I guess I am gaining instead of losing weight?
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I totally get what youre all saying. I know I need to make a change but everything I have been doing before was working 2 months ago I guess thats what I dont understand how it is drastically changing. I'm definitely not going to be giving up eating some "cheat" meals bc I would go insane if I didnt but I need to really track those days so I can see what I am doing wrong. I'm not trying to make excuses and I know everyone is trying to help so thank you0
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I'm just feeling really defeated right now as I thought what I was doing has been working but realizing it hasnt been...0
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Not suggesting you give up 'cheats'. But check & recheck your calorie #s. Make sure the values you're using for calories per ounce/gram for food items are correct. Enter your own recipes/avoid using other people's recipes if you don't know that your ingredients are the same.
Trying to brainstorm some easy mistakes to make... Weighing meat in its cooked form but logging raw calorie information. (Meat is typically lighter when cooked, as some of the moisture cooks out. So the 3 ounces cooked may actually be 4 ounces raw.) Using measuring cups for solid food. Assuming you don't need to weigh fruits/vegetables - and while something like spinach is going to be hard to 'overeat' higher calorie content fruits/veggies can add up quickly. Forgetting to account for marinades, cooking oils, condiments. Assuming the package is correct when it says something like 2 slices = 45 grams, 100 cals. Weigh it, you'll find its often 10-15% higher in weight than its supposed to be.
Also be aware that with a bodyweight in the 130's, you don't burn a lot. (Its the downside of losing weight lol.) This is why accuracy is so important.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »I weigh things out on my food scale and then quick add them. Its just easier for me this way and how I've always done things.
yet you're gaining weight so it's obviously not working...i personally hate when my staff says things like, "but this is the way we've always done it."
if you're gaining weight as a trend over time, which it would appear that you are, albeit very slowly...then guess what? you're overeating...not by much, but you're overeating.
I just dont see how me actually typing in specific foods can help? If I'm weighing things out (which I didnt in the past) and adding them isnt that more accurate?
It isn't that it would automatically be more accurate. It's that it would be easier for people to help you troubleshoot to see if the issue is with your logging (for example, I've seen diaries where people have chosen the wrong database entry to log something so they are eating more than they think they are. That would be invisible in your case and nobody could help you spot the error).0 -
As you lose weight, your TDEE drops so you're burning fewer calories.
As you lose weight you burn fewer calories through exercise.
For some people, cutting calories results in a drop in NEAT (you fidget less and move around less).
For some people, prolonged calorie counting comes with a bit of calorie/portion creep or looser tracking.
For some people, cheat days get larger as calorie levels drop. That can be especially tough to notice if you aren't tracking them.
Some people forget to account for things like cooking oils, veggies, or condiments.
And so on, and so forth.
This is why it's so important to take your real world results and adjust as necessary. Sometimes we get this perfect storm of little things that aren't working just right that lead to a big discrepancy in calories. It's a pain in the butt, yes. Because we all wish the number on the scale reflected the amount of effort we're putting in. Sadly, we just have to keep slogging onward.
It sounds like you have some good ideas already about how to move forward. Put those into practice and see what happens in a couple of weeks!0 -
I totally get what youre all saying. I know I need to make a change but everything I have been doing before was working 2 months ago I guess thats what I dont understand how it is drastically changing. I'm definitely not going to be giving up eating some "cheat" meals bc I would go insane if I didnt but I need to really track those days so I can see what I am doing wrong. I'm not trying to make excuses and I know everyone is trying to help so thank you
It's calorie creep. I measure my peanut butter a week to the gram. Next week I don't feel like measuring so I scoop the same looking amount. Opps scooped a bit to much but didn't notice general scoop size then increases over time.0 -
I was recently suggested by some people on here to use happy scale app to track my weight everyday since I seem to get frustrated by daily fluctuations. Last week I ended up weighing in 3 times and was 137.4 every single day, I figured something may be up as it was the exact same everyday. I've been doing really great with weighing everything out etc. This week starting on Monday I began weighing and tracking, I know have been weighing at138.2, 138.2, 138.4 for the last 3 days. Its very discouraging because while I know to expect fluctuations but since beginning over November my weight has gone up! I've been doing really good for the most part and I just don't understand. I started beginning of Oct and was losing at a good pace (about a lb a week). I was at 133 before thanksgiving then went up to 135ish then after christmas took place I was at 137. It is the week before my cycle so it could be that it could be many things its just frustrating to constantly see numbers going up instead of down.
/thread. Seriously. Just don't weigh yourself before your cycle (or during), it's totally pointless.0 -
1) I think weighing yourself more than once per week is well... your body naturally is going to fluxuate slightly; water retention, stress, sleep, etc can call cause weight fluxuation. (apparently, I am not spelling "fluxuate" correctly...)
2) if you're confident that you are being true and right with your food intake... Are you stressed? Are you getting enough sleep? These can cause issues with your weight as well, despite every-other good intentioned effort.
But most of all, you said work-out videos. If you have been doing these for awhile, your body may just need a change, something more challenging. For example, a heavier, out of shape person will burn much more calories doing the exact same movement as a slim, in shape person. Your body may be "in shape" for the work-out you are doing and you're not burning as many calories anymore doing that work-out as you first did 2-4 months ago.0 -
StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Weighing meat in its cooked form but logging raw calorie information. (Meat is typically lighter when cooked, as some of the moisture cooks out. So the 3 ounces cooked may actually be 4 ounces raw.)
Can you expand on this? Let's say I cook chicken breast. I weighed the whole breast beforehand and it was about 12 oz (including the little plastic it sits in technically, and it might still have been partially frozen, so some moisture). I cooked it, then split it in half (eyeball) and weighed each half, 4.3 oz and 4.8 oz. Was I okay to log the 4.3 one day and the 4.8 the other day? Or should I have logged the 12 oz it was when it was raw?
I don't mean to sidetrack I've just taken a new recommitment to weigh everything and don't understand how my chicken, potatoes and broccoli are still only about 500 calories for dinner. It seems like I must be doing something wrong.0 -
The problem happens if you use cooked weights and raw entries in the database.
In your case, you could convert and say that 9.1 oz cooked = 12 ounces raw. Doing the math, you ate 47% of the chicken one day and 53% the other. 12 x .47 = 5.64 raw ounces.
You would NOT want to assume that 4.3 cooked ounces = 4.3 raw ounces.
You could also assume that the law of averages works in the end, and log 6 ounces raw each day. Knowing one day is a little high and one day a little low, but in the end it balances out.blues4miles wrote: »StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Weighing meat in its cooked form but logging raw calorie information. (Meat is typically lighter when cooked, as some of the moisture cooks out. So the 3 ounces cooked may actually be 4 ounces raw.)
Can you expand on this? Let's say I cook chicken breast. I weighed the whole breast beforehand and it was about 12 oz (including the little plastic it sits in technically, and it might still have been partially frozen, so some moisture). I cooked it, then split it in half (eyeball) and weighed each half, 4.3 oz and 4.8 oz. Was I okay to log the 4.3 one day and the 4.8 the other day? Or should I have logged the 12 oz it was when it was raw?
I don't mean to sidetrack I've just taken a new recommitment to weigh everything and don't understand how my chicken, potatoes and broccoli are still only about 500 calories for dinner. It seems like I must be doing something wrong.
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1) I think weighing yourself more than once per week is well... your body naturally is going to fluxuate slightly; water retention, stress, sleep, etc can call cause weight fluxuation. (apparently, I am not spelling "fluxuate" correctly...)
2) if you're confident that you are being true and right with your food intake... Are you stressed? Are you getting enough sleep? These can cause issues with your weight as well, despite every-other good intentioned effort.
But most of all, you said work-out videos. If you have been doing these for awhile, your body may just need a change, something more challenging. For example, a heavier, out of shape person will burn much more calories doing the exact same movement as a slim, in shape person. Your body may be "in shape" for the work-out you are doing and you're not burning as many calories anymore doing that work-out as you first did 2-4 months ago.
My sleep is okay and I'm not stressed. You're probably right about the videos may be getting easier and I'm not burning as much which is why my caloric intake may be off everyday. They are walking videos so I normally was doing 2-4 miles and so I've since switched to jogging in place instead of walking to amp it up a bit. I do not have many other choices on what to use to work out so I'm really not sure how to change this. I do have a few zumba and dance dvds so many I can try those out instead?0 -
StaciMarie1974 wrote: »The problem happens if you use cooked weights and raw entries in the database.
In your case, you could convert and say that 9.1 oz cooked = 12 ounces raw. Doing the math, you ate 47% of the chicken one day and 53% the other. 12 x .47 = 5.64 raw ounces.
You would NOT want to assume that 4.3 cooked ounces = 4.3 raw ounces.
You could also assume that the law of averages works in the end, and log 6 ounces raw each day. Knowing one day is a little high and one day a little low, but in the end it balances out.blues4miles wrote: »StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Weighing meat in its cooked form but logging raw calorie information. (Meat is typically lighter when cooked, as some of the moisture cooks out. So the 3 ounces cooked may actually be 4 ounces raw.)
Can you expand on this? Let's say I cook chicken breast. I weighed the whole breast beforehand and it was about 12 oz (including the little plastic it sits in technically, and it might still have been partially frozen, so some moisture). I cooked it, then split it in half (eyeball) and weighed each half, 4.3 oz and 4.8 oz. Was I okay to log the 4.3 one day and the 4.8 the other day? Or should I have logged the 12 oz it was when it was raw?
I don't mean to sidetrack I've just taken a new recommitment to weigh everything and don't understand how my chicken, potatoes and broccoli are still only about 500 calories for dinner. It seems like I must be doing something wrong.
Thank you. That's a pretty clear explanation. I just scanned the label when I entered the food in so wasn't paying attention to if it's raw or cooked. But the difference in calories is so small for something like chicken breast I'll err on the side of entering the pre-cooked amount so I can be sure I'm being accurate.
The last 21 days I've lost 3.8 lbs. If my TDEE is what Scooby's Workshop says it should be AND my exercise calories are accurate, I should have lost 3.727 lbs. That's why I like having as accurate numbers as I can. It's really nice when the numbers work out. Also lets me know if the numbers aren't working out, I must not be logging accurately, or might be overestimating exercise calories. Keeps me in check.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »I weigh things out on my food scale and then quick add them. Its just easier for me this way and how I've always done things.
yet you're gaining weight so it's obviously not working...i personally hate when my staff says things like, "but this is the way we've always done it."
if you're gaining weight as a trend over time, which it would appear that you are, albeit very slowly...then guess what? you're overeating...not by much, but you're overeating.
I just dont see how me actually typing in specific foods can help? If I'm weighing things out (which I didnt in the past) and adding them isnt that more accurate?
My point was the whole doing the same thing and getting the same unwanted results...obviously there is something wrong...I don't know what it is...a lot of people aren't truly honest with themselves even while keeping a diary...a lot of people closet eat...a lot of people account for most things, but not other things in their logging, etc...only you know that and only you can fix that.
The biggest point here is that you're overeating...cut back or move more or a combination of both...that's it...if you're putting on weight, you're overeating what your body needs to maintain.cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »I weigh things out on my food scale and then quick add them. Its just easier for me this way and how I've always done things.
yet you're gaining weight so it's obviously not working...i personally hate when my staff says things like, "but this is the way we've always done it."
if you're gaining weight as a trend over time, which it would appear that you are, albeit very slowly...then guess what? you're overeating...not by much, but you're overeating.
I just dont see how me actually typing in specific foods can help? If I'm weighing things out (which I didnt in the past) and adding them isnt that more accurate?
My point was the whole doing the same thing and getting the same unwanted results...obviously there is something wrong...I don't know what it is...a lot of people aren't truly honest with themselves even while keeping a diary...a lot of people closet eat...a lot of people account for most things, but not other things in their logging, etc...only you know that and only you can fix that.
The biggest point here is that you're overeating...cut back or move more or a combination of both...that's it...if you're putting on weight, you're overeating what your body needs to maintain.
I totally understand and didnt mean to come off as rude or snarky. I know I need to change something because whatever I'm doing isn't working. I cannot really afford a fit bit right now to track my heart rate so I think the thing is I am overestimating my exercise calories and possibly eating back more then I should be. Thats the only thing I can think because I barely eat much at all. I dont really eat fast food if I do I always track and if I drink alcohol its only on Sat evenings sometimes fridays but once again I track.
Many people here think the exercise burns are inflated by about 50% - if you're eating back 100% of your exercise calories, there's your problem.
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So say my calories for the day is set at 1360, I work out and burn 300 cals so should I only be left with 150 cals left for the day if I eat back half?0
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1) I think weighing yourself more than once per week is well... your body naturally is going to fluxuate slightly; water retention, stress, sleep, etc can call cause weight fluxuation. (apparently, I am not spelling "fluxuate" correctly...)
2) if you're confident that you are being true and right with your food intake... Are you stressed? Are you getting enough sleep? These can cause issues with your weight as well, despite every-other good intentioned effort.
But most of all, you said work-out videos. If you have been doing these for awhile, your body may just need a change, something more challenging. For example, a heavier, out of shape person will burn much more calories doing the exact same movement as a slim, in shape person. Your body may be "in shape" for the work-out you are doing and you're not burning as many calories anymore doing that work-out as you first did 2-4 months ago.
My sleep is okay and I'm not stressed. You're probably right about the videos may be getting easier and I'm not burning as much which is why my caloric intake may be off everyday. They are walking videos so I normally was doing 2-4 miles and so I've since switched to jogging in place instead of walking to amp it up a bit. I do not have many other choices on what to use to work out so I'm really not sure how to change this. I do have a few zumba and dance dvds so many I can try those out instead?
The exercise bit doesn't really work like that. You do burn less than you did originally, but because you lost weight. Your body weighs less, you're doing less work for the same exercise. It is not because you are 'in shape' for that particular exercise.
The solution is to adjust your exercise calories for your lower weight, and if you want to burn more than that, you do what you've said you are doing and add more intensity or time.0 -
1) I think weighing yourself more than once per week is well... your body naturally is going to fluxuate slightly; water retention, stress, sleep, etc can call cause weight fluxuation. (apparently, I am not spelling "fluxuate" correctly...)
2) if you're confident that you are being true and right with your food intake... Are you stressed? Are you getting enough sleep? These can cause issues with your weight as well, despite every-other good intentioned effort.
But most of all, you said work-out videos. If you have been doing these for awhile, your body may just need a change, something more challenging. For example, a heavier, out of shape person will burn much more calories doing the exact same movement as a slim, in shape person. Your body may be "in shape" for the work-out you are doing and you're not burning as many calories anymore doing that work-out as you first did 2-4 months ago.
My sleep is okay and I'm not stressed. You're probably right about the videos may be getting easier and I'm not burning as much which is why my caloric intake may be off everyday. They are walking videos so I normally was doing 2-4 miles and so I've since switched to jogging in place instead of walking to amp it up a bit. I do not have many other choices on what to use to work out so I'm really not sure how to change this. I do have a few zumba and dance dvds so many I can try those out instead?
The exercise bit doesn't really work like that. You do burn less than you did originally, but because you lost weight. Your body weighs less, you're doing less work for the same exercise. It is not because you are 'in shape' for that particular exercise.
The solution is to adjust your exercise calories for your lower weight, and if you want to burn more than that, you do what you've said you are doing and add more intensity or time.
Concur. I'd say the opposite actually happens as you get more fit. You are capable of working at a higher intensity and therefore capable of burning more calories. I find for me personally, the calories I burn less of as I'm losing weight I tend to make up for as I get more fit until I get past a certain weight again, then I can't get much fitter (or not enough to make a calorie burn difference) and so my calories per activity drop back down again. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, use your weight loss as a reason to keep trying to work harder, up the intensity, and try new things.
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1) I think weighing yourself more than once per week is well... your body naturally is going to fluxuate slightly; water retention, stress, sleep, etc can call cause weight fluxuation. (apparently, I am not spelling "fluxuate" correctly...)
2) if you're confident that you are being true and right with your food intake... Are you stressed? Are you getting enough sleep? These can cause issues with your weight as well, despite every-other good intentioned effort.
But most of all, you said work-out videos. If you have been doing these for awhile, your body may just need a change, something more challenging. For example, a heavier, out of shape person will burn much more calories doing the exact same movement as a slim, in shape person. Your body may be "in shape" for the work-out you are doing and you're not burning as many calories anymore doing that work-out as you first did 2-4 months ago.
My sleep is okay and I'm not stressed. You're probably right about the videos may be getting easier and I'm not burning as much which is why my caloric intake may be off everyday. They are walking videos so I normally was doing 2-4 miles and so I've since switched to jogging in place instead of walking to amp it up a bit. I do not have many other choices on what to use to work out so I'm really not sure how to change this. I do have a few zumba and dance dvds so many I can try those out instead?
YouTube has tons of free workout videos you can choose from. I'm sure you'll find something there that's new to you and challenging again. One of my favorites is the Fitnessblender channel. Different types of workouts and different levels of difficulty.
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