what am I doing wrong

alifer

I don't see any water logged in your diary. Are you drinking water? If not start drinking water it will help flush out sodium, and release some water weight.

carlosb1003951

keep doing what your doing, everything is fine. watch your carbs and fats, eat more snacks during the day and keep at it. it takes time slowly but surely. dont just look at the calories look at the whole thing. good luck and keep hitting the gym and working out because without that you wont see quick results.

jtdegas

It could be a combination of many things. Reading the thread below many of things mentioned are great. If I were you I would focus on these couple of things.

I would reduce calories to about 1500. However make sure you add them back in if you are losing from working out. It's simple math.

Reduce sodium intake and increase water consumption.

Replace some carbs with more proteins or get carbs from more fruits and veggies. Try to stay away from white flour.

Make a pact to stay away from fast food all together. It will help tremendously.

Don't eat anything 2-3 hours before you go to bed.

Eat 5-6 little meals throughout the day instead of 1-2 big ones.

Measure your food, don't eyeball it. You will be shocked on what actually is 4oz of meat, or a half cup of rice looks like.

Most of all be patient ... Everyone is different. Your body needs some time to rebuild itself. Don't quit!!

GOOD LUCK!!

jtdegas

Great advice.

jtdegas

Great ideas!

jlapey

Go here and read all the topics with the red pins. Very useful info. If you still have question, join the group. They can help.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-

LiftAllThePizzas

When eating at a restaurant the plate will be like twice as much as a "serving" for everything. So unless you are weighing the portions at the table or getting the calorie counts directly from that place's menu/website about that specific dish, it's possible you're way underestimating what you've eaten for those meals. I'm 190 and do about the same amount of exercise and eat 2000 cals a day and I'm losing a pound a week the last few weeks.

As others mentioned, retaining water and/or adding muscle can hide your progress in the short term.

You might also consider replacing some of your cardio with strength training. Lifting heavy things doesn't take as long, and can keep you from losing too much muscle. (I'm doing Strong Lifts 5X5.)

lsand

I don't think you're eating enough calories for your activity level. Try adding more lean protein and vegetables.

tndejong

im not an expert by far. but my guess would be that you may need to leave a greater calorie deficit. i just started january 1st and started at 260 pounds. i eat about 1500 calories a day and 1 hour or more of exercise a day on my elliptical and have seen results. i have lost 20 pounds so far doing this. i think it depends how quickly you want results. the more work you put into it and can be disciplined in your eating, your going to see more of a drastic loss. if your ok with just a pound here and there you need to adjust accordingly.

also to be sure your eating more often and protein with every meal.

T1mH

You've got some good advice and some bad in this thread. It's up to you to sift out what you can use and what works for you.

You lost 4 lbs in less than a month. Then you were up 2 lbs probably due to water weight because of poor eating over a couple days. 2lbs is 7000 calories? Did you mis estimate your calories by 7000 since your last weigh in? I doubt it so it's more than likely to be water weight. It's not muscle, you can't build muscle on a calorie deficit. One pound loss a week is pretty good, many will tell you that's great.

For the amount of working out your doing I would guess your eating near the right amount. So don't drop your intake yet. If your not weighing and measuring start there. It's difficult to adjust anything if your not keeping accurate track. Try to stay away from quick add. It makes it difficult for you to go back and see where you might have gone wrong or what to change. You won't have to weigh and measure for ever. It was a pretty eye opening experience for me when I started to measure and weight things. Now a couple months later I'm much better at eyeballing things but still weigh and measure most of the time.

If your not losing fast enough for your goals, though 1 lb a week is great progress, I would suggest stay away from processed foods which includes nearly all fast food. Restaurants are in the business of selling food that tastes good, otherwise you won't come back. Even their so called healthy choices aren't necessarily healthy. Eat as much fruits, veggies, and lean meats in place of processed things that you can. Do not drink your calories, no alcohol, no soda, cut back or eliminate sweets. Take more time to eat, chew thoroughly and savor each bite. This make give you the feeling of being full while eating less. After about a month of healthy choices for me I started to appreciate food more and things started to taste better. I'm trying lots of new and different things. I went from being a lifelong hater of vegetables to baking broccoli for a late night snack instead of having a bowl of ice cream.

Kellyeee2013

Drink lots of water. Try not to eat back your workout cals. It is recommended that HALF of your cals for weight loss (3500 cals = 1lb) comes from restriction and HALF come from working out. Is your calorie/day limit set appropriately?

A month may not be enough time. I saw nothing in a month. After 3 great weeks, 2 awful weeks (for xmas) and then right back on track for the past 2 weeks and after adjusting my cal intake... I have noticed that I am losing finally.

Drink lots of water
Stick to appropriate cal intake (NOT what MFP suggests)
Keep working out
Stop staring at the scale

taso42

Drink lots of water. Try not to eat back your workout cals. It is recommended that HALF of your cals for weight loss (3500 cals = 1lb) comes from restriction and HALF come from working out. Is your calorie/day limit set appropriately?

you are confused

sofielein

I clicked around a bit in your diary and honestly I don't like what I see. Since Christmas, for like 10 days there is no food logged, just "2140 calories" every day. What the heck is that?
Then after that, there is a lot of
- mashed potatoes
- peanut butter
- prepacked prepared beef or whatever
- rice
-pizza
-Quick added calories - even entries like 870 kcal! (??)

This may sound harsh but I literally barely see any vegetables apart from a couple tomatoes and onions. Fruit is just banana. And this is just not going to work. What you are consuming may taste good but is not balanced. You will simply HAVE to eat salad and spinach (not a quiche full of fat and cheese and a spoonful of spinach, but spinach as a side dish to for example grilled salmon) and like greek salad or cucumbers or broccolis or whatever. You probably don't like any of these foods but believe me they can be tasty if you are hungry. :-)

And not the prepackaged, creamed up versions with a ton of starch and whatnot in it. Steaming or sauteeing vegetables is no rocket science.
Also, from these foods you will be able to eat a LOT MORE too.

nroseberry11

How are your measurments? I am also in the same boat, I gained this week and only weigh on mondays but also measured myself and have lost anywhere from .5 inch to 1 inch in two weeks.

As I have been told and come to accept, its not the number, but the fitness and a scale doesn't necessarity determine fitness progress, inches do.

Good luck!

Mmjdallas

Hi there, reading posts I agree with the sodium topic as I have to watch that very carefully. I notice eating a healthy chicken breast is fine, but restaurants add a ton of sodium to chicken (for an example), so I don't eat it in restaurants anymore.

Two other things...buy a food scale and start actually reading labels and weighing out the portions to the grams indicated on the package and see what happens after doing that. Do no eyeball your food as we are often way off. You'll know what I mean when you see that a serving of bread might be 1 slice, but people often have 2 slices for a sandwich...that can be over 200 calories right there if you eat for instance Oat Nut bread. My husband starting weighing his food a couple years ago and lost over 35 pounds just managing that way, with exercise.

Also, I agree with another post ... do not eat your calories back. Try that for a week or so as well and see how that goes. If you feel hungry, eat good protein and complex carbs.

I've been in a bootcamp workout since May 1, 2012 and it took me 6 months to actually start feeling really good and seeing my body gradually adjust...and I was already a good eater and fairly active. Everyone is different, but please don't be discouraged, stay with it. You'll never regret that you are treating yourself well. Look at this as a lifelong quest to be the best you can be every day!

Stay strong!
Michelle

wendybird5

What you are doing is good. Definitely start watching your sodium and add in more fruit and veg and look for healthy alternatives. If you have a hard time skipping out on Taco Bell altogether, then try ordering off their Fresco menu instead as a compromise. That is what always ends up killing me. But most of all, be patient. This does not happen overnight. It took me a year and a half to lose over 80 pounds after a lot of experimenting and a lot of plateaus so I know how it goes. You are already eating below your BMR so eat your exercise calories if you're hungry.

davidpearly

I clicked around a bit in your diary and honestly I don't like what I see. Since Christmas, for like 10 days there is no food logged, just "2140 calories" every day. What the heck is that?

I didn't start using mfp and logging food until the first day you see logged
I am trying to make healthier choices but I also have a family to feed and am trying to make balanced meals. I do understand that some of my choices might have not been that great but I appreciate the insight


I want to thank everyone for the advise and plan on looking harder at what I am eating, I have ordered a food scale and will start using it when it comes in. and am going to increase my water intake.

laceybrobie

You need to Start tracking sodium. Also do you use an HRM to get your calories burned or do you use MFP? MFP way over estimates for me.

CM9178

im not an expert by far. but my guess would be that you may need to leave a greater calorie deficit. i just started january 1st and started at 260 pounds. i eat about 1500 calories a day and 1 hour or more of exercise a day on my elliptical and have seen results. i have lost 20 pounds so far doing this. i think it depends how quickly you want results. the more work you put into it and can be disciplined in your eating, your going to see more of a drastic loss. if your ok with just a pound here and there you need to adjust accordingly.

also to be sure your eating more often and protein with every meal.

You've lost 20 lbs in less than 3 weeks?? That's great! And I must be doing something terribly wrong..

jonilynn70

Drink lots of water. Try not to eat back your workout cals. It is recommended that HALF of your cals for weight loss (3500 cals = 1lb) comes from restriction and HALF come from working out. Is your calorie/day limit set appropriately?

you are confused

Confused and new perhaps? 0 lbs lost.