First weight loss

Orson1981

It seems a bit trivial compared to all the great success stories posted on these forums, but today I posted my first net weight loss since joining MFP about a month and a half ago. I've been having a terrible time trying to stay under my recommended daily calorie intake and have become quite adept at finding little cheats (ie. vegetables have no calories, cows eat vegetables, therefore by the law of conservation of energy, beef has no calories..... yeah!). Additionally I've been maintaining a fairly rigorous gym schedule, which as lead to adding quite a few lbs of muscle. So while various metrics have shown I'm losing fat (clothing too loose, smaller measurements, attention from women, ect....), I've been stuck hovering around 265 - 270 lbs for last month and a half. My initial weight when joining MFP was 265 lbs (at least that is what I claimed), yesterday I was at 265.2 lbs, however, I had been this close once before and jumped back up so I was extra careful about what I ate yesterday. Today I am a slim, trim 262.4 lbs, tomorrow I may well be back over 265, who knows, but today my little counter no longer says I've lost 0lbs, and that makes me feel great.

outersoul

Awesome job...be sure you're not creating too much of a deficit though!

jroulo

Congrats on the great start. It may not seem like much but it is. If you are losing enough fat so that is measureable while gaining muscle then you are well on your way. Watch out for the scale. It can be a crutch that can hurt your efforts. I just finally learned this. When I would see the weight on the scale I figured I didn't have to log what I ate so closely because I wasn't gaining pounds. Put the scale away and do weekly weighins.:happy:

rich_MTatl

Sounds like you are taking in too much carbs. Use the Goals feature under My Home and use the Custom Change Goals option to possibly modify your percentage of Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat intake. I would suggest setting carbs to 50%, protein 30% and fat 20% as a good start for weight loss. You could keep your total net calories at the same level, but more calories will be from protein instead of carbs. Of course, you must maintain an exercise routine when making this type of shift. After reaching your weight loss goal then recalibrate the percentages to something closer to what is recommended by the Dietary Guidelines:
45% to 65% carbohydrates.
10% to 35% protein.
20% to 35% fat.

Orson1981

Truthfully Rich, I have absolutely no idea how to balance carbs. Which I guess that isn't completely true, I know how to add and divide, and I know how to read, so at least in that respect I could do a balance. However, I have no ability to plan meals, which makes planing a balanced diet very hard. Right now staying within my calorie limit for a given day feels like a victory.

But your right, I should start to adjust my diet to reduce my carbohydrates.

rich_MTatl

An easy thing to consider when trying to reduce carbs is to stay away from anything white. Potatoes, rice, bread, pasta, etc. You might try sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes! The biggest no-no while on your reduced carb kick is SWEET DRINKS. You just have to say NO to soft drinks, sweet tea, sugar in general. If you are drinking loads of soft drinks now, I guarantee you if you skip that and just drink water you'll lose 10 pounds in 1 month!

Orson1981

First thing I did when I started last month was to cut out soda and juice from my diet. As any of my housemates can tell you, I was addicted to fruit juice, I would drink about a gallon a day if I could find someone to take me to the store often enough. I occasionally drink a diet soda now, but I try to even stay away from that. I think my big thing with carbs is pizza, before starting I was eating a whole large frozen pizza a day (again, when I could get out to the store). I've managed to change that to a smaller personal size pizza a day, but it would be better if I could remove it from my diet. My main problem is meal planning, I need to start cooking for myself more.