Help! 30 Days and only lost 1 pound?

emdeesea

Why are we commenting on a post from 2012?

Psychgrrl

Meal timing doesn't matter. There is absolutely no scientific proof that meal timing has anything to do with weight-loss. It doesn't keep you from "starvation mode," it doesn't kick start your metabolism, it doesn't keep your body burning fat. If you tend to be a late-night nosher, having a rule where you don't eat after 7 or 8 pm might be helpful for you. If you tend to be a binge-eater from hunger, eating more frequently can help keep hunger at bay and help prevent over-eating.

I choose to have lots of mini-meals throughout the day as that works well for me. Most week nights I eat after 8:30 pm as that's when I get home.

Going to bed full or going to bed hungry can prevent quality sleep because of digestion or hunger pangs.

If you're not losing weight, the answer is never to eat more. Because physics.

My guess is, if you're not losing weight, you're eating more than you think. It's something almost all of us have done at one time or another.

How are you measuring your intake? Eye-balling portions, using measuring cups and spoons, or using a digital food scale?

We're so used to seeing huge portions, eye-balling doesn't work for most of us because our perceptions of what a portion is are out of whack.

Measuring cups and spoons are not as accurate as a digital food scale. Weighing everything, including packages or seemingly portioned foods, like bread or eggs, is critical to really knowing what you're taking in.

For example, a half cup of black beans is way more than the 130 gram serving size. I've never had a slice of bread weigh the standard weight and eggs are insane! I've had one egg (double yolk) be equivalent in grams to almost three times the standard serving size of one egg. Another key piece is making sure you're choosing correct entries in the database. Many are user entered and incorrect. And companies change their formulas from time to time and the nutritional information may differ.

All those little overages add up. Weight-loss begins in the kitchen. There are people who lose weight without exercising. You can't out exercise a bad diet.

Make sure your daily calorie and weight loss goal are right for you. MFP won't set your goal below 1200, so if you don't have a lot of weight to lose, you could set it to lose 1 pound per week and get 1200 daily calories or 2 pounds per week and get 1200 daily calories. In general:
* 25 pounds or less to lose is .5 pounds per week loss
* 25-50 pounds to lose is 1 pound per week loss
* 50-75 pounds to lose is 1.5 pounds per week loss
* 75+ pounds to lose is 2 pounds per week loss

MFP is designed to take your daily activity level, outside of exercise in determining your daily calorie goal. You add in exercise and eat, typically, some of the calories back. There's no perfect formula, the general suggestion is to eat back 50-75% of the burn if you get the calories out part from the MFP database or a cardio machine.

It takes time and patience! No one hits it right out of the gate! Weight-loss is a marathon, not a sprint. It usually takes time to become overweight and it'll take time to lose it. Just stick with it and figure out what work for you. Everyone struggles and sputters, persistence and determination is what matters.

You ca do this!