Doing enough?
Replies
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OP, even if you only use a food scale for a couple of weeks, it will shine a light on where you are missing calories and then you can improve from there.
Currently you're spinning your wheels, so what's the harm in committing to a one month experiment? Get a food scale and use it to log accurately and consistently for 4 weeks. Log everything everyday, meals, snacks, beverages, condiments. After that 4 weeks you will have compiled a wealth of data that will help you figure out how to proceed.
When I started using a food scale, I found that I wasn't eating 1400 cals, I was eating 1700 cals. Game changer. Good luck!5 -
Do yourself a favor and just get a food scale. Try it for a few weeks, then if ypu think we are wrong come back and say so.
Its simple, if you are not losing it's because your eating more than you burn. It doesn't matter how much exercise you do.1 -
No you're not doing enough. You're eating too much. Eat less and weigh your food.2
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Weighing food is an estimate for me,I admit! But it is an educated estimate. If I buy a pack of chicken breasts I look at the total weight on the package and I divide that by number of breast and then add a couple ounces to what I eat just to make sure I cover my tracks. I also look at every package for information.
I am going to be logging daily again, I lost about 35Lbs about 18 months ago as I was once 250, I am now 215 but have staggered and slowed. I want to get below 200 to about 190 - 195.
I am also happy to see people my age or older helping me out! I appreciate it!
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Weighing food is an estimate for me,I admit! But it is an educated estimate. If I buy a pack of chicken breasts I look at the total weight on the package and I divide that by number of breast and then add a couple ounces to what I eat just to make sure I cover my tracks. I also look at every package for information.
I am going to be logging daily again, I lost about 35Lbs about 18 months ago as I was once 250, I am now 215 but have staggered and slowed. I want to get below 200 to about 190 - 195.
I am also happy to see people my age or older helping me out! I appreciate it!
why are you so insistent on guessing/estimating and not just weighing though?
if you are so sure that you are right and that you are overestimating everything, you will be pleasantly surprised when you weigh your food and realize you could be eating more.4 -
I lost my weight (70 pounds) at age 54.
Here's the problem with not being accurate. 1.) You will eat too much or too little. Neither is good. What's with all the hundreds of calories left uneaten in your logged foods? 2.) Nutrition. How do you know you are getting enough protein, fats? 3.) Free-form just doesn't work for weight loss for a lot of people (and you're saying you're one of them for whom guesstimating isn't working.)
The first 50 pounds I lost I didn't keep very good records. I didn't have a food scale and I was eyeballing or using measuring cups. That last 15 was difficult. Bodies want to hold onto a bit of protective fat...so you have to really work at that last 15 pounds - and the only way I lost it was with consistent logging. And it took a long time - like nine months.4 -
The answers are here. Weigh your food. Every single thing you put in your mouth. I guarantee you will be surprised. Next log everything you eat using MFP. At the end of the day, you'll have a good idea of your calories eaten. Round up to the nearest 100 to be conservative in your estimate. Calculate your average caloric intake for the week.
Weigh yourself every day at the same time (right when you wake up is best). Calculate your average weight at the end of the week. That's your weight. Do this for a month. If the scale doesn't move, cut your caloric intake (500 calories less per day translates to 1 pound weight loss per week).
This sounds like a pain, but you'll get used to it quickly. Once the pounds start coming off (assuming you're really doing these things correctly), you'll wonder what took you so long.3 -
You already answered your own question. At your height weight and age (6'3", 215lbs, early 50's) your Basal Metabolic Rate is around 2000 per day - therefore if you laid in bed all day and did absolutely nothing you would burn about 2000 calories per day. However, you said you are exercising 6 days per week and eating about 2000 calories per day, but you are not loosing weight. That is NOT possible, just do the math, you are not eating only 2000 calories per day OR you are not exercising OR you are not 6'3" and 215 lbs, I don't see any reason you would lie about any of those, so the most likely explanation is you are eating more than you think. Granted you may be gaining muscle but it would not make the scale stay stable like that if all you say is accurate.3
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Nobody logs 100% accurately. It's just not possible. Everyone has some source of inaccuracy that they could tighten up if they needed to. The people who are pointing out some of your sources of inaccuracy aren't doing so because they're perfect and you're not; they're doing so because you asked for help and they can see where you are being inaccurate.
It's been my experience that the people who are willing to hear about their own blind spots -- and then make changes in order to improve their results -- tend to be more successful in the long run.8 -
Losing weight is a simple calories in vs calories burned calculation.
If you’re not losing weight at 2000 cals, drop to 1900. An even less scientific version is if you normally have 4 potatoes, change it to 3.
Going on what’s been said so far you also need to be more consistent in your logging, it’s a new habit you need to make.
True story. This one fact alone helped me drop 40 lbs.2 -
I’ve just been at this for about three weeks! I walk three times a day right away in the morning , 30 minutes after lunch, and then 30 minutes before dinner! I’m also doing resistance training every day with a different muscle group sometimes I feel I’m doing too much too quick1
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