Struggling to find the right plan for me

lrobson555 · February 2012

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing or has experienced the same thing. I've been on this website for about 5 and a half months now, and I just cannot seem to find the right plan for me.

I've tried 1200 calories, 1480 calories, doing lots of exercise, doing no exercise, eating back my exercise calories, not eating back my exercise calories....you get the drift. Some weeks I lose a pound or two, some weeks I lose nothing or put on weight. It always seems so unpredictable.

Does anyone have any advice on this?

Laura

mommynmotion · February 2012

You know I have the same problem... I am trying something new. I set my goal to maintenance and then I am leaving a certain amt of calories at the end of the day, so I can see my deficit. I know, it might just be mental, but it's worth a shot. Maybe seeing my deficit, instead of just knowing it's there will help me to eat more. I hear so many people say that undereating was a problem for them.

You could also look back to the weeks you lost weight and see what you were eating, how many calories and what your deficit was around that time. I did that this morning an dit was a huge eye opener for me. I have been leaving a huge deficit most days...up to 5000 per week and not losing. I looked back at my logs and it's the same thing I was doing last spring while not losing!

I read a post yeaterday about how when you are down to the last 15 pounds or so, a 500 calorie deficit might be too much! I don't have an answer for you, really, but just suggestions because I am in the same boat an dtrying something new!

lrobson555 · February 2012

Great idea! I have just changed my goals to maintain. It probably just is a mental thing. And I think I'm really inconsistent and get really disheartened when I see the red colour when going over my calories. Hopefully this well help!

garlic7girl · February 2012

All I can tell you is when I did Weight Watchers I lost a lot of weight but I was not a perfect every week lost weight. I lost gained maintained lost gained...so for me I did not see perfect successions of lose. Ups and downs.

erickirb · February 2012

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing or has experienced the same thing. I've been on this website for about 5 and a half months now, and I just cannot seem to find the right plan for me.

I've tried 1200 calories, 1480 calories, doing lots of exercise, doing no exercise, eating back my exercise calories, not eating back my exercise calories....you get the drift. Some weeks I lose a pound or two, some weeks I lose nothing or put on weight. It always seems so unpredictable.

Does anyone have any advice on this?

Laura

I would suggest setting your weekly weight loss goal based on the info posted below, and to make sure you eat back most of your exercise calories (if you are using MFP or a machine to estimate eat 60-75% of them, if you are using a HRM eat 90-100%).
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

I am also unsure of your macros (carbs/fat/protein) but I would suggest increasing the protein and lowering the carbs from the MFP defaults aim of 20-30% protein instead of the 15% default. To change this go to goals > change goals > custom.

ahealthy4u · February 2012

Just play around with what you are doing adjusting things. I have to do that with my Herbalife stuff as well to get what program I am on and to get it to work for me once I stop losing I go back to see what I have done that was different, then I adjust it to what I need to be doing what type of work out I am doing what type of day will be my main meal and so on. Just play around and adjust your diet and work out. I also known for women when it is that time a month it is hard to adjust I gain like 5 lbs and most of that is water weight. Good luck be happy and just adjust till it is right.

chrishgt4 · February 2012

One thing I would say that I've known friends of mine do in the past is to forget to put things down.

Make sure everything you eat is recorded, and also -recognise that a calorie isn't just a calorie. There's protein/carbs/fat and getting the balance of that is key.

I don't think the goals that MFP set you are ideal to be honest.

I always say to anyone looking to lose fat, to calculate their daily calorific amountand then knock it down by 500 and then work out your macronutrient ratio starting at 40/40/20 of Protein/carbs/fat

So 40% intake comes from protein, 40% from carbs and 20 % from fat. Based on those numbers, to work out the grams you need to divide your daily calories by 10 -that gives you grams of protein and carbs and divide by 45 to give you grams of fat.

You may want to tweak it but it's a good starting point. - possibly would want to tweak the carbs up and protein down.

lrobson555 · February 2012

Thanks all! There are some great ideas here

Unfortunately I tried 40/40/20 before and just found that I could not eat enough protein as I don't like nuts, seeds, beans or cheese!

chrishgt4 · February 2012

Thanks all! There are some great ideas here

Unfortunately I tried 40/40/20 before and just found that I could not eat enough protein as I don't like nuts, seeds, beans or cheese!

How about chicken fish or eggs? or steak, or gammon? or turkey?

badbull69 · February 2012

Thanks all! There are some great ideas here

Unfortunately I tried 40/40/20 before and just found that I could not eat enough protein as I don't like nuts, seeds, beans or cheese!

How about chicken fish or eggs? or steak, or gammon? or turkey?

And protein shakes or meal placement shakes?

Struggling to find the right plan for me

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