Please take a peek at my Food Diary...

ahertel0214

If you have a moment, take a glance at my food diary and let me know your thoughts.

I've been on a 2 month plateau so, I recently increased my calories, started to cycle them, and changed up my exercise routine... all to no avail.

Thanks in advance for your time & feedback!

mamaturner

I'd be interested to know what your sodium intake is, that can cause water weight, do you drink the recommended amount of water at least?

Yurippe

Here us my "do as I say, not as I do" advice. Eliminate the red bull and protien powders and replace with real whole foods.

questionablemethods

I generally concur with what has already been said. Personally, I also use some protein powder to help meet my relatively high protein targets without breaking the bank or stuffing myself silly, but I try to be sure that my other protein sources are whole foods. Before eliminating the protein powder (if it is helping you meet your macronutrient goals), I would say try to replace the prepared foods like the Hormel chili and, indeed, watch the sodium intake -- especially on the processed foods because it tends to be crazy high.

ahertel0214

Yes, lot's of h2o - though I never log it.

The Red Bull I could probably do without - and suffer the headaches for a few days.

Yes, I do the protein powder to get it up without torturing myself by being too full. I'm not a huge meat eater.

The chili was an oddity - no leftovers from last night so I snagged it from the cabinet in a hurry this morning.

Yurippe

The Red Bull I could probably do without - and suffer the headaches for a few days.

Yes, I do the protein powder to get it up without torturing myself by being too full. I'm not a huge meat eater.

Caffeine withdrawl lasted a few days for me, then I felt much better without it (for about 50 days). Was sleeping much better and the natural energy from that was much better than the jittery feeling I get from caffeine. Just recently start having coffee again occationally because it is delicious and I missed the taste.

You could add other foods instead of meat to up your protien (beans, tofu, meat replacements products, nuts, dairy, etc).

This article on Protien Shakes and the resulting thread was interesting:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/99410-consumer-reports-on-protein-shakes?hl=consumer+reports+protien#posts-1372995

thumper44

Hi there,
I just went over your last week in your diary. Most foods seem to be ok, and your eating quite a few meals a day.

Your going over on Fiber, so I would think you have no problems there, and you should change that column to sugars.
There might be alot of hidden sugars your not aware of.

Somedays it looks like your not eating enough.
I would try to eliminate your red bull every day.

What kind of exercises are you doing? When did you change your exercise routine? Your body can take 1-2 weeks to adjust to a new routine before shedding the lbs.

Hope this helps.

ahertel0214

Thanks everyone!

Peter - up unitl today, the Sodium column was Sugar... I kept really close track of it as I used to be a bit of a sugar addict!

Exercise includes running, zumba, strength training, pilates and the occasional kickboxing class. Pretty good variety I think?

I'll just stick with it.

jessicajoy87

:drinker: You eat better than I do.

melodyg

I concur with the advice to give up Red Bull!

Besides that... you eat healthier than I do as well. The only thing I can think of is that it seems like you eat a lot of the same foods. Maybe switch to some different healthy foods and see if that helps?

thumper44

So as other people have admitted you eat very well.

The other side of the coin.

How are you calculating your exercise calories? HRM?

IMO. I think you should start eating ALL of your exercise calories.
Every day last week you didn't eat all your calories, and some days you were burning 500+

edit. lots of reading here.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

karoske

You diet looks excellent! You are just in a slump and my advice that has worked for me and this is only by my own experience is...
Eat more 1 day a week. Have a day where you eat all of your calories and even go over. no high protein shake that day just a lot of good healthy food at least 2000-2500 cals. It has kicked my metabolism in gear when I do this. then I drop my calories back down to 1200 for the day after then jump back up to the 1500-1700 the next few days, I then roller coaster it between low 1200's then back up to 15-1700's.
Again this is what has worked for me when I get into a rut. And I agree with everyone else x out the red bull you don't need that if you really want a good over all supplement try Organo Ganoderma tea or coffee. Do a search on Ganoderma it is excellent for you and your body and after 3 days you will feel like a million bucks! :-)

leeloolilo

It looks like you're eating very well! I agree with what's been said so far but I'm noticing that on the days you log everything you seem to have a calorie deficient of 100-300 cal. That's wonderful, but remember that your results are going to come slowly at that level. There's another possibility. Unless you are beyond a doubt positive that your body burned exactly what this site tells you, there's a chance you really don't have that much of a calorie deficient. I would suggest adding a walk into your routine. Even just a tiny bit of extra light exercise could help push you over that plateau.

Really good job on the food/nutrition! You're diary looks wonderful.

kdiamond

Your diet looks awesome...great combo of protein/carbs/fat - you're eating a good amount of protein which is essential. Most everything is coming from whole/real foods so another in the plus column.

I would not cut out the Red Bull - a little caffeine isn't going to kill ya.

Hate to say it but the people who are commenting have a ways to go themselves and shouldn't be picking on you for a little minor thing like a Sugar Free Red Bull...take it from me everything (with minor exceptions of course) is fine in moderation...I have a red bull here and there, I also drink alcohol now and then, and I sometimes have ice cream! Gasp!

melodyg

Hate to say it but the people who are commenting have a ways to go themselves and shouldn't be picking on you for a little minor thing like a Sugar Free Red Bull...take it from me everything (with minor exceptions of course) is fine in moderation...I have a red bull here and there, I also drink alcohol now and then, and I sometimes have ice cream! Gasp!

I didn't realize I had to be a certain weight to give advice! The OP asked for advice... and we offered it to her. It was not "picking on her", but responding to the original question. She is free to follow suggestions or to not. Not trying to start a fight... it is just those of us who have "a way to go" already get discriminated against enough in life... I don't need it on here too.

ahertel0214

Calories burned are calculated by my HRM. I do have a SUPER hard time eating back my exercise calories. Not because I think I'll lose faster if I don't - I get the principal behind it all. I'm just not hungry.

Thoughts on that part?

kdiamond

I didn't realize I had to be a certain weight to give advice! The OP asked for advice... and we offered it to her. It was not "picking on her", but responding to the original question. She is free to follow suggestions or to not. Not trying to start a fight... it is just those of us who have "a way to go" already get discriminated against enough in life... I don't need it on here too.

Not discriminating at all, and not saying you need to be a certain weight to give advice...I said "a ways to go" meaning lifestyle changes but of course it is always taken the wrong way...It irritates me when people knit pick little things like a sugar free Red Bull (10 lousy calories) as it would have ANY negative affect on losing weight!! If you tell her that you have no idea what you're talking about! Sorry but I'm being a realist. You can't cut out everything in life, if you do, you're setting yourself up for failure. Her diet is pretty spot on and it would be great to see more people eating like her! We'd (a general "we" here, not picking on one individual) would all be in better health/weight if we did.

questionablemethods

Well, I hope I didn't come off as a nit-picker. I do think that most everything looks really great and yeah, the occasional Red Bull or glass of wine or ice cream or canned chili isn't going to make a big difference in the long run. I hadn't scrolled too far back in the diary to get a full assessment and was making my comments assuming that one or two days were pretty representative.

But moving on....

To the OP, how long have you been trying the zig-zag method and how much are you "zigging and zagging"? What sorts of exercise are you doing?

I've been hovering around 125 for about a month now myself and I've recently downloaded Tom Venuto's book "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" which does describe calorie and carb cycling as a way to break through a plateau, so it is something that I'm going to try (along with getting quite a bit more strict about things just for a bit).

ahertel0214

In the beginning I lost 25 pounds in about 3 months. Now I'm stuck. Like in cement stuck.

I've only been doing the zig-zag (or calorie cycling) for about a week and a half.

I bumped them up from 1500 to 1675, and made a "schedule" that varies the calories each day anywhere from 1340-2000. Still totaling 11,725 for the week (which is where I would be at if eating 1675 every day).

Now, let me say - that's what I'm TRYING to do. The higher calorie days are hard for me, specifically since I get in some sort of workout 3-5 days a week. Eating exercise calories often seems daunting to me. Silly since overeating got me here in the first place!

I always eat to within a few grams (give or take) of my suggested fat & carbs for the day... but that always leaves me with calories to eat.

Getting pretty frustrated. Thanks for your feedback!

havingitall

Lose the Red Bull.. the fake sweetener isn't any good for you. Try to eat most of your calories and add lots more fruits and veggies.

saverys_gal

Bump!

thumper44

Calories burned are calculated by my HRM. I do have a SUPER hard time eating back my exercise calories. Not because I think I'll lose faster if I don't - I get the principal behind it all. I'm just not hungry.

Thoughts on that part?

I would keep with trying the zig zag thing and see if that works for you.

Another thing is that your 14lbs away from your goal weight.
Depending on what your RMR is, you might have to adjust your caloric intake higher.

A lot of people get stuck at a plateau after a certain time, and most people see to break through by adding more calories, or changing up the exercise routine. (myself, I upped my calories from 1700-2000 after 1 month plateau)


The Red Bull.
Give it a break people. OP asked for advice. People saw that she was eating very clean and noticed that she was having a red bull every day.........Not every now and then, but EVERY DAY.

Does it harm weight loss, maybe, maybe not, but it's an easy thing to remove.
For a lot of people, it can be trial and error.
What does it hurt if she went with out the red bull for a few weeks to see if anything changes.