Scale not moving despite trying EVERYTHING! HELP!!!
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Come on, scale(s)! I am after you now!0
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Sometimes it's just not possible to weigh everything you eat - particularly if you have a social/work life that involves eating out quite often. You can make all the healthy choices in the world, but if you're 'eyeballing' and guessing calories, it can still be a problem. Short of taking the scale to the cafe/restaurant with you (some people would happily do that, I'm not one of them!), it is does leave quite a bit of possibility for error.
What I have been doing, and it seems to be working, is on days when I need to do this (not even always 'need', but want - I like actually living my life whilst losing weight), I just leave 100-200 extra calories free for that day to allow for a margin of error. I have a really awesome Middle Eastern salad cafe that I visit at least once a week for lunch. It's really healthy food, but they are always changing their salads an ingredients up. I have a look at the plate, make my best guess and enter it into MFP and then shoot for 100 calories less that day (I reduce it by more if I'm having a higher calorie meal).
I'm logging accurately 85-90% of the time and giving myself this margin of error a few times a week and I've been losing. It might not be the ideal solution for everyone, but if this helps someone else then happy days.
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Im curious, are you saying youve been dieting and exercising since may and haven't lost a pound? Or have you been losing and plateau?0
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janejellyroll wrote: »MatthewRuch wrote: »elizabethahj wrote: »I measure with cups and measuring spoons already. But sounds like a digital scale for greater accuracy is necessary.
The calorie range is due to the fluctuation in my 'earned' exercise calories for each day, hence this "I think". I track everything, and have done for months.
The general piece of advice I give to anybody wearing an activity tracker, myself included, is that you set your MFP activity level to sedentary to make sure you are not "double dipping" on your activity calories as well as enabling negative calorie adjustments. That is the way you can make sure you are being as accurate as possible in your calorie tracking
Now if you want to up your game when it comes to activity tracking, I recommend Polar products which have continuous 24/7 heart rate monitoring so you get the most accurate activity tracking possible. Others may prefer different brands, but I have used polar for years and couldn't be happier. YMMV
MFP won't double-dip even if you are at a higher activity level. People with a higher activity level begin "earning" adjustments after more movement that people at a lower level. This is specifically to prevent double-dipping. MFP only begin adding adjustments after someone has moved more than their activity level setting would have predicted for the day. So someone at "active" has to move a lot more than someone at "sedentary" to begin earning adjustments.
Just thought I should add that you still have to enable negative calorie adjustments when using a tracker, no matter what activity level you're on.1 -
dustinjbrock wrote: »Im curious, are you saying youve been dieting and exercising since may and haven't lost a pound? Or have you been losing and plateau?
Haven't lost a pound since May...0 -
elizabethahj wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »Im curious, are you saying youve been dieting and exercising since may and haven't lost a pound? Or have you been losing and plateau?
Haven't lost a pound since May...
If you are strength training and running, you will be building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so paying attention to the mirror rather then the scale may be your best bet.
As far as diet goes, there must be something your missing. Dieting doesn't work if you sabotage it at all. I.e. sweets, breads.
I'm not sure on the diet you follow but challenge yourself to go 10 days strict, just 10 days. No sugar at all, no diet pop, absolutely no bread or dairy.
I justified little treats here and there as I thought I was doing so good..... nope, they completely sabotaged my weight loss.28 -
dustinjbrock wrote: »elizabethahj wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »Im curious, are you saying youve been dieting and exercising since may and haven't lost a pound? Or have you been losing and plateau?
Haven't lost a pound since May...
If you are strength training and running, you will be building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so paying attention to the mirror rather then the scale may be your best bet.
As far as diet goes, there must be something your missing. Dieting doesn't work if you sabotage it at all. I.e. sweets, breads.
I'm not sure on the diet you follow but challenge yourself to go 10 days strict, just 10 days. No sugar at all, no diet pop, absolutely no bread or dairy.
I justified little treats here and there as I thought I was doing so good..... nope, they completely sabotaged my weight loss.
there is so much no in this post... :noway:
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dustinjbrock wrote: »elizabethahj wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »Im curious, are you saying youve been dieting and exercising since may and haven't lost a pound? Or have you been losing and plateau?
Haven't lost a pound since May...
If you are strength training and running, you will be building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so paying attention to the mirror rather then the scale may be your best bet.
As far as diet goes, there must be something your missing. Dieting doesn't work if you sabotage it at all. I.e. sweets, breads.
I'm not sure on the diet you follow but challenge yourself to go 10 days strict, just 10 days. No sugar at all, no diet pop, absolutely no bread or dairy.
I justified little treats here and there as I thought I was doing so good..... nope, they completely sabotaged my weight loss.
OP, please disregard this post.8 -
janejellyroll wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »elizabethahj wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »Im curious, are you saying youve been dieting and exercising since may and haven't lost a pound? Or have you been losing and plateau?
Haven't lost a pound since May...
If you are strength training and running, you will be building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so paying attention to the mirror rather then the scale may be your best bet.
As far as diet goes, there must be something your missing. Dieting doesn't work if you sabotage it at all. I.e. sweets, breads.
I'm not sure on the diet you follow but challenge yourself to go 10 days strict, just 10 days. No sugar at all, no diet pop, absolutely no bread or dairy.
I justified little treats here and there as I thought I was doing so good..... nope, they completely sabotaged my weight loss.
OP, please disregard this post.
Could you please explain why?0 -
Because it's full of wrong information. You can't build muscle on a calorie deficit. Sweets and breads won't make you gain weight themselves if you are maintaining a calorie deficit. There's no advantage to cutting out bread, sugar, and dairy, and there sure as hell is no benefit to cutting out diet drinks. Literally everything you said was wrong.16
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dustinjbrock wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »elizabethahj wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »Im curious, are you saying youve been dieting and exercising since may and haven't lost a pound? Or have you been losing and plateau?
Haven't lost a pound since May...
If you are strength training and running, you will be building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so paying attention to the mirror rather then the scale may be your best bet.
As far as diet goes, there must be something your missing. Dieting doesn't work if you sabotage it at all. I.e. sweets, breads.
I'm not sure on the diet you follow but challenge yourself to go 10 days strict, just 10 days. No sugar at all, no diet pop, absolutely no bread or dairy.
I justified little treats here and there as I thought I was doing so good..... nope, they completely sabotaged my weight loss.
OP, please disregard this post.
Could you please explain why?
Because the things you mention are not necessary. For example, how does cutting out diet pop (zero calories) influence weight loss? It's not much different from drinking water.
ETA: ^^^ What he said.4 -
dustinjbrock wrote: »elizabethahj wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »Im curious, are you saying youve been dieting and exercising since may and haven't lost a pound? Or have you been losing and plateau?
Haven't lost a pound since May...
If you are strength training and running, you will be building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so paying attention to the mirror rather then the scale may be your best bet.
As far as diet goes, there must be something your missing. Dieting doesn't work if you sabotage it at all. I.e. sweets, breads.
I'm not sure on the diet you follow but challenge yourself to go 10 days strict, just 10 days. No sugar at all, no diet pop, absolutely no bread or dairy.
I justified little treats here and there as I thought I was doing so good..... nope, they completely sabotaged my weight loss.
1. A woman working hard at a progressive strength training routine while eating at a surplus might gain 1 or 2 lbs of muscle per month. No woman is gaining enough muscle to negate her fat loss while eating at a deficit.
2. Breads, sweets, and dairy do not stop
weight loss any more than any other food. If OP is eating the right amount of calories, she would be losing weight regardless of what she was eating.
3. Diet soda is zero calorie and does not directly affect weight loss. Some people say it makes them crave sweets, but that doesn't affect your weight unless you eat too many calories.
4. Little treats are fine and psychologically beneficial as long as you log accurately.
OP already said she may have gotten lax with her measuring and is getting a food scale. She was prob eating more than she thought and doesn't need to torture herself, just log more accurately.8 -
shaunshaikh wrote: »Because it's full of wrong information. You can't build muscle on a calorie deficit. Sweets and breads won't make you gain weight themselves if you are maintaining a calorie deficit. There's no advantage to cutting out bread, sugar, and dairy, and there sure as hell is no benefit to cutting out diet drinks. Literally everything you said was wrong.
Excuse me? First of all, the op stated she's looking to lose weight, not build muscle. Second, yes you can build muscle, I lost 30lbs fat and gained 7lbs muscle on a calorie deficient diet so go ahead and tell me what I cannot do.
Depending on the type of diet a person is on, all of those things may have a place but my suggestion to someone struggling to make it work..... go very strict for 10 days, see some quick results for motivation and then tweak your diet from there.
You want to lose weight fast, how would sugar and breads and dairy aid you? And please explain in your vast knowledge how diet pop is good for you? If all you are looking at is calories, then you are Ill educated on what you are doing.18 -
Ericnutrition wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »shaunshaikh wrote: »Because it's full of wrong information. You can't build muscle on a calorie deficit. Sweets and breads won't make you gain weight themselves if you are maintaining a calorie deficit. There's no advantage to cutting out bread, sugar, and dairy, and there sure as hell is no benefit to cutting out diet drinks. Literally everything you said was wrong.
Excuse me? First of all, the op stated she's looking to lose weight, not build muscle. Second, yes you can build muscle, I lost 30lbs fat and gained 7lbs muscle on a calorie deficient diet so go ahead and tell me what I cannot do.
Depending on the type of diet a person is on, all of those things may have a place but my suggestion to someone struggling to make it work..... go very strict for 10 days, see some quick results for motivation and then tweak your diet from there.
You want to lose weight fast, how would sugar and breads and dairy aid you? And please explain in your vast knowledge how diet pop is good for you? If all you are looking at is calories, then you are Ill educated on what you are doing.
Dustin - how many pounds did you lose in the first 10 days of your diet? Did you count calories?
I was using the mfp to track calories. With most diets when you follow them closely, you'll lose mostly water weight but that couple pounds off the scale and seeing a little result in the mirror is what's always motivated me to then continue on with any diet I've tried. I found that even the slightest result helps get a person amped up.0 -
dustinjbrock wrote: »shaunshaikh wrote: »Because it's full of wrong information. You can't build muscle on a calorie deficit. Sweets and breads won't make you gain weight themselves if you are maintaining a calorie deficit. There's no advantage to cutting out bread, sugar, and dairy, and there sure as hell is no benefit to cutting out diet drinks. Literally everything you said was wrong.
Excuse me? First of all, the op stated she's looking to lose weight, not build muscle. Second, yes you can build muscle, I lost 30lbs fat and gained 7lbs muscle on a calorie deficient diet so go ahead and tell me what
You are also male. Males can build muscle far more easily than women, like the OP.10 -
dustinjbrock wrote: »shaunshaikh wrote: »Because it's full of wrong information. You can't build muscle on a calorie deficit. Sweets and breads won't make you gain weight themselves if you are maintaining a calorie deficit. There's no advantage to cutting out bread, sugar, and dairy, and there sure as hell is no benefit to cutting out diet drinks. Literally everything you said was wrong.
Excuse me? First of all, the op stated she's looking to lose weight, not build muscle. Second, yes you can build muscle, I lost 30lbs fat and gained 7lbs muscle on a calorie deficient diet so go ahead and tell me what
You are also male. Males can build muscle far more easily than women, like the OP.
but even by his account he did not build muscle at a rate that masked fat loss - he said he also lost 30lbs - completely different than the OPs situation.5 -
Thanks, all. I appreciate the debate. I think the clear thing is the scale v. measuring cups/spoons for tracking, as well as eating to my 'earned' calories. Exercise cals are off. The digital scale is here. Let's see what this next couple of weeks bring...
It's worth pointing out that I am sugar- and grain-free. And, eek, nearly 41...as my doctor so "helpfully" pointed out, I may be feeling demain ageing in the mix. Bleurgh!1 -
elizabethahj wrote: »Thanks, all. I appreciate the debate. I think the clear thing is the scale v. measuring cups/spoons for tracking, as well as eating to my 'earned' calories. Exercise cals are off. The digital scale is here. Let's see what this next couple of weeks bring...
It's worth pointing out that I am sugar- and grain-free. And, eek, nearly 41...as my doctor so "helpfully" pointed out, I may be feeling demain ageing in the mix. Bleurgh!
When you say 'sugar free' what do you mean? Do you mean no sugar at all, like you eat no fruits and vegetables? Or are you just talking about limiting foods that contain added sugar? Big difference.
Either way, if your calories in are less than your calories out you will lose weight, so sugar and grains aren't really a factor.1 -
dustinjbrock wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »elizabethahj wrote: »dustinjbrock wrote: »Im curious, are you saying youve been dieting and exercising since may and haven't lost a pound? Or have you been losing and plateau?
Haven't lost a pound since May...
If you are strength training and running, you will be building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat so paying attention to the mirror rather then the scale may be your best bet.
As far as diet goes, there must be something your missing. Dieting doesn't work if you sabotage it at all. I.e. sweets, breads.
I'm not sure on the diet you follow but challenge yourself to go 10 days strict, just 10 days. No sugar at all, no diet pop, absolutely no bread or dairy.
I justified little treats here and there as I thought I was doing so good..... nope, they completely sabotaged my weight loss.
OP, please disregard this post.
Could you please explain why?
Because it is inaccurate and encourages unnecessary restrictions.3
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