Great at exercise, rubbish at diet!
marfhutch
Posts: 50 Member
I have been on and off MFP for about a year now, during which time I've been exercising consistently about 4 times a week. At one point I was even accused of being addicted so had to cut back a bit!
However, I have also not lost any weight during this time, and my body composition/measurements have stayed pretty consistently bad. This is because I cannot seem to stick to the healthy eating part 24/7. I might manage during the week perfectly (around 1600cals), even managing to resist cake at work, but then blow it at the weekend. Or sometimes I'm fine till the evening but then can't resist a snack. The part I often find hardest is wanting to join in when other people are eating something I love-but they are normally half my size!
I know a lot will say just to 'get on with it', but was wondering if anyone who used to struggle with this had any tips? I know once I see some improvements I will be more motivated, but need to give myself that chance first!
Thanks for any suggestions!
However, I have also not lost any weight during this time, and my body composition/measurements have stayed pretty consistently bad. This is because I cannot seem to stick to the healthy eating part 24/7. I might manage during the week perfectly (around 1600cals), even managing to resist cake at work, but then blow it at the weekend. Or sometimes I'm fine till the evening but then can't resist a snack. The part I often find hardest is wanting to join in when other people are eating something I love-but they are normally half my size!
I know a lot will say just to 'get on with it', but was wondering if anyone who used to struggle with this had any tips? I know once I see some improvements I will be more motivated, but need to give myself that chance first!
Thanks for any suggestions!
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Replies
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#1 Weight loss is about your diet..and while exercise can help, you simply cannot out-exercise a poor diet...period!
#2 Why on earth would you 'cut back' your exercise because others consider you "addicted'?
I think a lot of people struggle with the social aspect of dieting. It sounds cliché, but you really just have to want it bad enough to stick to it.0 -
Hiya!!
I have four words for you......YOU ARE NOT ON YOUR ONE!
I am great at going to the gym and working my bloody *kitten* off but when it comes to the weekends...my god!
I have great intentions all week, eat the right calories (sometimes not eating all my calories burned back), go gym/classes/bootcamp 3-4 x a week and sweat like a pro on a double shift. But for some reason it comes to Friday night and all I think is 'aahhh...wine' which then turns into 3 or 4 glasses and maybe even pints of the devil (cider, was too many calories). I can't help it especially when I am out with my b/f having a laugh and enjoying time together. All week we just get home, eat and go bed we just need a blow out together.
Yes others will say 'well it's your own doing, you know you shouldn't' but I'm not sure about you but I am easily influenced and just want to enjoy myself.
Maybe we should keep tabs on each others binges and see if we can not stop it just maybe slow it down to every other weekend/day reducing to once a month blow out?
I hope you feel a little better that you are not on your own feeling / acting like this :-)0 -
to lose weight you just need to be in a calorie deficit - you dont have to eat particularly healthily, or 'clean'. there are of course health benefits of fruit and veg, and plenty of protein to retain LBM and keep you feeling full, but essentially you just need a deficit.
what do you want more, all the food, or to look good naked?!0 -
if that is you in the photo then you do't look like you need to lose anything!
but since you asked - i was like you. ate "healthy" for the most part, was diligent about the gym, couldn't understand why the weight wasn't moving, shrugged and decided it was genetics/hormones/age whatever.
but i've been on MFP for 100 days now and DID manage to lose - albeit slowly, but i am losing.
I've been taking myself really seriously. I am conquering one bad habit at a time. started with portion control (bought a digital scale and stopped assuming that that monster portion of chicken was *one piece*:noway: ). next i tried the late night snacking, or mindless post-supper grazing (i pre-log my food, this has been very helpful in keeping my on track). now i am dealing with the mindless all-weekend-long grazing and did pretty well this past weekend. (combined keeping busy with pre-logging).
exercise alone will not help with the weight loss.0 -
You are definitely not alone!!
For example, I was really good all last week - dieting perfectly, doing lots of exercise, but then I spent the weekend at a music festival and it was virtually impossible to diet. Okay, so I could have drunk less, but it was a music festival! At least I walked and walked and walked.......
And there's always something like that, derailing my progress.
All you can do is get back on that horse every time. Progress will be slower, but as long as you're eating less calories, it will come.
Good luck0 -
Actually logging your food would be a start I've looked at the last five days and nothing is logged. If you don't have an accurate measure how can you adjust it?0
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Yeah, I stopped logging when I moved back home as no longer knew what was going into evening meals. I know my calories for the rest of the day (eat same breakie/similar lunch most week days) however. I'm going to start cooking more again so will probably start logging again then. However, I was always rubbish with logging weekends-hence the problem!
The picture is deceiving (hence why I like it
), as you can't see how much weight I carry on my bottom half! But thanks for the suggestion of changing habits, its really a good idea. The one I'm going to tackle first is my chocolate binges. I just got loads for my birthday, but am going to try and limit myself to one a day max haha!
I'm hoping at one point soon I can get it into my head that the body is more important than the chocolate!
PS Oh, and I cut back a bit because they were sort of right! I used to cancel plans for the gym and get stressed if I couldn't do my full 2 hours a night.0 -
PS Oh, and I cut back a bit because they were sort of right! I used to cancel plans for the gym and get stressed if I couldn't do my full 2 hours a night.
you probably dont need to be doing 2 hours in the gym, unless you're training for a marathon or something - think quality not quantity! 20 minutes of HIIT is better for you than 40 minutes steady state jogging.0 -
Hiya!!
I have four words for you......YOU ARE NOT ON YOUR ONE!
I am great at going to the gym and working my bloody *kitten* off but when it comes to the weekends...my god!
I have great intentions all week, eat the right calories (sometimes not eating all my calories burned back), go gym/classes/bootcamp 3-4 x a week and sweat like a pro on a double shift. But for some reason it comes to Friday night and all I think is 'aahhh...wine' which then turns into 3 or 4 glasses and maybe even pints of the devil (cider, was too many calories). I can't help it especially when I am out with my b/f having a laugh and enjoying time together. All week we just get home, eat and go bed we just need a blow out together.
Yes others will say 'well it's your own doing, you know you shouldn't' but I'm not sure about you but I am easily influenced and just want to enjoy myself.
Maybe we should keep tabs on each others binges and see if we can not stop it just maybe slow it down to every other weekend/day reducing to once a month blow out?
I hope you feel a little better that you are not on your own feeling / acting like this :-)
6 words surely?0 -
This content has been removed.
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Alright alright! Meant to put 'NOT ON YOUR OWN' then got carried lol0
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PS Oh, and I cut back a bit because they were sort of right! I used to cancel plans for the gym and get stressed if I couldn't do my full 2 hours a night.
you probably dont need to be doing 2 hours in the gym, unless you're training for a marathon or something - think quality not quantity! 20 minutes of HIIT is better for you than 40 minutes steady state jogging.
Exactly Cut back a bit and it didn't change much apart from having more free time in the evenings! 0 -
If you want to eat properly, then it must not be a "diet" (temporarily).. It ought to be the way you are going to eat the rest of your life.
I think you just need to make a little bit of effort. You can do it at work, when you get home, you may just like to feel relaxed and so you eat food that is not helping you.
so with a little bit of effort - try the cooking! it can be a fun project! like when you start to see what seasonings do to your food, that can be fun.
Try to think what food are you currently regularly eating that is hurting your goals? then try to find a substitute, or you may not eat it for awhile. think what can you do to help your goals. then keep on tweaking your food choices.
but i think you have to make a litlte bit of effort, not just surrender to whatever you want.
I know some people say eat what you want in moderation - if so, then eat the BEST choices you want, but make the choices you make be helpful, not harmful, and then enjoy those.
You may have to decide like this - if pizza is hurting your goals, because of all the calories, then choose to not eat it, or have it once a month, or have it with better ingredients - less cheese, more vegetables, skinny crust. it may be you CANT eat everything you want, you may have to lay aside some things for now.. but like i said with a little bit more effort, you may achieve your desires.0 -
Stop avoiding foods. Look at what you wrote "blowing it," "resisting cake" etc. that always leads to failure. You spend all your willpower demonizing specific foods, and since humans only have a finite amount of willpower, you cave and then go overboard.
There's nothing wrong with eating cake, or ice cream, or having an alcoholic drink, or anything that fits into your overall goals.
Having a piece of cake now keeps you from eating the entire cake later.0 -
So I've noticed some potential issues right off the bat.
First is the 1600 calories you have allotted to yourself is far too low. I mean this on an orders of magnitude scale. Your basal metabolic rate probably consumes more calories than this. Add to this 4 works outs a week and already you're in trouble.
Second-- what are your macronutrient percentages like? Ideally, you should be at about 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein, and 20% fat. Trending to higher protein intake (as long as you're properly hydrated) won't hurt anything, however. You should aim for approximately .8 grams of protein for each pound of body weight. This protein amount should be closer to 1 gram/lb or 1.2gram/lb if you are doing heavy weight lifting.
Third-- what kind of exercise are you doing? If you're doing endless amounts of cardio, you are most likely burning glycogen instead of fat and are, as a result, working your cardiovascular system more than you are burning fat. If you are doing any kind of heavy lifting (which, disclaimer, I think to be superior to any and all other exercise), your diet must fall into some kind of macro system-- otherwise, you're just wasting your time and possibly doing yourself more harm than good.
Forth, if you are working out four days a week, depending on your intensity, you may be overtraining. It seems somewhat paradoxical, I'll grant you, but you'll do more to lose weight if you give your body a rest in order do repair damaged muscle tissue. Active recovery is fine, encouraged even-- just make sure that you are not working out the same body parts in your recovery that need to recover, you know? That's why people tend do to splits with their workouts (ie, leg day, back day, chest/arm day, etc).
Fifth, you absolutely can log home-cooked food, it just requires some inquiry. You can also guess which, depending on your accuracy, can still produce usable results.
Sixth, you appear to be approaching all of this from the stand-point that being 'good' about your diet will somehow solve your problems. You need to radically re-organize the way you think about food, if this is the case. Food powers our bodies and if we don't give it the right amounts of foods in the correct ratios, how can we expect it to do what we ask of it to its fullest capacity? You sounds so proud of yourself for resisting the cake at your office-- but, ultimately, how does demonizing a food group or specific food item serve to make you stronger/fitter? Eat the damn cake. Do not worry about it. Enjoy it, savor it if it is truly what you want to eat. Then log it, keep the rest of your macros on track, and watch those gains stack up.
Be strong, eat food, lift heavy. Don't worry so much about the rest.0 -
This is mostly good advice, but the glycogen vs fat burning part is pure crap. Yes, she may burn glycogen while working out, but then, when you're lifting, you're also only burning glycogen and not fat, fat is way too slow a method to keep up with the intensity of weight training. All of which is irrelevant to a full 24 hour day. Burn glycogen now, fat later, burn fat now, glycogen later, over a 24 hour period it all evens out.So I've noticed some potential issues right off the bat.
First is the 1600 calories you have allotted to yourself is far too low. I mean this on an orders of magnitude scale. Your basal metabolic rate probably consumes more calories than this. Add to this 4 works outs a week and already you're in trouble.
Second-- what are your macronutrient percentages like? Ideally, you should be at about 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein, and 20% fat. Trending to higher protein intake (as long as you're properly hydrated) won't hurt anything, however. You should aim for approximately .8 grams of protein for each pound of body weight. This protein amount should be closer to 1 gram/lb or 1.2gram/lb if you are doing heavy weight lifting.
Third-- what kind of exercise are you doing? If you're doing endless amounts of cardio, you are most likely burning glycogen instead of fat and are, as a result, working your cardiovascular system more than you are burning fat. If you are doing any kind of heavy lifting (which, disclaimer, I think to be superior to any and all other exercise), your diet must fall into some kind of macro system-- otherwise, you're just wasting your time and possibly doing yourself more harm than good.
Forth, if you are working out four days a week, depending on your intensity, you may be overtraining. It seems somewhat paradoxical, I'll grant you, but you'll do more to lose weight if you give your body a rest in order do repair damaged muscle tissue. Active recovery is fine, encouraged even-- just make sure that you are not working out the same body parts in your recovery that need to recover, you know? That's why people tend do to splits with their workouts (ie, leg day, back day, chest/arm day, etc).
Fifth, you absolutely can log home-cooked food, it just requires some inquiry. You can also guess which, depending on your accuracy, can still produce usable results.
Sixth, you appear to be approaching all of this from the stand-point that being 'good' about your diet will somehow solve your problems. You need to radically re-organize the way you think about food, if this is the case. Food powers our bodies and if we don't give it the right amounts of foods in the correct ratios, how can we expect it to do what we ask of it to its fullest capacity? You sounds so proud of yourself for resisting the cake at your office-- but, ultimately, how does demonizing a food group or specific food item serve to make you stronger/fitter? Eat the damn cake. Do not worry about it. Enjoy it, savor it if it is truly what you want to eat. Then log it, keep the rest of your macros on track, and watch those gains stack up.
Be strong, eat food, lift heavy. Don't worry so much about the rest.0 -
Haha I wish tht was true-I alwaaaaaays eat the whole cake!! But I know its got to be a change for good but eating stuff like that at the moment is too hard for me.
1600 was around my tdee-20% but I have tried a number of different cals ranging from 1200-1800 and none have worked so far
have upped my protein and reduced carbs a bit for the last 4months.
I'm doing a mixture of strength and cardio, but mainly strength. Only just starting though and working with limited equipment so still on low weights but getting there! Always do a split and have days off in the middle. Also dont have any pains so think I'm recovering fine (I hope!)
Tbh, I know its the food that's killing my chances because I eat too much-just want tips from people who got over the same problem, as in what made their brain finally accept the new lifestyle?0 -
It sounds to me as if you have reached the breaking point and are ready to limit your food intake. I got there on Aug. 11 when one of my favorite summer dresses was too tight. If you were to look at my diary since then, I've not really deprived myself of anything I like to eat. I've just eaten less of it. I do struggle on weekends more than week days, but once I decided that I HAD to do this, it's been easier.
My recommendation: log it all for one normal week. At the end of the week, go back and see how you could modify and still have fun. One glass of wine, then wash your glass and put it away. One smaller piece of cake and wash the plate.Half an ice cream sandwich instead of the whole thing. (Put the second half in a storage bag in the freezer and eat it tomorrow if you want.) Or substitute a frozen tube of yogurt for the ice cream. Actually count the potato chips you are eating into a bowl, one serving then wash the bowl. Fat free half & half instead of regular. Things like that. You've seen a lot of "wash the dish" there, for me that tells my brain I am done eating. And since I hate washing dishes, I am less likely to get it dirty again to eat more. If that doesn't work for you, try brushing your teeth. That works for a friend of mine at work.
I just ate two Hebrew National hot dogs and a cup of mac-n-cheese, not what I was planning, but I needed to use up the leftovers before I can cook some good healthy soup to combat this cold. I measured out one serving of the mac-n-cheese then poured it onto a paper plate with the two hot dogs (no buns, just meat) and threw the plate away when I was done.
Hope this helps and good luck!0 -
Maybe the problem is that you're trying so hard to eat healthy during the week, as soon as you cave and eat something unhealthy during the week end, you just throw the whole thing out of the window?
What I do... I just log it before I eat it. This way I can see if it fits in my calories, if I can make it fit by changing dinner a little bit, or having less of it, or if I should just wait until tomorrow to get it. Then the next day I make room in my diary for it, and it fits, and I don't have to worry that I've blown my diet. I guess if it would make me go over my goal I just tell myself that blowing a day's diet for something that will be eaten in 5 minutes is not worth it... but I eat pretty much what I want within my goal (obviously mostly healthy so I don't starve all day).
But yeah, logging everything is definitely the key for me. I want to lose weight to look good, and in my mind going over my goal will just slow that down, and I just don't want to do that.0 -
Hiya!!
I have four words for you......YOU ARE NOT ON YOUR ONE!
That's six words and one is spelled wrong. LOL. Sorry, couldn't help myself.0 -
So I just stumbled upon this post and I am a little excited that this might be the answer to my problems! But I have to control myself and promise to read it AFTER I workout lol. I get distracted way too easily and I will spend years on these forums otherwise.
I had to post now so I know how to find the post later lol.0 -
I agree --"You are not on your Own" Your description sounded like me!! that is why I really need exercise as part of my diet plan! One of my co-workers, he is on my friend list, is very muscular, but spends about only 4 to 5 hours a week doing weight lifting, but he has very good diet control and lost over 60 pounds with diet alone (no cardio) I could never do that. When I am on the treadmill he allways says "what a waste, just eat less" To each his own!!0
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I like the idea of washing up/putting away what I'm eating! And maybe brushing my teeth after I've eaten my daily cals will work in putting me off the evening snacks haha
But you are definitely right, by 'being good' during the week, if I have one moment of weakness I then just throw the towel in. I'm starting logging again this week, but will make sure to allow myself a small treat when I want one to stop the splurge later on!0 -
I know I posted this a while back, but I'm now needing the tips more than ever! I promised to give myself a month of sticking to my calories (ie no nights out, puddings only if they fitted in etc) but lo and behold I'm here 3 weeks later having not logged for a week and feeling like I'm never gonna be able to make this lifestyle change I love the feeling of exercising but want to see some changes too!
Anyone who's been here, please help!0 -
I know I posted this a while back, but I'm now needing the tips more than ever! I promised to give myself a month of sticking to my calories (ie no nights out, puddings only if they fitted in etc) but lo and behold I'm here 3 weeks later having not logged for a week and feeling like I'm never gonna be able to make this lifestyle change I love the feeling of exercising but want to see some changes too!
Anyone who's been here, please help!
I'm with you, woman! I love exercise, and I know I could see some changes if I stopped putting junk fuel in my tank.
I really think it comes down to willpower.
For some reason, I have the willpower to wake up at 4:30 am to work out, but when it comes to, say, bacon or chips, the willpower switch is OFF. (not all the time... but far too often!)
just say no!
:happy:
Good luck.0
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