Gaining on clean eating!!

elphie754

Gingychild wrote: »

I use measuring cups, measuring spoons and the food scale. The one slice thing maybe for the bread?

Ditch the cups and spoons and weigh everything.

Gingychild

I never weigh out fruits, nuts or butters. I only use measuring cups and measuring spoons.

arditarose

Gingychild wrote: »

I never weigh out fruits, nuts or butters. I only use measuring cups and measuring spoons.

Okay. Start doing that. Weigh even regular butter. Nuts and butter are calorie dense. Fruit can be pretty high too.

Gingychild

@ariditarose, I always measure all ingredients in recipes. But I don't weigh everything. Mostly use measuring cups and spoons.

diannethegeek

Gingychild wrote: »

I use measuring cups, measuring spoons and the food scale. The one slice thing maybe for the bread?

I know you said you couldn't see images up thread, so hopefully these videos come through for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

https://youtu.be/vjKPIcI51lU

arditarose

Yeah, you need to tighten up. I'm still surprised that you gained though. I actually forgot this was a "I gained" thread and not a "I'm not losing" thread.

katiely95

Okay, just talking a look at your most recent couple of days, you are not weighing out every single thing. I agree, that shouldn't cause that much weight gain, but every little bit adds up....

I understand that some just say "2 tbps" is a serving, but if you're really worried, you really need to tighten up on your weighing. Certain examples include fruit spread, honey, cheese, almond milk, drinks, your veggies and fruits. Those things CAN add up really quickly without you even realizing it.

Honestly, I had the same problem a couple of months ago. My weight loss stalled out and I lost a lot of motivation. Ever since then, I've been weighing everything, even drinks and take out to ensure that I am calorie counting to the degree I need to in order to lose weight. It's really simple, and proven.

The only other thing I can think of is that you may have a medical condition. I'm glad you made an appointment. Good luck!

Gingychild

@diannethegeek WOW. That's insane! I guess I am so use to the old Weight Watchers way of measuring things.

CoffeeNCardio

I see "Clean Chili" and "Mozzarella". What brand? There's a 250 calorie difference between the little balls of fresh mozzarella from King Soopers, that they package in the plastic bowl thing, and the rolls that come pre-packaged (we're talking the whole package, not per serving). They visually appear to be the same amount, but even the serving sizes are different. The "Clean Chili" thing is in that same ballpark. Clean chili, what brand? Homemade? Don't use someone else's homemade recipe, it could be and probably is wildly different from what you have made. Note also that when you search for an item by name, you get like 50 different foods, all with the same name, but with very different calorie counts, and some very wrong counts. Ensure you are using your phone to actually scan the barcode of anything packaged.

I also highly suggest using your scale to measure even pre-packaged food servings. You'd be amazed how many times I buy Bertolli and find that there is not as much weight in the bag as they say, let alone enough to constitute as many servings as they claim are in there. This goes for a lot of pre-packaged foods. "Clean" or otherwise.

I'm also on team weigh your fruits. Some diet plans don't require you to weigh certain food groups, but if you're going to use CICO, you really do need to count everything or you cannot know you are logging accurately. it takes a lot of apples in a day to blow your calorie goal, but it takes seemingly very few over a month or a week in your perception.

Gingychild

@katiely95 the serving sizes you see that I posted are my premade measuring sizes my recipes. For example, my homemade pizza dough and homemade pizza sauce will serve 4. Thats the entire recipes contents split into 4 servings and Ill have like 1-1.5 of a serving... If that's what you meant?

Gingychild

@CoffeeNCardio things like "clean chili" are my entered from scratch recipes that I named clean chili. For things like mozzarella or organic butter (etc) those I don't typically look up the brand.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

measuring cups should only be used for liquids and sometimes they arent accurate either. weigh all solids and semi solids in grams and liquids in cups. even 2 pieces of fruit the same size will not weigh the same and will be different in calories,carbs,etc. I learned this the hard way. I was gaining weight too thinking I was eating less than I was and turns out I wasnt. weighing everything is a real eye opener. never use tsp,tbs,etc because what you think is a teaspoon may actually be more or less if you were to weigh it.

Gingychild

I guess long story short here is...I need to weigh EVERYTHING and ditch the measuring cups. That seems to be the theme.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

yep, it will open your eyes and make sure you pick the right entries in mfp because a lot of them are off. so cross reference everything if you need help just ask someone can help you out.

arditarose

Gingychild wrote: »

I guess long story short here is...I need to weigh EVERYTHING and ditch the measuring cups. That seems to be the theme.

Yep, that and make sure you are finding the correct entry for the food you are eating (brand, etc). You're on the right track. Don't forget olive oil! I didn't see any logged (I don't use it but I know a lot of people do).

Gingychild

@aridtarose the olive oil is typically in my recipes which I create then name...then log. That's probably why it's hard to break down my diary. Most of my food is from scratch and logged into my recipes.

3AAnn3

How sure are you of your starting weight? It just seems impossible to me to gain 12 pounds in a month, even if you were trying to. Was it the same scale that you were using to weigh in?? I've weighed in in the morning before food, then weighed in fully clothed, shoes, having eaten and can easily be up 6 pounds.

Gingychild

This has really helped me though. Thanks to everyone that took the time to dissect my diet..lol! You guys are awesome.

arditarose

Gingychild wrote: »

@aridtarose the olive oil is typically in my recipes which I create then name...then log. That's probably why it's hard to break down my diary. Most of my food is from scratch and logged into my recipes.

Ah okay. So you're on the right track. Just tighten up! And still go to the doctor's appointment.

Have you recently added extra exercise to your lifestyle?

CoffeeNCardio

Gingychild wrote: »

@CoffeeNCardio things like "clean chili" are my entered from scratch recipes that I named clean chili. For things like mozzarella or organic butter (etc) those I don't typically look up the brand.

It's good you are utilizing the recipe maker:) Took me months to even find it was there. You don't necessarily have to look it up by brand name, so long as you are clicking the food and checking it's nutrition facts on MFP to the actual package, but it does tend to get you the most accurate results when you search it that way. When people correct incorrect entries, they typically specify the brand name in their correction, so it can help if MFP says the mozzarella is 250 calories (bulk) and it's really only 210 or something to see other options pop up.

You might see something like this:

Hormel Pepperoni (happy green checkmark from MFP confirmation)

Hormel Pepperoni (Corrected, user entered, no checkmark)

Either one is grounds to check the package, but using the brand name gives you the advantage of seeing all the options, which will tell you whether you need to check (if there's five entries that all say "corrected" and "from package" you NEED to check, if there's not, it's prudent but not a huge deal)

gawworthington

I did a two week food lovers cleanse by Bon Appetit and did not lose weight either. It used a lot of olive oil in the recipes and nuts which is higher fat than I usually eat. It was great tasting ideas.

CoffeeNCardio

Gingychild wrote: »

I guess long story short here is...I need to weigh EVERYTHING and ditch the measuring cups. That seems to be the theme.

You can use measuring cups for liquid items. It's specifically for solids that measuring cups and spoons fall short. The beauty of weighing solids in a recipe is that you will know by the end of making it what the total weight is, and then you can weigh your portion against the total to get your serving size. It's a little more accurate with some foods, and a LOT more accurate with others.

arditarose

OP, when were your weigh ins/check ins? Did you weigh yourself before the holidays? It IS possible you were in a high surplus at the end of december (do you celebrate christmas?) if you were indulging, and you were gaining weight at the same time you were getting ready to commit to lose....

Gingychild

CoffeeNCardio wrote: »

Gingychild wrote: »

I guess long story short here is...I need to weigh EVERYTHING and ditch the measuring cups. That seems to be the theme.

You can use measuring cups for liquid items. It's specifically for solids that measuring cups and spoons fall short. The beauty of weighing solids in a recipe is that you will know by the end of making it what the total weight is, and then you can weigh your portion against the total to get your serving size. It's a little more accurate with some foods, and a LOT more accurate with others.

good to know. thanks!

arditarose

You also might be holding on to extra water weight if you are nearing or having your period.

blankiefinder

diannethegeek wrote: »

This is my really general advice for these sorts of things. I know we've already covered some of the steps, but maybe some of the others will help:


1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

Fantastic summary by @diannethegeek as always. The only thing I would add would be to make sure you have your activity level set correctly. Do not include exercise in this. Most people are sedentary.

Gingychild

arditarose wrote: »

OP, when were your weigh ins/check ins? Did you weigh yourself before the holidays? It IS possible you were in a high surplus at the end of december (do you celebrate christmas?) if you were indulging, and you were gaining weight at the same time you were getting ready to commit to lose....

I stopped looking at the scale way before December. I only weighed myself about a week before I changed my eating habits. As of now, and I know it's wrong, but I weigh myself at the same time almost every night. I just keep seeing the scale creep up. I almost threw in the towel and joined weight watchers, in fear that I will keep gaining.... but I'm going to give it some more time. Although I'm technically gaining, I feel healthier. I don't want to lose that. I didn't always feel healthy on WW because it was a lot of processed foods

Christine_72

Wait til you weigh your nut butters... I almost cried, the serving size was so tiny I was eating waaay more when I was using a tablespoon instead of scales.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

weight fluctuates through the day its best to weigh yourself after you use the bathroom first thing in the am either naked on in underwear. around the same time every day

Gingychild

Christine_72 wrote: »

Wait til you weigh your nut butters... I almost cried, the serving size was so tiny I was eating waaay more when I was using a tablespoon instead of scales.

YIKES!