Should I see a doctor?
GreenValli
Posts: 1,054 Member
Hip-hip-horray! I lost a grand total of 0.6 pounds for the month of June. I have stuck very closely to 1200-1400 calories a day, logged all I ate, and exercise at the gym vigorously 3-4 times a week for over an hour each time.
I am considering seeing my doctor, but I don't know if I am more afraid that they will not believe me when I "complain" about not losing weight, or that they will prescribe meds that have bad side effects.
I am coming up on using MFP for one entire year. I have lost every month but not enough when I still have quite a bit more to go. 28 pounds for a year is not really that much.
Any thoughts?
I am considering seeing my doctor, but I don't know if I am more afraid that they will not believe me when I "complain" about not losing weight, or that they will prescribe meds that have bad side effects.
I am coming up on using MFP for one entire year. I have lost every month but not enough when I still have quite a bit more to go. 28 pounds for a year is not really that much.
Any thoughts?
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Replies
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Before talking about seeing a doctor, let's see if we can find any other things that might help or could be improved. Can you open your diary?0
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That's over two pounds a month, nothing to sneeze at!
Have you eliminated the possibility of a logging issue? If you open your diary, you may get some helpful advice.0 -
Do you weigh your food using a scale?0
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How tall and light are you ? An open diary (settings, bottom left) might provide an insight.
Apart from the weight loss rate do you have any symptoms for a doctor to work on ?0 -
DemoraFairy wrote: »Before talking about seeing a doctor, let's see if we can find any other things that might help or could be improved. Can you open your diary?
It is open.
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Yeah, one glace at the diary and the problem is pretty apparent! You've got a lot of entries in cups, slices, tablespoons, 'servings', etc. Get a food scale and start weighing everything - this is the only way to be absolutely sure of how many calories you're eating. You're probably eating a lot more than you think.
Hopefully someone will post a particular video of a guy comparing measuring cups to the actual weight, it's pretty good for demonstrating this! (I'd post it but can't at the moment)0 -
it isn't, hence my suggestion. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings bottom left set to Public0
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She must have closed it again...DemoraFairy took a look at it.
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TheVirgoddess wrote: »Do you weigh your food using a scale?
Yes, I do use a scale and measuring cups for most things. I do not bother for things like lettuce, or smaller calories items.
For example: This morning I counted out dried raisins, cranberries, and walnuts. Measured out oatmeal using a measuring cup, and teaspoon for measuring out a teaspoon of marmalade. Did not measure out the 2% milk I added to my coffee though, but still logged it.
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GreenValli wrote: »TheVirgoddess wrote: »Do you weigh your food using a scale?
Yes, I do use a scale and measuring cups for most things. I do not bother for things like lettuce, or smaller calories items.
For example: This morning I counted out dried raisins, cranberries, and walnuts. Measured out oatmeal using a measuring cup, and teaspoon for measuring out a teaspoon of marmalade. Did not measure out the 2% milk I added to my coffee though, but still logged it.
Problems here: teaspoon of marmalade. 1 teaspoon is very different for different people: do you pile it up? Do you scrape it level? Measuring cups aren't accurate enough, with solid foods you can get vastly different amounts in depending on how tightly you pack it, how much you allow it to pile over the top, etc. In the video I mentioned before it shows that the weight listed for 1 cup of something actually was less than 1 cup - the amount of food came up to a couple of cm below the rim of the cup. You've got a lot of things in your diary like 2 slices of cucumber, 2 large carrots - these descriptions are completely arbitrary and mean nothing. For example, if you search for egg there's an option somewhere that says 1 large egg is 70 calories. I wouldn't say the eggs I have a large at all, but when weighed they come to over 100 calories each.
Not weighing things like that makes small differences individually, but small differences add up. Trust me, try weighing everything, you'll probably be surprised.
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How tall and light are you ? An open diary (settings, bottom left) might provide an insight.
Apart from the weight loss rate do you have any symptoms for a doctor to work on ?
Thank you so much for your help!
I am 5ft. 2in. Keep in mind, also, that I am now in my 60's, I did lose 25 lbs over the course of 4 years before I started MFP because I was losing so slowly. I thought MFP would help, and it did. I have lost the 28 more. But still 2 lbs. a month is so slow when I still have 50+ more to lose. I see so many others losing so much more. It is hard to stay motivated the last few days. I am getting very discouraged.
I do not have any specific symptoms that I know of. I have not gone to the doctor for a while, probably six months or so, because I have not been sick or anything.
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OP...I wasn't able to see your diary but if you are doing as you say you should easily be able to lose at least a pound week.
I am 62 and eat between 1300-1400. Walk about 3 miles a day and do light weight training 3 days a week. I don't eat any of those exercise calories back. I don't think they burn that many so I just include that as part of my activity level.
This works for me. I am trying for 4 - 6 lbs a month. For June it was slightly over 7lbs.0 -
OP: Get a food scale and weigh ALL SOLID FOODS!!!!.....Measure liquids only!! Count every little secret bite you take.0
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Well the cheapest way to go would be to tighten up your food logging. Weighing your solid and measuring your liquids is the best way (even walnut,oatmeal) ..... if you feel you have symptoms of thyroid trouble then check with your doctor.
Honestly the last thing you want to do is have to take a pill EVERYDAY for the rest of your life.
Hopefully someone will post that video stated above..... very informative.
good luck.0 -
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Weighing and measuring: I do weigh meats and most other solid foods. It seems more reasonable and accurate to me to use measuring spoons for small things like salad dressing and marmalade. I do level them off.
The only changes I can imagine implementing from what you are saying is to weigh oatmeal, which I do eat almost every morning. And eggs: I have not been weighing. With shell or after cooked?
Thanks for all the suggestions. It is hard for me to think that those few things would make that much of a difference, but I am willing to make changes. My diary might look very "full" to you, but I do cook and eat at home almost all of the time. So many of my meals have lots of ingredients that I combine to make items like salads, and such. I will leave my diary open for anyone to view, but will close it later today.
BTW, I do not eat back calories per se. I do allow myself to eat more towards 1400 on days I exercise, and closer to 1200 when I don't go to the gym.
I will look up symptoms of thyroid problems later today. Got to run for now. Thanks everyone! I so appreciate it. I have "doctor" phobia and really don't want to see one unless necessary. I am feeling great and healthy other than being frustrated about a slow weight loss.
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DemoraFairy wrote: »Yeah, one glace at the diary and the problem is pretty apparent! You've got a lot of entries in cups, slices, tablespoons, 'servings', etc. Get a food scale and start weighing everything - this is the only way to be absolutely sure of how many calories you're eating. You're probably eating a lot more than you think.
Hopefully someone will post a particular video of a guy comparing measuring cups to the actual weight, it's pretty good for demonstrating this! (I'd post it but can't at the moment)
I just want to say- just because entries are made in spoons and cups etc does not mean that person is not weighing their food. Most of my entries are like that but I weigh everything. I just use the "serving size" of cup to document.0 -
First of all for a person who is 5ft 2" and still has to intake a full amount of nutrients (I.e. you're playing in 1200 territory) a loss of MORE than 2lbs a week is NOT slow unless you engage in an insane amount of exercise.
Secondly it should be fairly simple for you to go back and cross check your "this is the deficit I believe I've had during the past month, three months, year" and this is the corresponding weight I lost. Each lb of loss requiring about a 3500 Cal deficit, how much off are your estimates?
Third you do have a bit of an accuracy problem in going by cups instead of weight. Whether it is substantial or to the order of only a few Cal a day on average, that we don't know.
Fourth, motivation/lack. This always strikes me as weird. The alternative to no longer putting in the effort is NOT maintainance, it is uncontrolled weight gain. Most of us did not end up here because we were naturally able to maintain our weight, so we will shoot right back up when we get sick and tired of....
Of what?
Somewhere in there (and you have been doing this by the sounds of it for three years+?) you (and I) must recognize that maintenance will not (and in order to succeed should not) be drastically different than whatever we've been doing during weight loss!
So whatever it is that is not sustainable for you during weight loss should probably be tinkered with to improve your outlook!
We can address other potential issues once you have more accurate logging and you know how far off your weight loss is as compared to your "believed" deficits....
Note accurate includes both by weight entries and double checking with outside sources the database entries used. (USDA database for most non packaged items. The unreliable package for the packaged ones)0 -
DemoraFairy wrote: »Yeah, one glace at the diary and the problem is pretty apparent! You've got a lot of entries in cups, slices, tablespoons, 'servings', etc. Get a food scale and start weighing everything - this is the only way to be absolutely sure of how many calories you're eating. You're probably eating a lot more than you think.
Hopefully someone will post a particular video of a guy comparing measuring cups to the actual weight, it's pretty good for demonstrating this! (I'd post it but can't at the moment)
This one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY 0 -
GreenValli wrote: »TheVirgoddess wrote: »Do you weigh your food using a scale?
Yes, I do use a scale and measuring cups for most things. I do not bother for things like lettuce, or smaller calories items.
For example: This morning I counted out dried raisins, cranberries, and walnuts. Measured out oatmeal using a measuring cup, and teaspoon for measuring out a teaspoon of marmalade. Did not measure out the 2% milk I added to my coffee though, but still logged it.
See, that’s the problem. All those things are very calorie-dense and you’re probably underestimating how much you’re eating. Watch the above video!0 -
Um, no, but she said it was 2 lbs a MONTH, and that's pretty slow.First of all for a person who is 5ft 2" and still has to intake a full amount of nutrients (I.e. you're playing in 1200 territory) a loss of MORE than 2lbs a week is NOT slow unless you engage in an insane amount of exercise.
OP, I feel for you. I was in the same predicament: 5'2", age over 60, constant struggle, little or no progress for what felt like an eternity. But for the past 8 weeks I've been losing steadily, about 1½ lb/week. I sincerely believe that it was weighing my food and logging everything that made the difference. I don't always stay within my calorie limit, but at least I don't go beyond it without being totally aware of the fact.
Weighing isn't tricker than using measuring cups and spoons, particularly not if you do almost all your own cooking.
Best of luck to you!0 -
You might be in a plateau. I have been in a plateau since Mar. The last plateau (the one that ended in Mar.) started in October.
If you are logging everything with precision and you are at a deficit, you still might not lose weight if you are in a plateau. I get serial plateaus. Eventually I have a big "whoosh" where I'll lose several lbs. in a few days.0 -
DemoraFairy wrote: »Yeah, one glace at the diary and the problem is pretty apparent! You've got a lot of entries in cups, slices, tablespoons, 'servings', etc. Get a food scale and start weighing everything - this is the only way to be absolutely sure of how many calories you're eating. You're probably eating a lot more than you think.
Hopefully someone will post a particular video of a guy comparing measuring cups to the actual weight, it's pretty good for demonstrating this! (I'd post it but can't at the moment)
This one?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
Thank you for posting this! I kept seeing it but I couldn't watch it at work cause my computer was too slow. Great video!0 -
GreenValli wrote: »TheVirgoddess wrote: »Do you weigh your food using a scale?
Yes, I do use a scale and measuring cups for most things. I do not bother for things like lettuce, or smaller calories items.
For example: This morning I counted out dried raisins, cranberries, and walnuts. Measured out oatmeal using a measuring cup, and teaspoon for measuring out a teaspoon of marmalade. Did not measure out the 2% milk I added to my coffee though, but still logged it.
You can't count dried fruit or walnuts.
For example, I bought some almonds, a serving is 28g (28 almonds), if you believe the package. But if you weigh them, it's more like 20 almonds for a serving. That's 60 calories right there. It adds up, especially with calorie dense foods like dried fruit and nuts.
Your tablespoon of marmelade could be anywhere from 0.8 a serving to 2 servings too... just put the jar on the scale, tare it, then see how much you removed from the jar.
Always weigh solids. Plus really, it's just much easier to just tare your bowl than count raisins!0 -
DemoraFairy wrote: »Yeah, one glace at the diary and the problem is pretty apparent! You've got a lot of entries in cups, slices, tablespoons, 'servings', etc. Get a food scale and start weighing everything - this is the only way to be absolutely sure of how many calories you're eating. You're probably eating a lot more than you think.
Hopefully someone will post a particular video of a guy comparing measuring cups to the actual weight, it's pretty good for demonstrating this! (I'd post it but can't at the moment)
This one?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
And this could entirely be my problem, as well;; I've been debating for a few weeks now as to whether I should buy a food scale or not, the very thought makes me feel as if I may be going down a slippery slope of being obsessive.
This video, however, pushes a lot of that uneasiness to the side. Thanks for posting this!0 -
As people have said, you should use a food scale. For things like slices of cucumber or baby carrots, it's not really necessary, since the difference is probably within the margin of error anyway. But for things like dried fruit or nuts, you should definitely weigh them - they are calorie dense (a small inaccuracy can be a significant difference). Also with things like oats, I've found that the "1/4 cup" serving by weight is usually less than 1/4 cup, meaning that if you scoop out 1/4 cup (and level it, as you are meant to do), it's still more than what you are logging.
I should point out that it's especially important to weigh packaged food (such as bread). In my experience, they are almost always larger than they say.
Another thing that jumped out at me is the logging of generic entries, e.g. 1 soft chocolate chip cookie at 80 calories. Unless that's a tiny cookie, that's probably a significant underestimate. If you are making items yourself, you should use the recipe builder, not log a generic entry. If that was a treat out and you can only estimate the calories, then you should probably estimate a higher amount!
I personally prefer this video to the peanut butter video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=FLxRg_80KHM-BdcHvV7nkgfg&v=vjKPIcI51lU . In the peanut butter one, the person doesn't know how to use a measuring cup properly. Although I guess this video is more of an argument for not eyeballing than not using measuring cups, but both apply.
Finally, I'll say that it's actually much easier and quicker to use a scale than a measuring cup, and there's fewer dishes! All you have to do is plop your bowl/plate/whatever on the scale, zero it, and add the first ingredient. Zero it again, add the next thing, and so on. Alternatively, you can place the container of food you're serving from and measure what you remove (then you don't have to worry about whatever is left on the spoon).0 -
Peachiko87 wrote: »DemoraFairy wrote: »Yeah, one glace at the diary and the problem is pretty apparent! You've got a lot of entries in cups, slices, tablespoons, 'servings', etc. Get a food scale and start weighing everything - this is the only way to be absolutely sure of how many calories you're eating. You're probably eating a lot more than you think.
Hopefully someone will post a particular video of a guy comparing measuring cups to the actual weight, it's pretty good for demonstrating this! (I'd post it but can't at the moment)
This one?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
And this could entirely be my problem, as well;; I've been debating for a few weeks now as to whether I should buy a food scale or not, the very thought makes me feel as if I may be going down a slippery slope of being obsessive.
This video, however, pushes a lot of that uneasiness to the side. Thanks for posting this!
It might seem like it's obsessive or on the road to becoming obsessive, but I find that using a food scale gives me a lot more leeway. I don't have to worry about getting things to an exact number (like exactly one cup) and at the end of the day there are a few less things to wash when doing dishes.
As for the person who says the person isn't using the measuring cups in the video correctly, that's the point that they are trying to make. A lot of us (myself included) tend to fill it to the brim and make sure that it's packed in good.0 -
As for the person who says the person isn't using the measuring cups in the video correctly, that's the point that they are trying to make. A lot of us (myself included) tend to fill it to the brim and make sure that it's packed in good.
Sure, it can be a compelling video if that's what you do. When I first started here, I was using measuring cups, but I wasn't packing or heaping them, so the video didn't convince me to use a scale. I just told myself "well, they're just doing it wrong, that's the problem." If they had measured out the amount properly but still had a significant discrepancy (which happens all the time, hence why a scale is good), it would have been more convincing for me. I ultimately started using the scale because I was tired of scraping out measuring cups and tablespoons, and then I realized the huge differences you can get between (properly performed) volume measurements and weight measurements.
Also, in the video, they are using a liquid measuring cup. You are not meant to fill that top lip - the 40 grams they show you is about where it's meant to be filled to. The lip is to prevent spillage of the liquid. So not only did they heap the measurement (bad), they also used the wrong cup to begin with!
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Start using a food scale and stop using cups.0
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This video is the one I generally show people - I don't really care for the other one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU&list=FLxRg_80KHM-BdcHvV7nkgfg&index=1GreenValli wrote: »TheVirgoddess wrote: »Do you weigh your food using a scale?
Yes, I do use a scale and measuring cups for most things. I do not bother for things like lettuce, or smaller calories items.
For example: This morning I counted out dried raisins, cranberries, and walnuts. Measured out oatmeal using a measuring cup, and teaspoon for measuring out a teaspoon of marmalade. Did not measure out the 2% milk I added to my coffee though, but still logged it.
You say you measure with a scale, but I don't see you actually mention using a scale above?0
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