After only 3 weeks, I've dropped an entire pound!!! Woo Hoo!!

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  • purelyprimitives
    purelyprimitives Posts: 58 Member
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    OK its open. The 1000 would be the total calories disregarding any activity.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    OK its open. The 1000 would be the total calories disregarding any activity.

    OP, I feel like this thread is going in circles. People keep talking about weighing your food and not using generic entries and you disregard that. It's fine -- that's your choice. But it's pretty clear that your results are being driven by your logging. You have "Hamburger 7 oz" as an entry. Okay, what type of meat? My store sells at least two different types of ground beef and they have different calorie contents. I also get the feeling that you didn't weigh the burger (although you may have). You have things like "2 pieces bacon." How much is that? ".5 cup tuna salad" -- is it made like my grandma makes it with a little bit of low fat mayo and lots of veggies or how my aunt makes it, more like a mayo dip with a bit of tuna in it? These things change the calorie count.

    It's your logging. As much as you want to fight it, the issue seems pretty straightforward.
  • flatlndr
    flatlndr Posts: 713 Member
    edited August 2015
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    OK its open. The 1000 would be the total calories disregarding any activity.

    OP, I feel like this thread is going in circles. People keep talking about weighing your food and not using generic entries and you disregard that. It's fine -- that's your choice. But it's pretty clear that your results are being driven by your logging. You have "Hamburger 7 oz" as an entry. Okay, what type of meat? My store sells at least two different types of ground beef and they have different calorie contents. I also get the feeling that you didn't weigh the burger (although you may have). You have things like "2 pieces bacon." How much is that? ".5 cup tuna salad" -- is it made like my grandma makes it with a little bit of low fat mayo and lots of veggies or how my aunt makes it, more like a mayo dip with a bit of tuna in it? These things change the calorie count.

    It's your logging. As much as you want to fight it, the issue seems pretty straightforward.

    I agree entirely with @janejellyroll. For example, instead of recording generic homemade chicken, weigh the raw chicken, weigh the breadcrumbs, measure the milk, note the egg, note any oil used for cooking. For the mayo, instead of "2 tbsp", weigh the amount of mayo in grams with a digital scale. Mayo packs a lot of calories in a small space, so accuracy helps here.

    In addition to the generic entries, I am wondering about missed items. For example, you list home made fries. What about the cooking oil? For the popcorn, what about the oil?

    As long as your entries remain generic, your true calories in will be inaccurate, and you'll be asking the same questions.


  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Is it just dinner that's hard to weigh? I totally understand the hesitation of asking your wife to change anything she is doing with dinner. I get that. But outside of dinner, can you weigh things? Tomato slices at lunch? How many grams of mayo you're putting on your BLT? Can you weigh the bacon before you fry it?

    I'm really racking my braintubes trying to think of a way to help out. And IF IT WERE ME in your shoes and I truly could not negotiate something different regarding dinner, I think I would keep doing my best to measure things and use portion control at dinner, but just assume dinner is 1000 calories. Just assume it. And then track the rest of my day to be 600-800 calories at most as accurately as I possibly could by weighing things. I don't know if you'll lose weight, but you'd at least be in control of a portion of your intake.
  • flatlndr
    flatlndr Posts: 713 Member
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    WBB55 wrote: »
    Is it just dinner that's hard to weigh? I totally understand the hesitation of asking your wife to change anything she is doing with dinner. I get that. But outside of dinner, can you weigh things? Tomato slices at lunch? How many grams of mayo you're putting on your BLT? Can you weigh the bacon before you fry it?

    I'm really racking my braintubes trying to think of a way to help out. And IF IT WERE ME in your shoes and I truly could not negotiate something different regarding dinner, I think I would keep doing my best to measure things and use portion control at dinner, but just assume dinner is 1000 calories. Just assume it. And then track the rest of my day to be 600-800 calories at most as accurately as I possibly could by weighing things. I don't know if you'll lose weight, but you'd at least be in control of a portion of your intake.

    I've been here. I didn't ask my wife to do anything differently. I just worked with her the first few weeks, and I meticulously weighed everything before she started, and then she went on and cooked as normal. Then, once the food was done, if it was a casserole dish, I sized up servings (e.g. cut into equal sections) so I'd know what portion I had, or if it was individual bits, I sized/measured my servings again relative to the whole, so I could say I had 1/4 or 1/8 of all the ingredients. It worked well in that she got to cook as she wished, and I got to measure as I needed.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    flatlndr wrote: »
    WBB55 wrote: »
    Is it just dinner that's hard to weigh? I totally understand the hesitation of asking your wife to change anything she is doing with dinner. I get that. But outside of dinner, can you weigh things? Tomato slices at lunch? How many grams of mayo you're putting on your BLT? Can you weigh the bacon before you fry it?

    I'm really racking my braintubes trying to think of a way to help out. And IF IT WERE ME in your shoes and I truly could not negotiate something different regarding dinner, I think I would keep doing my best to measure things and use portion control at dinner, but just assume dinner is 1000 calories. Just assume it. And then track the rest of my day to be 600-800 calories at most as accurately as I possibly could by weighing things. I don't know if you'll lose weight, but you'd at least be in control of a portion of your intake.

    I've been here. I didn't ask my wife to do anything differently. I just worked with her the first few weeks, and I meticulously weighed everything before she started, and then she went on and cooked as normal. Then, once the food was done, if it was a casserole dish, I sized up servings (e.g. cut into equal sections) so I'd know what portion I had, or if it was individual bits, I sized/measured my servings again relative to the whole, so I could say I had 1/4 or 1/8 of all the ingredients. It worked well in that she got to cook as she wished, and I got to measure as I needed.
    And look at your results! Good job finding something that worked for your marriage and your health :)
  • purelyprimitives
    purelyprimitives Posts: 58 Member
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    I completely understand the weighing. The point is that an accurate food scale is not in our budget at the moment. Yes, I realize that they go for as little as $20 but we don't even have that at the moment. Times are tough for us.

    This was the reason I was trying to approach it from the 'generic' standpoint. Eating less, quantity-wise (even without weighing) should mean less calories averaged over time. And, if this doesn't work maybe I'll ask for one from my family for Christmas. :)
  • flatlndr
    flatlndr Posts: 713 Member
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    I completely understand the weighing. The point is that an accurate food scale is not in our budget at the moment. Yes, I realize that they go for as little as $20 but we don't even have that at the moment. Times are tough for us.

    This was the reason I was trying to approach it from the 'generic' standpoint. Eating less, quantity-wise (even without weighing) should mean less calories averaged over time. And, if this doesn't work maybe I'll ask for one from my family for Christmas. :)

    In that case, all you can do is practice portion control, and get a rough idea of intake v burn.
    Watch your portions; filling up with water and low-cal raw vegs helped me with that.
    Best of luck, and hopefully that scale will be under your tree come December.


  • flatlndr
    flatlndr Posts: 713 Member
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    WBB55 wrote: »
    And look at your results! Good job finding something that worked for your marriage and your health :)

    Thanks @WBB55 !

  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    edited August 2015
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    So back in the days when phones were dumb, I followed the ADA diet (even though I wasn't diabetic). Maybe that would help you. Instead of calories and weight, it uses cups and portions and "exchanges." Maybe that will be more manageable for you and you'll find better luck. You can find books on exchanges in the library and in bookstores. Some foods even include the exchanges on their nutrition label.
    glycemic.com/DiabeticExchange/The%20Diabetic%20Exchange%20List.pdf
  • purelyprimitives
    purelyprimitives Posts: 58 Member
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    Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions!
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    I completely understand the weighing. The point is that an accurate food scale is not in our budget at the moment. Yes, I realize that they go for as little as $20 but we don't even have that at the moment. Times are tough for us.

    This was the reason I was trying to approach it from the 'generic' standpoint. Eating less, quantity-wise (even without weighing) should mean less calories averaged over time. And, if this doesn't work maybe I'll ask for one from my family for Christmas. :)

    Kind of feel like an *kitten* hat for insisting on the stupid scale. :laugh: Your strategies should help, and also it's possible that weight loss is just not being linear for you and you have a big drop in your near future

    As for the scale, personally I'd post something in your local Craigslist. Somebody may be willing to get rid of theirs for free. Or even friends/family may be in the same boat

  • purelyprimitives
    purelyprimitives Posts: 58 Member
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    I don't know. I am quickly becoming a believer in the 'set point' theory. :) Back on July 7th I was 233 and today (41 days later) I am also 233. Regardless of how much or little calories I eat, my body always seems to settle back to this weight. Either that, or I am eating the exact same calories every day! :) This would be quite a feat seeing as how I am not even weighing my food!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I don't know. I am quickly becoming a believer in the 'set point' theory. :) Back on July 7th I was 233 and today (41 days later) I am also 233. Regardless of how much or little calories I eat, my body always seems to settle back to this weight. Either that, or I am eating the exact same calories every day! :) This would be quite a feat seeing as how I am not even weighing my food!

    That's an excuse for people who don't want to do a diet change. Your body 'set point' is the one YOU set with your diet habits.
  • flatlndr
    flatlndr Posts: 713 Member
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    I don't know. I am quickly becoming a believer in the 'set point' theory. :) Back on July 7th I was 233 and today (41 days later) I am also 233. Regardless of how much or little calories I eat, my body always seems to settle back to this weight. Either that, or I am eating the exact same calories every day! :) This would be quite a feat seeing as how I am not even weighing my food!

    Sorry, but the only thing stuck at a "set point" is your mindset.

    pi4xqaelyapo.jpg

    But if you'd like to believe that you are forever stuck at 233, that's your choice.

  • purelyprimitives
    purelyprimitives Posts: 58 Member
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    OK I can take a hint. No one here is willing to believe that I am eating less calories than I ever have and still not losing weight. My apparently heretical opinion is not welcome. I get it. I won't be back.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    OK I can take a hint. No one here is willing to believe that I am eating less calories than I ever have and still not losing weight. My apparently heretical opinion is not welcome. I get it. I won't be back.

    That's fine

    One thing I was actually going to add is that sometimes it's not the carefully logged food that is wrong, but the blow out meals/days that we choose not to log for whatever reason. "Cheat meals", Meals out, nights out drinking, celebratory cookouts with the fam, etc etc. We may not log it but our body does...
  • kpeterson539
    kpeterson539 Posts: 220 Member
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    Ok.....So I've just read this whole thread and there is one thing that is confusing me....

    You're MALE and eats, or is trying to eat, around 1,200 (or there about) every day? Is that your actual goal?

    That just seems quite low to me but maybe I missed something.
  • SimoneBee12
    SimoneBee12 Posts: 268 Member
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    Ok.....So I've just read this whole thread and there is one thing that is confusing me....

    You're MALE and eats, or is trying to eat, around 1,200 (or there about) every day? Is that your actual goal?

    That just seems quite low to me but maybe I missed something.

    No one else has been too worried about this 1200 calorie goal because the OP isn't losing weight, so he must be eating above it by quite a bit, but yes, it's definitely low for a male and most females.
  • flatlndr
    flatlndr Posts: 713 Member
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    Ok.....So I've just read this whole thread and there is one thing that is confusing me....

    You're MALE and eats, or is trying to eat, around 1,200 (or there about) every day? Is that your actual goal?

    That just seems quite low to me but maybe I missed something.

    No one else has been too worried about this 1200 calorie goal because the OP isn't losing weight, so he must be eating above it by quite a bit, but yes, it's definitely low for a male and most females.

    He is estimating his input, not measuring properly, and believes he is only taking in 1200 cals a day, yet he weighs ~234 lbs right now. The numbers just don't add up.