where am i going wrong?

Here's where you're going wrong: you're focusing on the quality of your food and ignoring the quantity.

If your goal is to be healthy, you need to do both.

Your food choices look great to me, way more nutritious than my diet! Now that you've got that down, it's time to focus on the quantity of food you eat.

Here are some places to start:
1. Weigh, measure and log everything that passes your lips, and do it accurately.
2. Choose a method, TDEE or MFP or a hybrid, and stick to it.
-MFP works better for people whose activity level varies on a daily/weekly basis and know how many calories they burn from exercise.
-TDEE works better for people whose activity level is consistent or don't have an accurate way of logging exercise calories, it's also simpler to follow once you figure it out.
-The hybrid is taking your TDEE as sedentary, and using MFP to log and eat back your exercise calories. This one is good for people who don't have as much weight to loose or who would have calorie goals under 1400 by the MFP method. MFP doesn't allow for much flexibility, deficit-wise.
3. Have patience! It takes weeks to see results.

HI! I was pretty much exactly where you are in terms of height and weight about a year and a half ago - started at 178 in Sept. 2012 and was down to 120-125 by May. I followed a plan sort of similar to what I"m seeing your types of food choices and was frustrated with seeing slow results. My advice, for the next short while, eat low carb breakfast / dinner and minmize sugar and fruit. I have put lots of family members on my plan and they have all seen great results! Also, as many others have said, watch your portions and be honest about them to yourself, I took a set of measuring spoons/cups to work, and used the other and a food scale at home.


Here is an example of a recommended day.

Breakfast: 1 cup of egg whites with a wedge of laughing cow cheese and green onions (or green onions and .75 oz feta)
cherry tomatos or grilled sliced tomatoes. Coffee or tea.

Morning snack : tea misto - with nonfat milk and splenda if you need it.
Apple if you need it.

Lunch: lean turkey meat or 1/2 a can of tuna with light mayo on a sprouted grain bread LITTLE BIG BREAD or WEIGHT WATCHERS BREAD. 2 slices of these breads = 1 of a regular whole grain bread!

afternoon snack if you need it - celery and a low fat / low carb dip.

Dinner: 100 g (not 150) of white fish or chicken with veggies grilled or sauteed in PAM spray. Veggies should be water based like asparagus, spinach, brussel sprouts, cabbage, or some carrots etc. . . I tried to avoid salad at night because i found it added excess calories cuz i can't do without dressing.

Dessert - jello cup with 95% fat free cool whip or a 100 calorie oreo stick (my guilty pleasure! i had almost every night ! eek!)

So if my BMR is 1587 calories and my TDEE is 2182 calories ... Calculated from http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/


Which ones do I follow the BMR or the TDEE ?

TDEE is a calculation using BMR as a base, essentially eat less than TDEE and you will lose weight. I would suggest 15-20% below which would be 1745 to 1855 cals/day, but don't eat back what you burn from exercise.

I will log .. So if I stick to my calories strictly and do my exercise 3 times a week I will see results ?

Yes, assuming you log accurately and your calorie goal is appropriate (seems that it is).

Controlling calorie intake is crucial. Exercise is important. Don't tie them together. A lot of people fall off the logging when they skip a workout or two. Don't do that. Continue to hit the calorie goal every day no matter what.

yup feel free! You'll see the most useful stuff between January - June last year..happy to provide more ideas and input!

Right so should I stick with what MFP says 1470 or should I go with TDEE

If you do MFP eat 1470 plus what you burn from exercise or just go with the TDEE - 20%... it is 6 of one half a dozen of the other:
As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" or TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

Okay thanks everyone will do a week and let you know how I get on and see of things need tweeking ..Thanks for helping me I know I've been a pain but you've gotta start somewhere right? Haha

You've been great.

Give it 2-3 weeks before you make any changes to the plan. Your body takes its own sweet time to get used to changes. Be patient, this isn't a race.