76 Days.....Why Isn't This Working?

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  • gringuitica
    gringuitica Posts: 168 Member
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    Also, looking at your diary, I'd say the culprit is not weighing. There are some calorie-dense foods there — coconut butter, pistachios, peanut butter, etc. — which are sooooo easy to overeat without a scale. (BTDT)

    This video will change your life... Or at least encourage you to use a food scale. :)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

    Good luck! You got this.
  • mary659497
    mary659497 Posts: 483 Member
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    Love the wisdom.
  • dollforlife
    dollforlife Posts: 41 Member
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    What do your burns look like, according to Nike? The general rule of thumb is to eat back 50-75% or so of your calories burned, so you can refuel (and meet your cal goal) without eating more than you actually burned (when your burn number is inexact).

    Exactly! If my burn number is incorrect and that's what I input and I'm eating 50 to 75 percent back that's where it all goes downhill. When I do then I am overeating or in any case eating at maintenance or above my deficit. Because I'm not gaining any weight now I'm simply maintaining. The scale just won't move. Day in, day out same number.
    As far as a typical burn..lets use my numbers from yesterday: a 44 minute trail walk/run (2.89 miles) yielded a 298 cal burn, the day before a 50 min (3.22 miles) measured 332 calories burned. Now mind you this will vary significantly if I do a little more running or a little less, give or take. But I am going up hills throughout this work out. I'm not sure if Nike Plus takes that into consideration as there is no specific setting for hills and such.
  • dollforlife
    dollforlife Posts: 41 Member
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    Also, looking at your diary, I'd say the culprit is not weighing. There are some calorie-dense foods there — coconut butter, pistachios, peanut butter, etc. — which are sooooo easy to overeat without a scale. (BTDT)

    This video will change your life... Or at least encourage you to use a food scale. :)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

    Good luck! You got this.

    Gonna give it a peek. :-)
  • dollforlife
    dollforlife Posts: 41 Member
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    I don't think you need to weigh your food. I would kill myself if I had to micromanage my food intake that much. I found when I ate 1200 calories or less, I was a mess. Shaky, no energy, no reserves for my workouts. You need to eat more to lose I think. I have a losing sweet spot - about 1500 calories a day with 5 to 9 hours of exercise a week. You just have to find yours. Mess around with your calories and workouts, log everything, be patient and you'll figure it out. Especially if you are going to make this a healthy lifestyle change.

    Believe me I'm not jumping for joy at having to do this.Weigh my food, that is. But I can safely say that it is one of the things I have not done. Well that and get a REAL HRM..(my Jawbone feels more like a novelty). If it doesn't seem to make any difference I will ditch it but I have to try everything! So my takeaways from this forum post are
    a) eat more to meet my goal
    b)report 65% of my calories burned
    c)invest in a food scale...more accurately log food
    Those are the points I'm going to concentrate on for now.
  • dollforlife
    dollforlife Posts: 41 Member
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    I am under the understanding that you need to eat at least 1200 calories each day or your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose weight.

    Don't listen to this hogwash.

    Noted..:-)
  • Melissface
    Melissface Posts: 18 Member
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    Weighing your food really isn't all that bad once you get used to it.. After awhile you will get a feel of what the correct amount is. This is especially good for when you are out to eat. I know I dont want to be that person pulling out a food scale!! But since I've been weighing my food I can make an educated guess on my own. Good luck!
  • deansdad101
    deansdad101 Posts: 644 Member
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    Hey all! I was wondering if you might have some quick advice for me? I've been on MFP for about two and a half months. I haven't lost anything. I'm trying to lose twenty pounds or so. I'm 5'1 and my starting weight on here was 135.9 pounds.
    (snip)
    Over the past 2 weeks I've tried to come in at at least 1200 by "eating back" some of my exercise calories. What am I doing wrong? Is it possible that I need to go below the 1200 calorie mark...meaning should I be netting less than 1000 calories a day? Any advice or information would be helpful. I would especially love to hear from some other small frame shorties trying to lose 20 pounds or so. I have an open diary for viewing to give anyone some insight as to my journey so far. Thanks.
    DoIt;
    As is often the case on this (and other) Forums, you've received a bunch of really good suggestions, some a little off topic but relevant none the less (Congrats on beating back C!!!), and some (sorry, no "nice" way to say it), just pure BS.

    Tracking calories, every single day and every single morsel really is a MUST (daily weight log as well), if you are going to get "real" numbers (not "guesses").

    An accurate bathroom scale ($30 or so), accurate kitchen scale ($15 - 20), measuring cups and spoons, and a good "tracking" app are really ALL you need.

    Some are fans of the various incarnations of "techy" exercise counters - I'm not, at least at first.
    You can "pin down" your Cals In number close enough by accurately tracking cals and weight and "estimating" cals out by adjusting the "factor" by which BMR is increased depending on which level of "normal" daily activity you choose.
    Later on (after you've determined daily target "goal" of cals in, if you want to play around with cals in, have it, but in the beginning it's really not worth the effort (IMO).

    No way of knowing (as others have said) buy my guess is that your 1200/day cals in "guess" is probably low.
    Set up one of the trackers (MFP is as good as any but there are many available free) and just "play" with it for a couple days. Learn how it works and plug in some "typical" days food (don't worry about the exercise numbers for now) and get an idea of how many cals in you have "actually" been consuming.

    Once you have that number (let's say it's 1450), reduce it by 150 or 200 and use that as your "goal".
    Track every cal for two weeks or so, weigh and measure, and log your weight daily - but DO NOT worry about day to day weight changes (either UP or DOWN) - they will happen, it's totally "normal", and meaningless until you have at least a couple weeks data.
    Focus on the weight TREND over time.
    If, after a couple weeks, there's still no change, drop another couple hundred cals/day and WAIT for it to take effect (2-3 weeks again). Sooner or later you'll find the "sweet spot".
    Recognize though that it's all a "moving target" - as you lose the numbers will change, both loss/wk and cals required (both will go down), so at least once a month reevaluate and adjust as needed.

    As to the "total BS" parts of the thread (1200 cals and starvation mode), you might want to read this rather than taking my (or anyone else's) word for it. Inside the googlemachine there are countless other "cites" debunking the "myths" that seem so pervasive in some venues.
    http://tinyurl.com/k9hrfyh
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,659 Member
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    You have been through quite a journey, and you are blessed to have emerged through the cancer a healthy person. One thing to remember, your body is still recovering in many ways and your metabolism might be a bit slowed down. Also, you're not far from your goal, so it will be harder to lose 20 lbs. Your weight as it is is just barely in the overweight category. I am older and your height, 5'1.5" and have been plateaued between 120-122 for a few months now, so I know how frustrating that can be and how tempting it is to go below 1200 and get aggressive with calorie cutting. However, after recently recovering your health, it's not advisable. I can also vouch for what everyone says about tracking and measuring. I found out I was eating about 100 calories extra for breakfast several days a week because I miscalculated a hot breakfast cereal I ate regularly. And when you're small like we are, 100 extra calories a day is a big deal.
  • chadya07
    chadya07 Posts: 627 Member
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    1000 calories is less than my six year old is supposed to eat. dont try eating like that please.

    that is all.
  • tbrown1974
    tbrown1974 Posts: 30 Member
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    What do your burns look like, according to Nike? The general rule of thumb is to eat back 50-75% or so of your calories burned, so you can refuel (and meet your cal goal) without eating more than you actually burned (when your burn number is inexact).

    Exactly! If my burn number is incorrect and that's what I input and I'm eating 50 to 75 percent back that's where it all goes downhill. When I do then I am overeating or in any case eating at maintenance or above my deficit. Because I'm not gaining any weight now I'm simply maintaining. The scale just won't move. Day in, day out same number.
    As far as a typical burn..lets use my numbers from yesterday: a 44 minute trail walk/run (2.89 miles) yielded a 298 cal burn, the day before a 50 min (3.22 miles) measured 332 calories burned. Now mind you this will vary significantly if I do a little more running or a little less, give or take. But I am going up hills throughout this work out. I'm not sure if Nike Plus takes that into consideration as there is no specific setting for hills and such.

    Those burn numbers don't seem too unreasonable for the exercise so the culprit is likely your weighing. The HRM will still give you a better estimate of your burn. I have a Polar H7 and love it. The scale and HRM have really helped. I think you will see a difference with your logging and weight loss with both, especially the scale.
  • dollforlife
    dollforlife Posts: 41 Member
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    1000 calories is less than my six year old is supposed to eat. dont try eating like that please.

    that is all.

    :-)
  • dollforlife
    dollforlife Posts: 41 Member
    Options
    Hey all! I was wondering if you might have some quick advice for me? I've been on MFP for about two and a half months. I haven't lost anything. I'm trying to lose twenty pounds or so. I'm 5'1 and my starting weight on here was 135.9 pounds.
    (snip)
    Over the past 2 weeks I've tried to come in at at least 1200 by "eating back" some of my exercise calories. What am I doing wrong? Is it possible that I need to go below the 1200 calorie mark...meaning should I be netting less than 1000 calories a day? Any advice or information would be helpful. I would especially love to hear from some other small frame shorties trying to lose 20 pounds or so. I have an open diary for viewing to give anyone some insight as to my journey so far. Thanks.
    DoIt;
    As is often the case on this (and other) Forums, you've received a bunch of really good suggestions, some a little off topic but relevant none the less (Congrats on beating back C!!!), and some (sorry, no "nice" way to say it), just pure BS.

    Tracking calories, every single day and every single morsel really is a MUST (daily weight log as well), if you are going to get "real" numbers (not "guesses").

    An accurate bathroom scale ($30 or so), accurate kitchen scale ($15 - 20), measuring cups and spoons, and a good "tracking" app are really ALL you need.

    Some are fans of the various incarnations of "techy" exercise counters - I'm not, at least at first.
    You can "pin down" your Cals In number close enough by accurately tracking cals and weight and "estimating" cals out by adjusting the "factor" by which BMR is increased depending on which level of "normal" daily activity you choose.
    Later on (after you've determined daily target "goal" of cals in, if you want to play around with cals in, have it, but in the beginning it's really not worth the effort (IMO).

    No way of knowing (as others have said) buy my guess is that your 1200/day cals in "guess" is probably low.
    Set up one of the trackers (MFP is as good as any but there are many available free) and just "play" with it for a couple days. Learn how it works and plug in some "typical" days food (don't worry about the exercise numbers for now) and get an idea of how many cals in you have "actually" been consuming.

    Once you have that number (let's say it's 1450), reduce it by 150 or 200 and use that as your "goal".
    Track every cal for two weeks or so, weigh and measure, and log your weight daily - but DO NOT worry about day to day weight changes (either UP or DOWN) - they will happen, it's totally "normal", and meaningless until you have at least a couple weeks data.
    Focus on the weight TREND over time.
    If, after a couple weeks, there's still no change, drop another couple hundred cals/day and WAIT for it to take effect (2-3 weeks again). Sooner or later you'll find the "sweet spot".
    Recognize though that it's all a "moving target" - as you lose the numbers will change, both loss/wk and cals required (both will go down), so at least once a month reevaluate and adjust as needed.

    As to the "total BS" parts of the thread (1200 cals and starvation mode), you might want to read this rather than taking my (or anyone else's) word for it. Inside the googlemachine there are countless other "cites" debunking the "myths" that seem so pervasive in some venues.
    http://tinyurl.com/k9hrfyh

    There's a lot of good, solid information here. I will try to implement some of the strategies advised.

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