Novice Dieter...Need Advice.

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HeatFury
HeatFury Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I'm relatively new to MFP and am trying to lose 70 lbs. I do not have a strict time frame for when this has to happen, but I would like to reach my goal in 1.5 years, 2 at the most.
My stats are as follows:
4'11"
185 lbs
27 years old
Female
Hypothyroidism (treated with medication which keeps my hormone levels in balance)

I currently have an inactive lifestyle (i.e. I spend plenty of time on my feet, but no exercise or brisk activity.) I hope to take up 15 min/day exercise on my elliptical and increase gradually. But for now, I am simply dieting and hoping to lose what I can through diet alone

My current (recently updated from 1200) calorie goal is 1100/day. I know there are people who will say this is too low, but I calculated this total using https://www.supertracker.usda.gov, which I thought would be more "trustworthy" than other sites since it is operated by an official source. I am not concerned with the theory of starvation fat storing, since I read through the pinned posts by MFP staff that debunk it.

My logging on MFP has been as accurate as I can be, given that I do not weigh my food on a scale. I record everything I eat, even those couple of fries or that forkful of cake that I might sneak from my husband's or kid's plate during lunch. I even figure in oil used when cooking. I feel like, if anything, I sometimes input larger quantities than actually consumed, which hopefully should balance any other mistakes I'm making with my tracking.

My current diet consists largely of fruit and whole grains, with some veggies and protein mixed in there. I try to stay away from processed foods, but they definitely slip in from time to time, and I'm okay with that. Here are the main foods I've been eating these last 3 weeks:
- 1 TB peanut butter on a slice of wheat bread
- avocado, egg, tomato on whole grain bread
- smoothies w. banana, yogurt, whole or almond milk, (opt. strawberries, celery, carrot, spinach)
- Kind Bars
- tangerines
- single serve hummus (Sabra) w. whole wheat or whole grain pita bread cooked in 1/2 TB olive oil
- steamed broccoli
- Sun Chips (15-20 chip serving size): this is my little "treat" in my diet, since I love salty snacks
- 0.5 oz dark chocolate (another "treat")
- Target or Publix deli salads

I don't eat all of these in one day, but I'd say about 4 of them per day is about right.

The first week, it went really well: I lost 5 lbs. Then, I re-joined MFP (I had a brief stint with it back in October of last year) and started watching my calories. My weight lost not only stopped, I actually gained 2.5 lbs back. I am continuing with my diet in spite of this, and am planning to add more protein and veggies. I want to stay on track and hopefully things will change. Since I have so much to lose, struggling with just the first few pounds is a little disheartening. Sometimes, I wonder if my thyroid disorder is preventing me from making any progress. Or maybe I'm just not balancing my meals well. If things keep going this way (i.e. slow or no weight loss), I will be seeking a referral to a dietician from my primary doctor. In the meantime, I'd love to hear some advice or input from current MFP experts.

Thanks!
K.F.

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    The reason why the vast majority of women shouldn't go below 1,200 isn't due to starvation mode, it's because going too low makes it difficult to get all your nutritional needs met, it makes you less prone to cravings and hunger, and it helps reduce loss of muscle.

    If you're not weighing your food, it's likely that you're eating more than you think you are. Some of us (and this includes me) aren't very good at "eyeballing" portions and measuring cups can be very inaccurate. I didn't see consistent results with calorie counting until I began weighing solid food.
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
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    1200 is the minimum for your body to really operate. Unless you're being advised by a dr, I don't really recommend it. With 70pds you should be at about 1.5lb/week loss.
    75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range
    Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range
    Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range
    Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range
    Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range

    Food restrictions aren't important, it's all about your calorie deficit personally if I restrict food I'm more likely to binge on it. You may take my chocolate from my cold dead hands. And cheese. Foods aren't evil, but there are foods that give you a bigger nutritional bang for your buck than others, and often things like vegetables are low calorie so you can eat more of them than you could say pasta for the same calories.

    Currently I don't exercise either (surgery recovery), so I'm careful about what I eat - I weigh my food, meal prep my lunches so I'm not tempted to go out, etc. Weighing food is important, even if it came out of a package as a lot of the time the serving sizes aren't going to match the actual weight of the food so it's important not to take anything at face value.

    I also am hypothyroid (had it removed many years ago) so it's definitely important to stay on top of that, and make sure they test more than just your T3 and read your results.
  • cross2bear
    cross2bear Posts: 1,106 Member
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    Weigh. Your. Food.

    You dont have an accurate idea of how much you are eating if you dont weigh everything. And 1100 cals is lower than recommended for an adult female, but on the other hand, you are really short (sorry - you did know that, right?!)

    You are eating processed foods - peanut butter, kind bars, hummus, Sun Chips etc. Dont worry about it because processed foods are not the devil - you can enjoy all kinds of food as long as you are in a calorie deficit, which you dont know if you are because you are not weighing!!

    I suggest you dont be too aggressive with your weight loss goal - maybe one or 1.5 lbs per week at the most.

    I have had mobility issues so exercise was almost impossible for me, other than what was needed to get through a day. I still lost over 100 lbs in a year with MFP and weighing and logging.

    Be patient, be consistent, be kind to yourself (there will be those days....) and especially, be weighing!!
  • unixchik
    unixchik Posts: 1 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Yes, keep on top of your T3, and TSH. There are a lot of supplements out there that are good for a lot of people, but not us. It will either put you into hypermode or bring it down. Docs may not know that or aren't willing to share supplements advise. You need to exercise, just for mental clarity alone. You have no idea how much it will help your mood and motivation. While exercise is only 20% of the equation to loosing weight, any of it helps. Get a good mix of protein (it doesn't look like you're getting enough from the list you put out), quality carbs, good fiber foods, looks like you've got that down. And water...OMG, drink water! Careful not to mindless much, even a piece of candy here and there. It adds up. Afura has good advise too. We're here for each other...keep us posted, blog away beautiful sister...you got this.
  • pennyrtyler
    pennyrtyler Posts: 79 Member
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    First, I think you're awesome and brave for getting started again (I am, too) and for reaching out to the community for input. <3 Much love and admiration for that. It's totally normal if you are on a gaining trend when you get started on a weight-loss path to have a couple of sluggish weeks before you see the trend turn around and pounds start to disappear. Think of a car driving forward that has to slow down and then stop before it can switch gears and then reverse.

    To answer your question, you're absolutely right to just keep eating healthy and logging everything, including the little nibbles. You'll learn a lot about your habits. If you use the charts from your diary, you'll find areas where you are missing nutrients and then you can find ways to fill in those blanks. I think I'm well-informed about food and nutrition, but I am always uncovering "surprises" in my diet when I consistently log my food. Since you went to the trouble of listing your staple foods, I noticed that there may be more hidden sugars in your staples than you're aware of. Check the carbs on your nutrition labels, and make sure your fiber intake is greater than your carb intake.

    One of the tricks I used when I was really successful with MFP before was inputting several recipes for foods that I make regularly with the correct brands, amounts, etc., and also prepping some meals ahead of time, like packing my lunches on Sunday for the work week ahead. Also, I had a really expensive gym membership and personal trainer (got major results from working out!!), but since then I found out that Planet Fitness is more than adequate for for average healthy fitness goals, and you have access to their on-staff fitness trainer included with membership by appointment. The staff trainer at my local PF is really supportive and not pushy at all. I think that her approach is so indicative of PF's general fitness culture.

    Best of luck with your goals, and hang in there!!
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
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    cross2bear wrote: »
    Weigh. Your. Food.

    You dont have an accurate idea of how much you are eating if you dont weigh everything. And 1100 cals is lower than recommended for an adult female, but on the other hand, you are really short (sorry - you did know that, right?!)

    You are eating processed foods - peanut butter, kind bars, hummus, Sun Chips etc. Dont worry about it because processed foods are not the devil - you can enjoy all kinds of food as long as you are in a calorie deficit, which you dont know if you are because you are not weighing!!

    I suggest you dont be too aggressive with your weight loss goal - maybe one or 1.5 lbs per week at the most.

    I have had mobility issues so exercise was almost impossible for me, other than what was needed to get through a day. I still lost over 100 lbs in a year with MFP and weighing and logging.

    Be patient, be consistent, be kind to yourself (there will be those days....) and especially, be weighing!!

    All of this!

    Things like peanut butter, hummus, and avocado are very calorie dense. Eyeballing portions or even using things like tablespoons or cups will give you very inaccurate calorie amounts. Only weighing can be most accurate.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    A few thoughts.

    First it has been a short amount of time. The body's water weight naturally fluctuates. It increases for excessive sodium, stress, hormones/TOM and other reasons. This could easily be the recent 'gain'.

    Second without a food scale its impossible to know how many calories you are consuming. If you're logging things like 1/2 a medium avocado or 1 banana, how do you know the actual size/weight of the item? Tablespoons of peanut butter is another red flag in that you're likely taking on more than you realize.

    So my advice would be a) for now don't sweat the scale results as you're getting into the habit of building new habits and b) get a food scale to improve your accuracy. WIth the food scale if there is no weight movement for 4-6 weeks, then you may want to have your thyroid meds checked.
  • HeatFury
    HeatFury Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks for the input everyone. I started this determined I was NOT going to weigh my food since I didn't want to deal with the extra fuss and inconvenience. You have all effectively changed my mind. I'll buy a food scale ASAP. Any recommendations?
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
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    HeatFury wrote: »
    Thanks for the input everyone. I started this determined I was NOT going to weigh my food since I didn't want to deal with the extra fuss and inconvenience. You have all effectively changed my mind. I'll buy a food scale ASAP. Any recommendations?

    It can be a pain, but it's worth it and I don't know about others but I've gotten used to it. I use EatSmart Digital scale. I bought it back in 2013 and it's been through 2 half-country moves and several in tow moves, and I think I've changed the batteries once. It's not super fancy (which I consider a pro - less fuss) has a large readout, and I wish the plate was a little larger and backlight numbers but it's a champ.
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
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    It's not exactly true that cups and tablespoons measurements are that inaccurate in regards to calories- unless u purposely over-pile each measurement. U just started U need to be committed for life- first commitment is to lose 70 lbs which will take time, Then the commitment to maintenance of 70 lbs loss both take commitment and drive . If you're not hungry at 1200 go for it, eat 1200 if u are hungry u defiantly have wiggle room as per MFP
  • BrkNelson
    BrkNelson Posts: 8 Member
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    Wow. It's hard to come by someone that's 4'11 like myself. I'm 27, I weigh 174... started at 185. Like everyone else above has said.. it's important to weigh your food. I know a few years back when I started weighing my food... certain things I was shocked at. As far as such a small amount of a particular type of food was the correct weight that I was suppose to be eating. So I would immediately think my gosh I'm glad I weighed that because I would have eaten entirely more than that and wouldn't have thought twice about it! I have had a few personal trainers over the last couple of years ( obviously I didn't follow their directions hence my weight currently) but all of them told me to avoid fruit at the beginning, to not eat any carbs after 2ish. Also there are tons of recipes on Pinterest for homemade Kind bars and all of that. Also make sure you check the nutritional info on those salads, some are outrageous caloric wise!!! Anyways, best of luck, feel free to add me . ☺️
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
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    lemonychild wrote: »
    It's not exactly true that cups and tablespoons measurements are that inaccurate in regards to calories- unless u purposely over-pile each measurement. U just started U need to be committed for life- first commitment is to lose 70 lbs which will take time, Then the commitment to maintenance of 70 lbs loss both take commitment and drive . If you're not hungry at 1200 go for it, eat 1200 if u are hungry u defiantly have wiggle room as per MFP

    That isn't my experience. I think there is a nifty video somewhere that shows how inaccurate cup measurements can be. Maybe someone will post it for us.

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