anyone dont measure and still lose?

mariluny

I lost 30 or 40 pounds before starting to measure with a scale but to be fair I started at 250 so my margin of error was big. I actually realized once I bought a scale I was over estimating portion a lot so I was able to eat more after starting to weight food.
I did stop again last June for a month, I felt I needed a break because I was getting a bit obsessed with food and calorie so I maintain for that month without even login in.
I think it all depend how honest you are with yourself.
If you eat rice and the portion is 1/2 cup, will you enter 1/3 or 1/2 or 1 cup? Try to eyeball it and see if it works. If you lose weight, steadily (so don't weight yourself daily and freak when you don't lose for a day) you are honest with yourself. If after a week or 2 you feel starved, physically not mentally (and it's a big difference) you probably over estimate what you actually eat. And if you gain weight or maintain for over 2 weeks you probably underestimate. The answer is not necessarily buying a scale, it might be being more careful or honest with how you login.

Good luck!!

prettigirl01

Um, so what is the point of being on MFP if documenting your food accurately doesn't happen? What do you even enter in the diary? The point is to do so to know if you are eating too much, too little or the wrong things. If you were just going to choose to just eat less there would be no need for an online food diary community for you. I do understand the whole obsession that develops during weight loss though, and understand some do not want to get in that state of mind. However, if you have a weight loss goal and want to achieve it, and you are on MFP documenting your food, be accurate! So, yes, measure. The majority of people who are successful at losing weight measure their food in one way or another.
Actually, I measure about 80% of my food. When I eat with people who don't, they routinely overeat and if I remark on a high amount of calories in something we are eating they are surprised that it is as much as it is. Good example of being ignorant to volume and calories without measuring. It reminds me to keep measuring most of what I eat.
Once you get a scale and a set or two of measure cups and spoons, it becomes routine and you lose that obsessive feeling after awhile. it is just a part of what you do. Just like if you were making a recipe you measure for. Consider it a recipe for your weight loss!

I am here because I need help like everyone else. I just wanted to know if it was a MUST to weigh my food. I see that its not a MUST for some people and others it is. I agree that if you want to be accurate you have to weigh but it doesn't mean you wont lose weight at all if you don't. might take longer but its not impossible

WalkingAlong

I own a food scale but don't weigh much with it, unless I'm really in Beast Mode about weight loss and then I'll weigh only certain high-cal foods. And it does get obsessive.

Look at all the 'rough estimating' recommended diets. There are ones that have you picture a plate and your protein on a quarter of it, etc. WW is pretty rough estimates. Most diets don't require food scales. A lot will give you portion tips like 'aim for 4 oz. portions of protein or the size of your palm', '1 oz of cheese is the size of your thumb', etc. They do that because it's more sustainable long term.

Even when you weigh your food to the gram, it's all still an estimate. Our scales aren't all perfect (have you checked yours, at the gram level?) and the database calorie values are based on the average pork chop, strawberry, etc. And all our bodies utilize calories differently and a pound of weight loss isn't really 3500 on the dot.

And if you don't lose at the rate you expect, you don't need to find your measurement error. You just have to aim for lower calorie intake or more burned. So precision isn't necessary for success.

jennybinney1987

I don't measure when it comes to oz. but if a serving size is a cup or half a cup or whatever I do measure that. hmmm that's a little weird now that I think about it. measure one way and not the other

PinkNinjaLaura

There are certain things (cereal, pasta, crackers) that I always measure because a serving size is quite a bit smaller than my brain thinks it should be. Most other things I estimate, although once a month or so I'll measure them just to make sure what I think is a serving size isn't creeping up or down. If the scale stops moving I'll also measure for a few days to make sure I'm not eating more than I think I am. I eat TDEE, and have been doing this long enough that I have my own margin of error built into my calorie target to account for my sloppy measuring habits.

If you're losing weight without measuring, then don't stress about it. If you're not losing weight, it's the easiest way to make sure you're really eating the amount you think you are.

Serah87

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

BetterKimmer

Um, so what is the point of being on MFP if documenting your food accurately doesn't happen? What do you even enter in the diary? The point is to do so to know if you are eating too much, too little or the wrong things. If you were just going to choose to just eat less there would be no need for an online food diary community for you. I do understand the whole obsession that develops during weight loss though, and understand some do not want to get in that state of mind. However, if you have a weight loss goal and want to achieve it, and you are on MFP documenting your food, be accurate! So, yes, measure. The majority of people who are successful at losing weight measure their food in one way or another.
Actually, I measure about 80% of my food. When I eat with people who don't, they routinely overeat and if I remark on a high amount of calories in something we are eating they are surprised that it is as much as it is. Good example of being ignorant to volume and calories without measuring. It reminds me to keep measuring most of what I eat.
Once you get a scale and a set or two of measure cups and spoons, it becomes routine and you lose that obsessive feeling after awhile. it is just a part of what you do. Just like if you were making a recipe you measure for. Consider it a recipe for your weight loss!

I am here because I need help like everyone else. I just wanted to know if it was a MUST to weigh my food. I see that its not a MUST for some people and others it is. I agree that if you want to be accurate you have to weigh but it doesn't mean you wont lose weight at all if you don't. might take longer but its not impossible

I do realize how much help the community provides. That is the best benefit of being here. I and many others are a shining example of community support. But you asked about measuring and my thoughts are to do so. I just do not understand what is being entered in the diaries when food is not MOSTLY measured. It is equal to just making up random numbers if you are not measuring food accurately. And as someone else said in this thread, what happens is opinion vs fact. What looks like a certain size or amount to one person can be seem more or less to another creating inaccuracies that affects the outcome. Weighing or measuring puts is to fact. You do not HAVE to weigh or measure to lose, but success rate, rate of loss and sustainability CAN be affected by doing or not doing it is all that I am saying. So I advocate measuring food as one of the most effective tools in weight loss and maintenance. After awhile of measuring you definitely get a better eyeball for size, which may mean less measuring, but to begin with I recommend measuring at least 80% of the time. Not everyone will agree with me, but my thought is to look at what the most successful and sustaining people have done.

I do wish you well on your journey and to do what makes you comfortable and is convenient for you. If you find it isn't working, don't give it up, switch it up. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

defauIt

I've lost 100 lbs without measuring.

I just use a very conservative calorie goal and assume I'll miscount something, and I try my best to have an accurate guess and honest guess for everything that goes in my mouth. (eg. If my goal should be 1800 net calories, I'll instead aim for 1500 net calories, assuming I'll be off by 20%)

If I find I'm losing weight too quickly, I start eating a little more. If I find I'm losing weight too slowly, I eat a little less. It's really not rocket science and doesn't require you to be 100% accurate all the time.

It works for me. It may or may not work for you. If you're struggling really hard without weighing, start weighing your food and see if it helps.

WalkingAlong

I just do not understand what is being entered in the diaries when food is not MOSTLY measured. It is equal to just making up random numbers if you are not measuring food accurately. And as someone else said in this thread, what happens is opinion vs fact. What looks like a certain size or amount to one person can be seem more or less to another creating inaccuracies that affects the outcome. Weighing or measuring puts is to fact.

It's all estimates. There are no facts. Your BMR is an estimate, so is your activity level, your workout calories, your breakfast calories (weighed or not) and the calories in a pound of body weight. But that's ok because estimates work.

Some people can estimate well without weighing. I went from 187 to 137 on WW without weighing foods and then years later from 170 to 135 with calorie counting weighing very few foods and only those for the first few weeks.

I think it's good to weigh to get an idea of what a serving of cereal looks like in your bowl, but after you have that visual, use the visual. It helps to use small bowls/plates to minimize portion creep and to re-weigh things over time to check your eyeballed estimates, especially if losses stop.

lessbounce

I measure most things, it helps you to effectively guesstimate food when you are out. Some times I forget or can't be bothered I'm only on 1200 cals a day (I'm a proper short a*rse) and it doesn't seem to make that much difference. Plus I know here in the UK the details on food packing only have to be 70% accurate.

KnM0107

Still to this day I do NOT own a food scale. People lose weight all the time without logging at all. Logging and weighing food are tools. Some people need to use those tools and some people do not.

BetterKimmer

I just do not understand what is being entered in the diaries when food is not MOSTLY measured. It is equal to just making up random numbers if you are not measuring food accurately. And as someone else said in this thread, what happens is opinion vs fact. What looks like a certain size or amount to one person can be seem more or less to another creating inaccuracies that affects the outcome. Weighing or measuring puts is to fact.

It's all estimates. There are no facts. Your BMR is an estimate, so is your activity level, your workout calories, your breakfast calories (weighed or not) and the calories in a pound of body weight. But that's ok because estimates work.

Some people can estimate well without weighing. I went from 187 to 137 on WW without weighing foods and then years later from 170 to 135 with calorie counting weighing very few foods and only those for the first few weeks.

I think it's good to weigh to get an idea of what a serving of cereal looks like in your bowl, but after you have that visual, use the visual. It helps to use small bowls/plates to minimize portion creep and to re-weigh things over time to check your eyeballed estimates, especially if losses stop.

Yes. Agreed. That's what I said in my second paragraph that is not quoted.

aurorareigns

Measuring and weighing food is much more obsessive than I want to be.

The first thirty or forty pounds, I didn't even weigh myself, much less my food.

It can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make it.

You don't need to do any of that to lose weight.

How is measuring obsessive. I bake a lot so weighing and measuring is part of it, so you get a good end result. Takes a few extra seconds to weigh it.

Do you have to, no, but is it beneficial yes

One can easily become obsessed with numbers - have you ever suffered an eating disorder? It took me years in high school to overcome an eating disorder. I was so obsessed with numbers, measuring, weighing, counting, etc. that it scares me even 16 years later to do it. I don't want to fall back in the trap of it. However, I will be the first to agree that it is important to be accurate so you know that you are logging calories correctly. I will probably have to again as I get closer to my goal weight, but for now this is working for me. I'm pretty good at eyeing stuff after years of being obsessed with measuring, etc.

Literally the reason I don't measure. I will become obsessed, and calories will be like 'why you so obsessed with me'

Congrats on overcoming your ED!

ddkphotos

don't let others dictate how you should do anything... I lost the first 40 lbs without even counting calories let alone weigh my food.
I did eventually buy a scale when I joined MFP so I could learn about what things weigh - but I also estimate about 80% of the time.
I don't want to be the person who is obsessively weighing and measuring her food. Can you lose weight without doing it - Absolutely!!! Could I have lost more weight faster if I had done it from the beginning - probably - but it meant becoming someone I don't want to become!!! Do what feels right for you... I do believe though if you are going to count calories and log it you should try to get as close as possible - but again - not everything listed on MFP is correct - I've found many times entries where people entered calories, protein and fat but not sodium for an item which clearly had... so if you go for about 80% accuracy you'll be on the right path.
But then again - don't let me tell you what to do... You can ask the question - listen to the answers - and then do what feels right for you...

galenofedgewood

It's very difficult for me to measure anything out here on my deployment. That being said, I am slowly gathering things to properly weight/volume count my food. Right now, I'm going off of educated guestimates. Sometime I think that I over estimate and other times I under estimate.

Still, I'm dropping weight (haven't been this light since middle school, and I'll be 36 in October...), but that's only because my wife has helped me realize portion size more correctly by sight.

BetterKimmer

Add : If you suffer from OCD or eat disorders, weighing and measuring may lead to problematic behaviors. I personally wouldn't recommend someone to measure under those conditions. I should have stated that. No need to suffer to get the job done.

Jim_Barteck

If your calorie deficit is large enough, then the marginal benefit of physically measuring your food is irrelevant. The smaller the deficit, the more necessary it becomes. But if you're doing 1000+ calories of exercise 4-5 days a week while otherwise sticking to your calorie targets, then you're going to be steadily losing weight whether you own a food scale or not.

bjg2993

I always go by looking at the packaging weight and guesstimating by the amount I use. I sometimes measure if it's hard to guess but it's such a long process if you're using a lot of ingredients.

I've lost around 20lbs which works out at over 10% of my body mass this way. You don't have to use scales as long as you are realistic, just know that you might be under or overestimating how much you eat of things.

meshashesha2012

me. i also just assume that im eating 200-300 calories more than what i log because of that.
i really dont want to make food that important in my life that i have to weigh it and measure it

Debbjones

Said it before and I will say it again... the nutritional content on food labels is not completely accurate. FDA allows theses numbers to have a variance. Measuring your food, yes is good... daily logging to keep track of what you consume is essential for some folks (so yes there is a point of daily logging for some people just to help them stay on track), but all the numbers when added up are an approximation. Weighing and measuring food, then using the information on the nutritional label as your nutritional guidance... is not an exact science.

Do I measure AND weigh my food... NO. Yet I still achieved a remarkable weight loss!