Weight-loss struggles amongst so many success stories
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The logging is key to understanding what is keeping you fat and seeing the effect of changes you make.
Two things that helped me get started, chromium picolineate for sweet tooth, reading up and practicing mindful eating...well three things, platejoy.com made planning easy.4 -
cmriverside wrote: »svlofthouse wrote: »However, even when I’m carefully logging, I don’t lose weight. I eat fairly healthily but get downhearted when I can’t see results. This leads to a bread binge and I hate cheating in logging, but I can’t bring myself to log a thousand calorie deficit. What can I do?
Bring yourself (to logging a thousand calorie "deficit")
I've logged 3000 Cal "deficits" for a day (not just 1000 Cal "deficits") and you're correct @cmriverside, "deficit" should have been in quotes or (sic)
Still lost weight (as in logging a 1000 Cal overage is not the end of the world and it won't, by itself, stop weight loss).
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cmriverside wrote: »svlofthouse wrote: »However, even when I’m carefully logging, I don’t lose weight. I eat fairly healthily but get downhearted when I can’t see results. This leads to a bread binge and I hate cheating in logging, but I can’t bring myself to log a thousand calorie deficit. What can I do?
Bring yourself (to logging a thousand calorie "deficit")
I've logged 3000 Cal "deficits" for a day (not just 1000 Cal "deficits") and you're correct @cmriverside, "deficit" should have been in quotes or (sic)
Still lost weight (as in logging a 1000 Cal overage is not the end of the world and it won't, by itself, stop weight loss).
I think what’s causing the confusion here is that a deficit and an overage are exact opposite things. Of course you’ll lose weight if you have a 3k-calorie deficit, but it sounds like both you and OP were actually talking about overages in this case. Putting the problematic word in quotes isn’t going to indicate that readers should assume you mean the opposite; it just makes it harder to figure out what you mean.
But yes, OP: log them anyway. A good binge can wipe out a week’s worth of deficits; I suspect you’ll see pretty quickly why you’re not getting results if you log everything.17 -
kommodevaran wrote: »You aren't carefully logging if you don't weigh everything and using valid database entries.
I often can’t weigh all of my food as I have to eat food that soemone else has prepared because of the nature of my work. Although I will try to make the healthiest choice I can at lunch, I’m limited to what is served and my vegetarianism.
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cmriverside wrote: »svlofthouse wrote: »However, even when I’m carefully logging, I don’t lose weight. I eat fairly healthily but get downhearted when I can’t see results. This leads to a bread binge and I hate cheating in logging, but I can’t bring myself to log a thousand calorie deficit. What can I do?
Bring yourself (to logging a thousand calorie "deficit")
I've logged 3000 Cal "deficits" for a day (not just 1000 Cal "deficits") and you're correct @cmriverside, "deficit" should have been in quotes or (sic)
Still lost weight (as in logging a 1000 Cal overage is not the end of the world and it won't, by itself, stop weight loss).
This still makes no sense to me, but I'm losing interest in trying to figure out what you mean by "deficits."
What the *puppy* is a 3000 calorie deficit anyway?9 -
janejellyroll wrote: »svlofthouse wrote: »
I use one every time I prepare my own meals but I’m sometimes forced to pick the closest thing I can find preprepared on the app. This I the issue, as I feel like I’m doing everything right most of the time.DoubleUbea wrote: »The first question you will be asked by everyone is, "Do you use a food scale to measure your food?"
How are you forced? I can understand *choosing* to eat something that you aren't sure of the calories on, but forced? No.
Anyway, you don't need a thousand calorie deficit to lose weight. If 1,000 calories is too hard and leads you to binge (which would be the case for a lot of people), opt for something more reasonable like 250 calories a day. Yeah, it's slower weight loss. But if it allows you to be more consistent and avoid binges, it will wind up being faster in the long run.
Another vote for a less aggressive deficit which will be less likely to lead to binges.1 -
svlofthouse wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »You aren't carefully logging if you don't weigh everything and using valid database entries.
I often can’t weigh all of my food as I have to eat food that soemone else has prepared because of the nature of my work. Although I will try to make the healthiest choice I can at lunch, I’m limited to what is served and my vegetarianism.
What's your protein goal and do you consistently hit it? I get the munchies when I don't get enough protein. My brain thinks it wants carbs, but what my body actually wants is protein.0 -
Best thing I changed in this new lifestyle was logging "EVERYTHING". What it accomplished will surprise you, it did me. It stops me from continuing on with the binge. Before I would think that the day was a bust so I might as well keep eating. This resulted in me becoming 100 pounds overweight. Once I started logging everything I ate even if I went over I found often the damage wasn't as bad as I thought which made me stop eating. When I saw that my "binge" was only 300 calories for example I thought "I can make this up in a couple days". It actually helped me. Log honestly. You will be amazed at how much insight it gives you.19
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cmriverside wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »svlofthouse wrote: »However, even when I’m carefully logging, I don’t lose weight. I eat fairly healthily but get downhearted when I can’t see results. This leads to a bread binge and I hate cheating in logging, but I can’t bring myself to log a thousand calorie deficit. What can I do?
Bring yourself (to logging a thousand calorie "deficit")
I've logged 3000 Cal "deficits" for a day (not just 1000 Cal "deficits") and you're correct @cmriverside, "deficit" should have been in quotes or (sic)
Still lost weight (as in logging a 1000 Cal overage is not the end of the world and it won't, by itself, stop weight loss).
This still makes no sense to me, but I'm losing interest in trying to figure out what you mean by "deficits."
What the *puppy* is a 3000 calorie deficit anyway?
I think what they mean is an overage. It's the only thing that makes any sense... so basically they're saying the opposite of what they actually mean.11 -
If you aren't logging accurately everyday - when you are over, under, or maintaining - than a site like this one is not going to work for you. I log everyday. Sometimes I go over by a lot but I log it, move forward, and make slight adjustments the rest of the week to accommodate so my weekly intake still balances out. If I didn't log those high cal days than how would I know what adjustments to make to keep me on my plan?7
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cmriverside wrote: »What the *puppy* is a 3000 calorie deficit anyway?
Just noticed this.
*puppy* is my schtick
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Oh for cavorting *kittens'* and *puppies'* sake. The OP used deficit instead of overage in their OP and I continued using their terminology instead of fixing it.16
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If you ate 1,000 more calories than you your daily goal, that happened, whether you tracked it or not. It's way more beneficial to be honest with yourself and know where you stand than to pretend it didn't happen and live in denial. Try to think of it simply as feedback, and don't beat yourself up about high-calorie days. They happen to all of us!
Also, you mentioned having to choose the closest "preprepared" item on the app to estimate your calories. MFP has a recipe builder - you can set up recipes for anything you make. (Or you can always add individual ingredients.)11 -
funjen1972 wrote: »Remember...the reason it's called a success story is because it is not easy.
Exactly, it's not a success PAMPHLET...lol.
I HATE logging my cheats and calorie overages, but I do it anyway. No one but me really notices anyway so the only person I'd be cheating by not being honest is myself.
You have to be consuming more calories then you are burning, it's as simple as that. One of my early realizations is that yes, I was eating well but I was skipping logging certain things. I'd log that I ate 1/4 cup of potatoes...but not the butter I put on it. I'd log that I had chicken, but not the marinade it was baked in. I was easily consuming 400 calories more a day just in condiments!
Weight loss doesn't REQUIRE exercise, it does help though. Muscle weighs more then fat but muscle also helps burn fat.
Now, you are not logging everything by your own admission, so I'd take one week and PROMISE yourself you will be 100% honest and log EVERYTHING, from salad dressing to sugar in your coffee, one week is easy to do. I'm betting you'll see a big difference. Like I said, the only person you are cheating is yourself. You are worth more then the lies you tell yourself.
Yes, the food database isn't perfect, sometimes I have to find an approximation of the meal I just ate (this week I had pesto pasta from a restaurant not listed) so I had to find a similar food from another restaurant and use that. When in doubt I add a few extra calories, but that's just for my own piece of mind.
I have a cheat day once a week and ONLY once a week, but the healthier I get the less I seem to need my cheat day. I eat more protein to fill me up, eat a crap load of veggies and meal prep. Most people say they don't have time, but I'm betting you have an hour at night to put stuff together for the next day.
Also I dion't count dessert as a cheat, for me it's necessary for my sanity. I have a mini peanut butter cup each night after dinner...but I just have ONE. I used to sit down and eat 6 or 7, but in all honesty that was mindless munching and not enjoying the chocolate. Pick one thing that gives you joy ( a latte from Starbucks, a chocolate, a cookie) and work it into your calorie allowance. It'll help you keep your sanity.
Don't give up! A year from now wouldn't you want to look back at your hard work with pride instead of giving up? It's not easy, if it were easy every person would have a rock hard body in one week. You can do this, if I can...anyone can. Each goal I hit I buy myself something special to look forward to, maybe you could do something similar since it sounds like you are going this alone like I am.
All of this is just my opinion but I hope you can find what works for you.
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OP, I know what you mean. Most people here want to sound positive and upbeat, so we talk about our successes and things that have worked. All our glasses seem half-full, and all the eggs are sunny-side up.
Plus, as least as I see them through the lens of the internet, everyone on here but me has reached their goal weight and is maintaining with little or no trouble. (And they’re all good-looking, financially stable, and smell nice.)
In case you have the same tendencies, I can assure you that none of those things are true of me. (Well, sometimes I do smell kind of nice.)
I’ve lost forty pounds to reach goal, and gained it all back in a year. I’ve lost 70 pounds to reach goal, and gained it all back in four years. Six year ago, I lost forty pounds with MFP, which was less than 1/3 of the way to goal, and then gained 35 of it back. I’m here to try, try, again; for the reason that trying is so much better than not trying.
Flipping the egg back to sunny-side up, the thing that worked for me, when things have worked, is logging. Every last morsel, and every huge binge.
My diary is open: you can see that I have entries for 5 Calories or so for a dash of vinegar, and a couple thousand Calories for half a tub of ice cream and a tube of raw cookie dough.
I think the thing that makes logging work for me is that thinking and writing and calculating brings the food consumption the the forefront of my brain. Without logging, my food just tends to go hand to mouth to stomach to sensations of pleasant taste and satiety, and no higher logical or analytic functions ever get involved.
tl;dr - None of us are perfect, and I’m not even close. But when I have been successful at losing weight, it’s because I was logging everything I ate.28 -
bobsburgersfan wrote: »If you ate 1,000 more calories than you your daily goal, that happened, whether you tracked it or not. It's way more beneficial to be honest with yourself and know where you stand than to pretend it didn't happen and live in denial. Try to think of it simply as feedback, and don't beat yourself up about high-calorie days. They happen to all of us!
Also, you mentioned having to choose the closest "preprepared" item on the app to estimate your calories. MFP has a recipe builder - you can set up recipes for anything you make. (Or you can always add individual ingredients.)
Yeah thank you, I’ll definitely start to just log everything, even if it’s hard. I think that might be what I need to finally start to lose weight.
I’m terms of the inaccurate logging, I use the recipe builder for recipes I make, but have no clue really what goes into things I’m served. However, I have to eat this or I will really be letting weight loss take over my life. How do I stop it becoming all consuming?
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@wmweeza thank you so much. That was really inspirational and interesting so read. Maybe I’m going too strict and that’s causing my binges. I’ll take your advice for a week at least and see how it goes!1
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I think that if you are clear about the purpose of logging, it won't be so hard. The purpose is not to take over your life, it is to help you eat less, in a way that is acceptable to you. You can think of it as your personal strategy to have the cake and eat it too - eat food you like, but less of it, so you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. That is the success story - people have accepted the limitations that are, but found ways to enjoy life within those boundaries. That's why (in addition to what @Evelyn_Gorfram said) you don't hear so much about the struggles of successful people.svlofthouse wrote: »I’ll definitely start to just log everything, even if it’s hard. I think that might be what I need to finally start to lose weight.
I’m terms of the inaccurate logging, I use the recipe builder for recipes I make, but have no clue really what goes into things I’m served. However, I have to eat this or I will really be letting weight loss take over my life. How do I stop it becoming all consuming?7 -
Oh for cavorting *kittens'* and *puppies'* sake. The OP used deficit instead of overage in their OP and I continued using their terminology instead of fixing it.
You aren't helping!! You're part of the problem! (said with all the hugs and lols - and thanks for explaining. Please to use sarcasm font next time. Kthanksbye.)4 -
Wow guys! I weighed how much mashed potato I was eating for the first time. Eye opening!
I’ll be so much more careful with logging from now on, and hopefully I’ll still be able to fit treats in so I don’t binge.
Thank so all so much for your advice - let’s make this one a success story as well!21
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