This started out as an answer to "why did you get fat" but then it got long so...

tomteboda

DON'T PANIC!!!!

From your posts I'm going to guess the concept of weighing your food makes you feel panicky (it kind of does me!). Don't sweat that, its not essential. What IS essential is that you measure consistently, and get serious about it. Stop guessing portion sizes, measure them out, even if it means pre-serving your home-cooked meals. If you are being consistent, and the weight isn't coming off at all, then as some folks have suggested, try reducing your portion sizes. You don't need to use a scale to do that, just measure out less food.

Most people here are rabidly in favor of weighing versus measuring. The shared video explains that most people don't understand how to use measuring spoons or measuring cups. Used properly, volume is a perfectly good way to measure the amount of food you're taking in. We measure using volume in chemistry (qualitative and quantitative analysis) ALL the time, and kitchen scales aren't nearly as accurate as a lot of folks think either.

People are pointing out a very hard truth; what you think is a serving probably isn't a serving, it's probably like 1.2 or 1.5 servings. An extra 20% to 50% of calories over the course of weeks and months really piles up! And while you're right that hormones can affect weight gain, most do so by interfering with your body's hunger signals causing eating in excess of physical need. There are a few notable exceptions, particularly thyroid and cortisol.

Give yourself at least 4 weeks on your course of action (making sure you are correctly measuring) before you declare your current program a bust. You may be experiencing natural fluctuation from your monthly cycle, or a lag period in results. You should also look for other things that may be interfering with achieving your goals. High stress, or a lack of sleep can create difficulty in losing weight.

If you still aren't seeing results after a month of very meticulous logging, you may need to discuss this with your physician and a nutritionist. Your physician may want to test you for hormone imbalances, polycystic ovarian syndrome, or cushing's syndrome.

MelodyandBarbells

You measure non-liquid / powder items by volume in chemistry? Which ones

tomteboda

Jane, most solids at standard temperature and pressure have constant density. In an industrial scale both mass and volume are acceptable. The type of precision necessary for bench chemistry isn't necessary in cooking and exceeds the accuracy of biological calorimetry.

Most kitchen scales have accuracy to 0.1 oz, or grams. The density of bagged sugar is 700 kg/m3. That means the precision with which you can weigh sugar is just over 4 tsp. Obviously the smaller the volume the more critical this error is.

Also there are other implicit errors in calorie counting. Raw foods vary in nutrient content, including caloric load more than you might think. Your digestive systems mileage in releasing energy also varies. These errors are large in magnitude than the error from consistently and accurately using volume on dry ingredients at room temperature and consistent pressure (solid volumes being largely immune to pressure changes).

For a person unfamiliar with the relationship of volume to mass, and unsalted at agitate measurement, the use of the scale can be a valuable aid, particularly for did that don't really fit into a spoon or cup. But most important is that you are consistent, because whether you weigh or measure, with consistency in measurement you can rationally adjust your intake of what you're doing isn't working.

The key difference in weighing in the chemistry laboratory is that we use scales sensitive and accurate for measurements in the hundredths and thousandths of grams.

MelodyandBarbells

Thanks! So the one item you mentioned was sugar, which tends to be very fine and indeed has a constant consistency to the extent that a good cup would get the job done. Can't really say the same for solids that when you put them in a cup, there's obviously air gaps of varying degrees from one measurement to another.

I was just wondering which solids you measure by volume for your chemistry experiments / tasks. I imagined they would be fine powder and not coarse, chunky solids

tomteboda

Yes, Jane, they'd mostly be powdery. Dometimes a volume of acrylamide is just a lot faster. There are flocculants that get added volume, and packing materials as well. It always depends on the accuracy necessary for a given task, and how it fits into your workflow
My point is that kitchen scales are just not that accurate, but what they mostly help with is consistency. Rigorously used measuring spoons and cups provide lower error at small masses/volumes.

blankiefinder

tomteboda wrote: »

Yes, Jane, they'd mostly be powdery. Dometimes a volume of acrylamide is just a lot faster. There are flocculants that get added volume, and packing materials as well. It always depends on the accuracy necessary for a given task, and how it fits into your workflow
My point is that kitchen scales are just not that accurate, but what they mostly help with is consistency. Rigorously used measuring spoons and cups provide lower error at small masses/volumes.

I'm surprised that a scientist would say that weighing your food with a scale is less accurate than measuring. With foods like cereal, there is a massive difference in weight between the start of a box when you get all the big pieces of cereal, and the end of the box when you get all the little pieces. A measuring cup would be way off in calories.

I don't think that everyone should HAVE to weigh their food, but if you're stuck and can't lose, yet refuse to even try one, to me that's just stubbornness. Try it and you might be really surprised how easy it is. It truly is so much faster than measuring with cups, and a lot less dishes to wash! Put bowl on scale, hit zero. Add first item, log weight. Zero. Add second item. Repeat. And if you've given it a real try and still don't like it, fair enough!

MelodyandBarbells

Oh ok. Thank you for clarifying. Yes, I do think anyone mostly eating even textured, powdery items could use cups especially if they're careful to level, and not heap or pack. But for coarse items or foods that are otherwise unevenly textured, a food scale will give more consistent results. Some people have the allowance in their calories where a 300-600 calorie offset is not that big a deal, but I believe one of the videos posted explained how you could have that discrepancy per day just using cups. No Bueno. I burn that much during a pretty tough exercise session, so I'd rather carefully manage that many calories into my goal

Accuracy only has to be adequate to its application. 1g is absolutely accurate enough for food logging. It's just like saying 1mph is not a very fine measurement and so is completely useless for driving. By the same token, that same 1mph might be the entire range being evaluated in another application, and therefore inappropriate for that use case

TL;DR: if cups aren't giving you the results you need, weigh your food

AnnPT77

tincanonastring wrote: »

The funny thing is that it's actually easier and more efficient to weigh with a food scale than it is to use measuring cups.

Yeah, I found that, too - especially after getting accustomed to some of the tricks like putting the full container on the scale, hitting "tare", then using the negative to find out how much I ate, or tare-ing the bowl/plate/pan, adding something, tare again, then add the next thing. So easy, and less fiddly than all the measuring cups.

tomteboda

@blankefinder, the problem with weighting is the accuracy isn't 1g, it's 3 for most kitchen scales. That is a huge error. Also exercise "calories burned" is mostly voodoo passed of as "science". You make it work through consistency of measuring, and adjustment based on results, not because your accuracy is great in the actual counting of calories in /out.

tomteboda

To illustrate my point, here's a rather accessible essay published in Scientific American about the problem with measuring calories in foods. Even with prefect weighing, the factor you are multiplying by (energy gained per unit food) is amidst certainly grossly in error. Precision and consistency are everything in this, accuracy nothing. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-reveals-why-calorie-counts-are-all-wrong/

tomteboda

Also, measurement of calorie burned is grossly inaccurate as well, as argued eloquently recently in Salon.com: http://www.salon.com/2015/01/27/your_exercise_equipment_is_lying_to_you_partner/

tomteboda

Obviously, if I'm here, and succeeding at losing weigh (45 lbs in 9 months), I'm not throwing out calorie counting as an effective weight loss tool.

When you measure intake consistently, whether with a scale of by volume, and keep an eye on nutritional balance, you are held accountable for your actions and choices. You are also empowered to make changes based on your weight loss success or lack thereof. But thinking that those little numbers on your food diary are accurate is a bit of a daydream.

Andreatts9

As someone who told themselves for years that they "worked out" and "ate healthy" and ended up being 270lbs...I understand the question about honesty and I don't think it was coming from a place of ill intent because I told myself that I was doing all of these things and didn't understand why I could not take the weight off when in fact I was 100% lying to myself. It was not until I actively started writing down every single thing I put into my mouth (yes even the 3 M&M's) and actually joined a fitness program that was not just 20 minutes on the stationery bike at level 3 that I really began to see a difference and hold myself accountable.

I learned about strength training, I learned about portion control and about macros and what my body needed. Diet is the most important part in weight loss and 1500 calories adds up quick and when people tell me now that they eat less than that and are incredibly over weight, I have a hard time believing it because it is so challenging.

I used to reward myself for the challenges in my life with food, now the reward is how amazing I feel from working hard at the gym and I have learned how to prepare delicious meals that fuel my body for what I need to accomplish.

I wish you so much luck because I too have been there, and it is not easy to self reflect on what we are really eating and what we are actually doing for workouts. Much love on your journey!

dubird

I have no idea if OP is coming back, but my two cents in case she does.

Yes, you need to start weighing. But that doesn't mean you'll be doing it the rest of your life! What you need to be doing is changing your eating habits and getting a better idea of what a serving actually is. I didn't weigh at first, just did my best to estimate, and I didn't really lose much. By using a scale for a while, I realized I was VASTLY overestimating what a serving of something was, and was able to start taking it down slowly to what it should be. Now, 3 years later, I don't weigh my food much anymore. Part of that is because my diary list is full of things I've eating before (I tend to eat a lot of the same things). But it's mostly because I've gotten a better idea of what a portion is. Am I always accurate? Hell no! Occasionally, I bring out the scale and weigh things again just to keep myself on track. But I've trained my eye and body to recognize what a listed portion of food is, for the most part, and don't make a lot of errors anymore. I'll probably be logging the rest of my life, but that's so I don't go back to my old eating habits and gain weight again.

Keep in mind, this is a SLOW process. Took me 3 years to lose almost 50lbs. But you know what? By doing it slowly I kept myself from feeling deprived of foods and kept from being hungry all the time, I was able to retrain myself to how much I should be eating, and still managed to keep at least smaller portions of the foods I like. I feel much more confident that I can stay in my target range, and that's where I need to be. If you're looking for another method to try, maybe start with just eating like you normally want to, but log everything for a week. That will give you a baseline of where you're starting from and help you identify where you need to make changes. Then, start with one thing and give yourself a week to get used to it. Then, change something else. It takes longer, but it gives you time to get used to things so it won't feel as hard, and it makes it more likely that you'll keep the weight off later.

Granted, everyone has a different method, so this is just what I did that worked for me. It might seem too slow for you. But at the base of every diet plan out there, even the crappy unhealthy ones, is the idea is that it makes you take in less calories than you burn. Period. And if you're not going to log accurately, at least for a little while to get your baseline, you'll never consistently get that.


As an aside, if you're using calories estimated by MFP, you're not getting an accurate count. MFP uses averages to get the calorie burns it gives you, and most of us don't have the averages stats it uses. Same goes for most gym machines. Best way to keep track of your calorie burn for any kind of exercise is to get a heart rate monitor and make the calculations yourself. I can't help you for that part because I suck at math, but I do know that a 20 minute walk according to MFP burns a lot more calories than my Fitbit with HRM tells me. And since the Fitbit is using my entered stats plus my heart rate to calculate, it is more accurate.

Angel_Grove_

Itsonlymeagain wrote: »

@derek... no I'm not part of any movement and I don't believe it either. I already said I want to lose weight because I'm feeling it in my joints, among other raesons. What I DID say is that medical doctors don't pay much attention for me because there is nothing for them to treat. High TSH? here's a pill. High aic? here's a pill. What does a medical doctor do for someone with normal labs? Not much.

I don't mean to argue but some people are being irrationally hardball and I don't appreciate that. There is not one way to do things and it's stupid, literally stupid, to say measuring 1/2 cup of oats is vastly different than weighing it. I'm not a stupid person. IT's not like I"m packing them down in tight. So when I say I measure the food I'm looking for an honest discussion on why this is so bad vs weighing. I don't see it. Sorry, I don't and being nasty instead if informational is not helping me or anyone else who may be reading and not commenting.

I felt the same way for a long time, then I did an experiment for a week and measured everything like I normally would, but then I weighed it. That 1/2 cup of oatmeal that was supposed to be 40g/150 calories? Most of the time, it was 50g/188 calories. The tablespoon of sugar that should have been 12g/45 calories? It was usually 16g/64 calories. Eat that for breakfast every morning, and that's an extra 400 calories/week. And that's just one meal. I weigh my food every chance I get since then. Now, if I'm in a hurry or out, I'll eyeball it and make sure to overestimate, and that has worked well for me as long as it's not all the time. A digital food scale can be had for $10 - it's worth a shot to try it out, if only just to check your measurements.