Desperate for some guidance plsssssss

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BritishDarling
BritishDarling Posts: 35
in Food and Nutrition
Heyy Everyone!

I am a 20 yrs old, 5'8 and weigh 216lbs/15stone 6lbs. My target weight is 145lbs/10stone 5lbs.

I started my journey in February 2011 at a weight of 240lbs/17stone 2lbs, but a lot of the weight was lost during the early months and then my weight loss slowed down :(( I wasn't exercising and cut my calories down drastically (bad idea), but i was losing 'weight' so i didn't care.

In sept 2011 i started the gym and started eating 1500 calories but i haven't actually lost any weight i actually gained 4/5 lbs (could be because of increased muscle mass not sure).

I am now working out 1hr per day 6 days a week and for 3 months haven't lost anything which is superrrr frustrating.

I am also confused on the amount of calories i am supposed to consume, MFP says 1610 net but i don't know i'm really confused about this.

Could you guys be kind enough to give me any tips/encouragement because i'm at a dead end.

Thank you =) x

Replies

  • SuddenlyPickles
    SuddenlyPickles Posts: 88
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    Could you open your diary up so we can take a peek at what you've been eating?
  • jenhillis
    jenhillis Posts: 4
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    I agree! Open your diary I am gonna open mine too to make it public! Eating the right foods is key not just the calories! Keep us posted!
  • fiberartist219
    fiberartist219 Posts: 1,865 Member
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    It is easy to gain a few pounds here or there if you are retaining water, but those few pounds should go away as quickly as they came on, so I wouldn't worry yet.

    If you are new to the whole weight loss thing, my best advice is to not get overwhelmed. Don't make it complicated and don't take on a whole bunch of "lifestyle changes" at once.

    The calories that MFP wants you to net are a great tool. They help you figure out how much food is too much, and I honestly believe that for 99% of the population, the recommended calorie intake is effective. However, if you had been eating 2300 calories a day, for example, and then MFP says to only eat 1200, it's going to be rough. That's kind of what happened to me. If unrestricted, I can eat a whole bunch of food. I found that the calories MFP suggested for me worked, more or less, but I was STARVING. I find that it is much better to ease into weight loss mode than to just jump in. I feel like I would have been more successful if I start lowering my calorie intake gradually, rather than suddenly.

    Anyway, just do what it says, but don't get too freaked out if it is difficult for the first few weeks. Don't worry if the scale says your weight fluctuates from one day to the next. The real concern is what is happening over the course of a few months, rather than days. If you have been trying to lose weight for more than two months and you have problems, it's time to switch things up. However, if you have only been doing it for a couple weeks, just hang in there.
  • SuddenlyPickles
    SuddenlyPickles Posts: 88
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    I agree! Open your diary I am gonna open mine too to make it public! Eating the right foods is key not just the calories! Keep us posted!

    Cheers to that! The day I opened my diary to my friends was surprisingly freeing. I think, overall, it's made me more accountable for the foods I choose to put in my body (and it helps that I have awesome friends who don't judge me on my terrible ice cream/peanut butter/pomegranate addiction).
  • BritishDarling
    BritishDarling Posts: 35
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    Yeahh i have opened my food diary not that its much help, i have only just started using it properly as of today. I am a student and struggle with what to eat and how to make it. My problem is that i either eat too much or eat too little, plus i'm not very creative with making my meals which makes everything boring.

    Thanks for the replies =) x
  • SuddenlyPickles
    SuddenlyPickles Posts: 88
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    Yeahh i have opened my food diary not that its much help, i have only just started using it properly as of today. I am a student and struggle with what to eat and how to make it. My problem is that i either eat too much or eat too little, plus i'm not very creative with making my meals which makes everything boring.

    Thanks for the replies =) x

    Well today looks AWESOME! I wonder if your not logging might've been part the problem? Before I got serious about fitness and weight loss, I used a different app called Lose It. Oftentimes, I couldn't find the exact food in the Lose It database, so I'd sub in a similar-sounding food. (Oh, and I also didn't use measuring cups or spoons... I eyeballed that, too). I didn't really think about the importance of tracking every single calorie, and figured that I could just wing it and still achieve weight loss. I bet you can guess where this story is going.

    This is all to say that calories and macros can be incredibly deceiving! As soon as I switched over to MFP, starting measuring all the food I consumed and entering the correct foods into my diary, I started to see results.

    Perhaps you can try to log consistently for the next few weeks and then check back in? I bet you my favourite jar of peanut butter that you'll start to see results when you accurately track everything that goes in your mouth. Good luck :)
  • BritishDarling
    BritishDarling Posts: 35
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    Yeah i'm going to start logging everything i eat and also log my exercise and then see how it goes. Calorie counting is hard enough without guessing everything lol. I'm going to make full use of this wonderful website and the message boards, especially the recipes and food ideas because that is wher i struggle most. Student life wasn't written with dieting in mind lol.

    Thanks for replying very helpful :D x
  • queenfresh
    queenfresh Posts: 32 Member
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    You should get the book Eating for Life by Bill Phillips. The recipes are easy, taste great, and he takes you through them step by step.
  • kriselayne1
    kriselayne1 Posts: 28 Member
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    Hi MissLander. From looking at your diary you seemed to have begun the day in a great way. A nice balanced meal but maybe you should add some more protein to your breakfast. Also just off the bat you have a lot of snacks and its fairly early in the day. It looks like you must have done some working out so numbers wise your still below your target however my opinion is that you should in crease the amount of your "real" meals vs more snacks in between. It takes a long time to figure out what works best for your body to lose weight and then maintain it however keep tweaking and working out. You cannot go wrong in the long haul with calories in and calories out. Also try to play with your foods. You would be surprised how your body reacts to different nutrients and adversely not having those nutrients. Good luck! I'm still on my journey and opening your journal is a great way to get feedback on your eating habits.
  • momma3sweetgirls
    momma3sweetgirls Posts: 743 Member
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    Your NET intake for the day is only 682 calories. (1303 is the food you consumed - 621 the calories you burned = 682 cals). Your body needs almost twice that much to complete all is physiological processes (i.e. breathing, heart beating, digesting, etc). You really should try to eat some, if not all, of your exercise calories.

    Get yourself a good cookbook. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time (I do a week at a time - works for me).
  • Brittney24
    Brittney24 Posts: 105
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    Are you getting enough water? Plus, I think you should eat back at least half your calories since you're already in a deficit. So say you burned 600 calories, eat your daily + 300 extra.
  • BritishDarling
    BritishDarling Posts: 35
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    Hi MissLander. From looking at your diary you seemed to have begun the day in a great way. A nice balanced meal but maybe you should add some more protein to your breakfast. Also just off the bat you have a lot of snacks and its fairly early in the day. It looks like you must have done some working out so numbers wise your still below your target however my opinion is that you should in crease the amount of your "real" meals vs more snacks in between. It takes a long time to figure out what works best for your body to lose weight and then maintain it however keep tweaking and working out. You cannot go wrong in the long haul with calories in and calories out. Also try to play with your foods. You would be surprised how your body reacts to different nutrients and adversely not having those nutrients. Good luck! I'm still on my journey and opening your journal is a great way to get feedback on your eating habits.



    Yeah i am going to try and eat more protein with each meal especially breakfast, i need to identify good sources of protein that i can have each morning. The reason i snack a lot is because i don't know what 'real meals' to eat, i snack as a way of getting my calories (which is wrong i know). Thanks for the reply and also the advice =) x
  • BritishDarling
    BritishDarling Posts: 35
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    Are you getting enough water? Plus, I think you should eat back at least half your calories since you're already in a deficit. So say you burned 600 calories, eat your daily + 300 extra.


    I am drinking close to 3 ltrs a day, so water wise i'm doing well :) unfortunately my problem is getting the correct amount food in. I'm going to start eating my exercise calories even though it feels kind of odd and counter productive lol i don't want to go into starvation mode =) x
  • BritishDarling
    BritishDarling Posts: 35
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    Your NET intake for the day is only 682 calories. (1303 is the food you consumed - 621 the calories you burned = 682 cals). Your body needs almost twice that much to complete all is physiological processes (i.e. breathing, heart beating, digesting, etc). You really should try to eat some, if not all, of your exercise calories.

    Get yourself a good cookbook. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time (I do a week at a time - works for me).

    I need to work on hitting my net calorie intake because as you can see its really bad. Yeah planning my meals and snacks would allow me to keep on track and leave minimal room for error and it would also be a lot less stressful =) x
  • doornumber03
    doornumber03 Posts: 221 Member
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    I hit a plateau for a bit after the initial lost.....as soon as I started eating the right amount of NET calories (I was way under) and drinking alot of water, it started decreasing again. Aim for more protein during the hard workout days.
  • Soozie1978
    Soozie1978 Posts: 138 Member
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    Hi, MissLander. My daughter never had a real weight problem until she went to college. You're right. The lifestyle and schedule makes it difficult to focus on healthy eating. Some of the things she does to help keep the weight in check are to have nuts and healthy granola type snacks and fresh fruits or juices in small cartons on hand. Then she can throw these in her bag for the busy days when she can't really stop for lunch or has a late class. That way she avoids the snack machines, etc. Also, packing a healthy sandwich or salad cheese sticks with whole graine crackers helps for lunch. If you have a blender, make a fruit smoothie and add some protein powder or a little peanut butter or yogurt for a breakfast on the go. Starting the day with a plan will help prevent the need to grab unhealthy snacks later.

    Feel free to add me as a friend. I've been on this journey for only about 2 months, but am determined to get healthy again!

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