Weight loss at a hault??

2»

Replies

  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    I just took a quick look at your diary, and I can already tell you that I'm 100% sure that if you cut out most (or all!) of the processed food, the fast food, the take-out, the ready-made meals, and so on, that you'd be able to lose weight instantly and break your plateau.
    The thing that myfitnesspal users sometimes forget is that QUALITY > QUANTITY.
    Try to cook REAL foods, instead of KD or use ready-meals. And it seems that you eat take-out most often for lunch. That's probably because you're at work at that time (or in class, like me!) but you should try to bring your own lunch because that would help TREMENDOUSLY. Pack an easy lunch: whole wheat sandwich with lean meat or peanut butter, veggies, fruit, yogurt, and so on!

    You can always focus on replacing the bad foods you like with good foods!
    For example, instead of a ready-pack of KD, try using whole wheat macaroni and melting your own low-fat or non-fat cheese! Instead of buying chinese take-out, make your own stir-fry with tons of veggies, beef (or chicken, or shrimp!), and brown rice or whole wheat spaghetti noodles.

    You get what I'm saying? When someone else is preparing your food (and if you've prepared it at home from a frozen box--it's still not really prepared by you), you have no control over what is REALLY going into your body.

    You get what I'm saying?

    Why? Does processed food somehow increase in cals once it's been eaten? I eat a ton of processed/prepared foods and I lose weight easily as long as I stick to my calorie goal.

    Aside from maybe a little extra water weight from elevated sodium intake, processed food isn't any different than "whole" foods (from a weight loss standpoint). And that water weight will balance out over time. Additionally, if the amount of processed foods she's eating has been fairly constant, that wouldn't explain the sudden halt in weight loss.
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
    Yes, i always eat back my exercise calories to make sure i am fueling my body. the 1470 is without any exercise. I do weight and/or mesaure everything i eat. Everything that goes into my mouth is logged!!!

    First of all, great job on your weight-loss so far!

    I think your food diary is ok. But I would challenge you to BURN MORE CALORIES!!!

    When I was losing, my goal was to burn 500 calories a day (6X a week). I'm cut that back a bit now that I'm in maintenance/muscle-building mode, but I still burn more calories every day than you do.

    Here's a good calculator to play around with:

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    I would do your calculations with "Desk Job With Little Exercise" to set up your calorie goal. Then when you work out, don't eat those calories back.

    As an approximate guess... if you ate 1500 calories a day and burned 400 calories a day, I bet you would drop some serious weight.


    When you try

    why would you recommend using incorrect settings to decide on a calorie level?
  • TempoChiarisce26
    TempoChiarisce26 Posts: 43
    Yes, i always eat back my exercise calories to make sure i am fueling my body. the 1470 is without any exercise. I do weight and/or mesaure everything i eat. Everything that goes into my mouth is logged!!!

    First of all, great job on your weight-loss so far!

    I think your food diary is ok. But I would challenge you to BURN MORE CALORIES!!!

    When I was losing, my goal was to burn 500 calories a day (6X a week). I'm cut that back a bit now that I'm in maintenance/muscle-building mode, but I still burn more calories every day than you do.

    Here's a good calculator to play around with:

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    I would do your calculations with "Desk Job With Little Exercise" to set up your calorie goal. Then when you work out, don't eat those calories back.

    As an approximate guess... if you ate 1500 calories a day and burned 400 calories a day, I bet you would drop some serious weight.


    When you try

    Thank you! I will keep this in mind... great advice!!!
  • csheltra26
    csheltra26 Posts: 272 Member
    Hi there,
    I change my weight loss goal every other week. It keeps my body guessing. So for 2 weeks, I put it at 1 pound weight loss. The next 2 weeks, I change it to 1/2 pound weight loss and so on. It works for me! Good luck and don't give up!

    Love this idea! This is why I go to these boards...thanks!
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
    I ahve lost 20 lbs in almost 3 months...i wish it was a 20 lb loss in one month! i would be a happy camper LOL

    20 pounds in 3 months is a good pace actually. Its taken me over a year to lose 47. I looked at a few days of your diary and it seems like you "waste" a lot of your calories on carbs and eating out. 500+ cals for some lasagna is a lot to me. My lunch today was under 300 cals and included a decent size piece of baked chicken with swiss cheese and sauteed mushrooms, almost an entire baked squash with sea salt and pepper and a cup of green beans. For staying inside your cal limit and getting to eat more food and staying full look into a lot of lean meats and protein. Protein also keeps you full longer where carbs make you crave more food and also gives your muscles some "fuel" to recover from exercise and strength training.



    Same deal with breakfast. That sugar filled oatmeal is costing you a lot of cals and not giving you a lot of nutrition. I eat either a 4 oz steak or 4 oz tenderloin grilled and 1.5-2 eggs pretty much every morning and it is also under 300 cals and 1 carb and lots of protein and no sugar. Just look into different foods and you can actually eat more food and protein while consuming less cals, fat and carbs and sugar.
  • TempoChiarisce26
    TempoChiarisce26 Posts: 43
    I reviewed your diet and I saw quite a few foods that are very high in sodium which increases fluid. I would increase you water intake and decrease your sodium intake.

    I am definately going to work on this...i think this may help the most for me!
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
    I just took a quick look at your diary, and I can already tell you that I'm 100% sure that if you cut out most (or all!) of the processed food, the fast food, the take-out, the ready-made meals, and so on, that you'd be able to lose weight instantly and break your plateau.
    The thing that myfitnesspal users sometimes forget is that QUALITY > QUANTITY.
    Try to cook REAL foods, instead of KD or use ready-meals. And it seems that you eat take-out most often for lunch. That's probably because you're at work at that time (or in class, like me!) but you should try to bring your own lunch because that would help TREMENDOUSLY. Pack an easy lunch: whole wheat sandwich with lean meat or peanut butter, veggies, fruit, yogurt, and so on!

    You can always focus on replacing the bad foods you like with good foods!
    For example, instead of a ready-pack of KD, try using whole wheat macaroni and melting your own low-fat or non-fat cheese! Instead of buying chinese take-out, make your own stir-fry with tons of veggies, beef (or chicken, or shrimp!), and brown rice or whole wheat spaghetti noodles.

    You get what I'm saying? When someone else is preparing your food (and if you've prepared it at home from a frozen box--it's still not really prepared by you), you have no control over what is REALLY going into your body.

    You get what I'm saying?

    Why? Does processed food somehow increase in cals once it's been eaten? I eat a ton of processed/prepared foods and I lose weight easily as long as I stick to my calorie goal.

    Aside from maybe a little extra water weight from elevated sodium intake, processed food isn't any different than "whole" foods (from a weight loss standpoint). And that water weight will balance out over time. Additionally, if the amount of processed foods she's eating has been fairly constant, that wouldn't explain the sudden halt in weight loss.

    No, but the things they add to it increase the calories. Also, a lot of processed foods lose some of their nutricious value vs fresh foods. I have started losing a lot better now that I eat more "fresh" meats and veggies vs boxed and canned.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    First thing is always to double check your estimates/logging.

    1) Have you recalculated your BMR/TDEE since you lost?
    2) Are you weighing/measuring your food?
    3) Are you being honest with your logging? Even that hershey kiss you grabbed as you were running out the door, the oil you cooked with, that extra bit of butter on your sweet potato, the last 2 bites of your kid's pizza crust?
    4) How are you measuring calories burned?

    ^^This!

    Also, you aren't logging every meal. What are you eating on those days you didn't log? A couple of cheat meals can undo all the deficit you have created the rest of the week. I frequently think I am doing everything right, but if I am completely honest with myself, I am not as accurate as I want to believe I am.
  • RaineyLaney
    RaineyLaney Posts: 605 Member
    This might of been said already.. I didn't read through all the posts..

    What I see (looked at about 1 week of your food diary) is very high carbs, lower protein and mega high sodium

    I would lower my carbs and sodium big time and raise up my protein.

    good luck, I hope you find some answers here on the site to help you get the weight loss moving again.
  • TempoChiarisce26
    TempoChiarisce26 Posts: 43
    First thing is always to double check your estimates/logging.

    1) Have you recalculated your BMR/TDEE since you lost?
    2) Are you weighing/measuring your food?
    3) Are you being honest with your logging? Even that hershey kiss you grabbed as you were running out the door, the oil you cooked with, that extra bit of butter on your sweet potato, the last 2 bites of your kid's pizza crust?
    4) How are you measuring calories burned?

    ^^This!

    Also, you aren't logging every meal. What are you eating on those days you didn't log? A couple of cheat meals can undo all the deficit you have created the rest of the week. I frequently think I am doing everything right, but if I am completely honest with myself, I am not as accurate as I want to believe I am.

    Great point. i noticed that there were a few i didnt log. they werent bad days tho...i was just super busy...i still counted calories but honestly didnt have the time to log so i wrote it on a piece of paper in my purse LOL i will certainly keep your advice in mind!! Thanks :)

Categories