I need help!

as per almost always, I second what Ann said.

I tried to look at your diary but your account is set to private!

bkw14900 wrote: »

csplatt wrote: »

I tried to look at your diary but your account is set to private!

Weird! I have my diary open to the public... Let me try something else

@bkw14900 , I can see your diary and I looked at what you had yesterday and seems to be on point!!!

bkw14900 wrote: »

Very good points!!!
For the measurements, Its sometimes hard to find certain foods on here. I use the barcode a lot which could be the problem as to why its not a uniform measurements. I am very diligent on not eyeballing (so for example, if the serving size is 30 pieces, I count it out)
I normally dont put in my exercise, it took me a while to figure out how to get my calories logged on my Apple watch, so I was finally able to log some calories in yesterday.
I also don’t normally “cook”.. Im a busy person so most of the time I am eating premade items which doesnt consist of any dressings/cooking oils, but if I do log those. Yesterday I made chicken for the first time in forever so I did log in everything I used to make it🥳

I also get into the habit of not logging in some days because I eat the same exact things sometimes. Normally just on the weekends as I dont have time to log or cook, so I find myself eating the same exact foods (foods that I already know what the calories are) I should get into the habit of actually completing my diary even if I know im within my calorie limit. I stick to about 1100-1200 calories a day, along with exercise.

I will admit Wednesday is our normal “date night” and that is my splurge day, where I dont log in because I still feel SO guilty even though I know I deserve it.

I get so many different mixed signals online with what is too many calories or not enough, or too much sugar or dont need to worry about sugar... it’s exhausting! So I really appreciate your advice and dont take anything personally🙂
I weigh 179 and my height is 5’6”; I have a desk job so Im pretty sedentary until I get home, then I normally workout for 40 minutes 5 days a week.

Thanks for replying.

I feel like that's a very low calorie goal, especially with the workouts added but not eating back any of those calories.

I started out at 5'5" and 183, and ate 1200 *plus* all exercise calories for a while, and that was too low for me (at age 59, while severely hypothyroid, BTW). I lost most of 50+ pounds in less than a year at 1400-1600 *plus* exercise.

While eating too little doesn't halt fat loss, it can subtly sap energy, reducing calorie expenditure (including unconscious things like hair growth rate, body temperature, etc.); and it can cause creeping water weight gain on the scale that hides fat loss that may actually be happening (it's a stress effect, basically, from excess physical stress from the low calories and maybe sub-ideal nutrition as a consequence of low calories).

It's not super uncommon around here for women who've been eating really low calories, as you are, to find that they actually have a "sweet spot" at a little higher calorie level, where those things don't cause problems so much, so they start seeing the scale drop (and often feel better, besides).

As an aside, your weekly date night, while probably not enough calories to wipe out your whole deficit the rest of the week, may be bumping up scale weight a bit via water retention (part of metabolizing extra carbs & sodium, not fat gain, not worth worrying over). That will play peek-a-boo on the scale with ongoing fat loss for a few days to a week or so, too. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, I'm saying you should understand it, and not worry too much about it: The fat loss will show in longer term weight trends (over multiple weeks), even if daily weights don't clearly paint a picture.

One thing for sure: Don't feel *guilty* about date night! It's just food, not sin, y'know? There's no reason to feel bad (burns no extra calories!). You can manage it, either just by keeping it reasonable (vs. treating it as a blow-out with a hall pass to get away with it), or by estimating it after the fact so you have an idea what the calorie level might be. (I bank calories most days, eating a tiny bit under goal, then spend those calories on an occasional indulgence, for example.)

Now, one person's experience doesn't translate to another (I know my calorie needs are unusual in some respects, besides), but a TDEE calculator suggests your all-day calorie needs at your current size would be around 1800 or so, if sedentary (which is well < 5000 steps, BTW), and not even counting the 5 days of exercise, which is probably good for at least another couple of hundred calories. That would be to maintain your weight. Something around 1300 + all reasonably estimated exercise calories ought to get you about a pound a week loss on average, and I don't think you'd want to go lots faster than that, health-wise. I'm sure you want to arrive at the wedding day looking healthy and vivacious, not depleted and fatigued, let alone worrying about thinning hair or something.

I'd strongly suggest that you set up your MFP profile for a pound a week, *maybe* 1.5 for a short time, basing your MFP activity level on your daily life (which may be sedentary, but many people with normal home chores and jobs get over >5000 steps or equivalent other movement, so would really be more like lightly active. Then, carefully estimate exercise calories, and log/eat at least a good chunk of those, too. Try that for a month (whole menstrual cycle so you can compare weights at the same relative point in 2 different cycles), see what results you get, then adjust eating based on that, to hit a sensible rate.

As far as what you're reading online, there's a lot of nonsense out there. Some of it is written without the assumption that people will be *accurately* calorie counting, I think.

The prohibitions on sugar (as an absolute) are, I think partly a misunderstanding of how insulin works in healthy people (may differ in diabetics), and partly because when not counting calories, cutting added sugar is a decent way to cut a bunch of calories (that don't bring much nutrition along for the ride). If a person calorie counts at a reasonable level, makes it a point to get semi-adequate protein, fat, and veggie/fruit intake, there's not going to be a lot of room left for "too much" added sugar. In a calorie-counting situation, I think it's more helpful to focus on calories and nutrition, vs. just "cut sugar".

As far as calorie level, some of the difference is confusion between the MFP NEAT method (that estimates exercise separately), and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) method (which averages exercise plans into daily calories right up front). Add to that the fact that different so-called "calculators" use different research-based formulas, maybe have different numbers/descriptors of activity levels, and yeah, different numbers come out. IME, it's rare to see difference bigger than 100-200 calories daily (once exercise is accounted for as per the method), which is a smaller number than a deficit for a pound a week loss, so not a weight-loss-killer by itself.

If you pick a method (log exercise separately, or average it in), stick to the method and the goal it gives you, and do that for a month or so, then adjust . . . that will work. The so-called calculator just gives you a reasonable, research-based, average starting point. For most people, it will be close. For a few, it will be a little off (high or low). It's rare for the estimate to be really far off, though it can happen for a very few people (that's the nature of statistical estimates) . . . but the month's experiment, done with reasonable care, will give you a personalized estimate. You can go with that moving forward, adjusting similarly along the way if needed.

Personally, I find using a food scale to be not only more accurate than cups or counting, but actually easier and quicker. Unless you think you might be a personality type that would stress over precision, I recommend it. For something like snacks or crackers, I find it way easier to put the bag/carton on the scale, zero it, then grab out what looks like a rational portion. The negative number on the display will be the amount you took out. You can match it to the package serving size if you like, but even then it's usually quicker than counting out 14 chips or something. That method is especially great for things like peanut butter: No extra cups or implements to wash, just put the jar on the scale, and do as above, using the knife you'd be spreading with. Another thing is building (say) a sandwich or salad with the plate on the scale, just zeroing between each ingredient to see what weight you're adding for each thing.

A good scale only costs $15-20, and they're available everywhere from Amazon to Walmart and beyond. More accuracy, less time, fewer dishes to wash? To me, that's a win.

I'm sorry, that was a long ramble. I'll stop now!

Wishing you much success!