Please help me....In desperate need of expert advice

cqbkaju wrote: »

I understand the desire to help and be encouraging, but please don't be misleading.

Same thing with the various "thyroid" answers here...
OP, go to the doctor and make sure you do not have a medical issue.
If you do, then get it dealt with.

Regardless, you have to make some lifestyle changes if you want to lose excess fat.
A "thyroid problem" does not magically negate the need for proper exercise and healthy eating habits.
To the contrary, it means you must work a bit harder than some other people and you have less room for cheat meals.

I agree. Regardless, life-style changes aren't "magically" negated by having a "thyroid problem". In fact an endocrinologist will be quite forthright in telling someone with thyroid issues that healthy eating habits and proper exercise are a major part of the solution.

What I meant to prompt the OP to consider, is that instead of this being only about "math" in fact it may not be. She should indeed follow the very chart provided--all the way down--including to the little blue box re: hypothyroidism and PCOS, should her answers direct her there, but perhaps not stop halfway down the chart even if her math is wrong. If other issues besides weight are a problem for her, then those things should also carry some weight (no pun intended) with regards to what approach to take next. When we stop short, suggesting that OP's is a "math" problem only, and don't also acknowledge there's possibly more going on than we've been made privy to, underlying causes might never be investigated, and the weight gain/loss question remains unresolved by the correct/healthiest solution.

Hope that wasn't further misleading. Wasn't intentional.

sunshine12870 wrote: »

Can't be over estimating what I'm burning in a day as I go from my FitBit which tells me exactly what I have at end of each day. Profile is accurate and logged everything consistently for over 5 months now.
The thing is not knowing if I'm taking in the correct amount of calories..is it to little...too much. So frustrated right now

Fitbit isn't magic. Literally everything when working with calories is an approximation. If you're gaining weight, you're eating too many calories. Assume Fitbit is overestimating your burn and/or that your food measurements are overestimating your intake. Then adjust as needed.

There is no question of this: If you're not losing weight, then you're eating too many calories.

You are doing so well btw, keep it up! I thought I saw you'd been at a plateau for 5 months? That's awhile so you were right to ask for help, but if I'm wrong and it's only been a week or two, then don't worry, just keep at it. I second what AliceDark and others said --> Your body is telling you you're eating at maintenance level, but I'd hesitate to lower it too much because it is true that 1200 calories is the absolute minimum. If your BMR is around 1750, you should aim for something around that or maybe 2000. I think working on getting better at tracking your intake can't hurt, we can always learn something and get better. I found that a nice little digital kitchen scale came in really handy. I used to use measuring cups but a lot of things are much more easily measured in grams or ounces. This could really be the one thing that would benefit you. Mine was only $20 (I think that's about $10 UK pounds)

There are two more things I think maybe you could benefit from, if you can manage to sort all the advice you've got! I think you'd do well to eat morn protein and less carbs. Don't try to limit carbs too much, but do try to increase the amount of lean protein you have in the morning. This will keep you feeling full longer throughout the day, and is based on real science I've found you can buy those little cartons of pure egg whites in the eggs section of the grocery store. Buy a litre or so and have at least 1/2 cup cooked for breakfast for a week or two.

Eating more protein in the morning will help you with my second suggestion. Delete the snacks on myfitnesspal so that you only have Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. You can still snack, but you've got to put it in one of those meals. This will get your brain thinking more about each meal than it will about snacking through the day. Snacks are killers. Don't believe anyone who says more meals throughout the day is better for you it's simply not true. Protein is the trick though. Just as an aside, when you eat a lot more protein, you'll also have to make sure you're getting your fibre and water throughout the day.

Oh, one more thing, if you have a smart phone, track your meals before you eat them, right then. It's much much harder to remember what you just ate when you sit down at the computer an hour or two later.

Keep up the good work, you've done awesome so far and you'll get there!

sunshine12870 wrote: »

I never ever eat back my exercise calories and I always log absolutely everything, what's the point in not, your only cheating yourself . I take on board what people have said about maybe the accuracy of the weights of food I'm eating so not to take for granted what the packaging says it is and to check it myself, so I will be keeping an eye and making changes on that.

So, I don't mean this to come across like I'm picking on you, but this isn't true. Are you thinking about a specific timeframe when you say that you log everything, or are you logging somewhere other than MFP? As recently as about a week and a half ago (January 27-30), you have only partial days logged. And there are lots of blank days before January 9th. Am I missing something? If you've really only been logging for the last week, that's okay, but that doesn't give you any information about why you haven't been losing for the last 5 months.

Ok I took a look at your diary and see that there are missing weeks and incomplete days... what happened in those days? Did you have cheat days? Binges? Eat out? Just a couple bad days per week or a whole week off tracking per month is enough to undo your results from the days you are on track. I'd bet that's why you are not seeing weightloss- Whatever is happening on those untracked days/weeks is probably responsible.

The "exercise" from Fitbit is NOT AN EXERCISE.

MFP-Fitbit integration uses "exercise adjustments" as a mechanism to equalise MFP's TDEE to Fitbit's calculated TDEE.

In other words "MFP's guess per guided setup settings" + "Exercise adjustments" = "What Fitbit Calculated for the day.

Whether this reflects reality or not is a totally separate question.

But you can sit in bed all day and if for some reason Fitbit thinks that you spent 1000 Cal more than MFP has given you, you will get a 1000 Cal "exercise adjustment", or vice versa.

As such eating back a Fitbit exercise adjustment is predicated ONLY on whether you think Fitbit is calculating your burn correctly.

It is NOT predicated on whether you think you "exercised" that much.

THAT SAID, I TAKE IT ALL BACK!, BECAUSE:

Having looked at the OP's log I see that she is MANUALLY logging exercises in MFP.

If MFP - Fitbit integration is enabled this manual log OVERWRITES what Fitbit has calculated for the same time frame (unless you go into Fitbit and subsequently delete the imported exercise)

As such the OP is essentially manually calculating her burn.

Which means that we have no idea what Fitbit is actually calculating her at.

I had a similar situation .
So I just wanted to add my story to help if it can.
I'm 5'3 and 3/4 and was eating 1200 calories. This was too much if I'm not exercising daily .
Now I don't look at calories I am mindful of carbohydrates.
Check out the oxidative diet. With Jillian that hardcore trainer. She has based her workouts on this philosophy about how you metabolize your carbs.
It was helpful for me to figure out why I wasn't losing weight.
For me cutting out baked goods, starch, corn, wheat and these items with high sugar and starch and caffeinewas the key. It takes a few weeks to adjust and literally detox but you can do it.
Don't forget to drink water when your thirsty too.
Also when your under constant stress it effects your adrenal glands. Which causes cortisol and insulin surges which wreaks havoc with your metabolism.
For me I had undergone two surgeries. One really knocked my hormones out of whack and that in combo with my high stress job did a number on my metabolism and energy levels.
I learned that results come from good recovery time.
This means what you eat and how much you sleep really affects how your body is going to respond to your exercise.
Add in Chronic pain and your body is fighting itself.
This chronic pain effectsyour recovery time so you need to address your pain the best you can.
You can buy topical treatments like "freeze" or menthol ointments or emu oil to help Soothe your feet.
soaking them helps perhaps in bath salts.
Perhaps some new orthopedic inserts For your shoes or acupuncture to help nerve pain.

I Definetly think low impact cardio exercise with weight training to provide muscle building is your key to success.
3 times a week combined with a high protein diet and lower carbohydrate foods.
Don't skip the fats as you need them to feel satiated or you'll end up snacking around.
Check out Pinterest or the web for health low carb meals.
Give yourself low carb snacks too with occasional small cheat .
My cheat was a snack size of dark chocolate raisins .
The old adage "no pain no gain "is not the way.
In your case treating the whole body is the key to relax, build strength and flexibility and weight loss.
Perhaps all the walking your doing is too much on your feet. Maybe quit one of the routes if you can and swim or bike in the gym like you planned on the other days you want to exercise.
Take the stress off the feet.
Speaking of foot pain, would stretching help alleviate some pain? Our ligaments and muscle become out of balance and lose strength after surgeries . Perhaps some specific foot exercises and stretching may help alleviate pain from a PT that you could do at home. In combo with massage of the over the counter pain relievers mentioned.
Sleep is your recovery from all days events along with the 12 hr fast.
So from my experience making a plan to sleep 8hrs,and having a fasting window of 12 hrs and not eating until my stomach grumbles helped me get my metabolism back. I know we're all busy but if you don't plan it then you have an irregular routine. You have to set your body right with a routine.
I also took an adrenal support supplement for awhile to help my body deal with the stress of two surgeries and healing . This was not a stimulant.
Adrenalplex. I had it checked by my doctor before I took it.
Hope this helps.
Michelle

I'm not sure why a pp said women don't gain muscle. Of course we do! Muscle weighs more than fat. I would conjecture that if you took on a long and hard paper route, you are probably converting some fat to muscle, so you would tend to gain--at least initially. It is better to consider if your body has changed. I'm an old, fat, injured runner. Didn't start running until age 51 (57 now), and I work with a very knowledgeable, gentle trainer, who helped me discover that I could run when I never thought I would again. My point: when I am seriously on a training program, I can tell my leg muscles are harder and larger. Even through the adipose! Another thing is to get a copy of "The First Twenty Minutes." It compiles, in very readable style, information from the most recent fitness and nutrition studies. It debunks a lot of the myths we think are true ( like running and walking makes you lose weight--not true for about 2/3 of regular people--but it does make us healthier). Most of the "truths" we bandy about are from old studies conducted on elite male athletes. The results have little to do with real people like you and me. I found it uplifting, and it gave me good, solid info to work with.
And finally ( whew!), see if you can find a water walking class. They are usually held in the dive tank at a pool, and involve wearing floats around either your waist or ankles. You "walk" in the deep water of the tank. Feels like you are doing nothing, but it uses2x the energy of land walking, strengthens your core massively, and is easy on your body. Take a class so you learn to do it properly, or you won't do it as well as you ought.
Keep up your good work, and pat yourself on the back big time for persistence.

sunshine12870 wrote: »

OK so here is my first shock of tightening up my diary and being more accurate.

I had a tin of grapefruit Salad this morning,(you will see this in my diary a few times) I normally add it to my diary by what it says on the tin.

1 Tin = 172 calories (that's what I've always entered)

Today I put a bowl on my digital kitchen scales, emptied the contents of the tin and it came to 171 grams.

171g = 55 calories

So whereas I thought I was having 172 calories I've actually only been having 55.
I'm a bit shocked by this to say the least.

Something doesn't seem right there. That's too big a difference and way outwith legal tolerances. I don't know this product but is it a drained weight vs a non drained weight or something?