Losing weight and not needing to weigh food

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  • gillie80
    gillie80 Posts: 214 Member
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    I think folk don't get why you feel sorry for us food weighers. what is there to feel sorry for? also no one wants pity for something that A works and B is their choice. just saying.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    cee134 wrote: »
    I'm also curious why people are so offended by what I feel sorry for? It's not like I'm saying, "Man, those starving people in Africa and people that weigh their food really have it tough in life."

    What reason would there be to feel sorry for someone weighing other than you feel they have it tough?
  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,262 Member
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    BreezeDoveal wrote: »
    Therealobi1 wrote: »
    cee134 wrote: »
    I'm also curious why people are so offended by what I feel sorry for? It's not like I'm saying, "Man, those starving people in Africa and people that weigh their food really have it tough in life."

    could be this line. lol
    I see some people making a 2nd job out of measuring and weighing. When I lost 100 lbs in 2 - 3 years. I didn't weigh my food once.

    Well of course, someone in another thread said weighing and measuring things was a job.
    Can't op feel sorry for people that work as cooks?

    yep she can.
    my face would be sweating all day long if i had to work in a kitchen
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2016
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    cee134 wrote: »
    newmeadow wrote: »
    This seems to be an emotional subject. But weighing and logging food works for all walks of life.
    Yeah... I was just trying to point out that it was still possible to lose weight without weighing food.

    That's not really what you said.

    Also, I suspect everyone knows that.

    But hey "it's possible to lose weight without weighing food" wouldn't be a debate. "We should pity those who weigh food," is. Win/win!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    cee134 wrote: »
    I'm also curious why people are so offended by what I feel sorry for? It's not like I'm saying, "Man, those starving people in Africa and people that weigh their food really have it tough in life."

    I dunno. Why did you claim to feel fat shamed when someone said they pitied you for needing to lose 100 lbs (according to you)?

    People frequently don't like to be pitied and saying "I feel sorry for you" (as opposed to feeling that inside and not expressing it) is not usually a positive statement.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,099 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I started weight loss in 2007. I lost 65ish pounds. I've kept it *mostly* off.

    The first 40 pounds, easy peasy. I weighed myself, logged my food (by guessing mostly) and that was all.

    The next 25 pounds, not so easy. I had a very thin margin of error because I actually want to eat the right amount of food, and I don't want to under-eat (or over-eat.) That's when I bought a food scale. For the record I also bought a HR monitor, but I stopped using that within a few months.

    When I hit goal, I stopped logging. Portions continued to increase without my knowing it, extra calories are easy to sneak in, and I started to gain again...just like OP.

    However, I never got up more than 15 pounds in the last (nearly) ten years. When I started to gain I would go back to the food scale, food logging and my body-weight scale. Finally tired of re-losing that 10-15, I buckled down and use all three tools daily now. It's the only way for me. It takes me all of five extra minutes a day and I don't ever want to have to lose those last ten pounds again.
  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,262 Member
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    Maxematics wrote: »
    cee134 wrote: »
    newmeadow wrote: »
    This seems to be an emotional subject. But weighing and logging food works for all walks of life.
    Yeah... I was just trying to point out that it was still possible to lose weight without weighing food. Even when very close to the goal weight. I didn't realize it would make some people lose their *kitten*.

    This thread didn't go how you expected it to, so now everyone else is losing their you know what but you're still the rational one. LOL. There is a saying that goes "If it smells like poo everywhere you go, you should probably check the bottom of your own shoe". It's pretty apropos here.

    this made me chuckle. :D
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I hate weighing my food. I lost my first 40lbs without ever using a food scale. Just eyeballing stuff....but I was also set at 1200 calories. about 4 months I realized I couldn't keep going at 1200 and started to eat back my exercise calories and set my calorie goal higher....and I plateau'd for a YEAR.

    After being hard headed for a year and not losing but know damn well why, I finally got the food scale. I don't using for everything any more because I do hate it, and I'm really good at eyeballing meat and veggies and liquids. I use it religiously for flour, rice, grains and beans because I can jam 2 cups of rice in a 1 cup measurement. My baking has also gotten a lot better from weighing my flour.

    I think the OP might have seen some of the numerous threads where people say their weight loss stalled, which lead to the inevitable "are you weighing your food" question. Yes, it's tedious to see those threads, over and over and over. But, the question always has to be asked because it's the most likely answer...someone is taking in too much food without knowing it. Don't look for a zebra in a herd of horses. Sure, there could be a zebra but it's most likely another horse.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Kind of off topic, but I find it interesting (not good or bad) what people hate and don't. I don't hate weighing food at all -- maybe because it fits with how I cook, maybe because I used to use it for baking, so it doesn't seem weird. I do blow hot and cold on logging -- sometimes I like it, sometimes I really don't (and that's why I typically don't at maintenance). I particularly hate logging things like stews or other items where you really have to use the recipe builder. Okay, more simply, I hate the recipe builder. I also really hate estimating restaurant meals and have stopped even bothering -- I now guess at what seems a reasonable calorie amount with some cushion and log it.

    Similarly, I didn't like trying to estimate burn from exercise, so went to TDEE.

    I also hate and won't pre-log -- I like to play it by ear when cooking, to the point of deciding on dinner based on what's in my refrigerator when I get home (I know roughly and of course know the protein) and combinations that come to me during the day. (I can get close enough to the goals that matter to me -- protein, calories, lots of vegetables, reasonably balance of fat/carbs for my preference -- on the fly.) Yet I get that pre-logging doesn't feel burdensome to and even works wonderfully for others.

    Does anyone else want to share what they like and have tried and rejected as not for them and any theories as to why? ;-)
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    mskessler89 wrote: »
    This pity for people who weigh their food seems to be the new "So sorry you have to log your food, you should learn to eat intuitively!" It's annoying as hell.

    None of us are counting calories for the sheer thrill of it. It's ok for people to acknowledge that reality. If somebody else is glad they don't need to do it the same way you do, that doesn't take away from your journey. :smile:
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I mostly weigh my food. However, I do take shortcuts:

    1. I pre-log my food, so I don't log the amount I weighed, I weigh the amount I logged. I typically don't correct errors of a few grams, but big errors I'll adjust.

    2. I don't always weigh every condiment and such. Often I will weigh the first few times and average those, and assume I will use about the same every time. I weigh high-calorie things like peanut butter every time.

    3. I don't weigh single serving prepackaged food. I know any individual package can be off but I figure it averages out over time.

    Really, though, since I use my scale to assemble recipes, it's faster than measuring cups and less to worry about in terms of dishes.

    You don't need to be supremely accurate as long as you're incorporating feedback from the bathroom scale to fine-tune your calorie goals over time. That said, simple weighing of food gets you into a much better place with regard to accuracy.

    Anyhow I certainly don't need any pity. My techniques are quick, easy almost to the point of being automatic, and help me achieve great success.
  • chocolate_owl
    chocolate_owl Posts: 1,695 Member
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    NorthCascades wrote: »
    mskessler89 wrote: »
    This pity for people who weigh their food seems to be the new "So sorry you have to log your food, you should learn to eat intuitively!" It's annoying as hell.

    None of us are counting calories for the sheer thrill of it. It's ok for people to acknowledge that reality. If somebody else is glad they don't need to do it the same way you do, that doesn't take away from your journey. :smile:

    They can be glad they don't do it the same way I do without telling me I need to do something else or feeling sorry for me for doing what it takes to keep myself healthy.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    Great, it's this OP again :/
  • Savyna
    Savyna Posts: 789 Member
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    I thought if I exercised about 4-5 days a week and ate what I thought was relatively less, I'd lose weight. Doing that I lost maybe 4ish pounds, regained and then stuck at 210. Before doing that, I lost weight easily by counting calories/measuring. I started counting and measuring again and these past few months I've lost about 15 pounds. Until I have a real grasp of portions/how much I'm eating, it's much easier for me to lose weight now that I'm measuring than when I'm not.
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