Working out too much and not eating enough?

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  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    edited March 2016
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    cavia wrote: »
    Question: Am I working out too much and eating too little?

    You're logging too little, too inaccurately and drinking/eating too much. You aren't doing yourself any favours not acknowledging this fact.

    And yes, recently I do have 1 cheat day/ week that consists of a few alcoholic drinks or a dinner when I am socializing with friends. But usually I get so sick I end up throwing it up that same night

    Yes I do weigh my foodthe majority of the time I am logging my alcohol Yes, I am logging my cheat meals 99% of the time. Even logging my alcohol intake I do not think they are large enough to be putting a dent I usually will go and grab a hamburger when we are headed home at 12am-1am

    I looked through your diary starting from January. I didn't see a single alcoholic drink or hamburger logged. Most of your weekends (Friday through Sunday) were unlogged. January had 13 unlogged days, February had 10 and March had 14 plus two days that looked incomplete to me.

    Your entries look very generic to me and I can count on one hand the entries that look like they were weighed. Jax's salad macros don't add up. For a salad with cheese and romaine in it there should be fat and carbs in addition to the 20g of protein. Another salad entry had zero macros listed for the calories. Your chicken is *always* 3oz or 4oz on the nose? You're that precise when you weigh it out each time?

    Use your food scale for *all* caloric solids. Save your measuring cups and tablespoons for caloric liquids only. Log everything every day. Do that and you should see the scale begin to move down again.


    This x1000. It is the only answer to this problem.

    As a sidenote, I too find it troubling that the OP is apparently vomiting every weekend.
  • sanfromny
    sanfromny Posts: 770 Member
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    jax_006 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    jax_006 wrote: »
    I_Will_End_You wrote: »
    How often do you weigh yourself?

    I try to do my official weigh in every 4 weeks, but I do sneak on the scale between those 4 week. I know I shouldn't and I probably will ditch doing that b/c it can be discouraging even though it's not always about the number. But for me it kind of is right now since I have gained weight the past 2 years. What would you suggest in terms of weighing yourself?

    I weigh every day and chart this in Excel. When I hit a new low I log this into MFP. Daily weighing helps me not be bothered by normal fluctuations.

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    What is the benefit of weighing yourself everyday? I feel like I would be discouraged not seeing the weight loss. :neutral:

    Not seeing weight loss? If you don't see the weight loss here then you are missing the big picture!
  • aquablue_1111
    aquablue_1111 Posts: 40 Member
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    I think a lot of people posted some very good info but I wanted to chime in on weighing yourself. I'm still really new to MFP and logging (2.5 months) and up until 2 weeks ago, I was weighing myself every day AND recording it. Hubby suggested I weigh myself every day but only record it once a week. He's been doing it that way and it's helped him see the trends better. (For him, he stays at a weight for 1-2 weeks then drops suddenly. Then it stays that way for another week or so then drops again. Now he knows that's how his body works and doesn't panic if he's staying within his deficit but stays at the same weight for awhile.


    Something else you might want to consider is measuring yourself once a week. I measure my waist and hips once a week.


    And I agree about cutting out the alcohol and testing to see if that is contributing to the stall. Before MFP, I already knew I was over-eating at dinnertime and when I'd go out to eat once a week. MFP has helped me to figure out exactly how bad it was. It was bad. I'm still getting a handle of eating out but b/c I log those cheat days, I have real numbers that I can go by. It's not fun seeing those spikes in calorie intake but without logging each day, I won't be able to make the most informed decision about my diet. I won't know what is sabotaging my weight loss.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,737 Member
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    jax_006 wrote: »
    maasha81 wrote: »
    Hi
    As long as you're weighing your food and logging everything accurately, you will eventually see a loss. You can also be retaining water from your workout especially if you're doing heavy lifting (you didn't give details on your strength training)

    I personally thing you're over estimating on cals burnt from your workout. A heart rate monitor is really only accurate for steady state cardio.

    Even for a Polar watch? I heard those are the most accurate and why I stuck with that instead of keeping the fitbit I returned. Good to know. Do you log your weight training. I just do simple strength training with my own body weight and dumbbells.

    Yes. I use a Polar watch & chest belt. Even at my heaviest (mid-180s), my 45-minute spin classes only gave me at most 400 calories, usually something in the high 300s . . . and I work hard: despite being fat I am/was an athlete (rower, including competitive rowing).

    As others have said, the watch is inaccurate for weight training. I use my Polar for cardio, and I do log my weight training (because it makes me hungrier, and I use the few calories for some extra protein), but I use MFP's estimates for weight training - they're small. (I get 160 calories for 60 minutes, weighing around 120 pounds.)

    But your biggest problem is your inaccurate logging, and overall unhealthy eating, including that "drink 'til you puke" stuff. There's no sugar-coating it. If you want to be healthy, find a way to drink less alcohol, log all your food/drink, and strive to get a healthful level of macronutrients and micronutrients every day.
  • dgobbett
    dgobbett Posts: 53 Member
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    I weigh myself daily, I track it once per week and keep a running average. I do this so that I can understand how my body works. If I am packing on 2lbs in a day I can look back at my sodium or my workout to determine why the water is being retained.

    For the longest time I was not losing on the scale at all and was losing inches in some places and gaining inches in others. If you are strength training you could be gaining muscle. I know some will say you cannot or will not gain a pound of muscle though newbie gains for a pound of fat but I can say from experience my first 3-4 months I was getting pretty close.

    Remember to both weigh and measure. If your waist measurements are going down you are losing fat. Too often people use the scale as the definitive guide to progress, don't do that. Use it as a tool in combination with measurements.

    Body re-composition is just as amazing as seeing the scale drop. Truthfully I don't track my exercise in MFP outside of my pedometer which auto calculates, because it is mis-information, over-estimating and it is a lull and does nothing for me but decrease willpower.

    My tips

    1) Measure (if you aren't already)

    The scale is easy but measurements is far better proof

    2) Don't put too much stock in the caloric burn of your routine, I see far too much over-estimation

    3) Make sure you are getting lots of sleep

    4) Vary up the routine

    I don't buy into the plateau theory that your body learns the motions. But keep challenging yourself I believe you mentioned you've ramped up exercise times but try upping the intensity, or making a more even split between cardio and strength training. Remember more lean muscle mass will increase TDEE. Cardio is great but when losing weight part of it is muscle, you lose muscle your TDEE drops. Keep your lean muscle mass up you will see the difference in the mirror if not on the scale.

  • MelissaLimeKiwi
    MelissaLimeKiwi Posts: 121 Member
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    geogirl0626 wrote: »
    I also weigh every day and use the Happy Scale app to log weight. I only record my weight on MFP when it's lower. I'm about your size, 5'2", 138 and I don't lose weight steadily. I usually go 2-3 weeks where the scale is up above my lowest weight. Then suddenly it will drop a bit for a few consecutive days.

    Also, I average 1400-1500 calories and I'm losing at a rate of a little over a half pound a week. I didn't want to cut right down to 1200 because then I'd have no where to go as I get closer to my goal of 120.

    Log everything accurately and be patient.

    This is the same for me: I weigh everyday and it's all over the place up and down and up again, but the trend is consistently downward. I use happy scale and it makes me happy. We're about the same size with a similar goal. I'll friend you.
  • jax_006
    jax_006 Posts: 87 Member
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    I_Will_End_You wrote: »
    "LC107 wrote: »
    Op, do you have acid reflux? Have you been to the doctor about getting sick like that after having a cheat day? That just sounds like there might be an underlying issue here, like acid reflux or something.


    I took it as the alcohol was making her throw up.

    Yes you are correct. I do not have acid reflux. It would be the alcohol.

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