Critique My Diary, diary critiquers!

firesoforion

Alright, I've been fluctuating between essentially 155 and 157 since mid January, and I'm not even convinced I'm trying to lose weight anymore. I've eaten less, eaten more, eaten at 1200 (admittedly eaten below 1200), and now eaten at 1400 which by all calculations is my BMR, while doing exercise (perhaps not as regularly as I'd like but a decent amount). The past couple of days I've bumped up to 1700 calories, which is supposed to be my RMR. When I did that my weight initially dropped, now it's up by 1.8 pounds. Thing is, I know my diary isn't perfect, but I thought it was pretty decent. In the same way that it's a lot easier to proofread someone else's work than your own, it's easier to look at where other people's diaries need improving than it is your own. And maybe I really am missing some crucial information. So I give my diary to my fellow MFPers, to see if they have any insights.

I'm pretty meticulous about logging (especially recently), and I've put my weight each day (same weight time, same weight place) in the comments, as well as assorted thoughts.

So, any thoughts?

mygrl4meee

I looked at it and I thought it looks good. I am new to counting calories so I am not the best person to give advice. Hope someone can help you.

rkpixler

I watched a thing from one of the biggest losers trainers the other day that said when you hit a plateau to do all your excercise backwards, like if you walk, walk backwards or if you do the elliptical do it backwards. Just do all your movements backwards for a week or so and he said it shocks the muscles and your system and will break you through a plateau. It's worth a shot. I do a lot of elliptical so I figured I would keep that in my back pocket for when I start to struggle.

smsinger75

I looked back a week. Last Friday and last wednesday looked really good. Are you simply counting calories? or are you trying to do low-fat, low-carb or something else? i did notice that you seem to have a "sweet" tooth. I saw candy in there several times. I might suggest getting your "sweet" fix from fruit rather than candy. You appear to be drinking plenty of water, which is good. Have you tried switching the plain rolled oats to steel-cut oats or a multi-grain cereal for higher fiber and digestible carbs? Are you changing up your workout routine? By that I mean, doing different types of cardio and different muscle group training on a rotating basis. So you aren't over or under taxing certain muscles all the time. This might help jumpstart the metabolism and calorie burning again. Hope this helps. Just some suggestions.

melsinct

If you were under-eating and suddenly bumped up your calories, it is somewhat normal to gain at first before everything settles back down (there is some scientific reason for it which I can't explain), such as you did. I don't know your stats- what is your height? What do you have MFP set at (pound per week loss)? You still may not be eating enough as I looked at last week and you don't hit your calorie goal very often. You are leaving hundreds on the table daily. Without any knowledge of your situation, I would say try and actually reach your calorie goal daily. Any change you make with increasing calories can't be a couple day affair. Stick with it for 2 weeks and see what happens.

firesoforion

I watched a thing from one of the biggest losers trainers the other day that said when you hit a plateau to do all your excercise backwards, like if you walk, walk backwards or if you do the elliptical do it backwards. Just do all your movements backwards for a week or so and he said it shocks the muscles and your system and will break you through a plateau. It's worth a shot. I do a lot of elliptical so I figured I would keep that in my back pocket for when I start to struggle.

As Spock would say, fascinating. It makes sense and yet I'd never think of something like that.

firesoforion

I looked back a week. Last Friday and last wednesday looked really good. Are you simply counting calories? or are you trying to do low-fat, low-carb or something else? i did notice that you seem to have a "sweet" tooth. I saw candy in there several times. I might suggest getting your "sweet" fix from fruit rather than candy. You appear to be drinking plenty of water, which is good. Have you tried switching the plain rolled oats to steel-cut oats or a multi-grain cereal for higher fiber and digestible carbs? Are you changing up your workout routine? By that I mean, doing different types of cardio and different muscle group training on a rotating basis. So you aren't over or under taxing certain muscles all the time. This might help jumpstart the metabolism and calorie burning again. Hope this helps. Just some suggestions.

I've tried a few things, but right now I'm just counting calories and focusing on eating healthy (particularly liver healthy foods, but I'm not diagnosed with any liver disorder, just suspect I hadn't being particularly nice to it for the past year or so.). There are multiple instances of candy in my diary (yesterday especially, for some reason I just found it hard to start) but on the whole (pre March 9, and post today) it's been very moderate. 1-3 M&Ms, some of the valentines day conversation hearts, or one piece of chocolate per day.

I hadn't tried steel-cut oats, but I do eat Grape-Nuts instead of oats some days (and prefer them).

And yeah, originally I was just running a mile a day (well, intervals adding up to a mile of various things, inclines, etcetera), but I've been doing various forms of work out recently, ballet dvds, running, jump rope, even skiing a couple days.

Thanks for the suggestions

firesoforion

If you were under-eating and suddenly bumped up your calories, it is somewhat normal to gain at first before everything settles back down (there is some scientific reason for it which I can't explain), such as you did. I don't know your stats- what is your height? What do you have MFP set at (pound per week loss)? You still may not be eating enough as I looked at last week and you don't hit your calorie goal very often. You are leaving hundreds on the table daily. Without any knowledge of your situation, I would say try and actually reach your calorie goal daily. Any change you make with increasing calories can't be a couple day affair. Stick with it for 2 weeks and see what happens.

I'm 5'4", and I have my MFP set to eating BMR (1400 a day), but not always eating back exercise calories (which would result in it showing up lowerr some days). The increase is to my RMR (hoping that's the right terminology), but the total energy minus exercise I expend each day, which would result in no weight loss.