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

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  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    Phrick wrote: »

    Oh, look, another video that shows that the maker doesn't know how to use measuring cups. I have yet to see one of these videos comparing proper use of measuring cups to weighing. I know that there is often a difference, but there are about 1000 videos showing how not to use a measuring cup and I have't seen any showing the actual difference between measuring and weighing.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    ashmeg84 wrote: »
    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 =)
    Meal timing doesn't matter as long as you are staying in your calorie goal. If you find yourself snacking at night and you didn't account for those calories and you end up over goal, then yes, it will mess you up. If you plan ahead and leave room for a night time snack, you'll be fine.

    My guess is you are underestimating your intake and/or overestimating how much you burn.
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
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    Just my 2 cents .. but it sounds like you are not eating enough. I think there is a tendency to under eat especially if people are new, thinking less is better that you will lose better that way. Usually the opposite is true. Your body could be hanging on for dear life. And .. get that food scale and use it.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    ashmeg84 wrote: »
    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 =)

    Meal timing is irrelevant, unless you have medical reasons to not eat late. There are times when I eat dinner at 9:30 and go to bed around 11, and my weight still goes down.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    rabbitjb 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


    No, that's not right. Look at it this way: suppose you are measuring a wood block to fill a hole. The measuring tape the hole was measured with is accurate to ±1/16". Is there really anything to be gained by using a more accurate measuring device to measure the block with an accuracy of ±1/64" ? Of course not, because no matter how accurately you measure, it may still be too large or small by as much as 1/16". The same is true for calorie counts. No matter how accurately you measure one of the two calorie counts, you will have to adjust for the inaccuracy of the other. Whatever the inaccuracy of the estimates are, dropping one's calorie goal isn't likely to change that, so in one's attempt to eat at the lower calorie level will result in eating less calories, even though the inaccuracy of the the measurements prevent us from knowing exactly how much. That reduction in calories will result in weight loss.
  • amtru2015
    amtru2015 Posts: 179 Member
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    meal time certainly does matter...but I don't need to convince anyone =)
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,074 Member
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    If you end up not being able to get that scale today, one trick I used to use before I purchased my scale was to have my butcher repackage my meat.

    If I found a one pound package of steak tips, I would ask him to divide it into two equal packages. It helped me get more accurate logs, and also allowed me to freeze the portion that I may not be able to eat before its sell by date.

    If the package ended up being more than one normal serving size, it would help me have a better guesstimate of portion sizes when dividing it up.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    edited December 2014
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    ashmeg84 wrote: »
    meal time certainly does matter...but I don't need to convince anyone =)

    Do you have anything to back this up?

    OP it would seem that the sum total of your efforts are very near maintenance which as usual means you are eating more and moving less than you think to maintain the deficit you need for weight loss. Whilst you might think you are doing everything right it normally works out you are not maintaining a consistent deficit.
  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
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    Just wanted to add another suggestion that no one had mentioned. It could be an undiagnosed medical issue. Based on what you said you eat it doesn't sound like you are overeating but without seeing your diary I can't say for sure. Have you had thyroid testing done? Other hormone related issues can cause weight problems as well.
  • svelte32
    svelte32 Posts: 77 Member
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    Maybe your not eating enough sometimes could be starving yourself and working out a little too much if your constantly pushing your body just an idea plus if you gained muscle that's another thing in addition to water weight there's a lot of possibilities really although weighing your food is always a good idea first.
  • pkdmfp
    pkdmfp Posts: 7 Member
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    Well, last year 1 lost 17 pounds in six month. I gained back 5 pounds and now I am trying to lose total of 10 pounds. My calorie goal is 1300, I work out 5 days a week burn about 500 to 600 calories a day. My question is how many calories should I eat to see weight loss? Please help...
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    pkdmfp wrote: »
    Well, last year 1 lost 17 pounds in six month. I gained back 5 pounds and now I am trying to lose total of 10 pounds. My calorie goal is 1300, I work out 5 days a week burn about 500 to 600 calories a day. My question is how many calories should I eat to see weight loss? Please help...

    You might want to read the stickies.

    To lose weight, you in a caloric deficit.

    To gain weight, you eat in a caloric surplus.

    Go find a TDEE calculator, enter your stats etc, then -20% and then eat at that for 1lb loss per week pretty much..
  • silentKayak
    silentKayak Posts: 658 Member
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    Cool. Now you know your maintenance level!

    From however you're measuring today, cut 250 cals/day (or burn that many extra, which is like 30 minutes moderate cardio) to lose 0.5 lb/week.
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
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    jcmhow wrote: »
    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!

    Are you logging your exercise? How are you figuring out your calories burned? MFP generally gives you about twice what anyone under 400 lb would burn, that might be an issue if you're using the default numbers.

  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
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    Just my 2 cents .. but it sounds like you are not eating enough. I think there is a tendency to under eat especially if people are new, thinking less is better that you will lose better that way. Usually the opposite is true. Your body could be hanging on for dear life. And .. get that food scale and use it.

    What I'm thinking too

    And yes, get a medical check
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    edited December 2014
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    If you haven't seen the doctor yet, now is a good time. Regular check ups are important. That's how things get caught early. Waiting until you don't feel well isn't the smart way to handle your health and has killed people who would otherwise have lived. Plus, you get expert advice on your weight loss. :)
    If you want to use a food scale, by all means do. I expect it helps some people be more honest with themselves...
    ...You can accomplish the same thing by just reducing your calorie goal, to make up for your errors in calorie estimation.
    I so agree.

    If you don't want to go through the hassle of weighing every bite of food, just drop the calorie goal. You may be thinking you're eating 1000 calories when you're really eating 1350, but who cares. As long as you lose weight, it really doesn't matter.

    You can learn a lot from calorie counting, even if you're calorie counts are off. :)
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited December 2014
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    jcmhow wrote: »
    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Open your diary.

    EDIT: I see later on that you haven't been using a scale. That makes it easy - you're eating more than you think.

    It is extremely unlikely you need to see a doctor or explore rare medical conditions....KISS is in full effect....
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 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.

    No
  • kittkat100
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    Do you eat your exercise calories? That can lead to issues. For instance, if MFP says you burned 100 calories walking for 30 min, you cannot just eat 100 and be even. If you sat on the couch and surfed the internet you still would have burned about 35 calories anyway. In reality you have to factor the walk as 65 calories toward food, not 100. MFP does not calculate the same way and it can lead to overestimating calorie burn.

    My BMR is around 1250. Lets just average that to 1 calorie per minute. I need to factor that in to my exercise. So, I burn 1 calorie a minute just being alive, Prob 1.2 surfing net or watching tv, 1.5 cooking etc etc. You have to do the math and deduct what is already burned before counting exercise calories.
    For this reason alone I do not eat back any exercise/step calories unless I engaged in a heavy workout that included weight training. When I "eat back" my calories I lose weight incredibly slow..even though I am supposedly under maintenance.

    Another thing, be careful to log everything if you really want to know what is going on. A taste of food while cooking or a bite of someones meal can be 20-40 calories. Think of how fast that can add up. If I am not in the mood to think fractions/percentages I just log 30 calories. I have a "my food" "quick calories" setting I keep at 30 for these situations.

    Good luck with this. I know how discouraging it can be but you will sort this out if you stay persistent. Once you find what works it gets easier.
  • dramaqueen45
    dramaqueen45 Posts: 1,009 Member
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    If the suggestions of getting a food scale and logging and weighing everything does not work, then yes, see your doctor and maybe even a dietician. You could very well have a thyroid issue which makes it very very difficult to lose weight - I have hypothyroid disease and I take a synthetic thyroid hormone, but until my medication got to the right level it was hard to lose any weight and I didn't have any energy.