I've put on 5 pounds in the past 2 weeks....

2

Replies

  • Euroboss
    Euroboss Posts: 56 Member
    I looked at your diary and everything seems OK, you might just have to cut back for a few days to get things moving again. I know people around here ***** and moan about people dropping their calories too low but in my experince a few days around the 700-800 calorie range gets my weight loss moving and is very helpful.

    Yesterday Ken had 2 cups of skim milk for breakfast. What?

    Then he had a sandwich. Ok, that's good, although you really shoulda eaten that earlier so you didn't feel like crap all morning and totally starving by the time lunch came round.

    Then he has a tiny little bit of pasta, 50 grams about for dinner. Follows it up with 42 grams of M&Ms! He eats as much M&Ms as he does real food!

    Less crap - More food, Ken. It's really not rocket science.

    That's exactly what I was trying to say, but to my surprise some say there is nothing wrong with it, healthy even???

    Sa'll good, just fight the ignorance with reason. We all want to achieve here, lets help each other. If this was a community of people that understood how their bodies worked, we wouldn't be keeping food diaries would we?
  • Have you had your thyroid checked? When I gain quickly - my thyroid is usually off.
  • epazia
    epazia Posts: 126 Member
    Why does everyone make the assumption that what works for one person will work for the next person just the same? Some people may be able to eat whatever they want and loose weight others will have to take into consideration healthier choices. I am aware the basic formula says take in less then you burn, but all things burned are not equal. Personally, I would look carefully at what you are eating and eliminate something for a week or two, say i dunno pizza, see if that gets you burning again. This might give you an idea of what is not working for you.
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    It's really the post just before yours, my second, where Ken problem is clear. When you don't eat properly first up, in the morning, you'll be sluggish and moody until you do. A cup of milk isn't going to fix that. That means you grumble through the morning, being a right pain in the bum to everyone around you, until you make it to lunch when you're RAVENOUS. This makes it very hard to make good food decisions because you NEED FOOD NOW, let alone logging into some webapp and trying to write it all down as you make it. A sandwich like Ken has would last him an hour or two, then he would be STARVING again because all he has eaten by 3PM is a sandwich!

    Some people don't eat breakfast and aren't negatively affected by that lack of food. I prefer to not eat until lunch. I'm not tired, sluggish, or moody. You don't need to make generalizations for all of us.
    This has nothing to do with the 'breakfast kickstarts your metabolism' stuff that was never proving and you're alluding to. It's just that normal adult eating habits promote good nutritional choices, you've got the presence of mind to think about what you're eating and the time to prepare it.

    My "normal adult eating habits" will be whatever I want them to be. I don't need/want to eat at certain times of the day. That has nothing to do with weight loss anyway. Just because someone chooses to eat at an odd time, doesn't mean they don't have "presence of mind to think about what you're eating". You're pretty judgmental about the habits of strangers.
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    Calories. Calories are all that matter for weight loss. One step at a time, folks.

    Personally, I don't think the OP is logging accurately enough - ie not weighing food.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,961 Member
    It's gotta be TOM.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Euroboss
    Euroboss Posts: 56 Member
    It's really the post just before yours, my second, where Ken problem is clear. When you don't eat properly first up, in the morning, you'll be sluggish and moody until you do. A cup of milk isn't going to fix that. That means you grumble through the morning, being a right pain in the bum to everyone around you, until you make it to lunch when you're RAVENOUS. This makes it very hard to make good food decisions because you NEED FOOD NOW, let alone logging into some webapp and trying to write it all down as you make it. A sandwich like Ken has would last him an hour or two, then he would be STARVING again because all he has eaten by 3PM is a sandwich!


    Some people don't eat breakfast and aren't negatively affected by that lack of food. I prefer to not eat until lunch. I'm not tired, sluggish, or moody. You don't need to make generalizations for all of us.

    I don't believe you. I was a long time 'I don't do breakfast guy' myself. I'm not a special snowflake and neither are you, this is how the human body works. What do you do for a job? I ask because I'm trying to ascertain what your mornings entail.
    This has nothing to do with the 'breakfast kickstarts your metabolism' stuff that was never proving and you're alluding to. It's just that normal adult eating habits promote good nutritional choices, you've got the presence of mind to think about what you're eating and the time to prepare it.


    My "normal adult eating habits" will be whatever the heck I want them to be. I don't need/want to eat at certain times of the day. That has nothing to do with weight loss anyway. Just because someone chooses to eat at an odd time, doesn't mean they don't have "presence of mind to think about what you're eating". You're pretty judgmental about the habits of strangers.

    You need to step back and stop making snap decisions/comments. There are some good suggestions for Ken in this thread - but none of them are coming from you.

    Complete rubbish - eating more proper food and less high calorie junk is objectively a good suggestion and if you don't think so it says more about you than anything else. You're not actually an amazing flower that is different to the rest of humanity, you will find certain consistencies in the eating habits of healthy people. Eating at regular intervals is one of them.
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    It's really the post just before yours, my second, where Ken problem is clear. When you don't eat properly first up, in the morning, you'll be sluggish and moody until you do. A cup of milk isn't going to fix that. That means you grumble through the morning, being a right pain in the bum to everyone around you, until you make it to lunch when you're RAVENOUS. This makes it very hard to make good food decisions because you NEED FOOD NOW, let alone logging into some webapp and trying to write it all down as you make it. A sandwich like Ken has would last him an hour or two, then he would be STARVING again because all he has eaten by 3PM is a sandwich!

    Some people don't eat breakfast and aren't negatively affected by that lack of food. I prefer to not eat until lunch. I'm not tired, sluggish, or moody. You don't need to make generalizations for all of us.

    I don't believe you. I was a long time 'I don't do breakfast guy' myself. I'm not a special snowflake and neither are you, this is how the human body works. What do you do for a job? I ask because I'm trying to ascertain what your mornings entail.
    This has nothing to do with the 'breakfast kickstarts your metabolism' stuff that was never proving and you're alluding to. It's just that normal adult eating habits promote good nutritional choices, you've got the presence of mind to think about what you're eating and the time to prepare it.

    My "normal adult eating habits" will be whatever the heck I want them to be. I don't need/want to eat at certain times of the day. That has nothing to do with weight loss anyway. Just because someone chooses to eat at an odd time, doesn't mean they don't have "presence of mind to think about what you're eating". You're pretty judgmental about the habits of strangers.

    You need to step back and stop making snap decisions/comments. There are some good suggestions for Ken in this thread - but none of them are coming from you.


    Complete rubbish - eating more proper food and less high calorie junk is objectively a good suggestion and if you don't think so it says more about you than anything else. You're not actually an amazing flower that is different to the rest of humanity, you will find certain consistencies in the eating habits of healthy people. Eating at regular intervals is one of them.


    Hahaha, no.

    As my ticker might suggest, I've been pretty darn successful with my method of eating when it suits me and eating what I want. Weight loss is about eating less calories than you need. It's really that simple. And that math is exactly why I don't think I'm an amazing flower that is different to the rest of humanity.

    I'm healthy, fit, and active. I have energy, strength, and endurance. I don't eat breakfast because it doesn't appeal to me. I have incorporated breakfast in the past - when it did appeal to me. Either way, it didn't affect my weight loss. As long as I'm eating less than I burn, I'll lose weight. 50lbs can't be wrong.

    Eating nutritionally healthy foods is great and important. I make sure that I get enough lean protein, dietary fats, veggies, fruits, whole grains, etc. That stuff supports my health and fitness goals. But, I also eat pizza and ice cream (both of which include the above listed things by the way).

    If you want to eat at regular intervals because it makes you feel good, by all means go ahead. But don't suggest that Ken's diet is off the rails because he had milk for breakfast. That's simply not the case.
  • Euroboss
    Euroboss Posts: 56 Member
    Hahaha, no.

    As my ticker might suggest, I've been pretty darn successful with my method of eating when it suits me and eating what I want. Weight loss is about eating less calories than you need. It's really that simple. And that math is exactly why I don't think I'm an amazing flower that is different to the rest of humanity.

    I'm healthy, fit, and active. I have energy, strength, and endurance. I don't eat breakfast because it doesn't appeal to me. I have incorporated breakfast in the past - when it did appeal to me. Either way, it didn't affect my weight loss. As long as I'm eating less than I burn, I'll lose weight. 50lbs can't be wrong.

    Eating nutritionally healthy foods is great and important. I make sure that I get enough lean protein, dietary fats, veggies, fruits, whole grains, etc. That stuff supports my health and fitness goals. But, I also eat pizza and ice cream (both of which include the above listed things by the way).

    If you want to eat at regular intervals because it makes you feel good, by all means go ahead. But don't suggest that Ken's diet is off the rails because he had milk for breakfast. That's simply not the case.

    Whoa, before I go, this is smart and I want to respond.

    Yes ok, but I'm just suggesting common methods (proven for many) of assisting in modifying behavior. You look at Ken's intake for yesterday and you honestly tell me if you agree with some of the people in this thread that it's fine. Do you think that pattern will lead to not only weight loss, but general health?

    Do you believe Ken's Monday is a good day for Ken's eating? That's really the crux of it.
  • wannabpiper
    wannabpiper Posts: 402 Member
    Looked at your diary, and if it's accurate, you're right - you should be losing - not gaining. Are you weighing your food, or just guess-timating? I was not weighing and just couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing. Now I try to get to the kitchen to weigh when I can and am sometimes surprised. Also, it's hard to get the pizza cal count right - there are so many different ones on the database. Best wishes!
  • superjean1
    superjean1 Posts: 78 Member
    I took a quick look at your diary and agree with other's comments. Try a week or two of increasing lean protein and vegetables and reducing the amount of bread/pizza crust (refined carbs) and see what happens.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    I wanted to remind everyone of two rules as shown below. Discussions are good, attacking is not.



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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    OP, I think the main issue is you are probably miscounting calories, which is very easy when you do not prepare foods. It's not uncommon for pizza restaurants to not follow the recipe and easily put on extra cheese or sauce for good flavor. I would recommend starting to eat more at home.

    I don't blame sodium often because I eat 5000mg a day and still lose 1 lb per week. So i wouldn't stress that. Accuracy of logging is truly the key as you can easily miscalculate and lose your deficit.


    Euroboss, I would highly suggest you do some research on interim fasting. It's well known that timing of nutrition and meal frequency have nothing to do with weight loss (such results in the below NIH study). I understand from a psychological perspective that some people require increase meal frequency, but there have been thousand of MFP members that practice IF with great success. Additionally, the hormone Ghrelin can be suppressed when going longer periods without food. This is why the first week of IF is very difficult because you still are used to the timing of meals. But after the first week, you are used to it and can go long periods without food.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985

    One more note. I will say the OP can make better food choices for satiety reason and increase protein to improve muscle retention (especially if he is strength training) but poor food choices do not prevent weight loss, mismeasuring does. I end each night with a Klondike bar and I hit all my macro and micronutrient goals
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    ...so I'm in to see where this goes.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    And I have no idea why. I've weighed everything, logged everthing. I've been in the 220's for a few months now and now I'm back up to 230. Too much sodium is getting old as an excuse...not going to quit but just getting frustrated. Thanks..
    I wish I had the answer for you because then I might have the answer for me.

    If no one has asked, though, have you changed your exercise routine?
  • Maybe this only applies to me, I used to be 210 and am now 175. I grew up eating fast food, my mom worked didn't cook, we ate tons of bad foods. I never learned anything about nutrition, never learned anything about what my body needed to be healthy or educated myself on what was in the processed foods I ate. I was thin as a teenager and lived off fast food, pepsi and pizza pockets. I went months with out touching a vegetable or drinking a glass of water.

    I feel that since we have an obesity epidemic in america most fast food lovers (myself included) have or had a somewhat unhealthy relationship with these foods. They are fast and convenient. So when I am bored at night why not pop into wendys for a frosty, hell its only 99 cents. When I go to jack in the box for example, I am getting fried jalapeno poppers, egg rolls, tacos, ect, these are the things I clearly love. Being fat and having an unhealthy relationships with certain foods like for me soda, its an all or nothing kinda of thing. I ate nothing but fast food and as I got older woke up feeling like crap, lethargic, sick, side pains, UI infections, nothing I went through when I was younger but ate the same foods. When I eat fruits, vegetables, nuts and less crap, I feel better overall, I have more energy.

    I also don't feel like fast food portions are big enough for how long I am full. I love taco bell but 2 of my favorite burritos run 800 calories for 2, they aren't even very big and I would easily be hungry within a few hours. Thats to many calories for the size of that food. I love wendyes burgers but I eat 2 and it says 700 calories and I am still hungry. I would rather go home and make a ton of food for 700 calories. Or I go to the taco truck, huge burritos around 800 calories, I cut it in half and eat it throughout the day its so big.
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    Everyone is just gonna say its water weight blah blah blah

    You know what? I gained 15 pounds in 1 week, everyone said it was water weight, yet it took a month to get off just like "normal fat" it wasn't water weight. Some people are full of it.

    So you ate 52,500 calories over maintenance that week? Impressive.
  • ken_hogan
    ken_hogan Posts: 854 Member
    Thanks everyone for the responses...sorry it took me a bit to come back to respond. To answer a couple questions...stress, yes, work related actually, and unfortunately with a candy jar nearby, my stress turns into a little stress/candy eating, but I then, in turn, do my best to allocate a some for that. If I don't 'stress eat' at work, then I will save the extra calories for either a bigger serving at dinner, or a dish of ice cream after dinner.

    No new exercise routines. Only meds is Lipitor which I've been on a while and it never had a negative effect, that I knew of at least.

    I'm a daily weigher, more out of curiousity. One Sunday I had a Halloween Party for the kids. Did my best on tracking and kept grazing to a minimum. Had a dip someone made. The day after that party I was up 2 pounds which that I blamed on the sodium content of the foods I ate. I was pretty successful on Weight Watchers before MFP. Never had a 'problem' like this before. I slipped a bit on WW and finally gave up and put some weight back on. I promised myself NEVER go give up on a weight loss plan again and I'm not planning on quitting now.

    Thanks everyone for the support and advice!! It IS appreciated!!!
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    Sodium schmodium. You're not counting your calories accurately enough, and your margin for error is too narrow, thus you're in maintenance/gain mode. Cut calories. No, more than that. You'll lose weight if you do that.
  • Your body should only be burning one fuel at a time. If you have a meal with carbs (no more than 45g) then have less than 5g fat. If your meal is high fat, keep your carbs under 10g. If you want to learn more, be my friend and read my blog! I hope I can help. I am loosing about 2 lbs a week, and eating pretty much what ever I want.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    Your body should only be burning one fuel at a time. If you have a meal with carbs (no more than 45g) then have less than 5g fat. If your meal is high fat, keep your carbs under 10g. If you want to learn more, be my friend and read my blog! I hope I can help. I am loosing about 2 lbs a week, and eating pretty much what ever I want.

    LOLwut?

    On what is this advice based?
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Your body should only be burning one fuel at a time. If you have a meal with carbs (no more than 45g) then have less than 5g fat. If your meal is high fat, keep your carbs under 10g. If you want to learn more, be my friend and read my blog! I hope I can help. I am loosing about 2 lbs a week, and eating pretty much what ever I want.
    That's a good way to be STARVING all the time.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Your body should only be burning one fuel at a time. If you have a meal with carbs (no more than 45g) then have less than 5g fat. If your meal is high fat, keep your carbs under 10g. If you want to learn more, be my friend and read my blog! I hope I can help. I am loosing about 2 lbs a week, and eating pretty much what ever I want.

    Everything you've said is wrong. Please let no one follow this advice.
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    Your body should only be burning one fuel at a time. If you have a meal with carbs (no more than 45g) then have less than 5g fat. If your meal is high fat, keep your carbs under 10g. If you want to learn more, be my friend and read my blog! I hope I can help. I am loosing about 2 lbs a week, and eating pretty much what ever I want.

    This requires JL.

    13825177391221848237.GIF
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    Your body should only be burning one fuel at a time. If you have a meal with carbs (no more than 45g) then have less than 5g fat. If your meal is high fat, keep your carbs under 10g. If you want to learn more, be my friend and read my blog! I hope I can help. I am loosing about 2 lbs a week, and eating pretty much what ever I want.

    images_zps3500389b.jpeg
  • Euroboss
    Euroboss Posts: 56 Member
    OP, I think the main issue is you are probably miscounting calories, which is very easy when you do not prepare foods. It's not uncommon for pizza restaurants to not follow the recipe and easily put on extra cheese or sauce for good flavor. I would recommend starting to eat more at home.

    I don't blame sodium often because I eat 5000mg a day and still lose 1 lb per week. So i wouldn't stress that. Accuracy of logging is truly the key as you can easily miscalculate and lose your deficit.

    I would suggest the processed food, even if being counted correctly, means a higher calorie count for less volume and long term energy for Ken. 100 grams of macaroni pasta is 371 calories according to Google, while 100 grams of white sugar is 387. So as posters in this thread have said, it's just calories in vs calories out, right? I could just eat 50 grams of sugar with sauce rather than pasta.. it's the same right?

    It's not the same. The energy you'll get from the pasta will last a lot longer, which means your next meal can be lighter and you'll be more effective throughout the gap in-between. My suggestion to Ken (and anyone else) is that cake and pizza and whatever else is fine in moderation, but the vast majority of the calories you're consuming daily should be from long-term energy foods and vegetables. You get to eat more of them too, so you get to tuck into a huge plate of veg, tossed in a little olive oil and seasoned (tastes really good) rather than a small portion of something more calorie dense.

    You basically suggest the same thing at the end of your post.
    Euroboss, I would highly suggest you do some research on interim fasting. It's well known that timing of nutrition and meal frequency have nothing to do with weight loss (such results in the below NIH study). I understand from a psychological perspective that some people require increase meal frequency, but there have been thousand of MFP members that practice IF with great success. Additionally, the hormone Ghrelin can be suppressed when going longer periods without food. This is why the first week of IF is very difficult because you still are used to the timing of meals. But after the first week, you are used to it and can go long periods without food.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985

    One more note. I will say the OP can make better food choices for satiety reason and increase protein to improve muscle retention (especially if he is strength training) but poor food choices do not prevent weight loss, mismeasuring does. I end each night with a Klondike bar and I hit all my macro and micronutrient goals

    I read that abstract and I've heard of the concept a few times. As I asserted before, I'm not suggesting a correlation physiologically between regular meals and weight loss. No-one that I've been reading tries to do that anymore, it's about developing healthy habits.

    Eating regularly means you maintain a blood sugar level that enables you to be more.. relaxed. If you work in a profession where your intellect is required, it's simply not an option to have your brain not working optimally during business hours, which I know for me requires sustenance.

    In the study you linked to IF, the subjects are eating:

    A period of at least 4 h but not more than 6 h between main meals during the day, i.e. breakfast, lunch and supper, was imposed for both low- and high-MF groups. Supper had to be consumed at least 3 h before bedtime (2 h for snacks in the high-MF group)

    So the IF study people are eating breakfast! :)

    However, whatever is happening in a controlled study is not real life. Weight loss and health is a long distance race, not a sprint. We need habits and methods that enable us to lead the lives we want, perform mentally and physically at the levels we can be the best we can be. From my experience, which is supported by many others, regular healthy eating (which means starting the day with food) is the best way to do this. If your calorie intake starts off in the morning, peaks with a big lunch to power you through your day and tapers off with a small dinner.. once you've gotten used to this over some time you'll start waking up hungry! It's a great day when you do, believe me.

    Maybe you really don't need to do this, but I would suggest you're an outlier then. It's a bit like saying 'some people never had to attend University and went to get PhDs, so not going to Uni is a valid path'. Well I guess it is then, but for the VAST majority of people you just have do it like everyone else does.. entertaining you're an outlier without spending considerable effort confirming it (i.e. eating regularly for a few months or acing Uni exams without every going to class) is just using the alternate method as an excuse not to do the work down the beaten track.

    I've only really learned this about my eating having the long vacation I'm currently on to actually focus on this. While I was working full-time no-one could convince me that I needed to eat in the mornings. The difference in my energy and mental clarity now is astonishing - a real 'why didn't I do this before' moment.

    Anyways, sorry for the 'diary shaming' or whatever before, everyone. I'm new here and didn't understand that's something we don't do.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    Your body should only be burning one fuel at a time. If you have a meal with carbs (no more than 45g) then have less than 5g fat. If your meal is high fat, keep your carbs under 10g. If you want to learn more, be my friend and read my blog! I hope I can help. I am loosing about 2 lbs a week, and eating pretty much what ever I want.

    Odd advice considering you don't really follow it yourself :noway:
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    This may seems silly but, have you changed the battery in your food scale recently? Mine starts acting up a bit before the little battery light pops up so the numbers can be off. Just a thought. I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make.
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    I'm new here and didn't understand that's something we don't do.

    You talk a lot of sense about nutrition, no doubt, BUT the OP asked a weight loss question, not a nutrition question. According to his diary he SHOULD be losing weight - his diary says he has a calorie deficit. So his problem HERE is not nutrition - it's isn't logging inaccurately - that's the place to start, imo.

    Sorry about the rocking horse comment, btw. *hangs head in shame*
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Looks like you're averaging about 1800 calories/day, and are fairly inactive. I'm guessing at your BF% based on pic and weight you gave, and that gives a BMR in the range of 1700-1800 and a TDEE in the range of 2000-2200.

    Based on that, at a minimum, it doesn't appear you are running much of a deficit. Even a small miscalculation in your intake and you could actually be in a slight surplus. That would be consistent with topping up your glycogen stores, which comes with water retention. 5 pounds would be in the right ballpark for that.

    So, based on the limited information available to us, it looks to me like you're not active enough to support a deficit at your current intake level.