10 Weeks In, 0 lbs Lost

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24

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  • chasingyouu
    chasingyouu Posts: 17 Member
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    Try weighing your peanut butter and cereal. I can guarantee you'll be surprised by the small amount it actually is :disappointed:

    I remember weighing my granola for the first time - the recommended 30g serving was puny!
    I weigh everything now☺️
  • csteuter
    csteuter Posts: 87 Member
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    Maybe go to the dr. You may have a metabolic disorder .. it's not always as simple as "you're eating too much".
  • Just_Ceci
    Just_Ceci Posts: 5,926 Member
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    I lost 65 lbs. and have kept it off for 16 months and I don't own a food scale. I try to over estimate the food calories and under estimate the exercise calories. It is possible to lose weight without weighing every piece of food.

    Just saying.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    csteuter wrote: »
    Maybe go to the dr. You may have a metabolic disorder .. it's not always as simple as "you're eating too much".

    What?

    99.9% of the time when it looks like a horse, it's a horse, rarely is it a zebra

    OP is getting a food scale ...YAY!
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    You have a lot of things like "pumpkin stew" and "squash stew (no wheat berries)" listed. Did you enter these recipes yourself using the Recipe Builder tool? If not, don't use those entries. I'll guarantee that if you didn't enter the recipes yourself, they're not accurate for what you're actually eating.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    csteuter wrote: »
    Maybe go to the dr. You may have a metabolic disorder .. it's not always as simple as "you're eating too much".

    It COULD also be that the first person ever to defy the laws of physics has finally been born.




    But it's far more likely that calories estimations (both in and out) are off. Occam's Razor and all...
  • pierce0516
    pierce0516 Posts: 3 Member
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    get a fitness tracker/watch with a heart monitor to wear to the gym to find out the real calorie burn. I never go to the gym without my Polar F4 on me!
  • pierce0516
    pierce0516 Posts: 3 Member
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    get a fitness tracker/watch with a heart monitor to wear to the gym to find out the real calorie burn. I never go to the gym without my Polar F4 on me!
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Ceci_O_K wrote: »
    I lost 65 lbs. and have kept it off for 16 months and I don't own a food scale. I try to over estimate the food calories and under estimate the exercise calories. It is possible to lose weight without weighing every piece of food.

    Just saying.

    Absolutely, it is. But if the OP has been estimating for 10 weeks and haven't lost anything, it makes sense to actually measure accurately to see if that makes a difference.

  • CBoothman
    CBoothman Posts: 1 Member
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    I have hypothyroidism and have been experiencing something of the same as you though I set my calorie intake to 1200. My medication is still not making my body stabilize and its going to be a process. After being diagnosed last year I shot from 143 to over 160 within 3-4 months. I'm 159 and want to eventually get down to 135 but I would be happy with just a 10-15 lb. loss rather than than the 24 I'm shooting for. I do stress eat when I don't see the results after a few weeks and that's my downfall. Its just going to take longer and be harder and I have to deal with that. Hypothyroidism IS one of those issues one could have if you truly are eating at the recommended level and seeing no results.
  • SusanKing1981
    SusanKing1981 Posts: 257 Member
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    I remember the first time I weighed out 20g of peanut butter to have with an apple as a snack at work, it was hardly anything - I actually said out loud "are you taking the piss!.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Food scales are really eye-opening. I agree with everyone else who says to get one. A basic digital one is maybe $15-$20 on Amazon, and you'll find it to be really amazing what a difference it will make. Sure, a food scale isn't *required* to lose weight. But if you're stalled or not losing weight, using one ought to be the first thing to try. It's a quick, easy fix to a common problem.

    Also, check the entries you're using in the MFP database. If you're using entries with stars next to them, those are submitted by other users and they may or may not be accurate. Use the non-starred entries, or create your own based on the food labels for packaged foods or USDA values for meats, fruits, veggies, etc. Use the recipe builder for your own recipes rather than relying on other people's recipes, since you have no way of knowing what goes into them.

    Finally, you claim you're using the readout on the gym machines to estimate calorie burns. Those are usually wildly inaccurate, and for a small woman such as yourself, they're probably overestimating by a lot. Try eating back only half of your exercise calories.

    Good luck!
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    Weighing and measuring really is not laborious or tedious. It honestly takes no time at all. It's an eye-opening experience.

    All the people mentioning metabolic possibilities? They should be investigated AFTER her caloric consumption is locked down tight. Studies have proven that, for the most part, people greatly underestimate their food intake.

  • tcobleigh
    tcobleigh Posts: 5 Member
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    AliceDark wrote: »
    You have a lot of things like "pumpkin stew" and "squash stew (no wheat berries)" listed. Did you enter these recipes yourself using the Recipe Builder tool? If not, don't use those entries. I'll guarantee that if you didn't enter the recipes yourself, they're not accurate for what you're actually eating.

    Yes, these are my own recipes where I entered in everything myself.
  • tcobleigh
    tcobleigh Posts: 5 Member
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    Ceci_O_K wrote: »
    I lost 65 lbs. and have kept it off for 16 months and I don't own a food scale. I try to over estimate the food calories and under estimate the exercise calories. It is possible to lose weight without weighing every piece of food.

    Just saying.


    Thank you. I was wondering if every person on here used a food scale.
  • Gska17
    Gska17 Posts: 752 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »

    OP is getting a food scale ...YAY!

    Double yay! It really is so useful. I thought it would be a pain in the rear but it hasn't been. I too was overestimating my portions: cottage cheese, cereal, fish, chicken, you name it. Don't even get me started on pasta. :s

    At any rate, you'll be so glad you did, OP! I promise.

  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    tcobleigh wrote: »
    Yes, these are my own recipes where I entered in everything myself.

    Yeah but without a food scale, how do you know how much of each ingredient went into your recipes?

    I use guesstimates sometimes too, especially if I'm eating food prepared by someone else or at a restaurant. That's fine, as long as it's not the majority of what you eat. The point isn't to obsess. But using a food scale is really educational; over time, it will make you better at visually estimating portion size, too.

    Like someone said above, it can make a huge difference with calorie-dense foods like peanut butter. I also had a WTF moment when I realized how many calories were in my typical smear.
  • tinascar2015
    tinascar2015 Posts: 413 Member
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    I had a peek at about 2 weeks of your diary. I have some suggestions. It isn't just about the food scale. It's about what would be getting weighed.

    Add some fresh fruits and vegetables. You are sorely lacking in those.

    One one occasion you have nearly 800 in calories in snacks for the day, which included avocado, tortilla chips, kettle chips, pizza and vodka tonic. We all have days like that, so congratulations for your honesty and for logging all that.

    But I do think on the whole, your diary is pretty carb heavy. You go over on carbs more often than anything else. I think you need more balance, way more natural dietary fibers and sugars. And variety -- you need to make it more interesting. I see very little in the way of meat, poultry or fish, but a lot of pumpkin stew. That can't make meals very interesting, and it's important.

    And though I know people here always say nothing should be off limits, even sweet stuff can be had in moderation, I see it in your diary pretty often. If you haven't lost one pound after ten weeks of logging, try cutting out all the pizza, chocolate, ice cream and chips for a week, have fresh fruit, green salads and more cooked vegetables.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Stop eating back exercise calories.

    No, don't do this! Eating back exercise calories is the way MFP was designed. Just make sure you're estimating your exercise burns more accurately, either by using a heart rate monitor (for steady-state cardio) or by using only 50-75% of what MFP's database says you've burned (this seems to be the sweet spot that works for most smaller women around here, though YMMV).
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Okay, it seems like it's a good time for this

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU