Feels like a losing battle....

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  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,862 Member
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    If you've been under calories and logging everything you eat (even mustard, half and half, and so on), as well as weighing food) then I'd suspect that if it's been more than 2 or 3 weeks you are overestimating your exercise calorie burn. Try only eating back half or three-quarters of your exercise calories.
  • saramatthews919
    saramatthews919 Posts: 161 Member
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    The fantastic thing is no matter what has been thrown at you you've come back fighting it takes a strong person to do that.
    I did my knee in last year so I totally understand the frustration but you can do this.
    As other posts have said a varied routine will help
    Good luck
  • RosemaryBronte
    RosemaryBronte Posts: 103 Member
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    'Sweet Poison' by David Gillespie. Watch him on You Tube. With sugar the more i eat the more I want. The less I eat the less I want. I've lost interest in chocolate. But it's important to eat 3 satisfying healthy meals a day, not to starve yourself. As you rely on the healthy food you will move away from the sugary food and then your appetite control kicks in naturally and you'll start to enjoy the satisfaction of real food and your weight will correct itself. Rule number one- don't diet. Rely on healthy food.
  • Lo0BLu
    Lo0BLu Posts: 84 Member
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    I am a great believer in exercise as much as you can. For example, if you are walking, up the pace by a minute/mile. Every day just give a little bit more until you are giving all you have.
    It might help to just try a 7 minute work out routine (Johnson & Johnson do a fantastic free one that you can choose low impact exercises) and do as much as you can. I do mine at home as it takes no space at all and requires hardly any equipment (a chair for tricep dips).
    Build up each week. It is not high impact, the main thing is you exercise to exhaustion (sweating and unable to breath/do another press up....I have seriously scared people in the gym :blush: ). Whether that state happens after one press up or 100.
    There is a paper on this, that some people respond far better after 20 minutes of exhaustion exercise than hours at the gym.
    I hope this helps and doesn't come over as preachy. This is what works for me. Perhaps it might work for you.
    Sending you motivational thoughts.
    Keep at it bro :)
  • joinn68
    joinn68 Posts: 480 Member
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    OP, you've said a lot of things but it's like a bad movie where the answers are elusive. So once again: You have a food scale, you've been logging consistently. So: How MANY calories do you eat??? Some people who've posted and want to help you would have a better idea if you opened your food diary. They've been at this for a long time but we/they have to know (I'm a newbie here)
    Otherwise only thing I can say is "awww it sucks. sorry to hear about your struggles".
  • PaulThomp23
    PaulThomp23 Posts: 38 Member
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    joinn68 wrote: »
    OP, you've said a lot of things but it's like a bad movie where the answers are elusive. So once again: You have a food scale, you've been logging consistently. So: How MANY calories do you eat??? Some people who've posted and want to help you would have a better idea if you opened your food diary. They've been at this for a long time but we/they have to know (I'm a newbie here)
    Otherwise only thing I can say is "awww it sucks. sorry to hear about your struggles".

    According to this app my daily calorie in take should be 2030, im usually well below this once i put in my exercise for the day, but whether the apps calories burnt amount is close to being correct i dont know. Like i do zumba every week, and according to this app an hour of zumba burns 994 calories..?! I know it can be quite intense with alot of speed involved but not quite that much.
  • Ck103084
    Ck103084 Posts: 139 Member
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    Double check your protein. I was having trouble losing and my doctor said to increase my protein (lean healthy protein like fish, beans, ect) because that helps keep you full and gives you energy. I notice when I eat more protein I do tend to lose a little more weight. Don't give up!!
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,123 Member
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    Struggles like this stink. I feel for you man. How to help you is made difficult because we really don't know much. We don't know you calorie goal, we don't know how carefully/accurately you are logging, we don't know if you are eating your exercise calories, and more. I will also recommend http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1 Read it carefully and follow its advise.
  • AdrianChr92
    AdrianChr92 Posts: 567 Member
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    I suggest you quit counting your exercise calories. If the app says you need to eat 2k to lose weight then eat that.
  • SisC3
    SisC3 Posts: 15 Member
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    Like i do zumba every week, and according to this app an hour of zumba burns 994 calories..?! I know it can be quite intense with alot of speed involved but not quite that much


    To burn that many calories in an hour doing Zumba you need to be working at a very high level. There are probably very few people who can work out hard enough for that type of calorie burn. Try either logging your exercise (but put it in the notes so you have a record) that way you won't be tempted to eat back your calories. Also you will be able to measure how many calories you are eating.

  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    prometheus369 wrote: »
    VintageMojo1987 wrote: »
    Hey hun sounds like a tough journey. Once you get into a regime so you basically stick to the same foods and similar exercises?
    The main thing with plateaus is that your body has become totally capable of doing what you're asking it to do which is why you need to change up your diet and exercise every couple of months.
    I know it might sound silly but I watched the biggest lower which gave me motivation when I was having bad days, jillian Michaels is a Goddess she is amazing at what she does and her dvds are phenomenal they made me feel stronger as I lost weight.
    Also how are you deciding what to eat are you purely sticking to a calorie limit? Because you may find iifym.com helpful. It tells you your calories but also tells you the amount of fats carbs and proteins and fiber you should be eating.
    If you are doing cardio try doing some hiit, there are loads of videos on it in youtube.
    Motivation and direction and helpful tips I think are so useful too so I would say start following people on YouTube or Instagram.
    I follow Emily skye, kayla itsines, Heidi somers and my favourite jen heward. They are so positive and funny quirky girls and it just makes it all seem a bit more achievable.

    I hope something I have said helps.
    If you ever need help please ask, I just think why don't we all share what we have learnt so far.
    Oh and don't listen to your doctor your body is not comfortable being any weight if you reach a plateau just try to change it up.
    I do rugby, swimming, hiit, lissc, riding, hiking and weight training. Mixing up what you're doing will never let your body normalise.
    Anyways good luck hun. Keep that chin up. Xxx

    I love the biggest loser, thats what motivated me to start (that an embarassing rollercoaster incident in busch gardens when the operator came and in front of everyone on the ride very loudly asked me to move to the 'fat person' seat as he called it)

    Im looking into all the things you've mentioned, ive made a list of them to check out. The UK isnt very experimental as regards classes and such, the gym and the aerobic classes they provide are about the limit lol

    As regards food, im not calorie counting as such but making sure the foods i am eating measure up on this app as far as fat/carbs/protein etc go.

    Thanks for replying though, i do enjoy the vhat with others who are on the same journey.

    I guess I missed this earlier. The app is a calorie counting app. If you're not counting as such, what are you doing? Or Perhaps this meant that maintaining a proper log or count of your calories is a recent thing, and in that case you need to give it another six or so weeks to see proper results? You mention your brothers diet being junkier than yours. Which you do not have to look to genes for an explanation as to why he's leaner than you are. If his calorie balance is less than yours (calories consumed minus all activity - exercise and non-exercise put together), then that would explain things
  • Cleaneatinggal23
    Cleaneatinggal23 Posts: 4 Member
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    Agree 100% that you need to track the calories. I thought my diet was 'healthy' with fresh foods etc. Turns out that when I started weighing all of my food, I was eating up to 50% more than I was supposed to. Plus it's easy to forget all those 'one-offs' like takeaways and pizzas. I went through my bank statements and realised that I had 'cheated' loads on my diet. Like you, I was doing a lot of exercise so I figured it would be OK. In actual fact, my treats over a month (which I had conveniently blocked from my mind) added an extra 500 cals on average per DAY.

    Set your tracker to something sensible. I am female, 2 st to lose, 5' 6'' and mine is at 1650-1700. Don't go too low- 1200 would be insane for someone your size. Log your exercise but don't eat back the calories. I promise you it will work. You need a digital kitchen scale and start weighing EVERYTHING, even stuff that you think of as healthy. You will soon get into the swing of things. If you are cooking a meal, weigh the ingredients and enter it as a recipe on here.
  • FatMoojor
    FatMoojor Posts: 483 Member
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    For a starter, open your diary. You can't really get advice on what you may or may not being doing unless people get a full view of the info.

    Secondly, losing weight is a really really simple equation. To lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn on a daily basis.
    If your weight is staying constant then you are in maintenance, where you eat the same number of calories as you born in a day.
    If you are gaining weight you are eating more calories than you burn in a day.

    Unless you have some medical condition which has been diagnosed by a medical profession the above is 100% true.

    There are no special snowflakes. If you are not losing then you are not eating less calories than you burn.
  • PaulThomp23
    PaulThomp23 Posts: 38 Member
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    Ok so my diary should now be open ( if ive done it right)
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    prometheus369 wrote: »
    Ok so my diary should now be open ( if ive done it right)

    Okay, goodie let's see what I've got here

    First of all, toffee yogurt, that sounds yum! I'll have to keep an eye out

    So, some days you've got maybe two or so meals logged. Are you crash dieting or something, or just not logging some missing meals?

    I notice entries like one chicken breast, one banana, one serving potato and cheese - are you actually weighing this? Not that I've ever seen a 225g banana, but it wouldn't be 135 calories. If you don't have a food scale, please get one. If you're eating some meals out, definitely try to log them anyway, just to ensure you're getting an overall picture of your calorie total

    Again, read these if you haven't yet. The first posts of each should be all you need. If you're doing a certain section right, you could more or less just scan through it, I suppose!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
  • PaulThomp23
    PaulThomp23 Posts: 38 Member
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    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    prometheus369 wrote: »
    Ok so my diary should now be open ( if ive done it right)

    Okay, goodie let's see what I've got here

    First of all, toffee yogurt, that sounds yum! I'll have to keep an eye out

    So, some days you've got maybe two or so meals logged. Are you crash dieting or something, or just not logging some missing meals?

    I notice entries like one chicken breast, one banana, one serving potato and cheese - are you actually weighing this? Not that I've ever seen a 225g banana, but it wouldn't be 135 calories. If you don't have a food scale, please get one. If you're eating some meals out, definitely try to log them anyway, just to ensure you're getting an overall picture of your calorie total

    Again, read these if you haven't yet. The first posts of each should be all you need. If you're doing a certain section right, you could more or less just scan through it, I suppose!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

    No dont have a food scale, the banana for example is 5 in a pack and over all weight when divided by 5 was 225g which the barcode reader on the app matched with an entry in the vast brain of the app as being 135cals

    Not crash dieting, my job involves me being in meetings come the new year for planning purposes which go on for hours with no breaks for food so sometimes when i finally finish the notion of eating had left me. The chicken again comes in a pack and is pre weighed with its before and after weight of being cooked same with the potato and cheese. I was kind of taking all these measurements as gospel but will go out and get a food scale today to keep a beter track on things.

    Im being totally honest with my diary, theres no sense in trying to decieve people like you who are being totally awesome by reading through it and giving me advice. Ive cut out all fizzy drinks and stopped adding sugar to anything like tea/coffee/cereal etc
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    prometheus369 wrote: »
    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    prometheus369 wrote: »
    Ok so my diary should now be open ( if ive done it right)

    Okay, goodie let's see what I've got here

    First of all, toffee yogurt, that sounds yum! I'll have to keep an eye out

    So, some days you've got maybe two or so meals logged. Are you crash dieting or something, or just not logging some missing meals?

    I notice entries like one chicken breast, one banana, one serving potato and cheese - are you actually weighing this? Not that I've ever seen a 225g banana, but it wouldn't be 135 calories. If you don't have a food scale, please get one. If you're eating some meals out, definitely try to log them anyway, just to ensure you're getting an overall picture of your calorie total

    Again, read these if you haven't yet. The first posts of each should be all you need. If you're doing a certain section right, you could more or less just scan through it, I suppose!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

    No dont have a food scale, the banana for example is 5 in a pack and over all weight when divided by 5 was 225g which the barcode reader on the app matched with an entry in the vast brain of the app as being 135cals

    Not crash dieting, my job involves me being in meetings come the new year for planning purposes which go on for hours with no breaks for food so sometimes when i finally finish the notion of eating had left me. The chicken again comes in a pack and is pre weighed with its before and after weight of being cooked same with the potato and cheese. I was kind of taking all these measurements as gospel but will go out and get a food scale today to keep a beter track on things.

    Im being totally honest with my diary, theres no sense in trying to decieve people like you who are being totally awesome by reading through it and giving me advice. Ive cut out all fizzy drinks and stopped adding sugar to anything like tea/coffee/cereal etc

    Oh gosh, please don't worry about any perceptions of deception. A food log only tells a part of the story so I just wanted clarification where necessary.

    Ah, yup I see where the banana weight is so wonky. If you're averaging the whole bunch, that includes the weight of the peel, which I'm guessing you don't eat!

    As for your skipping meals - well, meal timing actually has no effect on weight loss, but you really should consider eating enough to fuel your body. If you've got a day coming with long meetings, maybe bring some portable foods with you that can be eating during any quick breaks, that sort of thing. This isn't even so much about the weight loss, rather it's more in line with my earlier comment about taking care of your overall health :)

    Again, how long have you been logging each meal as you are currently?
  • PaulThomp23
    PaulThomp23 Posts: 38 Member
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    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    prometheus369 wrote: »
    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    prometheus369 wrote: »
    Ok so my diary should now be open ( if ive done it right)

    Okay, goodie let's see what I've got here

    First of all, toffee yogurt, that sounds yum! I'll have to keep an eye out

    So, some days you've got maybe two or so meals logged. Are you crash dieting or something, or just not logging some missing meals?

    I notice entries like one chicken breast, one banana, one serving potato and cheese - are you actually weighing this? Not that I've ever seen a 225g banana, but it wouldn't be 135 calories. If you don't have a food scale, please get one. If you're eating some meals out, definitely try to log them anyway, just to ensure you're getting an overall picture of your calorie total

    Again, read these if you haven't yet. The first posts of each should be all you need. If you're doing a certain section right, you could more or less just scan through it, I suppose!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

    No dont have a food scale, the banana for example is 5 in a pack and over all weight when divided by 5 was 225g which the barcode reader on the app matched with an entry in the vast brain of the app as being 135cals

    Not crash dieting, my job involves me being in meetings come the new year for planning purposes which go on for hours with no breaks for food so sometimes when i finally finish the notion of eating had left me. The chicken again comes in a pack and is pre weighed with its before and after weight of being cooked same with the potato and cheese. I was kind of taking all these measurements as gospel but will go out and get a food scale today to keep a beter track on things.

    Im being totally honest with my diary, theres no sense in trying to decieve people like you who are being totally awesome by reading through it and giving me advice. Ive cut out all fizzy drinks and stopped adding sugar to anything like tea/coffee/cereal etc

    Oh gosh, please don't worry about any perceptions of deception. A food log only tells a part of the story so I just wanted clarification where necessary.

    Ah, yup I see where the banana weight is so wonky. If you're averaging the whole bunch, that includes the weight of the peel, which I'm guessing you don't eat!

    As for your skipping meals - well, meal timing actually has no effect on weight loss, but you really should consider eating enough to fuel your body. If you've got a day coming with long meetings, maybe bring some portable foods with you that can be eating during any quick breaks, that sort of thing. This isn't even so much about the weight loss, rather it's more in line with my earlier comment about taking care of your overall health :)

    Again, how long have you been logging each meal as you are currently?

    See thats the thing, i would never have even thought about the peel being a part of the overall weight which is what makes me so glad of people giving me all these little tips etc.

    Today is day 12 of daily log ins.

    As for the meetings, they should be over soon so i dont have to worry about missing them again. Lol

    I totally get what you're saying about overall health, and to be faor its my main goal but if i can get it to coincide with weight loss and getting the physique that i want id be super happy too :)
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    Yeah, I just mean overall health as in please don't kill yourself just because you're needing to lose some weight. If you break a bunch of bones and become somewhat disabled, or ruin one of your organs, what would have been the point of the weight loss?

    PS: For bananas yeah we usually weigh it without the peel. Some weigh the whole thing and then later come back and weigh the peel

    If you've been tracking for ten days, just be patient and give the scale time to respond. Weight loss isn't always linear, and you may even see a slight increase when you start working out for the first time due to water retention for muscle repair. Fear not - if you're consuming less calories than you burn, a drop is coming :)

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