Frustrated Newbie, Not Losing so Trying MFP

I’d weigh and log.

I know, I know. Boring, irritating, annoying, and tedious.

But eye opening, informative, empowering and effective.

You could at least do it for thirty days. It might give you a much better insight into how much you’re really eating.

I had absostinkinglutely no concept of how many calories I was eating per day til I began logging.

Fitness trackers up the data ante and can be very motivating, too.

I have never felt starved. Only informed and in charge of my decisions.

I say this having lost 97 pounds well after menopause (as have a lot of ladies here) and have been in maintenance a couple years now, so put away the age card. 😘

melissajane1196 wrote: »

@springlering62 thanks, I know those baby nibbles and sips here and there do add up and I find tracking everything to be so tedious but I will try for one month and how I go. I also self sabotage on the weekends with drinks/snacks, I’m sure that’s parmostly the problem.

FIFY

Log those weekends. The good, the bad, and the ugly. You may be hitting 1200 calories on weekdays, but your weekends are killing your deficit. Maybe set your weekend calories a little higher, like 1700 calories. You'll still be in a deficit over the course of the entire week, but have room for some treats on the weekend (within reason).

melissajane1196 wrote: »

@springlering62 thanks, I know those baby nibbles and sips here and there do add up and I find tracking everything to be so tedious but I will try for one month and how I go. I also self sabotage on the weekends with drinks/snacks, I’m sure that’s partly the problem.

Yes, the BLT (bites, licks, tastes) can add up. Another thing that can add up is condiments: The dressing, the mayo, plus the cooking oil, the "one serving" of peanut butter that's more like two (once measured), higher calorie but not filling beverages, etc. Calorie dense foods are particularly risks, when eyeballing/estimating. There's ample research showing that most people, when estimating, dramatically underestimate intake.

With a history of disordered thinking around eating, I can understand your hesitation to log food. Only you know whether it's viable for you. If it's not, finding some other way to be reducing calorie intake will be key, and that could include minimizing use of calorie-dense foods in favor of others that are less risky to eyeball.

Yes, logging can be tedious, but it can also be insight-provoking. I was surprised, at first, that there were quite a few things I was eating that were bringing me a lot of calories, but weren't commensurately important to my happiness. There were easy cuts.

Also, I'd observe that logging is more time-consuming and tedious at first, but when one has routine foods in one's MFP recent/frequent list (so they come up first on searches), has meals or recipes saved for convenience, the process is less laborious. I don't think I spend more than around 10 minutes daily on food logging (even though I'm one of those food scale people). To me, that's worth it, to maintain a healthy body weight.

Like Spring, I calorie bank in maintenance. I didn't, when losing. It can be fine to eat at maintenance on the weekend, in a deficit on weekdays, if that helps you. Our bodies don't reset at midnight, it's about what we do on average over short/moderate time spans.

I'd observe that if you gained 20 pounds in 3 years, that implies that you were eating on average only about 64 calories daily above weight-maintenance calories (though that could've been achieved via some high-calorie days here and there, vs. an even amount of extra calories, of course). This stuff is sneaky.

When you talk about losing/gaining the same 2-3 pounds, please be sure you're not over-reacting to changes in water weight. Even when I'm overall maintaining my weight (over weeks to months, looking at the trend), my daily weight can jump up and down by 2-3 pounds from one day to the next, occasionally even 5+ pounds. It's just variations in water weight and food in my digestive tract that will become waste. If your weight changes by 2-3 pounds, and you didn't accumulate 7000-10500 calories of changes in activity or eating over a similar timespan, it's not fat shifts.

Oh and: I'm betting it's not age. I lost weight fine at 59-60, once I committed to it seriously; and am now 66.

You can make this work, but it's up to you to commit, or not. What "commit" looks like can be somewhat flexible: Logging, estimating, etc. Self-deception ("hey, it's the weekend, it won't matter", "I just worked out so I deserve a treat, no need to account for it" . . . etc.) - not a good plan.

I think u are Overexercising and underrating imo. For how much excercise you’re doing, your definitely underrating which can cause stress and stress can cause people to hold on to fat. I know you really want to lose weight but imo you’re overdoing it just a tad. I’m eating around 1400, moderately excercising and I am definitely noticing the calorie cut, my energy is much lower, I use. To eat around 2000 a day. Walking 10000 steps a day burns approx 500 calories, if you’re actually doing that and eating 1200 do you see how that is a really high calorie defecit? Just my opinion tough, not a doctor

kpatota1 wrote: »

Honestly, when I was plant based (about 6 months) I felt the worst. Your body needs protein to build lean muscle and unless you’re eating A TON of beans, tofu, tempeh you’re not going to get enough (about 1g/ kg of body weight) I added greek yogurt, chicken, fish, eggs and low-fat cottage cheese back into my diet, along with strength training and my body has finally been able to put on some muscle and shred some fat. The best thing is I actually feel satisfied after eating, not stuffed but worrying about my next meal.

I would suggest playing around with your diet to see what feels best for you

I have not found it to be difficult to get well in excess of 1g protein per kg of body weight as a vegetarian, and I'm quite confident I could do it fully plant-based since I'm quite familiar with plant sources of protein. That's without using faux meats, protein powder or bars - not that there's anything wrong with those, I just don't find them tasty/satisfying. In fact, even when at weight loss calories, my protein goal was a minimum of 0.6-0.8g per pound of goal weight, so I was eating 80g+ daily, usually well over, as someone whose goal weight was 125 pounds (57kg). Now, maintaining around that weight, I'm routinely exceeding 100g protein.

It takes some attention and practice, but it's achievable. (I've been vegetarian for 47+ years, so this is not some new thing, for me.)

If OP is not getting enough protein, yes, that can be helpful, for health and body compositioin, as well as (for some people) to feel full. I wouldn't assume someone eating plant based is low-balling protein, and I don't see it as requiring "a ton" of calories to accomplish that. Some tofu, tempeh, legumes, etc.? Sure. Among other things.