50 days in.... only lost 1lb.
jcmhow
Posts: 8 Member
Okay, so I've been doing this whole calorie counting thing for 50 days. I realize that weight loss is not a sprint, but I think I should have lost more than a pound by now. I do everything that I'm suppose to do, eating right, working out, drinking plenty of water and nothing. I tried recalculating my goals, thinking that maybe I was eating too much, and for some reason it bumped my caloric intake up by 50 calories. I really need help, because I'm despite to lose weight the right way. Trying not to get discouraged. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Open your diary
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Are you weighing your food? because when you are eye balling your food tends to under-estimate the actual weight of the food, and thus the calories being consumed.0
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how?
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The only thing that I don't measure is my meat. And I have told myself to get a kitchen scale. I guess I'll go pick one up. But everything else is measured
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how?
Unless you're asking about "how" to open your diary? ... you can do that from the settings page - make it public.
The fact that you've lost a pound in 50 days means you have effectively "maintained" rather than gained. Chances are, you have eaten more than you thought / not burned as much as you thought and the net result is no loss / no gain.
Weight loss comes from eating at a defecit overall
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You're eating too much
Set your diary to public so people can help
but most importantly
1)how are you logging your food - you need to weigh solids on a digital scale and measure liquids... and log every single thing
2) how are you logging your activiy - if you are using calorie burns from MFP database or machines in gyms you need to only eat back between 50 and 75% of the calories as they overestimate0 -
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Yeah the how was for opening up the diary. @buttersoft.... I was a bit confused about the whole deficit thing, which I ended up doing some research on, and I think I still have some confusion. Here's what I do.... Wake up at 3am Coffee, workout, hydrate. Breakfast is a green smoothie, play guitar, lunch at noon ( which is usually light soup, half a sandwich and a pack of crackers or sm bag of chips). then for dinner I typically have a protein and a salad or a veg. I'm always under my calorie goal and I workout 5 days a week.
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Why would you not measure meat if you're following a calorie defecit programme?0
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I'm obviously doing something wrong, but I'll try the scale. Also what's up with them bumping my calories up?
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B/c usually I eat fish at night and a single serving is usually 4 oz. And b/c I don't have a kitchen scale. Wanna buy me one????
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This is so true, especially for things like cereal and cheese. I remember that after I got my scale I was so shocked that the weight in grams of the cereal did not match the cup measurement at all! I was WAY OVER eating my cereal and other foods - by hundreds of calories a day! And with shredded cheese, depending on the size of the shred of the cheese, and even the type of cheese, the difference between that so-called 1/4 cup serving (which was supposed to be 1 ounce) and a true 1 ounce serving can be huge. I found that I was actually short-changing myself on finely shredded cheese. I could get more than the 1/4 and be right on an ounce. Win! So I weigh everything now. I think it's actually super common for people to making serving size guesstimation errors.
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That was just a joke.... I'll be getting a scale today. Thanks for the video links and all of the help! I will definitely let everyone know how things go. It's just funny b/c I've done MFP before without a scale and I kicked butt! I lost 20lbs. I won't be making my diary public for private reasons, but thanks again for the help!0
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If you want to use a food scale, by all means do. I expect it helps some people be more honest with themselves, but there are enough inaccuracies in food calories and exercise calories that weighing your food won't make your calorie counts any more accurate. You can accomplish the same thing by just reducing your calorie goal, to make up for your errors in calorie estimation.0
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TimothyFish wrote: »If you want to use a food scale, by all means do. I expect it helps some people be more honest with themselves, but there are enough inaccuracies in food calories and exercise calories that weighing your food won't make your calorie counts any more accurate. You can accomplish the same thing by just reducing your calorie goal, to make up for your errors in calorie estimation.
I truly don't understand this
of course it's all about estimates, but don't you put in the most accurate measure in the areas you can? ie in weighing out your portion sizes so that based on the average calories of that foodstuff it is as close to accurate as it can be
Dropping your calorie goal and not weighing can surely not help in the same way as your portion sizes may still be way out in meeting a lower goal
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My two cents...I did same as you, everything right and barely lost anything...turns out, I was eating dinner too late at night. I lost 15 pounds a couple years back when I started cutting myself off in the kitchen about 4 hours before I went to bed. You should go to bed hungry. That's what I always suggests...works well for me.
Are you getting enough calories though? Because undereating will ruin you too. Cheers
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I always eat later in the evening and I've lost 29 pounds since August. OP, maybe you should quick-add a small buffer to your day until you get a scale.0
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Oh, look, another video that shows that the maker doesn't know how to use measuring cups. I have yet to see one of these videos comparing proper use of measuring cups to weighing. I know that there is often a difference, but there are about 1000 videos showing how not to use a measuring cup and I have't seen any showing the actual difference between measuring and weighing.
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Meal timing doesn't matter as long as you are staying in your calorie goal. If you find yourself snacking at night and you didn't account for those calories and you end up over goal, then yes, it will mess you up. If you plan ahead and leave room for a night time snack, you'll be fine.My two cents...I did same as you, everything right and barely lost anything...turns out, I was eating dinner too late at night. I lost 15 pounds a couple years back when I started cutting myself off in the kitchen about 4 hours before I went to bed. You should go to bed hungry. That's what I always suggests...works well for me.
Are you getting enough calories though? Because undereating will ruin you too. Cheers
My guess is you are underestimating your intake and/or overestimating how much you burn.
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Just my 2 cents .. but it sounds like you are not eating enough. I think there is a tendency to under eat especially if people are new, thinking less is better that you will lose better that way. Usually the opposite is true. Your body could be hanging on for dear life. And .. get that food scale and use it.0
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My two cents...I did same as you, everything right and barely lost anything...turns out, I was eating dinner too late at night. I lost 15 pounds a couple years back when I started cutting myself off in the kitchen about 4 hours before I went to bed. You should go to bed hungry. That's what I always suggests...works well for me.
Are you getting enough calories though? Because undereating will ruin you too. Cheers
Meal timing is irrelevant, unless you have medical reasons to not eat late. There are times when I eat dinner at 9:30 and go to bed around 11, and my weight still goes down.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »If you want to use a food scale, by all means do. I expect it helps some people be more honest with themselves, but there are enough inaccuracies in food calories and exercise calories that weighing your food won't make your calorie counts any more accurate. You can accomplish the same thing by just reducing your calorie goal, to make up for your errors in calorie estimation.
I truly don't understand this
of course it's all about estimates, but don't you put in the most accurate measure in the areas you can? ie in weighing out your portion sizes so that based on the average calories of that foodstuff it is as close to accurate as it can be
Dropping your calorie goal and not weighing can surely not help in the same way as your portion sizes may still be way out in meeting a lower goal
No, that's not right. Look at it this way: suppose you are measuring a wood block to fill a hole. The measuring tape the hole was measured with is accurate to ±1/16". Is there really anything to be gained by using a more accurate measuring device to measure the block with an accuracy of ±1/64" ? Of course not, because no matter how accurately you measure, it may still be too large or small by as much as 1/16". The same is true for calorie counts. No matter how accurately you measure one of the two calorie counts, you will have to adjust for the inaccuracy of the other. Whatever the inaccuracy of the estimates are, dropping one's calorie goal isn't likely to change that, so in one's attempt to eat at the lower calorie level will result in eating less calories, even though the inaccuracy of the the measurements prevent us from knowing exactly how much. That reduction in calories will result in weight loss.0 -
meal time certainly does matter...but I don't need to convince anyone 0
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If you end up not being able to get that scale today, one trick I used to use before I purchased my scale was to have my butcher repackage my meat.
If I found a one pound package of steak tips, I would ask him to divide it into two equal packages. It helped me get more accurate logs, and also allowed me to freeze the portion that I may not be able to eat before its sell by date.
If the package ended up being more than one normal serving size, it would help me have a better guesstimate of portion sizes when dividing it up.0 -
meal time certainly does matter...but I don't need to convince anyone
Do you have anything to back this up?
OP it would seem that the sum total of your efforts are very near maintenance which as usual means you are eating more and moving less than you think to maintain the deficit you need for weight loss. Whilst you might think you are doing everything right it normally works out you are not maintaining a consistent deficit.0 -
Just wanted to add another suggestion that no one had mentioned. It could be an undiagnosed medical issue. Based on what you said you eat it doesn't sound like you are overeating but without seeing your diary I can't say for sure. Have you had thyroid testing done? Other hormone related issues can cause weight problems as well.0
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Maybe your not eating enough sometimes could be starving yourself and working out a little too much if your constantly pushing your body just an idea plus if you gained muscle that's another thing in addition to water weight there's a lot of possibilities really although weighing your food is always a good idea first.0
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