I don't understand what's wrong....

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Replies

  • train_01
    train_01 Posts: 135 Member
    Good on ya' for starting the journey! Good luck!
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    It's my gut reaction too. That's WAY TOO LITTLE food. Seriously. Go to http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/, pick a 20-25% deficit, and eat that.

    This!

    Read this...
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet?hl=short+sweet+<span class=

    And most definitely read this!!!
    http://www.vicmagary.com/blog/fitness-motivation/#comment-10883

    Also, kicka$$ attitude that you aren't going to quit! That is the right attitude!
  • Wow. I just wanna say how awesome and encouraging this has been already!! You guys are awesome!! I appreciate all of you taking the time to help me. I feel like I've learned a lot this morning!! I don't know much about a food scale, but I will def get one! I will also try and get my calories to about 2000. You have all made a huge impact today. I won't give up, I will only fight harder. I feel blessed to have all you on my side! Thank you!!
  • uk_ja
    uk_ja Posts: 143 Member
    Oh, I'm also wearing the body the media armband. I just started that a few days ago.

    What does the activity manager tell you that your calories burned are?

    I try to eat 1000 calories less than my burn and so far have consistently lost 2lb a week

    Just make sure you calibrate the activity manager to account for off body calorie burn

    43c8a82e-744b-4542-a115-3616c36056fd_zps22e2a66c.png
  • royaldrea
    royaldrea Posts: 259 Member
    About 60% of the info in the MFP database is wrong. People (inc. me) can't accept that a smallish (126g) piece of chocolate cake with frosting is around 500 calories, and they input it as way lower. Or they feel that macaroni and cheese will have to be 130 calories a cup, because anything else doesn't make sense to them. Other people agree because they are hungry and want more food, and they use those inaccurate entries and end up eating way more than they think they are, despite diligently logging.

    Get a food scale and be cautious with using MFP entries. Even if you weigh your food, you may use the wrong entry and still end up underestimating. Don't use an entry that doesn't track micronutrients (sodium, fats, sugars etc) - if it only has calories it's probably wrong. If it uses 'cups' for solids it's a good chance it's wrong. If everything seems right then go for it, but use your common sense. I put in a 'cup' of potato salad the other day and thought it was ok, but something seemed off - I realized that it had about 4g of fat which of course makes no sense, and meant that everything else was probably off. Had to switch it out with something more realistic (and much more caloric :(:( ).

    That said, you do need to eat way more than 1300 calories. Listen to these smart people calculate it for you, weigh your food and be realistic with the entries that you use.

    Most importantly, don't get discouraged. This is a small setback, if you work for what you want and do what you need to do to accomplish it, you'll get there.
  • thegingerpirate
    thegingerpirate Posts: 33 Member
    I just wanted to commend you again for coming at this from a positive perspective :) That is what will make all of the difference in the world for your motivation to make this a life change. Information is going to be your best friend on this journey. It is so easy to be misled by food and weight loss companies. I think they make it more confusing on purpose!

    Even on the bad days, just remind yourself that even when you aren't losing weight, by exercising more and having a healthy intake (I agree with everyone else that 1300 is too low, but I see that you've already started to make changes to reflect that!) you are doing good things for your body every day.

    There is great information out there, and over time you will find what works for you. If you need someone to talk to feel free to add me!

    Great luck on your lifestyle changes :D
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    Wow. I just wanna say how awesome and encouraging this has been already!! You guys are awesome!! I appreciate all of you taking the time to help me. I feel like I've learned a lot this morning!! I don't know much about a food scale, but I will def get one! I will also try and get my calories to about 2000. You have all made a huge impact today. I won't give up, I will only fight harder. I feel blessed to have all you on my side! Thank you!!

    Great attitude!

    Stick with it and don't lose heart.

    Persistence and consistency are the two things you need. All else will flow from that..
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Wow. I just wanna say how awesome and encouraging this has been already!! You guys are awesome!! I appreciate all of you taking the time to help me. I feel like I've learned a lot this morning!! I don't know much about a food scale, but I will def get one! I will also try and get my calories to about 2000. You have all made a huge impact today. I won't give up, I will only fight harder. I feel blessed to have all you on my side! Thank you!!
    Ah. I misunderstood your earlier post. I thought you were using a food scale already.

    If not, it is very possible you're getting your portions wrong and eating more than you think.

    You can find a good digital food scale for about $15-$20. Amazon has a wide selection. I love mine.
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    You need to eat more, and track everything to a T. I'm 5'11" and I started about 315lbs, and then I started MFP and tracking calories when I was around 300lbs. On days I was working out, I could eat over 3000 calories, and I lost weight just fine, and on days I didn't workout as long as I was walking around a lot during the day I could still eat anywhere between 2,000 and 2,500 calories. I was losing at a 2lb per week rate pretty much until I hit 240lbs. The biggest thing that I found helped me though, was buying a nice food scale, it really does make life easy, though you might be sad at first when you actually see the size of the food you should be eating compared to what you were guestimating.
  • This is what yesterday looked like for me....

    Screenshot_2014-02-18-09-21-58.png

    Oh, I'm also wearing the body the media armband. I just started that a few days ago.

    What does the activity manager tell you that your calories burned are?

    I try to eat 1000 calories less than my burn and so far have consistently lost 2lb a week

    Just make sure you calibrate the activity manager to account for off body calorie burn

    43c8a82e-744b-4542-a115-3616c36056fd_zps22e2a66c.png
  • When you're tracking your food, it's worth the time to input every ingredient individually, rather than trying to find a meal that kind of matches what you're eating. I've found that when I can barcode-scan a food, the values I get are generally more accurate than when someone puts in their homemade whatever and is listing it at a lower calorie value than it should be.

    Also - give it time! I'm completely on the I WANT RESULTS AND I WANT THEM NOW WAHHHH train, trust me, but as much as it sucks to wait, your body's gonna need some time to catch up with where your resolve is going. Just keep at it, be honest about what you eat, how you exercise, etc, and if you can stay consistent in taking better care of yourself, your body will follow your will eventually. :) If you see nothing at all happening after 4-6 months, talk to your doctor again, maybe enlist the help of a nutritionist.
  • ActuarialChef
    ActuarialChef Posts: 1,413 Member
    nevermind.

    Tried to fix your picture link, but failed. Not sure why.
  • WarriorCupcakeBlydnsr
    WarriorCupcakeBlydnsr Posts: 2,150 Member
    Great positive outlook OP!:smile: I agree with everybody here about eating more (I'm 5'9" and I eat 1700 calories a day), at 1300 calories you just scared the snot out of your system, eating more will help as weird as it sounds, a bunch of us have learned this the hard way. Definitely get a food scale and weigh and measure everything, make sure you're getting enough water in during the day (especially if you're working out.)
    Everybody has their own feelings about weighing themselves, so it's up to you, but in my opinion, be careful with daily weighing, I got so obsessed with the number on the scale by weighing daily that I lost sight of all the other good things that were going on, just because that number went up. I eventually had to go cold turkey on weighing myself and now I have to stick to only getting weighed when I go to the doctor (yeah, that's always fun, especially on days like today when I have two appointments). If it works for you, great, but remember you can fluctuate about +/- 5 lbs daily depending on your system.
    Even though the doctor said all you're blood work was fine, there still may be something going on, so make sure you know your family medical history and if you're still having trouble, go to an endocrinologist. I say this because I would get my annual bloodwork done and it would all be normal, but in spite of eating right and exercising, I gained (yup, I said gained) 40lbs in a year, nobody could figure it out. I saw an endo, and she did a more complete lab workup (12 tubes of blood and a 24 hour urine test, trust me this is far more than your primary will ever order on you) and she discovered that I actually do have a thyroid problem (I had three TSH test done between April and October of last year... the last one, the one ordered by the endo, was out of range while the other two were normal, this was enough to tell her that while I am not hypothyroid yet, I am well on my way to getting there) and she also discovered that I'm insulin resistant (ie to keep my blood sugar normal, I'm making excessive amounts of insulin, this is also one that I am in a catch 22 on, I need to lose weight to get my insulin back to normal, but I can't lose weight because I'm insulin resistant) Now that I am on medication and finally at the point I'm regulated with the meds, I am starting to lose weight (very slowly, but I am losing).

    So, keep up the good work OP, don't give up, remember it may take some time and trial and error to find what works for you, but just keep trying until you get it!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    nevermind.

    Tried to fix your picture link, but failed. Not sure why.

    Screenshot_2014-02-18-09-21-58.png
  • donnat238
    donnat238 Posts: 309 Member
    Congrats on your changes! Buy a food scale - it is really an eye opener when you measure everything! Lots of protein and water.

    Good luck! :bigsmile:
  • neelia
    neelia Posts: 750 Member
    Man, I didn't t think there was a thing as cutting calories TOO much. Haha. Ok, i will try and raise that a bit. My mind just thinks that raising my calories is only going to cause me to go backwards. I'm so tired of how I look and feel. I want this change so bad I just thought going as low on my calories as possible would be best. Then I've read dozens of stories where guys cut calories down to around 1300 and they lost 150 lbs in a year without working out!

    I guess it's just hard doing this alone and not really knowing what's right or wrong.

    Would you mind me asking what you are eating? I know you said 1,300 calories, but specifically what types of food? I am reading "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman after being stuck at a plateau for almost 5 months and am seeing now why certain foods have kept me at the weight I am at.

    Don't stop working at it- this is a process that takes time. Just imagine where you will be a year from now.

    Also, here's a link to one of my blog posts that might help you: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/neelia/view/how-my-husband-lost-63-lbs-the-hard-way-608105
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    You probably need to eat more..

    You're also probably eating more then you think your are..

    If you are under eating you will still lose weight. It just won't be healthy and you'll be less likely to keep it off.

    Body Media is awesome. I use it also. It actually helps me eat *more* when I see a 3000 burn, I know I need to go eat something.

    Do you know your BMR? TDEE??

    Use scooby's calculator to get your BMR.. eat no less then this number..

    The body media will give you your TDEE, but so will that calculator.

    If you are eating at a deficit and you aren't losing weight you might want to try different foods as well. And if you're really struggling with portion sizes a scale will be a tremendous help. You'll be surprised how much you're actually eating.

    It also helps, albeit more time consuming, if you enter each thing you eat individually. Like don't use and entry labeled salad, enter each veggie and how much you ate of it separately. None of the "salad" entries ever reflect what i actually eat.

    Look for food without an asterisk when logging, those are entered by MFP and are generally more accurate.
  • graysmom2005
    graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
    your body is in starvation mode... take in more calories but make them healthy CLEAN calorie. Clean eating is definitely the way to go, get rid of the "3 white deaths... flour, sugar and salt" (along with all the chemically junk) I know its hard, especially when you want to just grab something and go.. that granola bar isn't the healthiest thing in the world but it is better than a snickers. just keep going minor changes and you will be on the way to skinny living!!!!

    BANGS HEAD AGAINST WALL. BANGS HEAD AGAINST WALL! NO, NO, NO! If you are really eating that little, and I mean really, then you would be losing weight. Every morsel. Every morsel. Weigh it and log it. You should definitely be eating more than 1300 for your size...and since you aren't losing, my guess is that you ARE eating more than that, it just isn't being logged correctly. Food scale for everything at first. Keep working hard, you will totally get there. Please ignore the MFP folklore though.
  • Snooozie
    Snooozie Posts: 3,465 Member
    Theres lots of great help already posted, and the great thing about MFP is there is ALWAYS help available when ya need it, so kudos on reaching out!

    That said.... I completely understand the frustration level you are feeling (as I'm sure many others do!) When I first started I didn't lose an ounce for the first month; and I was so frustrated because I thought I was doing everything right.... it's a little intimidating when you first start because there's SO much information available and so many thoughts and opinions to sort through... After the first month with no loss, I started jumping into something different every time I read some theory - was overwhelmed with everything out there.. eat more, eat less, exercise, dont exercise, fast, eat carbs, don't eat carbs TDEE.. I didn't know what half the acronyms meant and I started switching to some new "diet" every other day to something new out of desperation... I was ready to scream and pack it all in (or curl up in a corner and cry!)....... and no matter what I did I wasn't losing any weight (which I understand NOW lol... but back then?? Pure frustration

    For me, the two biggest obstacles I had to overcome was realizing I knew nothing about true nutrition, and the importance of exercise for my overall health. Readers Digest version: I read all the posts and forums I could about nutrition - there is a wealth of knowledge available from generous MFP's who are more than willing to share, then I did my own research. I started eating BETTER rather than less, small changes here and there and I started off just walking every day, and have now moved up to beginning strength training etc. The second obstacle was accepting that the weight wasn't going to "fall" off... it would take time and that's just fine with me now... because I know I never have to use the "diet" word ever again . I also started a group in which like minded friends not only saved my sanity on occasion, but helped me through the plateaus and the times I got frustrated or impatient, sometimes it just helps to know you're not the only one having certain feelings and being able to talk about it can help "reset" the attitude adjustment needed to get you to your goal. And being around people who are doing it helps too...

    You have already taken the hardest step - starting!! And that takes a lot of courage! So congrats and take it one day at a time; learn all you can and believe in yourself - you CAN accomplish anything and the people on this site will support and encourage you along the way... :flowerforyou:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    I also want to recommend seeing your doctor and having tests run, including thyroid levels. There may not be an issue, but it's good to know where you stand. And if you are truly eating so little and not losing weight or inches (give it another month, though), there could be something else going on.

    No matter how you slice it, a man your size should not be NOT losing on 1,100-1,300 calories a day plus exercise.
  • Supertact
    Supertact Posts: 466 Member
    You're definitely not only eating 1,300 cals a day, you're eating way over that sorry. As said before get a good digital scale with a tare function and weigh everything. The weight should literally be flying off you.
  • busywaterbending
    busywaterbending Posts: 844 Member
    what you eat and when you eat is more important than how much or how little you eat!

    F**K biggest loser. Get yourself to an endocrinologist and get an a good meal plan.

    - coach Teresa
    Advanced CPt
  • busywaterbending
    busywaterbending Posts: 844 Member

    BANGS HEAD AGAINST WALL. BANGS HEAD AGAINST WALL! NO, NO, NO! If you are really eating that little, and I mean really, then you would be losing weight. Every morsel. Every morsel. Weigh it and log it. You should definitely be eating more than 1300 for your size...and since you aren't losing, my guess is that you ARE eating more than that, it just isn't being logged correctly. Food scale for everything at first. Keep working hard, you will totally get there. Please ignore the MFP folklore though.

    AND THIS IS SO TRUE.

    BUT.... YOU need to determine your TDEE for your LEAN body mass. If you are 45% body fat that means take your body weight and multiply it by .55 to get your lean body mass weight. Then determine your TDEE calories based on this. Body fat is key to determining your goal calorie intake. If you are really big you may actually be at the 55% body fat...best to have a personal trainer do pinch test then add another 2% if he/she is too nice. Some trainers don't tell the truth, thinking that the person getting the pinch test can't handle it. But you have to be completely honest about your body fat percentage to determine your goal. Monthly measurements only, stop this weekly weighing you are doing. Do measuring tape and pinch test only.

    -Coach Teresa

    best wishes.
  • I just wanna thank everyone who replied to me yesterday!! You all were so awesome and gave me the boost I needed!! Im not going to weigh everyday anymore, And I will be ordering my food scale today!! I also just picked up a punching bag and will be adding that to my daily workouts. Any advice on working out with a punching bag will be greatly appreciated!


    Again, thank you!! Im so stoked to now be a part of this awesome crew! I WILL lose 150lbs!!!
  • Colfiii
    Colfiii Posts: 124 Member
    ... I m loosing my last dozen of pounds I guess and I've been plateauing for almost 2 weeks now but I have a similar problem - I guess your calories are too low. You need more than 1300 , your body is in starvation mode