Has anyone posted on here "cant lose weight" then bought food scale and lost?

Noreenmarie1234
Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
edited November 21 in Health and Weight Loss
I see so many forum posts on here where people say things like..

"I am eating 1200-1500 exercising, and nothing" or "I measure using measuring cups, log everything and eat 1200 and have maintained for 6 months, why am I not losing?"... etc

Then the comments are always telling the person that they aren't logging accurately and they are simply eating too many calories. And the advice is to get a scale.

I would like to hear from the people who got this advice and then did it, if they actually saw they were eating more calories than they thought. I am interested to see if this advice actually worked for anyone. I just see so many people saying they are eating so little and not losing, but they never update if they figured out the problem.

So were any of you posters like this and then you found out you were eating too many calories?

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Replies

  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
    If you scroll down a bit-there have actually been 2 or 3 threads just this week where posters came back and thanked everyone for telling them to get a food scale-they are now losing. I lose way more consistently once I bought one.

    Also... Most of the people who regularly advise this-did it themselves. Many frequent posters on here have done it all before-the good and the bad. That is why they are so adamant on doing things the right way.
  • kk_inprogress
    kk_inprogress Posts: 3,077 Member
    Yes. As I got closer to my goal, I needed to start weighing things and tighten up my logging to see continued progress.
  • amudd645
    amudd645 Posts: 27 Member
    I just got my food scale so I can't say that it's been the cause of my weight loss. What I can say is that I'm already noticing a large difference in accuracy between my eyeing it and trying to measure it out to actually putting it to the scale for its true weight. I noticed that I was missing several hundred calories through out the day with just eyeballing. And we all know that adds up.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    Someone just posted a thread about this a few days ago. It was a forum lurker who had read the "if you aren't losing, buy a food scale" post over and over again. Bought one, started using it, weight started coming off again.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    Boom!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10211593/using-a-food-scale

  • Krystle1984
    Krystle1984 Posts: 146 Member
    I wouldn't consistently lose weight without my food scale. Been using it for almost 4 years now, during the year I stopped using it and stopped logging I regained a lot of weight... People harp on about it for good reason! :)
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    This one was posted a couple of days ago: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10210926/i-hate-it-when-youre-right
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    slaite1 wrote: »
    If you scroll down a bit-there have actually been 2 or 3 threads just this week where posters came back and thanked everyone for telling them to get a food scale-they are now losing. I lose way more consistently once I bought one.

    Also... Most of the people who regularly advise this-did it themselves. Many frequent posters on here have done it all before-the good and the bad. That is why they are so adamant on doing things the right way.

    What was it the Hair Club for Men guy used to say in those commercials? "Remember, I'm not just the President of the Hair Club for Men. I'm also a member!"

    Yeah, I got a food scale way late in my journey. I wish I'd used one sooner. For me, it's way easier than measuring cups/spoons ever were and I've hit my weight goals so much more consistently since getting one.

  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
    diannethegeek wrote: »
    slaite1 wrote: »
    If you scroll down a bit-there have actually been 2 or 3 threads just this week where posters came back and thanked everyone for telling them to get a food scale-they are now losing. I lose way more consistently once I bought one.

    Also... Most of the people who regularly advise this-did it themselves. Many frequent posters on here have done it all before-the good and the bad. That is why they are so adamant on doing things the right way.

    What was it the Hair Club for Men guy used to say in those commercials? "Remember, I'm not just the President of the Hair Club for Men. I'm also a member!"

    Yeah, I got a food scale way late in my journey. I wish I'd used one sooner. For me, it's way easier than measuring cups/spoons ever were and I've hit my weight goals so much more consistently since getting one.

    Oh god!! This made me laugh.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    There have been many threads recently praising the food scale.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    Buying a food scale turned weight loss from a frustrating guessing game into a simple and fairly predictable equation for me. It was amazing to just input everything correctly and then actually lose the weight almost exactly as I should have.

    It now makes maintaining my weight easy too. I don't weigh every little thing anymore but I still do with high-calorie stuff and it is such a big help not to overdo it with ice cream, cheese, meat, oils and butters, salad dressings, etc.
  • MamaBirdBoss
    MamaBirdBoss Posts: 1,516 Member
    Well...I wasn't against weighing, and I knew why I'd stalled. I lost 15lbs. Stopped. Knew I was eating too much and exercising too little. Wanted to be more accurate. Joined MFP, started logging. Lost 12lbs in less than 2 months.

    Going to switch to "servings" rather calorie logging when I'm closer to goal weight because that works fine for me for a ~.5-1lb a week loss as long as I'm exercising. Tracking servings (that I weigh) without a calorie log is what I usually do when I'm looking to lose slowly, and it always works down to maintenance.
  • Angelfire365
    Angelfire365 Posts: 803 Member
    Lol. I'm a former lurker who kept reading the 'buy a scale' posts over and over again. I didn't ask why I wasn't losing weight, in fact it wasn't really a question on my mind. I was just looking for a way to make this easier, and voila! That food scale in the back corner of my cupboard got dusted off, and I haven't looked back!
  • SomeGirlSomewhere
    SomeGirlSomewhere Posts: 937 Member
    edited July 2015
    Switching from using measuring cups/spoons to using a food scale didn't speed up or slow down my weight loss at all BUT before I started using the scale I already knew that people had a tendency to use heaping cups and spoons full so I was very careful to slightly underfill when I was measuring. That being said, I DO think that using a scale versus measuring is beneficial for most people. Also, FWIW, I actually think that weighing food is easier and faster than measuring and I like not constantly having to wash measuring tools since I weigh my food on the same plate I eat from and I would have dirtied that whether I weighed the food or not.

    ****ETA: The one non-liquid that I do still measure is dried herbs and spices since a) there is NO information on the labels stating how many grams are in a teaspoon of them and b) herbs and spices don't have that many calories in the first place, so it's probably not THAT big of a deal not to weigh them.****
  • shrinkingletters
    shrinkingletters Posts: 1,008 Member
    I didn't make a post about it, but when I saw the responses to people in a similar situation, I bought a pretty rudimentary scale, and I'm now down almost 14 lbs. So. Yeah. It's solid advice.
  • AuroraGeorge8393
    AuroraGeorge8393 Posts: 100 Member
    I didn't actually post about my initial difficulty losing weight. I was a lurker for a long time. But when I discovered I wasn't losing as much as I should have been, given my calorie deficit, I took the advice found lurking in the "On no, I've plateaued" threads, and bought a cheap scale. Lo and behold, it turns out that I was consuming anywhere from 200 to 600 additional calories each day over my previous estimates. Weight loss mystery solved. ;) I have been losing an additional 1/4 to 1/2 pound a week since I began weighing my food.
  • haydiz70
    haydiz70 Posts: 56 Member
    Ha! Yeah, I read a lot of those posts. Kinda annoyed me. Food scale. Food scale. Food scale! I finally got one but I'm still learning how to use it, and then learn which unit of measurement is best depending upon the food item. It's still a bit tedious for me but so was logging at first. We'll see!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    That would be me a few years ago...

    it's been a few years, but I remember a couple things were really throwing off my diary...one, I snack on almonds most every day...someone told me that a 1 oz serving of almonds was a good handful...so I was logging 1 ounce of almonds for my handful...turns out my handful is closer to 2 oz, so I was logging 160 calories and eating 320.

    another thing was chicken...my package of chicken said 4 oz was a serving...so I figured a chicken breast must be around about 4 ounces...so I was eating a whole chicken breast and logging 120 calories for my 4 oz serving. WRONG...most chicken breasts are closer to 8 ounces raw weight...so again, I was logging 120 calories but eating 240.

    there were numerous other issues just like this that effectively erased the calorie deficit I thought I had. I would also add that I never really measured my cooking oils in the beginning and just kind of eyeballed it...turns out I was using a lot more oil than I though I was when sauteing and roasting and the like.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1186508-weighing-food-vs-measuring-wow?hl=Wow&page=4#posts-18526270

    Here is an older one...

    and me...1 month in and I was only losing 1/2 a week and trying to figure out my TDEE...advice was you are eating more than you think...get a scale...I did that day and low and behold starting losing 1lb a week.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,647 Member
    Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »
    I see so many forum posts on here where people say things like..

    "I am eating 1200-1500 exercising, and nothing" or "I measure using measuring cups, log everything and eat 1200 and have maintained for 6 months, why am I not losing?"... etc

    Then the comments are always telling the person that they aren't logging accurately and they are simply eating too many calories. And the advice is to get a scale.

    I would like to hear from the people who got this advice and then did it, if they actually saw they were eating more calories than they thought. I am interested to see if this advice actually worked for anyone. I just see so many people saying they are eating so little and not losing, but they never update if they figured out the problem.

    So were any of you posters like this and then you found out you were eating too many calories?

    Yes. As a matter of fact, it seems to be the theme of the week.
  • cavia
    cavia Posts: 457 Member
    I was a lurker on a different site 2.5years ago and thought the food scale people were a bunch of crazies. I dug out my food scale to try and prove them wrong. That week I saw the scale move down instead of up for the first time in years. That was 48lbs ago and I've moved into maintenance a few months back. I still use my scale and will likely use it forever.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,694 Member
    I started using one and several things were very revealing. Several areas where I was packing away 4 or 5 times the calories I thought I was.

    And yes, I've lost weight since I started using it.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    cavia wrote: »
    I was a lurker on a different site 2.5years ago and thought the food scale people were a bunch of crazies. I dug out my food scale to try and prove them wrong. That week I saw the scale move down instead of up for the first time in years. That was 48lbs ago and I've moved into maintenance a few months back. I still use my scale and will likely use it forever.

    Great story!
  • Susueliza
    Susueliza Posts: 4 Member
    Losing weight for years seemed like this horrible cruel challenge where you had to eat like a bunny to lose at all. Then started myfitnesspal and though I never posted saying I couldnt lose weight, I read a bunch of posts about scales and started using one right away. For the first time in my life I feel like I have control over this. Losing weight isnt some dark magic or complicated science. And when I have the motivation to log and weigh it is simple and straight forward. Not easy, but simple.

    I just wish that logging meals I cook myself was quicker. Using tare etc all fine, but looking up all the ingredients one by one either means Ive burnt the onions or its gone cold :( and I dont usually use recipies so the recipe function isnt that useful to me. Any tips? :)

    And thats not even to mention the times Ive created my own recipe/meal on the app on my ipad only to click the wrong button at the end and it all to vanish! That led to a bad loss of control with the chocolate those days!
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    I_Will_End_You wrote: »
    Someone just posted a thread about this a few days ago. It was a forum lurker who had read the "if you aren't losing, buy a food scale" post over and over again. Bought one, started using it, weight started coming off again.

    Thanks for referring me to people who've done this!
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    strong_curves wrote: »
    Boom!

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10211593/using-a-food-scale
    Thank you :)

  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    diannethegeek wrote: »
    This one was posted a couple of days ago: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10210926/i-hate-it-when-youre-right

    THANK YOU!
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    Thank you so much everyone for replying, all your stories and links were exactly what I was looking for.

  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
    Susueliza wrote: »
    I just wish that logging meals I cook myself was quicker. Using tare etc all fine, but looking up all the ingredients one by one either means Ive burnt the onions or its gone cold :( and I dont usually use recipies so the recipe function isnt that useful to me. Any tips? :)

    And thats not even to mention the times Ive created my own recipe/meal on the app on my ipad only to click the wrong button at the end and it all to vanish! That led to a bad loss of control with the chocolate those days!

    I keep a notebook and pen in the kitchen for this purpose - I write down the measurements as I go, and then enter it all later, usually after I've finished eating nom. Then you also have a hard-copy if your iPad freaks out. :)
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    That would be me a few years ago...

    it's been a few years, but I remember a couple things were really throwing off my diary...one, I snack on almonds most every day...someone told me that a 1 oz serving of almonds was a good handful...so I was logging 1 ounce of almonds for my handful...turns out my handful is closer to 2 oz, so I was logging 160 calories and eating 320.

    another thing was chicken...my package of chicken said 4 oz was a serving...so I figured a chicken breast must be around about 4 ounces...so I was eating a whole chicken breast and logging 120 calories for my 4 oz serving. WRONG...most chicken breasts are closer to 8 ounces raw weight...so again, I was logging 120 calories but eating 240.

    there were numerous other issues just like this that effectively erased the calorie deficit I thought I had. I would also add that I never really measured my cooking oils in the beginning and just kind of eyeballed it...turns out I was using a lot more oil than I though I was when sauteing and roasting and the like.

    Wow thanks for the examples. Now I see how people can easily do this.
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