What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?

kurtgtr
kurtgtr Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, I have been on MFP for 70 days now and it has been going good. I have tried various eating styles trying to hone in on what works best for me.

I started the conventional way... calorie counting with MFP and was doing fairly well with that until i started to plateau, then I switched to "Carb Cycling." I wanted to try that to see if it helped and it did... for a couple of weeks. When I hit another plateau, I tried "Intermittent Fasting." That too worked well for a week or so. Now I am stalled and have actually gained a couple of pounds.

I always try to stay below my MFP number and I exercise 5 times a week; 10 min cardio warmup, 30 min weight training, and then 20 - 30 min intense cardio.

I have about 80 lbs to lose and I just want to make sure I am not messing up somehow.

My diary is here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/kurtgtr

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much!

Replies

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Plateaus are normal. It doesn't mean you have to change anything, just got to give your body some time to catch up. Typically it's not a plateau unless you stall for 6 weeks or something.

    What I suggest though is making sure that you weigh all your food properly (measuring cups don't cut it) and don't overestimate your exercise calories. Do you use a heart rate monitor? I see you're logging 600 calorie burns, it seems a lot of calories for 30 minutes of intense cardio (weight training doesn't really burn much).
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    Eat at a reasonable calorie deficit from your TDEE. Weigh and measure everything that goes in your mouth. Log everything and don't overestimate your exercise calories. Eat the foods you want to, just do no over eat. Weigh once a week or so.

    Do this every day for about 6 weeks and then re-evaluate.
  • WhitneyT586
    WhitneyT586 Posts: 279 Member
    I agree with the above. Be very accurate in your measurements of food and exercise. Also, check your sodium intake - it is VERY high some days. Recommendations are 1500 mg and below - I know MFP sets you at 2500, but from the research I've done 1500 mg is recommended in most places. Lower amounts of processed foods and more whole, fresh foods will help with that. Be sure you are getting in 2 liters plus of water daily to help with balancing sodium intake. Also shoot for 25-30 grams of fiber per day. Stick with any changes you make for at least one month. Measure your losses over weeks and months, not days because weight fluctuations happen. Don't let yourself get discouraged.

    Keep going because one day you'll see a change. I've been stuck for months - then one day, I'll see a small drop in the scale. I've been here since Feb. 2012 and I've lost 45 pounds. Doesn't seem like much but it's 45 pounds gone and not gained and I'm keeping it off. Slow and steady wins the race.

    Good luck!
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    If you've only been here 70 days, you've never really plateaued. A plateau is a lot longer that no losing for a few days or a week. I'd say stop trying all these different eating "styles" and stick to the basics. Calorie deficit and accurate measuring. My guess is the issue lies with inaccurate intake measuring, inaccurate burns or both.

    FTR, a plateau is when you are stalled for a couple of months. Weight loss is not linear or consistent.
  • cdahl383
    cdahl383 Posts: 726 Member
    Eat at a reasonable calorie deficit from your TDEE. Weigh and measure everything that goes in your mouth. Log everything and don't overestimate your exercise calories. Eat the foods you want to, just do no over eat. Weigh once a week or so.

    Do this every day for about 6 weeks and then re-evaluate.

    ^ Great advice! It's easy to slip in more calories than you think. I've had some weeks were I lost 0 lbs and then the following week I'd lose 2 lbs without changing much at all. It doesn't seem that weight loss is linear, so I wouldn't get too discouraged just yet.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    you dont need to stay below it :)
  • kurtgtr
    kurtgtr Posts: 4 Member
    Great advice. I do log everything I eat and try to measure everything I can. Probably miss stuff, however. I will be more diligent with this.

    As far as overestimating burn... I have been getting my numbers from treadmill and elliptical readouts, as well as MFP amounts.

    I probably need to get a HRM to be more accurate. Where do you all get your calorie burn numbers from?

    Thank you all so much for your quick response. I am in it for the long haul, I just hate to waste time if I am doing something wrong.

    I have been overweight for FAR TOO LONG! Ready to be healthy!

    Kurt
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    i put in fluff numbers.

    When I ride my bike or have a roll in the hay, I log 9000 calories.

    When I weight lift, I generally put that I burn about 250-300 and hour.

    When I run, I go by MFP because I know it is lower than it really would be - because my resting heart beat is under 50 and jumps to 190 when I run.

    basically, I aim for 2000 calories a day (and land wherever I land), and aim to work out for at least an hour 6 days a week. That felt a lot more balanced than tons of numbers and it worked.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    If you've only been here 70 days, you've never really plateaued. A plateau is a lot longer that no losing for a few days or a week. I'd say stop trying all these different eating "styles" and stick to the basics. Calorie deficit and accurate measuring. My guess is the issue lies with inaccurate intake measuring, inaccurate burns or both.

    FTR, a plateau is when you are stalled for a couple of months. Weight loss is not linear or consistent.
    This. Just give it time to work.
  • vsetter
    vsetter Posts: 558 Member
    Don't go by the heart rate monitors on the exercise equipment. From my experience, they are WAY off and always higher than they should be. Invest in a good heart rate monitor with a chest strap (Polar is good). One of my best investments.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
    Everyone else has given you great advice. Just pick a way f eating that works and stick with it. If you go more than a month without losing, then you can reevaluate. Personally, I'm averaging a little over a pound a week, but it drops in spurts. I'll go 2 weeks with no loss or even a slight gain (usually water weight), then I'll drop 3 or 4 lbs the third week. It can be frustrating, but you just have to have patience.

    To answer your last question, I usually get calories burned from a HRM. I have found that MFP and gym equipment vastly underestimates my cardio burn but definitely overestimates strength training burn. HRM aren't exact, but they're usually a closer estimate (especially for steady state cardio) than MFP or online calculators because they monitor how hard your heart is actually working rather than how hard the average heart of the average person your height and weight would be working.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I always try to stay below my MFP number and I exercise 5 times a week; 10 min cardio warmup, 30 min weight training, and then 20 - 30 min intense cardio.

    I have about 80 lbs to lose and I just want to make sure I am not messing up somehow.

    It looks to me like your exercise burn numbers for elliptical and walking are about 2x to large. Estimating your weight at 260, your 30 minutes @ 3 miles/hr is more on the order of 120 net calories burned. Don't bother with HRM for this - it can be just as inaccurate for its own reasons - you can just use 0.3 * weight in pounds * miles walked.
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
    Hi- well I can share what has helped me -

    I was on a so-called plateau for a month - turns out i was under-estimating my calories. like I thought i was drinking a cup of milk - when i actually measured it, it was 2 cups. then i got a scale and weighed food and actually stopped guessing food amounts.

    then i noticed i stopped buying food out at restaurants and making my own food at home, i tried to make as much home made food, and that helped me lose weight faster. I also stopped buying pre-made food like you have a lot of that (like instead of buying frozen Tysons spicy chicken tenders which has a lot of sodium and fat, you would just buy chicken in the meat section and cook your own.

    You will probably see your weight go down when you watch your sodium, even though people around here say it does not matter. it does. I keep mine close to 1,500 if i can.

    So try to homecook your own food more with fresh ingredients and watch food labels for those fats and sodium, though i do use frozen vegetables like Steam fresh, because it is good and not very fattening for frozen food.
  • Lesa_Sass
    Lesa_Sass Posts: 2,213 Member
    Make better food choices. Cut out Taco Bell and boston market and eat some fresh real food. Try more fruits vegetables and greens.

    I have started a 10 day clean eating challenge on my facebook cooking page. You do not have to participate but you are more than welcome to look at the recipes posted and ideas on how to eat better. https://www.facebook.com/TheSassyGourmet

    There is more to life than losing weight. The taco bell / boston market diet is not going to ensure you live a nice long and healthy life that includes less trips to the dr and more trips to places that are more fun.
  • mommalump
    mommalump Posts: 3
    All the advice its very helpful but it seems many of you guys weigh-in several times a week. Its that a good idea? I only do it once a week. Should I change this practice?
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Up to you. Some folks struggle without daily data, some folks struggle with too much data. Either works, just depends on the individual.

    Personally I log weight and BF% every day.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,994 Member
    It looks to me like your exercise burn numbers for elliptical and walking are about 2x to large. Estimating your weight at 260, your 30 minutes @ 3 miles/hr is more on the order of 120 net calories burned. Don't bother with HRM for this - it can be just as inaccurate for its own reasons - you can just use 0.3 * weight in pounds * miles walked.

    Your exercise estimates look a little high to me too. A nutrtionist once told me that an hour of moderately paced walking for an overweight person is roughly 300 cals per hour, give or take a little for speed and weight. I'm 92 kg (203 lbs), and my HRM says I burn 80-90 cals for every 10 minutes on the elliptical when I target a heart rate between 140-150. That's typically 60% of the reading the machine itself gives and 50% of the entry in MFP database.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
    As far as overestimating burn... I have been getting my numbers from treadmill and elliptical readouts, as well as MFP amounts.

    Unfortunately, MFP activity burns are notoriously high. Lots of people eat back only half when they base their exercise calories on MFP counts.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    It looks to me like your exercise burn numbers for elliptical and walking are about 2x to large. Estimating your weight at 260, your 30 minutes @ 3 miles/hr is more on the order of 120 net calories burned. Don't bother with HRM for this - it can be just as inaccurate for its own reasons - you can just use 0.3 * weight in pounds * miles walked.

    Your exercise estimates look a little high to me too. A nutrtionist once told me that an hour of moderately paced walking for an overweight person is roughly 300 cals per hour, give or take a little for speed and weight. I'm 92 kg (203 lbs), and my HRM says I burn 80-90 cals for every 10 minutes on the elliptical when I target a heart rate between 140-150. That's typically 60% of the reading the machine itself gives and 50% of the entry in MFP database.

    This. Most estimates for cardio are around 10 calories per minute for running. Walking is about half of that. If you are over 450 there and over by 10% on your intake estimates, that's 700 calories extra. That would explain the lack of progress.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    You've lost a lot of weight. Plateaus are natural. Be patient, as I can see from your diary that you are doing all the right things.
  • pavrg
    pavrg Posts: 277 Member
    Are you increasing your exercise intensity on a regular basis? "Settling in" to your routine and failing to push yourself to improve can cause a plateu, especially as you lose weight and thus burn fewer calories per cardio exercise session. With only 70 days into your program, you should still be able to increase the intensity every week at a minimum.

    Also, as a basic thumbrule multiply the amount of calories the machines tell you that you burned by 1/2 - 2/3. You'll have to reduce the exercise minutes you put into MFP because it doesn't let you adjust the calories. Running/walking is a lot more accurate to calculate than an elliptical or bike, though.
    Personally I log weight and BF% every day.
    Do you find bf% changes significantly day-to-day? Just asking because I log bf% once a week and weight everyday. I find that the biggest variable in bf% is going to be my weight fluctuation as the other measurements have little to no varience on a day-to-day basis.
  • 1princesswarrior
    1princesswarrior Posts: 1,242 Member
    Is there a reason you have breakfast and a mid-morning snack set up but don't eat them?

    Also, 39 lbs since July is really fast weight loss (congrats!) so I would start slowing down or it is going to be really hard to maintain. MFP is set up so you eat back your exercise calories and still lose at a steady rate. Like others have said, a HRM is a really good investment, I have a Polar FT4. Use a food scale to weigh everything, you will be surprised how far off measuring cups and spoons are.

    I see a lot of tortillas in your diary. Maybe replace half of those with whole grain bread, that will help with fiber. There are whole grain low calorie breads out there. Try adding more fruit and some nuts or nut butter. Pick a macro percentage and try it for at least a month, then tweak if you have to, don't completely rearrange. I use a 35% protein, 35% carbs, and 30% fat division. You need carbs and fat. Log everything you drink too. I aim for a gallon of water a day but that's all I drink. Drinking more water will help with water retention, especially with the high sodium. I hardly ever cook for myself because of time but I've learned where to avoid high sodium. Over the winter I will throw stuff in the crockpot.

    I weigh daily and to plot my weight looks like I tried to make a straight line writing with my weak hand while drunk or having my dog write a straight line.

    Good luck!
  • graceire
    graceire Posts: 323 Member
    All the advice its very helpful but it seems many of you guys weigh-in several times a week. Its that a good idea? I only do it once a week. Should I change this practice?

    That's a personal choice. The scale can fluctuate all week--if you can handle that and not freak out over a "gain," then weigh more frequently. Personally, I weigh everyday because I like getting the full picture. I only update my weight when its a verified loss (i.e. see the same weight or lower two days in a row).
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    you need to stick with something longer than a week. like, 6-8 weeks.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Personally I log weight and BF% every day.
    Do you find bf% changes significantly day-to-day? Just asking because I log bf% once a week and weight everyday. I find that the biggest variable in bf% is going to be my weight fluctuation as the other measurements have little to no varience on a day-to-day basis.

    BF% is dropping right along with weight (it better be, or LBM is being lost!). Over the course of a week, the values fluctuate inside a range of 1-1.5%.

    Not sure if that answers your question...?
  • pavrg
    pavrg Posts: 277 Member
    I was asking about the other measurements you take for bf% on a daily basis. Eg I gained a lb from yesterday to today, but waist/hips/etc are all the same so bf% went down by .2 in a day, but that's solely due to normal weight fluctuation.

    I find if I take those measurements on a weekly basis that there's enough of a change to measure a difference.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I was asking about the other measurements you take for bf% on a daily basis. Eg I gained a lb from yesterday to today, but waist/hips/etc are all the same so bf% went down by .2 in a day, but that's solely due to normal weight fluctuation.

    I find if I take those measurements on a weekly basis that there's enough of a change to measure a difference.

    Oh, I see. No, I only take body measurements monthly, I use machines for BF% measurements.

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