50 days in.... only lost 1lb.

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jcmhow
jcmhow Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay, so I've been doing this whole calorie counting thing for 50 days. I realize that weight loss is not a sprint, but I think I should have lost more than a pound by now. I do everything that I'm suppose to do, eating right, working out, drinking plenty of water and nothing. I tried recalculating my goals, thinking that maybe I was eating too much, and for some reason it bumped my caloric intake up by 50 calories. I really need help, because I'm despite to lose weight the right way. Trying not to get discouraged. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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  • _SantaClause
    _SantaClause Posts: 335 Member
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    Open your diary
  • Kayzia_M
    Kayzia_M Posts: 97 Member
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    Are you weighing your food? because when you are eye balling your food tends to under-estimate the actual weight of the food, and thus the calories being consumed.
  • jcmhow
    jcmhow Posts: 8 Member
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    how?
  • butlersoft
    butlersoft Posts: 219 Member
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    jcmhow wrote: »
    how?

    With a scale - you can pick them up very cheaply from Amazon. Solids should be weighed .... liquids can be measured in "cups"
    -

  • jcmhow
    jcmhow Posts: 8 Member
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    The only thing that I don't measure is my meat. And I have told myself to get a kitchen scale. I guess I'll go pick one up. But everything else is measured
  • butlersoft
    butlersoft Posts: 219 Member
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    jcmhow wrote: »
    how?

    Unless you're asking about "how" to open your diary? ... you can do that from the settings page - make it public.


    The fact that you've lost a pound in 50 days means you have effectively "maintained" rather than gained. Chances are, you have eaten more than you thought / not burned as much as you thought and the net result is no loss / no gain.

    Weight loss comes from eating at a defecit overall

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    You're eating too much

    Set your diary to public so people can help

    but most importantly

    1)how are you logging your food - you need to weigh solids on a digital scale and measure liquids... and log every single thing
    2) how are you logging your activiy - if you are using calorie burns from MFP database or machines in gyms you need to only eat back between 50 and 75% of the calories as they overestimate
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    Measuring portions can be surprisingly inaccurate
  • jcmhow
    jcmhow Posts: 8 Member
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    Yeah the how was for opening up the diary. @buttersoft.... I was a bit confused about the whole deficit thing, which I ended up doing some research on, and I think I still have some confusion. Here's what I do.... Wake up at 3am Coffee, workout, hydrate. Breakfast is a green smoothie, play guitar, lunch at noon ( which is usually light soup, half a sandwich and a pack of crackers or sm bag of chips). then for dinner I typically have a protein and a salad or a veg. I'm always under my calorie goal and I workout 5 days a week.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Why would you not measure meat if you're following a calorie defecit programme?
  • jcmhow
    jcmhow Posts: 8 Member
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    I'm obviously doing something wrong, but I'll try the scale. Also what's up with them bumping my calories up?
  • jcmhow
    jcmhow Posts: 8 Member
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    B/c usually I eat fish at night and a single serving is usually 4 oz. And b/c I don't have a kitchen scale. Wanna buy me one????
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    jcmhow wrote: »
    I'm obviously doing something wrong, but I'll try the scale. Also what's up with them bumping my calories up?

    If you reduced your "pounds per week" loss target, say from 2 lbs a week down to 1 lb a week, it will give you more calories to eat.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    Phrick wrote: »
    Measuring portions can be surprisingly inaccurate

    This is so true, especially for things like cereal and cheese. I remember that after I got my scale I was so shocked that the weight in grams of the cereal did not match the cup measurement at all! I was WAY OVER eating my cereal and other foods - by hundreds of calories a day! And with shredded cheese, depending on the size of the shred of the cheese, and even the type of cheese, the difference between that so-called 1/4 cup serving (which was supposed to be 1 ounce) and a true 1 ounce serving can be huge. I found that I was actually short-changing myself on finely shredded cheese. I could get more than the 1/4 and be right on an ounce. Win! So I weigh everything now. I think it's actually super common for people to making serving size guesstimation errors.

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    jcmhow wrote: »
    B/c usually I eat fish at night and a single serving is usually 4 oz. And b/c I don't have a kitchen scale. Wanna buy me one????

    Nope but you can pick one up in Walmart for about $10 or so I hear .. never been in a Walmart in my life, they don't exist here
  • jcmhow
    jcmhow Posts: 8 Member
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    That was just a joke.... I'll be getting a scale today. Thanks for the video links and all of the help! I will definitely let everyone know how things go. It's just funny b/c I've done MFP before without a scale and I kicked butt! I lost 20lbs. I won't be making my diary public for private reasons, but thanks again for the help!
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    If you want to use a food scale, by all means do. I expect it helps some people be more honest with themselves, but there are enough inaccuracies in food calories and exercise calories that weighing your food won't make your calorie counts any more accurate. You can accomplish the same thing by just reducing your calorie goal, to make up for your errors in calorie estimation.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    If you want to use a food scale, by all means do. I expect it helps some people be more honest with themselves, but there are enough inaccuracies in food calories and exercise calories that weighing your food won't make your calorie counts any more accurate. You can accomplish the same thing by just reducing your calorie goal, to make up for your errors in calorie estimation.

    I truly don't understand this

    of course it's all about estimates, but don't you put in the most accurate measure in the areas you can? ie in weighing out your portion sizes so that based on the average calories of that foodstuff it is as close to accurate as it can be

    Dropping your calorie goal and not weighing can surely not help in the same way as your portion sizes may still be way out in meeting a lower goal


  • amtru2015
    amtru2015 Posts: 179 Member
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    My two cents...I did same as you, everything right and barely lost anything...turns out, I was eating dinner too late at night. I lost 15 pounds a couple years back when I started cutting myself off in the kitchen about 4 hours before I went to bed. You should go to bed hungry. That's what I always suggests...works well for me.
    Are you getting enough calories though? Because undereating will ruin you too. Cheers =)
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
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    I always eat later in the evening and I've lost 29 pounds since August. OP, maybe you should quick-add a small buffer to your day until you get a scale.

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