stuck in a food rut...need some ideas to change things up!

deanne525
deanne525 Posts: 69 Member
edited October 7 in Food and Nutrition
I am stuck in a serious rut...and need some help. Last year I lost about 35lbs, but then my weight loss just stopped. I have since gained back about 9lbs. I really want to jump start my weight loss again, but what I ate then, doesnt seem to be working for me now...but I am stuck. I dont know what to really do to change it up. We are a very busy family, both my girls play sports and we are out alot of the week and dont get home till 8pm alot, so dinners during the week tend to have to be quick and simple.

Here is what I am eating now, and what I ate before to lose the weight....

breakfast
special K
1% milk

morning snack
fruit

lunch
lean cuisine meal.

afternoon snack
pretzels and some hummus

dinner
when we are home I always make protein, a veggie and some kind of starch.I always take more veggies. When we are out, alot of the times dinner is subway. I try to go lighter and will get only 1 scoop tuna with lots of veggies.

after dinner
usually some kind of skinny cow ice cream snack

i walk 3.5 miles 4x per week.

so...this worked for me before...but isnt doing anything now. Any suggestions???

Replies

  • JazzBar9363
    JazzBar9363 Posts: 50
    Deanne, what you have written looks good. I don't know what the calories are. Perhaps you're eating too far under your daily goal? Your body is holding on to every spare ounce it can. Do you feel comfortable putting your diary on public? That way we can see what your daily goals are and hopefully help you figure it out.
  • jeffazi
    jeffazi Posts: 198
    It's hard to tell what the problem is without knowing the portions/calorie count. I know that if I am not really concsious of my portions it is very easy to eat too much.
  • thejackswild79
    thejackswild79 Posts: 102
    If it were me (and it was about March of last year and again in December) I would focus on two things first:

    I am being accurate in my food tracking and portion control?
    Can I eat better?

    With the first one, it is easy to get complacent particularly when I eat the same things over and over again. Surely I know what 28 grams of cheese looks like. Inevitably it leads to me under recording calories and going over my target, not so much that I am gaining wait but enough so that I am maintaining. Take a few days to measure everything again as you have been visualizing and see if those portion sizes have changed.

    With the second one, the answer is usually yes I can. In March of last year gave up the Lean Cuisines and Skinny Cows in favor of focus on cleaner eating. Cutting out processed foods and consuming more whole foods resulted in something rather interesting for me: I was eating a larger portion of food that was still lower or equal in calories to the processed counterparts.

    The other thing to realize is that as we lose weight and increase our exercise our nutritional levels change. This fall I was maintaining within 5 lbs while participating in a distance running program. I love to run and racked up the mileage while still doing my regular cardio and strength training. The scale absolutely would not move downward. I looked to the first two, made some adjustments and still just stagnated. In December, my blood sugar started crashing and so I returned to my doctor between scheduled check ins. I have learned that for me as an individual, my BMR had actually changed significantly enough that I needed to increase my daily consumption and adjust the macros. Though I still have 40-50 lbs left to lose, I am committed to only losing 20 lbs in the coming year so that I can support my increasingly active lifestyle (I have a serious running addiction). It might be time to re-evaluate what you need based on changes you have made to your life during your initial weight loss.
  • deanne525
    deanne525 Posts: 69 Member
    thanks for the suggestions everyone.

    As I have been sitting here this morning, I have been thinking about what I can do differently. First, I think you are right..portion control is probably a big one. Eyeballing serving sizes doesnt seem to be working for me.

    Second, and this is a huge one for me....is "bites, licks and tastes". I have a feeling that all my little bites, and handfuls of this or that is really really adding up. I feel like what I am eating for my meals is pretty healthy...but all the bites of this or that has to be killing me. I may not be the only one who does this (hopefully im not) but I think if i dont actually take the bag of "whatever" out and just take a little handful that I am not doing any damage. As of this week, I am cutting that out and see if that makes any kind of a difference on the scale this week.

    Im also going to try not eating back my exercise calories and see where that leads. With any luck I will see some positive results by weeks end!
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