1000/kcal a day defecit=4lb gain?!

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  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    Personally, I use a scale for just about everything except liquids.

    And after a dinner of Chinese take away (which was loaded with salt, I am sure) I was up 3 lbs overnight.

    If you drink ANY liquid other than water, black calorie free coffee, or diet soda with zero calories WEIGHT IT
    weight your cream, you sugar scoops, your butter pats

    anything you put in your mouth weight

    Liquids are typically measured by volume, not mass. It's very unusual to find nutrition information for a liquid measured by mass. I sometimes see it on salad dressings, though those are usually volume as well. You need to know the density of the particular liquid to convert the measurement from volume to mass. It's easy with water (1L=1kg) but not necessarily with other liquids. What I mean by this is that it's more convenient and likely more accurate to measure liquids by volume, not on your kitchen scale.

    A tip i learned for measuring liquids on the food scale outside of ounces, for salad dressings and coffee creamers 1 mL = 1 gram :)

    youre welcome.

    Not precisely. 1g of water = 1ml. But that varies for other liquids based on their density.

    You could certainly estimate cream that way, for example, but it will not be precise. The density of cream - and thus its weight - depends on the fat percentage AND temperature. The 1ml = 1g measurement is precise for water, but cream is lighter in density than water (that's why it floats to the top!). It would be close enough to estimate, but so is a measuring cup.

    If the density of the salad dressing is different than that of water, there will be a difference in weight even if volume is identical. I have no idea if there is a density difference. Your method is not precise unless you have determined each liquid's density, which is certainly possible, though time consuming.

    Measuring with volume utensils is also not completely precise. This is a case where, unlike weighing the mass of solid foods (which IS more precise than volume measurements), you can decide which method is more convenient. There will be a negligible difference between a volume measurement of cream and a weight measurement of cream - even assuming you've calculated its density.

    I will say that when I bake, I use mass measurements for all solid ingredients but volume measurements for liquids. That's how most recipes are written, because of the variation in density of various liquids.
  • bsquibbles
    bsquibbles Posts: 18
    Here's what I learned during my weight loss:

    (1) Weekly ups and downs don't matter. Averages are king.

    So you lost 5 pounds one week, 4 pounds the next, up 4 this week? That averages to 1.667 pounds per week. That's just shy of what is predicted based on a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. And - if you're not weighing your portions - I'll bet your deficit is smaller than you think, which basically means your average loss might be exactly correct based on your deficit.

    Yet another angle I never considered! I really love this forum :) I definitely need to wrap my head around looking at averages and inches and not let myself get so hung up week by week, I guess! And I learned in this thread that I was definitely probably underestimating my intake...should have much more accurate entries when everything gets weighed!

    Thank you for the rest of your great advice and support. Your stats are so inspiring!
  • SoreTodayStrongTomorrow222
    SoreTodayStrongTomorrow222 Posts: 252 Member
    Are you or any females who you are around constantly, on your period? Maybe its water weight... My mom doesnt even have a uterus and she knows when I am going to start because she starts retaining water.
  • bsquibbles
    bsquibbles Posts: 18
    three investments you MUST MAKE for success:

    1) a decent food scale (20 bucks at walmart)
    2) a heart rate monitor for accurate calorie burns
    3) a gym membership OR decent comfortable work out clothes/shoes for home workouts or walking, something that make you feel comfortable and keep you motivated.

    I've got the food scale and the gym membership! I don't have a heart rate monitor, just a fitbit flex. I'll look into the HR monitor, it would be nice to get an accurate idea of calories burned, since all my sources vary so greatly!

    At your size you probably cant walk a mile, I know I have been there, so go start today. Walk a hundred feet everyday this week. Next week try 120 feet a day. Up your distance every week. .

    Actually, when I started out at 420 pounds, I couldn't walk more than a few feet without getting winded. But now at 354, I do around 2 miles on the elliptical 4x/week and once a week my husband and I go walk laps at the mall...last saturday according to my fitbit we did 6 miles. :)

    I had started out at the gym on the treadmill, but that got boring so I switched to the elliptical, which I like a lot more. I could only do around 5 minutes when I started, but now I'm up to 30, and I try and increase my resistance and speed each week. I never track the full 30 minutes in MFP though, if I do MFP tells me I've burned like, 700 calories whereas the machine itself usually says about 250...so I usually track it as 10 or 20 minutes.

    Thank you so much for your wonderful advice and support! I am truly inspired by everyone posting in this thread and I feel 1000% better now than I did this morning when I first posted! I'm eager to put everyone's tips into play!
  • bsquibbles
    bsquibbles Posts: 18
    JUST DON'T GIVE UP!!!! Seek some professional advice. THAT is my advice. Don't do my plan find your plan. Make it personal!!!!

    Thank you for the advice and I just want to say WAY TO GO with the progress you've made! I'm glad you've found a great plan that works well for you! :)

    And no, I have no intentions of giving up! :D
  • DrJenO
    DrJenO Posts: 404 Member
    Here's what I learned during my weight loss:

    (1) Weekly ups and downs don't matter. Averages are king.

    So you lost 5 pounds one week, 4 pounds the next, up 4 this week? That averages to 1.667 pounds per week. That's just shy of what is predicted based on a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. And - if you're not weighing your portions - I'll bet your deficit is smaller than you think, which basically means your average loss might be exactly correct based on your deficit.

    Yet another angle I never considered! I really love this forum :) I definitely need to wrap my head around looking at averages and inches and not let myself get so hung up week by week, I guess! And I learned in this thread that I was definitely probably underestimating my intake...should have much more accurate entries when everything gets weighed!

    Thank you for the rest of your great advice and support. Your stats are so inspiring!
    One thing I do now that I'm about 5 months into this is when I have a gain, I go back on my phone 1, 2, and 3 months from that day's weight, then I average the loss over that period of time.

    For instance, I went on a trip last week and had to estimate my calories a lot more than usual (plus, does going on a plane cause water weight gain? Srsly), and gained like 4 pounds back in a week. After a couple of days, when some of that had come off, but not all, I went back a couple of months and averaged out my loss - still right at or just under 1lb/week, which is my main goal.

    It helps me not get discouraged.
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    Here's what I learned during my weight loss:

    (1) Weekly ups and downs don't matter. Averages are king.

    So you lost 5 pounds one week, 4 pounds the next, up 4 this week? That averages to 1.667 pounds per week. That's just shy of what is predicted based on a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. And - if you're not weighing your portions - I'll bet your deficit is smaller than you think, which basically means your average loss might be exactly correct based on your deficit.

    Yet another angle I never considered! I really love this forum :) I definitely need to wrap my head around looking at averages and inches and not let myself get so hung up week by week, I guess! And I learned in this thread that I was definitely probably underestimating my intake...should have much more accurate entries when everything gets weighed!

    Thank you for the rest of your great advice and support. Your stats are so inspiring!

    You're so welcome! Just whatever you do, keep heading forward. Even if you stay this weight forever (you won't!) it's so much better than where you came from.

    I kept a spreadsheet and recorded any losses (but NOT gains. I never ate above weekly maintenance, so any gains were ignored and considered water retention) for a week, then the week's total losses. Even considering weeks with no or minor losses, my average was still more than 2 pounds a week for 12 months.

    Hang in there - keep following your plan, and you'll get the loss you are earning.

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