50 days in.... only lost 1lb.
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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...0
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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...
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..0 -
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.
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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.
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Kevalicious99 wrote: »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 check0 -
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.
I so agree.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...
...You can accomplish the same thing by just reducing your calorie goal, to make up for your errors in calorie estimation.
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.
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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....0 -
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.
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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.
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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.0
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I apologize if someone's already mentioned it, but be careful that you're not drinking your calories. This is a very common mistake and one that's way too easy to make especially if you like your morning Starbucks/flavored coffees and/or nightcaps. Either one of those two alone can absolutely destroy your calculations if you aren't counting them.
And yes, I'd definitely recommend getting a digital food scale and being militant about weighing/logging everything that you consume. This can (and usually does) make all of the difference in the world.
Lastly, if you aren't paying attention to your condiments definitely log those just as strictly as you would anything else. Again, many people don't realize the sugar and/or caloric content ketchup, mustard, mayo, salad dressing, etc... can possess.
Good luck and keep us posted!0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »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
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.
Suppose you've been assigned a task that'll last weeks or even months to use multiple wood blocks to fill a fairly deep hole. The blocks are random in shape, size and weight. You have about eight standard wood block measures. The wood block must fit completely within these measures and that's how you know what size the block is. If it doesn't fit in the block, you estimate its size based on that of similar blocks you're really quite familiar with.
But The hole is not filling up as expected, you're falling behind and there are too many blocks left on the pile at the end of each shift. Do you:
a) keep shoving as many blocks down the hole, reduce your daily target, hope to catch up, or
b) get a tape measure. Find out that the blocks you couldn't measure using your original method were being estimated incorrectly. Some were 2" longer than you thought. A pesky few used VERY often were 8" shy of their expected length! Goody! Problem diagnosed and solved! Hole now fills up as expected, case closed
Oh wait, that was supposed to be you telling me which one you'd pick...0 -
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You're not in a deficit.0
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kelleybean1 wrote: »
But if you read the rest of the fairly short thread, she wasn't using a food scale, now understands why one could be helpful and is going to buy one ASAP. There's not really much more going on here for now; it's not really necessary for her to open her diary at this point.
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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.
bold is boldly wrong0 -
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...
Example of one commentary:
"I definitely promote food scales," Liz Weinandy, RD, MPH (dietitian in the non-surgical weight-loss program at Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus)…A national survey of more than 6,000 adults found that people who measured their food were more successful at losing weight than those who didn't.”
The majority of the people I know looking to lose weight swear their food scale was an important tool. It was critical for me. Of course, there are always “some” people that don’t need it; but more benefit than not.
Food scales can fit almost any budget. My digital cost around $20. – but all are not equal in accuracy and it is worth reading a few reviews.
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TimothyFish wrote: »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
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.
Suppose you've been assigned a task that'll last weeks or even months to use multiple wood blocks to fill a fairly deep hole. The blocks are random in shape, size and weight. You have about eight standard wood block measures. The wood block must fit completely within these measures and that's how you know what size the block is. If it doesn't fit in the block, you estimate its size based on that of similar blocks you're really quite familiar with.
But The hole is not filling up as expected, you're falling behind and there are too many blocks left on the pile at the end of each shift. Do you:
a) keep shoving as many blocks down the hole, reduce your daily target, hope to catch up, or
b) get a tape measure. Find out that the blocks you couldn't measure using your original method were being estimated incorrectly. Some were 2" longer than you thought. A pesky few used VERY often were 8" shy of their expected length! Goody! Problem diagnosed and solved! Hole now fills up as expected, case closed
Oh wait, that was supposed to be you telling me which one you'd pick...
You're missing the point. Imagine two people are patching a roof. One is on the roof measuring the hole and the other is on the ground cutting boards. Obviously, they are using two different tape measures, which is similar to what we are doing when we count calories in food and count calories burned. A kitchen scale cannot tell us how many calories we burned. It doesn't matter how precisely the guy on the ground measures to the figures the guy on the roof gives him, his precise cuts will be as imprecise as the figures he has been given. The solution for the carpenters would be to cut a board that is about the right size and then shave off part of it if it is too big.
You can use a kitchen scale if you like, but no matter how accurately you measure the calories in food, if your calories burned estimates are ±100 calories, then your calorie deficit could be off by ±100 calories. Whether a piece of meat is 311 calories or 323 calories is irrelevant at that point.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »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
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.
Suppose you've been assigned a task that'll last weeks or even months to use multiple wood blocks to fill a fairly deep hole. The blocks are random in shape, size and weight. You have about eight standard wood block measures. The wood block must fit completely within these measures and that's how you know what size the block is. If it doesn't fit in the block, you estimate its size based on that of similar blocks you're really quite familiar with.
But The hole is not filling up as expected, you're falling behind and there are too many blocks left on the pile at the end of each shift. Do you:
a) keep shoving as many blocks down the hole, reduce your daily target, hope to catch up, or
b) get a tape measure. Find out that the blocks you couldn't measure using your original method were being estimated incorrectly. Some were 2" longer than you thought. A pesky few used VERY often were 8" shy of their expected length! Goody! Problem diagnosed and solved! Hole now fills up as expected, case closed
Oh wait, that was supposed to be you telling me which one you'd pick...
You're missing the point. Imagine two people are patching a roof. One is on the roof measuring the hole and the other is on the ground cutting boards. Obviously, they are using two different tape measures, which is similar to what we are doing when we count calories in food and count calories burned. A kitchen scale cannot tell us how many calories we burned. It doesn't matter how precisely the guy on the ground measures to the figures the guy on the roof gives him, his precise cuts will be as imprecise as the figures he has been given. The solution for the carpenters would be to cut a board that is about the right size and then shave off part of it if it is too big.
You can use a kitchen scale if you like, but no matter how accurately you measure the calories in food, if your calories burned estimates are ±100 calories, then your calorie deficit could be off by ±100 calories. Whether a piece of meat is 311 calories or 323 calories is irrelevant at that point.
you are assuming that weighing and estimating are only going to give a 12 calorie variance. 12 calories is deminimis but the variance between weighing and visually estimating can be much more than 12 calories.0 -
Dave198lbs wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »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
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.
Suppose you've been assigned a task that'll last weeks or even months to use multiple wood blocks to fill a fairly deep hole. The blocks are random in shape, size and weight. You have about eight standard wood block measures. The wood block must fit completely within these measures and that's how you know what size the block is. If it doesn't fit in the block, you estimate its size based on that of similar blocks you're really quite familiar with.
But The hole is not filling up as expected, you're falling behind and there are too many blocks left on the pile at the end of each shift. Do you:
a) keep shoving as many blocks down the hole, reduce your daily target, hope to catch up, or
b) get a tape measure. Find out that the blocks you couldn't measure using your original method were being estimated incorrectly. Some were 2" longer than you thought. A pesky few used VERY often were 8" shy of their expected length! Goody! Problem diagnosed and solved! Hole now fills up as expected, case closed
Oh wait, that was supposed to be you telling me which one you'd pick...
You're missing the point. Imagine two people are patching a roof. One is on the roof measuring the hole and the other is on the ground cutting boards. Obviously, they are using two different tape measures, which is similar to what we are doing when we count calories in food and count calories burned. A kitchen scale cannot tell us how many calories we burned. It doesn't matter how precisely the guy on the ground measures to the figures the guy on the roof gives him, his precise cuts will be as imprecise as the figures he has been given. The solution for the carpenters would be to cut a board that is about the right size and then shave off part of it if it is too big.
You can use a kitchen scale if you like, but no matter how accurately you measure the calories in food, if your calories burned estimates are ±100 calories, then your calorie deficit could be off by ±100 calories. Whether a piece of meat is 311 calories or 323 calories is irrelevant at that point.
you are assuming that weighing and estimating are only going to give a 12 calorie variance. 12 calories is deminimis but the variance between weighing and visually estimating can be much more than 12 calories.
This^^^^^^^^^^^^0 -
meal time certainly does matter...but I don't need to convince anyone
Not for me. My husband spent the first two months of the [insert your preferred, non-annoying noun here for lifestyle change/journey/diet/health kick] nagging at me every time I had a late-night snack about how bad eating at night was. "So and so says that he lost x lbs. and one of the things he did was no eating after 7:00, blah blah blah"
He stopped after I told him I didn't need a diet Jimminy Cricket on my shoulder acting like I was making a mistake when I knew I wasn't and was fine. Plus, my weight loss has been more consistent and significant than his, so whatever I'm doing is working.
About once or twice a week, I'll eat as many or more calories in a late-night snack as I do for dinner. And eating twice as much for dinner just means I consume those calories every day instead of once or twice a week, because overstuffing myself does not in fact make me less hungry later on.0 -
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.
I so agree.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...
...You can accomplish the same thing by just reducing your calorie goal, to make up for your errors in calorie estimation.
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.
I agree, it is helpful to drop the calorie goal if there are no results. You can measure everything and still be off.0 -
Three things:
- What time of day you eat has no bearing on weight loss. It does, however, affect how easy it is for some people to stick to their plan, and for certain people (e.g. diabetics) it can have an impact on things like insulin spikes. If you find it's easier to eat earlier, later or more spread out throughout the day, go for it. But it doesn't affect CICO. If you find you're getting lower readings on the scale the next morning by not eating late at night, that's got nothing to do with real weight loss and more to do with how long you wait between digesting last night's dinner and weighing yourself the next morning.
- If you haven't lost weight in nearly 2 months, then you're eating at maintenance. Never mind what the calculators say; you've found your personal maintenance level. Now deduct 250 calories from that for a 0.5lb/week rate of loss.
- Many women find that their weight goes up at menopause. That's normal. It's thought to be caused by a combination of a decline in estrogen, a loss in lean muscle, and a reduction in metabolism from your pre-menopausal levels. It means you actually have to eat less and exercise more in order to maintain your body in the same shape as you were before. Seems unfair, eh? But it just is, and it'll likely happen to all of us. Talk to your doctor if you're concerned, but otherwise, just adjust and move on.
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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
meal timing has nothing to do with weight loss.0 -
Kevalicious99 wrote: »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.
how do you know that OP is not eating enough? Her diary is private and she never listed how many calories per day she consumes....0 -
OP - how many calories per day are you consuming?0
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I have to agree, if you're not losing after 50 days, the answer is to eat fewer calories. If you're having a hard time finding food you want to eat that fills you up on fewer calories, maybe post what foods you like and don' t like, how you feel about cooking, etc.0
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Dave198lbs wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »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
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.
Suppose you've been assigned a task that'll last weeks or even months to use multiple wood blocks to fill a fairly deep hole. The blocks are random in shape, size and weight. You have about eight standard wood block measures. The wood block must fit completely within these measures and that's how you know what size the block is. If it doesn't fit in the block, you estimate its size based on that of similar blocks you're really quite familiar with.
But The hole is not filling up as expected, you're falling behind and there are too many blocks left on the pile at the end of each shift. Do you:
a) keep shoving as many blocks down the hole, reduce your daily target, hope to catch up, or
b) get a tape measure. Find out that the blocks you couldn't measure using your original method were being estimated incorrectly. Some were 2" longer than you thought. A pesky few used VERY often were 8" shy of their expected length! Goody! Problem diagnosed and solved! Hole now fills up as expected, case closed
Oh wait, that was supposed to be you telling me which one you'd pick...
You're missing the point. Imagine two people are patching a roof. One is on the roof measuring the hole and the other is on the ground cutting boards. Obviously, they are using two different tape measures, which is similar to what we are doing when we count calories in food and count calories burned. A kitchen scale cannot tell us how many calories we burned. It doesn't matter how precisely the guy on the ground measures to the figures the guy on the roof gives him, his precise cuts will be as imprecise as the figures he has been given. The solution for the carpenters would be to cut a board that is about the right size and then shave off part of it if it is too big.
You can use a kitchen scale if you like, but no matter how accurately you measure the calories in food, if your calories burned estimates are ±100 calories, then your calorie deficit could be off by ±100 calories. Whether a piece of meat is 311 calories or 323 calories is irrelevant at that point.
you are assuming that weighing and estimating are only going to give a 12 calorie variance. 12 calories is deminimis but the variance between weighing and visually estimating can be much more than 12 calories.
This is why I use scales. I managed to become obese precisely because I wildy underestimate serving sizes and calorie amounts..its like a really shi-tty superpower. So I use scales and log. Surprise 7 pounds lost in 20 days.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »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
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.
Suppose you've been assigned a task that'll last weeks or even months to use multiple wood blocks to fill a fairly deep hole. The blocks are random in shape, size and weight. You have about eight standard wood block measures. The wood block must fit completely within these measures and that's how you know what size the block is. If it doesn't fit in the block, you estimate its size based on that of similar blocks you're really quite familiar with.
But The hole is not filling up as expected, you're falling behind and there are too many blocks left on the pile at the end of each shift. Do you:
a) keep shoving as many blocks down the hole, reduce your daily target, hope to catch up, or
b) get a tape measure. Find out that the blocks you couldn't measure using your original method were being estimated incorrectly. Some were 2" longer than you thought. A pesky few used VERY often were 8" shy of their expected length! Goody! Problem diagnosed and solved! Hole now fills up as expected, case closed
Oh wait, that was supposed to be you telling me which one you'd pick...
You're missing the point. Imagine two people are patching a roof. One is on the roof measuring the hole and the other is on the ground cutting boards. Obviously, they are using two different tape measures, which is similar to what we are doing when we count calories in food and count calories burned. A kitchen scale cannot tell us how many calories we burned. It doesn't matter how precisely the guy on the ground measures to the figures the guy on the roof gives him, his precise cuts will be as imprecise as the figures he has been given. The solution for the carpenters would be to cut a board that is about the right size and then shave off part of it if it is too big.
You can use a kitchen scale if you like, but no matter how accurately you measure the calories in food, if your calories burned estimates are ±100 calories, then your calorie deficit could be off by ±100 calories. Whether a piece of meat is 311 calories or 323 calories is irrelevant at that point.
Why do you keep saying this? You are compounding errors.
There is an error in estimating intake, and one for output.
Measuring with a scale reduces the intake error to its lowest possible amount. You are eliminating one of the two errors. (To be simple)
It has nothing to do with output or exercise.
You also don't sound like you know much about building, but I digress...0 -
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