Weight Loss Support Give and get support here!

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 01-30-2008, 12:51 PM   #1  
Starting Fresh
Thread Starter
 
sotypical's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Beautiful BC, Canada
Posts: 4,834

Height: 5'2"

Default Am I doing something wrong? (LONG)

I started February 9, 2006 - over the next 10 months I lost 50 pounds - YAY! From December 2006 - December 2007 I didn't really try very hard to lose weight - I would do good for a few weeks, stop, etc, etc. I started this year about 10-13 pounds heavier then I started 2007 (in late 2007 I saw 160 as my as lowest, but gain it back over xmas, haha)

When I started in 2006 I didn't know much and I remember it took me 5 weeks before seeing a loss.

So onto 2008, I know more then I did 2006 and it is great. I am ready to lose the last 40 pounds! yay! *claps*

Here is my problem. I started back on track the beginning of the year - 3.5-4 weeks ago. I KNOW that isn't very long but I am feeling frustrated and need to rant/get some advice.

I have lost 1 pound. yay? Expect I seem to have gained half of that back.

The first week I started I actually lost 2 pounds - but I know it was all water weight.
The second week I lose nothing.
The third week I lost 1 pound.
And this week I seem be up .4 pounds.

I KNOW it's not a big deal but I feel like I am working so hard and I MUST be doing something wrong.

I count all my calories using a site kinda like fitday (can't post it here) - I MEASURE my food. I take out a measuring cup to MAKE sure I am eating my 1/2 or whatever of whatever. I WEIGH my foood, I COUNT my crackers, my carrots - weight my cheese, measure my cream and my sugar. I use all custom foods to make sure I am enter the right information. I say between 1400-1600 calories a day (usually more around the 1500 mark).

I am exercising. I aim for a min of 20 mintues a day, but usually its more like 30-40. In the last 3.5-4 weeks I have exercised 1,125 minutes. Mostly cardio but I do those Walk Away The Pounds videos and usually do one that uses a stechie band or weights or something. I also bought a rebounder (so MUCH fun) - so sometimes I do that or ride my exercise bike as well.

I have had 3 not so good days and even then they weren't very bad. I drink lots of water.

Here is today's plan for example:

Breakfast - oatmeal w/ honey and cinnamon , coffee w/ half and half cream and equal
Snack - coffee w/ coffee mate and sugar, raisin bran bar
Lunch - tuna and celery sandwitch, cheese string, baby carrots, edamame
Snack - green tea, crackers, baby carrots and lobster pollock
Dinner - chicken wrap and salad

Exercise today was 45 min 3 mile walk away the pounds with a strechie band

I have not entered this into my calorie site yet, so I am not sure how on target I am but usually I plan, enter and then adjust. I try and plan my day out the day before.

THE ONLY thing I can see that I am doing wrong is that I feel I eat a lot of processed foods.

Anyway, should I give it a few more weeks? or adjust something?

I am just looking for advice, I feel really frustrated and I keep trying to tell myself to hang in there and its not working.

Thanks everyone! This site is amazing and believe it is the ONLY reason I lose the weight I have so far. I AM NOT complaining, I am lighter then I was two years ago and I feel great! I am just a bit frustrated

Last edited by sotypical; 01-30-2008 at 12:51 PM.
sotypical is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 01:07 PM   #2  
Starting Fresh
Thread Starter
 
sotypical's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Beautiful BC, Canada
Posts: 4,834

Height: 5'2"

Default

Here is an example of totals for the past few days:

yesterday: 1399
fat: 29.2%
carbs: 51.6%
protien: 19.1%

monday: 1667 (exercise lots, so I ate more)
fat: 24.4%
carbs: 51.8%
protien: 23.8%

Last edited by sotypical; 01-30-2008 at 01:07 PM.
sotypical is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 01:09 PM   #3  
Paleo-ish Girl
 
Altari's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 942

S/C/G: 255.5/174/160

Height: 5'6"

Default

I'm no expert, but everything you're doing sounds perfect. I'm a little jealous of your determination.

If you're concerned about your processed food intake, maybe you should cut them out. I use Atkins, although I strongly feel for MOST people that type of restriction is not necessary, and there is a big link between simple sugar intake and fat burned. What kind of bread/tortillas do you use? Maybe switching to the low-carb bread/tortillas (they really does taste the same) would help. The less glucose running through your blood stream, the more your body will turn to fat for energy.

Also, you may consider cutting out the coffee and replacing it with black tea. In my experience and without explanation that I can find, coffee impedes my weight loss.
Altari is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 01:58 PM   #4  
Just Yr Everyday Chick
 
JayEll's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Florida
Posts: 10,852

S/C/G: Lost 50 lbs, regained some

Height: 5'3"

Default

Hey sotypical!

Looks like you're on top of things. I'll just make a couple of suggestions of things you can try.

1. Don't go above 1600 cals on any day. This for some reason will stall me for a week--it may or may not be the same for you. Try to stay under 1500 on most days.

2. Increase your protein, especially if you're active. You show less than 25% protein--try to get up to 30% or closer to 100 grams. You may need to lower carbs slightly, say, to around 40%. Fats looks OK.

3. Allow yourself one day off from strenuous exercise every 5 or 6 days. Your body may need to recover and consolidate.

Anyway, you could try this for, say, a week, and see what happens. It's just a suggestion, I'm not an expert.

Hang in there! Don't give up!

Jay
JayEll is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 02:07 PM   #5  
3 + years maintaining
 
rockinrobin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 12,070

S/C/G: 287/120's

Height: 5 foot nuthin'

Default

Hey there Courntie.

Perhaps, just perhaps, it may be time to take those calories down a tad. Say stick with the 1400 calories and not go any higher. You say when you ate the 1600+ that you exercised more. That's the thing, exercising more is a GOOD thing because it gives us MORE of a deficit. So eating back those calories is counter productive.

Keep trying new things. Something's gotta give. You'll figure it out. Good luck.
rockinrobin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 02:20 PM   #6  
Senior Member
 
Glory87's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: San Diego
Posts: 6,192

S/C/G: 190/140/135

Height: 5'7"

Default

I'm such a rebel - you're young and you're exercising. I would up calories to 1800 (or have a couple of 1800 days thrown in there), no sense freaking out your "still prehistoric" body and make it think you're starving AND being chased by lions everyday across the tundra. I mean, what would you WANT your body to do if you weren't getting enough to eat and you're being chased by lions everyday? Conserve calories, hoard fat, etc etc.

Increasing my calories from 1600 to 1800 helped me when my weight loss stalled for 4 months, but my results may have been atypical.

It is good to see you posting again It sounds like you are doing GREAT! Whatever you are doing (eating less, eating more, upping workout intensity) - don't give up the healthy eating, you are doing GREAT things for your body and your long term health.
Glory87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 02:33 PM   #7  
3 + years maintaining
 
rockinrobin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 12,070

S/C/G: 287/120's

Height: 5 foot nuthin'

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Glory87 View Post
I'm such a rebel - you're young and you're exercising. I would up calories to 1800 (or have a couple of 1800 days thrown in there), no sense freaking out your "still prehistoric" body and make it think you're starving AND being chased by lions everyday across the tundra. I mean, what would you WANT your body to do if you weren't getting enough to eat and you're being chased by lions everyday? Conserve calories, hoard fat, etc etc.

Increasing my calories from 1600 to 1800 helped me when my weight loss stalled for 4 months, but my results may have been atypical.

It is good to see you posting again It sounds like you are doing GREAT! Whatever you are doing (eating less, eating more, upping workout intensity) - don't give up the healthy eating, you are doing GREAT things for your body and your long term health.
Oh Glory, every time I hear that you had to UP your calories to lose your final pounds, I get so darn jealous!!!!!! You certainly were one of the lucky ones, weren't you?

The reason I mention this is because it's not the "norm". Sure it can happen, well duh, it did, but it's not typical. Many, not all, but many people usually have to reduce their calories as they go along, not increase them.

I guess the bottom line is, we've all gotta figure out, through trial and error, what will work for us when it comes to weight loss. There is certainly not any one "correct" way to do this. That would be too darn simple, wouldn't it now, and we certainly can't have any of that .
rockinrobin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 02:58 PM   #8  
Senior Member
 
Glory87's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: San Diego
Posts: 6,192

S/C/G: 190/140/135

Height: 5'7"

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by rockinrobin View Post
Oh Glory, every time I hear that you had to UP your calories to lose your final pounds, I get so darn jealous!!!!!! You certainly were one of the lucky ones, weren't you?
It still took me NINE months to lose the last 15 lbs, it didn't feel very lucky compared to some people who lost over 150 in a single year! (you know I am teasing - but I was honestly AMAZED by how fast and steadily you lost weight, no bumps no plateaus no nothing!! At one point, I didn't lose a single pound between Feb and JUNE)

Last edited by Glory87; 01-30-2008 at 03:01 PM.
Glory87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 03:05 PM   #9  
Starting Fresh
Thread Starter
 
sotypical's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Beautiful BC, Canada
Posts: 4,834

Height: 5'2"

Default

Glory I was wondering the same thing - about upping the calories - funny most of you say to cut back.

Say today for example. Say I eat 1500 calories and I burned 280 from exercising. So that puts me 1220 calories and it seems kinda low - and today was a low day for exercise compared to the rest.

rockinrobin - the day I ate more, I exercise for a total of 115 minutes burning around 700 calories - I felt that only eating 1500 that day was too low.

Maybe I am thinking about this the wrong way. I know not to eat below 1200 calories a day, but if I eat 1500 calories and burn 700 through exercising am then not eating less then 1200 a day because I burned so much? Or does it not work like that. Like should I just eat my 1500 (or how ever many I decide) and ingore how much I burn through exercise? Even if I have a crazy day and decided to try out a bunch of new videos? (ahem, monday night, LOL)

I know some you say to lower it, but last year I struggled with eating too little during the times I did focus on my weight - and then it resulted in a binge later. So at this point I really don't want to eat less then 1400 right now.

I remember when I first joined in 2006 I was eating too little and eating more DID make me lose more, but I was also much heavier.

JayEll - More protein, I think you are right there - I was going by the percentages this other site was giving me but they do seem a bit low. I am going to try and up the protein and lower the carbs.

Last edited by sotypical; 01-30-2008 at 03:06 PM.
sotypical is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 03:10 PM   #10  
Starting Fresh
Thread Starter
 
sotypical's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Beautiful BC, Canada
Posts: 4,834

Height: 5'2"

Default

HOLLY CRAP ROBIN! OMG! I just looked at your pictures, you look AMAZING! Looks at this tiny arms! (that is probably my largest part) - you don't even look like the same person! And you lost it all so fast! CONGRATS!!!!!!
sotypical is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 03:44 PM   #11  
Member
 
M a g g i e's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 92

S/C/G: 215-220?/200/155

Height: 5'9"

Default

First, from what i understand about calories and working out is to consider them separately. You want to aim to get 1500 calories and then get a workout as well. I know some sites show your net calories, but I'd ignore that. As long as you are getting 1500 calories and all of your fruits, veggies, protein, and dairy your body will take whatever else it needs from that fat in your body.

Second, unless you were working out before you started this a month ago, there's a good chance that you're gaining muscle. Pretty soon I bet you'll see weight loss on the scale though!

Third, this kind of goes with my 2nd thing, but are you also measuring yourself? because that way when you don't see numbers on the scale you can tell that you lost weight by where you've lost weight. I don't have a scale so that is what i am doing, but now i'm thankful for that since especially these first 4 weeks for me are more about weights than cardio. What if you ignore the scale for a couple weeks and keep what you are doing since it sounds perfect! (I'm totally jealous haha!) and then get on the scale. hopefully that will be enough time for your new muscles to burn some calories and weight you've already lost will be evident?

Good luck! it sounds like you're doing everything really well, it just might take some time for the scale to show your progress!
M a g g i e is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 04:46 PM   #12  
Just Yr Everyday Chick
 
JayEll's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Florida
Posts: 10,852

S/C/G: Lost 50 lbs, regained some

Height: 5'3"

Default

sotypical, you've got it turned around. If you burned 280 cals exercising (and good luck reaching that number!) then theoretically you could eat 280 cals MORE than 1500 and still have the same amount of calorie deficit for the day. OK, that's complicated. Like this:

Calories burned - calories eaten = deficit for losing weight

So,

2000 - 1500 = 500 deficit

If you exercise and burn 280 more cals,

2000 + 280 = 2280

2280 - 1500 = 780 deficit

So, you could either "eat back" the 280 cals and still have a 500 cal deficit, or you could just say, better to have a bigger deficit and lose weight more quickly.

The problem with this simple equation is, first of all, you have to know your resting metabolic rate (RMR)--that's the 2000 in the example. It's not easy to figure this out--usually you need something better than just any old online calculator. However, I managed to get FitDay to give me a number that works by setting my activity to totally sedentary.

Second of all, calories burned during exercise is hard to come up with. Most machines in gyms give a kind of general reading, based on age and weight, but often they can give you too high a number of cals burned--it can be off by 30%! So, if you happily "eat back" your exercise calories, you might find you're not losing so much...

Anyway, that's how it works. You don't subtract exercise cals from cals eaten.

Jay
JayEll is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 05:27 PM   #13  
Starting Fresh
Thread Starter
 
sotypical's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Beautiful BC, Canada
Posts: 4,834

Height: 5'2"

Default

Jay - I think I just posted wrong, what you posted is what I ment, LOL. Overall I was just worried that if I exercise a while ton that I would be eating too little.

I know that machines are way off, I am going by what I get when I entered in the calories into the site I use.

I do the walk away the pounds videos, in 45 mintues of the video it says I walked 3 miles - so when I entered in 45 mintues of walk at 15min per mile I get 280 calories. I do expect it to be off tho, and I wouldn't eat more because of that, but it says I burned say 800 calories I would probably want to eat a bit more.

Thank you everyone for you help. I am going to work on eating more protien and less carbs for a week or so and see what happens then I might consider upping my calories - even by 100 or so and see what happens.

I am feeling better about this, I think I just needed to vent!

Last edited by sotypical; 01-30-2008 at 05:29 PM.
sotypical is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 09:43 PM   #14  
3 + years maintaining
 
rockinrobin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 12,070

S/C/G: 287/120's

Height: 5 foot nuthin'

Default

Thanks Courtnie. My arms trimmed down a lot. And I did a lot of upper arm exercises.

I keep my calories consumed and my calories burned completely separate. I eat what I eat and I burn what I burn. I don't trust any of those calories burned calculators. They are HIGHLY inaccurate. I look at any exercise/physical activity as a way to create MORE of a deficit. The only way I would INTENTIONALLY eat back some of my calories, is if I were running many miles a day. That burns loads of calories.

I really like the idea of you cutting back your carbs and adding in some more protein. Veggies are great as well. You sound VERY determined and I admire that. I know you will hit on the "right" thing for you. Good luck!!!

If you've eaten 1500 calories worth of food, no amount of exercise can take that away. You've received all the nutrients and energy from it.

Last edited by rockinrobin; 01-30-2008 at 09:49 PM.
rockinrobin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 09:47 PM   #15  
3 + years maintaining
 
rockinrobin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 12,070

S/C/G: 287/120's

Height: 5 foot nuthin'

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Glory87 View Post
It still took me NINE months to lose the last 15 lbs, it didn't feel very lucky compared to some people who lost over 150 in a single year! (you know I am teasing - but I was honestly AMAZED by how fast and steadily you lost weight, no bumps no plateaus no nothing!! At one point, I didn't lose a single pound between Feb and JUNE)
I know you're teasing.

I guess I did get kinda lucky. But then again, I was incredibly focused and determined and DISCIPLINED (wish I had a little more of it now that I'm in maintenance). And I exercised like crazy towards the end and kept on lowering my calories.

I know many people work very hard at it as well. I feel very, very blessed. Very blessed indeed.
rockinrobin is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:31 AM.


We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.