I just don't understand.

SWilkins75

By chance is it fat turning to muscle? Muscle weighs more.

No chance. It is very difficult to gain muscle for women, especially on a calorie deficit.

No chance? Yes, Chance. It's happens all the time. Especially if you're weight lifting. Your muscles tone up, you add muscle and lose fat. The fat you lose, weighs less than the muscle you gained. It's not really turning into muscle, you're just trading it out. You will really notice it if you were athletic growing up. Muscle memory, it doesn't just tone when you start working out again, it builds. Usually its just a constant loss if you've never really built up any muscle to begin with.

No it does not.

Love it when newbies tell us how it is done.

Out of curiosity, what is your definition of "newbie"?

luckyxjen

Holy crap.

Now that I feel like I'm doing everything wrong... I think I'm going to go to the grocery store...

I've only been on this for about 2 weeks now and I still have a lot of adjusting to do. I've been adding in more wheat, tuna, fruits and veggies, while weening out the other things.

I've been going by whats on my phone, (which doesn't show me protien, sugar, sodium, etc) because that's all I have access to during the day.

Melanie_RS

just baby steps!

so you are trying to wean off the bad stuff (like eating out and eating french fries perhaps) ... just add a lot more veggie fillers, salads and proteins.

it's only been 2 weeks, there's a learning curve.

infamousmk

You know who else just don't understand??


Parents.

TArnold2012

I don't understand how I can burn so many calories a day and be GAINING weight. This is usually where I start falling off of the wagon and getting discouraged. I just don't know what to do anymore.

How do you know you are burning so many calories accurately? Remember that MFP overestimates heavily on calories burned.

ExplorinLauren

I'm with you! Idk what I'm doing wrong Everyone says 20% below TDEE... but that means I'd eat 2000 cals a day. I have a hard time convincing myself I can eat that much and still lose weight!

flatbellybella

Your diet is far from clean and you're comsuming quite a lot of carbs.
Losing weight is like 80% diet.

Clean up your diet a bit more and watch what type of carbs you are eating.

lakota1307

Holy crap.

Now that I feel like I'm doing everything wrong... I think I'm going to go to the grocery store...

I've only been on this for about 2 weeks now and I still have a lot of adjusting to do. I've been adding in more wheat, tuna, fruits and veggies, while weening out the other things.

I've been going by whats on my phone, (which doesn't show me protien, sugar, sodium, etc) because that's all I have access to during the day.

it is tough going from crap to healthy , you have to let your body adjust it is hard to change what you eat!!! i know !!! fruit has to replace the craving for sweets, takes about a week, I suggest water with lemon and avoid all artificial sweeteners also try shocking the body with about three days of being a vegetarian, that will help cleanse the body just my two cents

lakota1307

O yeah , get a Heart Rate Monitor it is the most accurate way to track calories burned, I picked one up on Ebay for $30.00 they also have more expensive ones available

yoobie

#1: How long have you been exercising regularly & counting calories? It typically took me about 2 weeks of Insanity & stringent eating habits to start showing results. If you lose anything drastic before that, it is usually water weight and not permanent.

#2: If you undereat, you WILL NOT GAIN WEIGHT. Your body does NOT go into "starvation mode" and start storing your calories as fat. That is the most ridiculous thing in the world. When you eat excessive calories that your body does not burn through exercise or just from resting (yes, your body burns calories even while you sleep), your body will store them as FAT. When you eat a large deficit of calories and your body needs the fuel to keep going, IT WILL USE THE FAT ON YOUR BODY. That is what your fat is there for. As long as you have an ample amount of fat, YOUR BODY WILL NOT SHUT DOWN from a lack of calories. You DO, however, need to make sure you eat enough nutrients (such as amino acids, vitamins, etc) to keep your body from shutting down. People also say that your body will start breaking down muscle before fat; that is also B*LLSH*T. A gram of fat has 9 calories and a gram of protein has 4. It is also much more taxing on your body to break down muscle than fat. From the entropy law in thermodynamics, your body will go towards the way of least resistance & most outcome. Your body will choose to break down something with more energy per gram other one that outputs less. Source: http://thefoodwarrior.com/healthy-tips/when-you-fast-does-your-body-burn-fat-or-muscle/

#3: I'm looking at your food diary, and I would suggest going more towards the simplest of foods. Ex. Less ingredients, the better. Sweet potatoes, nonfat milk, eggs, canola oil spray instead of olive oil, simple chicken breast, etc. When you eat foods that are lumping a lot of different ingredients into one (like a tuna sandwich), oftentimes you end up undercounting and overeating. Eat smaller portions, and you also have have have to cut out processed foods (like Oreos). Even if you eat just 4 of them, a lot of times the processed sugar that you eat will make you crave more junk, and it becomes and unending cycle.

#4: You can do it!!! DON'T starve yourself; but don't be afraid to undereat if you think your body can handle it. You know your body the most. Being dizzy/nauseous is definitely a very very bad sign. Drink lots of water.

Hope this helps. I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate for my point #2, but it is honestly the truth. The source I referred to even talks about a monitored, SUPERVISED fast about a guy that fasted for 1 year and 3 weeks and he went from 450 lb to 250 or something like that. He just ate vitamins, drank water, and worked out for the entire time. He was SUPERVISED, so don't attempt to do this on your own.

sathor

I don't see exercise for the last 2 days, and then on Saturday, you have jogging at 10 MPH. I personally wonder, how did you come upon 10 mph? (My speeds come off of a GPS device) (My wife just said that would be running a half marathon in about one hour, which I think means I need to call Shenanigans.) (my wife suggest that MAYBE you meant 6 mph, which would take 10 minutes to go a mile) (On Aug 1st, you have the 6 MPH jogging selected, and I wonder if that might still be high)

Cycling, are you using simple start and finish time to get your time? Last Friday you have 140 minutes at 10~12 mph, but it seems off to me as well, but not as off as the previous comment. No, I take that back, if you run the same speed you bike, I have an issue there. For cycling, time should be directly off a speedometer (15 bucks from walmart works as well here as a $50 one, and then only use the time on the trip meter.)

I am curious about July 31st, entry: Swings As I said, I am curious as to just what that is. Its not in the general database, so how did you get the 113 Cal for 15 minutes there?

Sunday Jul 29th, 420 minutes of vigorous cleaning? (1552 Cal) Not calling you a liar, but 7 hours nonstop seems way too high, just as high as the 420 itself. I do know people that do massive cleaning, but still...

July 25th for the win. No comments there.

Most of the cleaning I see is 30 minutes, so I wonder if the 420 was a typo that you missed? Also, a handful of days with NO exercise to begin with. I think you might be overestimating a number of your exercises, and then eating too many of them back.

sathor

I'm with you! Idk what I'm doing wrong Everyone says 20% below TDEE... but that means I'd eat 2000 cals a day. I have a hard time convincing myself I can eat that much and still lose weight!

Because FitBit is a lying little basterd eh? I never trust it to give me the extra 100~300 when the day ends, personally, I just use it for timing functions, and the small boost I get from when I am out shopping for work. Maybe you have the wrong activity level on it, IDK, could be. 100 calories a day is a pound after 5 weeks.

jlpostill

http://www.livestrong.com/article/362906-can-you-build-muscle-on-a-calorie-deficit/

luckyxjen

I don't see exercise for the last 2 days, and then on Saturday, you have jogging at 10 MPH. I personally wonder, how did you come upon 10 mph? (My speeds come off of a GPS device) (My wife just said that would be running a half marathon in about one hour, which I think means I need to call Shenanigans.) (my wife suggest that MAYBE you meant 6 mph, which would take 10 minutes to go a mile) (On Aug 1st, you have the 6 MPH jogging selected, and I wonder if that might still be high)

Cycling, are you using simple start and finish time to get your time? Last Friday you have 140 minutes at 10~12 mph, but it seems off to me as well, but not as off as the previous comment. No, I take that back, if you run the same speed you bike, I have an issue there. For cycling, time should be directly off a speedometer (15 bucks from walmart works as well here as a $50 one, and then only use the time on the trip meter.)

I am curious about July 31st, entry: Swings As I said, I am curious as to just what that is. Its not in the general database, so how did you get the 113 Cal for 15 minutes there?

Sunday Jul 29th, 420 minutes of vigorous cleaning? (1552 Cal) Not calling you a liar, but 7 hours nonstop seems way too high, just as high as the 420 itself. I do know people that do massive cleaning, but still...

July 25th for the win. No comments there.

Most of the cleaning I see is 30 minutes, so I wonder if the 420 was a typo that you missed? Also, a handful of days with NO exercise to begin with. I think you might be overestimating a number of your exercises, and then eating too many of them back.

First of all, thank you for such uplifting advice. If I wanted a drill sergeant, I would have joined the armed forces..

I'm new to this and I'm starting out slow. I've done a million and one things, and I know myself better than to just jump into something full force and give up all of the things that my body is used to. I look up and track the things that I track just to keep myself aware of what I'm doing. THIS would be why I record all the not so healthy food I eat. YES, I STILL EAT UNHEALTHY FOOD! (forgive me for being human) It may not be 100% accurate, but like I said, it's more to keep MYSELF aware. Oh, and thank you for the hint to buying a speedometer, however I am a full time student with a minimum wage, part time job and have bills to pay, therefore the last thing on my list of things to buy is a speedometer ... FOR MY BIKE. I'm taking baby steps, and quite frankly, I'm proud of myself for sticking with it thus far. I will continue to progress, my results just may not come as quickly as yours and so many others, but like I said, I'm human and I have to do things at my own pace.

rkcampbell

I guess I don't get it. You asked for advice and now you're getting angry. The previous poster was just trying to point out examples of where you may be overestimating. I didn't see anything condescending or rude at all. It seems like you're trying to make excuses while others are trying to help you.

I looked through your diary and almost every meal is eaten out. The sodium alone will make you retain water and seem like you're gaining or holding onto weight. Ramen noodles and mac and cheese (as amazing as they are!) will not give you much if any nutrition to fuel your body. Try for more whole, single ingredient foods. Try snacking throughout the day on fruits and veggies so you won't be as tempted to eat high calorie meals.

Also, I'm really not trying to be rude, but I have to say, if you have the money to eat out everyday, you have the money to buy a cheap speedometer. Just saying...

LikesVeges

Don't beat yourself up. Lot of info getting tossed around here. It's great you are making the effort and recording your foods. You are an attractive girl and you will get there. The cool thing is, as you learn more about what's healthy for you, when you get to your goal you will have new habits and be able to maintain a healthy, happy weight. It'll be great to feel good in your skin!

I suggest you go through all the replys and pick and chose what you like. Also, I love the healthy eating section and fitness section at the library or the bookstore. Jillian Michaels and the Biggest Loser franchise have some sound advice and menu suggestions in their books. Lots of others, I'm sure.

Keep seeking.

Cheri_Moves

OP, you'll be getting all kinds of "colorful" advice... believe me! It takes time to hone your nutrition, so just do what you can, where you are with what you have. That said,

My suggestions:
~eat from your kitchen (or moms, lol!)
~opt for food choices that you have to cook, not just heat.
~DRINK LOTS OF WATER
~get some good protein in there
~log CONSISTENTLY, even when its a total pain in the butt.

BEST OF LUCK!!! :bigsmile:

luckyxjen

I guess I don't get it. You asked for advice and now you're getting angry. The previous poster was just trying to point out examples of where you may be overestimating. I didn't see anything condescending or rude at all. It seems like you're trying to make excuses while others are trying to help you.

I looked through your diary and almost every meal is eaten out. The sodium alone will make you retain water and seem like you're gaining or holding onto weight. Ramen noodles and mac and cheese (as amazing as they are!) will not give you much if any nutrition to fuel your body. Try for more whole, single ingredient foods. Try snacking throughout the day on fruits and veggies so you won't be as tempted to eat high calorie meals.

Also, I'm really not trying to be rude, but I have to say, if you have the money to eat out everyday, you have the money to buy a cheap speedometer. Just saying...

I'm not angry in the slightest, but what I asked for was ADVICE not a play by play of my diary. I know what I'm eating, where I'm getting it from, and what I (and my boyfriend) am spending. I didn't ask for each and every person on here to tell me every singe thing I'm doing wrong, I asked for tips to improve what I'm doing, again, not a play by play of what I'm eating and criticism rather than advice. That's all.

luckyxjen

OP, you'll be getting all kinds of "colorful" advice... believe me! It takes time to hone your nutrition, so just do what you can, where you are with what you have. That said,

My suggestions:
~eat from your kitchen (or moms, lol!)
~opt for food choices that you have to cook, not just heat.
~DRINK LOTS OF WATER
~get some good protein in there
~log CONSISTENTLY, even when its a total pain in the butt.

BEST OF LUCK!!! :bigsmile:

Thank you! I've been doing a lot more of that. Cooking at home, thought not as much as I should. I've been parking farther away from the door at school and work, I've been packing lunches rather than going to get stuff, I've been snacking on yogurt or string cheese or a banana or carrots in stead of chips. I'm making better choices, slowly but surely.