Need serious help please.

CoraGregoryCPA

Look at other people's diary's for ideas of foods to eat.

This has helped me to improve and expand my diary selections. Good Luck and don't give up!!! Slow weight loss will help maintain the loss, rather than gain it back. Learn to eat healthy fun good food that you enjoy! This is your life.. Enjoy it!

reaolliemama

MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGH MORE THAN FAT A POUND IS A POUND It's true that a pound of muscle is smaller tha a pound of fat, but THEY WEIGH THE SAME!!!!

CindiBryce

It sounds like you have converted fat to muscle and muscle weighs more.

It is impossible to convert fat to muscle. And muscle doesn't weigh more - it is DENSER than fat.

SergeantSunshine_reused

MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGH MORE THAN FAT A POUND IS A POUND It's true that a pound of muscle is smaller tha a pound of fat, but THEY WEIGH THE SAME!!!!

We all know that a pound is a pound. That is kind of obvious :P
What weighs more cotton swabs or my anatomy books? OMG EVERYTHING WEIGHS THE SAME RAGERAGERAGE

reaolliemama

obviously not everyone knows it...read some of the responses

SergeantSunshine_reused

I tried xD I was making the same face as Clint Eastwood ^^^ lmao

ETA: by the way im just giving you a hard time xD haha

LeelaLosing

you're doing great! keep at it and don't stress so much on your expectation on the scale (i know, much easier said than done)....as others have said results will show up in different ways and you're already seeing that in a leaner body and more muscle....keep up the weight lifting and if anything, along the way when you are more comfortable maybe add in some spike days (days with more calories) or up everyday calories a little to continue fueling the metabolism fire....you sound right on target!! So great!

kathiemcn

It sounds like you have converted fat to muscle and muscle weighs more.

Don't think muscle weighs more then fat, but it sounds very much like you have lost fat and gained msucle, thus the scales haven't budged as much as you would like them to. But don't worry about that...don't go by your scale...go by how you look and feel. And make sure you are eating the calorie recommendation given to you by MFP.

You'll get there! And a slow weight loss is more likley to stay with you in the long term. :-)

RonSwanson66

It sounds like you have converted fat to muscle and muscle weighs more.

My opinion exactly.

pleasehelpmegethealthy

I came up with 1500 on my own.

Mcmilligen

Hahah, there are a lot of contradicting posts here.

I see two options.

1.) You have lost fat, but because of lifting weights- have gained a bit of muscle as well. Since muscle is more DENSE than fat, your body may appear to be thinner... But does not weigh much less than when you had more fat on your frame.

2.) You are not eating enough. Your body is storing fat because of the sudden shock of less food consumed.

Here is what I think you should do:

Reassess your nutritional requirements. This site is generally quite good at helping you meet your goals, both nutritionally and exercise wise. Do no eat too little, because this WILL backfire in the end.

Keep exercising! It is AWESOME that you have made this commitment. But you need to accept that weight loss is not going to happen over night. You will need to create a new LIFESTYLE for yourself. It has, after all, only been 4 weeks.

Buy a tape measure, and shut out the scale for a while. The scale is obviously negatively affecting your mindset. This way you can be sure that you are in fact losing in overall mass.

And most important, keep going! We are all here to support you :happy:

Good luck!

Pebble321

1500 does pretty low for a tall guy - I eat more than that and I'm a 5'4" woman.
What doesn MFP recommend for you?
Maybe give that a try for another month or so and see how it goes.

Really though, if you are noticing that your clothes are fitting better and you can see changes in your body, then don't worry too much about the scale - although we tend to rely on it, it isn't always the best indicator of all the positive changes in your body.

pleasehelpmegethealthy

OMG! I just checked out my diary. I haven't broken 1300 yet! I still have 1057 calories to eat today to make 1500. This is not good.

How do I make my diary public? How do I find out what amount of calories I SHOULD be eating?

Jorra

OMG! I just checked out my diary. I haven't broken 1300 yet! I still have 1057 calories to eat today to make 1500. This is not good.

How do I make my diary public? How do I find out what amount of calories I SHOULD be eating?

When you fill out your profile on MFP, it gives you a goal right there based on what you entered. It should be in your diary.
Enter your information here to get a goal: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided
Make diary public here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

pleasehelpmegethealthy

MFP says 1,860 Calories / Day. Yipes.

SergeantSunshine_reused

Hahah, there are a lot of contradicting posts here.

I see two options.

1.) You have lost fat, but because of lifting weights- have gained a bit of muscle as well. Since muscle is more DENSE than fat, your body may appear to be thinner... But does not weigh much less than when you had more fat on your frame.

2.) You are not eating enough. Your body is storing fat because of the sudden shock of less food consumed.

Here is what I think you should do:

Reassess your nutritional requirements. This site is generally quite good at helping you meet your goals, both nutritionally and exercise wise. Do no eat too little, because this WILL backfire in the end.

Keep exercising! It is AWESOME that you have made this commitment. But you need to accept that weight loss is not going to happen over night. You will need to create a new LIFESTYLE for yourself. It has, after all, only been 4 weeks.

Buy a tape measure, and shut out the scale for a while. The scale is obviously negatively affecting your mindset. This way you can be sure that you are in fact losing in overall mass.

And most important, keep going! We are all here to support you :happy:

Good luck!

Just because you lift DOES NOT mean that you are gaining muscle!!! There is more to it then that!! You cannot make something out of nothing and the calories simply are not there.

If only it was as easy as so many people seem to think :P

SergeantSunshine_reused

MFP says 1,860 Calories / Day. Yipes.

You diary says less then 400 the last few days? You need to eat much more! You are going to be losing much more muscle than you need to

pleasehelpmegethealthy

No, no. I just got lazy. It's actually been pretty steady at 1300-1400 a day.

SergeantSunshine_reused

Whew! Still 1300-1400 is still way too low. I would aim for what MFP sets up for you. And as a male never go below 1800-2000!
When you dip too low in calories you will, like I said, lose more muscle mass. Which makes for a "skinny fat" look the smaller you get. Restricting too far also will give loose skin. Better to do it slow and steady and feed the body what it needs

CaptainGordo

Whew! Still 1300-1400 is still way too low. I would aim for what MFP sets up for you. And as a male never go below 1800-2000!
When you dip too low in calories you will, like I said, lose more muscle mass. Which makes for a "skinny fat" look the smaller you get. Restricting too far also will give loose skin. Better to do it slow and steady and feed the body what it needs

Yep. Do as scores have here, and follow the guidelines. It's a gradual, healthy, sustainable way to lose! :drinker:

Contrarian

So, to sum up, you need to eat more. You are not gaining muscle or converting fat to muscle or whatever people are saying.

Learning about fitness is a process and it takes time. You can do this.

Lleldiranne

You need more carbs. Yep, more. You only had 7 grams of carbohydrates today. I know diabetics who have more carbs in a day (and maintain a fairly healthy blood sugar and A1C). Trust me, carbs are not the big bad enemy!

Now, I'm not saying to go binge on candy or cake. Where carbs come from is very important. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains should be your main sources for carbohydrates. They come packed with nutrients your body needs to function (there are people who suffer from malnutrition without a calorie deficit because they don't get all these nutrients!). These sources have fiber, which is linked to digestive health, heart health, etc. And they have energy in the form of complex carbohydrates, which take longer to break down so they don't affect your blood sugar as drastically as junk carbs.

It's all about a healthy balance. Low fat (especially saturated and trans fat) but you need some fat to function. Same for carbs - you don't need to go crazy, but you do need them. And I agree with the other posters who suggest that you may need more overall calories too.

pleasehelpmegethealthy

I don't know why Trader Joe's Protein Bread comes up as having zero carbs. It actually has 15 carbs per slice and I have anywhere from three to five a day.

xoxMandyxox

I like the "toss out the scale" idea. Track your measurements instead. You might be losing inches in fat, but gaining muscle. So the weight sort of evens out even though you're losing fat

drog2323

everyone is an expert too on here.

*Reminds self to stay the F***K away from threads*.

i'm not slamming people's advice on here, it's the thread jacking....muscle, fat, can't convert this to that. F**K, like some of these experts know. I am no expert whatsoever, and I'm sure most know more than me...but IMO, dude, just up your cals a bit and keep plugging on. grind it out and do what MFP says for the cals. up them to what they say and stay the course for the long haul. it wil happen.

Pebble321

I don't know why Trader Joe's Protein Bread comes up as having zero carbs. It actually has 15 carbs per slice and I have anywhere from three to five a day.

It's the down side to having user entries in the databse - any item with a * next to it has been entered by an MFP users which means there is no guarantee to the accuracy of the entry. If you see something like this and you have the correct info handy, you can go in and fix it.

yasmine36

try mxing up your menu and calorie intake, your body has probubly gotten used to what you are eating.

SergeantSunshine_reused

It's all about a healthy balance. Low fat (especially saturated and trans fat) but you need some fat to function. Same for carbs - you don't need to go crazy, but you do need them. And I agree with the other posters who suggest that you may need more overall calories too.

Low fat is a terrible idea. .35 times body weight minimum 1g per lb of lean body mass for protein and the rest in carbs (or mix of the three)

SergeantSunshine_reused

everyone is an expert too on here.

*Reminds self to stay the F***K away from threads*.

i'm not slamming people's advice on here, it's the thread jacking....muscle, fat, can't convert this to that. F**K, like some of these experts know. I am no expert whatsoever, and I'm sure most know more than me...but IMO, dude, just up your cals a bit and keep plugging on. grind it out and do what MFP says for the cals. up them to what they say and stay the course for the long haul. it wil happen.

Completely agree with you. Just think that it is best to call out some of the BS information so it doesn't spread xD

chevy88grl

Up your calories. Be sure you're eating the amount that MFP recommends (and I would recommend eating back some of your exercise calories too).

I would suggest following MFP's "plan" for a few weeks (a month probably) and see how things go then.


BTW, I'm a 5'4" female and I consume 2300-2500 NET calories a day to maintain 145lbs.

You can't create too large of a deficit to lose weight. Your body will start fighting back.