New Guy Here....Help Please!

Hello MFP friend, congrats on the 36 pounds, you are doing great. Keep it up. I can't seem to see your journal except if we are friends. I am more than willing to give advise it you want to be friends. I am Travelgal622, my husband and I have been on our healthy weight lifestyle for close to a year. I am down 81 pounds. Good luck!

as before... sodium is way way to high.. the amount of sodium in your intake will make you gain weight. and is not good for your system. also noticed your sugars were high. and you need to drink more water.

Howdy! I looked at the journal and yes, you go way over in sodium and sugar - but I have been told (and have read several journal articles) stating that high sodium levels aren't too much of a concern unless you have high blood pressure. Too high of sugar on the other had, hinders weight loss and can lead to having Type 2 Diabetes one day (from all the research I've done, natural sugars from fruit don't count too much - I think men are supposed to stick to under 60 grams of ADDED sugar (as in, sugar, not the natrual sugar in fruit that Myfitnesspal.com logs anyway) a day if you are not exercising - the amounts of grams that you can have goes up with exercise.
One way to help is to start substituting. I see that you like egg sandwhiches in the morning. Make your own. Scramble enough eggs to last for 3 days (not longer, don't want to eat cooked food 4 days longer) and toast some Extra Fiber or Whole Wheat English Muffins. You can add sliced tomato or bell peppers to the top of the egg. For your snacks - have only one "bad" snack (like the vita cookie or the Fiber One brownie) a day - have almonds and/or fruit for a snack. You can use vanilla yogurt to dip fruit in if you want a little sugar to make the fruit better.
Your sauces are a lot of calories. Start toning back. Not all at once and not to quickly. For example, when first eating butternut squash, it was only palatable to me if I roasted it first and then added 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of Maple syrup. Each time I made it, I put a little less so that by the end of the first month I only put 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon syrup. Months later I eat it with only added garlic and cinnamon - the thing is, I didn't just pull "the good stuff" - I pulled just enough to where I would think "a little more would be nice, but this is o.kish" because the first couple of times it will just be "o.kish" but then your taste buds-to-brain connection will adjust to expect the new level of taste (hotness or spiceyness in you case since I see you like hot sauce). Once it seems better than "o.kish," pull back a little more.
Eat lots more fiber. Fiber makes your digestion slow down so that you have less triglicerids (don't know how to spell that) in your system all at once and helps clean out your colon of gunk. Check the fiber levels in your starches (pastas and breads) - the more natural fiber the better.
Lastly - make sure you eat enough. If you eat too few calories - as I suspect you are sometimes - your body does truly go into starvation mode. I suspect that you need to eat at least 1,500 calories daily - if you eat less, your body will definitely try to hold onto fat calories. Also, on this note of calories - fluctuate them a lot each day. If you only eat roughly the same calories each day, your metabolism will slow down to match that pace and then you won't lose weight as quickly. Based on your journal, you do indeed fluctuate your calorie intake each day - which keeps your metabolism "on its toes," so to speak, but you are frequently going too low in calories (I suspect, I may be wrong). Use 1,500 calories as the lowest base to hit and then go up to 1,800 sometimes (and sometimes even higher - we must treat ourselves occasionally or we won't last!).
Overall, keeping your total calorie deficit to no more than 1,000 a day (between the 500 less the program tells you to eat and then 500 in exercise) you will actually see better results - build muscle faster, etc - because more than that and your body will begin "eating" muscle calories first because they are easier to break down for energy than fat cells. The strength exercises helps to reduce this problem, but again, it is a problem if you "over" short yourself calories (especially if you eat less than your recommended bare minimum amount of calories). Eat enough calories, you will build even more muscle even faster which will, in turn, help you to burn more calories throughout the day.
Hope this helps!

I will not give up on my gummy vitamins since they are delicious and are the only way for me to actually consistently take any vitamins!

I hope you know I was just kidding about the gummy vitamins! Take them any way you can (although they may contribute to extra sugar in your diet)! lol

Stay at it....you can do this! You have have to MAKE time for taking care of YOU. Even if that includes getting up earlier to make breakfast, or like me skipping a tv show to spend an hour preparing foods for later in the week.

Good Luck!

not enough calories, not enough protein, too many carbs.

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Feel free to add me I'm allways open to new friends