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Originally Posted by Evening
I know this will be a bit of a 'too long, didn't read' post, but if you are interested I hope some of this helps.
Are you looking at your calories? A portion size is one thing, the calorie content is another. A lot of things that are good for you can have a surprisingly high amount of calories even in a small amount. Eg. 1 5g Brasil nut has more calories than 100g of mushrooms. They are both good for you, but the amount of calories varies enormously. Lentils are also quite high in calories, but are good also because of the fibre and protien. Meat can have a lot of calories because of the protein and saturated fat content, even with some oil/fat removed. Protein does account for a lot of calories as it's such a dense nutritional source. That's not to say you should reduce protein in your diet too much, you should actually increase it when losing weight.
You haven't mentioned too many fruit and vegetables in what you ate, if you could possibly reduce the amount of meat your eating and compensate by adding vegetables that may help reduce some calories but still fill you up, plus add more fibre.
I eat well, but even when I eat well I tend to not lose weight unless I'm really focusing on what I'm consuming calorie wise. When I was really putting the effort in I was cutting back to 1200-1300 calories a day (which is the absolute MINIMUM you want to reduce it to), and even then, with exercise, I was losing a kilo a week (2.2lbs). As I mentioned in another post the other day, you need to burn 7,700 calories to lose 1kg/2.2lbs. You can cut out certain things like carbs, sugar, etc., but as long as you aren't burning any of that energy (which is what a calorie is), then you are guaranteed not to lose weight. And if you are eating your required energy needs in a day and not exercising, again weight loss isn't going to happen. It's a massive pain in the butt, trust me when I say I know.
I would recommend working out exactly how many calories you are eating in a day- a bit tedious I know- and finding out your energy requirements. I've just gone online and worked out a bit of a general calculation, and it's come up with between 1,700 and 1,760 calories per day. So basically if you're eating that many calories per day, you weight won't change. But calculate it yourself so you can get a more exact result-
Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs |
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Yes, I am. I might be going over my calories just a little bit, but not much. My food scale is broken and I need a new one. I DO know what a portion size is though. I even level tablespoon measurements with a butter knife.
I do eat low sugar fruit (one serving a day) as well as non starchy veggies everyday. I do need to eat more veggies though as I'll just have a mixed salad for lunch usually with one other veggie for dinner. I'll have to d.l a calorie tracker today to keep track of what I'm eating as I might even be eating to few calories which isn't good either as that slows your metabolism down. It's possible that I went under 1200 calories a few times.
I don't like to exercise, but I'll try to lift some light weights and do at least half an hour of light exercise each day. I cut out the lentil chips and the yogurt, and I went down a pound today, finally!
So I guess that I should eat no more than 70 grams of carbs a day in order to loose weight. Once I loose the weight, I will never let myself gain more than 3 or 4 pounds as it take me forever to loose weight! At this rate, it'll take me at least a year and a half to loose 80lbs! Ugh!