Gaining on clean eating!!

Hi there,

So, I'm a 32 year old (now) 261 pound woman. I started eating 100% clean. Cut all processed foods to the point that I even bake my own whole wheat bread. I'm eating plenty of fruits and veggies and only organic dairy and meats. I follow the 100 days of real food recipes and have been doing this for 30 days. I eat only 1390 calories a day, and document every tiny ingredient and EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth...even a bite of an apple. I work out 3-4 times a week on the stationary bike for 45 min. I drink about a gallon of water a day. Now, can someone PLEASE tell me why my clothes don't fit and how I went from 248 to 260 in a month!? I am so incredibly discouraged, since I've been so exact with my diet and exercise.
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Replies

  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Are you using a food scale?
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    Yes! I measure everything and weigh meats and cheeses or anything I may question.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
    edited January 2016
    what @auddii said
    Also, I can't view your diary, but how are you logging your exercise calories? And are you "eating back" your exercise cals?

    eta: nevermind, I see auddii's handy-dandy chart covered that too
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    Nope, I use the withings fitness tracker which is hooked up to my fitness pal. I decided to not use my exercise calories. Maybe I should?
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    I can't see any chart from @auddii?
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Gingychild wrote: »
    I can't see any chart from @auddii?

    If you're using the app on your phone, images are broken; try accessing the website through a Web browser.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Do you want to open your diary? It could help if we can see it.
  • Marilyn0924
    Marilyn0924 Posts: 797 Member
    Gingychild wrote: »
    Yes! I measure everything and weigh meats and cheeses or anything I may question.

    If this means you only weigh certain food items and not all solid foods, that could be problematic.
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
    The flow chart is spot on. It's a matter of checking and double checking what you are doing until you figure out where you are counting your calorie intake or burn wrong. Just make sure that if you do need to start reducing your calorie intake that you do it slowly and incrementally. Don't rush it.
  • lisaipri
    lisaipri Posts: 9 Member
    What types of foods were you eating B4? Maybe they contained less calories than you are eating now? Did you exercise B4 also? It really doesn't make sense and that is a lot to gain in a month.
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
    If you are gaining, and it's been more than a few weeks, you're eating more than you think. Be sure to weigh out everything, not just use measuring cups for solids.
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    Hey guys, I weigh everything. The only things I don't are whole fruits and pre measured items. But I really don't know what else I could be weighing incorrectly. Even my husband is baffled as he sees my efforts. I'm making an appointment with my Dr, but this isn't right. I've lost weight before through Weight Watchers, almost 80 pounds. I think maybe it could be the food??? I certainly hope not because I love this way of eating. My husband lost weight (even though he didnt need to) on everything I've prepared. There is something I'm doing wrong here...what the HECK is it!?
  • Perhaps you could allow access to your diary so we could take look for anything obvious?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Gingychild wrote: »
    Hey guys, I weigh everything. The only things I don't are whole fruits and pre measured items. But I really don't know what else I could be weighing incorrectly. Even my husband is baffled as he sees my efforts. I'm making an appointment with my Dr, but this isn't right. I've lost weight before through Weight Watchers, almost 80 pounds. I think maybe it could be the food??? I certainly hope not because I love this way of eating. My husband lost weight (even though he didnt need to) on everything I've prepared. There is something I'm doing wrong here...what the HECK is it!?

    I mean...you should weigh fruits, and try measuring prepared items as well because they can be off. But yeah. You're missing something. Getting a check up isn't a bad idea either.
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    @SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage don't really feel comfortable opening it publicly. But maybe I can take screen shots??? Let me give it a try.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Gingychild wrote: »
    @SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage don't really feel comfortable opening it publicly. But maybe I can take screen shots??? Let me give it a try.

    You could also open it for 10 minutes, just enough for a few of us to have a peek.

    You should weigh fruit, and try weighing pre-packaged items as they tend to be off.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    This is my really general advice for these sorts of things. I know we've already covered some of the steps, but maybe some of the others will help:


    1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

    2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

    3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

    4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

    5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

    6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

    7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

    8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

    9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    how do I open my diary...then close it? I've never done that.
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    @diannethegeek thanks. It's been since Jan 4th or 5th (new years resolution). Maybe I do just need more time.
  • CoffeeNCardio
    CoffeeNCardio Posts: 1,847 Member
    Gingychild wrote: »
    how do I open my diary...then close it? I've never done that.

    You go to settings, diary settings, change it to public in the little drop down. Then you give people a few minutes to look and see if they can locate the issue, then rinse and repeat except pick private in the drop down. That's desktop version. In the app, you go to settings, diary settings, down to the bottom where it says "Diary Sharing", and set that to public for a bit.

    This is not about shaming your food choices. People genuinely want to help you identify and address the error so you're not doing all this work for nothing. We know how that feels. We'd like to spare you. If you're worried about getting shamed, that's only cause you haven't been lingering long enough to see the god-like wrath that falls upon those who engage in that behavior on here. For proof, have a look at any thread shaming sugar intake anywhere on here, ever.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Gingychild wrote: »
    how do I open my diary...then close it? I've never done that.

    You can change your diary settings by going to Settings > Diary Settings and then you can toggle it from private to public. When you're ready to hide it again just go in and toggle it back to private.

  • katiely95
    katiely95 Posts: 63 Member
    Just go to settings and open it. I'd love to help out, too, honestly.
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    Hmmm...think I opened it?? Not sure. Anyways...most of the meals you see on there are my own recipes entered. So I don't think you can see every ingredient... unless it allows you to click on them? Also, I never log water...but that is because I have my gallon bottle here that I just make sure to drink everyday. Other than that...if you have any questions let's me know and I can break it down for you.
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    or maybe you can break it down for me..lol!!
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    I see a lot of 1/4 cup, 1tbls, 1 slice etc entries. Are your weighing these as well, or actually using a measuring cup? If using the measuring cup you are likely underestimating how much you are actually eating.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Weighing the oats? And peanut butter? I know you said you weren't weighing fruit (you should), as well as vegetables. Are you accounting for cooking oil when you create your recipes?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Fruit spread and honey should be weighed, if not already.
  • Gingychild
    Gingychild Posts: 23 Member
    I use measuring cups, measuring spoons and the food scale. The one slice thing maybe for the bread?
  • Marilyn0924
    Marilyn0924 Posts: 797 Member
    How are you measuring out your portions for the recipes? Are you weighing all ingredients while cooking and the re-weighing the finished product? Items like cheese, fruit, nutbutters should be weighed and not measured by spoon/cups etc as it is highly inaccurate and can make a huge difference.