changes to get results?

Options
avielosesit
avielosesit Posts: 79 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

So I know posts like these are fairly frequent, and let me start by thanking everyone in advance who keeps reading and responds to me :)

I've been on MFP for years - lost 10lbs, gained it back, rinse & repeat... but now I am here to stay and do this once and for all. I've logged for 3 weeks now - every morsel that has gone in my mouth is on my (public) diary with 100% honesty.

I have yet to lose a pound.

I'm not getting down about it. I feel better about myself just being on this journey, period, and putting energy into taking care of myself. It's not all about the pounds. But it sure would be nice to see the numbers changing, ya know?

So consider this an appeal - please look at my diary, and give me feedback. What macros should I be watching? Am I eating too many carbs, sugars, not enough protein? Too many or too little calories?

A bit about me - I'm 31, female, married with no kids. Current weight is 177 and Goal 1 is 157; ultimate goal TBD. I am an accountant which means a sedentary job with long hours (the last few weeks have been 70-80 hr weeks). I've come to accept that working a lot is part of my job and it's not going to change and so it's not an excuse, but something that I have to work around. In busy weeks I aim for 3 workouts; in the summertime I workout 5-6x/week. I have easy access to a small gym that is fairly well equipped.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. To all of you with successes - congrats - it is so hard and you are so inspiring. I'm hoping to join your ranks one day soon!

Replies

  • mywise
    mywise Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    Have u figured your tdee??? I find a lot of people THINK they are lazier then they really are LOL....you may need to make some adjustments there......How tall are u?
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    Options
    if you're working 80 hour weeks right now and stressed out, try not to lose weight. just maintain until the season is over. it's difficult for the body to lose fat when you're stressed. keep exercising to help ease the stress. sleep as well as you can. eat tons of healthy food. focus on health right now, not weight loss. adding the stress of weight loss to your body right now isn't what you need, in my opinion.
  • Goldie2u2
    Goldie2u2 Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    First question I'd ask you..did MPF set your calorie allowance or did you? Seems high to me-I am over 100lbs heavier then you and have only a daily of 1460 set to lose 2lbs a week. I work out 5-6 days a week..but set it for sedentary as I did not want to count on having extra calories to spend that I may not earn everyday/week.

    As for the stress..well is this a DIET or a lifestyle? If it is a lifestyle, guess what? You'll have stress and long hours for the rest of your life..if you wait til it's "convenient" to lose weight, well guess what..there's never a "good" "perfect" time to lose weight and get healthy except NOW.

    Last thing I'd ask..are you actually weighing your food? Not following the box guidelines for portions but weighing them? NOT measuring-we tend to heap a few hundred extra calories on top of a measuring cup-use a good, digital scare and measure everything..you may be eyeballing 2 cups of rice and counting one.

    And finally..the first few weeks-I did not lose much at all. I had to start measuring my food. I had to lowering my calories beyond what MPF suggested to what my doc recommended around 1200-1300 a day..I feel now they are a bit generous in calorie allotment. And I had to start drinking a ton of water! You have to experiment, try things to see what works for you-don't give up figure it out and the weight will come off!
  • Goldie2u2
    Goldie2u2 Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    First question I'd ask you..did MPF set your calorie allowance or did you? Seems high to me-I am over 100lbs heavier then you and have only a daily of 1460 set to lose 2lbs a week. I work out 5-6 days a week..but set it for sedentary as I did not want to count on having extra calories to spend that I may not earn everyday/week.

    As for the stress..well is this a DIET or a lifestyle? If it is a lifestyle, guess what? You'll have stress and long hours for the rest of your life..if you wait til it's "convenient" to lose weight, well guess what..there's never a "good" "perfect" time to lose weight and get healthy except NOW.

    Last thing I'd ask..are you actually weighing your food? Not following the box guidelines for portions but weighing them? NOT measuring-we tend to heap a few hundred extra calories on top of a measuring cup-use a good, digital scare and measure everything..you may be eyeballing 2 cups of rice and counting one.

    And finally..the first few weeks-I did not lose much at all. I had to start measuring my food. I had to lowering my calories beyond what MPF suggested to what my doc recommended around 1200-1300 a day..I feel now they are a bit generous in calorie allotment. And I had to start drinking a ton of water! You have to experiment, try things to see what works for you-don't give up figure it out and the weight will come off!

    HA--scare should be SCALE!!!

    And to clarify--I feel MPF is generous in their calorie burn for exercise too...I don't use that as a license to "eat back" all I've burned off..it's my cushion for the possible wrong measurement or if I want a few bites of a treat.. Don't see the point in "eating back" what I busted my *kitten* to burn LOL! (Which is totally against a LOT of what is said here on the boards!)
  • avielosesit
    avielosesit Posts: 79 Member
    Options
    if you're working 80 hour weeks right now and stressed out, try not to lose weight. just maintain until the season is over. it's difficult for the body to lose fat when you're stressed. keep exercising to help ease the stress. sleep as well as you can. eat tons of healthy food. focus on health right now, not weight loss. adding the stress of weight loss to your body right now isn't what you need, in my opinion.

    I tried!! That's where 1600 came from (I know some have said it's high, but it was conscious. I've done 1200-1300 in earlier weeks with no change and truly buy in to the TDEE philosophy). I read the IPOARM stuff and thought it made a lot of sense. Maybe 1600 isn't enough?

    And for whoever asked -- I am 5'7.
  • LavenderBouquet
    LavenderBouquet Posts: 736 Member
    Options
    I eat at 20% below my TDEE, I calculated it using this website: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ and I also eat back most of my exercise calories. You could try to lower your carb/sugar intake or cut down on the dairy, as those can adversely affect some people. Your diary seems pretty healthy and you stay within your macros, but if you haven't seen progress in some time, you could change things up to see how it suits you. If you want to stick with just adjusting your calories, I would first check out what 20% below your TDEE is and work from there to adjust and monitor your progress. Also, depending on how close you are to your goal weight/healthy weight, it will be harder to lower your weight., especially if you're gaining muscle.

Categories