Calories in vs out

Hey guys . Thanks for having me in here. So I’m running into a little bit of dilemma . I’ve been tracking calories to the best of ability and long story short have been using apple watch 4 to track what I have burned for the day . There’s been plenty instances where in vs out ratio was big but for some odd reason I find myself gaining weight instead of loosing . Does eating after 6 pm really is a thing or am I doing something wrong ?? Thanks for any advise or suggestions
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Replies

  • pamhardwick8899
    pamhardwick8899 Posts: 16 Member
    Great input from other posters on the need to weigh food. Also keeping measuring cups and measuring spoons handy is a must. For Example: 1 tbs peanut butter is 94 calories, 1 tbs Olive Oil is 119 calories and 1 tbs mayonaise is 94 calories. And 1 cup of spaghetti is 210 calories. Without measuring it would be easy to eat more calories than your diet would allow.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    Over what time period? When you say that your in vs out ratio is large, it causes me to wonder if you've recently upped your exercise levels and your muscles are retaining water.
  • StatChicBayes
    StatChicBayes Posts: 362 Member
    I have an apple watch 4, and have been using it to track exercise for the last 9 months and have found that it is giving pretty accurate estimates of the calories burned. The new update includes trends, so you can easily look at 90 day results or use the old summaries by year to get an idea of monthly averages. Combining the resting rate and activity calories from the watch, gives an estimated Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Subtracting my average calories in from that gives my average daily deficit, which I convert to expected pounds loss per week (multiply by 7/3500) That seems to track pretty closely with my realized weight loss. I check this monthly and reassess.

    Like the others suggest - weigh everything that you can, check food labels and don't trust the database (even checked items I have found to be incorrect!).

    Check the watch's estimate of your resting rate (not exactly sure that this corresponds to BMR) but if yours is lower than expected or what was used to determine your calories in that could explain part of the difference. my watch suggests my RMR is probably 300 calories higher than the standard formula used by MFP to suggest number of calories in so I actually burn more than expected (so can actually eat more :-)

    Finally, when using the watch/phone workout apps, I have found that some apps give inflated calorie burns that could skew results. (Sometimes the default app gets fooled, like the time I went horseback riding - my step count was way off for the day since it thought I was walking - LOL

    As for eating late - I usually have a snack around 10 and it has not seemed to hurt weight loss! like PP it is CICO

    Good luck with the tracking and journey!
  • Pipsqueak1965
    Pipsqueak1965 Posts: 397 Member
    How long have you been tracking for?
  • pamhardwick8899
    pamhardwick8899 Posts: 16 Member
    72 days. I think some of the other posters may be out of country since there are references to grams. Since we don’t have the metric system in US it is just easier to track in ounces, cups and teaspoons. Grams are listed on all of the packages but then more work to convert.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    72 days. I think some of the other posters may be out of country since there are references to grams. Since we don’t have the metric system in US it is just easier to track in ounces, cups and teaspoons. Grams are listed on all of the packages but then more work to convert.

    You weigh how much you ate of an item by grams.

    You divide by how many grams per serving. (if no calculator and you weighed carefully this doesn't matter)

    Now you know how many servings you ate - done.

    Even if the food database lists the convenience cups or spoons per serving for an item instead of the grams - you are going by servings now.
    2, or 3.33, or whatever.
  • pamhardwick8899
    pamhardwick8899 Posts: 16 Member
    Since I don’t have a scale that weighs by grams then I have to find an American weight(measurement) in ounces/cups/tablespoons for the serving size &calories for the food I want in the MFP app or look at the measurement in the packaging.
  • pamhardwick8899
    pamhardwick8899 Posts: 16 Member
    Most packaging measures in both grams and ounces. And I use my scale every day that measures in ounces only...so maybe I can send you a pic to show you what one looks like.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Most packaging I've seen has only one weight measure, and it's grams.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    CICO, is all the drives weight changes. What controls CI? Well, imho, is an entire different equation.
  • bearly63
    bearly63 Posts: 734 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    Great input from other posters on the need to weigh food. Also keeping measuring cups and measuring spoons handy is a must. For Example: 1 tbs peanut butter is 94 calories, 1 tbs Olive Oil is 119 calories and 1 tbs mayonaise is 94 calories. And 1 cup of spaghetti is 210 calories. Without measuring it would be easy to eat more calories than your diet would allow.

    Except for the oil - those examples are all great reasons why measuring is NOT a must - but weighing is.
    Especially the peanut butter and spaghetti.

    Calories is per gram - not cups or spoons volumes.

    So I should be weighing my peanut butter? Yikes...that will be a mess....but worth it cuz I love it!
  • debrakgoogins
    debrakgoogins Posts: 2,033 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Put the jar on the scale, tare it to 0. Then scoop out your PB, and the negative grams on your scale is the weight of your PB. Make sure to lick the spoon!

    I'm pretty sure I just said that but I forgot the "lick the spoon" detail.

    Sorry, I started my post before you posted but got caught up in work before hitting "post".
    If I had a dollar for every time someone posted the same thing I had previously posted I'd be on vacation right now.

    Great minds think alike. It made me laugh. You might be the one who taught me that trick years ago. It's a game changer.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Most packaging measures in both grams and ounces. And I use my scale every day that measures in ounces only...so maybe I can send you a pic to show you what one looks like.

    packaging may say ounces, with grams mentioned.

    But the nutrition label almost always mentions grams in a serving. Maybe ounces where others might show cups or spoons. And you might confirm if those ounces is liquid volume, or actually weight.
    Soup cans I've noticed get wonky.

    But even the rough Servings per package can be off if you were to actually divide.
    So don't use that if eating the whole package - use your own calculator. Maybe once, if you commonly eat the whole package of something.
    It's saved that way in your Food list.
    So if it's actually 1.75 servings - it'll be there next time.
  • PTA4LYF
    PTA4LYF Posts: 87 Member
    Hey guys . Thanks for having me in here. So I’m running into a little bit of dilemma . I’ve been tracking calories to the best of ability and long story short have been using apple watch 4 to track what I have burned for the day . There’s been plenty instances where in vs out ratio was big but for some odd reason I find myself gaining weight instead of loosing . Does eating after 6 pm really is a thing or am I doing something wrong ?? Thanks for any advise or suggestions

    ok lets get serious the theory of weight loss being attributed to calories in vs calories out is only one half of the equation. yes its true you will lose weight by having a calorie deficiency but if you are still eating and making bad food choices you will eventually plateau and stay unhealthy. you need to concentrate on healthy foods that will increase metabolism which promotes weight loss. there is too much to go into for this one post but if you would like to know more please let me know i would love to help you.