Ask a Dietitian Forum Topic

Mommy3 02/10/15
Hi I had a baby a month ago and am breast feeding. How should I factor this in with my weight loss goal and calories per day ?

Dietitian 02/10/15 replied to Mommy3
Breastfeeding - Hi Mommy3, there are two things to address: increased calories from BF as well as increased RDA for certain vitamin/minerals. If you have Maximum membership, you can customize and track the nutrients that have a higher requirement. You can find those in the DRI calculator: http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/fnic/interactiveDRI/

But to answer your question about accounting for BF calories:

According to the Institute of Medicine, breastfeeding (lactation)calories are:

Baby 0-6 months: 330 calories per day
Baby 7-12 months: 400 calories per day

You can add those calories to your daily exercise log by either adding a custom activity or simply using the generic calories item.

Gradual weight loss during breastfeeding is safe but you don't want to go too low in your calories or fluid intake. I typically recommend that women simply use the calories burned from breastfeeding and exercise to generate the calories deficit and not try to lose weight any faster.

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD, CDE

MushuMamma 02/13/15
Hello, I have lost 16 lb since christmas and am feeling great, but despite the fact that I am continuing to eat 1200-1300 /day I have not lost any weight in almost a week; what am I doing wrong?

Dietitian 02/17/15 replied to MushuMamma
Congrats U6172357 on losiing 16 lbs! Not losing weight in just one week is probably just the see saw of weight loss. If the weight doesn't budge in another week or so, time to troubleshoot.

As we lose weight, it gets more and more important to reduce hidden sources of error that prevent us from achieving calories deficit. A calories deficit over time allows weight loss to occur.

Please read two articles and keep tracking everything and let me know if you are still stalled out after another week or so. Also, weigh yourself in the morning before breakfast/beverages as hydration affects weight too.

Calories: http://www.mynetdiary.com/customizing-calorie-goals.html

Weight Plateau: http://www.mynetdiary.com/weight-plateau.html

Basic tips: http://www.mynetdiary.com/basic-tips-for-losing-weight.html

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD, CDE

Carole 02/18/15
Carole
We make many of our foods frm scratch..We make a big pot of spaghetti sauce frm scratch... We are having a hard time determining how to enter it all into the recipe section to find out how many calories are in a final serving.. We use venison for the meat.. We measured we use 1/2 cup of final sauce each meal...Would u be able to help us?

Dietitian 02/19/15 replied to Carole
Recipes - Hi Carole, before entering a recipe, measure all ingredients carefullly and enter those ingredients as used in the recipe. When recipe is finished cooking, measure your total yield by two methods (if it is a liquid like sauces and stews):

1. Total weight. Although the system calculates total weight based upon raw ingredient weight, the calculated weight will be higher than the true cooked weight since it doesn't account for water evaporation with cooking.

2. Total volume (e.g. cups). This gives you more options for serving size entry in your food log.

If you want to be even more accurate with calories density of your recipe (to account for water evaporation), this is what I do:
Go back into the recipe and reduce the water ingredient weight by the difference between the original system calculated weight for the recipe and actual measured weight for the recipe.

This allows the system calculated recipe weight to better match your actual measured cooked weight - resulting in a more accurate estimation of the recipes caloric density (calories/weight of food).

This is a more advanced way of handling recipes but if you enter a lot of customized recipes, it is worth learning how to modify your recipes. I log into my web program and do this with a big screen.

More tips on working with recipes: http://www.mynetdiary.com/tips-for-entering-your-recipes-into-mynetdiary-like-a.html

Tips on food item accuracy: http://www.mynetdiary.com/tips-and-tricks-for-entering-and-correcting-foods-in-mynetdiary.html

Let me know if you need more assistance!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD, CDE

Dietitian 02/20/15
Fytabeek asks: I am a new member and I put my fat free yogurt on my daily menu but your food list keeps saying 140 calories and it is only 100 calories. How do I correct it on my daily menu. So I keep my daily intact honest. Thank you Frances

Hi Frances, if you have used the barcode scanner function and the food item name does not include "contributed" then it is a food item entered by MyNetDiary and it needs to be updated. When you look at the food item, tap the "i" icon to see the food label. Then tap "update" - you will go into the PhotoFood Service screens so you can take photos of the front and back so MyNetDiary can update the nutrition information attached to the barcode.

If you are trying to use a food that includes "contributed" in the name, then that is someone's custom food item and likely has an error. You can hide other people's custom foods by toggling OFF contributed foods in Settings.

More tips for accurate food logging: http://www.mynetdiary.com/tips-and-tricks-for-entering-and-correcting-foods-in-mynetdiary.html

Let me know if you need more assistance. And welcome to MyNetDiary!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD, CDE

Dietitian 03/16/15
Weight plateau? Hi folks, if you find that your weight is stalled out for more than 2 weeks, then it is time to troubleshoot. To lose weight, we have to consume fewer calories than our total calories burned from all sources (basal metabolism, thermogenesis, and physical activity). What gets most people into trouble is just not being consistent with creating enough of a calories deficit over time. To offset the unavoidable sources of error in estimating calories intake and calories burned from all sources, be as accurate in your logging as you can. Measure portions. Make sure you pick the right food item to log (and how to correct nutrition errors you find). Also, be sure you are not accidentally double counting exercise calories - if you log exercise then use "sedentary" overall activity and then be sure to read your "Analysis" row or Details tab for the calories bottom line.

All of these tips can be found this blog post: http://www.mynetdiary.com/basic-tips-for-losing-weight.html Be sure to click on the links and read them - you'll get a lot more out of MyNetDiary if you do.

Let me know if you need more assistance.

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD, CDE

Dietitian 04/27/15
Do you understand how the settings at MytNetDiary affect your caloric requirement for weight maintenance, weight loss, and weight gain? Find out more by reading this short article: http://www.mynetdiary.com/customizing-calorie-goals.html
Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD, CDE

Dietitian 04/27/15
Alice has asked me: Hi Kathy-- I am hoping to connect to get started and supported today. I have 25 pounds to lose by September marathon. I need help. I'm premenopausal and thick in my torso.

My reply: Dear Alice, wow - how exciting that you are training for a marathon! First, I have a good resource for you - Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook 5th edition. Here is her website: http://www.nancyclarkrd.com/books/index.asp Nancy has worked a lot with runners and she gives good basic advice and food tips.

Not considering athletic training, the safe average rate of weight loss is considered 1-2 lbs/wk via diet/lifestyle, and this is assuming you are an overweight adult. Losing 25 lbs in about 16 weeks is possible in that case, but will require very careful eating to get enough nutrients to make sure you stay healthy and that your training doesn't suffer.

Frankly, I would focus on a more gradual rate of weight loss - maybe only 16 lb by the marathon. Let me emphasize, this is assuming you are actually an overweight adult right now (e.g. your BMI is 25 or higher.

Start reading Nancy's guidebook so you understand the important nutritional requirements of aerobic endurance training and competition. Fluid and electrolyte replacement is critical and now is the time to practice appropriate replacement practices. This is especially important if you are new to endurance training.

Let me know a little more about yourself and your goals and I can give you more specific tips.

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD, CDE

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