Did you go from eating everything to only eating meals prepared by yourself?

stephonww

Grr. When other people cook for me, I go way over on calories or I have no idea what I'm eating. It happens so often, I'm scared I'm not going to lose weight. I have been doing weight watchers and the points for everything is ridiculous. A cappuccino that was like 70 calories was 4 points or 8 points once I added milk.

A lot of resturants and stuff online don't post nutritional information either. Do you have much of a calorie deficit "cushion" so you still lose weight incase you eat more than you intended to?

Lietchi

No, I let others cook for me

I do let others cook for me. But I've 'trained' my BF to weigh his ingredients when he cooks, which was a requirement for me: since we alternate cooking dinner, I can't afford to guesstimate one dinner in two.

Aside from that, I go to a restaurant once every few weeks and I eat at friends/family once every few weeks.
I guesstimate portions and ingredients, erring on the side of overestimating. I either use nutritional data from restaurant chains or 'decompose' the dish mentally and log the ingredients.
You could also use a portable food scale, if you feel comfortable doing that. That way, even if you're not sure about the ingredients, at least there isn't the uncertainty of the portion size.

I've lost weight without issues, and that was even on a small deficit of around 250kcal a day, which requires more precision that a large deficit.

snowflake954

I cook a great deal for a family. Friday and Saturday night my husband likes to go out to eat. This is my break.

When you cook for yourself you weigh all the ingredients and that gives you more precision. If your daily goal is smaller especially when you have 25 lbs or less to lose, it can be tight. However, counting calories gives you the possibility to recognize portion sizes and calorie dense foods. Realistically, sooner or later, you'll need to "guesstimate". Losing weight takes patience and consistence.

Also, I live in Italy. A cappucino already has milk in it, so I never add more.

Walkywalkerson

Yes, unless I go to a restaurant, cafe or fast food joint

If I'm going out for a meal then I usually guesstimate and accept that it probably isn't accurate.
I try to make sensible choices and if not then I do the best I can to log it and move on.
I think that if you're having 95% of your meals at home or prepared by you then you can afford a meal out.
It's all about what you do most of the time rather than what you do on occasion.

wunderkindking

No.

I DO control most of my own food intake, because we're a household of 4 adults - kids are living at home in their 20s, plus husband and I - all working with hobbies, and are schedules don't often allow us to sit down and eat together. If we can, we do and I don't care who cooked what. That's never more than one meal in a day and rarely more than 2 meals in a week. I know what the 'meal plan' for those meals is, and if it's something that's going to be calorie dense I just eat a light breakfast and skip lunch (or the reverse), eat with them and carry on. \

The family vacations, holiday dinners, birthdays, occasional meal out (that's not a fast food drive thru, where I know the calories of everything) I don't worry about it. I just eat and get back to my regular plan the next day. Might take a post-food walk if I'm over stuffed.

Started at 190. Now 125. It worked ok.

But I'll share with you that my biggest revelation in weight loss was that while I had to be careful as I got close to goal re: calories, it's entirely possible to lose weight and maintain eating like a 'regular person'. Which doesn't involve food anxiety over 'someone else cooked my food' sometimes. Just not ALL the time.

RoughWatersCalmSailor

Yes, unless I go to a restaurant, cafe or fast food joint

I live in a household with multiple adults and cooking time was always stressful due to some people being picky eaters. I recently decided that since we're all adults, everyone can be responsible for their own food which has made my progress great. I weigh my own food except for the rare times I eat out and then I guesstimate what I have to.

COGypsy

No, I let others cook for me

I hate cooking. I’d literally rather be hungry than turn on a stove. Probably 70% of my usual diet is takeout or meals with friends. I’ve lost 60 or so pounds and maintained that loss with nary a meal cooked in my ow home.

sgt1372

Yes, unless I go to a restaurant, cafe or fast food joint

I cook all of my own meals unless I go out to eat, which at most is only 1-2 days/wk on weekend for brunch.

I do not eat any "fast food;" only at cafes/restaurants for dine-in meals where Covid precautions are observed.

callsitlikeiseeit

Yes, unless I go to a restaurant, cafe or fast food joint

sooooo ok

I have OCD issues. always have. MOST of them revolve around food. Always have. so it has nothing to do with calories or anything like that.

i do eat out. thats not a problem for me. most of the time, though i do have rules for that, too.

i eat food prepared by other people... by only a FEW people. like .... 2. and ..... not everything. really depends on WHAT it is. okay, 3. ill count my hubby, i guess but that took a long time. but he rarely cooks. the other ones are my best friend (and not everything) and one of my mfp friends (and thats like once a year LOL). but too, rare occurrences.

calorie wise, if where I am eating out doesnt have calories listed anywhere and its not something simple enough I can make a rough estimate, I find a chain entry that will be close enough. no biggie. while i do eat out frequently, i dont eat fast food terribly often. i just dont care for most of it. though i do love a good whopper on occasion LOL

goal06082021

Yes, I cook all my own meals

I do all the cooking at home, with the exception of Sunday night dinner - hubs and I eat with his folks and they cook. But I know how they cook, so I'm confident in my guesstimates. We do occasionally get restaurant food, but I've been both cooking and logging long enough to also be confident in my guesstimates there, and a lot of the places we go to do actually publish nutrition information. Or if they don't, their fare is close enough to a national chain that does for jazz (e.g., there's a local bbq place that doesn't have calorie info on their menu, but they serve pretty standard bbq restaurant fare, so I sub entries from Sonny's or some other bbq chain).

If WW is working for you, by all means do what works, but I've found just straight calorie-counting to be the most effective for me. My two issues with WW are that (1) you don't actually learn much of anything about nutrition, as the formula for calculating points obfuscates a lot of that information, and (2) all food has calories, even the stuff on the "zero-points" list. At the end of the day, it comes down to calories in vs calories out, so it's really easy to overeat the "zero points" foods and thus either not lose or indeed gain weight. The body doesn't know or care if you take in 3000 calories' worth of Ding Dongs or Brussels sprouts, if that's more than it needs right now, the excess gets stored as fat. Food isn't magic, it's just fuel. There's no real trick to it, it's just math.

scarlett_k

None of the above. I've always almost 100% of the time cooked for myself. I don't often do take aways or restaurants and I don't go to anyone's house for food except the in laws now and then, but it's not often enough to throw me off track and whilst I guess what I've eaten I don't really over eat.