Weight-Loss Changed how I eat...with NO results! Help please!

Weight-Loss
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phix95

New member
Hi
I don't really have a weight loss problem necessarily but I do have a very noticeable "jelly roll" around my middle I am trying to get rid of.

I went to a dietitian and she told me what I should be eating generally, which is mostly complex carbs mostly grains(6 servings), 6 oz of protein, some low-fat dairy, 5 servings of fruits and vege's, very little fat/sugar,...can't remember everything as I dont have the paper in front of me.

But she said to balance my proteins and carbs so I don't get those blood sugar spikes where you store fat. Also, she said I was not eating ENOUGH (!) and to move up to 1700 cal/day. (Most of this I already knew, except the cal part.) And we figured out my resting metabolic rate and so forth. She said even w/out exercising, and eating like this, my body composition should change.

Well I took out my sweets (I'd have some cookies and ice cream often), added 1 veggie (I hate them) and kept eating fruit (always have). And have spaced my "meals" more like snacks, to every 2-3 hours.

Well I recorded my intake for the day one day and I was 890 cal below what I should be, my fat intake was just slightly over what I should have, and my sugars were at 85 g.

Now I am very conscious about reading labels and always choose low sugar/high protein/high fiber cereals, yogurt, etc. but I know fruit sugars can add up fast and there's some sugar in everything. I read we're supposed to consume 50 g of sugar for a 2000 cal diet...so I should be less than that.
Now I don't know how in Gods name I can get lower than 85 unless I never eat fruit again. It's unrealistic.

I say all this b/c I don't see any positive changes...AND I exercise 2x/week and work out.

What the hell do I do? I'm very depressed that nothing I do works and I try to eat the good stuff. I turn down all this "bad" food my friends offer me and they look at me like I'm so anal about dieting...but I'm just trying to eat right.
And STILL I have no results.

Anyone help??
 
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I would advise you to post up, very specifically, what you would eat in a given day. Also, what kind of workouts you do, and at what time of day. Then we can take a look and see what the problem is.
 
Ok.
Well I use nutridiary to keep track (sometimes). Haven't used it in a while but I logged Tues. Everything here I mention is 1 serving and is low in sugar, fat, and high in protein and fiber whenever possible. Also, I eat something about every 2-3 hrs.

AM 1:
>Almond 'milk' (milk substitute)
(120 cal)
>Organic Morning Light
(130 cal)

AM 2:
>Organic fruit and nut mix
(140 cal)
>"Bing" cherries
(90 cal)

Mid-day:
>Yoplait low fat/sugar yogurt
(100 cal)

Early afternoon:
>whole grain Sunchips
(142 cal)
>red seedless grapes
(62 cal)

Late afternoon:
>beef jerky [1/3 of serving]
(11 cal)

Early eve.:
>Hamburger [1 wheat bun, Light Kraft Mayo, lettuce, tomato, 85% lean patty, 1 tbsp BBQ sauce]
(total of 386 cal)
> 1/4 ear corn
(31 cal)

Late eve:
>Breyer's french vanilla low fat sugar free icecream
(90 cal)
>Organic Morning Light
(130 cal)

I also take 2 multivitamins, 2 Viactiv calciums, and 1 primrose oil; and an iron supp. and extra vit. B complex if its that time of the month, which it was on this day

Total for that day:
1520 cal, 49 g fat, 12 g sat fat, 110 mg cholest., 1464mg sodium, 218 g carb, 38 g fiber, 116 g sugar, 52 g Protein.
Ones I went over were fat (125%), fiber (192%), sugar (way too much,even eating healthy!), vit C (279%), calcium and iron.
All the rest were around 60% dv.

Note that dinner usually varies; I eat a hamburger maybe once every 2 weeks; I also have a mutligrain wrap, or chicken salad, or chicken patty "burger", etc.

As far as exercise, I do cardio (eg. walking, workout tape for 30-40 min) 2-3 times/wk; weights for arms 1 time/wk; resistance or lifts for legs 1 time/wk, abs and core 1 time/wk; I mix lunges in the week at one point.
All these are done in afternoon or eve. after work.

And I was told, again, to have 6 servings of good carbs every day and only 6 oz of protein (which is difficult; usually is a bit more)
 
I hope i can help.

I think my only suggestion to you would be to up your weight-lifting/toning to like 2-3 times/per week if its possible since Muscle burns although it weighs more it burns more calories then fat does. Also I don't see very many veggies in your diet, I would suggest trying to at least eat 2-3 veggies a day. my dietician suggested putting the veggies and fruit on my plate before putting my carbs and meat on there so that about half the plate was covered with fruit and veggies which you need at least 5-6 servings a day of. Hope this helps.

good luck
 
Thankyou
I have incorporated more veggies in some form...usually tomatoes and/or different lettuces and/or V8 twist or whatever that stuff is and/or whatever else I put into salad. And whenever I have pizza (about once/month), I only put tomatoes and mushrooms on it.
I went to a different dietitian and she actually said I worry too much about this and says I cannot lose the belly b/c there's not much to lose. And I shouldn't lose any weight. She thinks I'm too obsessed w/it. But if you look one way for most of your life and then poof, you have these little fatty friends on your sides and tummy, I'd think you'd get depressed, especially if no matter what you do, nothing budges.
Now maybe if I worked out like obsessively, it would come off. But I need to do things that are manageable and realistic. I DO NOT mean being lazy. In fact I feel guilty if I don't do anything. (As in now, since I am very work-busy, but my job is dog walking...)
It's not like I'm measuring my wrists to see how much bone is showing...I just want the saddlebags gone! Why is that considered obsessive and or an eating disorder attitude?
I have been eating (or trying to eat) this way for a few weeks, though I have been eating healthier (more grains/fruits/less sugar) for a couple years.
 
from what i understand ... from your size ... you have to focus even harder on what you eat to loose weight ... and exercise 3 to 4 times a week (more then just cardio) ...

but i am about twice your size .. so not sure if i understand it much once down below 200lbs
 
well, you are on the rather thin side so i'm not sure what to tell you. perhaps try some weight training and see if you like where that takes you? have you lost any fat since you first posted in july?
 
phix95 said:
Thankyou
I have incorporated more veggies in some form...usually tomatoes and/or different lettuces and/or V8 twist or whatever that stuff is and/or whatever else I put into salad. And whenever I have pizza (about once/month), I only put tomatoes and mushrooms on it.
I went to a different dietitian and she actually said I worry too much about this and says I cannot lose the belly b/c there's not much to lose. And I shouldn't lose any weight. She thinks I'm too obsessed w/it. But if you look one way for most of your life and then poof, you have these little fatty friends on your sides and tummy, I'd think you'd get depressed, especially if no matter what you do, nothing budges.
Now maybe if I worked out like obsessively, it would come off. But I need to do things that are manageable and realistic. I DO NOT mean being lazy. In fact I feel guilty if I don't do anything. (As in now, since I am very work-busy, but my job is dog walking...)
It's not like I'm measuring my wrists to see how much bone is showing...I just want the saddlebags gone! Why is that considered obsessive and or an eating disorder attitude?
I have been eating (or trying to eat) this way for a few weeks, though I have been eating healthier (more grains/fruits/less sugar) for a couple years.
Click to expand...

Sounds like your pretty active even at work--Do you have a personal trainer to assist with the weight training?
 
Thanks for the replies.
No, i have not. In fact, 2 more pairs of jeans barely fit me now. And I do cardio 2-3 times/week. I do abs, legs and/or arms twice/week.
In fact, today, just to see, my calorie intake was 1387; my basal metabolic rate is about 1320, and I walked for 15 minutes, and did my leg and ab routine. So it would appear as though I burned some calories. So I'm confused!
 
if your BMR is 1300's .. then you want your calorie intake to be below that by around 500 or so ...
 
-Devil- said:
if your BMR is 1300's .. then you want your calorie intake to be below that by around 500 or so ...
Click to expand...

uh, i don't think we should encourage people to eat 800 calories a day. you do not subtract from your bmr, you subract from the number you get after you have factored in activity. since you exdrcise, that would mean you can multiply your bmr (1336) by at least 1.375 to get 1837. Then you could subtract 500 from that number. But since you aren't losing, I would actually suggest maybe taking your calories up for a couple weeks then going back down and see what happens. please do not subract 500 calories from 1300. that is starvation. it isn't safe, it isn't healthy and it won't do you a bit of good. take a look at this link and see where your activity level would fall...then go from there. tweak your calories according to your individual needs without starving yourself.
 
Are you male or female? Males have the "beer-belly" problem because of how the male body stores fat around your stomach.

The only way to lose fat around your stomach is to lower your overall body fat %. Body builders do this in a phase known as "cutting." You need lots of cardio and cut down on your calorie intake. Eat more protein and vegetables and less calories overall.

Try some abs exercises too as they develop the ab muscles. Once you lose more body fat, your abs will be more noticeable/better.
 
-Devil- said:
if your BMR is 1300's .. then you want your calorie intake to be below that by around 500 or so ...
Click to expand...

You are supposed to add several hundred calories to your BMR to account for walking around your house, standing around, sitting around, going to work, going shopping, cleaning and all your other normal daily activities. Hello! Those take up many calories, often between 300 and 500 per day as an average (probably toward the higher range). BMR is the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight if you LIED IN BED ALL DAY. And then you add the calories you burned through lifestyle activities, plus add your calories burned through exercise on top of that. Then you deduct a deficit from there, NOT from your BMR (so your maintenance level if you exercise regularly should if its normal be around 1800 to 2000).

I agree with LB, if you're that weight and you're still not looking good, it sounds like you're flabby and need to "tone up" a lot. Meaning you need to work out your back and chest, in addition to your shoulders, legs/butt and arms (to a much lesser extent). Try lifting as heavy as possible and continually going higher in the weights so you build some nice sexy muscles. They add a lot of nice curves yet you dont look flabby. That's a much more attractive look in my eyes than the thin but very flabby look where everything's just hanging and loose, and that gets worse as you age. Muscles help keep you feeling firm and make your boobs and butt defeat gravity (look higher) as you age. But to build muscle you also need to be eating sufficient amounts.

After years of weight lifting on and off, I'm 5'1.5" and I look really firm and slim at 126 lbs, this is a loose fitting American size 6 on me. Perhaps you should rethink your look if you're striving to be tiny and you need to do that at the cost of not eating enough and losing muscle and looking ever more flabby.
 
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gummybear, as i already mentioned, its ridiculous to encourage someone who's eating 1300 calories a day to eat LESS. i shouldn't have had to say this in the first place, let alone reapeat it.
 
I am female.
But I don't eat that many calories to begin with. I don't think cutting them is a good idea. Wouldn't lots of cardio do the same thing...cutting more calories when I probably don't even eat ENOUGH calories to begin with, and thus, be detrimental?
 
Hi,

I do have a problem with your diet. I'm counting 3 servings of fruit on this particular day and absolutly no veggies. Iceberg lettuce is just chewy water and a slice of tomato is nada. There are no dark green leafy veggies here at all. I know you said you hate them, but there are a lot of things in life that we hate but have to do for one reason or another. Veggies are good for you and they do aid in weight loss.

If you got rid of the bun on your patty, you can actually eat a whole ear of corn, even though they are a carby veggie, it is better for you than a bun. I personally don't think you need 6 servings of complex carbs in a day, but I guess your nutritionist is working of the Standard American Diet pyrimid which is all screwed up anyway. I am so not in line with most of the stuff on your list (sorry). Don't mean to sound like the big bad wolf, I just think most of it is junk. :(

My only other suggestion is upping the excersising. More cardio a week, maybe 3 days and weight trainging like the others said.
 
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