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

dawnna76 wrote: »

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

I believe OP just changed her calorie goals to that current number, so it would show as being over.
OP what was your original calorie goal?

some of the entries also seem incorrect. How or why would you eat 1.9 of something?

In addition to everyone else's suggestion, it may help to look at your weekly consumed calories to understand where you're going wrong - I've looked at your diary and added up your weekly caloric consumption to average 2457 calories per day - your goal intake is 2000, which means you're going over by 450+ calories daily (on average).

That's nearly 1lb. of calories a week that you aren't losing if you were to actually eat 2000 calories per day.

I'm sorry, but I agree that as your diary shows, you are eating too much to meet your goals.

You're doing great, Dawn. Hang in there! The thing that's worked for me the most is filling up on veggies! I fix big plates of veggies and everything else is small portions. Keep in mind that there are some vegetables out there that aren't as great for you: potatoes, corn and peas are all high in calories! I like to cut up a bunch of different kinds (peppers, onions, zucchini, squash and mushrooms) and sauté them in light olive oil with lots of spices. Yummy!

My weakness is SWEET TEA. And I don't like the after taste some artificial sweeteners make. My remedy was to cut the calories in half by using 1/2 of the sugar and 1/2 Splenda. That made a huge difference in my calorie intake.

Good luck!

Hi there... I have recently started to take a serious look at my carbohydrate intake (mainly focusing on sugars). I feel that most people get way too many carbs for their energy needs. It is drastic and very difficult, but I have cut out added sugars completely and really pulled back the throttle on fruits. However, I would suggest to keep fruits in your diet for those sweet-tooth cravings that come up now and again. Eating fruit as a sweet treat is much better for you than a soda or piece of candy. I have begun to really focus on eating more protein (egg whites, boneless/skinless chicken breasts, greek yogurt {plain, nonfat} and fish) and healthy fats from plant sources (avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil). The tricky thing about fats is that they are very calorically dense! 9 calories per gram, compared to 4 calories per gram in protein and carbs. It is very easy to eat too many calories with fats! However, they are still an important part in your diet and shouldn't be feared, just limited. I have done some reading about different body types and how that play a factor into how you should eat. People who are naturally slender tend to be able to eat a pretty high concentration of carbohydrates and do ok (they are called ectomorphs). On the other end, people with a naturally more round/thick frame tend to do better on a lower carb diet (endomorphs). Folks that work at a desk most of the day and don't engage in really high intensity training (ie bodybuilding or marathon running) don't need a lot of carbs. Carbs provide "quick burning" energy to power through those rigorous work outs. People that do like exercising need more of the "slow burning" fuel from protein and fats. Another great thing about protein and fat is that is digests more slowly, leaving you satisfied longer. I am not saying to cut out carbs completely, but try to get them from quality sources like bright, colorful vegetables and whole grains (I enjoy quinoa, chia seeds, oatmeal, and brown rice). I have implemented this new diet for myself and really liking it so far. I have been suffering from digestive issues for about a year and a half now and since cutting out the "bad carbs" (added sugar and refined grains) I have had very minimal problems. It is evidence to me that I was just getting way to much junk. I hope that info might help you a little bit. I have actually had some fun researching how to eat for my body type. It is empowering to be able to do something about your health and know that it is all you and not a nutritionist or personal trainer! I think you are on the right track by asking for help and having the drive to be able to make a change! You are miles ahead of other people! Good luck to you, and keep up the great work!!!

"People that do like exercising need more of the "slow burning" fuel from protein and fats." I meant to say people that do "LIGHT" exercising. When you aren't doing high-intensity exercises you don't need to eat a lot of carbs. Hope that clarifies....

kellycasey5 wrote: »

One of my dear coworker ER nurses gave me a rule of thumb from her personal trainer (it's not perfect, but for sedentary folks to mildly active folks it is pretty close and super duper easy). Obviously very fit people and very active people will need more calories, but that really isn't most people.

Take your weight in pounds, multiply it by 10, and that is an approximate number of calories needed to maintain your current weight (not gain, not lose, just hold). To gain weight you need more calories, to lose weight, you need less. For me, a weight of 183 pounds took 1830 calories to maintain and eating at 1200 calories with some exercise helped me lose 4.7 pounds last week. I don't expect a loss like this every week, but anything less than the maintenance calories will add up to weight loss. The more you weigh, the quicker the loss at first.

For you with a listed weight of 240 pounds, it takes approximately 2400 calories to maintain (not gain, not lose). I looked at your log and low and behold, you seem to eat almost exactly 2400 calories most days. To lose you need a deficit, meaning eat less than your number of calories. Exercising to eat more is fine, but you won't lose weight that way. To lose weight you are eating too much. It is very simple and straightforward and nothing personal. Less calories=weight loss.

Might I suggest not eating back the exercise calories, and adopting a 1900 calorie/day diet. Then you should lose about a pound a week from eating less calories, plus whatever exercise calories you burn. 1900 calories is a decent amount of food so you won't feel tired/weak/dizzy. Realistically if you get a raised heartrate for 30 minutes most days you should lose 2-3 pounds a week. Then you would be at 190 pounds in about 4 months and could readjust your calories by multiplying your goal weight in pounds by 10. You will get pretty close to your goal weight eating this way with a little activity.

It worked for my friend, it is working for me, and it is very easy. You seem to be great with logging and measuring your food, so decreasing your calories should do the trick! Good luck! Try it for a week and see..

This advice probably won't hurt anything but that "rule of thumb" is wildly inaccurate. I'd be maintaining my weight on 1220 calories, and that would be a very sad state of affairs.