Did I screw up my metabolism?

_Terrapin_

When I say I guess it's not like I eat a a meal and just throw in whatever number I want...


As I stated earlier I divide portion weights. The chicken breast is a good example, 3 breasts in one package that weight 1 pound. So in theory that's 5.33 ounces per breast which is what I will enter. In reality one may be 7 ounces, one 4 and the other 5.



As far as measuring food on the run, how do most of you do it? I'm thinking most people don't keep a scale in their back pocket.

If I want some almonds and there are 10 ounces in a pack. I will eat about a third of the pack (visually) and log 3-4 onces of them.

This seems pretty accurate to me, but something isn't working so maybe not. I do log everything I put in my mouth, and I do plan to get a digital scale for my kitchen. Thanks for the advice.

The thing I don't get is that I've changed nothing in the way I log or the food I eat. It was working great loosing a few pounds per week. The last 10 days or so the only change is lifting weights a few days and I haven't been budging on the scale.


Thank you to the people leaving the helpful comments. Your the reason I decided to ask on these forums. The other comments, thanks for wasting space on my thread.

Water retention from the weight lifting is something to consider. Your diary you provided ie eggs and mushrooms for breakfast--if you log everything you put in your mouth did you use butter/EVOO/or anything else to make the eggs and mushrooms?

A plateau is about 3 weeks for me and listen to advice when someone says to increase your cals first then peel them back gradually. Also, my maintenance cals are about twice what you're taking in, we are the same height, and age(well close I think you may be 2 decades younger then me). I lift 1 or 2 days and run 3. So, review, up your calories, weigh your food, enjoy the weight loss, expect plateaus and continue on.

DeguelloTex

Hard to believe, but it IS possible to eat TOO FEW calories, to wit, this article I found at the Everyday Health site:

If you're like most people who want to lose weight, you want to lose it fast. So you may be tempted to make drastic changes in your diet to dramatically reduce the number of calories you consume. But what you may not know is that eating too few calories can actually backfire and sabotage your weight-loss efforts.

"It would make sense to stop eating [when you are trying to lose weight], but it actually works in the opposite way," says Kimberly Lummus, MS, RD, Texas Dietetic Association media representative and public relations coordinator at the Austin Dietetic Association in Austin, Texas.

Calories and Your Health

The most effective way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you expend, creating a calorie deficit. But if your calorie intake dips too low, says Lummus, your body could go into starvation mode. "Your body will start to store fat because it thinks it is not going to get anything," says Lummus. "You will be at a point where your body is kind of at a standstill."

Lummus says that when your body goes into starvation mode, your metabolism slows to a crawl, burning calories as slowly as possible to conserve its energy stores. This is why people who cut their calories too much may reach a plateau and stop losing weight.

Back to me: so eat what the app tells you... from my experience, it's pretty accurate in its calculations, as long as you tell it the truth.

Ms. Lummus is stealing money with that kind of "expertise."

If your body is "at a standstill," you're eating at maintenance. Metabolic slowing means your calories out are lower than you think, but it doesn't get low enough that eating more results in your burning more calories than extra you ate. It means you're burning 100-X rather than 100 and only if you are at a pretty small deficit will this, standing alone, result in a plateau. If you're at a larger deficit, it just means you'll lose marginally more slowly, but still faster than if you ate more.

laddyboy

MFP tells me I should be eating around 2100 calories to loose weight. I started, and continue to eat around 1300-1500 calories with a lot of lean protein and it have been working great for me.

Why do you eat 1300-1500 if the daily amount is 2100?

ETA
And how do you measure your food?

Great question...my guess is not eating enough.

MelodyandBarbells

When I say I guess it's not like I eat a a meal and just throw in whatever number I want...


As I stated earlier I divide portion weights. The chicken breast is a good example, 3 breasts in one package that weight 1 pound. So in theory that's 5.33 ounces per breast which is what I will enter. In reality one may be 7 ounces, one 4 and the other 5.



As far as measuring food on the run, how do most of you do it? I'm thinking most people don't keep a scale in their back pocket.

If I want some almonds and there are 10 ounces in a pack. I will eat about a third of the pack (visually) and log 3-4 onces of them.

This seems pretty accurate to me, but something isn't working so maybe not. I do log everything I put in my mouth, and I do plan to get a digital scale for my kitchen. Thanks for the advice.

I think I see what you're saying about not using a food scale, even though I still commend the fact that you're getting one. Basically if you're reading the weight on the chicken package, you may not have weighed it yourself but someone else already weighed it for you. For me, I don't cook the entire package at once, just grab a couple chunks and weigh it. But it's still the same thing because then I don't weigh each individual serving. So long as the number of servings adds up to the calories recorded in the entire batch (I live alone), I'm good. I never weigh single packaged snacks such as 200 calories of cashew nuts; I just scan and record the whole thing.

Weighing has been especially important for me in cases where I buy a huge batch of food but only want to cook or use a portion each time. That ranch dressing that's 18 times more calories than what I put it on, rice, oil, etc. Very easy to under guesstimate all these and eat many more calories than you think you are

All that said I think the most likely reason for your stall is the water retention described above due to a new routine

Love the MFP app screen grabs. Isn't the app great!