VERY frustrated

Also I think it depends on what you are eating..protein? Or mostly carbs? You burn protein and you store carbs

Are you getting the right type of food? Filling up your calories with junk is not gonna help you. Also try drinking alot of water. That helps : ) Good luck! Feel free to add me.

You say you are active? Is that what you have set yourself up as? This is for your normal everyday lifestyle not including extra exercise. Maybe in your normal day you are actually lightly active? This would mean less calories then what you are consuming. Just a thought. I'm still new and trying to learn it all myself.

Everyone's body is different. If I eat all the exercise calories, I will not loose, in fact sometimes I gain. If I stick between 1200 and 1300 calories of food no matter how much exercise I do, then I loose. I am 52 years old. I do try to exercise about 400-500 calories off per day.

Also I find that if I stick to 100 carbs or less per day I loose. I also find for me that carbs from fruit don't really bother, but if most of my carbs come from bread, rice or potatos, then I can even gain on 100 carbs per day.

Try some different things and you will find what is right for your body. I think as we age and especially after menopause, the body handles food differently then when we are younger.

Good Luck!

You say you are active? Is that what you have set yourself up as? This is for your normal everyday lifestyle not including extra exercise. Maybe in your normal day you are actually lightly active? This would mean less calories then what you are consuming. Just a thought. I'm still new and trying to learn it all myself.

Good point, an accurate activity level setting is very important to make sure you aren't allowing yourself too many daily calories!

Have you checked your sodium intake? Currently RDA for sodium is 2,500, but the government is going to change that to 1,500. Too much can make you retain fluids. I am most comfortable between 1,500 and 1,800. You might say, I don't add salt to my foods. But guess what... food manufacturers do that for you. It's a cheap way for them to add flavor to foods. Watch out for anything canned, including soups, and veggies. Cheeses are usually loaded with sodium as well. Breads need sodium to bake properly. Good luck on your journey!

I set my goal as 2 lbs week, dont count exercise and have lost 68 lbs since oct 10, also dialed down the carbs to 35 percent of normal. You almost have to be eathing or calories then you think;.

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!

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.

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