Staying within my calories,but eating alot of snacks

My weight loss has stalled, will someone look at my food diary and tell me what I am doing wrong? I noticed I am eating alot of snacks..

Replies

  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    How long has your weight stalled for, first of all?
  • awillkies
    awillkies Posts: 53 Member
    good question. i've noticed i am doing the exact same thing too.
  • Keiko385
    Keiko385 Posts: 514 Member
    It helps me to divvie up my total calories for the day and try to eat 200-300 for breakfast, 300-400 for lunch and the balance on dinner. I wont snack as much if I eat full meals
  • nevilles
    nevilles Posts: 11 Member
    Christy,

    Sometimes weight loss can plateau as our bodies adjust. The good news is that it will pick up again!

    However, looking at the last month of your log, I notice these things:

    1. You are a little heavy on the carbs. That can lead to blood sugar variation and increased hunger. That leads to snacking, and most of the snacks are high carb also.

    2. Some of your snacks are high in sodium. This can lead to water retention and make your weight loss seem slower.

    3. You are exercising (great job!) but not totally consistently. Try for a goal to exercise off 2800 calories a week. You are using walking which is great. Slowly increase the amount of time you walk, or do it twice a day, until you are burning 400 cal a day. Several studies have shown that 2800 cal a week in exercise is an amount that really helps with weight loss and weight maintenance.

    Hope this helps. Don't get discouraged. Good luck!
  • misty0413
    misty0413 Posts: 212
    I would add a sodium tracker and cut out the chips and poptarts. replace the processed foods with better choices. If you buckled down and lost 100 pounds go back to what you did then. protien seems low too.
  • kat5556
    kat5556 Posts: 164 Member
    Since you asked.....you do have a lot of snacks but snacks are not the problem but what you have for snacks. You have a lot of processed foods many of which which turn to sugar and up your insulin levels. There are many people here that say a calorie is a calorie but I can tell you from my experience, when I starting eating more fresh foods than processed foods the weight came off at a steady rate. Try switching your snacks to yogurt, low fat cottage cheese (or any low fat cheese), rice cakes, almond (or peanut) butter, fruit and vegetables and see if it works for you.
  • dansls1
    dansls1 Posts: 309 Member
    Pop tarts, jello and brownies in one day? I think it's the type of snacks, not the amount. Get some carrots and nuts...
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    Your body does not see the names of the foods you eat, it sees the quantity of nutrients.

    Processed foods are less nutrient dense but they do not have any negative impact on body composition. You can only assess their nutrient contribution to the diet, intolerances aside.
  • beansprouts
    beansprouts Posts: 410 Member
    I think that maybe it is your sodium....I only looked at the previous two days of your diary...(Friday and Saturday)...one day you had 2417mg of sodium...the day before you had 3409mg....and realize that if you use the salt shaker...Your daily consumption of sodium is even higher than that! Try bringing your food sodium levels down below 1000 for a few weeks (ie replace the high sodium foods with other choices) and see if that helps.
  • RawVeganFlirt
    RawVeganFlirt Posts: 189 Member
    dont worry stalling it normal. it could be hormones, stress, lactic acid from exercising. you could be simultaneously gaining muscle and losing fat, making the scale stay the same.

    one tip though, i notice on some days your days worth of calories scoop very low. always make sure you are eating atleast your BMR. if you go below your BMR your metabolism starts to slow down. and metabolism is critical for fat loss! so don't be scared to eat a couple more snacks, your body will thank you. check out Eat More To Weigh Less

    good luck !
  • your not eating enough. muscles is what speeds up your metabolism which burns fat, but your not eating enough to feed your muscles and because of that your not losing anymore weight. by cutting your calories that much your losing your muscle mas as well. I would say up your calorie intake from 1200 to 1500
  • also you should consider upping your protein intake!
  • Try checking out the sodium levels in what you eat, are you drinking enough?
  • FlamingJune67
    FlamingJune67 Posts: 96 Member
    Christy,

    Sometimes weight loss can plateau as our bodies adjust. The good news is that it will pick up again!

    However, looking at the last month of your log, I notice these things:

    1. You are a little heavy on the carbs. That can lead to blood sugar variation and increased hunger. That leads to snacking, and most of the snacks are high carb also.

    2. Some of your snacks are high in sodium. This can lead to water retention and make your weight loss seem slower.

    3. You are exercising (great job!) but not totally consistently. Try for a goal to exercise off 2800 calories a week. You are using walking which is great. Slowly increase the amount of time you walk, or do it twice a day, until you are burning 400 cal a day. Several studies have shown that 2800 cal a week in exercise is an amount that really helps with weight loss and weight maintenance.

    Hope this helps. Don't get discouraged. Good luck!

    What excellent advice! I'd never heard about the 2800 cal, but it seems reasonable.