Weigh & Measure EVERYTHING vs. It's just one day!!!
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HA so in another thread I mention I plateaued and of course, first thing "I see a couple days that look incomplete."
"It's just one day" only applies selectively. It's for really fit people. Don't log a couple dinners out of 30 and say you're trying to lose weight and someone will point it out for sure.
No, it's that "it's just one day" will vary based on how accurate and consistent you are the rest of the time.
A few days out of 30 is over a month a year. You need perspective.
And obviously if you're plateauing after a few "just one days" then you're having too many "just one days".0 -
If you want to know why you have plateaued, don't skip a day. If you can live with uncertainty, go ahead and skip.
For example, I normally avoid the weigh scale beyond what is absolutely necessary. Stupid thing goes up and down for no apparent reason, as much as five pounds. The only consolation I have is that it goes generally down. The uncertainty has driven me nuts however, so I'm tracking my weight daily for sixty days. I am looking to see if I can find any patterns. Knowledge is power.
After I get a better sense of my patterns, I will happily go back to weighing once a week. I don't live for the scale. I live to live.0 -
hollydubs85 wrote: »NoelFigart1 wrote: »I do not think they are necessarily diametrically opposed.
If you give yourself permission to go nuts for birthdays and major holidays (call it a generous 24 days a year), you're doing it 6.575% of the time.
If you're strict and careful the other ~93.4% of the time, I sincerely doubt there is a problem.
The PROBLEM comes in when you try to be all or nothing, or if you let those 24 days spill over into more.
I think this sums it up pretty well.
I love this.0 -
TheVirgoddess wrote: »HA so in another thread I mention I plateaued and of course, first thing "I see a couple days that look incomplete."
"It's just one day" only applies selectively. It's for really fit people. Don't log a couple dinners out of 30 and say you're trying to lose weight and someone will point it out for sure.
No, it's that "it's just one day" will vary based on how accurate and consistent you are the rest of the time.
A few days out of 30 is over a month a year. You need perspective.
And obviously if you're plateauing after a few "just one days" then you're having too many "just one days".
Why is that obvious? It's natural to have stalls during weight loss, especially if you don't have much to lose. Logging doesn't change that.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »TheVirgoddess wrote: »HA so in another thread I mention I plateaued and of course, first thing "I see a couple days that look incomplete."
"It's just one day" only applies selectively. It's for really fit people. Don't log a couple dinners out of 30 and say you're trying to lose weight and someone will point it out for sure.
No, it's that "it's just one day" will vary based on how accurate and consistent you are the rest of the time.
A few days out of 30 is over a month a year. You need perspective.
And obviously if you're plateauing after a few "just one days" then you're having too many "just one days".
Why is that obvious? It's natural to have stalls during weight loss, especially if you don't have much to lose. Logging doesn't change that.
Is this a serious question?
If you're having several days a month of not logging/eating whatever you want and you stop losing weight, is it more likely that you're having a regular stall or that you're eating too much?0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »TheVirgoddess wrote: »HA so in another thread I mention I plateaued and of course, first thing "I see a couple days that look incomplete."
"It's just one day" only applies selectively. It's for really fit people. Don't log a couple dinners out of 30 and say you're trying to lose weight and someone will point it out for sure.
No, it's that "it's just one day" will vary based on how accurate and consistent you are the rest of the time.
A few days out of 30 is over a month a year. You need perspective.
And obviously if you're plateauing after a few "just one days" then you're having too many "just one days".
Why is that obvious? It's natural to have stalls during weight loss, especially if you don't have much to lose. Logging doesn't change that.
Yeah but i'm literally 40-50lbs overweight. So explain that nonsense. I'm no where near my goal. And it's not like I'm eating an entire cheesecake or something wacky on the days I go over. I'm talking going out to dinner for chinese food. Having a piece of cake at a party. Again, it makes no sense doing this a couple times a month would have a significant effect. It doesn't seem to for all the food braggers and the "just have fun, don't worry about it" people.
How much are you going over by?
Your original post was very generic. If you're actually looking for help, I'm sure people are willing to do so.0 -
My dietitian would take your scenario and suggest reducing the daily calorie count by 100 cals. Or have fewer skipping days.
Chinese food is all over the map for calorie counts. I assume you didn't stick to Won Ton soup?0 -
Since I do actually want to try to help you, I will.
I looked at your journal for a weeks time.
Monday, over by 8
Tuesday, over by 1
Wednesday, over by 33
Thursday, over by 41
Friday, under by 1300
Saturday, under by 1208
Sunday, over by 3
So, overall you're in a deficit it looks like, assuming your goal of 2,600 is an accurate one.
If you don't mind me asking, how much do you weigh, how tall are you, and how much do you want to lose?
My best guess (and it's a guess without knowing the above) is that your calorie goal is on the high side.
When people talk about "it's just one day", generally speaking they are talking about days that were high over their goals, not a few calories over. In my experience.0 -
The bottom line is you have to change something if you want to see change. I go out for Chinese food but I choose Won Ton more often. Gosh, some of those foods are just too expensive calorie-wise.0
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If I am going to do a day where I'm not tracking everything I ate and I know I went over, I do a "Quick Add Calories" and throw in, say, "1,000". I am signalling that this was an "off" day which might explain trends I see over the next couple weeks.0
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I think the weigh/measure advice is more for people just starting out - it helps to highlight the need for accurate counting and to build consistency; both are big pieces of the puzzle.
A big (bad?) day here or there in the overall scheme of things is no big deal and people who've been at it for a while tend to figure it out as well as how often is too often (for them). They're valuable for reinforcing that consistency (not perfection) works - log and move on... tomorrow is another day.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »TheVirgoddess wrote: »HA so in another thread I mention I plateaued and of course, first thing "I see a couple days that look incomplete."
"It's just one day" only applies selectively. It's for really fit people. Don't log a couple dinners out of 30 and say you're trying to lose weight and someone will point it out for sure.
No, it's that "it's just one day" will vary based on how accurate and consistent you are the rest of the time.
A few days out of 30 is over a month a year. You need perspective.
And obviously if you're plateauing after a few "just one days" then you're having too many "just one days".
Why is that obvious? It's natural to have stalls during weight loss, especially if you don't have much to lose. Logging doesn't change that.
Yeah but i'm literally 40-50lbs overweight. So explain that nonsense. I'm no where near my goal. And it's not like I'm eating an entire cheesecake or something wacky on the days I go over. I'm talking going out to dinner for chinese food. Having a piece of cake at a party. Again, it makes no sense doing this a couple times a month would have a significant effect. It doesn't seem to for all the food braggers and the "just have fun, don't worry about it" people.
Hi. I have considerably more than fifty pounds to lose and have been a "professional" dieter, so I'm hoping you'll have a little bit of a listen here.
First, I totally feel your pain. It's difficult and frustrating when you have a weight loss goal that's years in the future.
I'm a data nerd, so I'm using my own weight loss as an exercise to practice analyzing some data tracking of non-linear systems (Which you're painfully aware that weight loss is). This means that I track everything as closely as I can manage. I don't take days off weighing or logging, even if I've been "bad." I know to a fairly close order approximation how much I eat, and how much I burn through exercise. From about ninety days of data, I can present the following.
This is an overall average for the entire duration of my diet so far. My goal is to lose a pound a week. Notice that at a 69% compliance, I'm losing a teeny bit over that, and I am not exercising myself into the ground.
So, yeah, "Just one day" isn't a big deal.
Were my weight loss to slow (and it WILL, I know that from experience), I will first tighten up on compliance. At 90%, the weight loss will likely speed back up.
NExt...
Rate:
Remember that whole non-linear thing? Check this out.
I weigh every day. That would be a setup for emotional whiplash, except that I also track according to a smoothed trend. It's still a bit bumpy, but it tells me where I am and where I'm going in time to correct minor bumps without throwing me for an emotional tailspin on the day to day data.
Will I ever be able to eat like a male weightlifter and meet weight loss goals? Of course not. But can I have more than a single day of the year to let go and enjoy? Of course so!
I hope I've given you some data that's useful for analysis that takes into account trend. I mean, this is the chart of a non-runner, middle-aged, short, female, yo-yo dieter.
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TheVirgoddess wrote: »Since I do actually want to try to help you, I will.
I looked at your journal for a weeks time.
Monday, over by 8
Tuesday, over by 1
Wednesday, over by 33
Thursday, over by 41
Friday, under by 1300
Saturday, under by 1208
Sunday, over by 3
So, overall you're in a deficit it looks like, assuming your goal of 2,600 is an accurate one.
If you don't mind me asking, how much do you weigh, how tall are you, and how much do you want to lose?
My best guess (and it's a guess without knowing the above) is that your calorie goal is on the high side.
When people talk about "it's just one day", generally speaking they are talking about days that were high over their goals, not a few calories over. In my experience.
My intake as of late is more along the lines of trying to maintain. Some people advise to just give dieting a break. I'm counting up to 2700-2800 calories. Friday and Saturday were kind of what sparked my question in a way. Friday I had chinese food. Saturday a Christmas party. I logged everything except those things. I think I maybe guessed on the leftover rice Saturday next day. So those days don't have a deficit. So that's why I asked the question. Is this normal. If I ask for help I get the feeling it's not and I shouldn't be doing it. Again, the "you're not logging dummy" type answer. But then I read in the "Help! I'm so scared of my holiday party coming up" threads to just enjoy yourself.
Okay, that makes sense. All of the advice given generally depends on what your goals are.
The weigh and measure everything advice is usually for people trying to lose, and not having success. I don't think a person *has* to weigh and measure everything to be successful. But I do think it's an important tool for those that aren't seeing the results they want.
But, generally, when people post "why am I not losing weight?", the answer is to tighten up the logging.
If you're just trying to maintain, do it the way you want to - and don't feel bad for it. If you notice the weight creeping back up, then tighten things up a bit. If you're just trying to make it through the holidays without gaining, then just try to enjoy yourself without stressing too much about the right or wrong way to do it, and again - be mindful of your weight.
Half the people on here give generic advise, myself included, because we don't know all the particulars of what a person is trying to do.
I hope this helps in some way.0 -
TheVirgoddess wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »TheVirgoddess wrote: »HA so in another thread I mention I plateaued and of course, first thing "I see a couple days that look incomplete."
"It's just one day" only applies selectively. It's for really fit people. Don't log a couple dinners out of 30 and say you're trying to lose weight and someone will point it out for sure.
No, it's that "it's just one day" will vary based on how accurate and consistent you are the rest of the time.
A few days out of 30 is over a month a year. You need perspective.
And obviously if you're plateauing after a few "just one days" then you're having too many "just one days".
Why is that obvious? It's natural to have stalls during weight loss, especially if you don't have much to lose. Logging doesn't change that.
Is this a serious question?
If you're having several days a month of not logging/eating whatever you want and you stop losing weight, is it more likely that you're having a regular stall or that you're eating too much?
More likely? IDK that either would be more likely. I imagine it would be very idividualized. Not logging doesn't mean you are grossly overeating, just as logging doesn't mean you are within goal.0 -
It all depends on the numbers. If you eat at a 20% deficit 80% of the time with a 100% splurge on the off days, you end up going nowhere.
So...not too often, not to much.
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I'm pretty much in maintenance mode. Most days, I eat at a small deficit. The rest of the week, I'm not nearly so strict. I don't log as much on the weekends. This seems to work for me but....everyone is different.0
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