Discouraged

Tifiney_Rey

I just switched from a different program to MFP. I LOVE this program and I've used it like oxygen for the last week. I've been working out for over 4 weeks and I"m already discouraged. I haven't lost any weight and I'm having trouble snacking at night. I work out 5-6 days a week at the gym and try to burn over 500 calories. The scale WONT BUDGE! UGH, it's so frustrating. Any tips to not stuff my face at night. I've tried gum, eating veggies and fruit and I still go to the 100 cal snacks and then eat 1-4. I know thats why I'm not losing but it's killing me that I have NO self control.

That and I'm only going over my cals by 100 or so unless I absolutely have a bad day. Should I work out more or what?

PLEASE HELP!


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Atlantique

It's hard to tell from your ticker, but it appears that you want to lose around 30 lbs? If that's correct, then you should have your weight loss goal set for a 1lb loss per week. You should check and see how you set yours up.

You can keep working out that hard if you want to, but that's not going to significantly influence your weight loss. Most of weight loss comes down to diet. So look at what you're eating. If you're always buying those 100 calorie snack packs, I'm going to suggest that part of yoru problem is a love of simple carbs and a lack of protein and fat. Eating straight sugar, even less of it (and yes, that's what a 100 calorie snack pack is) will make you ravenously hungry and moody as hell. You may also need to review how you're spacing calories out over the day. Either have a bigger dinner or plan for an evening snack. I have a snack every night.

With the amount you work out, you should aim to get at least half your body weight in protein grams a day. Not only do you need that to maintain muscle mass, you'll feel far less hungry. When you want a snack, you might do better with an ounce of almonds or pistachios instead of a few of those 100 calorie snack packs.

You can do this! I'd really bet that part of what's working against you right now is an overload of simple carbs and that is very easy to change!

PantalaNagaPampa

First, don't be discouraged. Emotions can reek havoc on your diet.

There are so many contributing factors as to why you may not be seeing the scale budge. You could be loosing inches, have you noticed your clothes fitting different?

You already know your biggest issue is the night time snacking. You got to get that under control. I know it is not easy. I actually have a recvoery drink at night after my workouts, about 2 hours before bed. This helps my body repelenish nutrients from a good workout and holds me over form hunger until time for bed. Sometimes, I still get snack attacks and it really boils down to will power. If you have to give in, try somehting that is protein rich and not carby. Those 100 cal snack packs have a lot of carbs (usually) and will only lead to wanting more. Maybe try a little wieght watchers string cheese, or s small spoonful of peanut butter, or even just 2-3oz or lean lunch meat or other meat. You will find the protein fills you and curbs the hunger longer than carbs do. These are of course, just my opnions and what works for me.

Add me as a friend and I will gladly help to hold you accountable and offer whatever support I can.

gumby101ca

No need to be discouraged , things will come together for you, work hard and eat right. this is a good place to be, tons of info and people willing to help and support you. we are all here for the same reasons

fatchickonadiet

Hello fellow fatso!

what times during the day are you eating?

I find it best to:
-eat breakfast ~8-9
-snack around 10:30
-lunch at 12:30
-snack around 2-3
-dinner 6-8

and drink lots of water in between

one of my diet plans used to be to get home from work and have ONE beer...mmmmm, it hit the spot, relaxed me and curbed the hunger

daniran

It's hard starting out. You're on the right track with the fruits and veggies if you get the urge to eat late at night. You're going for the 100 calorie snacks because they're there plain and simple. try not buying them. If there are others in the household who like them ask them if they can go without for a week to help you get a jump start on getting by this temptation. Snacking at night has become a habit and the body says "it's time to feed me." Once you've stopped for awhile, the urge will go away (you'll have changed the habit to a new habit - abstaining). In the meantime, munch on fruits or veggies (another good one is sugar-free jello) and don't by the 100 calorie snacks. I hope this helps! I was a late snacker too!

MyNameIsNotBob

We're about the same weight right now... if you open up your diary, we can take a peek and see if we have any suggestions.

I always try to save myself 2 or 300 calories for a late-night / midnight snack. That way I don't feel guilty. And if I have a huge craving to much while I'm watching TV at 10 p.m., I go for popcorn. It's filling, it takes forever to eat, it's got fiber, and you can eat a TON of it for very few calories.

JulieF11

Dear Discouraged,
Think carefully about what you are craving. If it's salty, your body might need potassium, magnesium or calcium. Try eating rice crackers, or maybe some nut butter instead of what you are tempted to eat. If you are craving sweet, try sipping on diluted cranberry juice, or adding sweet potatoes, carrots, or other root veggies to your diet. If you are craving something fattening, try adding a few nuts (walnuts are best) to your diet, maybe avocados. Try changing up your daily diet until you don't have those cravings at night. Usually our bodies are telling us that we need something. Oh yes, if you aren't taking a multi-vitamin, you might want to take one of those too. Hope this helps! I wish you well!
JLF

MzBug

I found that my downfall was processed wheat products. If I ate them I wanted more. Since I switched to having almonds, yogurt or fruit at night I can stop at one serving. I have cut most all processed wheat and corn products from my foods and don't seem to have the 'gotta have more' episodes. I switched to whole grain/multigrain breads, oatmeal, and a very low processed bran cereal. I will occasionally have a treat that contains white flour, but I make sure there is only one serving available! I always leave 150-200 cals available for a snack a couple hours before bed.

Since you are working out so much you should have plenty of calories available to use for a small evening snack. You are eatting back at least some of your exercise calories?? MFP is set up so your calorie deficit is built into your base daily goal WITHOUT exercise. So when you exercise you can eat back some or all of those calories if you wish.

Give it a good 3 weeks on any program before you give in! Ask questions... use the search function or the help (aka FAQ) function. Plenty of information here, and everyone is always willing to give their opinion! Good Luck!

Grimmerick

Man you sound just like me. Honestly it takes a few weeks of not eating at night for that habit to go away but it does. I was a major night eater, I found eating dinner later at night say around 7 or 7:30 then having my 150 calorie snack after that really helped. I go to bed around 10pm, to get enough sleep (very important for losing weight. ) and sometimes if I overdo it by a 100 or 200 calories, i make myself eat that many calories less the next day, or I stay up that night and exercise a bit to burn it back off. Only do that initially until your habit changes. Good Luck!

krisney

Maybe you can move your dinner to a bit later time, maybe by 1/2 hour? This helped me...I used to eat at 5:00 - 5:30pm, and would be starving again by 8pm. Now we have dinner between 7-8pm, and it seems to curb the late night snacking. I go to bed at 11pm.

sooz239

Personally, when I get the late-snack craving I make a cup of miso soup. I keep miso paste on hand in the fridge and just mix up a mug. It's more satisfying than tea, and chases away the craving for sweets. I stole this trick from someone else who said it worked for them, and it works for me too.

tgskinny

I'm sort of in your situation, I've been doing the p90x for 3 weeks now, I just started my 4th week yesterday and I weight & measured myself for the 1st time since I started. I lost hardly any weight but I did lose about an inch. Even though I was happy to see the inch losses, this is were I was back in January before I gained a few pounds in February. It really frustrates me because I've been eating well, even though I have binged a few times, I eat a lot of natural food, nothing processed, I drink water all the time and, still, I have not lost much. I guess its only a matter of being patient, losing pounds the right way DOES take a long time. We want to see results right away, but we have to be realistic. If you don't want to eat at night, I find that coffee helps me. The caffeine doesn't do much for me except to make me not want to eat all crazy. If you can tolerate coffee I would recommend it. Good luck! And hopefully you see results soon!