Where am I going wrong?

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purplepollypops
purplepollypops Posts: 323 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Can someone please look at my food diary for the past week and tell me where I'm going wrong? (Apart from Tues, I was having an off day! lol)
I have lost 18lb since I started at the beginning of May which I am really pleased about but I feel like I'm stuck at the moment. I've read about zig zagging and I have attempted to do this but not sure if I'm doing it right :smile:
Another thing I've noticed people saying is to not eat the same foods every day. I eat salad everyday, sometimes twice a day and I also have fruit for breakfast most days. What foods should I stop or start eating?
I drink around 1-2 litres of water a day, although I usually add no added sugar squash to it to make it more interesting but never log the cals as they are minimal.
Thanks for your help :flowerforyou:
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Replies

  • morganadk2_deleted
    morganadk2_deleted Posts: 1,696 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficit


    This is just a part of it! please read the link above


    Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
    With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
    With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
    With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
    and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle tone, and reducing fat. This means is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode)


    Also this might be helpful http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/00trayn/view/how-to-bust-a-3-month-plateau-87677

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/153704-myth-or-fact-simple-math-3500-calories-one-pound-eat



    Good luck on your journey
  • leix
    leix Posts: 176
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    I'd say drink more water i knock back 4-5L a day
  • mleipe
    mleipe Posts: 54
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    Doesn't look like you're doing anything "wrong" per se; however, you might want to try:

    1) logging absolutely everything you consume
    2) drinking more water
    3) exercise, exercise, exercise!

    Good luck!
  • reese66
    reese66 Posts: 2,920 Member
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    Don't panic I lost quite rapidly at first now generally I lose .5 to 1lb every two weeks.
  • nikmaack
    nikmaack Posts: 28 Member
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    A big "cheat meal" on Tuesday might still tip the scale Thursday morning. One nutritionist whose podcast I listen to suggests not weighing yourself until 3 days after a cheat meal.

    She also encourages the occasional cheat meal, as it's another way of letting your body know that food is available and not to go into starvation mode.

    (Source: Ingredients for Life podcast.)

    Hope this helps!

    Nik
  • christinaincamo
    christinaincamo Posts: 13
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    In my opinion, too much sugar (fruit) and processed food. I think of fruit as dessert.

    You may want to pay more attention to your sugar and carb intake rather than fat. A low fat diet made me fatter and now I am working to replenish amino acids and nutrients. Loosing slowly but I feel so much better.

    Good luck!
  • sgtjv212
    sgtjv212 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hi there, I reviewed your log and the the few things that popped out was not enough exercise. 10 mins aint gonna do it!
    Also, with your protein intake being so high, you may want to incorparate weight training in to your routine. The protein will feed/become muscle and boost your matabalism and get you over your plateu.

    Some in a nut shell:
    1. More cardio.
    2. Weight training

    Have a great day!
    Joe V.
  • purplepollypops
    purplepollypops Posts: 323 Member
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    Hi there, I reviewed your log and the the few things that popped out was not enough exercise. 10 mins aint gonna do it!
    Also, with your protein intake being so high, you may want to incorparate weight training in to your routine. The protein will feed/become muscle and boost your matabalism and get you over your plateu.

    Some in a nut shell:
    1. More cardio.
    2. Weight training

    Have a great day!
    Joe V.

    Thanks for your observation. However I think you have only looked at today's exercise log. I have logged 10 mins of exercise bike that I did earlier, the day is not over yet, I plan to do more! Yesterday I did 65 mins, 80 the day before, 55 the day before and 70 the day before that. Granted they are not always in one go but I don't have the time to do a mammoth session everyday so just do 10-20 mins here and there where I can.
    Or is THAT where I'm going wrong? Should I be exercising once a day for longer rather than a few shorter sessions?
    :smile:
  • purplepollypops
    purplepollypops Posts: 323 Member
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    I'd say drink more water i knock back 4-5L a day

    I really can't drink that much, I'm weeing every 10 minutes as it is! lol
  • purplepollypops
    purplepollypops Posts: 323 Member
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    In my opinion, too much sugar (fruit) and processed food. I think of fruit as dessert.

    You may want to pay more attention to your sugar and carb intake rather than fat. A low fat diet made me fatter and now I am working to replenish amino acids and nutrients. Loosing slowly but I feel so much better.

    Good luck!


    Ok, I see that I am always going over my sugars but it's mainly through fruit. I thought fruit was good for you? lol
    What should I be eating instead?
  • purplepollypops
    purplepollypops Posts: 323 Member
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    Please can someone else take a look?
    Thanks
    Px
  • randisaucier
    randisaucier Posts: 178 Member
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    I think it has a lot to do with the type of foods you are eating. It appears that you have a sweat tooth (weight watchers deserts, Milky Way, etc). Try enjoying these foods a few times a month rather then on a daily/regular basis. Try a few weeks of better "clean eating" cutting out extra sugars, additives, sodium, preservatives and and see if the scale don't get moving for you again. 80% of weight loss is truly what we put into our bodies, we can't expect great results when we fuel our bodies with foods that are not good for us. It's not always about the calorie count, but what we choose to put into our bodies.

    Good luck!
  • Givemewings
    Givemewings Posts: 864 Member
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    Hi. It looks to me like you are eating too much processed sugar ( i.e. in chocolate bars) and fruit. Of course fruit is good for you, but it also contains sugar so you have to try and find a balance. And I know that you are supposed to drink lots of water ( actually somerthing I'm not that good at myself!). Finally, it's good to take calories from wholefoods and things like hummus, nut spreads and nuts are really good for you. Avocados too apparently. I'm no expert, but have learnt a lot reading posts on here over the last couple of weeks. Hope this helps a little. Good luck!
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    I would clean up your snack foods. As mentioned above, it all appears to be processed sugary junk with a hint of fruit at times. You may reach your calorie goal on a daily basis eating items such as these, but I bet you will firstly be healthier choosing something else and secondly on a path to turn your metabolism into a fat burning furnace if you choose whole foods and not processed stuff.
  • becka63
    becka63 Posts: 712 Member
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    First of all massive congratulations on losing 18lbs since May - that's an awesome achievement! Well done!

    I only looked at 2-3 days and although you're doing great on the fresh fruit and veg, for me, it is the choccy bars that are probably slowing down your weight loss!

    I tend to eat a lot of the same things each day - you're welcome to look at my diary as it's open, I'm a sucker for my morning porridge and normally have a cup a soup for lunch, but I do that for health reasons rather than weight loss / fitness reasons - my digestive system likes the whole soft food approach in a morning!

    Regarding water, I've read it on here and other places too, that you should aim to drink half your weight in ozs. So if I weigh 140lbs, I should be drinking 70oz of water each day, which is about 9 glasses on MFP measurements!

    I'm afraid I don't know enough about zig-zagging calories to help here, however one of my friends here does it and she logs it as an exercise rather than changing her goals. I think she gives herself an extra 200 calories for this.

    Hope that's been of help. Please don't lose sight of what you've achieved so far - you're doing amazing!
  • pixieofdoom
    pixieofdoom Posts: 356 Member
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    Definitely many congratulations on your loss so far, that's great! I have every sympathy on your love of curly wurlys, they are the best. I really would try and limit the sweet things to once a day though (not fruit though in my opinion, I haven't found limiting that made a huge difference and I think the benefits outweigh the sugar but I'm aware many wouldn't agree).

    What I tend to do and I don't think for a second that it would work for everyone, is stay pretty strict through the week (no alcohol, little or no chocolate, no crisps and well within my calorie, sugar, carb and fat limits) and then relax a bit at the weekend. If I go mad at the weekend I will gain a little but as long as it's not wall to wall pizza, wine and crisps it generally doesn't seem to be too bad. I really appreciate my glass of wine on a Friday night too *g*

    I also get those graze boxes - I think you had them on there. I only get a box every two weeks as they're a bit pricey for me but I find that if I have a little out of each punnet when I want a snack, it tends to work quite quickly at getting rid of the craving as I get variety. I did just have a whole punnet for breakfast this morning though as I was too lazy to make something before work!

    The other thing that really helped me when I last got stuck was adding some variety to my exercise programme. I think that made more of a difference that changing the intensity or duration. I bought a weighted hula hoop and did some skipping and jumping jacks on alternate nights. I also have a go at exercise dvd's every so often, more to just shake it up than anything else.

    I'm sure there are lots of people with a lot more expertise than I have but you seem to be stuck about the same point that I was stuck at a few weeks ago so hopefully some of the things that helped me will give you some ideas

    Best of luck!
  • hbrekkaas
    hbrekkaas Posts: 268 Member
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    I would clean up your snack foods. As mentioned above, it all appears to be processed sugary junk with a hint of fruit at times. You may reach your calorie goal on a daily basis eating items such as these, but I bet you will firstly be healthier choosing something else and secondly on a path to turn your metabolism into a fat burning furnace if you choose whole foods and not processed stuff.

    I agree. There is quite a bit of "junk" foods in your diary. I know for me personally, I can eat salad all day so I can have chips after dinner, stay within my calorie goal but the scale won't move. The only thing that works is to cut the crap out all together, or only have it once in awhle, not all the time. Its not just the calories, what you put into your body matters too.
  • sgtjv212
    sgtjv212 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hi there, short burst of cardio won't get it done. While doing something/anything is great, you will see profound results with a longer period of exercise. Minimum of 20 mins. Anything over 30 is better.
    Good Luck.
    Joe V.
  • ljbhill
    ljbhill Posts: 276 Member
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    Hmmmm... it's different for everyone. I know with me, that I need to have protein with every meal if I can and that limiting my carbs at dinner time has helped me shed weight.

    If you can do sustained exercise for over 20 minutes (like a 35-45 minute walk) that would be beneficial too. I remember reading an article that explained exercising over a sustained period of 20 minutes meant that your body worked harder. A rule of thumb for me is that if I want a quick workout than it has to be intense like a run, but if I went to be more relaxed like going for a walk, I have to do it for a longer period of time.


    Good luck!
  • ShellGetsFit
    ShellGetsFit Posts: 604 Member
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    I have to agree with a lot of previous responses. You seem to have a lot of junk food logged. Instead of eating chocolate bars and chips, try to have some veggies or even fruit (it's a better sugar than chocolate). If you want to have some chocolate try getting the 80% dark chocolate and have just one square. It takes self-control (a LOT of it) but if you're going to make a life change you have to start by changing the way you eat. Processed foods should be at a minimum, that includes the pre-packaged (advertised to be healthy) meals. It's best to spend some time and make extra of your homemade meals and freeze them. You know what goes into these meals and can mek them healthy and with whole foods. Drink LOTS of water, at least the recommended 8 a day. Fiber can really help too, find the foods that are rich in fiber and drink the water! I have to pee lots of times in a day too but it's worth it to cleanse out all the crud that doesn't need to be in my body!
    Big congrats on losing the 18lbs already! Keep at it, make some changes to your diet, drink water and get your exercise everyday! Everything will come together and you'll be looking back one day saying, "That wasn't so bad and now I feel amazing!!"

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