This is BS - 70 days and this is it?

Food scale is great but tbh, I've lost weight perfectly fine without it and so have a lot of other people... you just need to get off your butt and move around.

If you are grossly under estimating what you are eating (especially if you eat out a lot, a lot of restaurants under estimate the calories in their food by a good bit) no matter how much you exercise you may not lose weight.

I checked out her food diary and most of the things she is consuming don't require much measurement (e.g. one brand dinner roll). If you make poor food choices, you won't lose weight no matter if you measure 1 slice of toast on a food scale.. If she worked out more, she would be likely to see the scale or measurements move. Doing nothing in fact does nothing. Getting a food scale to measure things that are already pre-determined will not change the funk she is in.

She likely DOES need to weigh her food for a while because she is probably unaware that she is eating so much because of her likely leptin-resistance. (Most obese folk have it and seriously obese women almost certainly have it.)

How do you weigh a bun? A Starbucks coffee? What about this:
Eggs - Poached (whole egg), 2 large 147 1 13 10 0
Home-Made - Brioche, 1 slice 150 0 0 0 0
Meat - Schneiders Bacon, 4 slices raw 360 0 12 34 0
Homemade - Holandaise, 1/4 Cup 130 1 3 14 0
Tropicana Orange Juice - No Pulp Orange Juice, 500 ml 220 52 4 0 0
Coffee - Brewed from grounds, 1 cup (8 fl oz) 2 0 0 0 0
Condiment - Sugar - Golden Yellow , 4 tsp (4g) 60 16 0 0 0
Cream - Half and half, 2 tbsp
Sunchips - Harvest Cheddar (40g Bag From Label), 40 gram bag 200 26 3 9 3
Subway 6 Inch - Turkey Breast & Ham on Flatbread W/ Lite Mayo, Cheese & Veggies, 237 (g) 400 44 19 7 3
Cola - Cola; Coke Zero, 16.9 oz Bottle, 16.9 fl oz


It's already predetermined and she seems fairly aware to me.. most of her diary is composed of things that don't need to be weighed. If she exercised more and perhaps cut out some things, she would be fine. Food scales are used for things like meat, vegetables, nuts, etc that aren't already pre-determined or can't be used with a dry measure. All I have at home are dry and wet measuring cups and spoons. It's not rocket science.

I weighed some bacon once and the serving size listed on the package was 3 slices (15g). 15g was actually 2 slices. Chips are usually listed as a serving size of 13 chips (or X chips) I have found that it's usually 1/4 lower by weight. Cheese is hard to eyeball an inch cube if you cut it and weighing will be much more accurate. I found measuring chicken by cup to be inconvenient and a scale to be much more accurate. Apparently, I have never even seen a "large sweet potato" because mine are all twice the calories of those listed as a large sweet potato in the database. [I saw all of those in the diary when I looked through it.]

If someone is losing weight (or has lost weight) without a scale which is absolutely possible (and has happened and will continue to happen) more power to them. For a lot of people, especially with smaller deficits or who have been overweight for a long time, a food scale can make all the difference in the world. It's a $5-20 investment that has been a very useful tool for me. It seems like one of the quickest, easiest ways to check your calorie consumption. I have enough of a deficit built into my consumption to still lose weight even mis-estimating but I found out that I could eat more of some things and less of others which was interesting.

If the calories say that you should be losing weight but you are not, the calories are probably accounted for incorrectly.

I don't think you need to go "cold turkey" from sugar, OP... just cutting out sweetened drinks will have a huge effect. Fruits and the occasional treat haven't harmed my weight loss one bit.

Agree, I'm in Baking and Pastry school..i.e. I eat sweets!! But I fit it into my macros and I'm still losing weight.

If you are young enough, and not seriously obese, a little sugar can be okay. But I'm guessing that OP is not in that category.

I"m 5 years older than the OP and my starting weight was only 19 lbs lower than hers. Sorry. I just don't believe in cutting out whole foods groups. It's unsustainable as a life-long choice.

Sugar is not a food group.

I disagree with the persons that say you need to eat breakfast. I never eat breakfast and I do just fine, in fact I'm not hungry until dinner most of the time. I think you need to exercise. A good one for you to start with is 30 day shred if you don't have time to go to a gym. It's 20 min and you do 10 days of each level. Since you're sitting at a desk all day and don't have a lot of time I think it would be great for you. If you eat within your daily calories and stick with it, you WILL see results. You can get 30 day shred for under $10 for your own dvd, or get it for free on youtube.com

Also, get yourself some sugar free fudgdesicles that are about 40 calories each, some sugar free jello, and kellog's 90 calorie snacks, some stevia for your coffee, and save room for at least one treat for yourself a day. I say this because it seems you like sugar from just quickly glancing over your diary. It will help to have these low cal/low sugar/sugar free snacks around. Just give yourself 1 treat a day or every other day so you don't feel like you're depriving yourself and cause yourself to binge.

I agree. You don't have to eat breakfast--many obese folk dislike breakfast because their blood sugar levels are already high in the morning. One can know that one's metabolic problems are getting to a "normal" situation when one gets up in the morning and is hungry. I am still not hungry in the morning and that is useful because it extends night-time fat burning (which stops as soon as you eat in the morning).

I'm really curious about the reasoning behind this. I'm never hungry for breakfast, I'm at a healthy body fat, healthy weight, and losing weight as I should. What metabolic problems are you saying I have that cause me to not be hungry at breakfast?

Have you heard the saying "you are what you eat?"... your food choices are not very good. I only looked at the past 3 days and know i would not consume most of that food because I know the effects it would make on my body.

My diary is open, aside from the chocolate I've had the past 2 days, I eat pretty clean - probably about 80%.

If you keep eating hot dogs, burgers and poutine, you're going to stay the same weight you are now.

Replace that with lean chicken breast, fish and salad - you will start to see the pounds drop.

good luck!

Edit: I was 143lbs before lent started, I weighed myself on March 5th and I had cut out sugar for about 4 weeks... I lost 7lbs... I don't know what I am now!

I did a few spot checks on different days of the week on different weeks. What struck me is that in the days I consulted there were little vegetable or fruit. Perhaps by purposely upping those you will eat less of the processed stuff. I assume from your food entries that you are Canadian. We are lucky to have access to tons of unprocessed food. If you're not sure what to do with raw ingredients, let me know and I'll share my favourite recipe book.

I have a lot of weight to lose also. I have been working at it siince January 4 and in 3 months I have dropped 34 lbs. One of the biggest things that has worked for me has been lots of fruits and veggies. They say do 5 a day and I seek to go over that. ONe thing thing that helps me is to buy fresh veggies and put them into baggies for a snack or addition to a meal that is easy to grab. Whole grains are important. Exchange starchy stuff for whole grains. Drink lots of water. I usually drink 8-10 glasses a day.
Exercise is also very important. Get yourself moving. Find a physical activity you can enjoy and start doing it. Walking is an excellent start

Good on you for sticking it out this long I had a quick look in some of your diary entries for April and March and I think the most important thing that I see is that you don't seem to eat 'regularly' (some days no breakfast, some days no lunch etc, some days extra snacks like cookies & chocolate)

I would suggest to try and eat at regular times through the day. I have a good breakfast usually that keeps me going until my morning snack. I then have lunch that should take me to my afternoon snack and then I'm good until dinner It's possible that the 'hangriness' you were getting was because you were going too long without food.

I would also suggest to START with - simplify everything. Don't worry about making things fancy, or exciting - it gets old fast and becomes a stress when you are strapped for time (in my experience anyway)

Buy some of the same things every week. For example - I buy at least 2 cucumbers a week, because they are amazingly low in calories and they're good to munch on. I also buy a couple of pieces of fruit to alternate. I buy single serve yoghurts as my morning snack as I've found it works the best at keeping me satisfied until lunch
For lunches, I tend to have the same things a lot, I will have half a sandwich and a cup-a-soup (They are low in calories!) or I'll have some cooked vegetables with some salsa (also low calorie, and a good treat) Another one I liked is soy sauce, sesame oil, chicken stock powder and some cooked vegetables put in a bowl, then I add water & heat up at work It's nice with an egg!

Things like tomatoes and pickles are good for sandwiches and crispbread toppings, and are low in calories. I make sure to keep those in the house too I make a lot of soups that tend to be low in calorie and they are so filling ! (Especially if they are predominantly vegetables)

Some other things that I do is - try to only have one serve of bread/grains a day, and I've found that having half a sandwich with my soup is just as satisfying as having a whole one I do buy coffees and teas from shops, but I get flat white, no sugar. I don't allow myself to get anything fancy because I think they aren't worth the calories. It still feels like a treat when you're going out with friends and can have a simple cup of coffee without worrying too much about calories

We also don't buy biscuits or cake or anything that can be left around for too long, it's way too tempting. I'll get single serve things sometimes for my boyfriend, but that's for him and they don't usually last long :P

When you feel like eating but know that you have a meal planned for the next hour (say you're pecking half an hour before lunch) then drink some water or have a cup of tea. I usually find that helps me hold out until I'm supposed to eat, which means I'll last longer through the day


Good luck, I hope you find the balance with what works for you! I had lost a fair bit, but recently plateued and found that I was overthinking everything.

Anyone who has been alive for 5 seconds knows that the number of calories is all that counts when it comes to losing weight, not the actual nutritional value of the food. Sorry in advance for those I might be offending.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

You have the right to an opinion but I definitely disagree with this. Nutritional value is indeed relevant to losing weight.. especially if you do the gain muscle/lose fat approach. You can eat McDonalds everyday and lose weight (that happened to me) but end up skinny fat and jiggly.

Agree---you could eat a diet of 1350 calories in pop tarts every day and MAYBE lose weight but you would be quite ill at the end. And then, you would likely gain it all back plus more. If we expect our bodies to perform for us, we must treat them right and stuffing them full of empty calories is NOT treating them right. We need nourishment--not just calories.

:drinker: *claps* If OP takes anything out of this, it should be what this person just posted

Nobody is saying you shouldn't eat healthily or exercise, just that from a strictly losing weight on the scale it is not NEEDED. Now if you want to lose weight and be healthier then YES you should eat healthily and exercise.

Did you not read the thread dialogue? Someone did say that...

well done lisa I do a sedentary job and no exercise. I lost hardly anything over a whole year despite counting calories. I have found that going vegetarian was a godsend, i don't eat bread or pasta, i keep carbs low and avoid fruit except berries and am now losing about 2lbs a week. My BMR is low about 1370 a day so 1200 didn't cut it now i aim for 1000 a day and no processed foods. its nice to see the scales finally move. Good luck

Anyone who has been alive for 5 seconds knows that the number of calories is all that counts when it comes to losing weight, not the actual nutritional value of the food. Sorry in advance for those I might be offending.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

You have the right to an opinion but I definitely disagree with this. Nutritional value is indeed relevant to losing weight.. especially if you do the gain muscle/lose fat approach. You can eat McDonalds everyday and lose weight (that happened to me) but end up skinny fat and jiggly.

Agree---you could eat a diet of 1350 calories in pop tarts every day and MAYBE lose weight but you would be quite ill at the end. And then, you would likely gain it all back plus more. If we expect our bodies to perform for us, we must treat them right and stuffing them full of empty calories is NOT treating them right. We need nourishment--not just calories.

:drinker: *claps* If OP takes anything out of this, it should be what this person just posted

Nobody is saying you shouldn't eat healthily or exercise, just that from a strictly losing weight on the scale it is not NEEDED. Now if you want to lose weight and be healthier then YES you should eat healthily and exercise.

Did you not read the thread dialogue? Someone did say that...

I have read through most replies, must have missed it. Please quote it for me so I can see it.

Hi!

I don't know why people keep saying that exercise is not important. It burns calories!
After an hour of running I have burned an extra 700 calories. Keep doing that 5-7 days a week and I can enjoy a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers couple of times a week.

Not to mention, it speeds up your overall metabolism throughout the whole day. I lose twice as fast when I exercise.

In the long run it does matter what you eat even if you only eat 1200 calories per day. You have to stay full in order to stay motivated, so eating junk will not be very effective in the end of the day.

I think you don't use your calories the way you should..... you have about 2 meals a day.... even though you are under your calorie goal, your body could be hungry because you aren't making the best choices....

try to eat more veggies (veggies are pretty filling a low in calories, so you can eat a lot)
fruits!
greek yogurt
peanuts

you should be eating every 2 hours....

cut out grain and sugar.watch those numbers fall

Yes---I lost weight just from cutting out wheat and sugar but then my weight loss stalled because I wasn't exercising. Once I straightened out my under-eating and added exercise, I started losing again. The exercise in the pool, made me feel GREAT and the weight-lifting made my body change shape!

Keep up the great dedication to logging, Lisa! I echo the sentiment of adding in some exercise...it will make a big difference! Also, it seems like maybe you are skipping some meals in order to allow for more calories in one meal? So I would think that smaller, more regular meals might help your metabolism.

I was plenty obese.

You forget that OP is not exercising and I'm guessing you do a fair bit of exercising (in addition to eating right most of the time). There are many variables. People who are exercising can get away with more junk food but that doesn't mean that it is particularly beneficial to one's body. Some people insist that they would be mentally messed up if they don't eat sugar--so I guess it is "necessary" for them. I haven't eaten any sugary food in three years and I honestly don't miss it--maybe because I know it just does NOT "do a body good". The sugar habit ALWAYS catches up with you in one way or another. My mother-in-law never ate much of anything and was quite thin, but a large part of her calories were eaten in the form of sugar. She spent the last three years of her life in advanced dementia in a nursing home (and the ten years before that, she was pretty "dotty"). I saw some research recently that linked sugar consumption and dementia. Makes sense as Advanced Glycation End-products, as the acronym they use for them, "AGE", suggests, are responsible for accelerating aging in our cells and part of that aging process is inflammation. The researchers believe that AGE's contribute to inflammation in the brain and thus dementia. And what contributes greatly to the forming of AGE's? Sugar consumption. It is also behind hypertension, Type II diabetes, gouty arthritis, renal disease, etc. When one is in one's twenties, one never thinks about those possibilities. But one day you will.