Has Paying Attention Made Me Gain Weight?

You might be looking to these sites and "obsessing" over your diet but honestly it doesn't show on your diary... The things you do log in aren't the best choices. Instead of yogurt, cereal and milk for bfast- how about eggs, whole grain toast and berries? No more processed foods, no more sodium and get active and you should see the weight fall off. I don't think you are as dedicated as you like to think you are. Just saying you want to lose it doesn't make the weight come off. You have to take action. Choose fresh, whole foods, drink water and start walking. Stop kidding yourself, it's time to get serious.

Ivybres

You asked why this isn’t working:
I think your scenario is not uncommon. It sounds to me there are some very distinct things that needed to be pointed out to you. If you want to loose weight and keep it off there has to be a lifestyle change. First you have to get an eating schedule meaning there has to be a plan. I have found in my house that we have to plan our meals at least a week in advance, this includes 3 snacks and sometimes 3 meals that I prepare in advance because I am often at work or out of town. Next, we have to prepare everything that we can on Sundays (my rest day) to be able to prepare our meals quickly. If I want an egg white omelet then I have already cut up everything I want in the omelet, which makes it quick and easy to prepare. Being in shape and staying healthy takes some work and thoughtful planning but YOU can do it!

You mentioned that you are paying attention to what you eat (Great Job) and in the same paragraph you mentioned eating fast food and drinking Dr. Pepper Diet. The first rule to fitness, is don’t drink your calories or eat empty calories (this means that although your body has the calorie count) it is in starvation mode because it thinks that you are not going to feed it. Let me explain more, for example if you don’t eat breakfast and a snack in the morning and then go to lunch and eat 1350 calories your body is already in starvation mode, which in turn stores the fat that it collected from the 1350 calorie meal (big mac meal) in preparation of going a long time without fuel, make sense? You have to eat 5-6 meals a day (Small portions of good food), Instead of empty food, I would recommend eating something more in line with a chicken salad, it has a lot less calories and it is fuel for your body not empty calories like fast food. You will not get anything from Soda’s but fat, yes even diet. You must think of your body as a machine (which it is), if you put sugar in the gas tank of a car, what happens, it doesn’t run. You have to watch what you put in your body, if you exercise and eat right, you will crave the good foods that your body needs instead of empty food. Remember, that your feeding a machine that requires the right fuel to function right. The better you eat the more efficient the machine runs.

I would suggest that you get on an exercise, I use P90X and Cross fit alternating workouts. There are a lot of people doing many different exercise programs on here, but most important use the meal plans, this will pay huge dividends down the road. Don’t obsess, establish a good plan, there are enormous resources out there for you to reference and I can help you if you like but main thing is have a plan.

Lastly don’t give up, you can accomplish your goals but you have to put the work in. As you get stronger and loose weight you will crave working out and eating right. I can tell you from personal experience that I have never felt better than when I’m working out and eating healthy. Give up sodas, fast food for 30 days, exercise and eat healthy and you will be a different person but remember you can do this, all you have to do…..IS DO IT!

Okay, so you eat a moderately wholesome breakfast so you can *kitten* and wake up - I can get behind that. I mean, the food choices, not the actual sh!tting and waking up... but then what? You don't have to eat fast food just because you work in fast food. And as someone else pointed out, you were over your maintenance by a lot in August, and you still go over maintenance enough to admit it. I may go over my daily allotted calories on MFP, but I still stay under maintenance, because that's how weight loss works.

I really don't think you're being honest with yourself or us. And I'm not being an *kitten* about that, I used to do the same thing. I can spot a half-assed attempt from a mile away, because I've lived it for the last decade. Spend the next month logging your calories, everything you eat, and stay under your MFP allowance... get active, too. If you can come back and tell us that after one month of all of that, you haven't lost a single pound, then maybe you'll be able to say it's not working.

If it's not working for you and you don't like it then I suggest trying something else.

[An no, I'm not confused. Calories in calories out, duh. I know why I'm gaining. What I'm seeing though, is that my behavior seems to be worse the more I'm on MFP. So maybe y'all bring out the worst in me, IDK.

to address the first 2 sentences: It's not as simple as calories in/calories out, quality is also important and I'm not seeing a great deal of fruits and vegetables and raw in your diet. iceburg lettuce is not a quality food source, for example, so maybe you're eating a salad but how valuable is it? Convenience foods and candy aren't the keys to weightloss and a healthy lifestyle either.

to address the last 2: do you really think this, or are you just looking for a scape goat as to why accountablilty hasn't worked for you and why mfp hasn't possibly worked for you because you didn't start eating healthier or use it as a learning tool to adapt your existing lifestyle to a better one, just to eat the same crap you were eating before just possibly in less volume?

(wow, holy run on sentence)

I eat that for breakfast because I have some medical conditions that those specifically address:
I'm hypoglycemic, iron deficient anemic and have chronic gastritis. Without sugar and iron in the morning, I don't wake up. And without fiber and activia, I don't **** for weeks. That's 375 calories. I don't think that's my problem.

Sorry but I'm hypoglycemic too and that is not what you should be eating! Protein is what you need for your condition otherwise with the cereal you are setting yourself up for a 10:00am crash that will leave you feeling like ****. I have been dealing with the same things you are and I find a way to eat healthy (and lost 40lbs in the process).

As for the pooping issue, exercise will help with that and you can get healthy fiber (not inulin/fake fiber that is in Activia and has been shown in studies to cause your constipation to get worse instead of better over time.) Healthy fiber can be found in green veggies... well most veggies. Eat up and put down the spoon.

You wonder why it's not working it's because you are sabotaging yourself, sorry to be so blunt but I'm a no excuses kind of girl. I have the same issues as you and I'm way into my healthy weight range and healthy.