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  • meridianova
    meridianova Posts: 438 Member
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    Are you eating your exercise calories back?

    Ah. I see. Based on my report function, my thresshold still shows up as 1780, and I've had 3 instances in 30 days where I've gone significantly over, enough to cancel out the exercise for that day.

    What I can't log in my exercise charts is the circuit training. It only provides for the reps of each exercise and doesn't show calories burned the way cardio does.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    My first suggestion would be start weighing weekly - if you think it would not be too emotionally difficult for you. Women have a monthly cycle. Some gain water weight before/during/after their period. Personally I tend to pick up 2 pounds the day after my period starts, and don't go back below the pre-period weight for 2 weeks. Then there is the new workout routine, and possibly high sodium in the days before your weighin?

    Many things could be affecting the scale # on a temporary basis. So if you check it again weekly for a few weeks, you can try to chart your body's trend. If based on your prior history, you don't think weighing in more often is right for you, then do your best to shelf the frustration for now and look forward to an August 1st scale-check.

    The fit of your jeans indicates you are losing fat - so hold onto that for now. I love clothing as a way of measuring progress. :)
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
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    Weight is a really tough thing to get over! I have never had an eating disorder so I can't say I relate but I may be able to offer some advice on the exercise front.

    When you introduce a new work out routine or increase the intensity of your previous one, your body's fat cells will fill with water because your gylcogin stores have depleated and have filled back up with water. Eventually your body will shed this water weight, but do you have a low sodium diet? I know you said low carb, but is your sodium intake high? If so, this can hinder shedding water weight as higher sodium levels will retain the fluid.

    If you're losing inches then it seems like you're on the right path, just might take a little while to get totally there. It's a really, crazy slow process for almost all of us

    Best of luck :)
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
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    On cardio, I get my heart rate up in the 130 neighborhood and am sweating by the time I'm done. While 2.5 mph may be a leisurely stroll for some of you, it's faster than my normal pace and I've started incorporating a slight incline. Each week I either increase the speed or the incline.
    130 is warm-up stuff and the whole "sweating by the time I'm done" tells me you're not working as hard as you can if you're relying on exercise to help out. If you're not sweating after 10 minutes your cardio is lacking effort. That's the hard truth. You don't need cardio to lose weight but if you're going to do it then make it count. That's not to say you're doing nothing at all but ruling out food as a problem I can't help but say you're lacking here.
    I follow a low-carb eating plan. I avoid breads, pastas, excessive amounts of anything with high natural sugars, sugar itself, potatoes, corn, and rice.

    I drink beer, eat ice cream, cheese, and loaves of bread for snacks. Well, perhaps not that excessive but there are no "bad foods". Try to fill your protein bucket and if you're doing that correctly you're going to most likely be making better food choices.

    The whole "You're gaining muscle" crowd is dead wrong. That's not it and muscle gains won't offset fat loss if your *cough* calorie goal *cough* is correct. Still, 1 pound lost is a move in the right direction and if your pants fit better then don't be so hard on yourself. You're doing it.
  • meridianova
    meridianova Posts: 438 Member
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    Let say your total intake for a month was 60,000 calories (2000/day). You lost 1lbs - 3500 calories
    60,000+3,500=63,500
    63.500/30days=2117 cal/day - your TDEE

    ETA: this is just the math for TDEE when accurately logging for long time. I wouldn't suggest this for you for now due to possible water weight/muscle gain

    I'm still confused because I'm not sure how this brings BMR into account. When I did the math using my logs, I got a TDEE of 1,559. If that's truly my TDEE, that puts my BMR at 1,134 and about 600 calories LESS than the calculators say it should be. That would put my metabolism down around the range of someone who's my height and 90lbs.... not 218. If I've only got the BMR of someone who by all other accounts should be less than half my weight, something is REALLY metabolically wrong with me.

    I just double-checked using iifym.com. I got the same BMR/TDEE as I'd originally posted.

    This is one of the reasons I didn't want answers that dealt with calories in < calories out. I've spent the last 20 years of my life having to deal with the fact that the math just doesn't work with me but having no understanding as to why. Yet everyone constantly just falls back on the calories answer and just pushing all those anorexia buttons of mine. I really hope that this turns out to just be a water weight/gained muscle thing, because if it's not I may be in real trouble.
  • LifeWithPie
    LifeWithPie Posts: 552 Member
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    Let say your total intake for a month was 60,000 calories (2000/day). You lost 1lbs - 3500 calories
    60,000+3,500=63,500
    63.500/30days=2117 cal/day - your TDEE

    ETA: this is just the math for TDEE when accurately logging for long time. I wouldn't suggest this for you for now due to possible water weight/muscle gain

    I'm still confused because I'm not sure how this brings BMR into account. When I did the math using my logs, I got a TDEE of 1,559. If that's truly my TDEE, that puts my BMR at 1,134 and about 600 calories LESS than the calculators say it should be. That would put my metabolism down around the range of someone who's my height and 90lbs.... not 218. If I've only got the BMR of someone who by all other accounts should be less than half my weight, something is REALLY metabolically wrong with me.

    I just double-checked using iifym.com. I got the same BMR/TDEE as I'd originally posted.

    This is one of the reasons I didn't want answers that dealt with calories in < calories out. I've spent the last 20 years of my life having to deal with the fact that the math just doesn't work with me but having no understanding as to why. Yet everyone constantly just falls back on the calories answer and just pushing all those anorexia buttons of mine. I really hope that this turns out to just be a water weight/gained muscle thing, because if it's not I may be in real trouble.

    Then maybe you need to see your doctor. I'm not really sure what miracle answer you were expecting here.
    And according to a post on another thread, you said you only started counting calories 4 weeks ago. You've lost a pound. LOST. Not gained.
    You need to give this some more time.

    I hope you figure it out. Good luck to you,
  • meridianova
    meridianova Posts: 438 Member
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    Your logging may not be accurate, even with logging everything. Here are some things that really stood out to me:

    -Using entries with the word "generic" in them
    -Entries with a amount description of "1 Serving"
    -Solid foods being measured in cups, slices, and measurements like small/medium/large. Also broad generalized entries (ex. a half of a chicken).
    -Some days look like they were not completed. It's hard to tell on that one please correct me if I'm wrong.

    A lot of what you're seeing where the entries are labeled as "servings" are either my own recipes where everything is spelled out and compiled or my saved meals where I've noted down what I ate in one lump and then logged it as that "meal." So for the entries that say "apple cider", that's 2T of apple cider vinegar, 1t honey, one squirt of stevia (it wasn't in the logs but has no caloric content), 2T lemon juice, 1t-ish cinnamon, then that is mixed up and dumped into about 12-16oz of water.

    With stuff labeled as "generic", that's because I'm using the raw product rather than a specified brand and fits the dimensions, like with tomato slices where it's a given dimension and a standardized size of the slice. And yeah, I get frustrated with the "small/medium/large" designations because those are based on the FDA/USDA determinations of what it should be.

    With some solid stuff, I actually do measure it out with the measuring cups once it's chopped down into an easily measureable size and you're not dealing with a lot of open space. A lot of the veggies I buy are prepackaged into 12oz or 16oz containers, so that helps too.

    Even the days that look like they're insanely low on food, I really did complete the entry for that day. That's very literally all I ate that day.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
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    This is one of the reasons I didn't want answers that dealt with calories in < calories out. I've spent the last 20 years of my life having to deal with the fact that the math just doesn't work with me but having no understanding as to why. Yet everyone constantly just falls back on the calories answer and just pushing all those anorexia buttons of mine. I really hope that this turns out to just be a water weight/gained muscle thing, because if it's not I may be in real trouble.

    The reason people keep saying this has to do with physics and the laws of nature. You know? E-MC^2 which of course says that energy and mass are the same thing in different forms. To gain mass you need to add energy. To lose mass you remove energy A.K.A. calories. You either need to use more energy or have a smaller energy intake.

    If you did my workout for 1 week I guarantee that you'd be down a pound easy. Probably more than 1 unless you tracked your calories to make sure you had enough to eat. There is nothing magical about it. Of course as others have pointed out 1 pound is progress. Be patient.
  • meridianova
    meridianova Posts: 438 Member
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    Then maybe you need to see your doctor. I'm not really sure what miracle answer you were expecting here.
    And according to a post on another thread, you said you only started counting calories 4 weeks ago. You've lost a pound. LOST. Not gained.
    You need to give this some more time.

    I hope you figure it out. Good luck to you,

    Thanks.

    I've been tracking since the end of May. It's only been the last month that I've been adding exercise back in.
  • acollis1
    acollis1 Posts: 167 Member
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    Lots of good advice on here, keep doing what makes you feel good! Me and my scale were not getting along so I locked it in the closet, best thing I ever did ;)
  • __freckles__
    __freckles__ Posts: 1,238 Member
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    Your logging may not be accurate, even with logging everything. Here are some things that really stood out to me:

    -Using entries with the word "generic" in them
    -Entries with a amount description of "1 Serving"
    -Solid foods being measured in cups, slices, and measurements like small/medium/large. Also broad generalized entries (ex. a half of a chicken).
    -Some days look like they were not completed. It's hard to tell on that one please correct me if I'm wrong.

    A lot of what you're seeing where the entries are labeled as "servings" are either my own recipes where everything is spelled out and compiled or my saved meals where I've noted down what I ate in one lump and then logged it as that "meal." So for the entries that say "apple cider", that's 2T of apple cider vinegar, 1t honey, one squirt of stevia (it wasn't in the logs but has no caloric content), 2T lemon juice, 1t-ish cinnamon, then that is mixed up and dumped into about 12-16oz of water.

    With stuff labeled as "generic", that's because I'm using the raw product rather than a specified brand and fits the dimensions, like with tomato slices where it's a given dimension and a standardized size of the slice. And yeah, I get frustrated with the "small/medium/large" designations because those are based on the FDA/USDA determinations of what it should be.

    With some solid stuff, I actually do measure it out with the measuring cups once it's chopped down into an easily measureable size and you're not dealing with a lot of open space. A lot of the veggies I buy are prepackaged into 12oz or 16oz containers, so that helps too.

    Even the days that look like they're insanely low on food, I really did complete the entry for that day. That's very literally all I ate that day.

    So do you use a digital food scale at all? Like for the "half of a chicken" example...why didn't you just weigh it?

    Checked your diary as well and I see a lot of entries like the below. Are you actually weighing out these items? I've found that things like this still need to be weighed as they rarely come out to exactly what the package says 1 serving is:

    Cambodian Meatballs - Meatballs on A Stick, 6 meatballs
    Oscar Meyer - Hot Dogs, 3 link
    Tarantino Mild-costco - Italian Sausage, 1.5 link
  • meridianova
    meridianova Posts: 438 Member
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    Lots of good advice on here, keep doing what makes you feel good! Me and my scale were not getting along so I locked it in the closet, best thing I ever did ;)

    I threw mine off a balcony once. Then proceeded to smash it on the pavement. Then I drove over it a few more times. Talk about cathartic!!

    It's been hard for me to stay off the scale for the last month. There's been internal arguments wanting to know if things are working, if they're not, and maybe I really did lose weight but I happened to miss it because the day I weighed myself, I'd eaten something the day before that caused me to bounce up 4-5lbs overnight.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
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    Weight loss has a lot more to do with what you are doing in the kitchen than any exercise you are doing.

    Your logging may not be accurate, even with logging everything. Here are some things that really stood out to me:

    -Using entries with the word "generic" in them
    -Entries with a amount description of "1 Serving"
    -Solid foods being measured in cups, slices, and measurements like small/medium/large. Also broad generalized entries (ex. a half of a chicken).
    -Some days look like they were not completed. It's hard to tell on that one please correct me if I'm wrong.

    It's been mentioned already, but it can't be said enough...get a food scale and weigh all solids. Make sure that you are using the correct food entries. With the things that I listed it's very likely that you are eating more than you think. Hopefully someone posts the link to the post about how to accurately log. I can't find it.

    It looks to me like OP is on top of weighing.

    Here's some self-entered recipes:

    chickbrocmush casserole, 0.75 serving(s)

    chicken sausage lasagna, 0.25 serving(s)

    cauliflower mash, 1 serving(s)

    Here's items measured by gram:

    Chicken - Breast, meat only, cooked, roasted, 100 g

    Steak, Ribeye (Choice) - Costco, Kirkland, 12 oz

    Breyers - Ice Cream - Coffee, 1 cup (66 g)

    Sorry... I get the same general responses to questions like this which is just "use the scale!" like I haven't been obsessed with the scale for 2 years now.

    I think a lot of people see your recipes and assume they are "general" entries, than give un-helpful advice.

    There's the only advice I have...

    I have been stuck in the 180's since Janurary. Yes, I've gone from 189 to 180 to 183, but to me that's still a plateau.

    HOWEVER, my size has gone from 16, to 14 to 12 in that time, and my swimsuit is actually a 10.

    My best advice is sometimes your body does re-comp.

    Hang in there... it really is the only option besides failure, and failure is not an option.

    :flowerforyou:
  • acollis1
    acollis1 Posts: 167 Member
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    I did just peep out your diary based on some of the comments. Try making small changes one at a time, like replacing that daily coffee drink with the "lite" version, all that cream and sugar isn't doing you any favors. Maybe consult a nutrionist, you said calorie counting is hard for you, I find that if I eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods I lose weight without paying attention to the calories so much. Maybe ask your doctor to refer you to a nutritionist, with your history your insurance may even cover it.
  • CCSavage88
    CCSavage88 Posts: 191
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    I took a look at your diary. You're pretty inconsistent with your calories. Some days you are way over your goal, some days you are way under your goal. You should be aiming to be close to your goal everyday.

    It also seems like you are not weighing your food. The only way to know exactly how much you are eating is to weigh everything on a food scale. They are pretty cheap, you should really invest in one.

    Basically, weight loss is about Calories In vs Calories Out. You aren't being accurate with the calories in part. I suspect you are eating a lot more than you think you are. Don't worry, that is the case with most people starting out. It doesn't mean you've failed. You just need to be honest with yourself.

    Try weighing your food and getting close to your goal every day for a while and see what happens.

    If that doesn't help, then you need to look at the calories out side of the equation. Maybe your BMR/TDEE aren't what you think they are. I know that long term eating disorders can mess with your metabolism. However, don't mess with this side of the equation until you've fixed the other side (the calories in side).

    This thread is a great place to get information:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    Thank you for giving me the answer I specifically indicated I DID. NOT. WANT. I measure, I weigh, I count, I enter my foods based on the pre-entered options in MFP. Telling me that I need to be honest with myself is nothing more than a tactful way of saying I'm too stupid to know what I'm doing, that I'm nothing more than a glutton with overwhelming fatlogic who tries to justify that a family size bag of Cheetos and a 2-liter of Mountain Dew really is one serving of each.

    You should have just moved on, as I indicated in my disclaimer. I would have been far less offended.

    Whoa, Issues!...You need to get a grip
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    Your logging may not be accurate, even with logging everything. Here are some things that really stood out to me:

    -Using entries with the word "generic" in them
    -Entries with a amount description of "1 Serving"
    -Solid foods being measured in cups, slices, and measurements like small/medium/large. Also broad generalized entries (ex. a half of a chicken).
    -Some days look like they were not completed. It's hard to tell on that one please correct me if I'm wrong.

    A lot of what you're seeing where the entries are labeled as "servings" are either my own recipes where everything is spelled out and compiled or my saved meals where I've noted down what I ate in one lump and then logged it as that "meal." So for the entries that say "apple cider", that's 2T of apple cider vinegar, 1t honey, one squirt of stevia (it wasn't in the logs but has no caloric content), 2T lemon juice, 1t-ish cinnamon, then that is mixed up and dumped into about 12-16oz of water.

    With stuff labeled as "generic", that's because I'm using the raw product rather than a specified brand and fits the dimensions, like with tomato slices where it's a given dimension and a standardized size of the slice. And yeah, I get frustrated with the "small/medium/large" designations because those are based on the FDA/USDA determinations of what it should be.

    With some solid stuff, I actually do measure it out with the measuring cups once it's chopped down into an easily measureable size and you're not dealing with a lot of open space. A lot of the veggies I buy are prepackaged into 12oz or 16oz containers, so that helps too.

    Even the days that look like they're insanely low on food, I really did complete the entry for that day. That's very literally all I ate that day.

    Thanks for the clarification on the "servings" entries. I don't use the recipe builder so I didn't know. I'll keep that in mind the next time I take a look at someone's diary. I wasn't trying to be unhelpful. We all learn something new everyday.
  • MTrevis
    MTrevis Posts: 11 Member
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    I also looked at your diary. At a quick glance, it looks like you could use more clean foods integrated into your diet. Coffee with heavy cream might taste good, but perhaps try to mix out the heavy cream for skim milk and see if you enjoy it. Plus, you had 1/2 c heavy cream in your coffee one day - that seems extreme. If that's the amount you did in fact use, maybe try cutting it in half. I'd recommend more raw veggies/fruits and less processed foods. I recommend that you take a peak at Dr. Furhman's philosophy. You don't need to convert to his entire diet, but if you switch out one meal a day to a plant-based meal (such as a salad), you may find yourself feeling lighter.

    At the end of the day, more energy and smaller jeans are great results! Good luck to you!
  • meridianova
    meridianova Posts: 438 Member
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    So do you use a digital food scale at all? Like for the "half of a chicken" example...why didn't you just weigh it?

    I use my scale at home when there's no pre-portioning by either the packaging, a physical measuring cup, or a recipe. A lot of those "half a chicken" entries are done at work.
    Checked your diary as well and I see a lot of entries like the below. Are you actually weighing out these items? I've found that things like this still need to be weighed as they rarely come out to exactly what the package says 1 serving is:

    Cambodian Meatballs - Meatballs on A Stick, 6 meatballs
    Oscar Meyer - Hot Dogs, 3 link
    Tarantino Mild-costco - Italian Sausage, 1.5 link

    The cambodian meatballs were at the convention I attended over the weekend, and it was the only entry that came close to what I was actually eating. Keep in mind that a lot of those entries are the ones that are pre-plugged into MFP, where someone else has entered the nutritional information based on the manufacturer's labeling. There were only 5 meatballs on the stick I had, they were about 1" in diameter, and I figured that overestimating was better than underestimating.

    With the hot dogs, same thing... that's based on the manufacturer's label. We were at a friend's house, my husband showed me the package, and I ate 3 of them.

    With the sausage, again... same thing. That's the brand I used, there were 6 sausages in the recipe I made, 4 servings. That equals 1.5 links per serving. I kept trying to get those specific sausages to show up when I was logging the recipe but they refused to come up in the options list. The only way I could log properly was to omit the sausage from the recipe and log it separately.

    There's something else I'd like to point out here... anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that about control issues. For me, it manifests in a few different ways: utter and complete control over what I eat (because I feel I have no control in other aspects of my life), a feeling of accomplishment when my stomach growls or I don't eat for a day (because it's the only thing I CAN actually do right), and a feeling of unworthiness to eat (because I'm a fat slob who shouldn't be allowed near food). There are some roads I cannot allow myself to go down. I log my food because I know it's necessary, but if I had my d'ruthers, I'd skip eating entirely just so I'm not making mistakes and to ensure that I got the maximum possible caloric burn.
  • Stahltkd
    Stahltkd Posts: 2 Member
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    Do you think you might have built muscle as you lost fat? That would explain the jeans, the energy levels, and the stinking scale, right?

    This. Don't worry about the scale weight. Focus on how you feel and how you look. Scale is just an arbitrary number that many focus on and not what is healthy. If you are gaining engergy, feeling good about yourself, body is becoming thinner / more in tune of how you want to look.... Forget the scale.
  • meridianova
    meridianova Posts: 438 Member
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    I did just peep out your diary based on some of the comments. Try making small changes one at a time, like replacing that daily coffee drink with the "lite" version, all that cream and sugar isn't doing you any favors. Maybe consult a nutrionist, you said calorie counting is hard for you, I find that if I eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods I lose weight without paying attention to the calories so much. Maybe ask your doctor to refer you to a nutritionist, with your history your insurance may even cover it.

    I follow low carbing, so there is no sugar in my coffee (and I've trained the coffee shop people on how to make it). It's seriously just coffee and cream... that's it.

    I'm already eating whole, unprocessed foods.

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