help please I feel like I'm going crazy

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  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited April 2015
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    rangereight wrote: »
    Plus I drink one gallon of water a day. I also do 5 minutes of planks every other day. I eat the same meals everyday so that I don't have to think about food planning. So everything has been pre weighed and calculated and one day of my diary is like looking at my whole week.
    Keep in mind that drinking water won't make you lose weight. It'll keep you hydrated but not make you burn more calories.

    It sounds like you think you have everything down... but you aren't getting results. Doesn't that mean that it might be time to try something different? Take another look at what you're eating, for instance. Also, if you're eating back the calories from your elliptical sessions perhaps it's giving you too high of a calorie burn and you should eat less. Just something to think about.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    rangereight wrote: »
    Plus I drink one gallon of water a day. I also do 5 minutes of planks every other day. I eat the same meals everyday so that I don't have to think about food planning. So everything has been pre weighed and calculated and one day of my diary is like looking at my whole week.

    Do you eat your exercise calories back?

    If so, machines and MFP and phone apps WAY overestimate burns.
  • rangereight
    rangereight Posts: 10
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    How do I calculate then? I exercise 50 minutes a day on the elliptical at an incline of 12 and resistance of 7.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,940 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Aiiii Chihuahua! Why don't we start from the beginning?!

    OP: how tall are you? what is your current weight? what is your goal weight? what is your activity level during the day? How many minutes of additional exercise do you perform every day? Since you eat the same thing every day... what is it that you eat? How long have you been doing all this?
  • transparentenigma
    transparentenigma Posts: 565 Member
    edited April 2015
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    With what you are describing you SHOULD be losing weight. Not very healthy mind you, but you should be netting as another poster said 500 calories which would make the scale move. This may sound kinda gross, but how's the bathroom activity? Is what's coming out adding up close to what's coming in? You need to make sure you are eating enough fiber and drinking enough water to push your food through and making sure the body isn't storing excess fecal matter.
  • nancyjay__
    nancyjay__ Posts: 310 Member
    edited April 2015
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    .
  • rangereight
    rangereight Posts: 10
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    I've been reading and maybe my elliptical is overestimating my calories. But I have no money and cannot afford a continuous heart monitor right now. I can't afford health insurance. I'm spending all my money on organic foods and fish everyday to lose weight. So how can I tell how many calories I burn? I'm under 5 feet tall, I'm 38. I do 50 minutes on the elliptical every morning at an incline of 12 and a resistance of 7. I also go for a 45 minute walk. That is everyday. I also do yoga everyday, alternating a calming 12 minute sequence one day with 5 1 minute planks, and the next day do 30 minute cardio yoga shreds. How can I tell how many calories I'm burning?
  • rangereight
    rangereight Posts: 10
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    I'm 143 pounds and want to lose at least 20 to begin with.
  • nancyjay__
    nancyjay__ Posts: 310 Member
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    Organic and fancy foods won't help you lose weight. If that's what you want to eat that's fine if you're doing it for the sole purpose of losing weight I suggest you save your money. Just stick to the calorie deficit and you'll be fine. The only thing you can do is estimate how much your burning :/ sorry. I suggest you go online search three different calorie burning calculators find the average and plug that in. You can never get an exact there are just too many variables
  • Bigkmc
    Bigkmc Posts: 25 Member
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    Forget about the calories you're burning when exercising for the moment - the main thing is that you're burning calories. Make sure you are calculating the right calorie content for your food and stay below your daily target (personally I think 1200 cals isn't enough for a 1lb per week weight loss). Weigh EVERYTHING. Any cals you're burning with exercise will just increase your deficit :)
  • nancyjay__
    nancyjay__ Posts: 310 Member
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    Bigkmc wrote: »
    Forget about the calories you're burning when exercising for the moment - the main thing is that you're burning calories. Make sure you are calculating the right calorie content for your food and stay below your daily target (personally I think 1200 cals isn't enough for a 1lb per week weight loss). Weigh EVERYTHING. Any cals you're burning with exercise will just increase your deficit :)

    Why do you say that?
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    nancyjay__ wrote: »
    Organic and fancy foods won't help you lose weight. If that's what you want to eat that's fine if you're doing it for the sole purpose of losing weight I suggest you save your money. Just stick to the calorie deficit and you'll be fine. The only thing you can do is estimate how much your burning :/ sorry. I suggest you go online search three different calorie burning calculators find the average and plug that in. You can never get an exact there are just too many variables

    This! You don't need to eat special foods to lose weight. Organic is expensive. Unless you're eating organic because of some moral, ethical or health concern, go back to eating the way you were before. Just eat less.

    You're probably right that the elliptical is off on calorie burns. Most machines aren't really that accurate and the less personal information (gender, weight, age) you input before starting the less accurate it's going to be.

    Eat what you want as long as it fits into your calorie goal. Weigh your food for accuracy, log everything in MFP faithfully, find an average calorie burn for your activities and use it and you should start to see some results.
  • kellyjellybellyjelly
    kellyjellybellyjelly Posts: 9,480 Member
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    I want to reiterate about weighing your food on a food scale if you're not. It can be eyeopening to see how small a portion really is of certain foods.

    Do you accurately measure how much you're actually burning when you exercise? It has been said that MFP's exercise calculator can grossly inflate the actual number of calories you burn. If you can afford it I would invest in a HRM with a chest strap to give you a more personal (still not 100%) number of calories burned.

    Just remember that eating healthier & organic won't guarantee that you will lose weight & you can still gain weight/maintain by overeating fruits, lean meats, veggies, & healthier grains.

    Also don't beat yourself up by not losing weight every week or everyday. Take it slowly & remember that a lot of us here didn't put weight on overnight & it won't come off that fast either.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    Unless you're in a deficit, you won't lose. It doesn't matter what type of food you're eating.
  • JenniferInCt
    JenniferInCt Posts: 431 Member
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    Theres no way to 100% know how many calories your workouts burn, only estimates. Most just use the machine or hrm and eat back less than half of what it says, just to be safe.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    rangereight wrote: »
    I've been reading and maybe my elliptical is overestimating my calories. But I have no money and cannot afford a continuous heart monitor right now. I can't afford health insurance. I'm spending all my money on organic foods and fish everyday to lose weight. So how can I tell how many calories I burn? I'm under 5 feet tall, I'm 38. I do 50 minutes on the elliptical every morning at an incline of 12 and a resistance of 7. I also go for a 45 minute walk. That is everyday. I also do yoga everyday, alternating a calming 12 minute sequence one day with 5 1 minute planks, and the next day do 30 minute cardio yoga shreds. How can I tell how many calories I'm burning?

    That one's easy. Record only half of your exercise calorie burns from the elliptical machine and walking and eat that amount back.

    When you record yoga and plans, record them but only as one calorie, because it's too difficult to figure out the calories.

    You don't have to eat organic foods and fish to lose weight, you only need to eat what you like in moderation. Many people feel it's easier to stick to a calorie deficit eating certain foods.
  • rangereight
    rangereight Posts: 10
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    Thanks, everyone. All of your advice really did help me off the ledge. Really, thank you. :)

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