PLEASE HELP I AM STARTING TO FEEL DEFEATED

Looking at your ticker it says that you need to lose 140 lbs. If this is true and you are eating 1370 calories you are not getting nearly enough calories! And I too believe depending on your weight you may be over estimating your Zumba Calories burned.

I did Zumba for the first 6 months of my life style change. I weighed between 290 and 270 lbs for most of that and the most I ever burned at high intensity was no more than 600 Calories for 60 minutes according to my heart rate monitor. I am not saying that you are not working your Butt Off, but 1 MFP way over estimates most calorie burns, and a lot of websites over estimate Zumba Calorie burns.

Suggest you get a Heart Rate Monitor and up your calorie intake. Log CONSISTENTLY. It does not help to do this for months and not see any movement. You should be seeing some movement whether on the scale of in the way your clothes are fitting. I have noticed when I eat processed meals, and items with lots of salt I do not see the scale move as much that week. Don't get me wrong I still eat out, and do not make everything from scratch.

I recommend upping your calories, and do not eat your exercise calories back for a while and see what difference it makes.

When I first started around 290 lbs, I was eating around 1700 calories, and exercising about 300 calories a day. The first 30 lbs dropped off kinda quickly. I researched a good bit and found that I was not eating enough and I have stalled. I calculated my TDEE, and started eating closer to 2000 calories, and exercising about 500 calories most days, and the weight started coming off again. I just recently dropped my calories to get through my most recent stall, but will increase them again shortly.

I am just telling you what has worked for me. Everyone is different, and many would say I am still not eating enough, but we do what works for us.

1. There is no way you burn that in Zumba
2. If you think that you do burn that in Zumba, you need to eat a hell of a lot more.
3. Weigh and measure everything.
4. Eat more to lose more - it does work, especially if you are as active as you say you are.
5. You need to get into the habit of logging. I know you say you're new and sometimes you forget to log, but that's on your shoulders. So if you forget, you are lying to yourself.
6. Cut the fast food - no wonder you aren't losing. Last time i ate fast food like dunkin, mcdonalds, etc? over 6 months ago. And i have Chipotle on the rare occasion of maybe once every other month, if I'm lucky.
7. Feed your body the nutrients it needs, otherwise it'll hold on to them and not let go of them. 3 100 snack packs a day? That's an odd diet if you ask me. Lots of carbs and sugars.

Sorry sweetheart, you can hate that we are trying to help you, but you did ask, and you just don't like the responses you're getting because it's not what you want to hear - Good luck and I hope you reach your goals one way or another :flowerforyou:

I spoke with a fitness coach and I am not eating enough calories & she advised I eat oatmeal before Zumba, which i do daily but at night from wither 720-830 or 830 to 940; i have to do it late at night so i can out my 3 year old to bed. what does tdee stand for??

Keep in mind, that's only if your calorie count is accurate. You will get far better accuracy if you log by ingredient, rather than finding a similar item on mfp and hoping that it's accurate. Remember, you have no idea what size it is, how it's prepared, and even if the person entered accurate information for it in the first place. For example, you have logged things that list calories only, without any of the macronutrients such as carbs, protein, and fat. That makes it harder to know if you are hitting a protein goal.

I'm sure your fitness coach will agree that a food journal is only as good as the accuracy of the information put in it.


TDEE is "total daily energy expenditure". There are a few calculators available, with some variations to the numbers. This gives you a maintenance level calorie intake. Then you deduct 10-20% in order to lose weight. One important thing to note is that with this method, you do not eat back exercise calories because they are already included in the calculation.

I really dont care about the exact number, <snipped>
Also, about my being honest on my food input.. None of this has anything to do with anyone else, so why would I lie to myself, I am too old for that, however, logging my food into mfp is new to me, and I am learning how to do it. <snipped>

And this is why you are frustrated. You need to care about the burns and the intake.

As for the diary that is now closed...when it was open people commented to help you understand why you weren't losing weight...you didn't like it...got defensive and well here you are...some new friends who may or may not help you...but refusing to accept or acknowledge where you are going wrong. So it's like my profile says you either want it or you don't...if you do want it do it and take the advice regardless of weather you like the advice or not...but that being said...based on the above...yah no.

One of two things is going to happen...you will leave MFP due to frustration and/or failure or finally take the advice given here on logging ie food scale, logging everything, getting real on exercise calories and finally accepting that you could be wrong and then you will start to lose weight, consistently and in a healthy manner.....

And I am out.

I can feel your pain. Most days I feel defeated as well. When I'm doing cardio burning 700 plus calories and logging my food and I can't get past 245. I've lost 20lbs since July but I can't do any better. MFP tells me most days if I ate like I eat then I should drop 15 to 18 pounds in 5 weeks but I just can't get there. I know that I'm bad logging and sometime I have bad days where I don't work out and consume more than my calorie limit but for 1 to 2 bad days to erase 3-5 days off working out and eating right, sucks! All I want is to lose 8-10 pounds a month to show me that I'm getting there and that my hard works counts. This is super frustrating.

I am honestly not trying to sound judgmental or harsh, but the first thing you have to do is get honest and consistent about logging what you eat. I'm betting that will pretty much solve your issue right there.

Yes. Honesty and accuracy is the best policy. It's alot of hard work and diligence, but it will pay off in the end.

As for the Nike Fuelband, I've actually heard it's not very accurate. The way it calculates calorie burn is completely different from a normal HRM. I would highly suggest getting a HRM with a chest strap. I have a Polar FT4 and I love it.

THIS.

The following are my OPINIONS...as asked for. I'm not judging or claiming to know better than you or anyone else.

Log EVERYTHING...right down to a tic-tac. I wouldn't worry about anything else right now but that. Get in a habit of logging...almost obsessively.

I would also say the Calorie burn is too high...I've noticed some REALLY high numbers on EVERYONE's exercise logs so it might not be real accurate...for some it IS...for others they are not. I'm one that doesn't burn a lot and I realize this through LOTS of trial and error.




*For those that continually lecture people about "judging others"....well...that's kind of what the original poster ASKED FOR. I mean if you post something asking people to look over your diary and help you figure out what might be wrong...that's JUDGEMENT. Some people could be a bit more tactful with it, but essentially they were ASKED for their opinions.

Hi - I know that this thread is a "whirlwind" and a lot to process. Here is a suggestion that someone made to me.

1. Read as many success stories as you can - positive ones abound.
2. Check out some groups or threads here
3.. If you like them - join them or just "watch from the side for a while"

Here is a group that I belong to which has one of the most positive guys around
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/15552-infinite-ambitious-possibilities

Here is a super group that is just about how many miles you can walk, run, swim, bike, elliptical, stairmaster, swim etc.
It's called the MYA challenge - It is a fun!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1120673-october-2013-move-your-a-challenge

Here is a group that I started which is in it's 2nd month and has a "laid back supportive atmosphere"
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/16790-keeping-it-green-while-eating-challenge-oct-2013

---

Feel free to friend

I spoke with a fitness coach and I am not eating enough calories & she advised I eat oatmeal before Zumba, which i do daily but at night from wither 720-830 or 830 to 940; i have to do it late at night so i can out my 3 year old to bed. what does tdee stand for??

Keep in mind, that's only if your calorie count is accurate. You will get far better accuracy if you log by ingredient, rather than finding a similar item on mfp and hoping that it's accurate. Remember, you have no idea what size it is, how it's prepared, and even if the person entered accurate information for it in the first place. For example, you have logged things that list calories only, without any of the macronutrients such as carbs, protein, and fat. That makes it harder to know if you are hitting a protein goal.

I'm sure your fitness coach will agree that a food journal is only as good as the accuracy of the information put in it.


TDEE is "total daily energy expenditure". There are a few calculators available, with some variations to the numbers. This gives you a maintenance level calorie intake. Then you deduct 10-20% in order to lose weight. One important thing to note is that with this method, you do not eat back exercise calories because they are already included in the calculation.

thank you so much!!!! do you suggest for eating something like oatmeal that is prepackaged like quaker instant oatmeal to scan so all the nutrition goes into the mfp???

okay so i went through and read (almost all) comments including the ones you responded to. first i'm sorry for your loss i'm sure this is extremely difficult on you right now.

second i do not do zumba so i'm not going to even talk about the difficulty of it (i know you do work up a sweat doing it but that's all i know) however since you do have a significant amount of weight to loose (not said in a harsh tone here) it may be more important for you to do your best to accurately enter the calories burned after your workouts. being off 100 calories one day is nothing but if it's every time you do zumba it will add up and not in a good way.

third as for accurately logging i myself sometimes use the closest thing in the food diary to whatever it is i had for whatever meal however i do this only when i go out to dinner (or lunch). as for logging something like oatmeal while i get that the prepackaged stuff is easy you're better off buying the bulk plain ole oatmeal, measuring it out and adding your own spices and fresh fruit than eating the prepackaged version. you can then add say 1 cup plain oatmeal, 1/2 cup milk, 1 tablespoons cinnamon, 1 cup strawberries, 1 tablespoon sugar then your diary is accurate.

it's all about making small adjustments to your lifestyle. instead of say eating a frozen dinner (your food diary is locked so i have no idea what you eat) of lemon pepper chicken cook 5oz of chicken breast with lemon slices and pepper plus a tablespoon of olive oil, make a salad and add a veggie you've got yourself a great meal that you can accurately enter into your food diary. does it take a bit of commitment yes but if you plan accordingly say cook meals on a sunday afternoon you can eat better.

fourth yes we all fall of the food wagon. it's our recovery that determines if we will succeed.

good luck to you.

Go Amy!

lol @ all the: 'listen to us or FAILURE or DEMONS or even worse a GASTRIC BAND '

Sorry about the rude people - they live off the drama. You go sweetie pie - stick with that Zumba it's freakin exhausting and difficult. I wanted to write 'impossible' there but I settled for 'difficult'.