after 2 months, whats wrong with my diary?

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amyannnnn
amyannnnn Posts: 9
in Food and Nutrition
I started tracking 3 months ago eating 1200 cals/ day. Then I re-figured all my numbers, and I should have been more at 1400 cals/ day. So Ive been eating 1400 cals/ day, maily whole foods, the past 1.5 months. Mostly fruits and veggies, chicken, oatmeal...etc. No processed snacks at all. I havent lost any weight.

Im ago 27, 5'6, maintaining 140 lbs.
I eat chia and hemp seeds daily, also flax and wheat germ two days a week.
I get excersize daily at my job, and work out 3 times a week at least half hour.
Can anyone take a look at my diary and suggest anything?

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  • amyannnnn
    amyannnnn Posts: 9
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    ** age 27
  • bdamaster60
    bdamaster60 Posts: 595 Member
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    Include a refeed day. Staying at a consistent deficit too long will make your metabolism complacent.
  • amandacowan1978
    amandacowan1978 Posts: 50 Member
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    If you are exercising the way you are, I honestly think you aren't eating enough. I'm 5'9" and I work out several days a week and I eat somewhere in the area of 2000 calories a day and I have lost 20lbs like this.

    I realize everyone is different, but try adding 300-400 calories a day.

    Your diary looks AWESOME! There are some processed things in there but I am pretty sure even a nutritionist would say it looks great, just add more. Try adding a second snack?

    Each time I've plateaued over the last 5 months, when I increased by 250 calories I lost weight the next week.

    Good luck with whatever you do. Maybe someone else has some great ideas.

    ****edited to add- I'm not significantly overweight. I lost from 178lbs to 158lbs. So it's not like I have a ton of weight to lose which would making losing 20lbs in 5 months seem so much easier or something. You sound like you're in the same place. You don't have a ton to lose, so you don't have a TON of stores for your body if you're not feeding it enough.
  • terijoestoes
    terijoestoes Posts: 205 Member
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    I would say you are not eating enough protein. And like the other comment possibly not enough cals.
  • amyannnnn
    amyannnnn Posts: 9
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    Okay- will consider a re-feed day, thanks
    And thanks amanda! The processed things you see, is that the oatmeal, dressing,chicken,cheese? Forgot i ate two triscuits today!!
    Wow loosing 20 sounds great, good job, its hard to find what works best for you...im having a hard time. Your right, we dont have a ton to loose, maybe thats what makes no results after almost 3 months so fusturating
  • amyannnnn
    amyannnnn Posts: 9
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    thanks teri- yah some days i do eat more protein than today...usually varies from day to day mid 40's-60's g
  • melt2svelte
    melt2svelte Posts: 36
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    I was also going to mention protein. It looks consistently low. I'd try to meet your daily goals on that, and perhaps try to reduce your fats and processed sugars.

    Other than that, though, it looks pretty good!
  • amandacowan1978
    amandacowan1978 Posts: 50 Member
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    The dressing, graham crackers but like I said.. even a nutritionist would be hard pressed to find much wrong with that diary. Let us know how you decide to proceed! Good luck!

    And thanks! i was kind of surprised. I've always been a '1200-1400 calorie a day' person when it comes to losing weight. Someone suggested eating more to me too, because for the first 6 weeks I didn't lose anything! But when I upped the calories I literally started losing 1-2lbs per week.
  • Topher1978
    Topher1978 Posts: 975 Member
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    I am guessing you are averaging a maintenance calorie intake. Up your workouts, or lower your average intake of calories.
  • amyannnnn
    amyannnnn Posts: 9
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    Okay thanks! Wow 1-2 a week is great. Hopefully i find a system that works soon! I will keep in touch on here, i appreciate any feedback.
  • kapoorpk
    kapoorpk Posts: 244 Member
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    I see three issues driving weight loss and one unknown. The unknown, did you set your goals to lose weight sufficiently to create a large enough calorie deficit?

    2 other things...under consumption of Protein, over consumption of fat and you may not be spreading your meals out enough. You should stay consistent with up to 45 carbs per major meal and consume no more than 15-20 carbs per snack about 2-3 hours apart from major meals. This would prevent large portion consumption during any of the meals. Its not just what you eat.

    One last thing could be around exercising the right way. If you do cardio and do it at a high pace of activity (reaching the 70-90% of your maximum heart rate), you are burning carbs and not fats. You should switch to interval training where for 2 minutes you increase the pace and for the next 2 minutes you reduce it. Alternating pace as that strengthens your heart rate as well as lose fat.

    Good luck!!
  • amyannnnn
    amyannnnn Posts: 9
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    Thanks everyone.
    kapoorpk- Im fairly new to this and tried figuring out alot by myslef...trial & error past 3-4 months. I did alot of math I found online, and came to; BMR= 1452, TDEE= 1997, 499 deficit, to loose 1.5 lb week...? I have maintained my weight of 140 this entire time! I also started all this when I quit smoking in November, and got a more solid plan down in November. This past week, Ive maintained a much higher protein intake daily than my body is used to. I usually eat 6 small meals a day, couple hours apart. Thank You for the exercising tip, it all helps, and i will try that. Still pretty fusturated over all this :(

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