Weight Loss Frustration

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oitsjulie
oitsjulie Posts: 21 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Everyone! I've been trying to lose weight for about 6 months now, with no success. Any suggestions are welcomed...

Here's some background info:

I'm 5'7 and weight about 175. I've tried different methods since I've started. About 2 years ago I lost 50lbs doing low carb so I started out with that. I tracked my carbs to stay under 25-50 carbs/day. I did that for about 3 months and lost 5 pounds.

After it seemed like I hit a plateau with that I started doing some research and saw that most recommend a low calorie/calorie deficit approach. I bought a kitchen sale and lowered my calories to be between 1200-1300 cals/day and tracked everything. I also started going to the gym at least 3 times/week doing cardio and weight lifting. About a month and a half in I still hadn't seen any results so I hired a nutritionist/fitness coach to help out. She said that I wasn't consuming enough calories and needed to eat more. She made up a meal plan that I've been on for about a month and a half. I also increased my gym days to 5x/week when I started the meal plan. Since then I've gained weight back.

You can check out my diary, it should be set to public. I don't log every day since I'm on the meal plan - I eat very similar things everyday. On days I go to the gym I eat a higher carb diet, about 1800-1900cals before exercise. On the two days I don't go to the gym it's lower carb, about 1500cal - I've been carb cycling.

Am I eating too much now? Should I go back to lower calories? Could someone let me know what they think a good calorie deficit for me would be? I use calculators and they always seem to give different answers. Using https://www.fitwatch.com/calculator/calorie-deficit it says I should consume 1700cal for aggressive weight loss but http://ratfactor.com/fat-loss-calculator says 1400cal.

Thanks in advance!
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Replies

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    Good on you for having your diary open. Are you using a digital scale to weigh each item you consume? It truly is essential. Are you doing any exercise? The first impression I got from looking at your 'today' is that you went over your calorie budget on breakfast and lunch. If you are going to have a dinner or some snacks, you're going to be eliminating most or all of your calorie deficit for today. From that, I suggest that you reduce the calories consumed in breakfast and lunch to something closer to 33% of your budget. My work situation uniquely allows me to have 2 big meals for breakfast and dinner and a tiny meal for lunch, which is where my calorie deficit is created each day.
  • Acey1989
    Acey1989 Posts: 1 Member
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    I have done similar things, by raising my cal levels because I need "energy" for the gym, my weight went up again. So I went back to a low-carb, 1200cal diet and kept the exercise the same. Drank plenty of water, made little changes too like taking the stairs, walking instead of taking the car, etc. I also only worked out every other day (muscles need time to repair) and yup, I've lost just over 3st (42lbs) this year so far :D

    I seldom use this site, but I'm getting into it again (btw). Good luck!
  • oitsjulie
    oitsjulie Posts: 21 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I do use a digital scale and weigh out my portions. I exercise 5 days/week at the gym doing a combo of cardio + weight lifting. The calorie goal I have it set to on MFP isn't really accurate since I'm following the nutritionist's meal plan, I just use it as a guide. I have a feeling I'm consuming too many calories, although before I was eating a lot less calories without results then either. I figured if anyone could help me it would be a nutritionist...

    I've been reading some great articles on here about calculating TDEE and setting the right calorie deficits but a lot of it seems confusing and, frankly, a little overwhelming!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    oitsjulie wrote: »
    I do use a digital scale and weigh out my portions. I exercise 5 days/week at the gym doing a combo of cardio + weight lifting. The calorie goal I have it set to on MFP isn't really accurate since I'm following the nutritionist's meal plan, I just use it as a guide. I have a feeling I'm consuming too many calories, although before I was eating a lot less calories without results then either. I figured if anyone could help me it would be a nutritionist...

    I've been reading some great articles on here about calculating TDEE and setting the right calorie deficits but a lot of it seems confusing and, frankly, a little overwhelming!

    When you have things listed in cups/tablespoons, does that mean you weighed it out and then chose the cup/tablespoon measurement from the database?
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
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    I'd drop the calories a bit and see if that works. I don't think I'd lose on 1800-1900, im 5'4", 145, so you can probably eat more than me, but I would lower just a bit, not all the way to 1200, and diligently log everything for 3-4 weeks and see if that makes a difference.
  • oitsjulie
    oitsjulie Posts: 21 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    When you have things listed in cups/tablespoons, does that mean you weighed it out and then chose the cup/tablespoon measurement from the database?

    Yes, or sometimes I google the conversion. For example, if I only see how to log it in oz. but I measured it with a cup
  • oitsjulie
    oitsjulie Posts: 21 Member
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    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    In the past week, you haven't logged 5 days. You didn't log the weekend before that. You are going over your calorie allotment when you do log.

    You are eating too many calories. Start logging everything. Weigh everything on a digital food scale, and enter it all into your food diary. You need to get serious about logging your food for this to work.

    I agree with you! Like I said before, I currently don't have a calorie intake goal -- I'm going by what my nutritionist has planned out for me. I have one meal plan for gym days and one meal plan for non gym days. I meal prep so I eat the same things every day. I haven't really had a reason to log everything since I'm following what someone has recommended and I don't deviate.

    I'm a little confused on how to set good calorie/macro goals for myself. I feel like I've tried the calorie deficit thing in the past but maybe wasn't calculating things correctly... Anyone up for giving me suggestions with that?
  • oitsjulie
    oitsjulie Posts: 21 Member
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    DaniCanadian wrote: »
    Don't use measuring cups or spoons for anything except liquids. Use grams for everything else, even condiments, peanut butter, olive oil, all that. It's very easy to have small underestimation a that quickly add up to negating any deficit you're trying to create. And definitely weigh and log every time you eat something even if you eat if frequently.

    How should I be measuring those things?
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    oitsjulie wrote: »
    DaniCanadian wrote: »
    Don't use measuring cups or spoons for anything except liquids. Use grams for everything else, even condiments, peanut butter, olive oil, all that. It's very easy to have small underestimation a that quickly add up to negating any deficit you're trying to create. And definitely weigh and log every time you eat something even if you eat if frequently.

    How should I be measuring those things?

    With grams on your scale :)
  • DaniCanadian
    DaniCanadian Posts: 261 Member
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    oitsjulie wrote: »
    DaniCanadian wrote: »
    Don't use measuring cups or spoons for anything except liquids. Use grams for everything else, even condiments, peanut butter, olive oil, all that. It's very easy to have small underestimation a that quickly add up to negating any deficit you're trying to create. And definitely weigh and log every time you eat something even if you eat if frequently.

    How should I be measuring those things?

    Put the cups or your plate on the digital scale, zero it out then pour or put whatever food item it is on there and weigh each thing seperate.
    Ex: I put my plate on my digital scale and zero it. Then I put on the toast and get its weight in grams, then zero again. Then I put the peanut butter on and get that weight.
    Before I got my scale I was logging 1 tbsp of peanut butter every morning for breakfast. When I started using my scale to weigh it, it was actually 3 and a half tbsp. That's a 225 cal difference just in that one food item alone. I wasn't losing cause I wasn't eating the deficit I thought I was. Once I started using my scale consistently, I dropped the weight and kept it off.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    oitsjulie wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    When you have things listed in cups/tablespoons, does that mean you weighed it out and then chose the cup/tablespoon measurement from the database?

    Yes, or sometimes I google the conversion. For example, if I only see how to log it in oz. but I measured it with a cup

    If you're measuring it with a cup, you can't be sure that you are logging the correct number of ounces. The two aren't interchangable. I would begin logging every day, making sure you hit your calorie goal, and stop using cups/tablespoons.
  • oitsjulie
    oitsjulie Posts: 21 Member
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    Okay... so I'm still using the cup/spoon to put the food in but using the scale to get the exact weight?
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    oitsjulie wrote: »
    Okay... so I'm still using the cup/spoon to put the food in but using the scale to get the exact weight?

    You could, but that would give you unnecessary dishes! Just use the serving plate that you plan to eat off of. Put your item on the scale and log that amount here. No tablespoons, cups, etc necessary at all. If you have another item to add, press the tare button (it brings it back to zero with your plate still on it) and add the next item. Log that here in grams. Make sense?
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited June 2016
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    oitsjulie wrote: »
    Okay... so I'm still using the cup/spoon to put the food in but using the scale to get the exact weight?
    No, you don't need to use the cup/spoon at all except for liquids that don't have grams listed in the nutritional information.

    As stated above, you can put your plate on the scale, tare (zero) it out, put the first food for your meal on the plate to get the weight for that food, tare it out again, and repeat until you've weighed all of the food in your meal on the plate.

    For peanut butter and olive oil and things like that, I put the jar on the scale, tare it out, remove the amount that I want, then put the jar back on the scale. You'll get a negative number showing how many grams you've removed from the jar.
  • oitsjulie
    oitsjulie Posts: 21 Member
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    Oh! Yes! Never thought about it that way. Thank you!!
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    Also, when I cook a dish, I usually put my pot on the scale just to weigh the oil/butter, then I use one bowl to weigh each ingredient to add to the pot.
  • oitsjulie
    oitsjulie Posts: 21 Member
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    How do you guys log meals you don't cook yourself? Like, if I were to go to a Chinese or Indian restaurant
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    oitsjulie wrote: »
    How do you guys log meals you don't cook yourself? Like, if I were to go to a Chinese or Indian restaurant

    Guesstimate as best i can.

    Why don't you input all of your details into MFP and eat the calories it gives you?

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