Have a quick look at my diary and help?

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Lindsaycardiodays
Lindsaycardiodays Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all!

I have been tracking everything I eat (I think accurately) for a little while now. I have not lost anything for 3 weeks.
I'm not really sure where I am going wrong. A bit of advice would be greatly appreciated, if anyone doesn't mind sparing a few minutes to have a look at what I've been doing :)

I am 30 yr old, female, 5'5 an fluctuate for last few weeks between 138.2- 138.8 lbs. My body fat (as calculated at the gym) is 34% body fat. I'm very small frame on top and have bigger hips/thighs.
for my excercise I have been doing a 'power barbell' class at the gym 2 days per week, another cardio/squat/lunge/ abs class 1 day, and yoga 2 days. (5days/ week total). I have been eating around 1400-1500 cals per day. Some days less, some more.

Please let me know any suggestions at all!

Thank-you in advance!!!

Replies

  • missymakayla
    missymakayla Posts: 309 Member
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    Take a look at the amount of sodium you are eating, sometimes sodium will do that. Try changing up your routine too...
  • BeckyMBisMe
    BeckyMBisMe Posts: 215 Member
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    I looked at your menu for the last 3 days and you were well over your allotment for carbs. What are your macro's set at? did you let MFP set it? And you haven't logged your water. Are you drinking water or soda or ??? Just by what I can see, I would suggest watching the "processed" carbs. and make sure you are getting the water.
  • Akimajuktuq
    Akimajuktuq Posts: 3,037 Member
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    Perhaps you do not need to lose weight? Perhaps you are building some muscle (but not likely since you are not eating enough)? Muscular people often weigh more but look better than people who are lighter. 138 is not over-weight for your height.

    You won't like my opinion on your food choices. Lots of processed stuff. You are possibly under-eating. But the worst, you are avoiding fat (a necessary macro) and consuming LOTS of carbs. I don't care what MFP defaults say, low fat/high carb, especially from processed foods, is not healthy in my opinion and experience.
  • OsricTheKnight
    OsricTheKnight Posts: 340 Member
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    I'd lower your intake by 100kcals per day, and use a graphing tool like trendweight.com to see if you're making progress or not.

    What is your weight goal and when do you want to get there?

    Osric

    4w.png
  • mag131
    mag131 Posts: 542 Member
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    I agree with what the other posters have already said.

    Lower your calories by 100, lower your carbs, up your fat intake.

    Lay off the pizza, fast food, sugary drinks, and protein bars. Focus on getting your protein from lean meat, beans, eggs, nuts, cottage cheese. Fit in more healthy fats like olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, natural peanut butter.

    Also, how are you measuring your calories burned during your workouts? MFP tends to overestimate calories burned, so either use a heart rate monitor or shave some calories off what MFP is telling you you burned.

    Are you making sure to track every single morsel of food that you eat and measuring correctly instead of just estimating the amounts?
  • Lindsaycardiodays
    Lindsaycardiodays Posts: 8 Member
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    I set my macros according to the iifym website calculator. But I do seem to always go over on carbs. I guess this is one of my (seemingly many) mistakes. I will have to get that in check pronto!
    As for the 'fats', I realize this means healthy fats. Is the fats just as important as the carbs/protein intake?
    I have been focusing on trying to get enougjt protein daily and I guess not focusing on the carbs/fats.

    Thank you for pointing this out to me! I will definitely get this in order.

    Second point brought up was that 138 lbs is a norml weight for me.
    My "pear shaped" physique bothers me, however at my gym, they told me that my BF % being 34% makes me obese!
    So that has kind of made me want to focus on gaining muscle (hence me doing the barbell/weight class) but I don't want to eat more to gain fat.

    Would you suggest eating MORE and trying to build muscle? Then worry about losing the fat later?
  • Rogsman
    Rogsman Posts: 106 Member
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    I agree with what the other posters have already said.

    Lower your calories by 100, lower your carbs, up your fat intake.

    Lay off the pizza, fast food, sugary drinks, and protein bars. Focus on getting your protein from lean meat, beans, eggs, nuts, cottage cheese. Fit in more healthy fats like olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, natural peanut butter.

    Also, how are you measuring your calories burned during your workouts? MFP tends to overestimate calories burned, so either use a heart rate monitor or shave some calories off what MFP is telling you you burned.

    Are you making sure to track every single morsel of food that you eat and measuring correctly instead of just estimating the amounts?

    This. The calorie burns from your workout types you're doing are so variable, it's throwing the calculations off.
  • Lindsaycardiodays
    Lindsaycardiodays Posts: 8 Member
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    I've just been plugging the excercise type into mfp and I know that it is off. I haven't been concerned so much with how much I'm burning. I'm just logging it for the sake of logging it. I've set my calorie intake according to iifym and based on bf% and excercise 3 days per week. The suggested calorie intake is about 1500 for weight loss.
  • Lindsaycardiodays
    Lindsaycardiodays Posts: 8 Member
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    Maybe I am going about this wrong?
  • Lindsaycardiodays
    Lindsaycardiodays Posts: 8 Member
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    Would keepin my carbs at or under 100g / day be more appropriate?
  • helenrosemay
    helenrosemay Posts: 375 Member
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    Would keepin my carbs at or under 100g / day be more appropriate?

    I eat between 180g - 200g of carbs a day and still lose 2lbs a week, maybe change where you get your carbs. I would cut down on the Mocha Cappuccino, pizza, processed foods and add more fruit and veg. Keep an eye on your sodium too, but I wouldn't eat less calories. If your cals burned during exercise is correct, you shouldn't lower you calorie intake. You weigh a healthy weight for your height, so I shouldn't imagine you need to lose much weight so of course it's going to be slower.
  • SaraAxm
    SaraAxm Posts: 30
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    It's simple. If you're not losing weight you are eating too many calories. This may have several causes.

    1. You are not logging properly. Get a food scale an measure everything.
    2. You are over-estimating how many calories you are burning a day (by over estimating exercise, how active you are and so on.)

    As long as you are at a calorie deficit it doesn't matter what kind of food you are eating. You will lose weight anyway. (This does not mean I recommend dieting on pizza, mostly because the amount of pizza you can eat and stay at a calorie deficiency is quite low and you will be hungry).

    So just start measuring everything and stop guessing.
  • sklebar
    sklebar Posts: 117 Member
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    Your exercise calories seem overestimated, you are eating way too many carbs and sugar. Try and introduce other foods into your diet than smoothies and sugary protein bars.

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