Getting ready to fall off the wagon!!

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darcy1982
darcy1982 Posts: 52 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone! I feel like I have no progress, and maybe some inches but no weight! weighing on my brain! Can anyone take a look @ my diary and maybe give me some feedback? I'm doing what I feel that I can keep up with in the long run. Please be hard or easy as you want, I can take it. lol Thanks in advance
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Replies

  • Jessica5339
    Jessica5339 Posts: 1 Member
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    How do I view your diary? How long have you been tracking food and exercising?
  • KateTii
    KateTii Posts: 886 Member
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    You're using a lot of generic entries as well as cups for measurement. "1 roll" "1/2 cup cheese" "homemade fajitas"

    Get a food scale, weigh and log food and don't use generic entries - if you make spaghetti bolognaise for example, log each ingredient.
  • darcy1982
    darcy1982 Posts: 52 Member
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    Gotcha, I have been on MFP for awhile but haven't really figured everything out yet. Thanks, do you weigh each ingredient that you put into it? What if you are cooking for your family? I feel like I am confused by that. Sounds silly but its true
  • darcy1982
    darcy1982 Posts: 52 Member
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    Jessica5339 wrote: »
    How do I view your diary? How long have you been tracking food and exercising?

    Go to my name and click there and it will bring you to my page and click "view diary"
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    You need to use a food scale, your entries are either in cups or ounces. The spray, you use, has calories, not 0 calores

    How long have you been stuck?
  • darcy1982
    darcy1982 Posts: 52 Member
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    queenliz99 wrote: »
    You need to use a food scale, your entries are either in cups or ounces. The spray, you use, has calories, not 0 calores

    How long have you been stuck?

    About a good month, I watch a lot of youtube videos and saw a website Freedieting.com and it said i wasnt getting enought calories. I have upped my gym routine as well. I try to get at least a good 300 -400 cal burn.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/872212/youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1
  • kmfeig87
    kmfeig87 Posts: 1,990 Member
    edited March 2016
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    First of all, I hate that feeling of not getting anywhere! Hang in there, definitely have been there with you. I looked back to your February diary and it definitely looked like you were not eating enough calories then. I don't know what your HW is, but perhaps a middle goal would be better. Potentially 1300-1400 calories. You can go to MY HOME/GOALS and set your current weight (Offers to guide you thru), weight loss goal per week, activity level and it will give you what seems like a pretty reasonable calorie goal. I'm 5'5" and 188 lbs. I've been aiming for 1400 calories and don't generally eat back my exercise calories (much). Losing about 1-2 lbs a week, but I just started 5 weeks ago. Interestingly, MFP and the nutritionist were within about 50 calories of each other on recommendation. Best of luck. And....having just gotten a scale, I found that my measurements by volume had been pretty accurate :wink: Good luck. Feel free to look at my food diary.
    For cooking stuff at home, the recipe importer is a cool feature!
  • KateTii
    KateTii Posts: 886 Member
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    darcy1982 wrote: »
    Gotcha, I have been on MFP for awhile but haven't really figured everything out yet. Thanks, do you weigh each ingredient that you put into it? What if you are cooking for your family? I feel like I am confused by that. Sounds silly but its true

    I weigh everything except for spices (eg. rosemary or cinnamon) & 0 calorie soda.

    When cooking dinner for family, use the recipe builder. Add in your ingredients and then when it's cooked, weigh the finished dish and then mark that as the number of "servings". If it made 800g of dinner, it's 800 servings. Then, if you eat 200g of the finished product, you log 200 servings.
  • sky_northern
    sky_northern Posts: 119 Member
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    darcy1982 wrote: »
    Gotcha, I have been on MFP for awhile but haven't really figured everything out yet. Thanks, do you weigh each ingredient that you put into it? What if you are cooking for your family? I feel like I am confused by that. Sounds silly but its true
    Use the recipe builder, weight each ingredient you add to your dish.

    Then you can figure out each portion for the recipe a couple different ways. If it's something like lasagna I'll just try to cut into equal portions and recognize that it might not be exact. If it's something like Chili I will put another container on the scale, tare the scale and weight what the whole thing is. I'll usually divide that by 100 and use that as the number of serving in the recipe builder- than 100grams will be one serving. Then if I eat 140 grams I will add 1.4 servings to my diary. That is the more accurate method.

    Hope that makes sense.
  • darcy1982
    darcy1982 Posts: 52 Member
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    kmfeig87 wrote: »
    First of all, I hate that feeling of not getting anywhere! Hang in there, definitely have been there with you. I looked back to your February diary and it definitely looked like you were not eating enough calories then. I don't know what your HW is, but perhaps a middle goal would be better. Potentially 1300-1400 calories. You can go to MY HOME/GOALS and set your current weight (Offers to guide you thru), weight loss goal per week, activity level and it will give you what seems like a pretty reasonable calorie goal. I'm 5'5" and 188 lbs. I've been aiming for 1400 calories and don't generally eat back my exercise calories (much). Losing about 1-2 lbs a week, but I just started 5 weeks ago. Interestingly, MFP and the nutritionist were within about 50 calories of each other on recommendation. Best of luck. And....having just gotten a scale, I found that my measurements by volume had been pretty accurate :wink: Good luck. Feel free to look at my food diary.
    For cooking stuff at home, the recipe importer is a cool feature!

    Thanks for the motivation! I'm currently 210-211 ish and my gw is 150 for now but ultimately 130 and I'm 5'4.
  • darcy1982
    darcy1982 Posts: 52 Member
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    KateTii wrote: »
    darcy1982 wrote: »
    Gotcha, I have been on MFP for awhile but haven't really figured everything out yet. Thanks, do you weigh each ingredient that you put into it? What if you are cooking for your family? I feel like I am confused by that. Sounds silly but its true

    I weigh everything except for spices (eg. rosemary or cinnamon) & 0 calorie soda.

    When cooking dinner for family, use the recipe builder. Add in your ingredients and then when it's cooked, weigh the finished dish and then mark that as the number of "servings". If it made 800g of dinner, it's 800 servings. Then, if you eat 200g of the finished product, you log 200 servings.

    Thanks, yes it does make some sense to me. I will have to try that out! I want to make Turkey meatball spaghetti with some zoodles friday!
  • FABRICWOMAN
    FABRICWOMAN Posts: 539 Member
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    Hi Darcy - I looked over your food diary. I think you also need to include a column to include sodium. Often you will retain water (increased weight) by over eating in this component in your diet. Also, below I see that you are either not drinking water or just not recording it. This is VERY important. What goes in must come out. Water will help to flush your system. I wish you all the luck with your weight loss journey. YOU CAN DO IT! We (I include myself) did not gain our extra poundage overnight, and we will not loose it over night.
  • kmfeig87
    kmfeig87 Posts: 1,990 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Oops. Should have said that I'm 50.....and sit around way too much when I'm not actually exercising. So my 1300-1400 may be too low for you!
    P.S. Love your profile picture!
  • bendis2007
    bendis2007 Posts: 82 Member
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    Hi Darcy - try not to get discouraged! The fact that you are making active lifestyle changes is something to be proud of.
    I looked over your diary and I agree with everyone - you want a food scale. Measuring cups can be off: there's youtube videos detailing noticeable differences between "estimated serving size and the weight in grams". Case in point when I measure 28 grams of potato chips it is almost NEVER the "14 chips the recommend" - so sad.

    Make sure you log EVERYTHING. So when you listed the peppers and onions for the fajitas - did you only add fajita seasoning? Did you put oil in the pan first? add extra salt? A little bit of oil in a pan appears miniscule but it adds up.
    Most of your food looks pretty healthy - I would of course always advocate for more vegetables. I work pretty hard to get at least a serving of veggies at every meal. It's helped me, it may not be for everyone but I've lost about 32 pounds so far and part of that was leaner proteins and veggies with every single meal.

    Lastly, it doesn't look like you've been drinking water? or you haven't been logging it? I recommend adding in the cups of water you drink everyday.

    Weighing everything is annoying at first (also so sad when you see what a 28 grams of cheese really is) - and it can be a bit of a hassle because it requires pre-planning some of your meals. Now I can eyeball things a bit better, and I have a more efficient system for packing my breakfast, lunch, and snacks for a day. I think once you get the food scale and start weighing the food, incorporating more veggies and fruits to bulk up a meal with less calories, and make sure the water intake is up to snuff you will start to see some great improvements.

    Best of luck! Feel free to add me as a friend if you need extra motivation.
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
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    Agree with food scale. Also, how long have you been at this? Sometimes our bodies will hang on to weight for a couple weeks at a time before letting it go all at once. And if you just started out, your muscles will often start retaining water to repair themselves after you start a new exercise activity. That could easily mask weight loss on the scale.
  • darcy1982
    darcy1982 Posts: 52 Member
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    FABRICWOMAN wrote: »
    Hi Darcy - I looked over your food diary. I think you also need to include a column to include sodium. Often you will retain water (increased weight) by over eating in this component in your diet. Also, below I see that you are either not drinking water or just not recording it. This is VERY important. What goes in must come out. Water will help to flush your system. I wish you all the luck with your weight loss journey. YOU CAN DO IT! We (I include myself) did not gain our extra poundage overnight, and we will not loose it over night.

    Thank you! I do (try) to drink a gallon of water a day. I work at a busy Endodontic office and I have to sit for a straight hour or hour and a half and at first having to use the restroom frequently does not help. I always forget to log the water. Thank you so much for replying with your feedback, it is much appreciated
  • darcy1982
    darcy1982 Posts: 52 Member
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    kmfeig87 wrote: »
    Oops. Should have said that I'm 50.....and sit around way too much when I'm not actually exercising. So my 1300-1400 may be too low for you!
    P.S. Love your profile picture!
    kmfeig87 wrote: »
    Oops. Should have said that I'm 50.....and sit around way too much when I'm not actually exercising. So my 1300-1400 may be too low for you!
    P.S. Love your profile picture!

    I do as well sit around too much while not exercising! Dang it Pinterest and Youtube!!! Thank you again for the feedback you provided it is appreciated!
  • darcy1982
    darcy1982 Posts: 52 Member
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    bendis2007 wrote: »
    Hi Darcy - try not to get discouraged! The fact that you are making active lifestyle changes is something to be proud of.
    I looked over your diary and I agree with everyone - you want a food scale. Measuring cups can be off: there's youtube videos detailing noticeable differences between "estimated serving size and the weight in grams". Case in point when I measure 28 grams of potato chips it is almost NEVER the "14 chips the recommend" - so sad.

    Make sure you log EVERYTHING. So when you listed the peppers and onions for the fajitas - did you only add fajita seasoning? Did you put oil in the pan first? add extra salt? A little bit of oil in a pan appears miniscule but it adds up.
    Most of your food looks pretty healthy - I would of course always advocate for more vegetables. I work pretty hard to get at least a serving of veggies at every meal. It's helped me, it may not be for everyone but I've lost about 32 pounds so far and part of that was leaner proteins and veggies with every single meal.

    Lastly, it doesn't look like you've been drinking water? or you haven't been logging it? I recommend adding in the cups of water you drink everyday.

    Weighing everything is annoying at first (also so sad when you see what a 28 grams of cheese really is) - and it can be a bit of a hassle because it requires pre-planning some of your meals. Now I can eyeball things a bit better, and I have a more efficient system for packing my breakfast, lunch, and snacks for a day. I think once you get the food scale and start weighing the food, incorporating more veggies and fruits to bulk up a meal with less calories, and make sure the water intake is up to snuff you will start to see some great improvements.

    Best of luck! Feel free to add me as a friend if you need extra motivation.


    Thanks for your advice and motivation. I have been for the most part weighing things but didnt know that it should be in grams instead of ounces and whatnot! I have been "on" MFP on and off for a few years but never really i guess "did everything right" lol. I do try to drink water, I aim for a gallon each day. Thanks I will add you!
  • wheelsjad
    wheelsjad Posts: 52 Member
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    Do you only drink water other than the coffee at breakfast? No juice or milk?

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