Can anyone help? Nothing seems to be working
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From an outsider's perspective, I'm not doubting this guy's credentials or anything, but he's not good at making clear concise arguments on video....and the UM thing would drive me crazy. I made it through 10 minutes of that video. He looks great though, and I did agree with what I got out of that 10 minutes, but I was bored out of my mind. I understand what the OP is saying. I don't think she's trying to criticize, really. IMO.0
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At 5'4" and 228, you are at a BMI of 22, perfectly in the middle of a healthy weight range. Like others have pointed out, you are not 18 anymore and you now are getting a woman's body. Trying to get back to your teenage weight will drive you nuts. Don't focus on the scale. If you don't like the way your body looks, then start strength training. At 5'6" I was 118 at one point in HS, but there is no way in hades I could ever get close to that again, nor should I try.
The 'Freshman 15' isn't just because girls eat more in college. It is because their bodies are changing into an adult. Don't fight becoming an adult. It's pretty cool!
I agree with ^^^. The scale is just an easy reference. Two people of the same weight and height could have much different muscle vs fat mass. Get your body fat % checked as well as write down your body measurements. Some gyms have a device that will measure body fat built into the scale.
I found that when I eat a balanced diet, workout some (a little lifting and a little cardio) and eat smart/well enough to have a daily calorie debt of around 500 calories the weight starts to come off. If the body starts to "panic", either through too little food, drugs or other stress it will do its best to hold weight. It's trying to keep you alive for the long haul. Slightly lower calories and otherwise healthy living won't cause a systemic panic and slowly you will see a change.
Slow and steady wins this race.0 -
From an outsider's perspective, I'm not doubting this guy's credentials or anything, but he's not good at making clear concise arguments on video....and the UM thing would drive me crazy. I made it through 10 minutes of that video. He looks great though, and I did agree with what I got out of that 10 minutes, but I was bored out of my mind. I understand what the OP is saying. I don't think she's trying to criticize, really. IMO.
To paraphrase the video
Um, Basically if you eat like 600 calories and do crazy amounts of cardio you body will stop losing weight. So most people will drop their calories more and do more cardio. Their metabolism slows to compensate for eating way less than your BMR. The reason for this is that your body NEEDs those calories just to function. So it will try to use as many as it can by conserving them(slowing metabolism).
If you just start eating your BMR(or close to it) your metabolism will still be slow for awhile and you will store much of the extra calories as fat.
Um, instead of suggests adding 200 calories to what you are eating now for a few weeks(or was it a month). Then add 200 more until you finally reach your BMR.
He believes that if you were eating 600 calories for doing 2 hours cardio a day for 6 months, then it would take 6 months for your metabolism to get back to normal.
Um0 -
I just read one day of your diary and you are eating a lot of carbs. Try eating protein and vegetables for lunch and dinner. Have your carbs in the morning - oatmeal is great with some protein (eggs, turkey sausage, etc.) A little fruit each day (like 1/2 and apple) and a few nuts (1/2 oz) or nut butter (1 T) is also good. For my sugar fix I eat sugar-free jello with a little light, sugar free or fat free cool whip. Its probably not the best for me but solves the sugar cravings and has very few calories. I also like Costco's Premier protein drinks for a snack. I put it in coffee and it is like a latte. Also, drink a lot of water! Personally, I'm 5ft 4 in and I think 110 is a little low for a goal. Maybe try to get to 120 and see how you feel.0
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Try low/no carb. Get yourself in ketosis by eating 30 gm of carbs of less a day. I bet in two weeks you'll lose those extra pounds. Our body can not store fat without insulin. Your body only secretes insulin in the presents of glucose (all carbs become glucose as it is the only form of energy our cells can use). In the absense of carbohydrates, you're body has no choice but to use fat as energy. Generally eat good proteins and leafy greens. Peanut butter is great when your jonesing for carbs. Give it a shot.
And.................tell yourself constantly that you are losing weight, not that you can't, your body listens to what your brain tells it to do. Also, going off birth control is never a bad idea. Hormones are tricking your body into thinking it's pregnant which is why you don't ovulate. I always gained weight when I took birth control pills.
Pretty much everything in this post is madness, including the absolutely factually wrong nonsense about insulin.
Do some research? I usually like to quote studies, but this was a good layman's terms article. Keeps it simple for the simpleton who thinks things are madness. Gotta KISS for the simpleton.
How Fat is Made
Some of what we eat gets converted to fat. We use fat as energy storage, so we can use it later when we are hungry and there is no food around.
The only way extra food that you eat can be converted to fat is by the use of insulin. Insulin carries the food energy to your fat cells. If there is no insulin present, you can not accumulate fat.
What causes insulin to be created in your body? SUGAR. When sugar gets into your body, your pancreas has to create insulin in order to deal with the sugar. (Humans are not able to deal with ingesting sugar without the use of insulin - that is why diabetics, who are unable to create insulin, have to inject themselves with insulin to deal with the sugar they eat).
Where does the sugar come from? We eat sugar. Sugar, fructose, sucrose - all sugar. Carbohydrates are sugar. Carbohydrates are broken down inside our body into glucose. Glucose is sugar. Sugar calls for insulin. Insulin brings sugar to the fat cells. We get fat.
That is pretty much it. Cut out sugar and carbohydrates, and you lose the fat.
Oh yeah - protein does not get turned to fat. Protein causes very little insulin to be secreted by the pancreas. Eating fat does not cause any insulin to be secreted. Eating fat does not turn into body fat.
Unless, of course, you are eating sugar or carbohydrates with it.0 -
Quick follow-up question for any of you who had advice about watching carbs & sugar based on my diary... I've been working on limiting those, but now I keep going over MFP's protein goal. Is this a problem? I'm guessing it's better to eat less sugar/ fewer carbs even if that means eating too much protein, but I'm not sure.0
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Quick follow-up question for any of you who had advice about watching carbs & sugar based on my diary... I've been working on limiting those, but now I keep going over MFP's protein goal. Is this a problem? I'm guessing it's better to eat less sugar/ fewer carbs even if that means eating too much protein, but I'm not sure.
MFP's protein goal is generally considered to be too low. I think it's 15% by default, right? A lot of us aim for double that amount. I wouldn't worry about going over on your protein.0 -
Quick follow-up question for any of you who had advice about watching carbs & sugar based on my diary... I've been working on limiting those, but now I keep going over MFP's protein goal. Is this a problem? I'm guessing it's better to eat less sugar/ fewer carbs even if that means eating too much protein, but I'm not sure.
Absolutely not. Your protein goal is actually pretty low. I'd recommend you up from 15% and 25% and treat it as a minimum. I'd say do 40/25/35 carbs/protein fat. Even better would be 35/30/35 if you're lifting weights.
Ideally you want to meet or exceed your protein goal, meet or exceed your fat goal, and hit or stay under your carb goal. Protein is important for repairing muscle, fat is important for health and feeling full, and carbs are just sorta there to make up the rest of the calories.
If you look at all of the diaries of the people on this site that have your ideal body, you'll see that most of them are eating 100 - 200 g of protein a day.0 -
Get something to track your daily activity like a fitbit or body bug. Then eat 500 calories less than you burn in a day. For example, if you burn 2200 calories in one day (including exercise) you would eat 1700 calories. MFP expects you to eat back your exercise calories. You could also try changing your macros to 30% protein/ 15% fat, watching your sodium (water retention) and drinking A LOT of water (to flush the retention).0
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Get something to track your daily activity like a fitbit or body bug. Then eat 500 calories less than you burn in a day. For example, if you burn 2200 calories in one day (including exercise) you would eat 1700 calories. MFP expects you to eat back your exercise calories. You could also try changing your macros to 30% protein/ 15% fat, watching your sodium (water retention) and drinking A LOT of water (to flush the retention).
I have a Fitbit and I'm in love with the thing. It's stupid how awesome it is.0 -
OP...you are taking an extremely aggressive approach to weight loss with a mere 20 Lbs to lose. You aren't regularly even netting to the 1,200 calories (eating back exercise)...if you were doing that, it would still be aggressive for the amount of weight you have to lose. Basically your body is say, "FU...I don't have fat stores to burn like that" and is just slowing your metabolism to compensate. With only 20 Lbs to lose you should be shooting for 1/2-1 Lb per week weight loss and your body will respond much better. It sounds like you've been doing this for awhile, so it may take your body some time (4-6 wks or so).
Reset to lose 1/2 to 1 Lb per week at most. When you get withing 10 Lbs you should definitely be going at 1/2 Lb per week and no faster to avoid what is happening now.0 -
Okay, I thought it would be something like this. Out of curiosity, where do you—or MyFitnessPal's guided goals, for that matter—get these percentages? Is there a "golden ratio" for weight loss? Is there a good ratio for young women? For semi-vegetarians (I don't eat much meat)? Keeping in mind that I am not seeking any extremes (sorry, no super low/zero carb diets for me), how do you arrive at the best goals/minimums?Quick follow-up question for any of you who had advice about watching carbs & sugar based on my diary... I've been working on limiting those, but now I keep going over MFP's protein goal. Is this a problem? I'm guessing it's better to eat less sugar/ fewer carbs even if that means eating too much protein, but I'm not sure.
Absolutely not. Your protein goal is actually pretty low. I'd recommend you up from 15% and 25% and treat it as a minimum. I'd say do 40/25/35 carbs/protein fat. Even better would be 35/30/35 if you're lifting weights.
Ideally you want to meet or exceed your protein goal, meet or exceed your fat goal, and hit or stay under your carb goal. Protein is important for repairing muscle, fat is important for health and feeling full, and carbs are just sorta there to make up the rest of the calories.
If you look at all of the diaries of the people on this site that have your ideal body, you'll see that most of them are eating 100 - 200 g of protein a day.
(For that matter, where does MFP get its other goals... Sodium/sugar limits, for example? Should I be changing these from their guided #s too?)
I might try 50/20/30 for a few days, if that makes sense, then see if I can get to 40/25/35, since it will take some adjustments to get carbs 15% lower than I've been doing, and then even lower if I start lifting... Does that seem ok?
Oh, and I did look at getting some sort of fitness tracker at this point... What would be the main benefit—accurately tracking your calories burned from normal daily activity?0 -
MFP uses the RDA which is meant for mostly sedentary adults maintaining weight. People who are losing weight or exercising a lot need more. 1.2-2 g per kg bodyweight is your range to preserve lean mass.0
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This is becoming way too complicated. You simply need to tone with weights as suggested. You can calculate and adjust until the cows come home but you will still carry that bit of fat that is bothering you.
The nice bonus is the last I heard, muscle burns more calories than fat, so you get to eat a little more and still look great.0 -
You might want to hire a personal trainer---..................................... that knows what they are doing. Sometimes you aren't getting enough nutrition or sometimes you may not be exercising properly or hard enough. It is truly a science to getting in shape. Some people do it without any problem but for others who have weight to lose in tough spots or just not motivated enough to release the proper energy could be a problem.
You can try some great free warm up exercises here and that may help you as well
http://www.isefitness.com/exercises/total-body-exercises/warm-exercises-cardio0 -
Yeah, good point! I think I'm really starting to realize what a science this is... which is encouraging, since it means it can be understood and conquered! I'm not sure I have the funds for a personal trainer at the moment, but it's something I've considered (along with a dietician). I'm also looking for more strategic ways to exercise... classes/programs/plans etc. Considering weight lifting, spin, and looking to fit in some drop in classes at my rec center. I'm open to any suggestions!
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Okay, I thought it would be something like this. Out of curiosity, where do you—or MyFitnessPal's guided goals, for that matter—get these percentages? Is there a "golden ratio" for weight loss? Is there a good ratio for young women? For semi-vegetarians (I don't eat much meat)? Keeping in mind that I am not seeking any extremes (sorry, no super low/zero carb diets for me), how do you arrive at the best goals/minimums?Quick follow-up question for any of you who had advice about watching carbs & sugar based on my diary... I've been working on limiting those, but now I keep going over MFP's protein goal. Is this a problem? I'm guessing it's better to eat less sugar/ fewer carbs even if that means eating too much protein, but I'm not sure.
Absolutely not. Your protein goal is actually pretty low. I'd recommend you up from 15% and 25% and treat it as a minimum. I'd say do 40/25/35 carbs/protein fat. Even better would be 35/30/35 if you're lifting weights.
Ideally you want to meet or exceed your protein goal, meet or exceed your fat goal, and hit or stay under your carb goal. Protein is important for repairing muscle, fat is important for health and feeling full, and carbs are just sorta there to make up the rest of the calories.
If you look at all of the diaries of the people on this site that have your ideal body, you'll see that most of them are eating 100 - 200 g of protein a day.
(For that matter, where does MFP get its other goals... Sodium/sugar limits, for example? Should I be changing these from their guided #s too?)
I might try 50/20/30 for a few days, if that makes sense, then see if I can get to 40/25/35, since it will take some adjustments to get carbs 15% lower than I've been doing, and then even lower if I start lifting... Does that seem ok?
Oh, and I did look at getting some sort of fitness tracker at this point... What would be the main benefit—accurately tracking your calories burned from normal daily activity?
I use the guided goals first to see how many calories I should eat, I then do the custom goals to adjust the percentages. I try to do 40/40/20 which is 40% Protein, 40% carbs and 20% Fat. 35/35/30 may also work.
To make this simple, eat closer to you BMR and up your protein intake, do weight training.0 -
Okay, I thought it would be something like this. Out of curiosity, where do you—or MyFitnessPal's guided goals, for that matter—get these percentages? Is there a "golden ratio" for weight loss? Is there a good ratio for young women? For semi-vegetarians (I don't eat much meat)? Keeping in mind that I am not seeking any extremes (sorry, no super low/zero carb diets for me), how do you arrive at the best goals/minimums?Quick follow-up question for any of you who had advice about watching carbs & sugar based on my diary... I've been working on limiting those, but now I keep going over MFP's protein goal. Is this a problem? I'm guessing it's better to eat less sugar/ fewer carbs even if that means eating too much protein, but I'm not sure.
Absolutely not. Your protein goal is actually pretty low. I'd recommend you up from 15% and 25% and treat it as a minimum. I'd say do 40/25/35 carbs/protein fat. Even better would be 35/30/35 if you're lifting weights.
Ideally you want to meet or exceed your protein goal, meet or exceed your fat goal, and hit or stay under your carb goal. Protein is important for repairing muscle, fat is important for health and feeling full, and carbs are just sorta there to make up the rest of the calories.
If you look at all of the diaries of the people on this site that have your ideal body, you'll see that most of them are eating 100 - 200 g of protein a day.
(For that matter, where does MFP get its other goals... Sodium/sugar limits, for example? Should I be changing these from their guided #s too?)
I might try 50/20/30 for a few days, if that makes sense, then see if I can get to 40/25/35, since it will take some adjustments to get carbs 15% lower than I've been doing, and then even lower if I start lifting... Does that seem ok?
Oh, and I did look at getting some sort of fitness tracker at this point... What would be the main benefit—accurately tracking your calories burned from normal daily activity?
Activity trackers are cool. I love mine. I find it really good at reinforcing and encouraging me to be active, take stairs, etc. Really makes it easy to figure out how many calories I burn doing random things like playing racquetball or climbing stairs, too. Takes all the guesswork out. I'm a major geek though.
The macro percentages are not black magic. I wouldn't bother with percentage ratios if MFP didn't force you to. I go for 1 gram of protein per lb of lean body mass, 0.3 grams of fat per pound of body weight, and the rest carbs. The percentages are pretty irrelevant IMO but that's how MFP forces you to put them in. The protein number comes from mountains of scientific research showing you need about that much to maximize muscle maintenance and growth, and the number from fat comes from a combination of anecdotal and experimental evidence concerning health, fat burning, satiety, and health effects.
The other MFP goals are all basically RDA. I'd leave them where they are unless you have a good reason to change them. For someone at your age and health, I would keep a lid on the sugar and pretty much ignore sodium intake. Sodium is bad if you have cardiovascular issues, but if you're healthy it has no effect.0 -
I'm camping onto this post as it seems to fit my situation and the responses are sincere. Ther e are multiple reasons to choose from in my weight loss failure. I lost about 8 pounds in six months. Protein shakes, minimal exercise, watching calories/carbs as I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and placed on Metformin. Since January I lose and gain the same three pounds. It is very discouraging. True I am older - 72, but it's just a number or so I thought. I eat about 1200-1500 calories . Not exercising, I would like to eat about 1100-1200 calories and exercise a minimum of 3 times a week. But I end up eating about the same calories 1200 a day, I've tried the protein drinks but now just the thought is unappetizing. Basically I get discourage in about a week or two when there is no obvious weight loss and give up in being disciplined. I see these posts of 15-91 pound loss and wonder where they got the plan and the discipline to make it work.:drinker:0
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HI all, It's been a couple of weeks since I've been trying to follow the advice I received in this thread and I wanted to follow-up! I have been eating more, eating back exercise calories as much as possible, and limiting sugar and carbs... The two biggest pieces of advice I heard throughout this thread. I'm still not seeing or feeling much progress and am wondering if I can keep changing anything to do better. I'm all about refining this process until it works!
Anyone who previously spoke up, or anyone new, if you don't mind taking a look at my food diary for the past week or two, let me know if you have any other/further advice! Thanks
(Also, I love the supportive community, so if you have similar goals and are supportive / want support, please add me as a friend!)0
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