Looking for advice and help

You didn't say anything about how many calories you consume, and how many calories you burn.

kay_bear52 wrote: »

rosebarnalice wrote: »

You didn't say anything about how many calories you consume, and how many calories you burn.

Sorry about that. I shoot for 1200 a day

You shoot for 1200 a day but you aren't consistent, don't weigh your food and consequently you are not in a calorie deficit.

Set MFP correctly and then eat to the calorie goal by weighing everything you eat/drink that has calories.

Get tighter & consistent with your logging and maybe need to eat MORE than 1200 calories- I know this might sound weird but I know a couple of women personally who shoot for too low calorie intakes and are overweight because they usually eat too little but occasionally eat way too much- so basically flip flop between being in starvation mode and then packing on fat every time they over eat.

I know some people will say "there's no such thing as starvation mode" but I mean I think they're lowering their BMR/metabolism by consistently under eating and then occasionally bingeing or eating high calorie when they go out to eat which immediately gets stored as fat.

Try a higher calorie intake that is appropriate for your weight and activity level- I like to calculate my TDEE and then subtract 300 calories from that and set that as my daily calorie goal. I include exercise in my calculations to get the TDEE number so I don't eat back any exercise calories. OR you can just enter your stats into myfitnesspal and use the number they give you and do eat back exercise calories- but make sure you pick a loss rate of 1/2 pound or 1 pound per week at the most and no more.

If you give me your height and weight and daily activity level not counting exercise plus tell us how long you do weights and cardio for on those 3 days of exercise per week I could calculate your calories for you if you want, but I'm guessing you probably need to be in the 1500/1600 calorie range at least.

Also your macronutrients ratios matter too- how much protein, carbohydrates, and fat you get. Also sugar and fiber is kind of important. You're not going to know your levels on these unless you track everything and track accurately. You need to get enough protein and enough fiber at the very least, it's very important!

It was a total game changer for me when I started tracking calories and eating less than my TDEE but more than my BMR and making sure to get enough protein every day. I worked out regularly and are healthy & clean for 9 months straight without losing ANY WEIGHT. Then as soon as I started tracking I started losing weight immediately and am down over 10 pounds in 3 months, most of which is actual body fat loss not just water weight and very little muscle loss! You really do need to track (not just journal) if you want to see results.

Also I would quit the alcohol 100% until you lose the extra weight. Or at least save it for special occasions only, and even then keep it to only 1 or 2 drinks. Alcohol makes me bloated and if you combine alcohol with excess calories those will go straight to fat storage instead of being burned for energy because of the effects that alcohol has on the way the body metabolizes alcohol and fat.

You're almost there, you just need to make a couple of small changes and you could easily lose the weight. Do yourself the favor of measuring, weighing, and logging all your food. Use a digital food scale for accuracy. You can do this!

Whole 30 is just clean eating. At most this will help you drop excess sodium weight and improve your health but not necessarily help you lose body fat because that has to do with calorie intake.

Just saw that you at 5'1" so you may indeed need to eat in the 1200/1300 calories range but may just be actually eating more than that due to not tracking in a calorie counter.

And again I must stress the importance of getting enough protein- do you know how many grams you get per day currently?

kay_bear52 wrote: »

I'm not great with logging here but i do keep a journal
.

If you want to lose the weight you'll probably have to be better at logging. Without tracking you have no idea how many calories you're really eating.

I just got back from my Dr. She said 1200 calories is too low. She said bump up to 1500 your body is hanging onto everything with 1200. 5'4" 216 stuck in a rut too

evarochelle wrote: »

I just got back from my Dr. She said 1200 calories is too low. She said bump up to 1500 your body is hanging onto everything with 1200. 5'4" 216 stuck in a rut too

That's not how the body works though. You'll lose weight in a calorie deficit -- your body doesn't "hang on" to weight when you eat too little. If you aren't losing weight even if you're logging accurately and allowing sufficient time, it means you aren't in a deficit.

Try to eat 3 meals and two snacks

The amount of meals/snacks does not matter. All that matters is calories.

No meals after 7

This does not matter. You CAN eat after 7 unless eating later disturbs your sleep or causes reflux.

No sodas or high sugar drinks

Sugar-free/diet/zero sodas are okay, and nothing wrong with sugar

Hardly any alcohol

Alcohol is fine as long as you measure it and log it.

I shoot for 1200 calories a day.

You don't use a food scale, though...all your entries are cups/spoons/pieces/medium/small/large. Stop using these for solid foods and get a digital food scale and start weighing everything that isn't a juice/beverage, stock or clear soup. Log more accurately.

Weight loss isn't about eliminating "ALL THE BAD FOODS". Weight loss is about having the proper energy balance. If you eat less than your TDEE (the calories you need to maintain your current weight), you will lose weight no matter the food type. Carbs don't cause weight gain, fat doesn't cause weight gain, sugar doesn't cause weight gain....eating too many calories does.

You listed your amino acids at 0 calories, but calorie count says there are 40 cals per serving. There is no way this is 0 calorie.

How heavy is the 'large' apple? What is large to you may not be large to someone else....weigh your apple after coring.

Not all large eggs are the same weight or nutrition.

You need to be more consistent in logging and not under eat. Eat up to the 1200 calorie mark and NOT below 1200. Add exercise calories and eat back half.

Weigh butter, mayo and peanut butter.

Stop using generic entries for your recipes. You do not know what or how much of certain ingredients the original creator of the entry added. Create your own recipe entries with the recipe builder and weigh ALL your ingredients.

Weigh bacon and log it as cooked.

Your diary does NOT indicate that you weigh. There are gram entries for the foods that you eat. Choose the brand of the food and pick one with grams available as the entry. A large apple is not weighed. Put 'usda' in the food search field when searching for a specific food.

Weigh rice/spaghetti/pasta raw as that is what the package nutrition relates to.

evarochelle wrote: »

I just got back from my Dr. She said 1200 calories is too low. She said bump up to 1500 your body is hanging onto everything with 1200. 5'4" 216 stuck in a rut too

Not true. Not one bit. The body does not 'hang on to everything'. If this was the case, no one would die from starvation. Think about it.
You need to weigh all your food, too.