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MyFitnessPal Community

This isn't working for me.......

trudiebamford

I realise that this is going to sound very controversial, but since I've started tracking my calories with MFP, I haven't lost an ounce. Up to this point I was losing 0.5-1lb a week. I think I'm eating more than I was when I was just listening to my body. Has anyone else had the same experience?

Replies

sijomial

If that's for an extended period of time then simply reduce your calorie goal or alternatively tighten up your food logging. Your diary doesn't look like a person that is logging very accurately - cups, spoons and estimates.

You don't HAVE to log accurately to be successful but you need to adjust based on actual results.

lithezebra

Logging calories from exercise used to throw me off. Logging what I eat has been immensely helpful. I'm just getting back from 3 weeks of not logging, while on a busy trip to Spain, and I feel better already.

I log all my exercise as 1 calorie, so that I don't overestimate my burns.

Chef_Barbell

You're eating more than you think.

Wheelhouse15

It's possible that you are eating more and if you are doing ok on intuitive dieting than I don't know of any reason you need to log. I only log when I feel I need to these days. If I could go the rest of my life without logging I would happily do so but I don't think that's in the cards.

MissusMoon

I'd suggest buying a food scale. You have no idea how much you're eating.

oolou

Any calorie goal you've been given by MFP or other calculators is an estimate, a starting point. If after a reasonable amount of time (about a month) you find you aren't losing weight at the rate you expected, then you adjust your calorie goal accordingly - or look at increasing your deficit through exercise - or both!

kommodevaran

Sort of. I lost weight with MFP, and I actually weigh a little less now than when I stopped logging/tracking and started "just listening to my body" lol. For me, tracking was an important part of learning to listen to my body, though.

Spliner1969

Use a scale for a month and then see if your weight starts to drop. Measurements based on volume are inaccurate unless your measuring liquids and have a good set of measuring cups. Solids can easily be under or over measured by using volumes.

lemurcat12

I think logging and tracking can be educational and interesting, but if you were doing well just listening to your body, why change?

leggup

Logging calories without using a food scale is a crap shoot. Your diary has a lot of inaccurate entries. You're most likely eating more than you realize. For example, you have "371 calories- 1 serving oatmeal" most days. That's a very.. uneven number that you unlikely replicate daily. It's also possible you're overestimating your exercise burns.

cerise_noir

Just to echo what has been said here...

Use a digital food scale.

Weigh in grams.
Choose accurate database entries that reflect the packaging of the food you're eating. As mentioned, your diary has many inaccurate entries. Log your food by using the specific brand name, too. Weigh slices of meat and cheese and weigh prepackaged pre weighed food such as protein bars.
Weigh everything that isn't a liquid. Weigh butter and oils. Log everything that has calories. Weigh fruit and veg. Don't use spoons and cups for solids and semi solids. Use Spoons and cups for liquids only.

AliceDark

If what you were doing before was working, absolutely go back to it. Logging and using a food scale isn't for everyone, and it's not the only way to lose weight. People lost and gained weight for hundreds of years before this method was a thing. There's nothing wrong with using another method if it works for you.

TavistockToad

trudiebamford wrote: »

I realise that this is going to sound very controversial, but since I've started tracking my calories with MFP, I haven't lost an ounce. Up to this point I was losing 0.5-1lb a week. I think I'm eating more than I was when I was just listening to my body. Has anyone else had the same experience?

I have lost weight in the past, without mfp, but didn't keep it off.

Since using mfp I have been more consistent in my loss and even though I have gained some back at times, it's never been as much as before mfp.

adelanghe

@trudiebamford I think you're seriously underestimating the calories in some cases. I just saw two or three fried items you have logged as having less than 50 calories per cup or half cup...
I believe that if your body doesn't ask you for more you don't have to force yourself to eat. I don't know what were you doing before in terms of calories but if your intake was too low you could have also changed your metabolism
The best you can do is get yourself a kitchen scale and weight what you eat, and take a look at the labels on your food because sometimes the numbers are wrong. Once you're sure you get the right calories then adjust that figure to get results.

jemhh

lemurcat12 wrote: »

I think logging and tracking can be educational and interesting, but if you were doing well just listening to your body, why change?

This.

OP, why did you start logging with MFP? If you were losing using your non-logging method, why not go back to it?

Ben_there_done_that

Hmm. I'd go back to listening to your body, I suppose. MFP seems to work. I lost as soon as I started tracking, despite trying to gain.

ekim2016

use a food scale... MEASURE AND WEIGH so you know for sure what you are ingesting... I have been on every diet known to mankind it seems and started this journey here on May 17th.. I am losing weight @1 pound per week, no exercise and lost two pants sizes already.. in fact, these slacks I have on are falling down my hips.. but I don't want to spend money yet on new pants.. haha good luck it DOES work.

MommyMeggo

I wonder why MFP made you stop being in-tune with yourself? Its just a diary.
MFP made you change what and how much you eat?

Just do what works for you OP!

PaulaWallaDingDong

AliceDark wrote: »

If what you were doing before was working, absolutely go back to it. Logging and using a food scale isn't for everyone, and it's not the only way to lose weight. People lost and gained weight for hundreds of years before this method was a thing. There's nothing wrong with using another method if it works for you.

counting calories, but I can't disagree with this.

juliebowman4

Not only did I buy a food scale, I've begun creating my own MFP food entries. So many of them are incorrect. I double check against food packaging and Google.

tlflag1620

I'm an estimator too (I've never weighed or measured anything). I find logging impedes my progress - when I see I have calories "leftover" at the end of the day, I want to eat them, whether I'm hungry or not. And this is even when I'm logically aware that those "leftover" calories probably don't exist, since I estimate

. I'm better off sticking with high satiety foods (for me that is LCHF) and just listening to my hunger cues. Nothing wrong with that, so long as it is working for you.

sarahholmes1989

Hi there!
I had the same problem. I did not want to be weighing every last thing I ate, then doing the calculations in mfp to come up with the accurate calories.
I swapped to a portion control system and it worked wonders. I just swapped a few weeks ago and have dropped 8lbs after sitting at the same weight for over a month.
If you're interested, I can send you more info on the program I use. I have found it much easier and more accurate than logging on mfp!

lemurcat12

Portion control does not require "a program" (I hope you aren't trying to sell something), and OP was not complaining about the alleged hardship of logging, but saying that she was doing better before she started. It sounds like she has the self-monitoring down.

Ricksh1000

leggup wrote: »

For example, you have "371 calories- 1 serving oatmeal" most days. That's a very.. uneven number that you unlikely replicate daily.

This is exactly what i was doing before joining MFP and using a scale.
Up to that point i didn't realise how BIG my breakfast was. A load of oatmeal is healthy until you figure out the calories to grams. I eat 25g every morning now. In the old days it used to be 5-6 times that or more (plus handful raisins, seeds, and 'enough' milk.)

SCoil123

I lost over 80lb similarly in the past. I became more active and learned to listen to my body for actual hunger, as opposed to boredom or other reasons I was eating. It worked. Of course when my lifestyle and activity changed I didnt have the toold to correctly adjust my diet and gained back 30lb

Different methods may work at different times so there is no harm in learning to use other tools like weighing and tracking. Through using this site I feel much more prepared to really stay on track now regardless of how my life might change.