Need help with weight!! Please respond

Yes, you are on the right path. You need to continue with your new food choices, think about eliminating wheat, rye and barley from your diet too. If you need to understand why, please go to your Library and borrow, "Wheat Belly", and "Grain Brain". It will help
you to understand the science of losing weight and what are the best foods to eat.
I am reading the latter book now so I have more to learn.
The weight will melt away by giving up gluten, and feeding your brain the right fats will change you forever. I hope this
nugget helps you along. Give it a go, you will be glad you did!

OK, So, I am going to put this all out on the table this morning, I cant afford a Doctor or dietain vist as I do not have insurance, and I have always been told to lose weight you have to do it on your own.

OK, so I did what a lot of you said yesterday and I eat 2,000 calories so I feel guilty as I weighted 346.2 before yesterday, by eating 2,000 calories it put me in the red on my sodium and in the red on suger sodium was 2,700 over my daily intake and my suger was 89 over my daily intake. and I am now 346.9 so I have gained .07 pounds by eating that much!

Now I thanks you all for your posts.and a few of you have said not to look at the carbs, sodium, or suger right now.

But I have got a few PM that said I am set to fail as I am eating too many carbs, and sodium and suger, and I should not eat grapes for snack as it is high in carbs.

so I am once again confuessed as to what to eat as a snack???????: I have giving up just about everything I gave up sodas, sweet tea and fried foods, I no long go to buger king, or bojangles in the moring and order 2 steak egg & cheese biscuits anymore. I no long eat French fries, or tater tots. ect.

I no long eat Big Mac's or whoppers I have stared eating grilled Chicken , greenbeans, Whole corn, and oatmeal.

So as I have been told in 8 PM emails As I am doing now by cutting calories, and walking and eating what I am I will not lose any weight!!

so I feel like giving up as I feel I am failing

Please let me know what to do! Or that I will not fail.

Your weight may fluctuate daily by 3-4lbs, so 0.7 is no surprise. One reason you should only weigh in once a week or less. That and sodium can cause you to retain water.

Are you using a kitchen scale to weigh solid foods and measuring cups for liquids? If not you are probably eating much more than you think you are.

As for snacks, carbs are fine, as long as you are getting in your minimum fat and protein requirements. To lower your sodium, which is out of this world you may want to eat less processed, frozen, and canned food. they are packed with sodium.

I know you are getting all sorts of conflicting advice.

Carbs are not the enemy and grapes are good. Who ever PM'ed you and said not to eat grapes is foolish.

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Here is my suggestion - Let's keep it simple

1. Log Everything here - no matter how painful it is
2. Shoot to eat between 2500-3000 calories per day - seriously - Don't starve yourself
3. Walk for at least 45 minutes a day

You will see improvement

Remember at your weight 3-4 lbs per month is a great weight loss and permanent - This is a life long journey!

All I can tell you is stick with MFP, it works! Don't cut your calories too low or you will go into starvation mode like others said. Make sure you track everything and stay active here on MFP! Good luck!

OK, So, I am going to put this all out on the table this morning, I cant afford a Doctor or dietain vist as I do not have insurance, and I have always been told to lose weight you have to do it on your own.

OK, so I did what a lot of you said yesterday and I eat 2,000 calories so I feel guilty as I weighted 346.2 before yesterday, by eating 2,000 calories it put me in the red on my sodium and in the red on suger sodium was 2,700 over my daily intake and my suger was 89 over my daily intake. and I am now 346.9 so I have gained .07 pounds by eating that much!

Now I thanks you all for your posts.and a few of you have said not to look at the carbs, sodium, or suger right now.

But I have got a few PM that said I am set to fail as I am eating too many carbs, and sodium and suger, and I should not eat grapes for snack as it is high in carbs.

so I am once again confuessed as to what to eat as a snack???????: I have giving up just about everything I gave up sodas, sweet tea and fried foods, I no long go to buger king, or bojangles in the moring and order 2 steak egg & cheese biscuits anymore. I no long eat French fries, or tater tots. ect.

I no long eat Big Mac's or whoppers I have stared eating grilled Chicken , greenbeans, Whole corn, and oatmeal.

So as I have been told in 8 PM emails As I am doing now by cutting calories, and walking and eating what I am I will not lose any weight!!

so I feel like giving up as I feel I am failing

Please let me know what to do! Or that I will not fail.

You are doing great! You are looking to make a health future for yourself and trying to understand the best way to do this. A few things that may help:

1) You use calories just being alive (your body needs energy to make your heart beat, breathe, swallow etc). This amount is called your BMR.
2) Unless you don't move all day your body also requires energy to move you about. This value will depend on how much you move. This plus your BMR is your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure IIRC). If you eat lower than this figure you'll lose weight. To lose approx 2lbs a week on average you need to eat about 1000 cals a day less than your TDEE. Consistently eating much lower or losing much quicker over the long term is not healthy. Plus you're likely to be hungry alot which means eventually you'll cave and binge eat then feel bad and that cycle starts again. Slow & steady wins the race in this case.
3)From a weight loss perspective how you get these calories is irrelevant to a large extent - you could have 1 big McD's and nothing else all day and be under. However, you want this to be a lifestyle change so I'd highly recommend that you did ditch most/ all the junk for anything other than a rare treat. Lots of veg, lean meat, slow release carbs (brown rice for example) are the way to go IMO.
4)You didn't gain the weight overnight, you need to realise that its going to take a long time to lose it. Be prepared for this and set yourself realistic targets rather than looking at the end weight if that is too distant & too daunting. the first 7lbs, the first 20lbs etc. May be set yourself up a non-food reward for getting there (I buy new gym gear!).
5) People will tell you carbs are bad, processed food is bad, you shouldn't have sugar etc. That's their view and they are entitled to it but ultimately you need to find a way of eating & exercising that works for you and you can sustain. For me I wouldn't want to give up beer or chocolate so I work them into my calories for the day. I've found a way of losing weight that means I eat food I enjoy, I'm not hungry and I can have anything I want in moderation. I don't care if people say I should 'eat clean' or cut out carbs - it works for them but doesn't for me.
6) Log everything, weigh everything, measure everything. Your food, your drink and yourself! You'll find times when your weight loss may slow a bit but you'll have lost inches. When it comes to food don't guess portion size as I can say with 99% certainity you'll underestimate weight & volume.
7) Good luck! You can do this if you really want to make the lifestyle changes. Believe in yourself

First let me say that your doing a great job!!!! Just giving up the unhealthy parts of your lifestyle, is going to make such a huge difference in your life. The realistic part of your situation is that your going to have ups and downs. Some days your going to see differences in the scale, you probably should commit to weighing yourself only once a week at the same time of day wearing the same clothing. Weighing yourself daily may drive you insane because if you have to much sodium on certain days you may retain water and as you build muscle your weight will flucate. You can't go wrong with getting active and eating lean protien, fresh fruit and veggies!

I understand that you don't have insurance but you should find that since you have cut down on eating out and the sugary sodas you may have some extra saving that will allow you to invest in a Doctor visit (usually about $150 for a standard check up including bloodwork here in Florida) it will be the best money you ever invested in yourself. Being overweight can bring so many illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease unfortuately starting any diet or exercise without knowing your numbers could have serious consequences and that visit might save your life. By the way I don't know where you are located but there are many free and low cost clinics.

I pray that your hard work continues to pay off. I have definitely been there I lost 70lbs only to gain 40 back its hard work but its worth it

Everything that has been said so far is absolutely correct. It sounds like you're on the right track to making better choices, but you definitely need to fuel your body more. You can calculate your TDEE and BMR here: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/. Using the "sedentary" setting, you would also eat back your exercise calories, though MFP generally overestimates these, so be careful with just how much you eat back. I usually shoot for about half.

Your TDEE is how many calories your body would use if you were just lying in bed all day, normal bodily functions, like breathing and digestion. You should always try to eat at at least your BMR. MFP is designed to already calculate a caloric deficit, meaning eating fewer calories than you burn through exercise and normal bodily functions, so your goal should already be relatively close. Since you have so much to lose, you should probably set your goal around TDEE - 20% (or TDEE x 0.8) if you hope to lose about 2 pounds per week.

Don't be afraid to eat more. Eating at your TDEE is "maintenance," how many calories you would consume if you wanted to maintain your current weight. Consider how many you were probably consuming on average daily to come to the point where you are. You're looking for an appropriate deficit, but don't think that reducing your calories very low will speed the process, as others suggested. Remember, your primary goal is probably to become healthier, and it looks like you're already doing a good job at working towards that.

Here are some other links you may want to read through to set you on your way:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/841305-corn-used-my-man-parts-as-a-speedbag

ETA: Also, don't stress how many pounds you lose day to day. Weigh in about once a week and monitor your progress in the long run. If you're consistent with eating at a deficit, you'll see the number start to trend downward. Keep a reasonable goal in mind, like 2 pounds per week. I set small goals for myself to make sure I'm on the right track. It takes time, but it's totally worth it.

Yup

also to help me understand this. if some days I go over my sodium intakes for that day is that very bad? will I gain weight by doing that? even if I am under my calorie intake for that day?

thanks chris

Step one! Remove sodium tracking from your diary, it will always show as red numbers and you don't need to worry about it if you're eating "healthy"