Ok So Motivation is Lacking due to Lack of Progress...

AusAshMommy
AusAshMommy Posts: 845 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hello Everyone!

I hope I can get some positive help here, my friends have been hearing about this for awhile now, thought I'd reach out to everyone else here.

I started this journey in October 2013 with a goal to lose 50lbs I used the calories goal MFP set for me, 1200 calories/day, so I could lose 1-2 lbs/week. All was going good until about Mar/April 2014 when I noticed I was hungry all the time and decided to up my calories to 1510 calories/day with a .5 - 1 lb loss/week. And I lost another 10 lbs this way - but now I am in my final 5-7 lbs and keep dancing around the same 2-3 lbs. My workout schedule is pretty intense, at least I think so:

3-Nights/Week I do 45 Mins on the Treadmill running/walking a 5K, 30-Mins on the Arc Trainer w/45 - 50 mins of Weight Training
3-Nights/Week I do 30 Mins on the Treadmill running/walking roughly 2.6 miles, 30-Mins on the Arc Trainer w/45 - 50 Mins of Weight Training/Calisthenics for my Ab work.
1-Night Rest Night

I tend to hit my 1510 calories/day averaging about 1600/day but then I work off that overage and net the 250 calories - sometimes more, sometimes less, hardly every going over my without balancing it with exercise.

I have tried the TDEE Calculators and just don't understand them AT ALL LOL! So I am not sure if I am even doing what I need to do.

I am down to my final 5-7 lbs to hit my goal and I am STUCK! As a result my Motivation is in the Tank, Thoughts?

Let's add to this that now my knee is bugging the ever living you know what out me tonight and I am having to take an unscheduled rest night.

Ugh and many many F*Bombs!

I am also looking down the barrell of my hubby being out of town doing Grooming School for a Month with no daycare (I am a PF member, let's leave them out of it, I LOVE my Gym and LOVE the time I spend there working out, it's the perfect environment for me) so therefore no daycare for my two kids, 11 & 9 unless one of my friends is willing to help (our family lives just under 500 miles away from us)

Thanks!

Replies

  • ElvenToad
    ElvenToad Posts: 644 Member
    Check out this link on your TDEE, that will give you a step by step guide at how to set up your calorie goal.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/931670-bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide

    With only a few pounds to lose you want to shoot for .5lb loss per week and accuracy matters.

    Make sure you are weighing all your food on a food scale and only use measuring cups/spoons for liquids. Also make sure you are picking the correct entries in the database.

    Do these things and you will see progress. Good luck!
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    I've been 3 pounds from my goal for about 2 years. I lost 50 pounds the first year here. I have since gone down 3 sizes due to body recomposition from weight training and little cardio while eating mostly at maintenance.

    In the last year I have really begun to see my body becoming what I had hoped to see when I started here. The scale is not important. Set non scale goals.
  • raineydoll
    raineydoll Posts: 1 Member
    Thank you for the info :) This definitely makes me feel so much more motivated :) Very helpful being able to find out BMR :)
  • AusAshMommy
    AusAshMommy Posts: 845 Member
    Check out this link on your TDEE, that will give you a step by step guide at how to set up your calorie goal.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/931670-bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide

    With only a few pounds to lose you want to shoot for .5lb loss per week and accuracy matters.

    Make sure you are weighing all your food on a food scale and only use measuring cups/spoons for liquids. Also make sure you are picking the correct entries in the database.

    Do these things and you will see progress. Good luck!

    Ok so I've looked @ all of this and I know where I need to be, and I've set my calorie goal for 0.5 - 1.0 lb/week, did that ages ago, and like I said I exert so much energy everyday for my workouts, and yet I've been stuck. I weigh/measure everything I can and yet natch...my diary is open, can someone please look at it and tell me what I'm missing?!?!?
  • drepublic
    drepublic Posts: 180 Member
    Hi there. First of all congratulations on your weight loss so far. :-)

    You must remember that as you lose weight the amount of calories you burn throughout the day drop because you now weigh less. So you burn less calories sleeping, breathing, and yes even exercising. I see this a lot with people losing weight...they get to a point and plateau. Sometimes it can be as simple as not carefully tracking your calories....let me give you an example...and I was guilty of this and I catch people on this all the time...COFFEE CREAMER.

    A simple case is your coffee creamer...serving size says 1 tbl spoon which is 35 calories, but I and many others I have seen were actually putting 3 table spoons in during the poor, so that's 100 calories per day 7 days a week in just coffee creamer. So how well to you track calories? Do you weigh out your foods for example?

    Do you know how many calories you burn in a workout?
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Check out this link on your TDEE, that will give you a step by step guide at how to set up your calorie goal.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/931670-bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide

    With only a few pounds to lose you want to shoot for .5lb loss per week and accuracy matters.

    Make sure you are weighing all your food on a food scale and only use measuring cups/spoons for liquids. Also make sure you are picking the correct entries in the database.

    Do these things and you will see progress. Good luck!

    Ok so I've looked @ all of this and I know where I need to be, and I've set my calorie goal for 0.5 - 1.0 lb/week, did that ages ago, and like I said I exert so much energy everyday for my workouts, and yet I've been stuck. I weigh/measure everything I can and yet natch...my diary is open, can someone please look at it and tell me what I'm missing?!?!?

    Are you eating based off of TDEE or net calories? If the latter, eat back exercise calories (or at least half). If TDEE, then maybe you miscalculated. I like exrx.net and health-calc myself.

    Also your diary is still private, you probably just made it accessible to friends only.

    But you could also be miscalculating what you eat like already mentioned.

    Otherwise, try a diet break. Eat at maintenance for a week, then get back to your diet and see how that helps. This is waht I"m doing this week, so.. can't tell you my experience yet haha.
  • AusAshMommy
    AusAshMommy Posts: 845 Member
    Hi there. First of all congratulations on your weight loss so far. :-)

    You must remember that as you lose weight the amount of calories you burn throughout the day drop because you now weigh less. So you burn less calories sleeping, breathing, and yes even exercising. I see this a lot with people losing weight...they get to a point and plateau. Sometimes it can be as simple as not carefully tracking your calories....let me give you an example...and I was guilty of this and I catch people on this all the time...COFFEE CREAMER.

    A simple case is your coffee creamer...serving size says 1 tbl spoon which is 35 calories, but I and many others I have seen were actually putting 3 table spoons in during the poor, so that's 100 calories per day 7 days a week in just coffee creamer. So how well to you track calories? Do you weigh out your foods for example?

    Do you know how many calories you burn in a workout?

    Thanks! I switched over to a Sugar Free Creamer a long time ago and yes I measure it every single time, I know exactly how much is going in, and yes it's 2 Tbsp but I cut the amount of sugar going in to counteract the creamer.

    My calories burned during my workouts are measured using whatever it is the machine @ the gym tells me and what MFP tells me...I don't have an HRM nor can I afford one right now - yes I know they are a great investment but it's just not financially feasible for me right now, and on average its somewhere around 600 calories a workout.

    I don't drink soda, I don't drink tea - it's my coffee and water and frankly I am getting to the point of being bored w/that - today for example I am craving Tea, GO fig LOL!
  • AusAshMommy
    AusAshMommy Posts: 845 Member
    Check out this link on your TDEE, that will give you a step by step guide at how to set up your calorie goal.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/931670-bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide

    With only a few pounds to lose you want to shoot for .5lb loss per week and accuracy matters.

    Make sure you are weighing all your food on a food scale and only use measuring cups/spoons for liquids. Also make sure you are picking the correct entries in the database.

    Do these things and you will see progress. Good luck!

    Ok so I've looked @ all of this and I know where I need to be, and I've set my calorie goal for 0.5 - 1.0 lb/week, did that ages ago, and like I said I exert so much energy everyday for my workouts, and yet I've been stuck. I weigh/measure everything I can and yet natch...my diary is open, can someone please look at it and tell me what I'm missing?!?!?

    Are you eating based off of TDEE or net calories? If the latter, eat back exercise calories (or at least half). If TDEE, then maybe you miscalculated. I like exrx.net and health-calc myself.

    Also your diary is still private, you probably just made it accessible to friends only.

    But you could also be miscalculating what you eat like already mentioned.

    Otherwise, try a diet break. Eat at maintenance for a week, then get back to your diet and see how that helps. This is waht I"m doing this week, so.. can't tell you my experience yet haha.

    I checked that website exrx.net and I didn't see the calculators...can you help narrow that down some?

    I opened my diary for everyone to see. And see TDEE is something that escapes me...I don't know how to truthfully calculate it in terms of my activity...that's where I need help...after a year almost you'd think I'd have this figured out.
  • ElvenToad
    ElvenToad Posts: 644 Member
    [/quote]
    My calories burned during my workouts are measured using whatever it is the machine @ the gym tells me and what MFP tells me...
    [/quote]

    This may be your problem right here. Those machines are not accurate, and mfp is very generous on calorie burn. Try only eating back 50% of your calorie burn as you may be eating your deficit everyday and therefore maintaining.
  • AusAshMommy
    AusAshMommy Posts: 845 Member
    This may be your problem right here. Those machines are not accurate, and mfp is very generous on calorie burn. Try only eating back 50% of your calorie burn as you may be eating your deficit everyday and therefore maintaining.

    Well as I stated above I don't have an HRM/Calorie Tracker nor do I have money for one, so it's truly a best guess sort of thing.

    I honestly eat the same thing every night when I get home from the gym, which is usually around 11:15 - 11:30 pm, 1 piece of 15-Grain Toast w/Jif Naturals Peanut Butter & 1 Cup of Skim Chocolate Milk, total calories = 275 Calories which is roughly 1/3 of what I burn on average
  • ElvenToad
    ElvenToad Posts: 644 Member
    I think the best thing to do is just pick a healthy calorie goal and eat that number everyday and don't worry about eating back exercise calories. Keep it consistent, and if after 2 weeks you are not losing lower it a bit until you do. If you're losing to much raise it a bit. Just keep it simple.

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