Completely Discouraged

Your diary is currently private. To change that, click my home -> settings -> diary settings.

Do your own cooking, save leftovers for your lunch and ditch the fast food!!

Try not to think of your weight loss in terms of pounds. I completely understand what you feel. However, when you begin getting in shape you are toning your muscles. Maybe you lost in inches but not necessarily pounds. Stay away from the scale. It is not your friend. HaHa. Seriously, take a look at what you are eating. Maybe too much of a certain type of food and your body is used to it? For me its all about the calories. yes, I watch my carbs and fats but if I can keep my calorie intake at what I have set for myself that makes me happy. DON'T give up. You can do this.

Hey there! From a quick look at your diary, it seems like you're giving yourself too much of a daily deficit.


What weekly goal have you set yourself on MFP? You need to remember that it takes into account how much weight you want to lose and calculates the daily calories according to that - so you should basically not have any calories remaining at the end of the day.

There is a possibility that your body has gone into a "starvation mode" of sorts, because it is not getting the nutrition it needs. So your fat loss will not be as efficient since your body will try to conserve as much as possible.

You mentioned you're hitting the gym. Can I ask what sort of exercise you do? The pound you gained could well be a pound of muscle - don't go for scales, they're depressing. Instead, measure your waistline or look in the mirror - see if you FEEL a difference. (The exercise in the gym, if not accounted for in your diary, means you're losing even MORE calories that you aren't eating back thus also supporting the "starvation" theory)

My advice? Keep your gym to 3/4 times a week (allow rest in between). Walking is a great fat burner for those days you don't do any other exercise. Eat your calories till you have nothing left. Eat more protein. Get your fats from fish, nuts, supplements etc.

Have you being doing any strengh training within your workouts?
If so it might be that you have gained muscle which is heavier than fat.

And also look at the longterm benefits, it's not just about losing weight it's about a healthier lifestyle and feeling that you are more full of energy.

I Have a 12 month goal in my head and count in that you are going to have ups and downs within that period.
I have wrote a remider to myself that I look at when I am being awkward with myself to question my motivation.
(Basicly to kick myself up the *kitten*)

(Note to self) Sorry about the caps but that is how I have it on my word Document.

TAKE THE ROUGH WITH THE SMOOTH AND MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER YOU WILL HAVE THE ODD SLIP UP BUT WHEN YOU DO MAKE SURE YOU PUT IN EXTRA EFFORT AND REMEMBER YOUR DOING THIS FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY KEEP IT UP AND YOU WILL FEEL BETTER IN THE LONG RUN.

I am in no way perfect with my diet but after going back about a week in your diet here's my advice...

Eat more consistantly. Your diet is up and down. One day you eat your calories, the next day you are masively low. You are doing your body a disservice since it doesn't really know when a good sized meal is coming next. Positive snowball effects will follow that, like going #2 around the same time every day! LOL

Eat more clean food. You eat out A LOT. Chick Fil A and Subway, etc. You stay in your calories, yes, but you are fueling your body with crap. Cook more, eat more at home, if possible, bring your lunch to work. When you gain these skills, your food bill will be cheaper at the end of the month.

Your snacks are often junk food instead of fruits or vegetables. Eat more real food, less chocolate.

Quick add calories are good for accountability, but are maybe incorrect, and/or another poor food choice.

Do you over estimate your work out calories?

That's my 2 cents. Prolly worth less than that.

Any I'm not interested in forum haters hating on my advice. This Marlene will read my post or not.

Fabulous advice!!!!!

I am in no way perfect with my diet but after going back about a week in your diet here's my advice...

Eat more consistantly. Your diet is up and down. One day you eat your calories, the next day you are masively low. You are doing your body a disservice since it doesn't really know when a good sized meal is coming next. Positive snowball effects will follow that, like going #2 around the same time every day! LOL

Eat more clean food. You eat out A LOT. Chick Fil A and Subway, etc. You stay in your calories, yes, but you are fueling your body with crap. Cook more, eat more at home, if possible, bring your lunch to work. When you gain these skills, your food bill will be cheaper at the end of the month.

Your snacks are often junk food instead of fruits or vegetables. Eat more real food, less chocolate.

Quick add calories are good for accountability, but are maybe incorrect, and/or another poor food choice.

Do you over estimate your work out calories?

That's my 2 cents. Prolly worth less than that.

Any I'm not interested in forum haters hating on my advice. This Marlene will read my post or not.

^^^^Pretty much what I was going to say. I think it's definitely worth the full two cents.

If you are not measuring food-start. Lots h20/protein/healthy fats. Eat 5-6 meals daily.

All of the above are great points. Also remember you are individual. I look at it as a 2 steps forward 1 step back approach so I don't get so frustrated. I just had 2 weeks above and this week I finally got below my 3 week ago weigh-in. You can do this. Also mindset can have so much to do with it. I TRY to look at it as a serious life-changing my eating style. I'm not eating this way to lose weight, just to be healthier. The weight loss is a side issue. Best of luck to you. Friend me if you're looking for friends too.

Thanks everyone. I have a few questions for you all. When I go to the gym, I log my exercise and my calories lost ( I have a HRM to track the calories)... I sometimes have a deficit because I try to eat my 1600 calories (or less) and not eat my exercise calories. Isn't that the whole purpose of going to the gym is to burn more calories and lose weight. In my mind, going to the gym and burning calories, then turning around and eating them again is a bit counter-productive.
I do measure my food, so I know I'm pretty consistent there. I don't log my drinks at all, but I do get in most of my water... especially the days I go to the gym.
Thanks everyone for your help... I'm certainly not perfect (as you can see by my diary), but I'm working on it.

You're starving yourself. Exercise is for improving your physical fitness, it has nothing to do with weight loss. By ignoring the calories you are burning during exercise instead of eating them, you're wasting your time. Your body isn't getting enough fuel to function, so it's holding on to fat reserves in order to survive the famine until hopefully more food shows up. MFP already includes a deficit in your calories for safe fat loss, by not eating back your calories, you are creating a larger deficit that can potentially be unsafe, and that's what your body is fighting against, by slowing down your metabolism to match what you are eating, hence, no weight loss.

Sometimes your calories can be on target for the day, but you could have eaten at a restaurant, like I did the other day. Had minestrone soup and meat and veggies, but could tell it was loaded with salt. So yesterday I was expected a loss and the weight stayed unchanged. Today I dropped a pound. Sodium causes fluid retention. This could be a cause.

I can speak from experience when I say that everyone's advice to you is RIGHT ON! I walk daily and take Zumba on Tuesdays and Thursday nights (side note: LOVE Zumba :happy: ) I was burning between 600 and 900 calories a day, but I wasn't eating enough calories. I posted questions on a message board and I got the same advice. I couldn't wrap my brain around how eating more would cause me to loose weight either, but I gave it a try becuase I was desperate for a solution to my plateau. Everyone was right! The scale has started moving again! Give it a try and hang in there!!