I'm not understanding
 

I went to FitDay and put in what I've had to eat today ( and it's not far from what I normally do eat and drink) and I've only had 567 calories!! Does this seem right??

What do I do?

My goal is I think 2059 calories a day and 30 minutes exercise.

TIA girls!

Hi there. I'm no expert or anything, but umm...........something definitely seems out of whack. What is it actually that you are eating? 567 calories is nothing. I am also five feet as you can see by my numbers on the left. I must tell you that I am seeing a nutritionist and our numbers are very similar and she says that in order for me to lose weight I should be eating around 1400 calories a day with about 45 -60 mins of exercise. I did think her calorie count was a bit low, but nevertheless I think over 2000 is a bit high.

Can you make your Fitday journal public so we can see if we spot something odd? Go to www.fitday.com, sign into your account, and click on the 'Home' tab. Go to the bottom of the page where it says 'Public Journal' and select making your journal public. It will then give you a link that you can copy and paste here.

Once your journal is public, you can also have it show up under your name here at 3FC (like mine). Go to UserCP on the purple bar on the top of this page, click on 'Edit Profile' and scroll down the page until you see Fitday. All you have to do is type in your user name (not the whole link, just the user name). It will only work if you made your journal public first.

If we can see what you've been eating, I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions and ideas about what's going on. :)

Yeah, post a link for us to your fitday and then post what you actually ate and we can help you compare!

I haven't used the journal on there. I have used the one on here but not that much!

Let me try that because I would really love some help. Thanks so much girls!

i made it public and here is the link just in case...

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJ...ner=WannaBe200

I started this last night around 1 am because that is about when my 'day' is. I usually work wierd shifts at work

Can you post when you ate what, in this thread? What did you have for breakfast? Was the Kung Pao for lunch or dinner?

You could definitely benefit from adding dairy and more fruits and veggies! It doesn't seem like you're eating regular, balanced, meals throughout the day, either.

I had Kung Pao Chicken for 'diner' at like 11:30 last night because that was when my time at work was to eat. I only get a chance to eat like 1 real meal a day and the rest is snack like things or fruit.

I always make sure I get to drink lots of water

Ah shift work! Messes with yer innards, yes?
How about the little things? Cream and sugar in tea or coffee, soda, juice, condiments, candy, gum ... at my work we have an unlimited supply of arrowroot cookies ... I used to nibble and had no idea the effect 10 cookies would have on my calorie count. Did you eye-ball that chicken dish? I'm really bad at that. My eyeball cup is waaaay more than a real cup is.

Well you definately need more well balanced meals! Take a snadwich with ya for lunch and some fruit, for breakfast maybe a healthy slimfast shake would help?

It's going to be hard to keep yourself healthy when you eat so little and are good friends with popcorn and Butterfinger bars, but don't bring in lots of fruits, veggies, lean protein and whole grains!

You may not want to worry about calories right away and start focusing on how to incorporate healthy foods. Initially it can be overwhelming. I started by bringing lunches and snacks to work. It takes some planning, but also makes such a difference.

For instance, just now I have grilled up 4 chicken breasts. Hubby and I will eat on them during the week as snacks and part of meals. There will always be something healthy to grab so I don't get too hungry.

Tonight I will pack up bags of carrot sticks and grapes to throw in lunch bags during the week. We will be eating some leftovers of one-pot meals that got frozen...

It took me a while to seque to a new way of eating, and I do occasionally eat Chinese food and whatnot, but I think if you want to be healthy, you may need to overhaul what you're doing on a day to day basis

If you want ideas about how to do any of this, you will get lots of advice if you want it!

The Kung Pao Chicken is the South Beach One. I try to eat those and that helps with counting carbs. I have an apple every day and popcorn.


I didn't think that popcorn was soo bad for you.

I would love some help and that would be nice.

I usually work 12 hour shifts and money is kinda limited. But I do eat South Beach Meals and I have grilled chicken breast that I eat with brown rice. Lean Pockets sometimes but not since I got food poisined from them.

Any ideas?

ETA: That we don't have candy and cookies and I don't drink coffee that often. I might drink it once a month and it's black when I do. The only candy that I have eaten was yesterday and that was such a bad idea... I wish that I had never eaten them.. Grrrrr

oooo candy. I can never eat just one.

I didn't look at your FitDay journal, but if popcorn is your weakness, try eating one of the newer mini-bags. They range in calories from about 100 to 210 calories per bag. I have one of the mini-bags whenever I have extra calories available in the evenings while watching tv.

Actually, it's not that popcorn is bad for you, but if that's your main source of carbs, then it's not as healthy as other choices.

Brown rice is great! Whole wheat pastas, whole grain breads, etc.

You know, you don't have to make every change now. My advice is to read these boards. This calorie counting board is good, and if you want info on healthy foods, there's some good info on Whole Foods Lifestyles. And, I see you joined us on the 300+ board!

I had to do this by baby-steps, and maybe you do too!

If you can bring food to work, get one of those insulated bags, and pack it full of healthy food!

Oh I remembered something else ... I had trouble trying to decide what was one day when I worked nights. You know ... my day started after lunch and ended the next morning???
I let fitday divide for me. If I ate it before midnight it was Saturday's food. If I ate it after, it was Sunday's food. Seems like a little thing but it'll even out for you on your off days.

Well it is the mini bags. But I eat two of them in the 12 hour shift that I work.


That seems to be the only place that I am pulling carbs from....so is it all that bad?

Well, I guess that's part of the point -- is that you aren't eating much, and unless you're really restricting carbs, you aren't eating a lot of fruit and veg and other whole grains (good places for carbs!).

Okay, on looking back, I don't think I made a point well. It's not that you're doing really awful things, but perhaps that you aren't making best use of the calories you are eating.

Let me start over. When you weigh a lot, you need more nutrients than a small person for everything. You expend more calories just existing (what we call your Basal Metabolic Rate or Resting Metabolic Rate). You also expend more calories in every activity, from brushing your teeth, to driving your car, to whatever exercise you do.

For that reason, it is usually recommended that people who weigh more, eat more than small people. Your starting number of 2059 may be fine. When I weighed what you did I lost steadily on 2000 calories/day– at the time a little over 2 pounds/week with mild exercise. You might want to start with a number in that range, log everything, and see what happens. Trial and error is often needed.

Here’s a link to an FDA page that is a good starting place for information about losing weight.
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2002/102_fat.html


Okay, that’s about how much to eat. There’s also WHAT we eat and WHEN we eat. A lot of this will be dictated by your plan, but you’re here calorie counters, so let’s assume you’re counting calories! To be healthy, not all foods are equal. I started by looking at the kinds of food I ate, trying to figure out what was healthy. You need protein, carbs and fats...

I try to eat more lean proteins: chicken and turkey, pork loin… also eggs, cottage cheese, light cheese, etc

Carbs: Fruits and veggies are important here. According to the FDA, you should also eat whole grains (oat
Meal, brown rice, whole grain breads and pastas, etc).

Fats: see the links I included. You NEED fats, esp unsaturated fats in nuts (peanut butter in moderation is great, and has protein too!), olive oil… some fish is great (and also has protein).

Here’s another FDA page talking about healthy foods.
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2005/305_eat.html

There are other links there for healthy eating and exercise.

Take a look at this stuff… for now, you might want to start by logging what you do eat and reading and learning more. Then, see what changes you can make and try some, then try some more…

Thanks for the links!!

I'm gonna try to read these things and see if I can't figure out where I need to get more help from!

Sounds like a good start -- knowledge is POWER!

Does anyone else drink propel?

I love this water, and I realized that it has calories! I'm gonna use these calories as part of my Daily Total!

I do drink plain water too!!

I like Propel for my workouts too, but it's not adding any MUCH NEEDED NUTRITION to your day. Drinking it can't compensate for eating a totally limited and unbalanced diet! Add it to your Fitday if you want to be accurate, but recognize that it's not part of the solution.

I have added it to my fit day!


Can someone check my fitday and see how I am doing?

You still don't seem to be eating much at all! It looks like you are trying to reduce calories as much as you can and you really only eat one meal a day. yesterday you ate a pizza. The day before you ate what looks to be a frozen meal and popcorn. The popcorn was more calories than the meal.

Do you think that's sustainable? You have to be able to do this for life and those choices, while not necessarily bad in and of themselves, aren't supplemented by anything else.

Honestly, I think if you keep eating like this you'll get frustrated with the deprivation and sooner or later you'll give up. Not to mention I don't really think it's healthy... see the links above or ask us more questions.

I swear, I am not reducing calories.

This is what I've always eaten like. I've never had an over eating problem. A nutritionist that I seen one time told me I was lying when I wrote down what all I ate for a month.

I promise this is my normal just about everyday. Sometimes less but it never seems more. I'm still at work tonight, so I still haven't finised eating.

I really wanna give up with losing weight....but this is sooo important to me. PLEASE HELP!!

Why would you give up? Are you satisified? Do you have enough energy to do the things you need to do?

I would guess so, but I'm not losing. But I'm not gaining either.

I would really love for someone to be able to help me

I took my numbers from FitDay and here they are as follows:

10/28/06
Eaten: 787
Burned: 499

10/29/06
Eaten: 164
Burned:257

11/1/06
Eaten: 790
Burned: 529

11/2/06
Eaten: 640
Burned: 197

11/3/06
Eaten: 735
Burned: 72

11/4/06 ( So far!)
Eaten:501
Burned: 61

Does this make any sense?

:?: Hmmm, Well I'm looking at your fitday, and for today, for example, I can't see where you have eaten any meals, except maybe breakfast (yogurt and the apple?) Where is your protein? Where is your lunch and your dinner? Where are your vegetables? I would think that maybe you haven't finished updating today, but your other days look just like this.

Like some of the other posters, I still think you need to up your calories. If you're not sure what type of foods you could be eating for those calories, check out some other peoples fitday. I would welcome you to check mine, but I use the PC version, so I can't make it public. Maybe you should check out some nutrition books at your local library. It's not all about low calorie, we need to also get nutrients from our food. Good luck. I know it can be done. :)

OK ... I have an idea. How many times a day can you stop and eat something? I don't mean prepare a gourmet meal. I mean stop at the fridge, get out a couple of containers and eat them. Ten minutes tops.
We'll tell you what to put in the containers.
And I'm sorry but I don't remember what you told us you did for increased activity.

I try to walk at least once a day. I don't get much time to be at home due to the crazy work schedule. I just need some help losing weight... I really just wanna sit down and cry about it!!

I try to eat more everyday and I feel like I'm going to throw it all back up..... I've even added yogurt and cereal bars to my meals. I don't usually eat breakfast.

I ate my Kung Pao Chicken and ceral bar with a bottle of water.

Then for snack tonight I've had another cereal bar, an apple, and some popcorn!

I've also had 1 other bottle of propel and 3 plain bottles of water.

How can I seriously eat anymore?

You don't need to eat more ... as in buckets of food ... you need to eat healthier and more often. Ever time you put something inyour stomach, it uses energy to digest it and actually gets your metabolism going. That's why so many food plans encourage you to eat smaller more frequent meals.

Calmly now ... calmly ... answer my first question about how many times a day you can pull out a snack and eat it.

At work, it's not hard. I don't eat much before I go to work.

I feel like I am eating healthy.

So I can eat pretty often.

right now I'm eating my yogurt and apple!

Good. Can you go shopping soon for a few things? Will we help you make a shopping list?

Maybe you should stop the popcorn. It's filling, and is probably filling your stomach and not leaving room for you to eat real meals.

I posted the below in another thread...don't know if you have had a chance to see it:

"Looking for hope: I guess I am a little confused about why you feel confused about whether you are eating enough. It looks like you only eat one meal a day and some popcorn. Have you eaten like that your whole life? When you were a kid did you eat at least 2 or 3 meals a day? Can you go back to that? If you eat one real meal a day, of course your calories are going to be low. Popcorn can make you feel full, so you end up skipping a real meal, so why not just stop eating the popcorn and fun-sized candy bar and eat a real meal instead? Wouldn't that solve the problem? Instead of filling your stomach with empty calories, you can eat for real which will up your nutrition and your calories Of course, it's up to you."

When you look up your nutritional intake under the Reports tab in fitday, what does it look like?

When I was younger yes I did eat at least twice a day. When my life got really hectic, I was lucky to be able to grab food once a day.

My food diary's would always look the same. My dr told me that there was no way that i could be for real!

I will be going grogery shopping on Friday because that is when I get paid.

Susan -- I would love your help girl!! You have been GREAT so far!! Thanks

Tara -- I usually eat the popcorn around 10 pm when I have 1 hour left before I get off work!
I usually don't eat before I come to work at 3 pm. Then I eat a yogurt once i get here with a water.
Later I get to eat my apple.

I always have either water or Propel at my desk.

Later I get to eat my Kung Pao Chicken ( or other SBD meal).

Then Popcorn for snack before I leave.

THANKS SO MUCH GIRLS!!!!

Ok ... I noticed that you were in that thread where Hunie and I were talking about proteins and things that grow. Can you come up with some that you'd like to eat?

I love pretty much all veggies and I LOVE chicken as far as protein.

Umm Rice, Pasta, and I'm not sure what else

I LOVE to eat yummy fruits too!

I'm reading Body for Life for Women. I'm loving it.
The Body for Life website has fabulous food lists. Have you been there?