Too much? Too little? Thoughts?

TS65
TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
edited September 26 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, I'm in need of some guidance. Perhaps you can see in my food diary/exercise diary something I can't.

I "get" defecit and eating back calories (just so you know).

I started 3 weeks ago and lost 2 lbs immediately (to 195). Since then, I got down another 1 pound (194 for a milli-second) and then jumped back up immediately. I have been dilligently logging. I started at 1200 calories (2 lb loss) then bumped up to 1410 (1 lb loss) thinking maybe I wasn't eating enough calories. I'm wondering now if I'm still not high enough - as a couple of nights this week I've woken up in the middle of the night hungry (not something that has EVER happened before I started running/dieting).

I do C210k (couch to 10k) 3x per week - right now it's about 28 minutes of running and 40 minutes of walking each workout. I'm thinking of adding a 4th (different) workout to my week.

My diet isn't perfect (but it's not horrible, at least I don't think so). I could probably cut back on my snacky stuff, but those snacks are often me trying "eat back" the exercise calories - or at least a portion of them.)

My ultimate goal is 135, so I have 60 lbs to lose so it's not like I'm on my "last 10." So, I'm at a loss as to what I should do - up calories, lower calories? Be patient (easier said than done! :laugh: )

I took measurements about a week ago, so it's not enough time to see if it's muscle weight is keeping me the same weight. Although I can definitely feel my legs toning up.

I'm open to thoughts - and was even thinking of cycling my calories if it will help.

Replies

  • fourbcrew
    fourbcrew Posts: 107 Member
    The sodium intake is very random I try to stay under 1500g per day.. It is tough and I try to stay away from processed food. The water intake helps alot too.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
    Sodium - Last week I had 9 lbs of Easter ham left over, so I ate quite a bit of it. Good for protein, sucks for sodium. So, I agree that could be a factor - but the stop started before easter.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    I would suggest a better, bigger breakfast. This will help you eat less of the snacky items to get to your limit and help you put in healthier items. Weird as it seems, it may even stop those night time hungries.

    Other than that: stick with it and enjoy being healthier. I am in a similar boat, having lost one pound in about three weeks, even though I was always just under calories and exercising everyday until that one day that I pushed myself too hard and have now been nursing an injury for a week.
  • joannbuist23
    joannbuist23 Posts: 127 Member
    I'm no expert but I would lower your sodium intake. I try to stay under 1500mg per day. Try to stay under that for a few days and drink TONS of water, I bet you'd see the scale go down.
  • Dawntodusk
    Dawntodusk Posts: 262 Member
    Not sure when you started exercising, but whenever you start a new routine, it's common to gain a pound or two in water. It lasts up to 2 weeks. Also - in general - you really don't know what's working or not until you try it out for 2-3 weeks. If you keep switching your calories, etc every couple of days, you'll never figure out what's going on because it's quite normal to see ups and downs on a daily basis. I'd say, just stick to the original plan and wait a couple of weeks before you give up and think it's not working.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
    Sodium - check! I'll adjust that on my diary.

    Exercise - I started running March 1 - about 6 weeks before I changed my diet.

    So... I'll give it 2-3 weeks (not a problem) - but where do you think I should start 1200 net or more?
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,316 Member
    First drink more water. I know it is a pain and you will have to go to the washroom frequently, but it really helps weight loss. Second, since you don't track fiber I can't see what your actual number are, but more fiber can really help as well. Beyond that I don't have any suggestions right now. Sodium might be it, but it might not. Drink at least 1/2 your weight in pounds in ounces of water every day. It is a lot, but my weight loss is slowed when I drink less water.
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
    Everyone had some great suggestions. I didn't peek at your diary. :embarassed:

    How are you figuring out your portions? Are you eyeballing them or are you using a food scale? The food scale is the most accurate way to measure your portions.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
    Everyone had some great suggestions. I didn't peek at your diary. :embarassed:

    How are you figuring out your portions? Are you eyeballing them or are you using a food scale? The food scale is the most accurate way to measure your portions.

    I use a food scale for everything that's not already packaged.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
    First drink more water. I know it is a pain and you will have to go to the washroom frequently, but it really helps weight loss. Second, since you don't track fiber I can't see what your actual number are, but more fiber can really help as well. Beyond that I don't have any suggestions right now. Sodium might be it, but it might not. Drink at least 1/2 your weight in pounds in ounces of water every day. It is a lot, but my weight loss is slowed when I drink less water.

    i changed my setting so you can see fiber. That could be an issue. As for water, I drink WAY more than the 8 glasses (probably closer to 12 - i just stop logging it at 8).
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
    Lower sodium - check (updated my diary to track)

    Raise fiber - check (updated my diary to track)

    tons of water - check (already do it, but I'll start tracking ALL of it, not just the 8 glasses).

    Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still confused on where to go for calories.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,316 Member
    I looked at your fiber intake and you are pretty much eating the amount that the typical American eats. The problem with that is it is fat too low. You need to gradually increase it to at least 28 grams a day, more is better. I typically eat closer to 40 grams a day sometimes as much as 75 or so grams on high days. Good things to add fiber are chia seeds and flax seeds (both have the added benefit of adding Omega 3 fats to your diet as well), most vegetables (especially brocolli and peas), beans (not so much green beans but the others like black beans, kidney beans and the like), and lentil. I eat a lot of lentils since they are quick to cook. For beans I buy a package of dried beans and cook up a big batch. Then I freeze them in portion sizes that I can use. The reason I do this is canned beans are very high in sodium. Notice all these foods are what people would call "healthy" foods, and are the very foods we tend not to eat a lot of in our North American diet.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
    I looked at your fiber intake and you are pretty much eating the amount that the typical American eats. The problem with that is it is fat too low. You need to gradually increase it to at least 28 grams a day, more is better. I typically eat closer to 40 grams a day sometimes as much as 75 or so grams on high days. Good things to add fiber are chia seeds and flax seeds (both have the added benefit of adding Omega 3 fats to your diet as well), most vegetables (especially brocolli and peas), beans (not so much green beans but the others like black beans, kidney beans and the like), and lentil. I eat a lot of lentils since they are quick to cook. For beans I buy a package of dried beans and cook up a big batch. Then I freeze them in portion sizes that I can use. The reason I do this is canned beans are very high in sodium. Notice all these foods are what people would call "healthy" foods, and are the very foods we tend not to eat a lot of in our North American diet.

    I havea bunch of dried beans/lentils in my cabinet. I'll try that too.
  • Suedre
    Suedre Posts: 435 Member
    In my experience, it really takes a while to see if something works or not, think at least two weeks. It took me a while to accept that my weight lives in a four pound range. A loss today could easily be gone tomorrow through no fault of my own. When you're working so hard at something, it's really hard not to obsess over every pound, but I just couldn't let myself do that.

    Here's my best advice: You can only control what you can control. You are in complete control of what you eat and how much you exercise. If you make positive decisions 90% of the time, your body will follow even if it's not as fast as you want it to.

    Side note: I think MFP's estimate of calories burned is way to high for me. I only have a HRM on runs so I dont know, but I don't eat back all of the calories I'm given in most cases for that reason.
  • katemarjoram
    katemarjoram Posts: 203
    I've recently gone to a high fibre diet. My diary is open so feel free to have a peek for ideas - my favourite discovery is a cup of raspberries with about 100ml of low fat yoghurt over the top. Only about 120 calories and 8mg fibre. And oh so yummy. If looking at my diary go back to at least Friday as I had a 'relaxed weekend off' and wasn't analysing the micro-nutrients.
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