I'm ready for your advice.

Morganbennett1

kshama2001 wrote: »

Morganbennett1 wrote: »

So, on the food scale debate....
I have been on here for almost a year, and I found that I will never use a food scale. I don't think, for my lifestyle, that it is sustainable to use a food scale for every meal. Some people love it, I don't. I log as accurately as I can, and leave a little room for error.

When I started on here, I set my calories to 1200, and lost a lot of weight really fast. (I'm 5'2") Over time, I've adjusted my calorie goals to 1450 for the summer as I'm really busy and stressed and haven't had time to exercise. I've still been losing, but slowly. So far I've lost 55lbs with about 35-40 to go. (Started at 223.8, now 168.0)

There is no "right way" to do this thing. Some things work for some people, other things work for other people. Generally, eating at a deficit, you will lose weight, but it ultimately depends on what your goals are and what you want your body to do, if you decide exercise is needed.

I work in Public Health, so I would recommend at the very least fitting in 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day, just so your body can stay healthy. I usually, at the very least, do a 30 minute brisk walk on my lunch break and add more exercise later if I have time.

Since you said "I will never use a food scale" can I assume you haven't ever used a food scale? Words cannot adequately describe how much I prefer it over trying to figure out how tightly I should pack a measuring cup or guess if I have a small banana or a medium banana. That is so imprecise; whereas 2 ounces of banana is 2 ounces of banana.

I believe that if one is going to measure, one may as well weigh, as it is more accurate and faster. Of course one need neither measure nor weigh in order to lose weight, but if one is concerned with accuracy, weighing is the way to go.

My brother lost weight without counting a single calorie - he ramped up exercise and high volume/low calorie foods, and the pounds melted off. But he's not working a desk like many of us.

You are correct, never used a food scale, and never will. For my lifestyle, I prefer to not use one. I know that some people swear by it, but I know that I won't keep up with it if I started it. I've been doing pretty well with the way I am tracking, and find it is more sustainable. My point is, and it seems like you agree, that you can lose weight without tracking, and if you are tracking, try to be as accurate as you can to make it fit into your lifestyle. Some people will swear by one thing, others will swear by another. Everyone is different, it just depends on what works for you. Sometimes that means sneaking in a tiny workout when you get the time, or cutting down on types of food. For me, it took a lot of trying and failing to figure out what works best for me, and now that I found my groove, it is quite a bit easier for me to lose and maintain.

elinordashed

Hi OP! Thanks for posting. I personally think it sounds like you are doing great. It took me long time to hit that aha moment, but like you... I realised that overeating was totally my go to when I was stressed, emotional, tired, whatever. It is so easy for me to eat a bag of blue corn chips with guac, tell myself it's healthy, but consume 2000+ cals in one sitting.

I think for me... the hardest part is the first part when you finally go okay, this isn't gonna work fulltime.

Then the hardest part is your first stressful day when you wanna stress eat some pizza or some Thai takeout and a bottle of wine.

Then the hardest part is bouncing back from a bad day or week, or seeing the scale and knowing you just gotta keep going and don't give up and keep losing.

You got this. Celebrate the victories always (probs not with 2000 cals in one meal ), don't give up, forgive yourself, love yourself. I'm not perfect at this either. I have lost and gained the same twice over now and starting this journey over... again. (5'2", 150, 32, vegetarian if any of matters).

I think you got this. Stay strong!