I think I'm doing something wrong :(

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13

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  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
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    I see a lot of inconsistency in your diary. One day you're eating a 700 cal lunch and the next day you're eating 900 cals for the day. You may be confusing the heck out of your metabolism and forcing your body to hold on to the calories on the days you're not eating much. And what's in your 'green shake"? Is it really a good jump start for your metabolism daily?

    You also mentioned you have a sedentary lifestyle and you tried exercising a few times. It's been my experience that exercise is a MUST to keep off the 70lbs I've kept off for over 20 years. I've had office jobs in the past but I always make sure to work out...it's as much a part of my day as brushing my teeth...it's non-negotiable.

    Hope all of my input helps and I'm not coming off as judging you, I'm just tryin to help ;)
  • MIssFinny
    MIssFinny Posts: 194 Member
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    If you haven't already, perhaps you should set up an appointment with your Dr. and talk to him/her about what your goals are and see what they suggest for you. When I decided that it was time to get healthy, I saw my Dr. and he thought it would be good to get some tests done for diabetes, hypothyroidism, etc. He wanted to make sure that there wasn't going to be anything that might hinder my progress. He also set me up an appointment with a dietitian, which was very helpful. Good luck to you and I hope you see some progress soon!
  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
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    I am certainly no expert but here is what works for me. 3 healthy meals a day. and a snack. I hardly EVER eat out. Keep my cals around 1200 - 1400, but they are good healthy cals, so I get a lot of food. Workout. workout workout. At least 40 minutes a day. I started May 27th at 158 lbs and am 139.6 today. I am 5'1".

    Great job!!
  • lovemykids58
    lovemykids58 Posts: 195 Member
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    If you are using estimations, then that's probably where your issue lies.

    Use the recipe section to record what he's making.

    If the food item you are eating is not in the list, then add it yourself. Don't make substitutions.

    If you don't have a weight scale then get one. Eyeballing portion size is usually wrong.

    You need to be as accurate as possible.
    This- and WATER!! I know it can be hard( i struggle too)
    And try to eat more salad/ veggies.

    I also eat 3 meals and 2-3 HEALTHY snacks ( celery w/ a small amount of peanut butter, apple, light string cheese)

    For example- Lunch:
    Light bread - 2 slices 70 cals
    Jennie-O - 99% Fat Free Extra Lean Oven Roasted Turkey Breast , 3 oz - 75 cals
    Ultra thin cheese slice- 40 cals
    Chopped romain lettuce- 2 cups- 15 cals
    1 tbps- dressing ( varies in your choice)
    Baby carrots- 3 OZ- 35 cals
    1/2 fresh fruit (varies)

    I try to replace chips with carrots or something and then a serving or fresh fruit

    Good luck :)
  • halfmarathon52
    halfmarathon52 Posts: 14 Member
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    I am not an expert or anything but I would try eating 5-6 small meals a day and switch up your carb/protein/fat ratio. You are not eating enough and there is a lot of bread and grain in your diet. While shakes are good using them as a meal several times a day isnt ideal.

    Also getting atleast 20 min of cardio a day is a great way to use the carbs you are eating. Even a 3km walk everyday will help you out. Your body uses what you eat to fuel itself if there is to much it stores the rest so the larger meals are harder on your body (at least in my experience).

    Goodluck!
  • jlapey
    jlapey Posts: 1,850 Member
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    I didn't look at your logs, but it always helps to know where to start. I began on MFP 2 weeks ago. On my first day someone introduced me to HelloItsDan's page where I found this link: http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ Perfect place to figure your starting numbers and ideal weight. Peruse the site for lots of tips and be diligent with your logging. It's a real pain when it comes to recipes; my partner is a chef also and we cook a lot. Try eating complex carbs when you have carbs, fresh fruits and veggies and exercise more. I need to do this too. But most of all, BE PATIENT! it takes a while.
  • katejkelley
    katejkelley Posts: 841 Member
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    I looked at the past few days on your food diary and have some thoughts:
    1. Eat more of your calories earlier in the day. You eat almost nothing for breakfast and lunch, and then seem to have a pretty huge dinner.
    2. You tend to go WAY over on your sodium and sugar levels. Take a look at which foods are doing that and cut those back. It looked like there were quite a few processed (already prepared) foods in your dinner menus. Those tend to have a lot of fat and sodium but very little nutritional value.
    3. Even with the high sodium and sugar numbers, you don't eat all your calories every day. I recommend adding more fresh fruits and vegetables to every meal - make up your calories with those kinds of food.
    4. I didn't look at your water intake, but my guess is with all the sodium you ingest, you are probably carrying alot of water weight. Be sure to drink lots of water to flush that out and REALLY cut back on the sodium.
    Good luck to you!
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
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    Ok, I definitely misspoke on this one. I dont say "Hey , that looks like its about like this chicken salad i've found on the search". Instead I have to put in each darn ingredient (he tells me portions) and then divide that whole total by the amount of the food I ate. Kale soup is the perfect example. I had to take all the ingredients for the soup, then divide by how many cups it made. I guess that's very close but since I know it's not exact I call it 'guessing'

    Have you used the recipe builder function? You input everything and put number of servings and then it spits out your total.

    Honestly, even if your husband is giving you measurements, it's likely that he's guessing on portions, too. I know a lot of chefs who use a little of this and a little of that and say oh yeah, about a T of oil, but then you look at how much they actually add and it's more like 4 T.

    I would try building recipes for all of the stuff your DH makes and weighing/measuring everything else as accurately as you can for at least 2 weeks, and I bet you will see results. If you don't see any results and you are being very accurate in your tracking and staying at a decent deficit, then you will have something to take to your doctor to have him/her look for possible medical causes.
  • KristyHumphrey
    KristyHumphrey Posts: 248 Member
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    Bumping for later!
  • Tamisha15
    Tamisha15 Posts: 83 Member
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    Looks, like your over in carbs and sugar. I also noticed that your not drinking any water or your just not recording it. I've only lost 9 lbs in the last two months I've been working out but I have lost inches in my waist, my blood pressue is normal (diagnosed w/ hypertension) and I'm sleeping better at nights. If you hate to workout find a partner and do something fun. Zumba is a fun workout but its def a good workout. Also, there's water aroebics and boot camps. I like boot camps because your surrounded with support and everyone there has the same goals to lose weight or get back into shape. Hope this helps :-)
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
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    Never underestimate the power of a food scale. :smile:
  • amandaheverly
    amandaheverly Posts: 9
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    I'm wondering if your entries are correct, I mean just an obvious example is the use of black beans you keep using the dry entry which is the hard uncooked bean and I just can't imagine you are eating them hard and crunchy out of the bag. For that matter while you seem to have "healthy" kale soups and shakes, and some fruit snacks, the in between looks like fast food and take out which are abnormally high in sodium and simple carbs, I also suspect they just inject extra calories into that crap as I can always make it at home for less. You might also try reviewing your calorie goals based on your activity level, the general rule is if your not losing you are either eating at your maintenance level thus eating too many calories to lose or your not moving enough.


    Dry Beans: You're correct, my husband buys the bags of dry beans, then cooks them. I log the amount of dry beans before they are boiled (using the serving size on the bag which is in dry portions).

    The difference in food types you keep seeing is in direct coorelation to my husband's motivation! Most days he has already made me a shake and lunch and stuck them in the fridge (healthy days). The other days are when I'm left to fend for myself (unhealthy days).
  • amandaheverly
    amandaheverly Posts: 9
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    Looks, like your over in carbs and sugar. I also noticed that your not drinking any water or your just not recording it. I've only lost 9 lbs in the last two months I've been working out but I have lost inches in my waist, my blood pressue is normal (diagnosed w/ hypertension) and I'm sleeping better at nights. If you hate to workout find a partner and do something fun. Zumba is a fun workout but its def a good workout. Also, there's water aroebics and boot camps. I like boot camps because your surrounded with support and everyone there has the same goals to lose weight or get back into shape. Hope this helps :-)

    Everyone keeps talking about Zumba! I'll have to just get over my fear of feeling rediculous and try it ;) As for water, I drink it all day long so I'm usually drinking at least 80 oz before I leave work. I just dont log it:(
  • amandaheverly
    amandaheverly Posts: 9
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    Ok you guys have given me a lot of great things to think about and work on! So far I've got:

    * Eat more of my calories early in the day, less at dinner time
    * Eat less processed foods, more raw or homemade
    * Make sure I take my lunch to avoid the hungry-desperate-fast-food-trip
    * Watch my sodium and Carb (simple) intakes
    * Switch out as much bread as I can to whole wheat
    * Exercise! *grumble*
    * Add Protein (lean)

    .. and somehow (this is the part that worries me) eat MORE calories while eating LESS of the items that pack in the calories!

    I wish I'd posted sooner, you're all great for taking the time to help me out <3
  • jsilky
    jsilky Posts: 21 Member
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    I keep thinking the same thing.... :-( If someone wants to help me. :-D
    I feel like I get plenty of exercise MOST days.. IDK maybe not... Or it could be the foods I am eating.????? (I am trying to get better!!!!)

    Thanks
  • MTBrob
    MTBrob Posts: 513 Member
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    Ok you guys have given me a lot of great things to think about and work on! So far I've got:

    * Eat more of my calories early in the day, less at dinner time
    * Eat less processed foods, more raw or homemade
    * Make sure I take my lunch to avoid the hungry-desperate-fast-food-trip
    * Watch my sodium and Carb (complex) intakes
    * Drop breat to like 2 times a week .. Whole Wheat
    * Exercise! YES!!! REALLY I GET TO EXERCISE I LOVE EXERCISING!!!!!
    * Add Protein (lean)

    .. and somehow (this is the part that worries me) eat MORE calories while eating LESS of the items that pack in the calories!

    I wish I'd posted sooner, you're all great for taking the time to help me out <3

    HEre I fixed this for you .....
  • amandaheverly
    amandaheverly Posts: 9
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    I see what you did there...


    and yes, I really would like to get to the point where I enjoy exercising again. I threw shotput and discus through HS and used to loooove lifting weights. Maybe I'll try doing some weights again :)
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    Ok you guys have given me a lot of great things to think about and work on! So far I've got:

    * Eat more of my calories early in the day, less at dinner time
    * Eat less processed foods, more raw or homemade
    * Make sure I take my lunch to avoid the hungry-desperate-fast-food-trip
    * Watch my sodium and Carb (simple) intakes
    * Switch out as much bread as I can to whole wheat
    * Exercise! *grumble*
    * Add Protein (lean)

    .. and somehow (this is the part that worries me) eat MORE calories while eating LESS of the items that pack in the calories!

    I wish I'd posted sooner, you're all great for taking the time to help me out <3

    I'm going to dispell a few things here but I want you to understand that this info should help.

    Eat whatever you want.
    Don't stress about the food too much!
    Eat a lot of protein and healthy greens.
    2 cups of fruit a day!
    Fill the rest with whatever you want do long as you don't go over TDEE.

    Pick things up and put them down.
    Cardio doesn't break insulin resistance unless it's done fasted.
    So Zumba is great but if you have an insulin resistance then cardio won't work.
    You need fasting and weight lifting to break it.

    As for food frequency.
    You can eat 37 meals a day or 1.
    The thermic effect of food is the same.
    You'll burn the same calories eating 3 large meals as you will eating 6 small meals.

    Sodium has zero effect on weight loss.
    It does effect water retention but if you drink the proper amount of water daily and eat the proper potassium you won't have retention.

    To sum up:

    Eat what you want with emphasis on protein and essential fats.
    2 cups fruit a day.
    Leafy greens and fibre.
    Fill the rest of your calories with anything.

    Lift heavy things 3-4x a week and take walks on off days.
    Enjoy your fat loss.

    Oh!
    Read the road map!
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    Read Helloitsdan's post above ^. He just cut through all the broscience and gave you the information you need to succeed. Diet myths die hard, and there have been a lot of them suggested in this thread previous to his post.
  • breyn2004
    breyn2004 Posts: 162 Member
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    I personally, have cut out Lean Cuisines and other frozen dinners due to the ridiculous amount of sodium and I do think too much sodium is bad for reasons other than weight loss, BUT....

    I have to agree with the previous poster about sodium and weight loss (Note: that is only my personal opinion. :wink: ). My MFP settings have stayed the same as far as sodium. 2500. And I almost always go over a little. However, I drink 125+ ounces water/day. Per my nutritionist, "as long as your blood pressure is good and you're not retaining water, don't stress the sodium....." That's not to say go and see how much sodium you can squeeze into one day, but to me, it's way more beneficial to focus on carbs/fat/protein.

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