Why am I not shifting this weight as soon as I'd like?

sixfeetunder2012

Although you aren't recording very often on MFP, you do seem to be consuming quite a high caloric intake for someone trying to lose weight. I don't know your measurements but 1800-2000 calories a day won't be too far from your maintenance levels, and this is only assuming that you are recording accurately. I only mention this because it is VERY easy to go wrong, even after many months of using sites like MFP.

I would recommend re-establishing what your caloric goal should be so that you can lose a solid 1lb per week. You only need a 500 calories deficit which is very manageable providing you keep a steady supply of protein and keep your 'naughty' days down to a minimum (once per month for example) You CAN lose the weight, but you must have consistent discipline. Good luck.

Bentley2718

Also - what I try to do is never eat anything that is more than 7% fat! You can see this on the nutrition labels on the packet. in the per 100g section if it says 8.5g of fat per 100g you cannot eat it.... for example if it said 3.2g of fat per 100g its a green light!

Hope this helps!

That rule would cut out a lot of healthy foods, for example avocados and raw nuts. You probably shouldn't average more than about 30% of calories from fat, but that is an AVERAGE over low and high fat foods.

Aries03

Bump

kirstyg1980

I think you swing from not eating enough some days to eating too much on the others, consistency is the key

Eat as healthy as you can bulk food out with veggies, try cooking foods from scratch, saves on calories and especially sodium

Drink lots of water

MissGatekeeper

Do you use an HRM to calculate your exercise calories, or MFP guesswork? It seems like it's always exactly 500?

SergeantSunshine_reused

Also - what I try to do is never eat anything that is more than 7% fat! You can see this on the nutrition labels on the packet. in the per 100g section if it says 8.5g of fat per 100g you cannot eat it.... for example if it said 3.2g of fat per 100g its a green light!

Hope this helps!

That rule would cut out a lot of healthy foods, for example avocados and raw nuts. You probably shouldn't average more than about 30% of calories from fat, but that is an AVERAGE over low and high fat foods.

Yes! Fat does not make you fat. It is essential

mortenhb

Hello!

It looks like you only eat three meals a day, but I don't know if that's true. I suggest you eat at least four times a day. For example a small meal every three hours, this way your metabolism is working all day.

Combine cardiovascular and strength training.

"For every extra pound of muscle you put on, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day. In a recent study, researchers found that regular weight training boosts basal metabolic rate by about 15%"

iKristine

Here's the facts.

Choice of foods go a long way. But education on the matter goes just as far.

Do you know what your TDEE is? Have you done a metabolic test at a university? Are you engaging in physical activity since you've gained weight?

Those need to be answered before anyone can claim to give you advice.

The most important is to know what your limits are. There are a couple ways you could do this, such as figuring your BMR x activity multiplier (ex: 1.2 not active) to get your TDEE. But I would suggest if your serious about the weight to either invest in a BodyBugg that tracks your expense daily, so that you can then make a defecit for that day accordingly. OR you could go to a local university human performance lab (open to the public) and pay to have a metobolic cart done. Which they are reasonable (20$ roughly). This will tell you EXACTLY what you burn in a day. With this info your prepared to set realistic goals and know what you can eat to get there.

It's science my friend. When you have the tools you can do the math.

GuruOnAMountain

I looked back over a couple of weeks of your logs. You seem to be either under your calorie goal by a few hundred calories, or way over. Without doing the math, it looks like you're averaging more calories than you're supposed to be, meaning you have a smaller than intended caloric deficit, which will result in a smaller than predicted weight loss. Try to consistently eat the number of calories you're allotted, rather than being way over or way under. Consistent exercise will also help, but CICO is the biggest thing.

Yeah, agree with this.

Some days you have 350 calories spare but then the next day you can go 600 calories over. Just try to work to your recommended calorie intake every day. Try not to go too far under or too far over and you should see a steadier weight loss.

If it helps, maybe try to plan your meals in advance. I tend to find, especially if I'm going to be out and about, that I can go over my calories by being caught short and suddenly getting hungry and ending up grabbing something that's not so healthy. If you know that you're going to be working late or something or know that you get hungry round about 5pm or something, then plan for it in advance. Put it in your diary to check out how many calories it'll use up and then take it with you to work or whatever. I know that I've been caught out many times grabbing what seems to be a healthier option when out and about and then being shocked by the amount of calories in it, so planning in advance sometimes helps me.

katharos3

You've been given some great advice already, so I just wanted to add that on the days where you eat fruits and veggies, you make better choices overall. On the days where you eat almost none, you tend to go over on your calories.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

You are failing to eat to goal most days.
And some of your food choices are poor. Me too -
Anyway, this one's a no brainer. Eat to goal every single day.
And eat lean meats, low fat dairy, nuts, whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies.
Do both cardio and resistance exercise.
Log in those exercises to your MFP exercise diary.
AND EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES!
Remember, this is not a race, and you can reach your goals if you stick to a good plan as recommended on this site.
Let's see how this is in another 6 months.

One of the only good responses in this thread!

No, you do not have to eat a big breakfast, carbs are NOT stored in a deficit, you can eat bread, and water does not make you lose more fat -.-

Pick healthy choices and keep your intake steady. Some days you are really under then you eat over for multiple days. Have to keep it consistent. Holy broscience batman.

personally I would drop tracking sat fat and potassium in lieu of sodium and sugar . . . both can be rather sneaky.

Also, I'd switch up your macros. Experiment with them to find out what works for you as everyone is different. I'm high protein, and not because I'm low carb but because I'm high protein. Some people need to be low carb to see results, I just have to be high protein and gluten free. Also, I started seeing my greatest results when I started to get serious about strenghth training. I teach body step and body pump and I hear it from my participants all the time, they plateaued until they added pump or some other resistance training to their routine.

fteale

It has taken me a year to lose 30 lbs. I think that's about normal. You only lose super fast if you are obese to start with.

Di3012

OP you are way over your daily calorie allowance on many days.

Go back through your own diary and be honest with yourself, take a look at the calories in versus calories out, many times you are in the red on that calorie column and that is a good indication why you are finding it so difficult to shift the weight.

You need to stay within your calories allowance

wannabehealthy1980

Looks like most days your just eating to much. Your either gonna have to stay at your goal or start working out.

Guitarjon

Just had a quick look.

Without trying to be harsh I noticed a couple of things.

-Some days- no breakfast. My other half started on here and she wasn't shifting any weight, tured out she wasn't eating breakfast and not getting enough calories.

- Treats are fine but as a treat, a few days you have more than one.

- 2 packets of crisps. I don't tend to eat crisps anyway but if you do I'd keep to having them in moderation.

- Not enough protien some days.

- Try eating brown bread instead of white. I personally have cut bread out now.

- Try and eat things as they came from the earth, lots of meat, fruit, veg. Try not to eat things that need to be made in factories.

I'm not expert on the matter but I know eating as cleanly as possible is working well for me. And drink drink drink! Water.

hpsnickers1

You could have issues with carbs, not calories. I dropped 20lbs in 10 months and I was in the upper range of a healthy weight (you know when it's hardest to lose weight). The first 10 took six months of a low-calorie, low-fat diet and lots of chronic cardio.
The second 10lbs took 4 months on a low-carb, moderate-protein, high-fat diet. I don't have to exercise a whole lot.

I follow Primal Blueprint. It so much easier than doing it the conventional way. I now maintain between 111-113lbs without even trying and the only things I cut out were grains, milk, legumes, and sugar including most fruit (love berries). I also cut out commercial veggies oils (very had PUFAs). I replaced almost all of this with full-fat greek yogurt and cheese, healthy saturated fats like coconut and butter. I get to have eggs and uncured bacon for breakfast. I get to drench my veggies and greens in Kerrygold butter! I love this WOE!!

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-context-of-calories/#axzz1lc4i0u5U
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-many-calories-does-muscle-really-burn-and-why-its-not-about-calories-anyway/#axzz1lc4nUuTn
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-metabolic-paradigm-shift-fat-carbs-human-body-metabolism/#axzz1lc4v2TLt

The Need for Steady Fuel: Where fueling the fire of our brain and body's metabolism is concerned, carbohydrates can best be described as kindling. Whole grains and legumes are somewhat like twigs; starch, such as cereals and potatoes, and simple sugars are like paper on the fire; and alcohol might best be described as gasoline on the fire. If you're relying on carbohydrates as your primary source of fuel, you need to feed that fire often, regularly, and consistently. You will be craving that fuel. Unfortunately, most people today have forcibly adapted their bodies to this sort of an unnatural dependence by over-consuming carbohydrates in their diet. (Most - if not all alcoholics have - for instance - severe issues with dysglycemia and sugar addiction. Alcoholics are dependent on and regularly seek fast sources of sugar - alcohol being the fastest...because the problem in alcoholism, in fact, isn't really alcohol, per se, but severe carbohydrate addiction (this is interesting to me because most people I know that have completely stopped drinking develop sweet tooths.)...One might get a burst or a ball of flame with respect to energy from many carbohydrate sources, but no one can get long-term, sustainable energy. As soon as the flame starts to die out, which doesn't take long, you're stuck with cravings for fuel or stimulants again. It can be quite a roller coaster ride. This is why dome dietary experts are always telling you to eat every two hours or to eat "numerous small meals throughout the day". If you're sugar dependent - and almost everyone in this culture is victim to that unnecessary reality - then frequent small meals become necessary to maintain an even keel. If you have ever heated your home with a wood stove using paper, twigs and lighter fluid all day, you'd be a slave to that fire and you'd need a mountain of fuel to constantly feed that hungry beast. You'd be forever preoccupied with keeping that fire going, and you'd have little other life...Nature would never have intended for us to constantly live this way. It is a terribly impractical state to maintain, particularly if you view this from the primitive perspective of ongoing survival in a less certain world where food wasn't constantly available. Our primitive (particularly ice-age) ancestors would never have made it this far if carbohydrates were essential to the diet or if glucose were necessary as a primary source of energy. Nature isn't that crazy or stupid...Mind you, it is possible to live in a state of primary glucose dependence. The idea that we are necessarily dependent on sugar as our primary source of fuel is true only conditionally, only if we've metabolically adapted ourselves to that unnatural dependence....It isn't necessary at all and it will age you faster (and cost you much more in grocery bills and health care). Dietary fat, in the absence of carbohydrates, is like putting a nice big log on the fire. Fat's flame burns as a regular, even rate, and is easily dept going, Protein, consumed in moderate quantities, is mainly diverted toward repair and maintenance. Only in excess does it convert to sugar. Fat's even flame keeps the hormone leptin under control, keeps insulin quiet, and keeps our appetite satisfied...One can go many, many hours on this longer-burning type of fuel without experiencing any discomfort or cravings at all. You may eventually get hungry if you really go a long time without eating, which is normal, bu you are far less likely to experience irritability, dizziness, brain fog, cravings, fatigue, jitteriness, or mood swings because of it. That's the say it's supposed to be!

hpsnickers1

You are one of two things: you are either a "fat burner" or a "sugar burner". If you are overweight, crave carbohydrates (and stimulants), or are insulin or leptin resistant, then you are a sugar burner. It's that simple. It also should be noted that stress, food sensitivity issues, caffeine and other stimulants, alcohol, sleep deprivation, aspartame, tobacco, and drugs of all types further aggravate and exacerbate excess insulin production (Schwarzbein and Deville 1999). For people who are unconcerned about dietary carbohydrates from a weight-gain perspective because of higher metabolic levels or athletic activity, the caution is this: Although it is possible to burn off the excess glucose, one cannot burn off the excess insulin. Excess insulin production, no matter how thin you are, wreaks metabolic havoc and invariably yields unhealthy consequences over time and accelerates aging. It is also possible to be thin and diabetic.

"among the simplest telltale signs of insulin and leptin resistance are the appearance of love handles, cravings for carbohydrates or sweets or stimulants (such as caffeine), and sleepiness or fatigue after meals.

And an average of 2.25lbs per month is pretty good.

VAMommyAgain

I would def suggest eating more clean food...if it comes in a bag or package or you don't have to get out of your car to grab it (ie...drive through take out) then don't eat it. If you eat more fresh veggies, protein and fibre you'll also get to eat MORE. You hit your calorie goal with very little food so you're probably hungry b/c you're eating empty calories...and getting too much sodium. Also, try to hit 30% protein, 30% fat and 40% carbs...you're taking in too many crisps & potatoes and eating too much bread. Not that you can't have any but if you aim for 40% carbs max then that helps keep it in check.

You can do this!!

therealangd

Your food looks good to me. But 500 calories for exercise Every. Single. Day. is questionable.

Yanicka1

You are failing to eat to goal most days.
And some of your food choices are poor. Me too -
Anyway, this one's a no brainer. Eat to goal every single day.
And eat lean meats, low fat dairy, nuts, whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies.
Do both cardio and resistance exercise.
Log in those exercises to your MFP exercise diary.
AND EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES!
Remember, this is not a race, and you can reach your goals if you stick to a good plan as recommended on this site.
Let's see how this is in another 6 months.

One of the only good responses in this thread!

No, you do not have to eat a big breakfast, carbs are NOT stored in a deficit, you can eat bread, and water does not make you lose more fat -.-

Pick healthy choices and keep your intake steady. Some days you are really under then you eat over for multiple days. Have to keep it consistent. Holy broscience batman.

^^^^what she said!!!