Please help - I'm really trying and failing

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  • Frankietb
    Frankietb Posts: 69 Member
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    You appear to have some days that you aren't logging your food. What are you eating on these days? Having too many days where you overeat will leave things averaging out. Its also possible that you are not measuring your food properly.

    If you feel that you are tracking your food properly, I would see your doctor. You could have thyroid issues, or be insulin resistant.

    The only days I missed really are this weekend because I wanted to start the week fresh with new goals in mind. ;) But I will most definitely see my doctor if my new plan doesn't give me the results I'm looking for. Thank you. :)
  • beyondjupiter
    beyondjupiter Posts: 247 Member
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    Your calories don't add up to your macros. I would try and ensure

    1) You hit or exceed the protein every day
    2) you stay under on the carbs and sugar
    3) you make sure your food info is correct

    I counted up the macros to several days and one was off by 700 calories! You thought you ate 1700 but you ate 2400!! That is a big difference...

    OMG. This is something I have never checked in my own diary before . . . it never even occurred to me that it was a possibility! On the two sites I used to use before MFP, they would both correct erroneous data by upping the calories in the food to match the entered macros.

    I'm going to be going through my diary for the last month and adding everything up.

    How do you do this? I am a bit confused as to how you add up your macros and compare them to calories?
  • sachiamccree
    sachiamccree Posts: 3
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    I've participated in weight watchers before, and its very similar to counting calories. I think most of the time the key mistake that people make is not journalizing correctly. Please check to make sure that you are recording every single thing that you consume, from a piece of candy, to a juice, to a piece of lettuce. I often hear friends say "I can eat this, it's free", well not with counting calories because almost everything has a calorie count, some are 0 calories, but most have some sort of calorie intake. For example if I eat a taco from home, I journalize the shell (by scanning barcode if avail), the meat (make sure you're writing the correct portion), the cheese, the lettuce, the tomato, the sour cream, and the taco sauce. I put each of them seperately. I've learned that its better to overstate than to understate. If you are eating chips, read the back label and see how many chips = 1 serving. I count those out too. Remember to journalize every single thing, and make sure your portions are correct. Also, don't be discouraged because men lose weight faster than women. Idk y, but ik it's true. Good Luck!!
  • sachiamccree
    sachiamccree Posts: 3
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    Don't skip days to start fresh, start fresh right when you think about it. W hen you skip days, it makes it so easy to over indulge on those few days because you know that in just 1 or 2 days, you'll be back to counting calories. I've found that even when I over eat, it's still less than what I would have consumed had I not been journalizing at all. Good luck!
  • Frankietb
    Frankietb Posts: 69 Member
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    Don't skip days to start fresh, start fresh right when you think about it. W hen you skip days, it makes it so easy to over indulge on those few days because you know that in just 1 or 2 days, you'll be back to counting calories. I've found that even when I over eat, it's still less than what I would have consumed had I not been journalizing at all. Good luck!

    You're right. :) Thank you for the encouragement and the advice. :)
  • smn76237
    smn76237 Posts: 318 Member
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    Your calories don't add up to your macros. I would try and ensure

    1) You hit or exceed the protein every day
    2) you stay under on the carbs and sugar
    3) you make sure your food info is correct

    I counted up the macros to several days and one was off by 700 calories! You thought you ate 1700 but you ate 2400!! That is a big difference...


    Like somone else said, every gram of a macro nutrient contains a set number of calories...
    Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram.
    Fats have 9 calories per gram.
    Proteins have 4 calories per gram.
    So when you add up your day, if you had
    200 Carbs
    120 Protein
    80 Fats
    That would equal out to 2000 calories... so if your macros are that (as above) and your calories say something like 1500.... then something is off.

    I have a question about this...sorry to hijack this thread...does that mean the labels on my foods are incorrect? For example, the coconut macaroons I enjoy almost every day as a dessert have 11g fat, 2g protein, and 10g carbohydrates. According to the above numbers, that would equal 147 calories, but the package itself says 130 calories. Same with the peanut butter I have almost every morning. A 32 g serving of the brand I use has 6g carbs, 8g protein, and 16g fat, which would equal 200 calories using the math above, but the container says 180 calories. That's 37 extra calories from two items alone that the packages don't account for. So should I really be macro counting on my packages instead of calorie counting?
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
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    Your calories don't add up to your macros. I would try and ensure

    1) You hit or exceed the protein every day
    2) you stay under on the carbs and sugar
    3) you make sure your food info is correct

    I counted up the macros to several days and one was off by 700 calories! You thought you ate 1700 but you ate 2400!! That is a big difference...

    OMG. This is something I have never checked in my own diary before . . . it never even occurred to me that it was a possibility! On the two sites I used to use before MFP, they would both correct erroneous data by upping the calories in the food to match the entered macros.

    I'm going to be going through my diary for the last month and adding everything up.

    I still (embarrassingly enough) don't understand what is meant by this. :( Could someone explain it to me. Thanks!

    Sorry, I was out of the office. Like somone else said, every gram of a macro nutrient contains a set number of calories...
    Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram.
    Fats have 9 calories per gram.
    Proteins have 4 calories per gram.
    So when you add up your day, if you had
    200 Carbs
    120 Protein
    80 Fats
    That would equal out to 2000 calories... so if your macros are that (as above) and your calories say something like 1500.... then something is off.

    Well something is off for me -

    Fri macros = 1266, calories = 1817
    Sat macros = 1377, calories = 1804
    Sun macros = 1298, calories = 1341
    Mon macros = 1791, calories = 1813

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