In a plateau? This may be why.

ltl_leah

I stalled in my weight loss for almost a year. Very frustrating, as I'm sure it is with anyone who loses weight and suddenly stops dropping pounds. Recently, I had an eyeing experience when I learned I was really underestimating my portions and servings of food. I bought myself a digital food scale to weigh all my food by the ounce or grams. I meticulously weighed and tracked all my food and I began to finally drop weight again. I was eating more calories than I thought I was!

Here's a good example: Peanut butter and I are BFFs; I love the ****! I would put it on fruit, on bread, in oatmeal, even eat it out of the jar. When I thought I was eating 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, it was more like 3-4 tablespoons if I weighed it. That's an extra 150-200 calories I was shoving into my port hole and NOT tracking! Plus, add in all the other things I underestimated throughout the day.

I was unknowing eating 400+ untracked calories everyday before I started weighing my food. So that means, I really didn't have much of a calorie deficit, if at all. Calorie in vs. calories out. I was barely breaking even. I was killing myself with my workouts 5-6 days a week and trying to stick to a realistic calorie goal. I was undoing all the hard work I did in the gym, when all I needed was to straighten up my food portions by becoming more accurate and accountable and it worked for me. I know people may say this is common sense, but I thought I was measuring my portions, but was doing a terrible job at it without a scale.

So, if anyone else is fed up, sick and tired, or just ready to give up on their lack of weight loss, try to weigh ALL your food and see what happens. And by weighing food, I mean using ONLY the scale. Nothing wrong with measuring cups, but they are not as accurate. I used measuring cups for years and thought I was doing a good job with my portion sizes. Nah.

Also, understand; food is only one part of a plateau. There could also be other factors involved, which are affecting your weight loss. I'm just here to explain a small part of what could be holding your weight loss back. I don't claim to know everything or have all the solutions. I just want to share my small victory with others in hopes that it may work for them too. Not saying this would work for everyone, but it's worth a try if you think you've tried everything to break your plateau.

I'd be happy to answer any questions about my post, so feel free to PM me.

carrots25

Thanks for the reminder. I try to keep this in mind as well, if you bite it, lick it or taste it you HAVE to track it.

mfkn_Titanium

I could have written this myself. Oh wait. I have. LOL Darn that peanut butter. It's sneaky. I'm obsessive about weighing my food. I don't care what anyone says. It's fun. I like gadgets and numbers.

ltl_leah

I could have written this myself. Oh wait. I have. LOL Darn that peanut butter. It's sneaky. I'm obsessive about weighing my food. I don't care what anyone says. It's fun. I like gadgets and numbers.

Jen, I learned all this from you! It's from the Fat Loss Troubleshoot. You inspired this post. *Mwah*

lotushead

I use a kitchen scale too and it actually taught me patience when it comes to food. I used bite off a few pieces of something while I was still preparing something else or taste-testing it and not realizing that it contributed to my portion size. Since I got a kitchen scale, my weight loss has improved also. Sure, it's annoying to be standing there starving and having to prep the food and weigh everything out for 15 minutes just to eat a small salad, but it's totally worth it because there's no deception or confusion about calories. I'm glad you were able to fix the plateau! Also, simple and overstated but true: Variety is key! (in both exercise, food, and life in general)

Cliffslosinit

Thanks for the reminder. I try to keep this in mind as well, if you bite it, lick it or taste it you HAVE to track it.

Sorry, I have a dirty mind...made me smile. Have a great day!