Diary Review Please

occasionally we all have a week or 2 were we don't loose.

I haven't lost anything for the last week and half either.

But do you track sodium??

too much sodium can make you retain water. and the chips and stuff would have a huge amount of sodium in them :blushing:



Also do you eat any veggies??? There seems to be a lack in your food diary..

I just look at your diary from January 24 to today. Even though you have not been tracking sodium in your diary, I can still see the sodium may very well be the issue. By using the button at the bottom of the diary, you can pull up the printable report, which includes sodium, regardless of whether you have been tracking it.

There are several entries for brand name, or maybe restaurant fare. (No familiar with "Ugo's" brand) Almost ALL these entries show 0 mg of sodium, which is highly suspect. On Jan 31, there is an entry for Heinz Baked Beans, again showing 0 mg of sodium. Restaurant-made and processed food almost ALWAYS contain sodium.

To make sure you are choosing a correct and complete food diary entry for an item, I suggest you take time to compare the nutritional data from the label, or restaurant website, to make sure you are not underestimating your sodium intake.

Your rate of loss will slow as you get closer to your goal weight, and a loss of 21 lbs. in less than a month is nothing to sneeze at. Guys usually lose more quickly than women. You are a male about half my age. It took me 6 weeks to lose my first 18 lbs. After that, my rate of loss did slow.

You are doing lots of cardio, which is what burns fat. As you build more muscle, your resting metabolism will increase and that will help you burn more calories.

Besides more carefully choosing your food diary entries for correctness and completeness, I suggest you go into the settings of your food diary and add sodium as one of the things you track in your diary. It will make it easier for you to keep an eye on it.

Good luck, and congrats on your first 21 lbs.

Edited to add: I just took another look at your diary, and realized that except for today, you have a calorie deficit in excess of 500 calories per day for every other day I checked. If your body needs 1700 calories just to maintain, and you burn 700 calories with exercise, that means your body needs 2400 calories to cover the energy expended on exercise and take care of your other physical needs. If you routinely underfeed your caloric needs, your body will compensate by holding on to weight.

Try upping your calories, with additional fruits, veggies, lean protein as well as watching the sodium intake, and see if that helps you break through the stall.

What i notice is that you have ( i only looked at one day though) items that are high in carbohydrates yet have no carbohydrates listed. My guess is that your diet is on the high side, carb-wise, but not showing it, because entries list 0 carbs (for a sandwich, for a glass of juice, I noticed) You might want to track carbs too and staying under the suggested limit, or even go a little lower. And yes, start making your own food, cut out chips etc. There must be lots of sodium in there.

Thank you to those who have commented and taken the time to have a look.

The fact that I cannot eat salads and dislike most vegetables does make it harder than it should be I guess. I take the point about fruit though!

The beers were my first of the month, and I did burn 1300 calories at the gym earlier that day to allow me those!!

I never knew Sodium would be an issue so I'll look out for that. I thought low fat oven chips were a way for me to get calories but with not that much fat, but then I'll admit I've only been monitoring calories and fat levels in what I eat.

Does anyone else struggle with not eating most veggies and salad?

I love veggies, so I can't say I struggle with that. lol But, I have a young child - and while he's GREAT at eating veggies and healthy stuff, he's still sometimes reluctant to try something new or to REtry something he used to not like.

You can start by just trying everything again. Your tastes can really change a lot over time - so there may be some that you haven't had in years (or ever) that you might find you actually like now!

Also, for those you aren't crazy about (but don't really hate) - disguise them! You can add a lot of smaller amounts of veggies to things where you don't notice the taste or texture. Or use a light sauce to top them, to add some flavor.

Good luck with it!

Is it the taste or texture of veggies you don't like? If so you might try blending the veggies into soup (easy to cook, just heat!). Or as a smoothie with other fruits to hide the unpleasant texture/flavors. You can try diff veggies to see what combinations of flavors work best for you. Plus, the mix of fluids with food is supposed to help fight hunger. Search the web for vegetable smoothies for ideas like this one http://www.smoothieweb.com/category/vegetable-smoothies/ One more idea, you might cut up the veggies into smaller pieces and mix in with your pasta sauce or curry. That way you've got the much stronger flavors to cover the veggies in a saucy mix. Oh, for marinara, easiest trick is to dice up a tomato and add it to the sauce. If you don't like raw tomato, heat with the sauce for a few minutes. That way you sneak in some fresh veggies that have much less sodium than the pre-packaged sauce.

p.s. I love veggies, but I figured it's not the first thing you want to read in a post.

Is there anything I can do if my Sodium was too high? Drink more water? Or is there anything that will break it down better? Am I missing the obvious and should just be eating less??

Sodium doesn't break down unfortunately, it's an element. If you think about fats and proteins as chains of many links, sodium is just one link.

So, to deal with the sodium in your diet,
1. definitely drink more water
2. try to eat more foods that aren't "ready to eat" right out of the package (e.g. roasted/baked potato is better than potato chips for the same calories) because the packaged stuff has a LOT of sodium.
3. balance out the sodium with potassium, your body needs both. Things that are high in potassium are bananas, potato, meat (which also has sodium), etc. Search for high potassium foods online.
4. Don't eat less food (unless you meant eat less sodium, then yes do that :happy: ). As other ppl have mentioned, you have a large deficit and your body might not be getting the nutrients it needs to burn fat and support your activity level.

By the way, I'm impressed with the amount of fat you manage to control. I have a hard time with that (I like almonds and cheese) and you have some good food ideas for low fat foods that I'm going to steal! :laugh:

I just noticed you get a lot of your calories from carbs, you may want to try and get more of your calories from proteins, and complex carbs like brown rice, sweet potatoes, etc, maybe incorporate a little light weight training too as working your muscles makes them burn fat to supply them. just a few thoughts but best of luck:happy:

Looking at your diary, I have to agree with the PP's about low cals and likely high sodium.

I've read all good info in this thread. I would add:

Switch to 4 meals a day, then adjust to 5 and smaller portions. Eating every 2.5 - 3 hours keeps the metabo smooth b/c your body finishes digesting meal 1 and here comes meal 2, etc.

Protein numbers looked good - I strive for 1g pro for every 20 cals of the meal.

Protein keeps the insulin from spiking and crashing causing hunger which is usually for carbs. Also has a higher thermic value.

If you aren't already, try to do fasted cardio. If FT in the AM isn't doable then 3 hours after a meal.

I was a picky eater as well... re-try the veggies. I love asparagus spears. My stores don't have a large section of them in the frozen section, tho. :grumble: Others are out there.. just try them. Kidney beans in chili with ground turkey is a great quickie meal. I've got a good recipe that is easy to make.

Try to make more of your own food. I know it takes time but it's worth it. I can cook for a whole day and have "leftovers" all week that just need to be heated or nuked.

When buying food remember this simple rule: Try to buy it as close to how it came out of the field as possible. Frozen is OK b/c it is usually quick frozen right after harvest and as a PP said.... drop the juice. Eat fruit and you get natural sugars. Drink your fruit and you get processed sugar. Some canned foods are no added sodium, so these are an OK choice, tho not the best.

I think that should make a difference. As PPs have said, make a couple changes and get used to them and add a couple more. B4 you know it you won't recognize the way you used to eat and the new way will feel natural. Good luck and check my diary if you like.