What am I doing wrong?

Geordie_Girl · March 2011

In the first 3 weeks of being on MFP I lost 2.5kg, at the start I was logging every little move I made, in order to gain more to eat, so I was logging cleaning etc LOL.

I've stopped that in the last week and am only logging proper exercise, I've jumped back into C25K at and I'm on W4 (I took a few weeks off due to illness). On my non-C25K days I've started walking a lot, I've done 3 14+km walks in the last week and then also small 5km walks with my son (so they're much slower, he's only 3)
I'm burning about 800-1000cals a day with exercise, just my walking and running (not counting normal things like cleaning), and eating most of them back, although I was 400 short one day, but genuinely wasn't hungry any more.

But in the last 3 or 4 days I've put 1kg back on :grumble:

I have my activity level set at lightly active, and admittedly I have my loss level set at 2lb a week :embarassed: .

I know I've changed a lot of things in the last week, but what am I doing wrong? Why am I gaining/not losing anymore?

AmyB2011 · March 2011

I think the trick is to try new exercises so that your body doesn't get used to the same thing all of the time. Also, try not to fall into a routine with the food you eat. Have a varied diet and do a range of exercises. Good luck!

Geordie_Girl · March 2011

Thanks, yeah I have 30 day shred on order, so will be starting that once it arrives.

_Jessica_ · March 2011

If you are excercising a lot you could be building muscle. and that weighs more then fat. SO... its not such a bad thing if you gain a little in the begining. Try measureing instead of weighing. I am a scale person but some people swear by the measureing tape. Also... I never eat all my calories back if I can help it. I dont' see what the point of excercising your butt off to then eat it all back. I try to consume my calorie intake and then excercise and not eat back the coupld hundred cals I burned. I hope this helps. Dont get discouraged. Don't forget, women always tend to gain druing their menstral cycle also! Good luck!

johnthefatman · March 2011

Don't eat so many of your exercise calories - I never touch mine unless I am really hungry and then only up to half of them. Also how are you measuring your exercise calories? IF you are not using a reliable HRM then I would not trust the numbers - some you see on here are way OTT.

twooliver · March 2011

First off, I'm no nutritionist or doctor, but here are my reactions to your food diary:

1. Your calorie intake is high. In my humble opinion, I would bring it down to between 1400 and 1600....and not eat back so much of the calories burned. This is a source of controversy btw.
2. Things like wine can impact your weight loss.
3. Your carb count is high....try to balance the carbs and proteins so that the protein count is higher and the carb count is lower.
4. Related to the carb count are things like sugar related items that will only sabotage your weight loss.
5. Give yourself one day a week for things like high carbs and wine....

Hope that helps....

missy1970eb · March 2011

yr daily fat contents red quite a few days, and i would try drinking more water, i see u like cookies like me lol

but im not buying them fat content in biscuits is too high just for 2 biscuits, so im trying just 2 have a biscuit cookie maybe once/ twice a week

Geordie_Girl · March 2011

Thanks all, I don't really like cookies particularly, I just made a batch last week, so ate a few of them, but now they're gone I probably won't have any for another few months.

Regarding sugar, I know a lot of people will recommend that I dump real sugar and go for a sweetener. Not gonna happen. I'm not putting that chemical rubbish into my body if I can help it, I'd rather adjust things and allow the space for real sugar. Aside from the chemicals, sweeteners just don't taste nice to me, in fact they're disgusting!

twooliver · March 2011

there are sugar substitutes that are natural products...stevia for instance; agave is another one but it comes with calories. If you do your research on what sugar does to your insulin levels, hormones, feeds candida yeast and so on, you'll find that it is a poison to those of us with weight issues. You ask what are you doing wrong and I'm afraid this is a tough piece to nip in the bud. Sugar sets up an addictive cycle within the body, hence the cravings. One of the ways I meet this need is to add dark chocolate chips in a mixed nut mix and allow myself 1/4 cup twice a day.

good luck....

Atlantique · March 2011

I only looked back 4 or 5 days in your diary, and on many of those days 25% of your calories are from alcohol, sweets or a combination of the two. (And no, I am in no way implying that you have some sort of alcohol issue, just a weight loss issue). And I'm not counting sugar that you add to food--I'm counting the chips and sweets. The chips are basically treated by your body the same as sweets as they are simple carbs wrapped in fat and salt, but still primarily simple carbs.

Alcohol and simple carbs are death to fat loss. They're both metabolized the same way, primarily in your liver, and stored as fat and prompting your body to store additional fat as well.

If you can cut back on the alcohol and simple carbs, I think you'll get the scale going back down again.

Geordie_Girl · March 2011

Thanks for all your input. I suppose a lot of the crap I've been eating over the last few days have been in a desperate attempt to meet my calorie goal through having done about 1000 cals of exercise per day (even when not hungry, sometimes). I guess I've just not the most appropriate of foods to do that with. I think I'm going to just go my own way and eat when hungry, and don't eat if I'm not, even if my calorie goal is low.

It also probably hasn't helped that it was my TOM, and that's driven me to eat more crap than usual.

What am I doing wrong?

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