Bargh! Frustrated! Can someone look at my food diary?

bms34b

Hi,

So I've been staying really close within my calorie limit these last days and it's done absolutely nothing. I've put on 1.4 pounds in the last three days. I know that when I weighed in Monday morning (135.2) I was probably very dehydrated. However, these last couple of days I've just gone up, even though I try to drink the right amount of water.

Getting frustrated! Usually I see results faster than that, even if it's just .4 or maintaining!!

So mainly my question is that for what I've been eating and where I'm at in my journey, should I just keep trucking at 1200 or is it time for me to bump it up or start zig-zagging? I've read that those are the things to do once you get closer to your ideal weight and I'm really working these last 10 pounds.
Thoughts?

leomom72

i say up the intake a bit..always helps me..best of luck

stephwilli80

Make sure your taking a look at your sugur intake. Just a thought. Good luck! I know how frustrating it is.

JThomas61

You didn't mention anything regarding exercise, are you working out as well?

TS65

A quick look at your calories shows you aren't eating enough. Most days you don't reach 1200 calories (1200 is the GOAL, not the limit!).

You may want to read these again and adjust accordingly:

(there's a link to settings I'm trying to find for you. I'll post it if I can find it)

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6832-eating-all-of-your-calories-bmr

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/8977-your-body-s-thoughts-on-calories

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/9433-expectations

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/777-why-is-starvation-mode-so-bad

rileysowner

You only have ten pounds to go according to your ticker. If that is the case, and that weight will be your final goal, you need to change your weekly goal. Drop it to 1 pound/week maximum, probably better yet would be set your calories at you BMR or go to .5 pound per week. The reasons for this are 1) As your body gets closer to the weight you want, it will not tolerate as large a deficit. An obese person can handle a large deficit because they have lots of fat to use, and overweight person could not handle a deficit as large so it would hinder their weight loss. Once you are close to normal weight, your body does not want to let go of those last pounds. 2) Eventually you will have to switch to maintenance, it is better to start moving toward that gradually so you can learn how much you can eat, and so your body can gradually get used to the calories you will be eating then.

brianna626

I noticed your diary does not track the sugar... I would look more closely at that. I had an MFP friend look at my diary and she said it was most likely my sugar intake. (She just noticed this Tuesday evening so I have yet to see the effects. Good luck I am in the same boat.

Charlotte012

I would say the same : you are often under 1200 cal intake. You're probably on starvation mode. I would suggest to be careful with fat, moreover is you don't exercice. You should definetely start some kind of exercice though. It helps showing results faster, even when you stay close of your net cal limit, for me at least!

bms34b

You didn't mention anything regarding exercise, are you working out as well?

Confession - I haven't really been making exercise a priority. I'll do yoga 2 or 3 times a week, but other than that, I've managed to be avoiding it while losing weight. It might be time to really start.

Also, about the sugar intake - I'll definitely start watching that. I'll add a sugar ticker to my diary.

I will start upping my intake - it's so counterintuitive but I think it's time!

twinkle1074

I started off at 1200 calories and my weight loss slowed down to about 1pd so I changed my activity level and upped my calories which helped me a lot. Switch up your workouts also helps. Good Luck : )

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I'm also noticing that on many days you're not hitting 1200, over a prolonged period of time this will cause your body to go into starvation mode and hold onto calories. Also, are you doing any exercise or have an active normal lifestyle? If so then you're really messing up your weight drop by not eating (and not accounting for your exertion). I would suggest adding more lean protiens, fruits, and vegetables. I agree with the sugars too, go into your settings (or is it tools) and click to track your sugars and soduim. It's not as simple as adding water, it's getting the right amount of calories, and the right type of calories.

ar1356

No one here will agree with me but, when I went to the doctore awhile back to talk about my weight I told him I had been eating alot of fruits and veggies an wasn't sure why I wasn't losing. He told me that fruit has alot of sugar and that it does count! It might help if you cut back on the sugar some, including fruit. Also if you can drop your carbs under 100g it would probably help.

stormieweather

I suggest you very slowly increase your calories to 250 less than your "calories burned from normal daily activity" (go to home > goals> right hand side to see this figure). By slowly, I mean increase by only 100 calories per week until you get there. This will help your body become accustomed to having more food and using it instead of storing it. You could even eat that amount of calories and use just exercise to create a deficit. Either way, the last 10 pounds are the hardest. If you want to keep whatever muscles you have, better ensure your body loses fat and not muscle. Exercise and eating enough are how you do that.

TS65

Found it! Read this... it made a huge difference for me! (I had myself set for sedentary. I'm actually active because of my workouts).

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

Here is the most important parts:

-1200 calories is a generic number. It's not right for everyone. It's a baseline minimum given out as a floor by MFP based on prior research by the medical community. NOT everyone will need a minimum of 1200, very small people can go under, and bigger people need more.
...
Figuring out your perfect deficit isn't magic, it's a few simple formula's base on some basic, worldwide standards, and generally with slight modefication, will work for just about anyone who (besides weight) is generally healthy.

Here's what you need:
Height, weight, age, activity level, sex

NOTE: activity level isn't as mysterious as it sounds.

If you have a desk job, and do very little walking throughout the day and don't really perform any sports or physical activities, then you are sedentary.

If you do some walking every day (or at least 4 days a week) or other light activity for at least 30 minutes cumulative at least 4 times a week, you are lightly active.

If you do 60 minutes of light activity 5 days a week or do some kind of sport that requires walking or light jogging (say swimming or mailman or warehouse employee) then you are active.

If you do a physically demanding activity (one that makes you sweat) for 4 days a week or more and for more than 1 hour a day, you are very active (like a coach that runs drills or you play volleyball).

When in doubt, go down 1 level, you'd rather burn more than you think than less.

With all these numbers you can generate your BMI. Now I realize BMI is flawed, but for what we're doing it's good enough. After years on here, and doing lots and lots of research, I've been able to associate general BMI ranges with approximate goal levels. This works for about 80 to 85% of people out there (there's always a few that are outside the curve).

So now we can figure out where your goal should be.
Go to the tools section and figure out your BMI:

Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).

AlsDonkBoxSquat

You didn't mention anything regarding exercise, are you working out as well?

Confession - I haven't really been making exercise a priority. I'll do yoga 2 or 3 times a week, but other than that, I've managed to be avoiding it while losing weight. It might be time to really start.

Also, about the sugar intake - I'll definitely start watching that. I'll add a sugar ticker to my diary.

I will start upping my intake - it's so counterintuitive but I think it's time!

You need to track your yoga days. I didn't see any increase in your goal calories, which means that you're not putting in your calories burned during yoga. On those days you should be putting that in your tracker and eating those calories as well.