cstout30's Journal, 12 February 2015

Are you exercising? If you are eating too much protein but not working out enough it will make you gain weight. 

If you are not eating enough that can also cause you to bloat. 

take a metabolism test. this will tell you how many calories you can eat to loose weight. 

The salad dressing can really pack calories in, too.  

^^He has a good point. Have you tried a yogurt based dressing? 

Finally what kind of chicken breast? Many "national" brands all have "water added" which means extra sodium that equates to water retention. Ain't life grand. 

I'm clearly not eating too much protein. I've eaten more these last two weeks than in a long time at the advise of others. I took the online tests. It is telling me to eat 2000 calories. I never normally ate that much in a day. Perhaps when I'm pigging out at a bbq place on vacation but its mostly meat. What is yogurt dressing? Salsa on salad... eww. I have been eating plain pre-cooked chicken breast from Sam's club. It isn't breaded or anything. It is grilled w/ pepper on it. I microwave it and cut it up for my salad. Perhaps it is water weight. At least I stayed in the 240 range. I'd have preferred to be in the 230 range by now. I'll keep going anyway. I'll see what happens when I get the protein shakes. 

Sounds like you are retaining water for some reason. Google "why the scale lies" for insight in to water weight fluctuations. It might give you some insight. Sometimes we gain and it's really difficult to know why. Stress, inflammation, exercise, sodium, sickness and so much can cause water gain. Hopefully, the scale will go back down in a few days. It sucks when that happens. 

I hope so too. I have been sore quite a bit. It's frustrating. I increased my protein probably more than I ever ate on a regular basis. My diet seems to be more balanced than ever. I will pick up some protein powder to increase protein intake even more. I'm pedaling my butt off on that bike and doing the fat burning program. I'll keep going though. Weird! Last year I was on prednazone and lost weight. Now I've not been on that for over 4 or 5 mos. and I can't seem to loose weight. 

If you look in my food diary it lists the dressing. I used it today so you can look in todays. 

I would suggest you are eating too many processed carbs! They turn to sugar in the end so your body is running on sugar - not burning fat. Also - too much protein can be unhelpful because the liver will metabolize it as sugar, too. Perhaps, believe it or not, eat more healthy fats, moderate protein, and then reduce your carbs to under 100 grams. Things may start moving. Sometimes we just have to shake things up a bit by doing something our body doesn't expect! Good luck! 

@Cstout. There are no tricks to this or a magical diet. It's literally calories in and calories out. If you eat 500 calories under your maintenance level, you will lose 1lb of fat a week. So the only problem here is either you are underestimating how much you eat, or overestimating how much your work out. That's it. Try to keep a better record of both, if there is any doubt then always assume that you err on the wrong side of that formula. Diets, eating clean, protein - all of those things are just to discipline you into eating less calories by keeping you hopefully full and comfortable throughout the day. You can do it. 

You might be eating too much fiber. You need to figure out your total carbs and subtract your net carbs. The difference is your fiber. Your fat looks a tad high.  

I think I'm over thinking everything if that makes sense. I'll go back to keep my fat's under 50 g per day, and keep my calories under 1500 per day. It was working before. I don't think I'm underestimating the amount I am eating. I use measuring cups and make sure I'm not eating extra than what I am logging. I think I'll get it. My arms, chest, and legs are more solid now. My stomach still has the belly fat but I can feel the strength coming back so I know I'm doing something right. I'll just go back to my old way of eating (under 1500 cals) and will keep working out. 

Do you think your gaining muscle? if you are, I would dump the scale and measure inches.  

My arms feel tighter and look a bit bigger. My legs are solid w/barely any fat on them. My backside is solid. My chest is much more solid but needs shaping. My belly is still holding chunk but my stomach is becoming more solid to the touch. I feel like I'm getting healthier. At least I'm eating healthier than I ever did. Today was an exception to my breafast. I ran out of whole wheat english muffins and had a 1/3 banana instead. When I got to work the CO's on my unit had an egg salad sandwich for me w/ whole wheat bread. I figured it would cover the eggs for the day. My lunch was the same as normal. I have short ribs in the crock pot for later. I'll be stacking a cord of wood in the basement for about 30 - 45 minutes... up and down bilco steps. I'm planning on riding my bike for 30 minutes at 12 mph, and doing 15 minutes of circut push ups/sit ups as usual. I'll also be going grocery shopping tonight at 2 stores while controlling 2 kids along for the ride. That should cover a good workout. I'm exercising 45 minutes clean every evening before dinner... except for Sundays. I know I'm living healthier and feel it. My jeans aren't tight anymore like they were. The weight seems to go down after I'm working out then up in the morning after. I don't know. I'm just going to stick with it anyway because I feel better and have more energy. Sorry for writing a book. 

My daughter works out with me. She has a ball! So that makes it easy for me. My husband will tag along on the nightly walks depending on his work load. My husband doesn't weigh himself, he will just kind of goes off how his clothes fit him mainly gaining muscle. I am losing weight and not gaining muscle I am more 'toning' I guess you could say. I try to get up from my desk every couple hours and take a brisk walk around the building, and then I'll do like a power walk on my lunch with ankle weights and small dumbbells. At night with the 45 minute walk I will just do one or the other. Then of course my lunges, squats, etc when I get home from my walk. 

yeah it's better to measure inches not weight. You can't rely on the online metabolism test. mine said i could do 1900 calories. lie. my metabolism is so slow i can only do 900. You would need to find a nutritionist that offers the test. My insurance company pays for it since it is considered preventative. 

That makes more sense. I always was considered overweight in the Army because I don't have skinny arms or legs or a chest for that matter. I always had to be taped and was fine. Everything is thicker than others. I've always been strong. Now that my muscles are tightening up and feeling more solid. I'm hoping my belly looses the fat. That's where the layer is... though it's tightening up too.