Not losing weight, need advice for accuracy

Andrilla87

I'm 5ft 7, about 190, and I've been on my fitness pal for three weeks (plus 2 weeks of another calorie counting app that I was not pleased with). The first week I lost exactly 1.5lbs, which was my goal. The next week I gained that 1.5 back, this week there was no change. I've taken some steps to improve my accuracy. I got a kitchen scale to weight everything, I measure my liquids, I avoid eating out for the most part, and my only sugary drink is a cup of coffee with flavored creamer in the morning. I have always preferred to make my own meals whenever I have time, but I'm concerned that this might be where the extra calories are hiding. Most of the time I don't use a pre-planned recipe, but I use ingredients that I have around and what I feel like that day. (ex: my beef stew may or may not have mushrooms, celery, onions, turnips, or baby carrots, but it will have potatoes)

1. I'm finding vastly different calorie counts for ingredients. Ex: 4oz ground chicken breast is 130 calories or 100 calories depending on which one you pick (sprouts vs. generic). And there are tons of other listings, how do you know which one to pick? (I grind my own, so I can't just go with the brand name)


2. Most of the things I cook are not official recipes from anywhere and I never know how much one serving is. I can't just wait until the end and then tally up how many bowls everyone eats and say "Okay it made X servings," because my boyfriend and I fill our bowls different amounts. One of his bowls might be two of mine. How do I decide how much is a serving? Is there a way to do it by weight instead?

I'm trying to be accurate, but I really don't want to always need to use someone else's recipe, or not vary the recipe (some days I feel like mushrooms, some days I don't). Is that something I will need to change?

Thank you in advance for your help.

malibu927

1. Look for entries that say USDA on them and make sure it matches to their database (as many entries on MFP are inaccurate)
2. Use the recipe builder on here, weigh the ingredients you enter. Then weigh the total dish if you can (some scales may not go that high) and enter the weight as the number of servings. Then you would weigh your portion and if you have, say, 200 grams of it you would log 200 servings.

AnnPT77

Since you're just starting, one possibility is that you lost 1.5 pounds that was partly fat and partly water weight, then regained the water weight plus a little. Water weight fluctuates widely, especially at first. Water weight is not fat but rather a part of healthy body functioning.

Assuming you're a premenopausal woman, be aware that many women gain up to several pounds of water weight at some point during their monthly cycle, and that that can happen anytime from ovulation through menses. It drops off in its oen later, possibly unmasking fat loss.

For this first month to 6 weeks, focus in logging accurately (as you are), see what your average loss is in the later few weeks (first 2 tend to be crazy), then adjust your calorie goal if needed. Patience, and you'll do fine!

Andrilla87

Thank you for your help. I will keep the advice in mind.

Meghanebk

Water weight shifts due to sodium, hormones, new exercise, sleep patterns - all could account for that 1.5 lb.

I second the recipe builder, especially if you tend to make the same meals. You can also edit recipes - so one time calculate a dish using 1.2 pounds of ground chicken, if you make it with 1.8 next time that's easy to change.

Since I live alone I list things backwards to some people here: make the entire complete recipe 1 serving. Then, for a meal I log 0.25 servings or whatever portion of the recipe I ate.

GottaBurnEmAll

Here's a link to the USDA data base: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list. You can use it to verify your entries.

That chicken example you gave? Weigh the chicken breasts themselves and use that data to find a matching entry in the data base.

Then use the recipe builder. I personally have never used the regular recipe builder, I've always clicked the link to use the old version since I read a tip long ago that it was less buggy. I don't know if this is still true or not.

For things like stews and soups, it's helpful to keep a list taped to the inside of your kitchen cabinet of the weight of your pots and/or serving dishes. Then all you have to do is weigh the completed recipe, subtract the weight of the pot/serving dish, enter the gram amount for the number of servings and dish up your portion. However many grams you eat? That's your serving amount. If your recipe made 1500 grams and your portion is 350 grams, you'd enter that you ate 350 servings.

lynn_glenmont

Since you grind your own chicken, the most accurate thing would be to weigh the flesh from the various parts before you start grinding them together, then enter the separate amounts (say, for example, you use 500 g breast meat and 300 g thigh meat) as ingredients in whatever recipe you're making, using entries that match the USDA database for "Chicken, broilers or fryers, dark meat, thigh, meat only, raw" and "Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, raw."

If you're only using one part of the chickens to make your ground chicken, just log it as that part, obviously. Ground chicken entries for commercial products are going to vary because the proportions of different parts and the fat content can vary.

*ETA: if you grind big batches of chicken, then freeze to use later, and you're using different chicken parts, the easiest thing would be to create a recipe when you do the big grind, based on the total weight of each part used, then copy the nutritional information into a new "my food" creation (because unfortunately you can't use a recipe that you've created as an ingredient when building a new recipe).

Then, each time you do a new big batch, try to match the proportions, if not the weights, in the earlier batch. Or you will have to edit both the recipe and the "my food" entries you made previously.

Andrilla87

Thank you again for more great advice!

As far as the weighing out the total amount of food a recipe makes, I tried that for the chicken with spinach that I made tonight and it worked really well! I'll keep using that trick! I had meant to weigh the skillet ahead of time, but forgot to. Does it hurt a scale to put something hot on them? I would use a hot pad under the pot (then zero it out), but I have no idea how temperature sensitive they are. Worst case scenario is that I waste $12, not exactly horrible.

lynn_glenmont

Andrilla87 wrote: »

Thank you again for more great advice!

As far as the weighing out the total amount of food a recipe makes, I tried that for the chicken with spinach that I made tonight and it worked really well! I'll keep using that trick! I had meant to weigh the skillet ahead of time, but forgot to. Does it hurt a scale to put something hot on them? I would use a hot pad under the pot (then zero it out), but I have no idea how temperature sensitive they are. Worst case scenario is that I waste $12, not exactly horrible.

If I'm put something a pot, pan, or skillet from the oven or a hot burner on the scale, I put a hot pad on first and tare to zero. I've had my scales for quite a few years (not sure how long, since I had it for baking before I started weighing food for logging), and it's never been damaged from the heat through the pad. Obviously, different brands and models might be more sensitive. Don't leave it on there longer than you need to weigh it and record the weight.

One tip (I haven't read the whole thread, so somebody may have already mentioned this): every time I weigh an empty pot or pan, I jot the empty weight on a list I keep on the refrigerator door, so I don't have to remember to weigh it empty each time.

GottaBurnEmAll

Andrilla87 wrote: »

Thank you again for more great advice!

As far as the weighing out the total amount of food a recipe makes, I tried that for the chicken with spinach that I made tonight and it worked really well! I'll keep using that trick! I had meant to weigh the skillet ahead of time, but forgot to. Does it hurt a scale to put something hot on them? I would use a hot pad under the pot (then zero it out), but I have no idea how temperature sensitive they are. Worst case scenario is that I waste $12, not exactly horrible.

I had one scale die from weighing something hot even with a hot pad (and it was brand new) and another scale from the same brand worked for years and weighed hot things just fine.

So, the answer is that it really depends on the scale! But definitely use a hot pad. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd think that models that have an elevated weight platform stand a better chance of not getting their internal workings fried by hot items.