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feeling really defeated :(

bmw4deb
bmw4deb Posts: 1,324 Member
edited September 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I keep bouncing back and forth between 1-2 lbs
normally i eat right and exercise daily however the last
day or two has not been the greatest (although i stayed under calorie)
Can you please look at my food diary and help me out?
I know there is way to much snacky stuff the last couple days
but please look beyond those days and HELP please.

Replies

  • jipper44
    jipper44 Posts: 111
    First of all, you've lost 28 lbs! THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!

    While I wouldn't define 1-2 days as a "plateau", it might be time to change up the exercise routine a little bit and maybe tweat your diet a little bit. There are plenty of threads on here on carb/fat/protein intake to learn a lot from. As your body changes, its needs change too. Try something new, you might find a new favorite way to exercise or a new recipe to fall in love with :)
  • marji4x
    marji4x Posts: 144 Member
    I can't be 100% sure, but you might want to check that you are eating enough. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but if you eat too far under your calorie needs for the day, your body might start plateauing if it things it's starving - it tries to conserve resources.

    If you want more info on this, I highly recommend http://fat2fitradio.com/

    These guys have some legit ideas and I've been following their methods and have lost 10 lbs so far, so something is sticking! It's not fast weight loss but it's steady and it keeps going down.

    Just to give you an idea, my own caloric intake is about 1750 a day....that's what I can eat BEFORE exercise in order to maintain. I tend to burn about 2500-2700 calories a day because I walk to work and I am doing a DVD workout....so I can actually eat 2000-2200 calories a day and still lose about a lb a week. I'm 5'2" and 30 so I plugged my stats into their BMR calculator and used that as a guide to how much I can eat. I also use a calorie tracker (fitbit) to see how many calories I am burning each day....if I don't hit the 2500 mark, I eat a little less, and so on....but I usually eat close to the 2000 calorie mark.

    It looks like you are eating very healthy foods, just maybe you need a little more of them :D

    Good luck!
  • bmw4deb
    bmw4deb Posts: 1,324 Member
    I can't be 100% sure, but you might want to check that you are eating enough. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but if you eat too far under your calorie needs for the day, your body might start plateauing if it things it's starving - it tries to conserve resources.

    If you want more info on this, I highly recommend http://fat2fitradio.com/

    These guys have some legit ideas and I've been following their methods and have lost 10 lbs so far, so something is sticking! It's not fast weight loss but it's steady and it keeps going down.

    Just to give you an idea, my own caloric intake is about 1750 a day....that's what I can eat BEFORE exercise in order to maintain. I tend to burn about 2500-2700 calories a day because I walk to work and I am doing a DVD workout....so I can actually eat 2000-2200 calories a day and still lose about a lb a week. I'm 5'2" and 30 so I plugged my stats into their BMR calculator and used that as a guide to how much I can eat. I also use a calorie tracker (fitbit) to see how many calories I am burning each day....if I don't hit the 2500 mark, I eat a little less, and so on....but I usually eat close to the 2000 calorie mark.

    It looks like you are eating very healthy foods, just maybe you need a little more of them :D

    Good luck!

    Thank you......I have thought of that but it seems I eat so much already ,maybe i need to add
    some higher calorie foods. The BMR has me at 1200 calories a day, tomorrow is weigh-in
    day maybe friday I should up my calories to 1500per day for a week, what do you think?
  • MsElphaba
    MsElphaba Posts: 432 Member
    Just looked at your diary and here is my input.
    1. You are leaving a lot of calories uneaten, especially on the days when you seem to have the bigger workouts. There is a day or two where you ate under a 1000 calories. I think your 1500 daily is good, but eat more of your work out calories. I have an allowance of 1450 and will eat most of my workout calories back, up to about 1800-2000.
    2. Protein. You need more. I know it looks like you are eating enough, but with some of those bigger workouts, you may need to go in and tweek the percentages a bit. I took a tip to change mine to 40%. There are some days I have a hard time meeting it, but it did seem to break a plateau.
    3. Carbs. When you change protein to 40%, change carbs to 30%. I see you have that light bread at almost every meal. Cut back on that. I also notice a fruit salad from time to time that is not showing anything but calories. Might need to check sources on that. Fruit most definitely had carbs and sugar in it.
    4. I don't know how tall you are, but I am 5'5" and I was just a few pounds lighter than you when I started this and you are 17 pounds lighter than me right now. Why is your goal 120? Your body may have just found it's "happy place." Might have to sit back and re examine your goals.

    Good luck!

    L
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    Are you measuring everything you eat? Or are you guessing/estimating? I did that for a long time, and really sabotaged my weight loss, because once I started weighing/measuring the weight loss started again. Also, I wasn't burning nearly what MFP said I was in my exercises, apparently, I'm pretty efficient :laugh: . So I use a Fitbit and weigh/measure/log everything, and am losing 1 pound per week on average.

    Be more precise and see what happens?

    Also, be patient. I've gone from 2-6 weeks without losing, then BAM!! I'll lose a couple pounds all at once. Just keep going and trust that if you are eating at a deficit (see first paragraph), then you WILL lose weight.
  • bmw4deb
    bmw4deb Posts: 1,324 Member
    Just looked at your diary and here is my input.
    1. You are leaving a lot of calories uneaten, especially on the days when you seem to have the bigger workouts. There is a day or two where you ate under a 1000 calories. I think your 1500 daily is good, but eat more of your work out calories. I have an allowance of 1450 and will eat most of my workout calories back, up to about 1800-2000.
    2. Protein. You need more. I know it looks like you are eating enough, but with some of those bigger workouts, you may need to go in and tweek the percentages a bit. I took a tip to change mine to 40%. There are some days I have a hard time meeting it, but it did seem to break a plateau.
    3. Carbs. When you change protein to 40%, change carbs to 30%. I see you have that light bread at almost every meal. Cut back on that. I also notice a fruit salad from time to time that is not showing anything but calories. Might need to check sources on that. Fruit most definitely had carbs and sugar in it.
    4. I don't know how tall you are, but I am 5'5" and I was just a few pounds lighter than you when I started this and you are 17 pounds lighter than me right now. Why is your goal 120? Your body may have just found it's "happy place." Might have to sit back and re examine your goals.

    Good luck!

    L

    Some days when I have lots of calories left I look back and see I have eaten a lot of food
    maybe i need to up some of the higher calorie foods?

    I eat a lot of protein I go way over every day I will go in and adjust the protein % and carb

    I didn't realize I eat a lot of bread but i see what you mean with the sandwich thins
    and lite wheat bread, need to check the fruit salad I just choose from the stored info
    ops! will watch that one as well.

    I chose the goal of 120 because i'm 5'1" and it is at the high end of my weight scale
    I'm still not in a healthy BMI
  • wedjul05
    wedjul05 Posts: 472
    I too thought you eat a fair bit of bread. Try cutting this back. I rarely eat bread now and if I do, it's usually brown, wholegrain bread or I make my own.

    I increased my calories from 1200 a day to roughly 1300-1500 depending. I exercise 4/5 times a week. I am not as hungry and therefore less likely to snack on bad things.

    You've done brilliant so far. I lost 20lbs no problem. THe more stuck on fat is harder to lose, it's then time to change your fitness regime/really focus on diet. As someone once said to me, weight loss is 90% diet and 10% exercise. It's so true.
  • bmw4deb
    bmw4deb Posts: 1,324 Member
    I do weigh and measure everything pre-pack my breakfast,snacks
    and lunch to take to work, I use a HRM your right the calorie burn on
    mfp is way off! I'm diffidently going to up my calories to 1400-1500
    for a week to see if it helps.

    I usually exercise every evening I change up from zumba to swimming
    to dvd's do you think it would help if I tried to add some early morning
    exercise say 5:30 am for 15-20 minutes? treadmill, dvd ? I know i cannot fit
    much more than 15-20 minutes in that early.
  • lapamperedchef
    lapamperedchef Posts: 61
    PLEASE READ!!! http://everydaypaleo.com/2011/06/22/attention-scale-addicts-part-2/
  • marji4x
    marji4x Posts: 144 Member
    The guys on fat2fit always say 1200 is not a good caloric intake for anyone above 95 lbs ;)

    It seems to be a cultural thing to eat 1200 calories to lose weight, it's what most calorie apps, etc recommend, but it's not healthy for most people.

    I use MFP to track my foods when I need to (I've been doing it long enough now that most days I can guesstimate but I come back once in a while to make sure I am on track.)

    But I use fat2fitradio's BMR calculator to determine what my caloric intake should be, then tweak my MFP settings to match that.

    I think my BMR on there was something like 1450 (meaning that's how much my body would burn not moving all day...like if I was in a coma). It then adds in how much I would burn from daily activity and that's where I get the 1750-ish number from. I then add in what I burn from exercise (about 250-300 calories each way walking to and from work) + my DVD workout (about another 200-300) and by the end of all this I burn about 2500-2700 calories.

    So if I were to eat only 1200 calories a day I'd be severely depriving my body. Even if I was in a coma, I'd be eating under my calorie needs! The way I'm exercising now, 1500 is not enough food for me, personally.

    This is a lot of numbers and they're my numbers, not yours....but I hope they give you some frame of reference :D

    You should try to figure out how many calories you're burning each day and then see how much you can eat based on that.

    For example, when I burn 2500, I eat 2000 which means I have a deficit of 500. At the end of that week, it's a total of 3500 calories burned, which equals 1 lb. Hooray!

    I hope this isn't too confusing :D
  • marji4x
    marji4x Posts: 144 Member
    also, since your body is possibly in starvation-mode and sucking in everything it can, don't be surprised if you go up a little when you up your calories. But if you keep it up you'll soon start losing again :)
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