Getting Super frustrated

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jesicaxnn
jesicaxnn Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 23 years old, 5'3 and 145 lbs, trying to lose about 20 lbs and getting pretty frustrated with this whole process. I know it's a slow one...but I'm starting to lose hope.

I have been working out consistently since the beginning of February (about 3 or 4 times a week for 1 - 1 1/2 hours) the first week of March I started working with a personal trainer. I meet with him twice a week and his workouts are kicking my *kitten*! I then follow it up with 1/2 hour of cardio.

In the beginning I was either doing the bike or elliptical for cardio, but I have progressed to being able to run/jog most of a 1/2 hour on a treadmill.

It has been 7 weeks since i started with the trainer and 11 weeks since I started working out at all.

I have been tracking and weighing everything that i put into my mouth and have generally been hitting under 1500 calories a day in 5 meals (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner). I know an issue a lot of the time is that people are taking in more calories than they realize, but i really don't think that's the issue for me - if anything, i am over estimating.

Since i have started I have seen minimal changes, meaning I fluctuate between my starting weight and a pound or two below and then back to the starting weight from week to week. I have been taking measurements - thinking that maybe i am gaining muscle while losing fat - but there have been little to no changes there.

Any tips or suggestions?

I'll pretty much try anything.

Replies

  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    Sounds like you are eating At maintenance. Try cutting 100-200 cal
  • kpchefai
    kpchefai Posts: 54 Member
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    Hmm I'n not sure but it has to be the food. I would spend the next 2-3 weeks extremely focused on your food intake and see if there are any errors that come up. You do not NEED to exercise to lose weight. Are you over estimating your burns? Do you use a HRM? Maybe your BMR and TDEE are not calculated correctly? I'm 5'8, 176lbs(down from 196) and I eat 1,520 per day. Try decreasing your calories.

    That combined with even slightly inaccurate food logging could be your downfall(example: 1 bagel, .5 serving of cream cheese vs exact measurements)I looked in your diary a little bit and it looks like the weekends don't get logged quite as accurately. Perhaps you should avoid this for a few weeks and see if anything changes. How are your macros? Some might disagree with me but maybe you should change your macros to increase fat and protein and see if that helps.

    Another recommendation would be to completely change your style of cardio. Elliptical/Treadmill/Bike had little to now affect for me. I started kickboxing and everything changed. Have you spoken to your trainer about it? He/She may have suggestions? Do you do a lifting regimen with him/her?

    I'm no expert and I'm sure there are people with better advice but this is what worked for me. Don't give up!!!! Change small things and see if you get any results.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    I have been tracking and weighing everything that i put into my mouth and have generally been hitting under 1500 calories a day in 5 meals (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner). I know an issue a lot of the time is that people are taking in more calories than they realize, but i really don't think that's the issue for me - if anything, i am over estimating.

    Err how do you know this? I've just been back 5 days in your diary and there are blank days and some days only partially logged then the days you do log your using generic entries and some very inaccurate ones. Don't use meals off the database. Weigh everything a cup is not accurate for solid foods. If you enter any meals make your own recipes. Get your logging sorted then you will know really how much your eating
  • asciiqwerty
    asciiqwerty Posts: 565 Member
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    from your diary your logging is a little sporadic and you appear to be relying on a few "generic" entries, these can be very unreliable, also unreliable portion mesurements like cups

    if you are at a static weight then your calories in = calories out
    your are either underestimating one or overestimating hte other or both

    right now you're only just over the "normal" bmi range for your height
    ** BMI have all sorts of problems, but they give a ball park and target range quite well

    I'm 5'6 and have just hit the boundary from overweight to normal - my target is 0.25kg/week loss and i'm targetting a net of 1520 (as you're a little smaller than me yours may be a little lower but not hugely)

    my best guess is that your logging isn't as accurate as it could be
  • Kitship
    Kitship Posts: 579 Member
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    You need to drill down your logging.

    Example:

    One of your entries was "Generic - Grilled Cheese on White Bread, 1 sandwhich"

    Instead of just selecting a generic sandwich out of the database, select the actual brand of bread and cheese you used. Weigh everything. Also, when I make a grilled cheese sandwich, I pan fry it in butter. Are you counting things like that, as well? The little things add up.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    You also have a lot of generic/homemade entries in your diary. Unless you're using the recipe builder tool on MFP to log your own homemade recipes, these aren't accurate to what you're eating. Are you weighing your portions? You don't have a lot of wiggle room in your diet (it's not like you're maintaining at 3000 calories), so one entry every day being 100-200 calories off would be enough to keep you from losing.
  • kitlynnJ
    kitlynnJ Posts: 78 Member
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    Are you weighing your food with a food scale? I noticed 1 tbsp of peanut butter, or '1 medium' fruit or vegetable, instead of by weight. You also have several 'homemade' and 'generic' entries. The tbsp of peanut butter could be because you are like me and like to weigh out exact servings, but if you are not weighing something like peanut butter your numbers could be off by quite a bit. I wish I could find the youtube video that is often posted with examples of measuring cups vs a food scale.

    For more info on proper entry selection take a look at this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
  • asciiqwerty
    asciiqwerty Posts: 565 Member
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    The little things add up.

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