Am I eating too much??

[Lyssie]

Have you tried keeping a journal? LIke, on Fitday or Dailyplate? G has a point - I mean, calculating out the fast food day (at 1oz cheese = ~100 cal) you're less than 1000 calories.

Even when I weighed more, if I ate 900 calories and worked out for 2 hours a day I couldn't lose weight.. when I started eating more, I started losing. Nobody is supposed to be eating below 1400. It really messes with your metabolism and makes it pretty hard for weight loss.

To comment on a personal issue (I really don't need to know the answer) - if you are not ummm.. having regular bowel movements (as in, about every day, or every other day) without taking a supplement, chances are that your body is not getting enough, so it is holding on to everything and using what you're eating and trying to keep anything you give it... That's just another thought.

Edited to add: Erm, no, fast food day you're around 1000, I'm not sure about pork off the top of my head since I don't eat it.

[Kathi22]

Thank you Lyssie! Yes, I keep a journal and use fitday.

I took the link Georgiana sent me and I read through it. I then went back to my records when I was losing and found I was eating about 1600-1900 calories per day. Compared to what I am eating now is very little in calories. I also took my BMR and AMR and according to those, I should have about 2400 per day as a middle road. I think that is a lot - I will increase to 1800 and see what happens.

[not2late]

SUNFLOWER SEEDS, SOYBEANS, TEXTURED SOY FLOUR, RICE, ONION, CARROTS, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL*, SALT, RED AND GREEN BELL PEPPERS, SUGAR, PARSLEY, CORN STARCH, BARLEY MALT EXTRACT, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, CARAMEL COLOR, HYDROLYZED SOY PROTEIN, CORN GLUTEN AND WHEAT PROTEIN, FD&C RED 3, SULFITING AGENTS, AND AUTOLYZED YEAST.

I highlighted the ingredients in the salad toppings that are not allowed during Induction phase. Some of us are so sensitive to certain foods that even a tiny bit of them will throw off our weight loss.

These are the ingredients to Fiber Choice:

Inulin (a natural vegetable fiber), Dextrate, Cellulose, Citric Acid, Magnesium Stearate, Natural & Artificial Flavors & Colors

I had to look up the dextrate: Gluten and Medication Excipient Ingredient List

"
Dextrates - Mix of sugars resulting from the controlled enzymatic hydrolysis of starch."

So it's basically sugar.

The serving size for the FiberChoice is 2 tablets which is equal to 4 grams fiber. 1 cup of romaine lettuce has 1 gram of fiber. You're eating about 1.5 grams of lettuce fiber plus the 4 grams of the Fiberchoice for a total of 5.5 grams fiber daily.

If you add 1 cup of green beans, which has 3.7 grams fiber, to the 1.5 cups of lettuce, you'll get 5.2 grams fiber just from vegetables alone.

As for salad, Dr. Atkins said you have to eat 3 cups of vegetables daily. Either 2 cups from the "salad" list and 1 cup from the "other list" or 3 cups from the salad list. He doesn't say that you must eat them in a raw, salad. All the veggies in both listed may be cooked or marinated or something other than raw. For the ones on the "salad" list, bok choy, sweet peppers and mushrooms taste better cooked, imo.

[Kathi22]

Thanks not2late - I had 2 cups of salad instead of 1.5 today for lunch and 1 cup of green beans for dinner as well as 6 jalepeno's. I will stop the fiber choice and see if I can still be OK, if not, I will try flax seed.

[SunnySmile501]

Originally Posted by Kathi22

Thanks not2late - I had 2 cups of salad instead of 1.5 today for lunch and 1 cup of green beans for dinner as well as 6 jalepeno's. I will stop the fiber choice and see if I can still be OK, if not, I will try flax seed.

In addition to fiber, you can take 1,000 mg of magnesium oxide at bedtime and it will keep you regular. Most of the population is magnesium deficient. It will also help with muscle building and sleep. Magnesium--good stuff.

[chinadoll]

Kathi, I don't think you are eating too much but I have found that with each year, I need to do more exercise to lose than I ever did before, and if I don't exercise 4-5 times per week, I don't lose. Period.

Also, watch the amount of cheese. That is something I have to watch or it slows me way down. The two things that help me get things going are more non salad veggies such as peppers, broccoli, beans etc. and drinking a lot more water. Don't know if either of these pertain to you but that is what works for me. Also, I have had to severely limit my use of diet soft drinks and Propel because they also slow me down.

Truthfully though, 40 pounds in five months of active dieting is pretty much 2 pounds a week. That is a good, solid safe rate of loss.

One last note--others have noticed that as they lose they also must be watching calorie intake because as they lose their bodies can no longer burn the same high levels of calories that they used to. If you don't use fitday you may want to be brutally honest with it for a couple of weeks and see if your intake may possibly be higher than your calorie output. I have discovered that Fitday tells me I should be losing 2x faster than I actually do so I have a really resistant body, therefore I do have to watch my calories too. Hope some of this is useful. Jill

[Kathi22]

Sunny- thank you, I never knew this about magnesium oxide. I plan to grab some supplements today. After resistance, I took some posters advice and stopped with the fiber choice. Today is my second day without it and I will see if the magnesium helps.

Jill - I do have a problem with cheese. I just love it, and keeping it to a few oz. per day is hard! I agree I must exercise more and make it part of a routine. I have a bowflex and a treadmill so bad weather is no excuse! I am 32, not 26 anymore and although 6 years doesn't seem like a lot, it makes a difference in my results. I actually prefer my slow and steady loss this time around - although it still isn't "slow". Even if I counted my 3 months off, I have lost 1.25 pounds per week and it is 40 pounds I will never have again. I think I had a bad day on my original post because I feel very positive again and look forward to continued success.

Thanks again everyone!