Any success stories without weighing food

thundermoon11

I have been reading A LOT of posts on MFP lately and was wondering if there are any success stories of members who didn't weigh their food. I realize there are many who do and swear by it, but for me it just seems a little obsessive. I suppose if it seems that it is absolutely necessary then I could start but.......

I have quite a bit of weight to lose (shooting for about 75 pounds but probably should lose 100) and have heard that the weighing of food is good if you have a smaller amount to lose or you have hit a plateau. I have lost approximately 17 pounds since middle of October but I believe most of this is because I have cut out soda and tried to be more cognizant of what I am eating. I am also trying to walk at least 45 minutes a day, but most of the time getting at least 60 minutes. I tend to eat the same things daily, like salad (cheese, lettuce, tomatoes), eggs, bacon, English muffin, sometimes grilled chicken breast, hamburger, steak, sometimes baked potatoes (which I love). I also eat lean cuisine meals at work for dinner. I am a very picky eater as far as taste and have a limited "pantry" as which to pick from or I will just give up. I keep a paper food journal but have been keeping my calories between 1300-1500 daily for the most part (uhhh...except for Christmas). I originally was trying to keep it below 1200 but realized after reading numerous posts that this is too low.

Thanks for any responses.

Gettinghealthysarah

No success here! I am fat but my goal is to learn to eat normal with out measuring and weighing! Seems crazy to count and measure everything ! I feel I should be able to look at the palm of my hand and say 'there is my portion of meat', make a fist and say 'there is a portion of veges" you get it! Good luck to you !!!

DivaJadelyn

I didn't see success until I started weighing and measuring. However, I learned what these weighed and measured portions look like and can now eyeball it. It's a good learning experience. I recommend weighing and measuring until you're comfortable with knowing what a portion looks and feels like.

Barbonica

Before mfp I lost 45 pounds without weighing, logging, or counting. I changed my lifestyle by increasing exercise, added resistance training, and changed my diet to primarily meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and some dairy. Very little starch, very little processed sugar. I then stalled, when I had another 30 - 40 pounds to go. Since then I have been weighing, but only caloricaly dense food. I don't weigh veggies, and only infrequently fruit. I do weigh fruit and veggies occasionally to make sure my estimates are not way off. I also discount exercise calories to make up for poor estimates.

Try it, if you don't lose weight, modify something. It is harder if you don't weigh, but especially when you have a log to lose, I think you can still achieve a lot.

randomtai

No success here! I am fat but my goal is to learn to eat normal with out measuring and weighing! Seems crazy to count and measure everything ! I feel I should be able to look at the palm of my hand and say 'there is my portion of meat', make a fist and say 'there is a portion of veges" you get it! Good luck to you !!!

Seems crazy but it works.

thesupremeforce

I don't weigh my food, BUT I mostly stick to things that are easy to estimate with some accuracy (or already exist in a convenient single use serving). I wouldn't recommend even trying it if you eat a lot of complicated meals, especially if they involve calorie dense foods (nuts are particularly dangerous).

meshashesha2012

i lost 30 pounds between jan and aug 2012 without weighing and measuring. although i probably could have lost more :laugh:

spaingirl2011

Seems crazy but it works.

^This. I've been eyeballing it for three years, and eating much more than I needed. I was reluctant to weigh food for a very, very long time. Now that I am weighing food, I'm learning that I can eat more than I thought I could in some cases and in other cases, I was eating too much. If I could change anything about my "journey" it's that I would have started weighing things earlier. If I had, I'd probably be much further along right now-- maybe even maintaining.

DancingMoosie

I lost most of my weight without weighing food. I did not have a food scale when I joined, and I was losing weight at a good pace, just by measuring with cups, spoons, and using food labels. I bought one after losing most of the weight, just to be more accurate as I was trying to recomp a little, and to see how far off I had been. Using the scale makes me a bit too obsessive. I guess don't fix what isn't broken, or don't break what is working?

JanineFoster

I've only been trying for one week and I've lost 8 lbs without weighing anything. I mostly stick to recording what I eat and am trying to eat a balanced diet with sensible snacks instead of the high fat snacks I had before. So far this seems to be working. It might also have to do with the fact that I need to lose at least 100 lbs and as stated above, it's easier to loose without weighing when you have more to lose. Feel free to "friend" me and follow my progress.

QuietBloom

Some people find that once they are down to the last 20 lbs or so, a good scale is very helpful. I don't think there is anything particularly obsessive about weighing food though. How is it different from reading the calorie labels and entering information in to your MFP diary? If you are going to go to that trouble, might as well make sure your information is accurate.

bluntlysally

if you are going to track your calories, you pretty much have to measure somehow. most of us didn't get here bc we ate the right portions!! lol this process is really about retraining your brain (how much, of what, how often, etc), and for long enough to retrain your habits.

i started using a food scale in the past couple months bc there were a few things i couldn't really measure well (like meat) and wanted to see if my measuring using utensils was accurate. turns out my measuring was pretty accurate and i now have a handle on all the stuff i couldn't measure (or measure easily) before... but the biggest difference is how much EASIER it is to weigh than to measure with cups/spoons/etc... >>>i only wish someone would have told me sooner.<<

a food scale is relatively cheap ($20ish) and would have saved sooooo much time and cleaning along the way!! i would recommend it to anyone and everyone (counting/tracking calories or not). i heart the tare button!!!

ETA - i thought i would wait until numbers started slowing down, and i thought the obsessive thing too <<<100000000000x NOT TRUE!!!

Cindyinpg

I use a digital scale and weigh everything and out of the 126lbs I've lost, I probably lost 100 of them while weighing. I often have calorie dense food, peanut butter, ice cream, cheese etc and eyeballing portions would not work. In my opinion, not weighing food can lead to many people inadvertantly overeating and cutting into their deficit.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

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FitnFeistyLyness

me too. i use it for my nuts mainly..

CassieReannan

I only starting weighing food a few months ago... lost 35kg without it.

SapiensPisces

One of the reasons I got to be so overweight was a skewed sense of portion sizes. Weighing and measuring helps to establish a new baseline for what a portion size really is.

It's tedious at first, but you get used to it.

MB_Positif

I do not and never did weigh my food. Never had a heart rate monitor either. All my secrets are out now.

amaysngrace

Yep, I don't own a food scale. I do use measuring cups and spoons though, which is not as accurate. I also eyeball stuff a lot. I don't own a HRM either, but I am doing something right I suppose.

mamma_nee

I eye ball everything

FitnFeistyLyness

i dont weigh anything but my nuts because thats a problem food for me.. i do watch my grain portions.. i follow eat to live. a nutrient dense eating plan

odddrums

I have NEVER weighed my food, lost 30 pounds over 6 months last year. I stopped tracking for 2 months after that and gained 10 back, then lost it again over 3 months [again, never weighing my food] then gained it back because I basically stopped exercising and decided to up my calories to maintenance.

I eyeball everything, looking at how much of the container I'm eating and do that. I'll do ingredients every now and then, but usually I just take some random thing that seems like the same amount of calories or more.

What works for me: I'll usually overestimate the calories I'm eating, but I ALWAYS eat at least a bit and drink water when I'm hungry. I try to drink water all the time.

I know it's not as accurate as weighing, and I'd probably reach my fitness goals faster if I put the extra time in, but I want to live without needing to weigh my food and eventually without having to count calories.

NaomiJFoster

I don't weigh. If it's something that can be measured with near accuracy in a measuring cup or spoons, I'll do that. A lot of things, I'll say "1/2 container". But I don't weigh and I don't even get too concerned with other measurements.

In my opinion---
- if .5 of an ounce is going to prevent me from losing weight, there's something else going on.
-my exercise calories aren't 100% accurate, so why do my food calories have to be so precise?
-I have about 500 calorie deficit in each day, and I know for sure my inaccuracies aren't adding up to 500 calories
-I won't be spending the rest of my life doing this, so I have to learn how to 'eyeball' my food anyway.

Sure, this might very well be why my weight-loss is slower than it really 'should' be. But I am losing and I'm happy and relaxed.

gigglesinthesun

weighing is merely more exact and after you have done it for a while you'll be able to eyeball with some accuracy. Generally it is guys, especially very large guys, that seem to have the most success without weighing, probably because they have a larger margin of error. Ultimately we are all just dealing with estimates, it's just people who weigh have more accurate estimates.

One of the problems with not weighing is that in about 3-4 weeks time you will see an increase in posts of 'I am doing everything right, eating 1200 cals a day, exercising, nothing works, having lost any weight since New Years' and aside from the odd medical condition it will ALWAYS come down to user error. It's either they underestimate what calories they take in or overestimate what they burn or a combination of both

EHisCDN

I weigh most things (particularly more calorie dense things like cheese, meat,nuts etc). I generally have a pretty good idea of how much I'm eating since I've been weighing things for awhile now. I'm not obsessive though. I don't weigh out everything, like if I'm using a can of tomatoes I might just say I used half a can or something (it's probably only a like 5-10 calorie difference anyway). And I use portions on the package. For instance if one slice of bread is a portion I'll just go by one slice of bread. I realize sometimes that bread might weigh +/- x grams over the recommended serving but I feel like it all balances out in the end.

I don't feel like I'm developing a compulsion or anything; I just like being accurate. I also I found out that in general I was overestimating my calories so I get to eat more as a result . Plus I find it kind of fun to guess how much something will weigh and see how close I am. Does anyone else do that? Maybe I'm just odd ;P

happieharpie

I don't weigh, but there are a few things, like berries that I've measured in the past by cup. Now I just take a bowl with the same amount in it every time I eat berries.

I eat enough onions, peppers, and leafy greens to fill a 6" frying pan and add a whole egg and about a third of a carton of egg whites to make my dinner omelets.

When I'm out, I guesstimate by eye.

I measure nuts with a half cup measure.

Isakizza

I never weigh my food.

I was planning on getting a food scale but never got around to it. I did however measure my portions at first... by cups, tbs, deck of cards, etc. I did that for a few months got pretty use to what a portion looked like that now I just eyeball it. Every now and then I'll still pull out the measuring cups/spoons if unsure.

So far so good.

JourneyingJessica

I weigh most things (particularly more calorie dense things like cheese, meat,nuts etc). I generally have a pretty good idea of how much I'm eating since I've been weighing things for awhile now. I'm not obsessive though. I don't weigh out everything, like if I'm using a can of tomatoes I might just say I used half a can or something (it's probably only a like 5-10 calorie difference anyway). And I use portions on the package. For instance if one slice of bread is a portion I'll just go by one slice of bread. I realize sometimes that bread might weigh +/- x grams over the recommended serving but I feel like it all balances out in the end.

I don't feel like I'm developing a compulsion or anything; I just like being accurate. I also I found out that in general I was overestimating my calories so I get to eat more as a result . Plus I find it kind of fun to guess how much something will weigh and see how close I am. Does anyone else do that? Maybe I'm just odd ;P

^ this.

I weigh things like meat, cheese, nuts it takes like 30 seconds - and i know

Vegetables i estimate i didn't get heavy bc of spinach. Lol.

I measure with measuring cups & spoons if it makes sense. Like my morning cereal & milk. Yogurt dressings etc.

Can You can estimate ~ maybe. Might be interesting to try weighing just to see how close you are.

AlysonG2

I lost over 50 pounds once before (got pregnant and gained it all back plus some extra) without weighing or measuring a single thing. I've lost 23 pounds again...still without weighing or measuring a single thing. It is absolutely not a necessity, but it is a necessity to not lie to yourself about how much you're putting on your plate.

BlueBombers

I do not and never did weigh my food. Never had a heart rate monitor either. All my secrets are out now.

^ Same here....but I am thinking about getting a HRM. I do have a FitBit though.

IndiaGuerita1983

I have weighed and measured everything for a year and I've lost about 80 pounds. My sister started the same journey with me and doesn't weigh or measure anything...she's lost 30 pounds.

It's not obsessive for me...it's about accuracy. Like one of the previous posters said: If you're measuring and weighing you'll find out that you're overeating and under-eating.

To each his own. My sister doesn't weigh because the rigidity drives her insane and she's more apt to give up. If I don't weigh I feel like there's no way I could really know how many calories I'm really eating and I want to give up and cram a bunch of junk in my mouth.

Good luck with whichever method you choose.

-India