Help...Look at my diary.

Lina4Lina

One thing to remember beyond going over your caloric intake regularly, that fast food caloric estimates are just estimates and usually are on the low side of what you might get in a restaurant. So something that is listed as 600 calories could be anywhere from 600-700 (or more).

ladybarometer

I also agree that your breakfast should be your biggest meal. Dinner should be the smaller of the three

Armenika

I thought I had a problem that I was not losing weight even though I eat 1200 and less and burning around 400 through excessive but after looking at your diary I am really shocked you actually manage to lose anything! 700-800 kcal for one meal is enormous! the only fruit you eat is a plum and from vegetables your choice always stops at potato chips, you are lacking vital minerals fiber and nutrients, your diet doesn't consist of anything that would help you heal or repair,its time you radically change your diet before it's too late.good luck

Erstrace

Based on what you posted at the start of this thread, it looks to me like your baseline calorie intake is set too low & that you are consuming in excess of the calories burned during exercise. When I run the calculations for an aggressive rate of weight loss (2 lbs/week), your intake seems like it should be ~1465/day (this is assuming a sedentary job, which is reasonble for anyone with a desk job...if you have a very physically active job, like a postal mail carrier, your intake may need to be adjusted upwards a bit to something around 1700/day). By doing exercise & then treating the calories burned as "extra" allowed intake calories, it negates the value of doing the exercise to some extent....I think I understand why myfitnesspal has things setup this way (to prevent people from running HUGE calorie deficits on a day to day basis), but it may be counter-productive to your goals for you to log your exercise on myfitnesspal, if doing so is causing you to increase your calories by the amount you burn in exercise.

As others on this thread have already posted, the quality of the calories consumed is very important. Home-prepared foods will be much lower in sodium and generally lower in fat than take-out selections (plus, portion control is easier with home-prepared foods). Consider modifying your food "goals" setting manually, adjusting the daily intake value to 1465 or 1500/day and then adjusting the carbs/protein/fats percentages to something like 40/40/20 or 40/30/30. Protein will help control hunger. For good carb choices, rely on unrefined grains (vs things made with white flour/white rice, etc.) and try to limit sugar from sources other than whole foods like fresh fruit, skim milk, etc.

Good luck and best wishes! If it were easy, it wouldn't be a challenge! Keep working at it! You can do it!

triplestepping

You're going to get a lot of advice at once in this thread, and it's going to be pretty overwhelming. Pick one thing at a time to focus on for a week and once you get that sorted, move on to the next.

I definitely agree with cooking at home and drinking lots of water.

Some of my busy friends do all their cooking for the week on the weekends, freeze some for dinner portions, and they have fresh leftovers during the week for lunches and tasty dinners out of the freezer on rotation. It takes 2-3 weeks to set up that system but it can be really rewarding.

_Sara_A_

I only scrolled through a weeks worth, but here is my opinion. Keep in mind I am not an expert. First I think that you need to start tracking your sodium. Based on some of your choices you are probably higher than the recommended intake. Try drinking your 8 glasses of water everyday so that you aren't retaining. That should make a difference within a week or two. Also you need to add some more fruits and veggies to your diet (high fibre) and try to eat less processed.

The thing I noticed first of all was all the sodium you were eating, then I looked at the numbers for your past week and sure enough, you were almost constantly going over. I have the same issue. I try to make sure I'm drinking 6-8 glasses of water to help flush out the sodium. I do eat out, but I try to rarely eat out, because I can't control the sodium intake when I eat out. Just my opinion.

BECav0602

I agree with everyone else about not eating out and eating cleaner. I have bad weeks with eating out and I literally gain about 5lbs. As soon as I start eating clean again it comes off. Also, I know it is hard but try to work out at least 60 minutes a day with strength training at least twice a week. You will be amazed at what a couple of days of lifting can do (even if it is light). I bought Jillian Michaels ripped in 30 and 30 day shred (only about $8 for each) and the workouts are less than 30 minutes. So, you could do that and the elliptical to get 60 min in.

Remember diet is 80% of the battle.

poesch77

My advice would be to start tracking your sodium. That helped me a ton. I had no idea how much I was consuming.

^^^this and maybe you need to up your calories and change your routine...you could have hit a plateau....I am constantly changing my workouts each month!

MTBrob

I'm sorry ... I don't think you are being very honest with your self.. I mean .. When you see Jack in the box as lunch choices more than once a week and you wonder why the weight isn't coming off...

Just because you are hitting your calorie goal doesn't mean you are hitting your calorie goal with the right foods..

I mean I could eat ice cream for every meal and every snack up to my calorie cap doesn't meal I did good or I will be losing weight.

hillbillyannie

Well I don't know what to say because I'm eating alot less calories than you. If I ate over 2000 calories a day I'm afraid I would gain all 100 pounds back and very quickly. I would first of all stop eating out, eating so much starch and fried food and eat some veggies. But it's just an idea. I ate out, ate alot and ate more meat and starch for three weeks this summer when I was traveling and gained 10 pounds back but now it's coming back off. Good luck and I hope I've helped.

ezavora

Hello my friend. I see you got some great advice, and I see you have started to track your sodium, great job on taking the advice. What I have been doing is eating 5 times a day. This way I never get hungry (though a couple days i have and was told its normal) My calories are set pretty low, 1300, so Im trying to eat 200-300 calories at a time, but you could eat more like 300-400. To do this I bought a small cooler lunch sack and re-ferezable ice pack. I eat breakfast at home, then take with me my food for the day, then eat dinner back at home. It takes some serious planning but is worth it. I cook on my days off so I have easy to assemble meals and dinners on my working days. When I make my meals I track them right into MFP to see their calories, etc. From there I portion them out to 3-4 portions so I know exactly what I am eating. I also like to pre-enter foods to see where I will be at for the day. That helps me decide if I can have a bigger dinner, add some extra rice, things like that. I can help you with some of the meal planning if you want. Its good you are working at it, dont get discouraged, you can do it! Stick with it, it will be worth it.