A food scale is your best friend right now. I weigh everything, even packaged foods. Get yourself a decent digital scale and weigh/record your menu for the day. You may be eating more than you think if you've been estimating thus far. For example, my egg carton says my large egg is 70 calories, but if I weigh it, it's more like 85 calories. Those little discrepancies can add up over the course of a day/week/month.

I think your calorie range is fine right now.

Food scales are the best because it's the most accurate way of getting things down to the decimal. I think that's especially important when you're dealing with such low calorie diets and you need to ensure you get your nutrition in. For instance, the amount of food that fits into 1 cup varies depending on how its cut, how much it's cooked, how it's placed, etc. But 100g will always be 100g. They're pretty cheap. I got mine for $11 at Wal-Mart and there are a ton more options. Get a digital one that you can 'zero'. I put my plate down, zero, and add each ingredient. Or I put the tub of cottage cheese on there, zero it, then spoon out what I want and the remaining number is what I've taken.

Oh, and that's perfectly normal to plateau. Everyone does. Weight loss is hardly linear. If it were, everyone would think it were easy. The calories where you're eating right now are fine, especially since your doctor said as much. Make sure you're being accurate, make sure you're keeping on top of what you should be, and your weight loss with resume again soon.

I am so glad you asked about this, and now I can go get a scale too. I didn't know how to do it either

I *highly* suggest you start weighing your food in grams. It's just easier than dealing with ounces and cups and it won't take you more than a couple of weeks to get used to portion sizes in grams instead of in ounces!

I am 4 years out from gastric sleeve and still weigh most foods when at home. It just helps me stay within a "normal" portion easier.

martabeerich wrote: »

I started using a scale in my weight watchers days. It is invaluable. I use it when creating my own recipes for this app. I put the bowl/plate/mug on the scale, zero it, and add, zero again, etc. I wrote out a cheat sheet for conversion (you can find them in a lot of comprehensive cookbooks). My only complaint is this app often doesn't list grams, so I note both ounces AND grams so I can log it easier. Can't imagine not using one.

How many grams in an ounce? Is that a silly question?

If you have any of those cook books like The Joy of Cooking or an old Betty Crocker cookbook, they usually have conversion charts with cups/ounces/grams. Otherwise, Google. I prefer to measure in grams. It's more exact.

I weighed a ton in the beginning, and still weigh occasionally to make sure my portion estimates are pretty close. I use a Kamenstein digital scale that I like because it lets you put a plate on and re-zero out your weight and weighs to a tenth of an ounce, making it pretty accurate for those of us who prefer not to convert to grams.

Also remember that weight loss isn't linear- it looks more like a staircase. I've lost 70 of the 90lbs I needed to lose to get to goal in 6 months, and I've had a couple of 2-4 week stalls during that time.

martabeerich wrote: »

Since I'm food ovsessive, I need to weigh everything for personal accountability. Otherwise, I know all those BLTs add up. (Bites, licks and tastes) I envy those who can eyeball it.

+1

I have a digital food scale that can measure both grams or ounces, depending on which you choose. It was not expensive. I am 3 years post RNY and I still weigh/measure everything. I was also told to weigh meat after cooking, not before. My scale is used several times a day!