Having loads of trouble- please advise.

piratehunter · February 2012

Hello everyone, (I apologize in advance for my lack of brevity)

I am having the hardest time losing even a single pound.

I have been using MFP for almost two months now and I've gained 3 pounds, but lost three inches around my waist (yay muscles?) I weigh a whopping 187 pounds on a 5'4" body, but I wear a size 12, so I personally don't think I look that big, merely chubby. However I'd like to have a much lower BMI (around 25). My goal is based on the weight I was when I was in the Navy. I don't look all that much different from then, but I feel weaker so I think the muscle is now fat. I gained about 30 pounds after I injured my knee in 2010 and was discharged due to the severity of the injury.

I eat more than 1200 calories per day but usually wind up with quite a deficit. I have an active job and walk to work (~30 minutes a day) in addition to other exercise. Due to the knee injury I can't run anymore, but I have done dance classes, airwalk training, hiking, weights and other upper body stuff, and I walk everywhere (I do not drive, at all.)

I also eat a wide range of food, pretty balanced: no processed foods unless I'm in a bind, veggies/fruit every day, enough protein to support muscle growth, organic food, fresh food, no soda (I only drink water, unless I'm out with the girls), and I take a multivitamin at least 4 times a week (sometimes I forget to record that on MFP though.) I do have a weakness for ice cream, but I've always limited it to only a couple times a month, even in the summer.

Based on my day, I burn about 2200 calories without doing anything out of the usual.

Due to my inability to lose any weight I've been concerned that it's one of three things:

1) I am inadvertently in starvation mode (even though I honestly am not hungry at all, and it would suck to have to eat more food for no reason.)

2) There is something wrong with my thyroid or something else biologically is preventing me from losing.

3) I'm retaining water/ exercising or eating the wrong way... I find this one hard to believe. I don't push myself into crazy 2 hour cardio workouts, but I am active every single day and I do about 10 minutes of sit ups and push ups in the morning to wake up. I walk everywhere because I don't drive. I only drink water.

It just seems completely insane that I'm gaining weight (never actually lost a pound) over an 8 week period.

I'm frustrated and could use some advice, encouragement, new friends, anything that could get me to where I want to be.

Thanks to everyone who responds.

Aly

IveLanded · February 2012

are you tracking your meals and exercise? if you are, your stuff is set to private so I couldn't peek.

If not, I would say that might be your problem. In my experience, most people really don't estimate their intake/output correctly. That would be my first suggestion as a place to start.

Chagama · February 2012

It's kind of hard to say without knowing more details, but it sounds odd. It could be all muscles vs fat, but it seems unlikely that you'd actually gain weight, even building up muscles I would think you should still lose some weight, certainly not gain.

I would suggest seeing a doctor about they possible thyroid issue. Either confirm it of rule it out.

You may be overestimating how many calories you burn on a typical day. Try lowering your daily goal and see what happens.

I'm not sure what you mean by quite a defecit, if it's too much you could be slowing down your metabolism and need to eat more.

If the doctor doesn't find anything, it might be worth meeting with a nutritionist. Have him/her review your foods, exercises, etc. and see what they say.

Good luck, I'm sure there's a reasonable answer out there somewhere.

piratehunter · February 2012

Okay let me temporarily fix my settings and see if that adds any insight. I missed about 10 days this month because of connectivity issues. other than that I've been very consistent about recording and I record EVERYTHING I eat.

JessicaHoskins · February 2012

You definetly have your hands full!
Try logging EVERYTHING for just one day, as it will give you a reality check that you need. (I know that it helps me a lot.)
You can add me if you want (?); I've been told that I give great advice.

piratehunter · February 2012

I do log everything, that is why it's so incredibly frustrating.

I've been reading a few other threads and I had no idea I was supposed to eat back the calories I burn from exercise. What is the point of exercising if it forces me to eat more than I'm comfortable with?

When I initially lost weight to join the military, I did it through high intensity workouts three times a week and eating whatever I wanted. I have never eaten fast food in my entire life, never drink my carbs, only eat fresh homemade or high quality restaurant food. There was nothing really to change about my diet.

12skipafew99100 · February 2012

You have never eaten fast food? Where do you live? On an island? :laugh:

SwimKitty · February 2012

Hi, you might find this to be helpful - it explains quite a bit.

http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/2011/05/most-dreaded-word-in-weight-loss.html

It's not that I think you're at a plateau, but this has relevant info. Hope it helps!

piratehunter · February 2012

No, lol. I just hate the way it tastes and smells. I ate at McDonald's once when I was 15 and it made me feel sooooo slow and gross. I just would rather pay more for better food.

samrockrocks · February 2012

i wonder if your body is so used to walking to work everyday that you shouldn't be counting it as exercise?? that's my only suggestion! sorry

CaptainMFP · February 2012

I've been reading a few other threads and I had no idea I was supposed to eat back the calories I burn from exercise. What is the point of exercising if it forces me to eat more than I'm comfortable with?

MFP estimates your daily caloric needs EXCLUDING exercise. You need to provide energy for exercise or you run the risk of slow loss and even possible gain due to water retention. You body me be used to self-induced caloric restriction to the point that you are not feeling hungry even though you need the nutrients. Keep in mind if you caloric intake runs too low too often you will likely run deficient on micronutrients if you are not careful, and this can have adverse effects on both water retention and metabolism.

Using myself as an example, I'm about 179 now and 6' tall. I eat 2400 calories a day and run only about a 10% deficit for the week because I exercise to the tune of 3000 - 4000 calories burned per week. If you want to up your calories but don't want to increase the amount of food you eat, there are options. High calorie, nutrient dense foods (e.g. Greek style yogurt, nuts and nut butters) can help. If it's in your comfort zone, protein shakes and bars can also help.

If you're genuinely concerned about a hormonal issue, definite see the doc and get that ruled in or out (as someone above noted). But if you're serious, you have to eat to exercise, not exercise to eat. In other words, the more active you want to be the more you need to eat to sustain yourself. For the record, I've been eating exercise calories back since I started (originally daily, now over the course of a week) and have grossed more than 2200 calories daily while dropping 60 lbs. Eating more sounds scary but it really can work if you do it right.

Laura_Ivy · February 2012

I swear I am your twin! I have gained weight since joining mfp and I track everything that passes these lips good or bad,yes I eat fast food on occasion . I have gotten my thyroid checked twice because I just cannot wrap my head around what is happening to me and my body! I can tell you what I am trying now is always making sure I am netting my bmr and trying to eat at just a 20% deficit. I think my body might be incredibly sensitive to huge deficits so I am really hoping this works for me. Also- I suggest looking a tdee calculator to see how much you burn in a day just to give you a ballpark figure. Oh and look up fit2fat radio they give amazing advice about the eat more to lose philosophy. Add me if you are looking for more support- I completely frustrated and baffled at myself as well!

siobhano_ · February 2012

Possibly try and get a bit more variety in your diet? I've noticed that on most days there are only 4 or 5 foods logged, each with high calories. I personally think the best diaries are the ones which have loads of ingredients with only a few calories each.

It's a good idea to get some more healthy fats in there, too. Oily fish, eggs, nuts, seeds and avocados are filling, quite high in calories to help eat back some of those exercise calories, and high in protein, too.

There are lots of threads of mfp with recipe advice and you might find better ideas for your meals. Especially breakfast. It's very important, and most days you are only having a coffee. This could be stalling your weight loss. Make sure you never have a day with less than 1200 food. A lot of your days you are only eating 500-800. This is far too low.

tstawicki · February 2012

I looked on your diary and see that you don't eat breakfast. It is important that you eat breakfast because it gets the metabolism started, and like a fire that is dying, you have to keep the fire stoked to burn. Also I agree that you need a variety of different foods in your intake to change it up a bit therefore giving you different nutrients that you need to be healthy.

SwimKitty · February 2012

This also helps to explain why you should adequately fuel your body -

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/206951-asked-my-trainer-re-eating-back-calories?error_user_id=13274230&error_username=SwimKitty

And if you have a long history of dieting/yo-yo-ing, then this is a great read:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/208407-how-to-repair-a-damaged-metabolism-stavation-mode?page=1#posts-2752820

For me personally, I initially set my calories to 1200. Lost a little, then stalled after only 2 weeks. And then I actually gained. I then increased to 1400, lost a little, stalled again. I am now up to 1600, eat back half my exercise calories, and am now losing steadily.

I try to never go below my BMR - it's the minimum my body needs to run efficiently.

And if you're looking for even more info :

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/index2.html

piratehunter · February 2012

So #1 When I log something i log it as a meal. It's faster and easier for me. If I logged ever single ingredient, it would amount to the same calorie count, but take half an hour. I simply don't have the time every single day to write down every table spoon and cup of an ingredient. The problem with this is that I'll look up what I ate and select whatever option seemed the most reasonable compared to what it was I cooked for myself. Therefore it looks like I eat pre-packaged meals and fast food.

Let's be very very clear: I make my food. I do not eat packaged or fast food.

#2 I don't have that many entries per day because I'm not a very hungry person. I eat a couple times a day, I rarely eat breakfast (it makes me feel sick).

I am not trying to make excuses, just clarify the situation. I'd rather add "PF Changs: chicken and broccoli" than add "8 oz chicken, 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs rice wine vinegar, 1 tbs olive oil, 5 mushrooms, 1 red pepper, 1 cup broccoli, 2 tbs lemon juice, various spices, etc etc etc" just to get one meal. The calorie count, thusly, may be higher than it should be.

lewandt · February 2012

I agree, you should eat breakfast. Also, is that really everything you are eating? There is hardly anything on there. You seem to be low on calories but not consistent.

lewandt · February 2012

Sorry, just read your last post. If that is the case then you are probably getting too few calories per day. I would try upping a bit and see if that helps.

MogwaisGrandma · February 2012

Hi there

Can I ask do you eat vegetables? I know that you say you log in bulk for meals but what you have logged seems very light in veg. I have found my system processes food so much better if I can eat at least 5 portions a day of just veg ( I try and go for more if I can fit the cals/bulk in) and this helps shift the weight better. I do not go as mad with fruit as some of it is too high in natural sugars and ramps the calories up.

As previously said try adding those good fats to your diet. Oily fish and nuts ( peanut butter is a favourite for this) and this will help keep your body away from starvation mode.

Best of luck.

zafferFL · February 2012

I looked on your diary and see that you don't eat breakfast. It is important that you eat breakfast because it gets the metabolism started, and like a fire that is dying, you have to keep the fire stoked to burn. Also I agree that you need a variety of different foods in your intake to change it up a bit therefore giving you different nutrients that you need to be healthy.

wow...metabolism is a fire that needs to be stoked? Do you have any scientific basis for this?

To the OP....experiment with the numbers, it took me a while to figure out what my BMR actually was, I'm not at a good level where I know pretty much how much I need to eat and how much I need to exercise.
There was a time when I thought I was in a deficit everyday, but a combination of not counting all the little extras (ketchup, mayo, spoonful of sugar etc..) and over exaggerating exercise calories caused me to be a little over.

Laura_Ivy · February 2012

Also, why not play around with calories for a while? If you arent losing then what do you have to lose? Eat at bmr for a while just to see if you notice a change. It might be hard to eat that many calories at first but believe me it will get used to it!

abigailmariecs · February 2012

I completely understand feeling sick when you eat breakfast. I would suggest starting small; a scrambled egg, half a slice of dry toast, or a granola bar. I use to have a problem eating breakfast until I had my children. I nursed and knew that I needed the extra calories to continue to do so. I started with just half a slice of dry wheat toast every morning until my stomach got use to being fed in the morning. Now I can have a full slice or even a bowl of cereal; however, I still cannot have a really big breakfast or anything with syrup or I am sick all day. The important thing is to eat breakfast, even if it is just a small amount it will get the metabolism going for the day.

zafferFL · February 2012

here we go, some myths about breakfast...before anyone else says that you NEED to eat it.

http://www.ditch-diets-live-light.com/breakfast-buzz.html

I'm a firm believer that forced, big breakfasts are one of the causes of weight gain because we are instilled with this as children...do some research for yourself before just repeating something you were taught.

SunnyAndrsn · February 2012

I would suggest using the create foods option under the My Foods tab, and creating your own recipe base. I know it's a PITA at first, but in the long run it's helpful and gives you more data to work with. Most recipes don't take that long to log, IMO, a lot loss than 30 minutes. I wouldn't bother to add most of the spices, except salt if monitoring your salt content is important to you.

I'm not a big breakfast person either, but if I eat it on my first break at work that seems to help. I usually just do a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit, or oatmeal and fruit. Anyway, just my 2 cents worth on the breakfast and logging thing. I've found that it DOES matter to log ever single tablespoon and cup of ingredient, at least for me.

So #1 When I log something i log it as a meal. It's faster and easier for me. If I logged ever single ingredient, it would amount to the same calorie count, but take half an hour. I simply don't have the time every single day to write down every table spoon and cup of an ingredient. The problem with this is that I'll look up what I ate and select whatever option seemed the most reasonable compared to what it was I cooked for myself. Therefore it looks like I eat pre-packaged meals and fast food.

Let's be very very clear: I make my food. I do not eat packaged or fast food.

#2 I don't have that many entries per day because I'm not a very hungry person. I eat a couple times a day, I rarely eat breakfast (it makes me feel sick).

I am not trying to make excuses, just clarify the situation. I'd rather add "PF Changs: chicken and broccoli" than add "8 oz chicken, 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs rice wine vinegar, 1 tbs olive oil, 5 mushrooms, 1 red pepper, 1 cup broccoli, 2 tbs lemon juice, various spices, etc etc etc" just to get one meal. The calorie count, thusly, may be higher than it should be.

TRMite · February 2012

one thing I'd recommend is to try to make a game out of getting over your percentage for vitamins. that helps me eat more healthy, especially on the days when I burn a lot doing cardio and thus NEED to eat more. You definitely seem to need more fruits and veggies in there. I can't imagine your getting enoug Vit C, A or Iron. Again, I try to make a game out of it (what do to get more XYZ) and that has helped me learn pretty quickly what foods are high in what vitamins.

spapsidero · February 2012

Sounds like ur stressing about this big time! I am the same way. All these experts say u need to eat 6 small meals or 3 big meals and snacks a day. When I do this I gain weight. I started cutting down portion size. I use a 6 inch plate to eat off of it makes me think I'm eating more. I also eat only when I am hungry not by the clock. I have been doing this for a year and I have lost 80 lbs and have kept it off. Three weeks ago I got the supplement CLA at GNC. Dr. Oz had a show saying this supplement gets rid of stubborn belly fat. I tried it and it works! I've lost 6 inches off of my belly area but only lost 2 lbs. I feel smaller in that area so I'm happy with it. I use to stress about the number on the scale and decided not to care about it bc my weight fluctuates so much. After that the weight started coming off. And it hasn't come back!

kiwigal7 · February 2012

I looked on your diary and see that you don't eat breakfast. It is important that you eat breakfast because it gets the metabolism started, and like a fire that is dying, you have to keep the fire stoked to burn. Also I agree that you need a variety of different foods in your intake to change it up a bit therefore giving you different nutrients that you need to be healthy.

This is what I was thinking too. You need to start your metabolism and no breakfast is not doing that. I saw a nutritionist who told me to eat 6 times a day at the same time every day. So I eat at 9, 11, 1, 3 and 6pm, I dont like to eat after then so dont worry about meal number 6. But I make every second "meal" a piece of fruit or a snack bar or something. I also am trying to make the majority of my last meal raw. So salads, veges etc that arent cooked. I havent lost a huge amount of weight yet but hyave lost over 16cm in my measurements

piratehunter · February 2012

Thank you all for your advice and support.

I am having eggs for breakfast (this is my second day in a row). I had one egg white and one whole egg yesterday but today I'm only having 3 egg whites because some people mentioned I needed the protein (most of the protein is in the white) but I don't like eating a lot for breakfast. I kept it down yesterday so this is a good sign.

I also changed how I was recording things in the past two days, and readjusted my sodium and carb daily "goals". Thanks again, and if anyone has anything else to share, please do.

kristinL16 · February 2012

IMO, you really do need to take the time to log everything you are eating accurately. Finding a similar meal is not good enough. For one thing, your portion is likely different than PF Changs, and the ingredients are not equal. There are ways to make logging easier. If it is recipe you eat often, you can use the recipe builder and save it for later. I try lots of new recipes and if I want to do a quick check on the calorie count I use this site.

http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

Most of my recipes are found online so I can just cut and paste into their site. I then quick add the calories here. If I make it a second time I will enter the info in the recipe builder and save. I am pretty new here so maybe there is an even easier way to do this, but thought this might help.

theginnyray · February 2012

So #1 When I log something i log it as a meal. It's faster and easier for me. If I logged ever single ingredient, it would amount to the same calorie count, but take half an hour. I simply don't have the time every single day to write down every table spoon and cup of an ingredient. The problem with this is that I'll look up what I ate and select whatever option seemed the most reasonable compared to what it was I cooked for myself. Therefore it looks like I eat pre-packaged meals and fast food.

...

I am not trying to make excuses, just clarify the situation. I'd rather add "PF Changs: chicken and broccoli" than add "8 oz chicken, 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs rice wine vinegar, 1 tbs olive oil, 5 mushrooms, 1 red pepper, 1 cup broccoli, 2 tbs lemon juice, various spices, etc etc etc" just to get one meal. The calorie count, thusly, may be higher than it should be.

LOL You are adamant that you make your own food, but willing to log it as PF Changs? What the what?

Take the time to log your meals - each individual ingredient. Once you log it, it's there for future reference. If it's a meal you make all the time, add it to your recipes.

ti2v78 · February 2012

The biggest difference I see that you can make it appears you already are making. Logging your food accurately is a huge difference. Once you have that under control (and as you do it, this becomes easier over time), then you can start to truly adjust your intake to see what changing your calories will affect.

Oh, and eat when you want. Breakfast is not a required meal, and your metabolism does not need "stoking".

Having loads of trouble- please advise.

Replies

Categories