Seemed to have plateau'd/valleyed

tamaeus wrote: »

I don't weight my food, but I use the food to the best of my ability to guess the calories. Like if I have a cheeseburger from Wendy's, I know that that's about 500. What I eat for dinner I add to that.

That's ... not how this works.

Do you only eat fast food? That's the only way I could see this working like you describe.

tamaeus wrote: »

collectingblues wrote: »

tamaeus wrote: »

I don't weight my food, but I use the food to the best of my ability to guess the calories. Like if I have a cheeseburger from Wendy's, I know that that's about 500. What I eat for dinner I add to that.

That's ... not how this works.

Do you only eat fast food? That's the only way I could see this working like you describe.

No, I don't only eat fast food, but most of the time I do, sadly. I grab a quick bite to eat on the way to work, usually it's a chicken sandwich since I know those are healthier for you than cheeseburgers, though I do occasionally buy a single from Wendy's.

I know, I should avoid fast foods when I'm on this diet.

You don't have to avoid fast food. You do need to understand that the nutrition facts estimates that the restaurants give aren't terribly accurate. A sandwich that's supposed to have 550 calories may have quite a bit more if, for example, the person assembling it used more mayo than the sample sandwich had. Even so, look up each individual thing that you eat and use that website calorie estimate rather than guesstimating. Not all sandwiches are about 500 calories. A chicken sandwich may not have a better nutrition profile than a cheeseburger. The information needs to be researched rather than assumed.

You are consuming more calories than you think you are consuming. It's that simple. How do you get a more accurate intake estimate? Follow the suggestions that have been given. Get a food scale and practice using it in situations where you can. Try to limit the situations where you can't, at least until you get a handle on more accurate calorie tracking.

Counting calories isn't exact but you can narrow things down to be close enough. You aren't there right now but you can get there with practice.