what am I doing wrong

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Replies

  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    I'm seeing a nutritionist & she told me to eat 1500 calories per day & exercise everyday. Definitely work off more than you eat & DON'T EAT your exercise calories & you should lose weight. It helps to get a Heart Rate Monitor & use it while exercising - that way you know what you are burning off.
    I lost 42 pounds while eating back my exercise calories. They fuel you body .
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Don't know what's causing the fluctuations in my weight yesterday I weighed twice and was 190lbs today I'm back at 184 weighed myself twice once this morning and once this evening could the gain have been 5 lbs of fluid??
    What you're describing is natural weight fluctuations. Is there a reason you weight yourself twice and at different times of the day?
  • missfree33
    missfree33 Posts: 19
    I hadn't weighed myself in a month so I decided to and when I saw the gain I was concerned that maybefI'd taken it at the wrong time of day and checked it again that evening. I checked again today only because I've been trying to make heads or tail of how I'd picked up the weight and if it was an error turns out it may be inaccurate maybe I didn't gain
  • MITTENPOP
    MITTENPOP Posts: 6 Member
    They say weight loss is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. It's GREAT that you're so active, but make sure you are fueling your body with healthy food and not too many calories. Joining this site is a good first start. Make sure to log everything you eat and you'll see results. Good luck!
  • missfree33
    missfree33 Posts: 19
    I've been struggling with this very thing since i started on MFP! i have actually gained 2-3lbs since my starting weight. I just can't seem to find that magic number i need to lose weight. I find that I get hungry too, but then you get told to "just drink some water". Well, I do that, and i'm still hungry. I started this journey at 168lbs, and wanted to lose 10lbs, but I now weigh 171 on a good day.(I'm 5'11) I run 3-4 days a week, 3-4 miles, and then I do some weights, lunges, squast, that kind of thing. Other days, I do a Jillian Michael's DVD. I don't work out EVERY day, but aim for 4 days a week. My legs feel tighter, and my butt, and I have lose a couple inches, which i'm proud of, but.....I've went back up a size! I have a desk job also.
    I eat lots of raw fruit and veggies, so I do try to eat healthy. Today is my first day back logging my calorie intake in a while. I got to be pretty inconsistent at logging, but still tried to eat healthy.
    So, i'm just as frustrated as you are! I drink my water all day, and even some green tea. I just turned 40 and I know that metabolism tends to slow, but yet I'm hungry! I'm hungry right now, as I type this. I had a fat free light greek yogurt with some fresh frozen mango chunks mixed into it at about 2:15, and I'm starting to feel hungry again already. By the time i get home, my stomach will be hurting.
    Omg I so understand, last night was extremely rough I was so hungry my stomach hurt and I tossed and turned all night I was even dreaming about food. This is why I have always avoided straight out dieting but if I want to lose weight I have to. I just don't know how I'm going to get through this I've got a four hr class tonight and sitting through it with my stomach growling and trying to concentrate is going to be horrible I just ate my first meal which is usually my largest of the day so I have some calories to burn when I.hit the gym this morning but I feel so tired from not sleeping how do you guys get through this on a daily?. I feel like hell
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Be careful that you don't cut too many calories as your body will slow down on weight loss. Your body will use your muscle as fuel - defeating the purpose of loosing fat/gaining muscle. I'm 5'6 and 139 pounds. I eat anywhere between 1700-2200 calories a day and still loose weight (I burn 300-800 calories during my workouts). It's important to fuel your body for those workouts so that you are burning fat and not muscle. If you want to add me as a friend, you can see my daily food log.
    This is wonderful advice, but.....you don't gain muscle on a calorie deficit.
  • bekahlou75
    bekahlou75 Posts: 304 Member
    I've been struggling with this very thing since i started on MFP! i have actually gained 2-3lbs since my starting weight. I just can't seem to find that magic number i need to lose weight. I find that I get hungry too, but then you get told to "just drink some water". Well, I do that, and i'm still hungry. I started this journey at 168lbs, and wanted to lose 10lbs, but I now weigh 171 on a good day.(I'm 5'11) I run 3-4 days a week, 3-4 miles, and then I do some weights, lunges, squast, that kind of thing. Other days, I do a Jillian Michael's DVD. I don't work out EVERY day, but aim for 4 days a week. My legs feel tighter, and my butt, and I have lose a couple inches, which i'm proud of, but.....I've went back up a size! I have a desk job also.
    I eat lots of raw fruit and veggies, so I do try to eat healthy. Today is my first day back logging my calorie intake in a while. I got to be pretty inconsistent at logging, but still tried to eat healthy.
    So, i'm just as frustrated as you are! I drink my water all day, and even some green tea. I just turned 40 and I know that metabolism tends to slow, but yet I'm hungry! I'm hungry right now, as I type this. I had a fat free light greek yogurt with some fresh frozen mango chunks mixed into it at about 2:15, and I'm starting to feel hungry again already. By the time i get home, my stomach will be hurting.
    Omg I so understand, last night was extremely rough I was so hungry my stomach hurt and I tossed and turned all night I was even dreaming about food. This is why I have always avoided straight out dieting but if I want to lose weight I have to. I just don't know how I'm going to get through this I've got a four hr class tonight and sitting through it with my stomach growling and trying to concentrate is going to be horrible I just ate my first meal which is usually my largest of the day so I have some calories to burn when I.hit the gym this morning but I feel so tired from not sleeping how do you guys get through this on a daily?. I feel like hell

    You don't have to starve yourself. Find food to munch on that's low in calories. Carrotts, celery, brocolii, etc. Get a carton of Egg Beaters. It's high protein, low calorie egg whites. Mix some powdered ranch dressing in with some plain greek yogurt to dip the veggies. If you starve yourself you will not be successful.
  • missfree33
    missfree33 Posts: 19
    All the things you mentioned add calories even fruits and veggies snacking adds up fast an Apple is over 100 calories I'm trying to stay under 1300. When I was just trying to eat healthier I got no results at all so cutting seems to be the only methods that's gonna yield results I'm 185lbs definitely not gonna starve but I do need to lose some pounds and not a lb a month
  • bekahlou75
    bekahlou75 Posts: 304 Member
    I thought you said earlier that think you've lost 5 pounds.....that's really good. That means you can eat more that 800 calories a day. I know it'll be hard to do, but stop weighing yourself. I stopped weighing myself for Lent (I'm not logging food either) and am able to focus more on how my clothes fit. I was on here for a few months stressing about the freaking number on the scale. I love this site, and will probably start back logging when Lent is over but I know that no matter what the scale says, I am able to wear a pair of pants today comfortably that were tight two weeks ago.

    There are so many foods that are lower in calorie that you can eat. You can do this. Stop focusing on the scale and pay attention to how you feel, how your clothes fit, etc. Have you taken measurments? Instead of weighing, measure yourself. If the scale doesn't go down but you lose an inch in your waist or hips, that's pretty good.


    P.S. Look at some other people's diaries to get ideas of low cal foods to eat.
  • missfree33
    missfree33 Posts: 19
    I didn't weigh myself for an entire month and thought I was doing great until I checked my weight and discovered what I thought was a 5lb weight gain in actuality it was just a fluctuation unfortunately that still means I haven't lost a single pound in a month if I'd been checking my weight I would have known and not wasted an entire month exercising and restricting myself in vain from now on I'm checking my progress weekly
  • missfree33
    missfree33 Posts: 19
    I'm a lil irritable but I am starting to feel a lil better guess my body is adjusting to the change in calories to make up for the lack of vitamins that I'm eating could anyone recommend a good multivitamin I'm already anemic so I have to have iron and I'm not really consuming any meat
  • RagingThespian
    RagingThespian Posts: 21 Member
    I just peeked at your diary. You are not eating nearly enough calories and are exercising off the ones you ARE eating. Very dangerous! No wonder you are irritable! Have you not seen the warnings that MFP gives you when you go under 1200 calories a day consumption? You are putting your body into starvation mode and it will do everything it can to hold onto the fat you have. You are going to lose muscle, bone density along with fat - if you lose at all.

    Please listen to the advise that others are giving you. Eat the amount of calories that MFP gives you (based on the info you provided for height, weight, lifestyle and goal). You will lose weight!
  • missfree33
    missfree33 Posts: 19
    I've did research on the whole starvation mode thing and I'm not worried about that myth, I'm getting better and more use to the change and seeing a scale change already thanks for the advice I alleviate the concern but my body will burn all this fat before it decides to take muscle I've researche it if I start to feel ill I will stop
  • chargraves
    chargraves Posts: 65 Member
    I just peeked at your diary. You are not eating nearly enough calories and are exercising off the ones you ARE eating. Very dangerous! No wonder you are irritable! Have you not seen the warnings that MFP gives you when you go under 1200 calories a day consumption? You are putting your body into starvation mode and it will do everything it can to hold onto the fat you have. You are going to lose muscle, bone density along with fat - if you lose at all.

    Please listen to the advise that others are giving you. Eat the amount of calories that MFP gives you (based on the info you provided for height, weight, lifestyle and goal). You will lose weight!

    OP, It wasn't clear to me from the thread whether you were actually logging/tracking your calories before the latest major cutback. You mentioned that you were eating healthier and less than you were before. But If you were not counting you would not know if you were eating 2500 calories or 1000 calories. Before going to an extreme try a couple of weeks of following the number of calories allotted to you by MFP and eating back a portion of your exercise calories. The point here is that eating the bare minimum of food then exercising most of it off is not sustainable. No you won't starve to death but you could be looking at unpleasant side effects like hair loss and loose skin. Try to find that zone where you are losing but able to eat enough to not feel deprived.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Eating the bare minimum of food then exercising most of it off is not sustainable. No you won't starve to death but you could be looking at unpleasant side effects like hair loss and loose skin. Try to find that zone where you are losing but able to eat enough to not feel deprived.
    ^^^This.

    Everyone should be looking for the maximum number of calories at which they lose weight—never the minimum. Food is fuel.

    Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • missfree33
    missfree33 Posts: 19
    I am a lil prematurely excited but I know how weight can fluctuate soI shouldn't have weighed myself today but I was joking around with my kids about my weight stepped on the scale and it said 181lbs I was stunned so I stepped on it like 3 more times and it says 181 I'm not gonna log it until the end of the week just in case it's a fluc but if it's correct by the end of the week I should be 180 or less I got to get back to daily doing my weight training as well so I stay firm keeping up with what I eat is certainly helping me, best advice I've gotten from this site!

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