Slowing progress

pojinx

I have been (mostly) on track with my diet/exercise plan since last summer. I have noticed, however, that the second I stop using MyFitnessPal, i get off track- even when I still think i'm doing well!

Here are a few problems I still have :

-MFP. I always start out logging my food on MFP at the start of the day. But then if i get off track and, say, go out to lunch, I will stop logging and just count that day as a failure.

-Carbs. I do not believe no carb diets are good for anyone. But i do know that when i cut them down, i lose a lot of my middle that i dislike. But they are also my favorite things to eat and there are a lot of low cal options that are high on carbs.

- My appetite. My appetite has always been a slippery slope. I can go from eating like a bird and feeling great to being a big time stress eater. Right now i'm the stress eater and i am feeling like im gaining some weight back. Time to kick that in the butt! I think it just gets hard when going out to eat and whatnot becomes most of my social activity.

- Beer. I am 22 and go out for drinks about 3 times a week. I average about 2 bud lights each time. It's hard not to have these drinks but i hate the idea of the empty calories!

-Budget. I have been doing my own grocery shopping (live with parents) this entire year that i've been dieting. I have learned many tricks to eating cheap and healthy. (I mostly like the "eating clean" option) but it still can be expensive. Sometimes I just want to head toward the Ramen Noodles!

Anyway this was just me venting about the issues i still have. I'll take any advice you guys can give!

jml107

Just don't let yourself fall into the 'oh, I failed today, maybe tomorrow' cycle. One high calorie meal can feel like it ruined your day but don't let it. If you eat 1000 calories at lunch alone that does not give you permission to then snack like crazy because you've already 'ruined your day'. See each time you eat as its own separate 'day'. You can turn it around at any time. You don't need to wait for the elusive promise of tomorrow.

I know how it feels to have to buy food on a limited budget. I tend to eat a lot of the same things but its all organic or natural. The sodium alone in ramen noodles is enough to make me run for the hills for a jar of old fashioned oats which is more expensive but provides more food in the long run, one meal on ramen for cheap versus about eight or nine of oatmeal etc for $2.00.

As a college student approaching her 21 birthday I must say that I don't drink nor do I plan on it. If you must have a drink in your hand on these occasions order water, juice even, or diet soda [which is zero calories but has icky stuff in it - don't worry, I drink it so you don't need to punch me off of my high horse].

SilentRenegade

Ramen Noodles are so good for a small wallet, I used to eat them as my breakfast, lunch, and dinner when I was living on my own... but they are incredibly bad for you. Obviously at the time I didn't even care cuz I was just hoping to have SOMETHING to eat. Living with my parents it started off difficult since my father eats whatever he wants (and stays skinny), but when I started doing my own shopping I started finding the healthy deals too. Some of those "healthy" foods that are overpriced are like a scam.

MFP also keeps me on track. For the last week or two I haven't logged my cals and realized I've been eating pretty bad again, so today I began logging again. I also go to lunch and count it as a failure, but I guess it's better to log it and see "oops I just ate 3/4 of my daily calories in one sitting..."

hpsnickers1

Check out primalparent.com. She can't eat carbs at all. It is the only way she keeps her PCOS in check. She takes supplements, drinks bone broth, eats offal. If you can do this along with eating the meat and fat of the animal then the body has absolutely no need for dietary carbohydrates. There is no such thing as an "essential dietary carbohydrate". Her body can tolerate sugar in tiny amounts on occasion.

I will probably get beat up for this comment. I don't care.

Regarding alcohol:

OH SHIZNIT!! Not good news but useful news nonetheless.

From the Health Hound

As part of my commitment to staying current on the research,
I have sniffed out some research on alcohol consumption that
may surprise you.

A popular myth is that you can drink clear alcohol and as
long as you count the calories in the alcohol (7 calories
per gram) you will be fine. Because carbohydrates and
protein contain 4 calories per gram, and fat contains 9
calories per gram – the reasoning is that 7 calories in
alcohol are simply calories and nothing more.

Well, according to research carried in the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition, alcohol puts the brakes on fat
metabolism (your body’s ability to burn fat as energy) in
more ways than one. In the study, eight people were given
two vodka drinks separated by 30 minutes.

Fat metabolism was checked both before and after each drink.
It turns out that even hours after drinking both drinks, fat
metabolism dropped by an incredible 73%. What is happening?

When you drink alcohol, your liver converts it into a
substance called acetate. (The acetate levels in the
subject’s bodies were 2.5 times higher than normal). And it
is the acetates in your body that make losing blubber almost
impossible.

Your body prefers burning acetate to all other sources of
fuel (fat being one of them), and basically shuts down its
normal process of burning off any other source of energy.

In other research, alcohol has been shown to increase
appetite. When you combine alcohol with meals, studies have
shown you tend to eat more. And since the alcohol is going
to serve as your body’s primary source of fuel, all the
calories go directly to your waistline.

And finally, alcohol increases your cortisol levels and
decreases your testosterone levels for about 24 hours after
you imbibe. And this definitely is not good for trimming
down or adding muscle!

So, if you think an alcohol calorie is just a calorie –
think again!