This is BS - 70 days and this is it?

CristinaL1983

So I looked through your diary. It looks like you don't weigh your food. It also looks like you get a lot of food "out" with no disrespect, I would suggest that you are probably eating more than you think.

I would suggest that you start by measuring pretty much everything you eat and maybe for a while start making a lot more of your own food which will help ensure that what is supposed to be there, calorie wise, is what's actually there.

It is also possible that your "calories out" are not right. In that case, simply reducing your calories would allow you to start losing more weight. If all you did was cut out the starbucks coffee in the morning, which doesn't really contribute positively to your overall nutrition, you would lose a pound every 2 1/2 weeks.

You don't have to drop it down to 1270 calories but maybe where you have it set (1762?) is too high for you to have appreciable weight loss. Again, it's probably got more to do with not weighing food and eating out a lot (where calories can vary a lot from the nutritional data because different people make things different ways).

dixiewhiskey

What to you do for exercise? Eating healthy is great but you need to work your muscles and strength your heart/lungs too....

bluebear_74

Are your portions correct? Sometimes 100g of something is a lot less than you think it is. Also you really should trying to get some exercise in. Even if its just 30 minutes 3-5 times a week.

LisaLamb1

Thanks everyone for your input. I am going to go through each post and see where I can improve. I am buying a food scale for sure!

dixiewhiskey

Food scale is great but tbh, I've lost weight perfectly fine without it and so have a lot of other people... you just need to get off your butt and move around.

MysticRealm

i'm sorry but if what everyone said about sodium was true, I'd be holding onto 50 pounds of water weight. it's not super glue for fat. i agree it can have some effects here and there after a big meal or binge day but everyone always blames it on sodium like you could eat 1500 calories for 6 months while running a marathon and lifting heavy but salting your veggies is making you fat.

Sodium has ZERO affect on fat but it can show an increase on the scale due to water weight. If your body is very used to it it probably does not affect it as much but it CAN show a large increase in the scales for some people.

SanteMulberry

After looking at your diary, I think I can help you. To start with, you are eating WAAAAY too much sugar when, as a seriously obese person, you really cannot afford ANY empty calories on a calorie-restricted diet. If I ate like you eat, I can guarantee that I would never have lost more than a few pounds.

It is important to realize that obese people are NOT like those who have a few pounds to lose. They have serious metabolic derangement and sugar consumption is a big part of that. It isn't the glucose in sugar that does the metabolic harm, it is the fructose. (Sucrose, i.e. table sugar is 50% fructose, 50% glucose.) Those who are investigating the role of fructose metabolism in obesity believe that fructose acts like a "fat switch" that tells your body to store fat and to stubbornly hang onto the fat that you already have stored.

You have an extra problem in that you are a woman and you have estrogen. Estrogen LOVES to raise your blood sugar and that makes you store fat through high insulin levels. You are also very likely to be leptin-resistant. (Leptin-resistance actually precedes and predicts insulin-resistance---the leptin resistance comes first and almost all people who are seriously obese are leptin-resistant from their fat cells pumping out tons of leptin (just as, similarly, high blood levels of insulin eventually lead to insulin-resistance). What leptin-resistance does is to shut off your body's natural satiety. People who are leptin-resistant are hungry all the time and they eat more than their body needs because they do not have the normal mechanism of satiety. Lowering total carbohydrate intake is essential as obese folk have the ability to efficiently convert blood glucose into fructose--raising uric acid levels and doing more damage at the cellular level. I generally aim to keep my total carbs for the day at 100 grams or less--but that carbohydrate allowance must be spent on vegetables and some fruit (but mostly vegetables). It is sometimes useful to go on a very low carbohydrate diet for a couple of weeks and that will mean eliminating fruit for a couple of weeks. This will help to back off your fructokinase enzyme which is probably also sky-high from all the fructose you have been taking in through your sugar-consumption. After the two weeks are up, you can add a serving or two of lowish-fructose fruit like berries, citrus and tomatoes. But, sorry to have to tell you that you will likely never go back to eating much sugar or you will start the obesity bandwagon rolling again. The other thing that you are likely going to have to severely restrict or eliminate is grain. I eat one piece of organic whole rye bread on my heavy exercise days.

And, don't believe anyone who says that you don't need to exercise---it is essential for helping to repair your deranged metabolism. (Don't believe that your metabolism is deranged? Then why are you obese?) If you do drastic calorie reduction, (instead of a moderate calorie-reduction combined with a bit of exercise) you will hurt your body and guarantee regain. Heavy lifting is ideal for improving your body's insulin response---and because it will build up lean body mass, will help you to burn more calories 24-7.

Lifting is more important than cardio but cardio is important too. (I lift three days a week and go to the pool for an hour, twice a week.) If you have a problem exercising "on land" (as I do because of arthritis) then you can go take a water exercise class at your local public pool. You will feel great AND you will lose weight IF you follow the other dietary recommendations. I had a lot of trouble losing weight before I got mad and started to investigate just what was wrong with me. There is a lot of obesity research going on these days and what I have told you is reflective of the newest information that is starting to come out and also, what I have learned about being an obese female (an obese female's leptin levels are 2 to 3 times that of a man at the same body fat level). It really IS harder for women to lose excess body fat. This is something that women have always known but now research is revealing why. If you have any more questions, please feel free to message me. Good luck! You CAN do it!

p.s. One more thing. MFP will allow you to track your sodium and potassium. You need to keep your sodium down to about 1500 mg per day or less. And you need to try to keep your potassium blood levels as high as you can (eating lots of vegetables will help with that because they have a lot of magnesium which aids the uptake of potassium). Sodium not only discourages you because if causes water retention, but there is now some evidence that it interferes with fat burning.

MysticRealm

Food scale is great but tbh, I've lost weight perfectly fine without it and so have a lot of other people... you just need to get off your butt and move around.

If you are grossly under estimating what you are eating (especially if you eat out a lot, a lot of restaurants under estimate the calories in their food by a good bit) no matter how much you exercise you may not lose weight.

dixiewhiskey

Food scale is great but tbh, I've lost weight perfectly fine without it and so have a lot of other people... you just need to get off your butt and move around.

If you are grossly under estimating what you are eating (especially if you eat out a lot, a lot of restaurants under estimate the calories in their food by a good bit) no matter how much you exercise you may not lose weight.

I checked out her food diary and most of the things she is consuming don't require much measurement (e.g. one brand dinner roll). If you make poor food choices, you won't lose weight no matter if you measure 1 slice of toast on a food scale.. If she worked out more, she would be likely to see the scale or measurements move. Doing nothing in fact does nothing. Getting a food scale to measure things that are already pre-determined will not change the funk she is in.

GamerLady

I disagree with the persons that say you need to eat breakfast. I never eat breakfast and I do just fine, in fact I'm not hungry until dinner most of the time. I think you need to exercise. A good one for you to start with is 30 day shred if you don't have time to go to a gym. It's 20 min and you do 10 days of each level. Since you're sitting at a desk all day and don't have a lot of time I think it would be great for you. If you eat within your daily calories and stick with it, you WILL see results. You can get 30 day shred for under $10 for your own dvd, or get it for free on youtube.com

Also, get yourself some sugar free fudgdesicles that are about 40 calories each, some sugar free jello, and kellog's 90 calorie snacks, some stevia for your coffee, and save room for at least one treat for yourself a day or every other day. A 90 calorie treat is better than none and you go off binging because you're craving stuff.

I say this because it seems you like sugar from just quickly glancing over your diary. It will help to have these low cal/low sugar/sugar free snacks around. Just give yourself 1 treat a day or every other day so you don't feel like you're depriving yourself and cause yourself to binge.

dixiewhiskey

^ 30 Day Shred is a great recommendation. That always makes inches disappear :-)

SanteMulberry

Food scale is great but tbh, I've lost weight perfectly fine without it and so have a lot of other people... you just need to get off your butt and move around.

If you are grossly under estimating what you are eating (especially if you eat out a lot, a lot of restaurants under estimate the calories in their food by a good bit) no matter how much you exercise you may not lose weight.

I checked out her food diary and most of the things she is consuming don't require much measurement (e.g. one brand dinner roll). If you make poor food choices, you won't lose weight no matter if you measure 1 slice of toast on a food scale.. If she worked out more, she would be likely to see the scale or measurements move. Doing nothing in fact does nothing. Getting a food scale to measure things that are already pre-determined will not change the funk she is in.

She likely DOES need to weigh her food for a while because she is probably unaware that she is eating so much because of her likely leptin-resistance. (Most obese folk have it and seriously obese women almost certainly have it.)

SanteMulberry

I disagree with the persons that say you need to eat breakfast. I never eat breakfast and I do just fine, in fact I'm not hungry until dinner most of the time. I think you need to exercise. A good one for you to start with is 30 day shred if you don't have time to go to a gym. It's 20 min and you do 10 days of each level. Since you're sitting at a desk all day and don't have a lot of time I think it would be great for you. If you eat within your daily calories and stick with it, you WILL see results. You can get 30 day shred for under $10 for your own dvd, or get it for free on youtube.com

Also, get yourself some sugar free fudgdesicles that are about 40 calories each, some sugar free jello, and kellog's 90 calorie snacks, some stevia for your coffee, and save room for at least one treat for yourself a day. I say this because it seems you like sugar from just quickly glancing over your diary. It will help to have these low cal/low sugar/sugar free snacks around. Just give yourself 1 treat a day or every other day so you don't feel like you're depriving yourself and cause yourself to binge.

I agree. You don't have to eat breakfast--many obese folk dislike breakfast because their blood sugar levels are already high in the morning. One can know that one's metabolic problems are getting to a "normal" situation when one gets up in the morning and is hungry. I am still not hungry in the morning and that is useful because it extends night-time fat burning (which stops as soon as you eat in the morning).

SanteMulberry

I disagree with the persons that say you need to eat breakfast. I never eat breakfast and I do just fine, in fact I'm not hungry until dinner most of the time. I think you need to exercise. A good one for you to start with is 30 day shred if you don't have time to go to a gym. It's 20 min and you do 10 days of each level. Since you're sitting at a desk all day and don't have a lot of time I think it would be great for you. If you eat within your daily calories and stick with it, you WILL see results. You can get 30 day shred for under $10 for your own dvd, or get it for free on youtube.com

Also, get yourself some sugar free fudgdesicles that are about 40 calories each, some sugar free jello, and kellog's 90 calorie snacks, some stevia for your coffee, and save room for at least one treat for yourself a day or every other day. A 90 calorie treat is better than none and you go off binging because you're craving stuff.

I say this because it seems you like sugar from just quickly glancing over your diary. It will help to have these low cal/low sugar/sugar free snacks around. Just give yourself 1 treat a day or every other day so you don't feel like you're depriving yourself and cause yourself to binge.

If she goes cold turkey on the sugar, she will stop craving it (especially if she goes as fructose-free as she can for a couple of weeks). I no longer even WANT anything sugary since I went on a fast from fructose. It is the fructose that causes the metabolic derangement that, in turn, causes obesity. I have been sugar-free for three years (and wheat-free for about a year). Serious obesity is a medical problem and it can often require more drastic treatment (the proof of that is when you are faithfully following a calorie-restricted diet and no weight loss is occurring).

danielhutchins

The best exercise is what you will do. So, decide what that is and get to stepping. Walk, run, lift weights, swim, squash, yoga, whatever. Never give up...Never surrender!

SanteMulberry

The best exercise is what you will do. So, decide what that is and get to stepping. Walk, run, lift weights, swim, squash, yoga, whatever. Never give up...Never surrender!

^^^THIS^^^

Lupercalia

OP, I agree that you really need to exercise, and I highly recommend a food scale as well. But I don't want to downplay the importance of exercise, and not just in order to lose fat, but also because you should be looking at lifestyle changes if you're planning to maintain your fat loss. Same goes for your food choices/habits.

I agree with the recommendations of watching your intake of sugars and highly processed foods. I also noticed you never ever meet your protein goal--that's a problem you'll want to resolve as well. I'd be shooting for at least 100g as it will help you feel more satiated, and it is also important during weight loss in that it will help you retain your lean muscle (you want to keep as much of that stuff as possible).

I think meal timing and meal frequency talk is nonsense (in my experience) I suggest being more concerned with correct calories, the quality of your food choices, and really working to meet your protein goal.

You've got a number of things you can improve upon at this point, so I'd give those things a go and see what happens.

SoViLicious

Make my news feed

SanteMulberry

OP, I agree that you really need to exercise, and I highly recommend a food scale as well. But I don't want to downplay the importance of exercise, and not just in order to lose fat, but also because you should be looking at lifestyle changes if you're planning to maintain your fat loss. Same goes for your food choices/habits.

I agree with the recommendations of watching your intake of sugars and highly processed foods. I also noticed you never ever meet your protein goal--that's a problem you'll want to resolve as well. I'd be shooting for at least 100g as it will help you feel more satiated, and it is also important during weight loss in that it will help you retain your lean muscle (you want to keep as much of that stuff as possible).

I think meal timing and meal frequency talk is nonsense (in my experience) I suggest being more concerned with correct calories, the quality of your food choices, and really working to meet your protein goal.

You've got a number of things you can improve upon at this point, so I'd give those things a go and see what happens.

Yep. If you diet without paying attention to protein--you will hurt yourself. The same is true if you go very low carb (and I do NOT recommend it for long periods of time. But it is okay to "jump-start" things). If you go very low carb and also low fat, you will hurt yourself.

Trilby16

I like your categories of foods eaten! LOL

Seriously, this thing of eat more to lose more, I don't buy it. It never worked for me before. Basically it's why I'm a little overweight! I want to weigh 130 so I eat 1300 cals and I do eat back my exercise burn. I'm losing a pound a week, just like I want. But I don't tell anyone what to do, just what works for me. I am an older lady with not that much weight to lose, so do the math.