HELP MEEEEE

Eat more

Gosh if people would all just eat more, no one would be overweight. :huh:

Yup. This. It always seems to come down to accurate logging. Salad dressing, drinks etc all add up and people tend to forget.

This.

Okay, eat no sugar, eat more protein, eat less, eat more, weigh all of my food, exercise more, log all of my food, eat no processed food. SO Confusing. I wish I could afford a nutritionist. lol.

Any time you ask for advice on here, you'll get a ton of conflicting advice. But common sense should tell you that the simplest explanation, i.e. you're eating too many calories, is the most likely one. Occam's Razor, and all that. All the "eat more to lose weight" stuff is just broscience mixed with wishful thinking mixed with a dollop of active sabotage. Try a simple experiment, after determining your true caloric intake through exacting tracking and logging: Eat 200 fewer calories per day than your current total for two weeks, and see what happens. Then eat 200 greater calories per day for two weeks after that. I can pretty much guarantee you that your weight loss will be strongly correlated to the caloric intake. :drinker:

Okay so my BMI Is overweight. I'm 5'2" and weigh 138 lbs. I would like to weigh 120 lbs. I have been running 1-2 mi per day and doing strength traning. Almost everyday Since December 20th. I'm vegetarian. Here is an example of my daily meals

what's your body fat percentage? And how much lean body mass do you have? Is 120lb a reasonable goal based on the amount of lean body mass that you have? In your pic I can see collar bones and muscular shoulders, plus you do strength training. Maybe you don't actually need to lose as much fat or weight as you think (or even any). BMI is not a reliable measure of health, it's possible for people to be in the overweight range while having a healthy body fat percentage. It's body fat percentage that counts, because it's excess *fat* not excess *weight* that's the health risk. Healthy, strong bones and muscles are heavier than weak ones, and you need to maintain your lean mass for good health. Whatever fat loss you want, you need to be losing 100% fat. A decent amount of lean mass + a healthy body fat percentage is what gives your body a lean, fit look, and it's also what's most healthy, regardless of what the scale says. Also, you can decided to some extent what look you want, i.e. if you want to look defined, aim for the low end of the healthy body fat percentage range, if you want a softer, less defined look, then don't go below 22% body fat. And ignore the scale for the most part, it's just *one* metric of many and not a good one for determining health as it doesn't distinguish between fat and lean mass. How your clothes fit, how you look in the mirror, your waist circumference, your body fat percenage... these are all important health indicators too, plus when it comes to looks, the mirror is the ultimately authority (provided your perception of yourself isn't skewed by body dysmorphic disorder or something), not the scale. when it comes to health, carrying too much body fat is where the health risk is. Body fat percentage, waist circumference and how you look in the mirror can all tell you if you're carrying too much fat or not.

Leigh Peele's blog has a really good downloadable report on body fat percentage that includes pictures of men and women at different body fat percentages, for visual estimates or to see what kind of look you want and what body fat percentage you're likely to achieve that look.

ETA: re vegetarian - you need a decent amount of protein to maintain lean mass while losing fat - it's hard to get enough of a vegetarian diet, so pay careful attention to that and be sure to get plenty of protein.

This.

Okay, eat no sugar, eat more protein, eat less, eat more, weigh all of my food, exercise more, log all of my food, eat no processed food. SO Confusing. I wish I could afford a nutritionist. lol.

Any time you ask for advice on here, you'll get a ton of conflicting advice. But common sense should tell you that the simplest explanation, i.e. you're eating too many calories, is the most likely one. Occam's Razor, and all that. All the "eat more to lose weight" stuff is just broscience mixed with wishful thinking mixed with a dollop of active sabotage. Try a simple experiment, after determining your true caloric intake through exacting tracking and logging: Eat 200 fewer calories per day than your current total for two weeks, and see what happens. Then eat 200 greater calories per day for two weeks after that. I can pretty much guarantee you that your weight loss will be strongly correlated to the caloric intake. :drinker:

It's also possible that her expectations as far as rate of loss are not reasonable. It's tough to lose a lb a week when you're short and close to a healthy weight. Your margin for error is small, so it's important to log accurately.

Eat more to lose weight is not broscience if taken as originally intended (and it rarely is). All it means is that you don't have to starve yourself to lose weight. It does not mean that if you find yourself stalled or losing slower than you'd like that you should automatically eat more.

I have to concur with others that say to stay with what you are doing/aiming to do, measure and log EVERYTHING, then report back in a few weeks. It will take time to lose the weight. Stressing out about if after only a few weeks will not help you, and you won't be able to make any smart changes without first gathering more data.

Small tip on getting protein in a vegetarian diet: in stead of things like veggie dogs, veggie burgers, protein bars, yogurt, dairy, et cetera for your protein, have some soy beans, lentils, or other beans as parts of your meals. Those will be much more nutritionally dense than some of the vegetarian "meat replacements". If you are not used to a lot of beans in your diet, ease into it. You may want to keep some dairy for calcium, but don't expect dairy to be a big source of protein. (Speaking from experience as a vegan. Vegetarian for 10 years, then moved to vegan about 6 years ago.)

According to nutritiondata.self.com:
100g of Greek yogurt has 7.3g of protein. 100g of lentils has 9g of protein. 100g of edamame has 10.9g of protein. 100g of navy beans has 8.2g. 100g of pinto beans has 9g of protein.

Yes, beans do have more calories and carbs, but I think the other nutrients present makes it worth it. Iron can be pretty hard to get in your diet if you are vegetarian or vegan, and these beans are all fairly decent sources of it. it is even more so important if you have to restrict enriched grains for intolerance reasons when vegetarian or vegan. The combination of protein, fiber, and carbs from the beans will also feel more filling than just the protein from the yogurt.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/590715/2
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/4338/2
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/9873/2
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/4307/2
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/4312/2

If you don't trust nutritiondata.self.com, we could see what caloriecount.about.com has.

Per 100g of food:
Greek yogurt: 10.588g
Lentils: 9.04g
Edamame: 10.582g
Navy beans: 8.242g
Pinto beans: 9.006g

Chobani nonfat plain yogurt does seem to be better than whatever brand nutritiondata.self.com is gathering data from. However, you will always have that problem of protein content varying depending on who makes the yogurt. It's not so much a problem with the beans.

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-chobani-plain-nonfat-i131827
http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-lentils-mature-seeds-i16070
http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-seapoint-farms-shelled-i105458
http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-beans-navy-mature-seeds-i16038
http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-beans-pinto-mature-seeds-i16043

(I chose 100g to compare as serving sizes for each item varies.)

Alrighty, just gonna rattle things off. 1) eliminate all sources of caffeine, like soda, chocolate, coffee. 2) drink 6 water bottles a day to keep yourself hydrated, and the hard part...only drink water all day, every day 3) Carbs are in A LOT of things, not just grains. example, apple, watermelon, carrots etc. 4) when you workout, do 30 mins of cardio first to get your heart rate in target zone then do strength training. 5) muscle weighs more than fat....you may be losing weight, but gaining muscle! 6) a suggestion, measure in inches or centimeters on example: the left thigh, left bicep, and waist at the belly button. This method will help you see physical changes of losing fat. 7) use spices that DO NOT HAVE SUGAR in the ingredients label! Ms. Dash has no sugar and no salt in most. 8) when you are finished with workouts, drink a whey protein shake. Those shakes are not only intended for men 9) and last of all, try not to weigh yourself everyday, or every other day. Weigh once a week or once every two weeks. its psychological when you lose a pound, then gain two, ....etc.

I hope this helps!!!! Best Wishes

1. Whats wrong with caffeine? It's been linked to increased performance prior to workouts.
4. Target hearts rates is a myth and doing cardio before WT is a preference - http://alanaragon.com/myths-under-the-microscope-the-fat-burning-zone-fasted-cardio.html
5. Muscle by volume weights more than fat, but a lb is a lb. But the fact is, while in a calorie deficit, the OP will not gain any new lean body mass or muscle. WT and protein work to preserve the muscle mass.
7. Again, nothing is wrong with sugar. Sugar is a carb, if you manage carbs, you manage sugar. - http://www.fitnessbaddies.com/your-problem-with-sugar-is-the-problem-with-sugar/
8. While there is nothing wrong with drinking protein shakes post workout, that data is still inconclusive to if there is a benefit - http://www.jissn.com/content/pdf/1550-2783-10-5.pdf

Overall, it's not bad advice.