HELP! Need Weight Loss Tips that actually Work. Success Stories greatly appreciated!

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dawn_motley
dawn_motley Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Gals and Guys,

Hope you're all doing well and reaching those health and fitness goals. :)

I just wanted to reach out to anybody who has experienced REAL WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS the natural way, and pick your brains into what really works.

I have been logging all of my food and drink intake on MFP religiously since the start of November 2014, but have had NO success whatsoever in losing weight.

I have done endless amounts of research into weight loss plateaus, but thought I would look to MFP members and ask you to kindly share any helpful weight loss tips with me. My body seems to be at a complete halt and does not want to shift ANY of the weight, it's so frustrating, especially when I am going to great lengths to try and lose.

I have bought a smoothie blender, kitchen scales, measuring cups and spoons to record my food/drink intake as accurately as possible, as well as a calorie counter watch that I use to record exercise calories burned.

Here are my details:

Age: 26 Years
Sex: Female
Height: 5 ft 6 inches
Weight: 17 stone 2 llbs
Lifestyle (according to MFP): Sedentary

Any realistic health and fitness tips, advice or success stories would be much appreciated.

Need your help!

Thanks,

Dawn x
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Replies

  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Hi Dawn,

    Would you be willing to open your diary?

    My Home > Settings > Diary Settings
  • dawn_motley
    dawn_motley Posts: 9 Member
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    Sure! I have changed the view to public. You should be able to view it here:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/dawn_motley

    I am aware that my sugar intake is too high by the way - this is a real struggle for me as I am heavily dependent/emotionally attached to sugar, unfortunately! Any tips on sweet alternatives would be a big help.

    Thanks for being the first to reply! x
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    The number one tip that has worked is to pick a single issue, troubleshoot what I might do differently, try for a week and re-evaluate. I started losing weight by making very small changes that resulted in say, 100 calorie reduction in my daily intake. I got my tips from a dietitian.

    So if you know that sugar is the bugbear, troubleshoot how you might change your relationship with sugar.

    Stevia? Aspartame? Splenda? Sugar-free syrups?
  • dawn_motley
    dawn_motley Posts: 9 Member
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    Well done to you, that's great progress! Can I ask which cardio and weight programs you follow? x
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    A couple of questions:

    You say you've bought a food scale and measuring cups/spoons, but you don't say when you bought those things. How often do you you use them, and when did you get them?

    Do you eat back your exercise calories? All or some?

    Since actual daily intake can vary, what is your average daily intake? Let's say for the last four weeks.
  • Azurite27
    Azurite27 Posts: 554 Member
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    How long have you been weighing your food with the scales. That really helped me, and still does to eat the right amount, not too much and not too little. Don't worry about sugar unless you're been diagnosed with diabetes or have been advised to reduce sugar by a doctor.

    Where are you getting your calorie burns from? That's where you might be going wrong. I started out on the conservative side, logging half of what MFP or the machine said and then gradually increased when I found I was losing too fast.

    If you fix that and still can't lose eating a reasonable amount, see a doctor. After I switched thyroid meds the pounds came off a lot easier, although I was losing previously.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I took a look at a couple days on your diary.

    Mug brownie, sugar free:
    http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2078808

    Sugar free hot cocoa:
    https://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=8530
  • dawn_motley
    dawn_motley Posts: 9 Member
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    Hi AliceDark, great questions. I bought the kitchen equipment around august 2014 and started using them from November 2014 religiously.

    When I exercise I do tend to eat back most of the calories as I tend to have a big appetite, but I have heard that you should only eat back say half of these - is this correct?

    For the last 4 weeks, my intake has been between 2000-2500 calories per day. I have adjusted my MFP goal in between, and my daily goal is now at 1810.

    Thanks x
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
    edited January 2015
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    Okay...

    First thing is to make sure you are logging as accurately as possible. Weigh your food. Are there any areas in which you are using estimates or measuring cups instead of weighing? Could you be missing foods because you might forget them?

    Once that is accurate, if you aren't losing you need to cut down the calories. You can cut down gradually, about 150-200 per week until you are losing.

    Specifically for sugar cravings you might find it helpful to cut back a little bit on sugary and starchy foods. For example, my goal is to limit myself to 30g of carbohydrate from sugary or starchy foods (e.g., candy, pasta, potatoes) every two hours and always eat those foods with fat and/or protein. Typically I will have 1-2 portions of grains/day (oatmeal, corn, low sugar cereal) and then occasionally (2-3x week) a small portion of snack food or dessert). I used to have a major sweet tooth and really a problem binge eating on sweets, pastas, and snack foods, but this eating style has realllllllly helped me to address that. I don't like artificial sweeteners and prefer just to adjust to a more savory style of eating. Although, to be fair, the quest bars I eat have artificial sweeteners in them...

  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    edited January 2015
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    Are you using your food scale to weigh all foods? How long have you been doing that? edit: I see you answered this-- I do see fruits and veggies still in cups though so that's something you can watch. It's probably not a huge amount of difference but it's a good habit.

    About your exercise calories-- what kind of calorie counter watch are you using? Does it have a HRM or is it more like fitbit? Some of your calories burned seem high-- 450 calories for 24 minutes of walking, for example.

    I'm less concerned about your sugar intake (which I don't even track, btw, I just track carbs) as I am by the fact that you're over a lot. I have no doubt that you're working really hard to reduce your intake, but on most of the days I looked at you were over your goal by hundreds of calories. I would just focus on making sure you're weighing all of your food and making sure you come in under goal every day for awhile. Stuff happens, and there's some flexibility for occasional days over, but you have to eat at a deficit consistently to see results.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    Nice job on measuring correctly! I'll admit -- I posed those questions before looking at your diary, and it does look like you're measuring things pretty well. (Not weighing/measuring foods seems to be the #1 most common issue people tend to have around here, so we try to rule that out in the beginning if we can).

    MFP tends to over-estimate calories burned through exercise, so it's a good idea to eat back 50-75% of them, instead of 100%, to be on the safe side.

    If your goal is 1810, the very first thing I would do is to stick to that, plus 50-75% of your exercise calories, for 4 weeks and see how your body responds. You could probably even go up to 2000 plus part of your burns and still be safe.

  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    Choose the food scale over measuring cups/spoons, for sure. It's much more accurate.
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
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    I'm not sure why no one has mentioned this, maybe I just got lucky but every single random day I looked at you logged well over your daily goal. I'm sure you're not over every day but again, I just got lucky or you're over a lot.
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    Also keep an eye on your sodium numbers. High sodium will cause your weight to increase for several days (water retention). And, drink your water to help with this.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    maidentl wrote: »
    I'm not sure why no one has mentioned this, maybe I just got lucky but every single random day I looked at you logged well over your daily goal. I'm sure you're not over every day but again, I just got lucky or you're over a lot.

    I also noticed this too
  • keelz2010
    keelz2010 Posts: 182
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    I too love sugar, and this was tough for me. I switched my regular chocolate bars to those mini bars like chomps, taz, and fudge. I drank fruity teas and and ate sweet fruits to combat my sugar cravings. Don't buy anything sweet in your weekly shop, if its not there you cant eat it.

    I only looked at a day or two in your diary but you eat a bit of convenience food, like Subway and Costa. If you go in for a latte it's hard to resist the muffins on offer too. Get a travel cup and make a latte at home (half milk half water) instead and save cash and calories.
  • FitnessTrainer69
    FitnessTrainer69 Posts: 283 Member
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    I lost more then 80lbs when I started. I do know a thing or two. I wont judge what you do but will only let you know what worked for me. Also, im not sure what you mean by "REAL". And yes I had set backs ( Injuries, gained weight ect ) but always looked foward. I changed my ENTIRE diet. I didnt count my food but did make a certain amount of meals each day. I went to the gym on an empty stomach everyday and always would drink 1 protien shake after working out. for my work out. I would always start with a what I like to call metabalism boosting workouts. either on a row or spin machine. start off with a momentum thats slow enough to talk for 1 1/2 minutes then all out for 30 sec. repeat for 20 minutes ( if possible ). If not, you'll get there enventually. If not starting out on one of the machines then do intense cardio on what ever machine you can handle for atleast 20-30 minutes ( make sure your heart rate is atleast 70% of your max. Follow this up with a workout plan that hits atleasst all muscle groups once during your week of training. As for the diet portion. I would make some type of lean meat. chicken, turkey, fish ect. So if I bought a pack of chicken breasts I would split it into atleast 3 meals. and I bought a variety of all fruits and veggies. I stayed as far away from white rice, white bread and flour as possible. So once I was done with the gym and already taken my shake I would eat as often as I could handle. but my meals were only 1 chicken breast, cup of veggies (colorful variety) with brown rice or sweet potatoe. then I would make a tupperware full of different fruits and veggies. Before bed I would always take either a caisen shake or eat low fat cottage cheese. Not sure if any of this makes sense to you. Im at work typing this and not proof reading. bottom line. eat clean and stay away from sugars and high glycemic carbs ( flour, white rice, soda ECT). And dont forget to reward your self from time to time. with a SMALL amount.
  • lemonlionheart
    lemonlionheart Posts: 580 Member
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    Where are you getting your calorie burns for exercise? You have an entry called 'custom walking' where you've put in 1100 calories burned for 50 minutes??? I barely burn 500 calories an HOUR going as hard as I can on the elliptical. Unless you are very overweight and/or pushing yourself to the extreme, any exercise burn over 10cal/minute is probably overestimated. You appear to be eating back all of these calories too, so I'd say that's your problem. :)
  • dawnna76
    dawnna76 Posts: 987 Member
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    your just eating to much. plain and simple. I looked at your diary and you were over most days, some you were over by hundreds of calories. you cant exercise your way out of a bad diet and diet seems to be your issue. try sticking to the goals mfp gives you for a few weeks (watch your sodium and sugar) and try not to go over. if your hungry eat back half of your exercise calories. choose more fillings foods (oat bran, protien, veggies) over muffins, fruit and fruit drinks. see what happens. I think you will be pleasantly surprised
  • slucki01
    slucki01 Posts: 284 Member
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    I would let MFP help you establish your goal based on your current stats and objectives. Then I would start eating at the calorie level MFP recommends. I eat back the many of my exercise calories. I also eat a lot of chicken and fish and veggies. My biggest challenge is keeping with my carb goals and, sometimes, getting enough protein. I also exercise at least one hour a day.

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