Not enough calories update

Lanag12

I started using this over the weekend. Yesterday I posted I wasn’t getting enough calories and starting to lose weight to quickly (I’m only trying to lose a few pounds) and thank you for the help! I finally got to around 1,500 calories yesterday I measure and eyeball my food the best I can. but don’t weigh it since I feel it will make me more stressed and give me more work than I have. so I probably get more calories than I think right? do you all weigh food what are your thoughts?

cmriverside

When I was obese and even into the over-weight range I didn't weigh my food. I used measuring cups and "each" quite a bit.

It's easy to lose weight when there is a lot of body fat.

As I got close to a healthy BMI I bought and used a digital food scale. As I got close to a healthy weight I had a very small daily calorie deficit (250 per day.) That is a slim margin and not much room for error. I started weighing food so that I could be sure I was eating Enough, not just to stay under.

I still use it today, every day. I've been at Maintenance weight for over a decade. I need it or I swing back and forth from over-eating to under-eating. I need to stay in a range of calories and the only way I've found to do that is tracking accurately.

With that said, lots of people do okay without it. You'll have to run the experiment.

sarko15

I weigh most of my food because I dont have much margin for error (also at 1,500 cals a day, with a relatively small amount of weight to lose but a lot of body fat to cut).

But I have an opposite problem and tend to have hungry eyes 😬 so I'm not very accurate when I eyeball and I only lose when I weigh my food. But if you are trying to avoid under eating and lose at a slower rate than you are now, then you can probably get away with not weighing your food.

AnnPT77

I'm not going to try to tell you about whether weighing food will be obsessive for you, or not. I will tell you that weighing it is quicker and easier than using cups and spoons, if that's what you're doing, so less work and less time-consuming.

The joke/clickbait title of the thread I'm about to link is especially regrettable in this particular context, but please trust me when I say it's about tips for using a food scale in the most speedy, efficient way. (It says, over and over in the thread, that weighing food is not necessary for everyone . . . because it isn't. It's just saying that for those not inclined to be obsessive about things in general, who want to be more accurate, weighing food is so. much. easier. than they often think.)

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10498882/weighing-food-takes-too-long-and-is-obsessive

kshama2001

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I'm not going to try to tell you about whether weighing food will be obsessive for you, or not. I will tell you that weighing it is quicker and easier than using cups and spoons, if that's what you're doing, so less work and less time-consuming.

The joke/clickbait title of the thread I'm about to link is especially regrettable in this particular context, but please trust me when I say it's about tips for using a food scale in the most speedy, efficient way. (It says, over and over in the thread, that weighing food is not necessary for everyone . . . because it isn't. It's just saying that for those not inclined to be obsessive about things in general, who want to be more accurate, weighing food is so. much. easier. than they often think.)

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10498882/weighing-food-takes-too-long-and-is-obsessive

I found using measuring cups stressful - I never knew how tightly to pack the cups, and don't get me started on measuring spoons and peanut butter.

I have no anxiety with food scale. 32 g is 32 g. And it is faster, with less cleanup.

With my smoothies, I aim for a certain amount of fruits and veggies - 60 g strawberries, 30 g each Swiss chard and kale, etc. I can make these come out exactly, but tell myself not to fuss for low calorie foods like this; +/- 4 g is fine.

slbbw

The upside to using a food scale is knowing actually how much you are eating. sometimes that means I use less peanut butter than if I eyeball it. But sometimes that means I get to eat more and be confident in that. I do not weight everything. But if I am making a large pot of something I like to weigh the ingredients. I actually prefer cooking with a scale as opposed to cups now. It is much more consistent. If I am eating something that is calorie dense I like to know how much.