Hi everyone,

I'm just looking for some advice right now. I've decided to lower my carb intake to lose weight because I know carbs and my love for processed, packaged sugar is what has gotten me to where I am today!!

Anyway, so I started using my fitness pal and I do fine during breakfast and lunch, counting calories, portioning out sizes, etc etc, but whenever I go to the store, I always end up picking up something little to eat! I always feel like crap after it, you'd think I would remember this feeling and avoid buying it but a week later I find myself doing the same thing. It's so annoying because I know I am the only one that can control what I eat, but sometimes it just feels impossible. Does anyone else out there do this?

My food diary looks something like this
Breakfast--fresh fruit, some milk
lunch- large salad
Dinner-meat and steamed vegetables

I am putting croutons in my salad, it adds about 30 cals so I figured it's not too bad, but should I just get rid of them?

I was also wondering, is losing weight basically calories in calories out? Because sometimes on my fitness pal, even though I don't reach my calorie limit, I've eaten too much sugar, carbs, and sodium. Should I be limiting those parts as well? Sorry if that sounds confusing.

I'm open to any advice you guys have!

Thank you!

I would personally, add protein to breakfast, be careful of the fruit, and nix the croutons on the salad. Do you have a protein on your salad? Try keeping the carbs around 100 to start, up the protein some and make sure you are getting your good fats in there. for calories, when I was counting them, I kept it to about 1500. Are you exercising?

Thank you for your response willow!

I am exercising everyday for 1hr on the elliptical usually burns around 500 cals, then I do weights for about 10 mins? I'm using the gym at my apt since I can't afford to buy a gym membership at the moment.

As for the fruit, I usually have an apple and tangerine each day. I'm wondering if my sugar intake is too much? By the end of the day I've always gone 20g extra that what I'm allowed.

Btw I just saw your current weight, that's great! How long did it take you to get down to 168? I've been doing this "diet" for a week and haven't lost an ounce and am always bloated, is that normal because of my new diet?

Sorry for the bombarding questions!! but I appreciate your response!

Yes it is ultimately cals in vs cals out. However, your body uses up glucose, protein, and then fat in that order for energy. If you have a calorie deficit (like when trying to lose weight) but don't take in enough protein, you will lose muscle mass. Best way to lose is choose foods to give you lots of lean protein, reduced carbs, and healthy fats/oils within your calorie range. This will help minimize muscle loss and maximize fat loss