How am I doing so far? What can I do differently?
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Oh! One thing I forgot to mention: My BF's parents are living with us for a bit. They cook our dinners. They're relatively healthy dinners, all homemade from scratch. I'm careful about my portion sizes, and try to keep it light on the more carb-y stuff. I try to figure what calories from researching online the different ingredients, but I'm sure it's not 100% accurate.
Before someone says it, no, there is no way I can just stop eating what they make. If I were to come home to pasta alfredo or something OBVIOUSLY bad, I could say no, because they know I'm trying to lose weight. Which is why they're being mindful of what they make (and neither have ever been overweight, so I do trust them). If I were to just say "NOPE NO WAY, NEVER" because I didn't make it myself, I know I'd insult them (different culture, if that makes any difference). I need to draw a line between keeping the peace and doing what's best for me, which is what I've been trying to do.
if someone else is cooking your dinner for you, there is no way for you to know how many calories you are eating. I would suggest asking parents if you could help cook with them because you are trying to lose weight and need to count calories. Good job upping your water intake. Jillian Michaels says burn more calories than you eat. She also says eating between 1200 and 1400 cals/day is okay. So I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories. Nope. Won't do it. And I AM FULL throughout the day.0 -
1. Log all your foods. There are quick added cal in your diary every day - what are those?
2. If you make something, log the items that go into what you made - there is a recipe tab that you can use to enter the ingredients for the food you make and the cal/comp are calculated for you and saved.
3. Weigh and measure your food. Are you guesstimating what you eat? 99% of people are not able to guesstimate what an oz/cup/etc looks like.
Also 3 weeks is not a long time, you could be holding water, or any number of things.
Try the 3 things above for a month and come back with your results.
1. Those are foods I couldn't find in the MFP list. I Googled them, and that is what I found. Quick add was just a faster method than starting a whole new food.
2. Yeah, when I do make my own food, I try to save the recipes (which I've already done). But one thing that I didn't post in the OP (forgot, but it's further down the thread), is that I don't/can't make my own dinners. So I just try to watch my portions and forgo the obviously unhealthy stuff.
3. I measure when I can. I'll start bringing more stuff from home just to be safe.
Thanks!
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Oh! One thing I forgot to mention: My BF's parents are living with us for a bit. They cook our dinners. They're relatively healthy dinners, all homemade from scratch. I'm careful about my portion sizes, and try to keep it light on the more carb-y stuff. I try to figure what calories from researching online the different ingredients, but I'm sure it's not 100% accurate.
Before someone says it, no, there is no way I can just stop eating what they make. If I were to come home to pasta alfredo or something OBVIOUSLY bad, I could say no, because they know I'm trying to lose weight. Which is why they're being mindful of what they make (and neither have ever been overweight, so I do trust them). If I were to just say "NOPE NO WAY, NEVER" because I didn't make it myself, I know I'd insult them (different culture, if that makes any difference). I need to draw a line between keeping the peace and doing what's best for me, which is what I've been trying to do.
if someone else is cooking your dinner for you, there is no way for you to know how many calories you are eating. I would suggest asking parents if you could help cook with them because you are trying to lose weight and need to count calories. Good job upping your water intake. Jillian Michaels says burn more calories than you eat. She also says eating between 1200 and 1400 cals/day is okay. So I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories. Nope. Won't do it. And I AM FULL throughout the day.
Unfortunately, that's not an option. By the time I get off work, and get home from zumba, it's 8pm-8:30pm. Dinner has already been made, and in most cases, they already ate and saved me a plate. Again, I realize it would be ideal for me to tell them to stop making me food, but I really, truly can't. You don't realize how rude they'd perceive it, especially since they're already cooking pretty healthy food. But, I will try to keep my breakfasts/lunches tiny so that I can afford it, just in case. And not eat back my exercise cals anymore.0 -
1. Log all your foods. There are quick added cal in your diary every day - what are those?
2. If you make something, log the items that go into what you made - there is a recipe tab that you can use to enter the ingredients for the food you make and the cal/comp are calculated for you and saved.
3. Weigh and measure your food. Are you guesstimating what you eat? 99% of people are not able to guesstimate what an oz/cup/etc looks like.
Also 3 weeks is not a long time, you could be holding water, or any number of things.
Try the 3 things above for a month and come back with your results.
1. Those are foods I couldn't find in the MFP list. I Googled them, and that is what I found. Quick add was just a faster method than starting a whole new food.
2. Yeah, when I do make my own food, I try to save the recipes (which I've already done). But one thing that I didn't post in the OP (forgot, but it's further down the thread), is that I don't/can't make my own dinners. So I just try to watch my portions and forgo the obviously unhealthy stuff.
3. I measure when I can. I'll start bringing more stuff from home just to be safe.
Thanks!
1. Add the foods to the database instead of quick adding - you are helping everyone using the site by adding missing items
2. Ask them for the recipes and tell them that you are creating a recipe book for when you and your BF are on your own, you don't need to tell them you are counting cal, or on a diet, unless you want to. From there add the food as a recipe and log.
3. Measure. And weigh your food. A digital food scale can be had for less than $15 and can be used for baking, weighing mail/packages, your cat, all sorts of things.0 -
Oh! One thing I forgot to mention: My BF's parents are living with us for a bit. They cook our dinners. They're relatively healthy dinners, all homemade from scratch. I'm careful about my portion sizes, and try to keep it light on the more carb-y stuff. I try to figure what calories from researching online the different ingredients, but I'm sure it's not 100% accurate.
Before someone says it, no, there is no way I can just stop eating what they make. If I were to come home to pasta alfredo or something OBVIOUSLY bad, I could say no, because they know I'm trying to lose weight. Which is why they're being mindful of what they make (and neither have ever been overweight, so I do trust them). If I were to just say "NOPE NO WAY, NEVER" because I didn't make it myself, I know I'd insult them (different culture, if that makes any difference). I need to draw a line between keeping the peace and doing what's best for me, which is what I've been trying to do.
if someone else is cooking your dinner for you, there is no way for you to know how many calories you are eating. I would suggest asking parents if you could help cook with them because you are trying to lose weight and need to count calories. Good job upping your water intake. Jillian Michaels says burn more calories than you eat. She also says eating between 1200 and 1400 cals/day is okay. So I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories. Nope. Won't do it. And I AM FULL throughout the day.
Unfortunately, that's not an option. By the time I get off work, and get home from zumba, it's 8pm-8:30pm. Dinner has already been made, and in most cases, they already ate and saved me a plate. Again, I realize it would be ideal for me to tell them to stop making me food, but I really, truly can't. You don't realize how rude they'd perceive it, especially since they're already cooking pretty healthy food. But, I will try to keep my breakfasts/lunches tiny so that I can afford it, just in case. And not eat back my exercise cals anymore.
If they are eating without you anyway, why do you have to eat what they made? Just asking.0 -
Oh! One thing I forgot to mention: My BF's parents are living with us for a bit. They cook our dinners. They're relatively healthy dinners, all homemade from scratch. I'm careful about my portion sizes, and try to keep it light on the more carb-y stuff. I try to figure what calories from researching online the different ingredients, but I'm sure it's not 100% accurate.
Before someone says it, no, there is no way I can just stop eating what they make. If I were to come home to pasta alfredo or something OBVIOUSLY bad, I could say no, because they know I'm trying to lose weight. Which is why they're being mindful of what they make (and neither have ever been overweight, so I do trust them). If I were to just say "NOPE NO WAY, NEVER" because I didn't make it myself, I know I'd insult them (different culture, if that makes any difference). I need to draw a line between keeping the peace and doing what's best for me, which is what I've been trying to do.
if someone else is cooking your dinner for you, there is no way for you to know how many calories you are eating. I would suggest asking parents if you could help cook with them because you are trying to lose weight and need to count calories. Good job upping your water intake. Jillian Michaels says burn more calories than you eat. She also says eating between 1200 and 1400 cals/day is okay. So I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories. Nope. Won't do it. And I AM FULL throughout the day.
Unfortunately, that's not an option. By the time I get off work, and get home from zumba, it's 8pm-8:30pm. Dinner has already been made, and in most cases, they already ate and saved me a plate. Again, I realize it would be ideal for me to tell them to stop making me food, but I really, truly can't. You don't realize how rude they'd perceive it, especially since they're already cooking pretty healthy food. But, I will try to keep my breakfasts/lunches tiny so that I can afford it, just in case. And not eat back my exercise cals anymore.
If they are eating without you anyway, why do you have to eat what they made? Just asking.
^^^^ yes. I would just sit mama down and tell her you need to start making your own meals for dinner because your weightloss comes first and its very important to you. If she wont understand, that's pretty sad. Your health needs to come before anyones feelings, imho. As long as youre not going out of your way to purposely be rude and mean to hurt someones feelings, your health should always come first.0 -
Not knowing your age, I can't accurately do the calculation, but your BMR is up around 1600-1700 Cals per day. You really need to eat at least that much in order to keep your body functioning healthily. In addition, eating so little will slow down your metabolism, and you'll further have trouble losing the weight.
Go read this (at least the first post) and follow the instructions. You'll likely find that it seems daunting at first, but it works.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-120 -
Not knowing your age, I can't accurately do the calculation, but your BMR is up around 1600-1700 Cals per day. You really need to eat at least that much in order to keep your body functioning healthily. In addition, eating so little will slow down your metabolism, and you'll further have trouble losing the weight.
Go read this (at least the first post) and follow the instructions. You'll likely find that it seems daunting at first, but it works.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
^^^^this. it will work0 -
As I understand it cheat meals/ days as used by athletes and people who are serious about their training or aesthetic goals are intended to keep someone on track when they are eating (obsessively) clean and healthy six or six and a half days a week, and to keep their metabolism ticking over. They are an alternative to dieting seven days a week but having a small treat each day. Now this concept has been hijacked by mainstream dieters the whole purpose has been lost, it's about maintaining a healthy lifestyle not cheating yourself. Athletes realise results are perhaps 80% diet and 20% training.
The reality is you have no idea what you are eating half the time, and not logging properly so people here have no idea if you are hitting your macros or micros. Quick cals might be the lazy option but they are meaningless when you want to review your progress. Effectively every meal you eat that you don't cook is potentially a cheat meal, I can totally understand why refusal may not be an option, but if that is the case you need to try to log it as accurately as possible (maybe take some time off the gym, help with the cooking, log the recipes?) and suck up not having cheat days just eating healthily the vast majority of the time. At present you are prioritising your Zumba (<20% of your results) over your diet (>80% of your results) which makes no sense.
I don't think you should be taking calories out of your breakfast and lunch and not eating back your exercise calories, that risks you consistently netting well below your BMR which means your metabolism could drop and you could be piling the weight on when you cheat.0 -
Sorry to take over your thread but i'd love some feedback on my stuff too - I've got a fitbit for christmas and that is where all my exercise calories come from and I try to only eat about half back, since i think it overestimates for me. I jsut started working out again (running and lifting) but still havnet really gotten into a routine. I know I have processed foods, but its so hard to not! We live 45 minutes from the nearest grocery store so we tend to stock up on things that wont go bad, hence the lack of fresh fruits and veggies in the diet0
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Sorry to take over your thread but i'd love some feedback on my stuff too - I've got a fitbit for christmas and that is where all my exercise calories come from and I try to only eat about half back, since i think it overestimates for me. I jsut started working out again (running and lifting) but still havnet really gotten into a routine. I know I have processed foods, but its so hard to not! We live 45 minutes from the nearest grocery store so we tend to stock up on things that wont go bad, hence the lack of fresh fruits and veggies in the diet
Plenty of longlife healthy foods - dried beans and lentils, canned beans and lentils, canned tomatoes, canned oily fish, brown rice, wholegrain pasta, jumbo oats, pot barley, any nuts, any seeds, frozen fruit and veggies, dried fruits, dried herbs and spice blends, block creamed or unsweetened dessicated coconut, powdered or UHT milk, various pickled vegetables, jar olives in brine or oil, jar garlic. Fresh meats and fish can be frozen as can some traditional/ natural cheeses (some go crumbly but taste good and cook fine) and many dishes can be made in bulk when you first grocery shop then frozen for use as ready meals when the fresh stuff starts to run down.
Aside from the frozen, fresh root vegetables are long lasting if stored carefully and the excess can often be chopped and home frozen. I live alone and just got through 4kg of red onions, 2kg of fresh carrots and a whole red cabbage over somewhere between a month and six weeks, I frozen some of the onions and tried to keep the carrots cold and dry but still bagged, cabbage no special treatment. There is tons of information online about careful storage and not wasting veggies that are going bad (eg. soups).
It's not just fresh fruit and veg you are not having, all your proteins and sauces are processed and high in salt. If you can't bear to switch from bread to other carbs maybe consider buying a sack of stoneground flour and baking your own bread, pizza bases, pancakes. At the end of the day it's up to you if you want to make excuses or do as you say in your profile, fruit and veg is far from the only healthy eating guideline you are not meeting, not sure you are managing a single one.
Do you have a near-ish neighbour or work colleague that you could share a little grocery shopping with? Both do your own BIG longlife shop as often as now plus just fresh fruit and veggie items for the other household, and alternate that way so you go to the grocery store the same frequency but get a 'delivery' of fresh produce in between?0 -
Sorry to take over your thread but i'd love some feedback on my stuff too - I've got a fitbit for christmas and that is where all my exercise calories come from and I try to only eat about half back, since i think it overestimates for me. I jsut started working out again (running and lifting) but still havnet really gotten into a routine. I know I have processed foods, but its so hard to not! We live 45 minutes from the nearest grocery store so we tend to stock up on things that wont go bad, hence the lack of fresh fruits and veggies in the diet
Plenty of longlife healthy foods - dried beans and lentils, canned beans and lentils, canned tomatoes, canned oily fish, brown rice, wholegrain pasta, jumbo oats, pot barley, frozen fruit and veggies, dried fruits, dried herbs and spice blends, various pickled vegetables, jar olives in brine or oil, jar garlic. Fresh meats and fish can be frozen as can some traditional/ natural cheeses (some go crumbly but taste good and cook fine) and many dishes can be made in bulk when you first grocery shop then frozen for use as ready meals when the fresh stuff starts to run down.
Aside from the frozen, fresh root vegetables are long lasting if stored carefully and the excess can often be chopped and home frozen. I live alone and just got through 4kg of red onions, 2kg of fresh carrots and a whole red cabbage over somewhere between a month and six weeks, I frozen some of the onions and tried to keep the carrots cold and dry but still bagged, cabbage no special treatment. There is tons of information online about careful storage and not wasting veggies that are going bad (eg. soups).
It's not just fresh fruit and veg you are not having, all your proteins and sauces are processed and high in salt. If you can't bear to switch from bread to other carbs maybe consider buying a sack of stoneground flour and baking your own, you can also use that for pizza bases and in pancakes. At the end of the day it's up to you if you want to make excuses or do as you say in your profile, fruit and veg is far from the only healthy eating guideline you are not meeting, not sure you are managing a single one.
Do you have a near-ish neighbour or work colleague that you could share a little of the grocery shopping with? Both do your own BIG longlife shop plus a few fresh bits for the other household,
I'll have to look into storage options for things - i dont buy alot of these types of things as well because my husband is away for work 2 weeks a month so its just me at home eating and I find things go bad when I buy bulk of them (onions, salad greens, carrots, etc), but its very frustrating to not having it available, especially when you crave it like I did for dinner last night. Freezing fresh vegetables is something I hadnt even really considered but maybe i can divy up things like that and keep some stored frozen until I need them and thaw them out that way!
Unfortunately alot of the long -life items you mentioned I just dont like (tomatos and beans being the main ones) but I get the point. There are things I could do in there - I just kind of always went with the assumption that canned things tended to have alot of preservatives and such that would be bad? I prefer frozen veggies to canned ones, just for taste reasons, but even those I just never seem to stock up on enough and should change that. We have a freezer of fresh fish and deer that I actually forget about since its in the garage, but would be beneficial to thaw some out and make up enough for lunches for a week or something.
Oh and we are way out in the country so no neighbors/ work collegues near by. I usually do my grocery shopping on the way home from work on day. I wish there were people closer cuz that is a really good idea!
Sodium is def something to work on. I usually go for meats more like turkey, rather than the roast beef we had this week (needed to get rid of it) but even that is still high in sodium. Not sure the best way to go around that rhough? I like beef and turkey as my main protein sources, and like we said those can be processed and full of sodium. Are there certain cuts of these I could buy instead of the lunch meat versions that would be better. Is the lower sodium lunch meats worth buying or shoudl i switch totally?0 -
Sorry to take over your thread but i'd love some feedback on my stuff too - I've got a fitbit for christmas and that is where all my exercise calories come from and I try to only eat about half back, since i think it overestimates for me. I jsut started working out again (running and lifting) but still havnet really gotten into a routine. I know I have processed foods, but its so hard to not! We live 45 minutes from the nearest grocery store so we tend to stock up on things that wont go bad, hence the lack of fresh fruits and veggies in the diet
1. The only veg you have consumed in the last few days is frozen french fries. You have little access to fresh produce you say, but you can get frozen veg and they are just as good for you as fresh. Add in veg to every meal. Like half your plate should be veg. You can roast the veg, stir fry, steam, add to soups, anything really, just add more, not of the Ore-ida variety.
2. Pretty much your entire diet is processed. Kraft singles, hot dogs, pudding cups, and the like. You can get fish, chicken, beef and freeze it, thaw when you are ready to use. There are tons of websites that have fast and easy recipes if you need help cooking. There is a group MFP for people who trade recipes and cook. You don't need to shop daily to cook more than hot dogs and Kraft singles.
3. Make swaps - swap the kraft process cheese singles for real cheese, white bread for wheat - read the label - if it has more than 5 ingredients or something in it that is unpronounceable, don't buy it.
4. You have a FB - great, you are on your way to getting some idea of how much you actually move in a day. Wear it and try to meet the goals - 10,000 steps in a day. Set your workout routine - Start with 3 or 4 days a week, something reasonable for you. Set specific days and times aside for your workout routine. Add more as you like.0 -
Log accurately and calculate your TDEE -20%. Eat that much.0
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Also - at least 25 grams of fiber a day. Tons of water. I try to drink about .5-1 ounce per pound of body weight a day.0
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Sodium is def something to work on. I usually go for meats more like turkey, rather than the roast beef we had this week (needed to get rid of it) but even that is still high in sodium. Not sure the best way to go around that rhough? I like beef and turkey as my main protein sources, and like we said those can be processed and full of sodium. Are there certain cuts of these I could buy instead of the lunch meat versions that would be better. Is the lower sodium lunch meats worth buying or shoudl i switch totally?
Skip the deli meats. You like turkey - buy breasts in bulk, split them up into individual portions and freeze those when you get home. You can pop a portion out of the freezer before you go to work or the night prior to thaw and cook for dinner. Cook a bit extra and use the leftover to make sandwiches for work. You will get far less sodium cooking your own than buying the sodium laden deli variety.0 -
I never ever understand not eating back your calories. I am starving afterwards. I know that my metabolism is working properly and needs the fuel.
I eat them back and feel great and consistently lose.0 -
Think about the amount of calories you eat in a cheat "day." That basically ruins all your good-doing from the week. You should give yourself a cheat "meal" not a cheat "day."1. You didn't log anything over the weekend
2. Don't chose taco bell if you made your own. Log what you ACTUALLY ate
1. No, I didn't. My original plan was to have one cheat day, but it turned into two. I still wasn't/am not eating anywhere near as poor as I had in the past, I was/am still mindful. But I guess perhaps I should just try forgoing cheat days.
2. Noted.0 -
With all the reasons that you cannot prepare your own meals or have any control or knowledge of what goes in your mouth etc, perhaps this is not the optimal time to attempt weight loss.:flowerforyou: Best of luck with your endeavors.0
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3. Measure. And weigh your food. A digital food scale can be had for less than $15 and can be used for baking, weighing mail/packages, your cat, all sorts of things.
This made me :laugh:
But, yes, get a food scale. They are SO beneficial!!!!0
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