LONG RANT... but please, i need advice.
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NotGuiltylawyer
Posts: 39 Member
Greetings, i have been using this app for over 2 years now. I have had great success for the first year or so loosing over 30 pounds. About a year ago, i started to loosen up the diet a bit while still maintaining regular exercise as i had reached my goal weight. I have gained 15+ pounds within the last year. I am very discouraged. I still workout 4-5 times per week.
In the past year I was doing 30 mins cardio ( running or elliptical), 45 min of weights 3-4 times per week and the scale was not moving, actually, it was going up. I continued, not giving up thinking, it will be worth it eventually. Well, NO it was not working. For those who say, "your gaining muscle" ... not true, i have been measuring and i am not loosing inches, i am actually gaining fat. My clothes are tight and i have been taking photos every week, and no improvement.
So about 3 weeks ago, i upped my cardio adding 15 minutes. A also incorporated hot yoga 1-2 per week. Still not seeing results. I AM WORKING OUT 5 TIMES PER WEEK.
My diet is not bad, not great... but i treat myself a couple of times per week for my own sanity. I make my own lunches for work... upped my water intake. However, my portions are quite large, i will have a humongous salad and a big chicken breast smothered in pesto and low fat mozzarella for supper, for example.
My guilty pleasure is natural popcorn with sea salt, honey nut cherrios and a bowl of pasta once every 2 weeks.
I am 5"10 and weighing 202 pounds.
I AM SO DISCOURAGED. Any guidance, tips, would be very much appreciated.
In the past year I was doing 30 mins cardio ( running or elliptical), 45 min of weights 3-4 times per week and the scale was not moving, actually, it was going up. I continued, not giving up thinking, it will be worth it eventually. Well, NO it was not working. For those who say, "your gaining muscle" ... not true, i have been measuring and i am not loosing inches, i am actually gaining fat. My clothes are tight and i have been taking photos every week, and no improvement.
So about 3 weeks ago, i upped my cardio adding 15 minutes. A also incorporated hot yoga 1-2 per week. Still not seeing results. I AM WORKING OUT 5 TIMES PER WEEK.
My diet is not bad, not great... but i treat myself a couple of times per week for my own sanity. I make my own lunches for work... upped my water intake. However, my portions are quite large, i will have a humongous salad and a big chicken breast smothered in pesto and low fat mozzarella for supper, for example.
My guilty pleasure is natural popcorn with sea salt, honey nut cherrios and a bowl of pasta once every 2 weeks.
I am 5"10 and weighing 202 pounds.
I AM SO DISCOURAGED. Any guidance, tips, would be very much appreciated.
1
Replies
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Have you been logging your food once you reached maintenance? If not, start doing it again. If so, then you know you need to get your portions under control.35
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Agree with Malibu. Logging is so important. You are a couple inches taller than me. I am having the same issue with not losing, but I continue to log. I am envious of your running and doing the elliptical. My knees keep me from running, and when I do the elliptical, my hips hurt so bad after about 5 minutes. Start logging again, keep up with the exercise, and you may be surprised!! Good luck!!
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This is going to sound blunt, but you're eating too much.
Get back to accurate logging. It will show you where you are wasting calories. Exercise can make you a little hungrier, and also make you subconsciously feel like you have a little extra wiggle room to eat a little more.
Gaining 15 lbs in a year is less than 1.5 lbs per month. That's @ an extra 5000 cals per month, or an extra 150-200 cals per day, which is pretty easy to eat if you aren't logging. Luckily, it's also pretty easy to correct
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Agree with Malibu. Logging is so important. You are a couple inches taller than me. I am having the same issue with not losing, but I continue to log. I am envious of your running and doing the elliptical. My knees keep me from running, and when I do the elliptical, my hips hurt so bad after about 5 minutes. Start logging again, keep up with the exercise, and you may be surprised!! Good luck!!
have you ever tried yoga or hot yoga? i have serious knees and lower back issues and hot yoga has done wonders.
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Upping your exercise won’t do much of anything if you are still eating too many calories.
You need to go back to tracking, accurately and consistently. I think you already know this, as you mentioned you eat large portions and high-calorie foods (pesto).
So, plug in your stats into MFP and set it to lose 1 or 1.5 lb/week. (2+ lbs is a little aggressive and you may not be able to keep up with it.) Eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories. Invest in a food scale, and use it.17 -
It’s all food.6
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have you ever tried yoga or hot yoga? i have serious knees and lower back issues and hot yoga has done wonders.
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I have done yoga, and i did like it. I may need to look around for a place with hot yoga. I did go for a massage this past week, heavenly!!
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Eat less. Reduce calorie intake by 500-700 from current daily intake.5
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Yea...no way to sugar coat it, you want to eat the calories you want to eat, but then expect to not gain weight. That dog don't hunt! Also, and extra 15 min of cardio is great, but how intense is it? You're not sharing your diary, so can't see what you're doing (exercise or food wise), but did notice you said you quit smoking TWICE! I quit once, about 16 years ago, and after I quit I put on 10 lbs in a just few months.
I am not a diet Nazi, and while I shoot for 1500 calories a day to get to my target weight, I go way over at least once a week (2600 on my last binge). BUT, that usually satisfies me for the week, and I train hard (triathlon sprint) and watch my calories for the next week or two, until I get the urge again. I agree keeping positive and motivated is key #1, but sounds like you need to be more disciplined about logging your food, cut down portion sizes, and perhaps even switching up your exercises (cardio and strength). If you run, then maybe add swim. If you do elliptical, then maybe rowing machine. Not saying drop either, just add a different type of cardio, and be sure to stay in your heart rate range, but maybe increase the intensity if you can.6 -
You can't outexercise a bad diet. Track and log your calories and be in a calorie deficit. While increasing your exercise will burn a few more, diet is the key and you don't seem focused on that.31
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If you go back and read your post, it's very clear that your diet is the problem. Even upping your exercise probably only gave you and extra 200 calories on to your day. While you are probably eating "better" than you did in the past, I'm betting your portions sizes are too high. Go back to measuring and logging everyday at whatever your maintenance calories are.7
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"Smothered in pesto". That right there is one of the reasons you need to log. Pesto is pretty much just oil. Delicious yes but a calorie bomb, you can't go to town with it.
Your exercise means diddly if you don't have your calories in check. If you do lose what you've regained you need a better exit strategy for maintenance because as yet, you haven't got the skills to maintain your losses.21 -
NotGuiltylawyer wrote: »About a year ago, i started to loosen up the diet a bit...
My diet is not bad, not great... but i treat myself a couple of times per week for my own sanity. I make my own lunches for work... upped my water intake. However, my portions are quite large, i will have a humongous salad and a big chicken breast smothered in pesto and low fat mozzarella for supper, for example.
Get your diet in check.10 -
Another voice adding to those recommending to get your diet in check. You are simply eating to much. Any time you gain fat, that's the culprit.
Time to start logging your food again, it seems.6 -
This is just my personal opinion, but when a person needs to lose a lot of weight they need to find something they can live with forever. No loosing up. Treats make life enjoyable for many of us and if you are watching your portion size and have no medical problems, go for it. But you have to gauge what your portion size is not the product makers. And count every single calorie. I had lost 60+ pounds when I first started here 4 years ago. I quit counting because I told myself "I got this!". I didn't have it and now I'm right back to where I started from.
Stay focused and learn to live within your caloric means. You can do this, girl!4 -
Eff_You_Fat wrote: »Its easy to not realize what we are eating can be biting us in the *kitten*.
Just yesterday i had a friend tell me every morning she has a carrot muffin from tims filled with cream cheese for breakfast. She thought she was making a healthier choice cause it was carrot. That muffin really isn't any different then her going to mcdonalds for a burger tho.
Commercially sold muffins aren't much better than cupcakes. Add the cream cheese and your friend may as well be having a cupcake!
To address the question at hand: OP, you need to start logging accurately. I'm not saying this in a mean way, either, since innacurate logging is what hinders me ("I'm sure that was a serving of almonds. Yeah...definitely") You'll also have to steer more towards what your body needs (more greens, blander chicken) and not what it wants (mmm...pesto).
Good luck!2 -
I was able to maintain for over a year without logging. However, slowly but surely the portions grew, the choices got worse, the martinis more frequent and the result is 7 lbs. back on. I strength train twice a week & do a core & abs class once a week, but that won't make up for the extra 500-700 calories a day I was consuming. I just started logging again and I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I'd like to add that when I was at my lowest weight the number of calories I could eat & maintain was a lot lower than when I weighed 30 lbs. more. It was a depressing discovery and I almost threw in the towel when I found out! When I get there this time I'll be sure to keep the eating in check except for very special occasions, or make up with a little extra walking.10
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It's astoundingly easy to eat many more calories than you realize if you're not meticulously logging. That's where I would start.7
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From what I can tell the amount of exercise you are doing isn't much ... maybe 300 cal per day?
And it sounds like you're not paying close attention to what you're eating.
Under those circumstances it is very easy to gain weight.1
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