NEED HELP, DESPERATE TO KNOW WHATS WRONG!!!

24

Replies

  • hope8311
    hope8311 Posts: 166
    Just a thought here - I think that the calorie counts for exercise (if you're using MFP's) are inflated and need to be adjusted if you're counting on them to balance your eating and lose weight. For example, last week I did a bike ride, and MFP suggested that I burned off around 1800 calories, whereas my shiny new Garmin device determined I burned a bit under 1100.

    Oh no, I don't believe what mfp tells me it has the tendency to give me more credit where its do....I have a heart rate monitor I follow to know the exact calories Iburned...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Set you account to 1 lb per week, eat back 50% of your exercise calories if MFP is calculating or 80% of it's a HRM (some room for error). Also, track sodium and fiber as they are good things to track. Eliminate the sweets and drinking calories and pick up some lean whole meats, fruits and veggies. Also adjust your macro's to 35% carbs, 40% protein and 25% fats. Higher protein diets help with weight loss and muscle loss prevention.


    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    This may be a silly question, but I am going to ask anyway. When you say "if you have ___ to lose..." Is that by the amount a person is overweight or by how much they want to lose. According to most reports I am normal weight and OP is pretty much in that range too, but I want to lose about 20lbs. Should people like us do .5 to 1lb or just stick to .5?

    To get into a normal range. It's not uncommon that people want to lose more weight than they actually can. This is why I suggest working on body composition and knowing your BF % is critical to know what your goal weight should be.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/684493-how-to-determine-weight-goal?hl=how+to:+determine&page=1#posts-10001020
  • MelisMusing
    MelisMusing Posts: 421 Member
    Set you account to 1 lb per week, eat back 50% of your exercise calories if MFP is calculating or 80% of it's a HRM (some room for error). Also, track sodium and fiber as they are good things to track. Eliminate the sweets and drinking calories and pick up some lean whole meats, fruits and veggies. Also adjust your macro's to 35% carbs, 40% protein and 25% fats. Higher protein diets help with weight loss and muscle loss prevention.


    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    ^^ THIS. Plus I would suggest you try and limit added sugars.
  • SocWkrBee
    SocWkrBee Posts: 374
    Thanks psulemon. I kind of figured, but wasn't totally certain.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Set you account to 1 lb per week, eat back 50% of your exercise calories if MFP is calculating or 80% of it's a HRM (some room for error). Also, track sodium and fiber as they are good things to track. Eliminate the sweets and drinking calories and pick up some lean whole meats, fruits and veggies. Also adjust your macro's to 35% carbs, 40% protein and 25% fats. Higher protein diets help with weight loss and muscle loss prevention.


    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    ^^ THIS. Plus I would suggest you try and limit added sugars.

    I would debate the sugar part. Since sugar is a carb, if your carbs are moderate, you can cut fat. Heck, I eat 2-3 servings of fruit a day and I am continuously cutting fat.
  • twinketta
    twinketta Posts: 2,130 Member
    I looked back over your diary for maybe over a week.

    IMO you could do with not adding quick cals, log everything I know it takes time but it is important that you do it :-)

    Don`t skip meals. Try to plan your day the night before or the morning of the day and stick to it!

    It can become an obsession, it did for me for the first few months, once you can work out how to make it work for you then it gets easier :-)

    On the good side you are wanting to make a change and have lost some weight, so stick at it, be true to yourself, because only you can do this!

    You will get there x
  • hazelovesfood
    hazelovesfood Posts: 454 Member
    too many bread type products. and you do not look overweight at all from your profile so its harder to loose.
  • supermodelchic
    supermodelchic Posts: 550 Member
    You need to eat more fresh veggies and some fruit which can be full of natural sugars so limit those , ditch the cream cheese to high in fat , if you must eat, fat free variety. More complex carbs (eaten early in the day) quinoa or brown rice is good. More protein, grilled chicken, fish , pork. nut's in small amounts are great for snack , almonds are a good choice. How much exercise are you doing? Shoot for at least 30 minutes of hard cardio where you are dripping sweat , 4-5 times a week. Hope this was helpful to you goodluck.:flowerforyou:
  • 28848
    28848 Posts: 32 Member
    My 2cents...I think it's the type of food you are eating. Clean up your foods and I bet you see a big difference.

    Also, as others have said, it looks to me like you may not be calculating your homemade foods exactly.....just a thought.

    Hang in there....you can do this...but you have to be willing to make the effort to eat healthier foods.
  • lisa483
    lisa483 Posts: 105 Member
    As others have said, more veggies, fruit, proteins. Try a breakfast cereal with more fibre.

    Most importantly as someone else pointed out also WEIGH EVERYTHING!! If your just guesstimating things you maybe adding more and more calories without even realising.

    Good luck keep it up :0)
  • EatClenTrenHard
    EatClenTrenHard Posts: 339 Member
    homemade cheese sandwich - wheat bread, tomatoe, onions, lettuce, and Kraft slice of cheese, 1 sandwich


    Stopped reading after this..

    If you dont pay respect to counting your calories accurately you will never lose weight
    . 2 slices of breads are usualy around 200 calories, add cheese, and everything else and it would be over 300cal. thats 30% miscalculation.

    Buy yourself a very good accurate electronic scale. (3lbs max weight) for maximum accuracy, and make sure you are selecting proper brands. different brands have different calories.

    Stop eating stuff that someone else cooks for you at home. you never know how much butter they put inside your soup etc..

    It doesnt matter what, when and how you eat. what matters is your total energy spent in day (you will never know exact value, and it might differ by as much as 500 calorie from MFP estimate), and ofcourse your intake (WHICH YOU CAN and should measure accurately).

    MFP worked great for me. I also didnt suffer by eating "fresh celery and other raw vegetables", i ate only fruits for micronutrients.
    This isnt my 1st month losing weight, and i lost 8lbs already, and its only 24th.
    My point?

    Count calories more precise. Nothing else works

    P.S. also fibre doesnt make you feel full. I bought organic spelt bran from bulkbarn, ate avocados, almonds, and it doesnt even give you a hint that you are feeling full.
    Protein shakes make me feel full.
  • Double you protein or at least get around 90g. Make sure you get at least 30g of fiber a day mostly from fresh, raw fruits and veggies. Keep you sugar to only natural sugars that come in raw whole fruits, or anything that it naturally occurs in like milk, etc. Eat an orange instead of drinking orange juice. Whenever you have sugar, you need to have it with fiber to keep isulin and all that jazz good. Keep drinking a lot of water and add green tea. Sprinkle cayenne pepper on foods (sparingly since it is super hot) to increase you metabolism. I also like to start my breakfast with a lot of protein to keep me going for the day.
  • hope8311
    hope8311 Posts: 166
    You don't eat very many calories, and the calories you are eating could be spent on better quality food...more lean meats, fruits, veggies. Complex carbs only, no simple carbs. Try upping your protein intake, it is pretty low. Eggs, lean meats, greek yogurt, nuts, etc are all good sources of protein.

    I will try this thankyou...
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,966 Member
    Just want to re-iterate what a previous poster said. The burn rates for exercise in the MFP database can be inflated if you are using them to calculate how much you can eat back. I use an elliptical cross trainer, and the machine typically states 500-700 calories for a one hour session depending on my speed and resistance setting. MFP estimates around 1000 per hour.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,966 Member
    Whoops. Now I see you use a HRM.
  • hope8311
    hope8311 Posts: 166
    homemade cheese sandwich - wheat bread, tomatoe, onions, lettuce, and Kraft slice of cheese, 1 sandwich


    Stopped reading after this..

    If you dont pay respect to counting your calories accurately you will never lose weight
    . 2 slices of breads are usualy around 200 calories, add cheese, and everything else and it would be over 300cal. thats 30% miscalculation.

    Buy yourself a very good accurate electronic scale. (3lbs max weight) for maximum accuracy, and make sure you are selecting proper brands. different brands have different calories.

    Stop eating stuff that someone else cooks for you at home. you never know how much butter they put inside your soup etc..

    It doesnt matter what, when and how you eat. what matters is your total energy spent in day (you will never know exact value, and it might differ by as much as 500 calorie from MFP estimate), and ofcourse your intake (WHICH YOU CAN and should measure accurately).

    MFP worked great for me. I also didnt suffer by eating "fresh celery and other raw vegetables", i ate only fruits for micronutrients.
    This isnt my 1st month losing weight, and i lost 8lbs already, and its only 24th.
    My point?

    Count calories more precise. Nothing else works

    P.S. also fibre doesnt make you feel full. I bought organic spelt bran from bulkbarn, ate avocados, almonds, and it doesnt even give you a hint that you are feeling full.
    Protein shakes make me feel full.


    Appreciate this : however, my calculations on my sandwich are correct...Hypton 2 slices of wheat bread= 90 calories, slice of kraft sliced cheese-60 calories, tomatoe 2 slices, small piece of onion, and lettuce less 50 calories=200 calories
    I used to log in this individually if you go back another day you'll see the individual calories, but then just added it in the food journal as a sandwich was easier...

    ANd I do not eat anyones cooking, I make my own food on a daily basis after work. I put about a spoon of olive oil and 2 galsses of water when I sautee the onions, mix veggies...SO I know exactly what am eating...

    Oh and Idon't believe what mfp tells me in regards to the calories burned.. I calculate them with a heart rate monitor....

    And your right at times am really hungry, maybe I should also incorporate a proetin shake to make me feel full..But the taste is not so ideal.....

    I
  • JessieTangerine
    JessieTangerine Posts: 91 Member
    The best thing you can do for you weight and your health is learn how to cook. Glancing through your diary, I saw you eat a ton of aloo gobi. Use that as a starting point. Indian cuisine is high in fiber (it actually does make you feel full, dont listen to the above poster) and protein, but low in animal proteins (aka low in fat). Buy a good beginners cookbook and start experimenting.

    Also, try eating more calories. Counter intuitive I know. Starting in January, I was on weight watchers and eating about 1250 calories a day. It stunk, I was always tired and the sad thing is that for the five months I was on it, I lost only 4 pounds. Yup, I couldnt even eke out a pound in a month. Anyways, went to mfp and upped my calories up by 100 and I still had the same problem. This past month however, I moved up my calories to 1600 and I am FINALLY losing (about a half pound a week, a good amount for someone with not much to lose). The point of the story, Im a lot shorter than you and eating more. Certainly other things such as age and activity level come into play, but if you want to lose weight, try playing with your calorie intake.
  • hope8311
    hope8311 Posts: 166
    Double you protein or at least get around 90g. Make sure you get at least 30g of fiber a day mostly from fresh, raw fruits and veggies. Keep you sugar to only natural sugars that come in raw whole fruits, or anything that it naturally occurs in like milk, etc. Eat an orange instead of drinking orange juice. Whenever you have sugar, you need to have it with fiber to keep isulin and all that jazz good. Keep drinking a lot of water and add green tea. Sprinkle cayenne pepper on foods (sparingly since it is super hot) to increase you metabolism. I also like to start my breakfast with a lot of protein to keep me going for the day.

    Thank you I will be sure to do this..ANd am not a fan of the juice just needed something other that water...I need to drink more water...Having a hard time with that aspect....But I have to want to lose weight and work at getting healthier...

    THankyou
  • hope8311
    hope8311 Posts: 166
    I'm 5'7" and maintaining at 160lbs now. To lose I ate about net 1600 calories - 1600 plus all my exercise calories; I lost 34 lbs in about 8 months. If you try and be too restrictive, you're more likely to binge... at least that's what I've found. Many others will agree with me. So if you change your goal to .5 lbs/week or 1lb/week if you must, you'll get to eat more and you may be more likely to stick exactly to your goals. The worst that can happen is you continue to lose 2 lbs/month, which let's face it, is okay...

    Looking at your profile picture you look like you are very toned... :) So on average you lost about 3-5 lbs a month for eight months...I agree at times Ijust want to binge eat which occured Saturday....I will change my goal to .5 lbs lost to increase my calories and not feel like am not eating enough at times...

    thankyou
  • MemphisKitten
    MemphisKitten Posts: 878 Member
    1400 is probably closer to your BMR. And losing 2 lbs in 25 days isn't bad!! If you're working out, you probably put on some muscle. Keep going!!!
  • hope8311
    hope8311 Posts: 166
    The best thing you can do for you weight and your health is learn how to cook. Glancing through your diary, I saw you eat a ton of aloo gobi. Use that as a starting point. Indian cuisine is high in fiber (it actually does make you feel full, dont listen to the above poster) and protein, but low in animal proteins (aka low in fat). Buy a good beginners cookbook and start experimenting.

    Also, try eating more calories. Counter intuitive I know. Starting in January, I was on weight watchers and eating about 1250 calories a day. It stunk, I was always tired and the sad thing is that for the five months I was on it, I lost only 4 pounds. Yup, I couldnt even eke out a pound in a month. Anyways, went to mfp and upped my calories up by 100 and I still had the same problem. This past month however, I moved up my calories to 1600 and I am FINALLY losing (about a half pound a week, a good amount for someone with not much to lose). The point of the story, Im a lot shorter than you and eating more. Certainly other things such as age and activity level come into play, but if you want to lose weight, try playing with your calorie intake.

    this is funny, I actually do know how to cook...ANd when I eat the alloo gobi, I do't eat the potatoes, move them tothe side... I am stuck at a desk job most of my day so only have time to cook for an hour out of the day and be able to exercise....But with that being said, I am not really big on cooking chicken, turkey or beef...I do so once a month..But Isuppose Ishould start adding more...But Iunderstand how do Iin increase my calories , changing my settings, thanks
  • ErinBeth7
    ErinBeth7 Posts: 1,625 Member
    protein bars are good...chicken, fish, turkey....I'm on high protein and I use all those x
    Yep! White meat is great for protein and it's lean. Eggs are great for protein as well. A lot of people here skip the yolk and just have egg whites. Soy is another great option for protein. For example, soy milk in a protein shake.
  • PeachyKeene
    PeachyKeene Posts: 1,645 Member
    First and foremost, be sure your portions are correct. I saw where you had a box of rice krispies, which is only about a cup and you had a cup of milk. Unless, you were drinking milk, seems like an awful lot for such a little bowl of cereal.

    Yes, as others have said eat more fiber.

    How are your clothes fitting? Have you measured yourself to see if you have lost any inches? Could be added water weight from working out or to much sodium. Drink more water and try adding some real lemon juice.

    Give it time! You don't have as much to lose as some of us. The less you have to lose, the harder it is lose it.
  • giggles213
    giggles213 Posts: 9 Member
    You may also want to ask your doctor to do a thyroid test just to make sure that your body is working the way that it should be. I have been off and on diets and exercise systems for several months now. I finally decided to ask my dr to run a blood test to check my thyroid. Hopefully all comes back normal and we can figure out what is going to work best for me.
  • This may go against the grain, but I recommend to increase your caloric intake goal and your activity instead of trying to cut to 1200. Though you want to lose weight, if you were not gaining eating 2000 cal a day your metabolism was used to that. Try to eat fresh and healthy. More veggies and fruit/ increase protein and keep sugar/fat/processed cals low.

    It will come off, but if your body thinks you are going to starve it won't drop anything.

    Just my train of though- when I started eating 1800-2000 cal a day is when I started to lose the weight... Instead of not losing and being really really hungry all the time.

    Good luck!
  • hope8311
    hope8311 Posts: 166
    protein bars are good...chicken, fish, turkey....I'm on high protein and I use all those x

    thnks every little helps i'll try these bars
  • hope8311
    hope8311 Posts: 166
    I looked back over your diary for maybe over a week.

    IMO you could do with not adding quick cals, log everything I know it takes time but it is important that you do it :-)

    Don`t skip meals. Try to plan your day the night before or the morning of the day and stick to it!

    It can become an obsession, it did for me for the first few months, once you can work out how to make it work for you then it gets easier :-)

    On the good side you are wanting to make a change and have lost some weight, so stick at it, be true to yourself, because only you can do this!

    You will get there x

    Oh thanks, but Ido log every little bit regardless of how embarrased I am...I log it all in and make sure thats one thing I don't skip over....I will makesure I will try to plan ahead of time...
  • hope8311
    hope8311 Posts: 166
    You may also want to ask your doctor to do a thyroid test just to make sure that your body is working the way that it should be. I have been off and on diets and exercise systems for several months now. I finally decided to ask my dr to run a blood test to check my thyroid. Hopefully all comes back normal and we can figure out what is going to work best for me.

    OH I did do this, I am 100% healthy..MInus being a little overweight....
  • kirbyland
    kirbyland Posts: 16 Member
    What has seemed to work for me, when I go grocery shopping I stick to the outsides, I rarely go down the aisles. Try this, that way you'll get lots of fruits and veggies and more protein.

    But keep at it. Any loss is a loss, and by the way you've been working out, i'm sure you've gained some muscle!
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Set yourself at a reasonable deficit and don't go over.