Starting university.

alexknyde

So I've JUST lost 20 pounds for the first time in my life, which feels crazy and impossible but it's true. BUT at the same time, I'm feeling a little frustrated because as SOON as I started school my body just started hanging onto those calories even tighter.

I don't think i've been eating more than usual or anything, so I don't know what would have changed. Do you think it's just the stress of starting university, or do you think it's just that the first 20 pounds were way easier than the rest will be?

ana3067

You are either eating more than you use to, moving around less than you used to, or you are eating more than you need to be.

All of which relates to eating above your caloric deficit needs, and all of which would be easy to track if you log consistently. I'd assume that being on this website, you are tracking your calories regularly if not daily. But then again you said you don't "think" you are eating more, which indicates to me that you are not at all tracking your intake. Thus you have no way of knowing what has changed and how to change things.

Track your food, monitor your progress, update your caloric needs every 10lbs lost or if you notice difficulties working out/in general, etc.

Looking at your log, you are both inconsistent with your intake and you have too low of a goal. With 63lbs left to lose, there is no way in hell that 1600 cals is enough for you. I'm probably lighter than you are (just assuming based on my smaller goal) but I'm netting 300 cals more. This is not taking into account days I exercise. I'm also a student. You need to be eating at a reasonable deficit, and basing it off of a proper calculator (MFP is *kitten* for estimating your needs). Exrx.net or health-calc.com are good sources.

Also quick add calories, a lot of take-out (which is fine sometimes, but is not conducive to easy calorie tracking), going way over or under. Inconsistent logging measurements - some things appear to be weighed, others are half-assedly measured (e.g. you weigh a banana but not an apple?)

alexknyde

I've actually tracked my calories daily for about three months now, I said I don't 'think' I've been eating more because I don't have access to a scale and never have. But it seems weird that I would be eating similar things without a scale the whole time and only now be eating more of it.

ana3067

I've actually tracked my calories daily for about three months now, I said I don't 'think' I've been eating more because I don't have access to a scale and never have. But it seems weird that I would be eating similar things without a scale the whole time and only now be eating more of it.

Considering how inconsistent your tracking is for what I've looked at so far, I can easily see how you'd be eating more or less than you believe you have been eating in the past because you are not being consistent with intake and you are eating a lot of fast food. You also have too low of a calorie goal just based on what little info I gathered from your profile, which means you have less wiggle room for reducing calories as your energy needs lessen.

alexknyde

Considering how inconsistent your tracking is for what I've looked at so far, I can easily see how you'd be eating more or less than you believe you have been eating in the past because you are not being consistent with intake and you are eating a lot of fast food.

I am definitely guilty of the fast food, but how have I been inconsistent otherwise? As far as I know I've eaten very little that hasn't gone into my diary. If I'm doing something wrong I'd want to fix it.

z_bra

Buy a scale

ana3067

Considering how inconsistent your tracking is for what I've looked at so far, I can easily see how you'd be eating more or less than you believe you have been eating in the past because you are not being consistent with intake and you are eating a lot of fast food.

I am definitely guilty of the fast food, but how have I been inconsistent otherwise? As far as I know I've eaten very little that hasn't gone into my diary. If I'm doing something wrong I'd want to fix it.

Well, let's look at the last 7 days logged:
Sunday: 905
Monday: 1540
tuesday:1292
wed: 2360, with 2000 of that being quick add calories
thurs: 1369
friday: 1249
sat: 3170

This is clearly inconsistent. 50, maybe 100 cals difference from net every day can be normal although 100 below net is still not something I'd advise hapening regularly unless you are at a 10% deficit from maintenance. You have had a lot of quick add calories and this type of all-over-the-place calorie totals is throughout your log. You also eat more fast food than you used to, meaning you are easily probably consuming more calories than you believe you are consuming. And while measuring things will work, it's not as accurate as weighing, meaning you can wind up underestimating your portions (you think for example that your 1tbsp of PB is 1tbsp but it's actually 2.5tbsp). And just looking through your log, you have homemade entries. Are these things you actually put into your recipe builder, as in you are using nutritional info from the hotdogs and buns you purchased? If not that will skew your logging - your hot dog weiner may be 100g while the person writing the recipe may have used a 60g weiner, and the bun could have been whole wheat at 200g while yours is a white bun at 285 grams.

forkofpower

Eh, fast food may not be the 'healthiest' food around, but if you're still at a deficit, then you should still be losing, regardless of what you're eating (I eat fast food every day, including muffins and cakes, and I still lost weight to my goal). If you're not losing anymore weight, then you are not in deficit anymore. Maybe you are moving less than before (I'd get a cheapo pedometer and see how many steps I'm taking)? Or maybe you are eating more than you think because you are eating out more?

Oh, and I see in your diary that some days you go over quite a lot, and some days you stay under. Are you sure that you are averaging out overall to a deficit?

ell_23

Some days you're good, and some days you go over your goal. Not just a little over, you quite bluntly eat a LOT. One day was over 3000 calories. That sounds like you might be no longer creating a calorie deficit for each week.

Perhaps work out your BMR/BMI/TDEE and hence work out your calorie deficit, if any, for the week. Be realistic, not hopeful.

Also, have you been drinking any/more alcohol since being back at uni? That's very calorific.

Perhaps now that you've lost a little weight you need to lower your calorie goal a little now as your BMR will have decreased a little,

ana3067

Eh, fast food may not be the 'healthiest' food around, but if you're still at a deficit, then you should still be losing, regardless of what you're eating (I eat fast food every day, including muffins and cakes, and I still lost weight to my goal). If you're not losing anymore weight, then you are not in deficit anymore. Maybe you are moving less than before (I'd get a cheapo pedometer and see how many steps I'm taking)? Or maybe you are eating more than you think because you are eating out more?

Oh, and I see in your diary that some days you go over quite a lot, and some days you stay under. Are you sure that you are averaging out overall to a deficit?

PBI me mentioning fast food has nothing to do with health, and all to do with calories. Take-out and prepackaged foods are not quite the same; I regularly eat pre-packaged foods, as I can easily weigh them and make sure I know how much I am eating. But at a restaurant or fast food joint, you are not getting the same amount, you don't know what's in it, etc. So the calories could very easily be off from what the website lists. Plus all the grease and frying will easily vary a lot from one burger to the next. It's definitely a lot easier to track calories when you're not just basing your intake on fast-food for most of your meals.

Graelwyn75

Get a food scale. They can be got very cheap, and quite frankly, without one, you have no real way of being sure how many calories you are intaking. It is all guesswork. Once that initial weight has gone, you need to really buckle down and take things seriously, generally, meaning weighing your food, being sure of your activity level and keeping as close to your goal as possible. Also, with takeaway food, it is almost impossible to know how many calories as portion sizes vary so dramatically from place to place.

alexknyde

I haven't stopped losing, which is good, it's just slowed down. And no, I very rarely drink alcohol and log it when I do. I'm not the partying type, I pretty much sit at home and study when I'm not at school.

It probably is the fast food and the like, because while my diet wasn't healthy per se over the summer it was always consistent and prepackaged which was pretty easy to count. Like, a ramen package, an egg, and some vegetables in a bowl. And I know the quick added calories isn't a good way to go but thats usually the best I can do for buffet style meals at places with no nutrition information like the cafeteria at my university. I always try to overestimate it though, maybe I don't overestimate enough? It just seems crazy that a plate of food and a cup of soup would be more than 2000 calories.

And with my calories every day varying a lot its always sort of been like that - I don't really worry about a high day when i've been eating under the days before or if I can eat under in the days after. It's worked alright for me so far.

So I'll try to go back to eating mostly easy to count foods and not eat at school ever, if I can. That should help. I probably just want all the deep fried fuds cause stress. >>

ana3067

Well, then if you are trying to net 1600 every day, that's 11200 a week. Which is probably not nearly enough for your weight, but I digress.

Taking the last week's numbers, that's an estimated 11885 calories. So about 600 over your weekly needs. As you can see, if you are regularly going over by a lot once or twice a week it could be enough to skew things upward. If you go out to eat, then simply look through the menu and try to find similar things that exist on MFP to get a best guess estimate, and then pre-log it. You also do not have as high of an energy need as you did 20lbs ago. You are also probably still not eating enough for your weight, in which case you really should be properly calculating your estimated intake needs and subtracting 20% from it, and then log as accurately and consistently as possible (meaning no quick-add - guesstimations are fine, eating as close to your net needs as possible and logging//eating back any exercise cals, and measuring/weighing everything). T hen adjust up/down as needed to get ~4lbs/month loss or less.