VERY frustrated

rileysowner · March 2011

Three things:

1) Get a measuring tape and measure you chest, waist, and hips at least (arms and thighs if you want) and watch those measurements. As a friend of mine says, the scale is the greasy used car salesman of weight loss (if I quote him correctly but you get the jist of his attitude about the scale, it only tells part of the story)

2) Strength/weight training is far more effective for fat loss than long duration cardio as is Interval Training. Cardio will help someone who is really out of shape, but in the long run that sort of steady state cardio is not that effective.

3) If you can afford it a good heart rate monitor with a chest strap would be very helpful to have more idea of your actual calories burned. Here is a good article to help you choose, http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

jsavy · March 2011

Well, I am 69 and find it comes off slowly and I don`t exercise BUT I find on here the calories sometimes aren`t accurate even though I love this site so I kinda do my own thing and allow for what I do know is right. The site has helped me be aware of what I am putting in my mouth but don`t understand why some of it is off count.

The people here are very good to help you too, I check in everyday and keep on tracking. It is funny how easy the weight goes on but how hard it is to get off isn`t it?

Good luck and keep on track you can do it!

eringle · March 2011

For us to give proper advice, you really need to open your food diary. I know having your food open and judged feels like being on display, but you can always close it up later- but we really need to see the cals, the sodium, the fats and the carbs to get an accurate picture of what could be going on.

Ok.. diary is open. Have at it.. critique away!

Atlantique · March 2011

I'm just sort of skimming through your diary.

I see not very many calories early in the day and then eating a lot in the evenings. While that doesn't change your total for the day, it will certainly affect your energy levels, and that may also explain the next thing that jumps out right away.

Which is the amount of sweets and junk. :noway: I'd certainly try to trim that. It's not good for you and it's going to send your blood sugar all over the place. Not only does that give you energy burst and lags throughout the day, it encourages your body to store fat because of the way it manipulates your insulin levels.

I realize you've only been at this a few weeks, as have I. Maybe you're doing more 'tracking' at this point than 'planning'.

Over the next couple of weeks though, try to focus on spreading the calories more evenly throughout the day. Actually eating breakfast is a HUGE help there. An egg white is not 'breakfast'.

Try to get rid of some of the simple starches (the bread and the like) and the sweets.

Do you dislike veggies? Because I don't see any.

And I think you'll find that if you prepare more food at home, you'll find it's a lot easier to eat more real food. It's also easier to know what calories you actually consumed--restaraunts don't give you the best calorie counts. You're also getting a LOT of sodium from the eating out and all the starches. You might want to add that tracking to your diary.

It sounds like a lot, I know. Trust me, my diary is far from perfect! :laugh: I try to pick one goal for the week and work on that. Trying to change everything at once is overwhelming, and we're here to try to develop life-long habits. Building new habits takes time.

LG61820 · March 2011

When I started I was eating very healthfully, or so I thought! Once I started tracking sodium I started to realize that I had to change my way of eating. I started having success the week I cut sodium back. Just take a look at the sodium content of cheese, I had a sad sad 10 minutes last night doing just that. It appears there's no such thing as low sodium cheese at a chain store.

I have learned to really enjoy foods I have turned my nose up in the past. Chickpeas, salmon, tilapia, edamame, frozen veggies, veggie burgers, I even bought quinoa for cryin out loud.

My point is that as you change what you eat you will change what you get hungry for. The more preparation you have to do instead of having a restaurant or food corp do for you the better the food will be.

I tend to stay the same for a couple of weeks and then lose some. I didn't gain weight every single week on my way here, I don't expect to lose weight every single week on my way down where I want to be.

Change something in your diet for just a week and see what happens. You can expand the items tracked to include sodium and other things which would be eye opening for you I think.

oldperson · March 2011

I can certainly relate to that. I am 56 yr old female. I have been doing my food tracking & exercising 5 days a week, for at least 45 minutes each time & most of the time longer & I have only lost 7 lbs since December. I am working with a personal trainer who sets up my exercise programs, which change every 2 wks & we started at 1200 calories a day & both my trainer & my Dr have now increased it to 1800 calories a day. I voiced my frustration to my trainer & she seems to think that I need more protein, because my body needs the extra protein because of the exercise routine I follow. I have been slowly losing muscle & my trainer said this is because of not enough protein. I know I'm losing something, not necessarily weight shown on the scale, because I can see it in my face & my clothes are starting to fit a little better. I have been trying hard to find the right amount of protein, but I'm still working on it. My trainer said it's a work in progress until we find the right combination. I just have to keep telling me that it will happen as my trainer says it will, so just hang in there. It sounds like you are working on the same problem as me. So let me know if you get anything useful. OP

VERY frustrated

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