2 weeks in and not losing weight - disheartened

IGNORE EVERY EXCUSE POSTED BY THE TROLL BELOW:

Stop counting calories. Google "A calorie is not a calorie."

If you are eating garbage, you will not lose weight, even if you are restricting calories.

Avoid most "no-fat" and "low fat" foods. Fat doesn't make you fat. Carbs and sugar make you fat. You and most American have been misinformed by our government.

Burn the USDA's "My Plate." The USDA is the Department of Agriculture, not the Department of Nutrition. It represents grain growers, not you.

So don't eat any refined carbs - breads, pasta, breakfast cereals (pay no attention to the "heart healthy" and "good source of vitamins" labels), and rice.

Don't eat any sugar - including all fruit juices and fruit yogurt. Yoplait yogurt is unhealthy. Repeat - Yoplait yogurt is unhealthy.

Have an egg and cheese for breakfast (and a slice of bacon won't kill you), or plain Greek yogurt (the 2% tastes better than the 0%) and add berries (but not too many). The rest of the day eat fish, poultry, red meat, avocados and all vegetables (except corn and potatoes). Eat nuts (not peanuts) and sunflower seeds instead of chips, pretzels and all that other garbage for snacks.

Avoid alcohol.

You can eat fast food, but throw out the bun and don't order French fries.

The weight will melt off you whether you exercise or not. However, exercise is great for your mind, body and sprit.

Get a scale. Weigh yourself everyday.

Once you hit your ideal weight, eat whatever you want, but keep weighing yourself. If you gain a few pounds, go back to what I told you to do and get back to that ideal weight.

Try it for two weeks and see what happens. It can't hurt you.

Good luck.

Yes, disregard. In terms of weight loss, calories absolutely matter. You wouldn't be here if you were aware and honest with yourself about your intake/output and the tools here, while not necessary for everyone's success, are extremely valuable if you were not having success on your own without counting.

Remember that you get can fat from a surplus of any calories, even from healthy/"clean"/"Insert-BS-label-here" foods. Our ancestors certainly weren't fattening up for harsh winters on burger combos and milkshakes.

Also, not everyone here is losing weight for "health." Losing weight is a personal experience. Losing weight to land an acting job, to be in a certain weight class for MMA, or for a summer vacation's "vanity" pounds are legitimate reasons. Spare me your healthist preaching.

You should see what I lose weight on, my diary is open. I was 190lbs in June of last year, about 136lbs now. Also, I don't appreciate strangers telling me how my individual body works, how the "junk" food that is keeping me alive is killing me. Because maybe not everyone has a heart and blood disorder that makes them hypotensive and unable to absorb vital nutrients. Maybe not everyone can eat full fat foods and lots of salt, iron, magnesium (dark chocolate!), potassium, and iodine. As for me, I prefer my heart staying beating and not getting tunnel vision and weakness when I stand up.

If health is your ultimate goal, it's important to highlight how very individual health/function is. There is no one and only "right way."

As for me, I train like a beast, eat a feast, and lose weight steady, # week at least. For weight loss, calories in/out absolutely matters, and there isn't enough research to support the scare propaganda that processed foods are the absolute worst thing you can do to your body. Moderation seems to be key here.

give it time

The OP thread got hijacked into the battle of ages of how we lose weight:
Calories In/Calories out = weigh loss, versus Carbs and sugar make you fat so eliminate/reduce them to = weight loss.

They are both acceptable methods which work. For those who stay in the healthy lifestlye, they maintain their weight loss.
If they log or know from experience what to eat to stay at their ideal weight, calories in/calorie sout works and they understand
macros and how they can enjoy pizza and ice cream in their life.

Those who hit their ideal weight and then stop tracking fall easily back into their old habits. They often easily gain their weight back. within 3-6 months. They are comfortable at their goal weight and think they're eating ok and have a grasp of it all.
They slip back to eating the convenience/already made foods which are generally higher in carbs and sugars. They reach for the bag of pretzels instead of the bag of lettuce. They do dinner through the drive by and have a whopper over grilled chicken & green beans for supper.

Carbs and sugar produce lots of fat in our body because of the spike in the body's sugar levels. The fat just gets stored.
The body loves the sugar rush so we respond by eating the same kinds of foods that continually produce fat.

People falling back into the pizza, pasta, ice cream pattern of life who are not tracking, easily put the fat right back onto and around their organs and body. They never learned that lean body mass does comes from eating low fat producing foods.

I don't have all the answers but erickeesin has valid points that everyone should think about. I just started reading,
"Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes. It's giving me much to consider and think about.

One of the reasons I joined MFP was because people normally can exchange ideas and opinions about nutrition, fitness, and health without acting and sounding like a bunch of politicians. Let's all be respectful to one another's thoughts.

Stop counting calories. Google "A calorie is not a calorie." If you are eating garbage, you will not lose weight, even if you are restricting calories.

Avoid most "no-fat" and "low fat" foods. Fat doesn't make you fat. Carbs and sugar make you fat. You and most American have been misinformed by our government.

Burn the USDA's "My Plate." The USDA is the Department of Agriculture, not the Department of Nutrition. It represents grain growers, not you.

So don't eat any refined carbs - breads, pasta, breakfast cereals (pay no attention to the "heart healthy" and "good source of vitamins" labels), and rice.

Don't eat any sugar - including all fruit juices and fruit yogurt. Yoplait yogurt is unhealthy. Repeat - Yoplait yogurt is unhealthy.

Have an egg and cheese for breakfast (and a slice of bacon won't kill you), or plain Greek yogurt (the 2% tastes better than the 0%) and add berries (but not too many). The rest of the day eat fish, poultry, red meat, avocados and all vegetables (except corn and potatoes). Eat nuts (not peanuts) and sunflower seeds instead of chips, pretzels and all that other garbage for snacks.

Avoid alcohol.

You can eat fast food, but throw out the bun and don't order French fries.

The weight will melt off you whether you exercise or not. However, exercise is great for your mind, body and sprit.

Get a scale. Weigh yourself everyday.

Once you hit your ideal weight, eat whatever you want, but keep weighing yourself. If you gain a few pounds, go back to what I told you to do and get back to that ideal weight.

Try it for two weeks and see what happens. It can't hurt you.

Good luck.

This is bull. Weight loss is calories in/calories out.

Really?

So say you take 100 people who need to lose weight. Divide them into two groups of 50. Both groups eat 2,000 calories a day.

The first group eats donuts and bagels and orange juice for breakfast, and pasta for lunch and dinner, washed down with Coke and complimented with nacho chips.

The second group has an egg and cheese or Greek Yogurt for breakfast, eats grilled chicken for lunch with avocado and lots of veggies for lunch, and fish with salad for dinner. No Coke. Snacks are almonds and cashews.

So you would have to be a complete idiot to think that the bagel/donut group is going to have the same results as the fish/chicken group after a couple of weeks, wouldn't you? It's called common sense.

GOOGLE "A CALORIE IS NOT A CALORIE!"

1) strawman is strawman

2) not having same results =/= not able to lose any weight eating some 'garbage' as you call it. You absolutely can.

3) what negative health results do you have if you eat a yoplait yogurt?

Also, carbs and sugar (btw, sugar is a carb) does not make you fat - eating more calories than you burn does.

Also, please learn what a calorie is.

And please pay no attention to this logging nonsense. You can lose weight without logging. Just eat the good food and avoid the bad.

Why are you even here?

Six Reasons Why A Calorie Is Not A Calorie:

http://authoritynutrition.com/6-reasons-why-a-calorie-is-not-a-calorie/

lol - no-where does it show that a calorie is not a calorie.

What it does explain (although some of the claims are iffy and/or incorrect) is that not all calories are created equal - and I doubt anyone would argue with that.

Stop counting calories. Google "A calorie is not a calorie."

If you are eating garbage, you will not lose weight, even if you are restricting calories.

Avoid most "no-fat" and "low fat" foods. Fat doesn't make you fat. Carbs and sugar make you fat. You and most American have been misinformed by our government.

Burn the USDA's "My Plate." The USDA is the Department of Agriculture, not the Department of Nutrition. It represents grain growers, not you.

So don't eat any refined carbs - breads, pasta, breakfast cereals (pay no attention to the "heart healthy" and "good source of vitamins" labels), and rice.

Don't eat any sugar - including all fruit juices and fruit yogurt. Yoplait yogurt is unhealthy. Repeat - Yoplait yogurt is unhealthy.

Have an egg and cheese for breakfast (and a slice of bacon won't kill you), or plain Greek yogurt (the 2% tastes better than the 0%) and add berries (but not too many). The rest of the day eat fish, poultry, red meat, avocados and all vegetables (except corn and potatoes). Eat nuts (not peanuts) and sunflower seeds instead of chips, pretzels and all that other garbage for snacks.

Avoid alcohol.

You can eat fast food, but throw out the bun and don't order French fries.

The weight will melt off you whether you exercise or not. However, exercise is great for your mind, body and sprit.

Get a scale. Weigh yourself everyday.

Once you hit your ideal weight, eat whatever you want, but keep weighing yourself. If you gain a few pounds, go back to what I told you to do and get back to that ideal weight.

Try it for two weeks and see what happens. It can't hurt you.

Good luck.

You are so full of s.... carbs and sugars don't make you "fat". A calorie is a calorie. Cite a scientific study that proves what you say is true. Oh wait you can't because it doesn't exist. Quit giving people bad advice.

Hey feel free to message me if you want some friendly advice I hate posting on the discussion boards.