What an eye opener!!! Duh!

Get the heart rate monitor and a food scale and you will be amazed and how far apart your own food estimates are from actual serving sizes and how over/under estimated the calorie burn is on MFP!

Yes, weight loss is an easy math but to do this math you need proper tools.

I got the tools last week and lost 2lbs after staying at the same weight for weeks and weeks!
It wasn't a plateau - my math was way off!

You are not alone! I'm postive this is the case with many who say they are at a plateau. There have been studies that showed when people self report thier food intake, they can underestimate by as much as 40%. Glad you are finding a way to get more accurate.

Get the heart rate monitor and a food scale and you will be amazed and how far apart your own food estimates are from actual serving sizes and how over/under estimated the calorie burn is on MFP!

Yes, weight loss is an easy math but to do this math you need proper tools.

I got the tools last week and lost 2lbs after staying at the same weight for weeks and weeks!
It wasn't a plateau - my math was way off!

weight loss isnt exactly easy math. u can do the math to lose a lb a week & lose it for a few weeks & thn stop for no reason even tho the math was correct.

Underestimate your calories burned, overestimate your calories consumed and try not to eat all your exercise credit calories. Works for me.

Yep! I have a food scale and I make sure to have the right serving sizes. The HRM is something I NEED to get!

I recently got some proper digital scales and have now added a motoactv (which gives a total calorie burn at the end of the day as well as exercise specific ones.)
It's still going to be an approximation, but nice for it to be a fair bit closer to the reality.

Tommygirl; if you are doing 'outside' activities and have a smartphone, there's a varieties of apps for popular phones that will give you a better idea than MFP. You can then also consider a bluetooth HRM.
I got a cheap watch HRM for £13 a while ago, but you have to touch the contacts with your other hand for it to show heart rate.) However, not a massive amount more to get one with a strap (a quick look on amazon shows one for £16.31). If you're in the US, price won't be massively more than those in dollars. Of course, you pay more you get better features etc.

I like my HR monitor as it bases my calories burned on me. My age, my weight, my activity. Is it perfect I'm sure it isn't, but I have fun with it. I makes exercise a competition with myself and I do love a good competition.

I take my kitchen scale when I go to my parents' for supper. I'm going to win this battle on portion-sizes alone.

I've been wanting to buy a HRM for a long time, but found them to be too expensive (I'm on a strict budget right now). However I've been reading a lot about how important it is to have one. You guys have really convinced me to buy one no matter what. Now, time to convince my other half. LOL Blessings and best of wishes to you all.

You know they help for aerobic activities but are fairly useless for strength training. While probably more accurate than the machine estimates for calorie burns, there is still some estimating going on. Always good to be conservative. I only take about 65% or 70% of my HRM burn when I log aerobic activity.

I was actually talking to my friend about this very subject today. I have always been struggling to figure out how accurate the calorie burns are in the exercise portion of my diary. My friend recommends a heart-rate monitor, but they are sooo expensive. Do you know where I can find a good one for cheap?

Amazon! Omron makes the best one IMO about $25