5 cups of grapes, chicken that's exactly 3 or 4 oz, coconut oil which is a solid at room temp that's exactly 14g/1 tablespoon, 24 almonds. Sometimes people adjust their food to match the serving size, but usually it's a hint that the food scale is not being used. Anything that's not a freely pouring liquid like milk can be measured on the food scale.

Had to add the links to review if you haven't already in an edit, in case Apple screws me again and my keyboard hangs

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1296011-calorie-counting-101

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

malibu927

Your eggs are always to a quarter. A 50-gram large egg is 70 calories, accurate for your entry, but it almost never comes up 50 grams for me. However, if you use extra large or jumbo, the numbers will go up. Also, do you use any oils or butter to cook them? Those will add up as well.

MelodyandBarbells

Also I don't know if 10 lbs is all you have to lose. If so, you're very close to goal and daily, weekly, and monthly fluctuations could actually be higher than your weight loss. For me it helped to weigh daily at the same time for a while, just so I could understand my weight trends. I can gain a couple lbs within a day and up to seven or so through a full cycle. Contrast that with the .5 lb a week I would lose with my MFP account settings and some understanding of the process and patience would really help to hang in there. If you're really doing everything as you should, it's possible congratulations are in order for the 4-5 lbs lost and you just have to keep at it!

pennyjlm

JaneiR36, thank you for those links! I suppose my weighing / measuring was not nearly as accurate as it can be. I've always kind of figured a few calories here and there wouldn't matter enough to add up to anything substantial, because if I overestimate on a few things and don't measure a few it would balance out. But I am going to start measuring everything on my food scale to see how far off I've been.

Also, I think I'm just looking for affirmation that I can DROP this whole time of day eating thing, fasting times, carb cycling, etc. Like not allowing myself to eat carbs before 5pm just makes everyone think I'm a weirdo at work.

I just reset my goal in MFP to lose 2 lbs a week, so it gave me a 1,200 calorie goal. I think I need to go read the stickies for the calories/eating back exercise calories because I don't know if I can go that low for many extended days.

QueenBishOTUniverse

1. Yes you can drop that stuff. I'm three pounds from goal. It will probably take me at least three months to reach goal (if I ever do) :laugh: but I don't worry about food timing or anything like that. I'm happy at this point if I see a half pound drop somewhere in the month, I can usually predict when that half pound drop will finally show up because I also have tracked my body's daily weight fluctuations.

2. Definitely no need to be eating 1200 calories if you're close to goal.....:noway:

3. I will admit, I am NOT strict with my weighing and measuring and I've gotten away with that so far. BUT, I've been tracking long enough that I have a pretty decent idea of how the regular food items in my diary add up and where my TDEE etc. are at so I can get away with that. That being said, if I hit goal and decide to go for another 5 pounds, I probably will need to tighten up my eating habits. Still not sure if I'm willing to put that much effort in to it though. :laugh:

4. My diary etc. should be completely open, feel free to go check it out. Pretty sure I break every single rule your trainer has given you.

Sued0nim

I would suggest that with only 10lbs to lose you shouldn't aim for 2lb a week, but 1 ...although most will say 0.5 lbs

Don't forget to eat back exercise calories ...I eat 50% that MFP allowance gives

I don't buy into carbs and times of day ...just calories in and calories out

malibu927

Yeah, meal timing has no effect. You can eat everything at 10 PM if you'd like.

pennyjlm

I LOVE YOU ALL.

Seriously, I just feel like I've been restricted by so many rules for the last 1-2 years and I've gotten NOWHERE. So I am going to take it back to the basics. Why shouldn't I be allowed to eat an apple if I'm hungry mid-afternoon right?

I'm 5'11'', 172 pounds, 24.5% BF, 36% muscle (?) (digital scale). I've been as low as 155 pounds, but I liked the way I felt at 160 (I didn't know I liked it at the time - but I liked it better than I feel now).

MelodyandBarbells

I would suggest that with only 10lbs to lose you shouldn't aim for 2lb a week, but 1 ...although most will say 0.5 lbs

Don't forget to eat back exercise calories ...I eat 50% that MFP allowance gives

I don't buy into carbs and times of day ...just calories in and calories out

Wow, lost another post to Apple's shoddy coding

1200 cals does not mean the op will lose 2 lb per week.

Basically my account looks like this:

1460 cals to lose .5 lb per week
1210 cals to lose 1 lb per week
1200 cals "to lose 1.5 lb per week"
1200 cals "to lose 2 lb per week"

Clearly, eating 1200 net cals will have me losing no more than about 1 lb per week. 1200 is just the lowest number that MFP will give anyone

Edit; I started my post I was writing before with saying that I agree with .5 lb or 1 lb at most for the OP

QueenBishOTUniverse

I LOVE YOU ALL.

Seriously, I just feel like I've been restricted by so many rules for the last 1-2 years and I've gotten NOWHERE. So I am going to take it back to the basics. Why shouldn't I be allowed to eat an apple if I'm hungry mid-afternoon right?

I'm 5'11'', 172 pounds, 24.5% BF, 36% muscle (?) (digital scale). I've been as low as 155 pounds, but I liked the way I felt at 160 (I didn't know I liked it at the time - but I liked it better than I feel now).

Oh dear lord UP YOUR CALORIES! (assuming you are weighing and measuring accurately of course, but 1200 probably is NOT a good calorie goal given your stats) :laugh:

I'm 5'8" 163lbs and I'm eating 2450 a day (TDEE method so I do not eat back exercise calories). :flowerforyou:

Have a look at this as well.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?page=1

threnjen

I feel so bad for you that you have had these people telling you to eat this and that at certain times of the day. But now it can be better, right?

But yeah +1 for better logging, that's usually where the mystery overage comes from.

Francl27

Yeah... eat what you want, when you want, as long as you stay under your calories and you hit your protein goal. And definitely use a scale for everything.

And eat more... Switch to 0.5 pound a week.

pennyjlm

Ok, so my TDEE is approx 2200. So 20% off of that makes my calorie goal 1760. Protein goal of 138G, Fat 62G, Carbs 184G (Seems high since I've been trying to do under 100G since I can't remember how long!!)

I'm going to focus on measuring every food on my food scale again for awhile to get used to the quantities again.

I'm going to still aim for 3-4 days of lifting at the gym. PRobably a Legs day, Back day, and General Arms/Shoulders day with 10-15 minutes of sprint-work added after these days if I have time. Then I'm going to do Light cardio (treadmill incline intervals and walking dog in neighborhood) as many other days of the week as I can. Mainly want to do that because I sit in a desk ALL day at work and if I didn't do anything else I would only get 2,000 steps a day !!

So.. I'm going to keep looking around on the message boards but my next thought is about saving calories for the weekends... I've been trained to have cheat meals so gotta either STOP that or maybe I can work it into my calories for the week.

Also, I've decided I will not weigh myself until Friday morning!

Kate7294

I'm for the increase. I know at 1420 my energy decreased so I changed my settings to sedentary with 5x 30 minutes a week exercise. Brought my calories back up to 1640. My BMR was 1548-1576. I'm 5'7" CW 177 lbs. here.

QueenBishOTUniverse

Sounds like a good plan. My only other piece of advise would be to give it at least 4 weeks to see where you're at before you try to adjust anything. The only exception being if you find yourself consistently out of energy and bonking on your workouts, then you would need to evaluate and decide if you're doing too aggressive of a calorie restriction.

Also, don't panic if you see the scale bounce up for a bit because of increasing your carbohydrate intake along with *possibly* increasing your calorie intake (that depends on if you were tracking accurately before). Both can cause glycogen to store in your muscles which leads to weight gain because of WATER retention (NOT fat!) but people panic when it happens.... It will even back out when your body adjusts to the new regimen (hence my advise to give it 4 weeks). The good news is, you may find that with the extra glycogen stored in your muscles that you have MORE power available for your workouts!

pennyjlm

I've been tracking my cals and weighing much more detailed 5 days straight now! On to the weekend which will be my challenge.

I was excited to weigh myself this morning, but my bathroom scale was wonky - i stepped on it 3 times - 170#, 168.8#, 157#, ---- ok then I knew something was wrong! Changed the batteries and it said 172# ..... wtf! So whatever just ignoring that and will check it out again tomorrow morning!

I'm really enjoying eating things that were previously "unallowed" like some fruit for breakfast. Or I'm going to have an activia Yogurt this afternoon for a snack.

Anyone who has time to look at my diary and give me feedback - it would be much appreciated!!! TDEE average of 2200, I've been aiming for 1,700 cals and have been around there all week. According to my fitbit and MFP, here are my (calories burned) and calories eaten for the last 5 days:

(2200) / 1297 = net (903)
(2240) / 1531 = net (709)
(2193) / 1755 = net (438)
(2318) / 1803 = net (515)
(2019) / 1645 = net (374) = total net = (2,939) so less than 1 pound I understand.

wkwebby

I've been tracking my cals and weighing much more detailed 5 days straight now! On to the weekend which will be my challenge.

I was excited to weigh myself this morning, but my bathroom scale was wonky - i stepped on it 3 times - 170#, 168.8#, 157#, ---- ok then I knew something was wrong! Changed the batteries and it said 172# ..... wtf! So whatever just ignoring that and will check it out again tomorrow morning!

I'm really enjoying eating things that were previously "unallowed" like some fruit for breakfast. Or I'm going to have an activia Yogurt this afternoon for a snack.

Anyone who has time to look at my diary and give me feedback - it would be much appreciated!!! TDEE average of 2200, I've been aiming for 1,700 cals and have been around there all week. According to my fitbit and MFP, here are my (calories burned) and calories eaten for the last 5 days:

(2200) / 1297 = net (903)
(2240) / 1531 = net (709)
(2193) / 1755 = net (438)
(2318) / 1803 = net (515)
(2019) / 1645 = net (374) = total net = (2,939) so less than 1 pound I understand.

If these are your stats, then you aren't eating enough. If you are supposed to have a 1700 calorie day, MFP assumes you had enough movement as you set your profile for lifestyle to (i.e. sedentary, light activity, moderate activity, etc.) and weight loss goal (i.e. 2lbs per week). If you worked out another and had another 500 calories for the day, your target is 2200 for the day (assuming 500 calories from working out is accurate). The original assigned calories should already reflect that 2 lbs. of weight loss (MFP auto calculates a 500 calorie deficit into your daily consumption) without the added exercise calories.

With a net of negative 900 or more calories, you are actually under your daily calories by 1400. You are starving yourself if these numbers are accurate. Start with an accurate profile of what you do throughout your day or TDEE - 20% like others on the forums suggest. This could be why your weight loss is stalling a little. Just a thought.

It might be that you have to get a more accurate calculator for your daily caloric goal and stick to it as closely as possible.

pennyjlm

If these are your stats, then you aren't eating enough. If you are supposed to have a 1700 calorie day, MFP assumes you had enough movement as you set your profile for lifestyle to (i.e. sedentary, light activity, moderate activity, etc.) and weight loss goal (i.e. 2lbs per week). If you worked out another and had another 500 calories for the day, your target is 2200 for the day (assuming 500 calories from working out is accurate). The original assigned calories should already reflect that 2 lbs. of weight loss (MFP auto calculates a 500 calorie deficit into your daily consumption) without the added exercise calories.

With a net of negative 900 or more calories, you are actually under your daily calories by 1400. You are starving yourself if these numbers are accurate. Start with an accurate profile of what you do throughout your day or TDEE - 20% like others on the forums suggest. This could be why your weight loss is stalling a little. Just a thought.

It might be that you have to get a more accurate calculator for your daily caloric goal and stick to it as closely as possible.

Ok so maybe the 900 day was too low... Just didn't have time that day to eat as much.

But I thought by calcing my TDEE (2200) and taking off 20% to get to the 1760 goal I was already baking in my exercise and therefore didn't need to subtract that/add that again??

wkwebby

If these are your stats, then you aren't eating enough. If you are supposed to have a 1700 calorie day, MFP assumes you had enough movement as you set your profile for lifestyle to (i.e. sedentary, light activity, moderate activity, etc.) and weight loss goal (i.e. 2lbs per week). If you worked out another and had another 500 calories for the day, your target is 2200 for the day (assuming 500 calories from working out is accurate). The original assigned calories should already reflect that 2 lbs. of weight loss (MFP auto calculates a 500 calorie deficit into your daily consumption) without the added exercise calories.

With a net of negative 900 or more calories, you are actually under your daily calories by 1400. You are starving yourself if these numbers are accurate. Start with an accurate profile of what you do throughout your day or TDEE - 20% like others on the forums suggest. This could be why your weight loss is stalling a little. Just a thought.

It might be that you have to get a more accurate calculator for your daily caloric goal and stick to it as closely as possible.

Ok so maybe the 900 day was too low... Just didn't have time that day to eat as much.

But I thought by calcing my TDEE (2200) and taking off 20% to get to the 1760 goal I was already baking in my exercise and therefore didn't need to subtract that/add that again??

Assuming the tdee at 2200-20%= 1760. If you hit that number or go way less (and assuming your calorie count is accurate), you could be going too far below your tdee (given you are as aggressively at a deficit as you listed). Try getting more on your mark as you should be at tdee-20% as you can for a few weeks, and this would equate to upping your calories. Otherwise, double check you don't have any medical issues (prediabetes, etc.). Then the macro count comes into play.

ryanwood935

Sounds like you are taking something that could be relatively simple and having it made way more confusing that it needs to be. Meal timing can play a small role in bodybuilding and muscle growth, but it's pretty much irrelevant for us "normies" who don't intend to compete in the sport. Eat what and when you want, just stay at your caloric intake goal.

You could try to simplify your strength training program as well. Bodybuilders are going to want you to do split workouts. If you are relatively new to lifting, you could see better results doing a full body routine each day. Most beginner programs will start you at three days per week, no need for more. Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5x5 are good routines to look at. Of course, in a deficit you wont be building new muscle anyway, so I would say do whatever you are more likely to stick with in the long run.

Again, it's all about finding something you like to do, and will stick with forever. The journey doesn't end once you've lost the weight, it just gets a whole lot easier

Cait_Sidhe

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

*edit, nevermind. Didn't read the thread before replying.

pennyjlm

Sounds like you are taking something that could be relatively simple and having it made way more confusing that it needs to be. Meal timing can play a small role in bodybuilding and muscle growth, but it's pretty much irrelevant for us "normies" who don't intend to compete in the sport. Eat what and when you want, just stay at your caloric intake goal.

You could try to simplify your strength training program as well. Bodybuilders are going to want you to do split workouts. If you are relatively new to lifting, you could see better results doing a full body routine each day. Most beginner programs will start you at three days per week, no need for more. Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5x5 are good routines to look at. Of course, in a deficit you wont be building new muscle anyway, so I would say do whatever you are more likely to stick with in the long run.

Again, it's all about finding something you like to do, and will stick with forever. The journey doesn't end once you've lost the weight, it just gets a whole lot easier

Thank you for the response. I will check out the Starting Strength and Stronglifts.