Who has lost a lot of weight without using a food scale?
nooshi713
Posts: 4,877 Member
First off, I am a big fan of the food scale. I have always measured my food using measuring cups but learned how much more accurate a food scale is. The reason I ask the original question is my mom. She thinks a food scale is too cumbersome and claims that people have been losing weight for a long time without using a food scale and that it isnt necessary. She has a lot of weight to lose. For those who have lost a good amount of weight without a food scale, how did you do it?
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A food scale is just a tool. Many of us find that more accurate logging makes it easier to hit our calorie goal consistently. But you can reach a deficit without a food scale -- people lost weight before food scales were invented, people even lost weight before they knew what a calorie was!
At the end of the day, all you need to lose weight is a deficit. If someone is able to do that while eyeballing foods or using measuring cups, they'll lose weight.5 -
I have only just started using scales, in the past I've lost 30 pounds and 10+ before I started using them this time. If you are eating processed food it's not a huge issue in my eyes, one slice of bread is likely to be similar to another for example. It does require you to be good at estimates though and if you are off then it's much easier to overeat. Generally I use exercise as well and only eat back part of my calories so that also gives me a buffer.1
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If your mom doesn’t want to use a scale, she doesn’t have to. It’s a little more accurate with a scale but not essential. If she is losing weight just fine, she must be in a deficit but if her weight slows or stops, she could lower intake another 100 calories off her day. My 2 cents.2
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I lost my first 30 something pounds without using a food scale. It's definitely possible. I would still suggest keeping a food log and being very honest about what you're eating if you go this route. It will make it easier to cut back further when your loss starts to slow.2
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My mother in law doesn't use a scale, and lost over 100 and has maintained for a couple years. Her secret was basically to not have much variety in her diet, and stick with what she knows is low cal. That's cool and all, and works fine for those times when I am just to low on energy/motivation/*kitten* to care for a few days. But just doesn't help me personally long term.1
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I didn't start using a food scale until I was down to my last 10 or so pounds and I wasn't losing weight. Even then, it was primarily calorie dense things and meat...I didn't weigh everything and I never weighed things like a slice of bread...I just went off the package.6
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I did but I also exercised multiple times a week and did NOT add those calories back in to my intake to make up for any discrepancies. I also chose the bigger calorie count for foods in the database rather than the smallest.2
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I have. I just used a very rough estimate of portions/servings and tried to maintain a few hundred calorie deficit. That being said the more precise you are with your measurements and calorie counting the greater your likelihood for success. At least I would certainly think so.0
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How successful has your mom been never using a food scale?5
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I lost my first 15 without a scale or logging my diet, just started exercising again. Stalled a little. But since I started logging and using a food scale again, I lost another 7, looking for 7 more.0
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How successful has your mom been never using a food scale?
In the past she lost weight by exercising 2 hours a day and eating "whatever she wanted". Lately she hasn't had any success. She keeps thinking that by just eating less, that she will lose weight. I suspect her *less* is still too much. She is also older now and cant exercise as much as she did in the past. In fact, she rarely exercises so I suggested she focus more on her diet and have been trying to get her to log her food, but she says it is too much work. * sigh*0 -
I lost 75lb without owning a food scale. In the beginning I would measure out things like a .25 cup of granola or a cup of yogurt or quinoa but as I got a feel for what that looked like I stopped doing even that. I did however, leave 200-400 calories on the table every day in order to account for any error in my non measuring/weighing and I seldom ate my exercise calories back, and if I did, it was never more than 50% of them. I consistently loss weight so I personally dont see a need for a food scale. HOWEVER, if I was not seeing any results or I began to stall at any time, I would probably have started to weigh my food to get a handle on it. I logged my "eyeballed" portion and always used the highest calorie count entry in the food journal. You will have some that swear life cant go on without a food scale, others who never used one nor care to use one. It's all a personal preference...
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I did. I started here 6 years ago at 172, and I hit my goal weight or 136lbs 1 1/2 years later (only really trying the last 9 months or so) and never touched a food scale. I have since had a 4th kid and gained it all back and working on losing it again, I have a scale now, and I use it, but I dont measure everything, thats pretty hard when I cook for 6, but I weight a lot of my food.0
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Going from eating whatever she wants to weighing everything she eats while switching over to eating a caloric deficit might be a bit too much for her all at once. Have her implement little changes here and there. Suggest she eat off of smaller plates, eat slower, drink more water, etc. Pushing her towards a food scale immediately is a bit much.4
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MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I did but I also exercised multiple times a week and did NOT add those calories back in to my intake to make up for any discrepancies. I also chose the bigger calorie count for foods in the database rather than the smallest.
I've lost about 70 pounds by doing pretty much this. I try to stay under my daily limit just as a buffer and I don't log my exercise calories on here so I'm not tempted to eat everything back. It's very doable without a food scale and just measuring cups, etc.0 -
A food scale does not make you lose weight. Keeping active on a daily basis and watching my carbs is what helped me lose. I'm not one for food diaries and scales, but I think it's a personal preference. I know that eating a hard boiled egg or a piece of turkey is not going to make me gain weight. Now a piece of cake or a cookie will. I never understood the food scale thing!! Consistent walking and watching carbs got me back into shape, and I lost over 100lbs!8
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minstrelofsarcasm wrote: »Going from eating whatever she wants to weighing everything she eats while switching over to eating a caloric deficit might be a bit too much for her all at once. Have her implement little changes here and there. Suggest she eat off of smaller plates, eat slower, drink more water, etc. Pushing her towards a food scale immediately is a bit much.
Well she has tried that but eating less doesnt help her lose weight because she is still eating too much. Then she gets frustrated with lack of weight loss and just eats everything causing her to gain. She has been in this cycle for a few years now. Thats why I thought she should start logging her food.0 -
donnadeannuntis1 wrote: »A food scale does not make you lose weight. Keeping active on a daily basis and watching my carbs is what helped me lose. I'm not one for food diaries and scales, but I think it's a personal preference. I know that eating a hard boiled egg or a piece of turkey is not going to make me gain weight. Now a piece of cake or a cookie will. I never understood the food scale thing!! Consistent walking and watching carbs got me back into shape, and I lost over 100lbs!
It sounds like you found two tools that were useful for you in creating a calorie deficit (raising your activity level and limiting carbohydrates). People who are weighing food so they can more accurately log are just using another type of tool for the same end result (a calorie deficit).
No tool will inherently result in weight loss, they're all just things to assist with creating a deficit. Just as a food scale, in and of itself, won't make one lose weight, neither will more walking or limiting carbohydrates.6 -
minstrelofsarcasm wrote: »Going from eating whatever she wants to weighing everything she eats while switching over to eating a caloric deficit might be a bit too much for her all at once. Have her implement little changes here and there. Suggest she eat off of smaller plates, eat slower, drink more water, etc. Pushing her towards a food scale immediately is a bit much.
Well she has tried that but eating less doesnt help her lose weight because she is still eating too much. Then she gets frustrated with lack of weight loss and just eats everything causing her to gain. She has been in this cycle for a few years now. Thays why I thought she should start logging her food.
I mean, she probably *should*, but moms are going to do what they want. We can't control their behavior.
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janejellyroll wrote: »minstrelofsarcasm wrote: »Going from eating whatever she wants to weighing everything she eats while switching over to eating a caloric deficit might be a bit too much for her all at once. Have her implement little changes here and there. Suggest she eat off of smaller plates, eat slower, drink more water, etc. Pushing her towards a food scale immediately is a bit much.
Well she has tried that but eating less doesnt help her lose weight because she is still eating too much. Then she gets frustrated with lack of weight loss and just eats everything causing her to gain. She has been in this cycle for a few years now. Thays why I thought she should start logging her food.
I mean, she probably *should*, but moms are going to do what they want. We can't control their behavior.
Exactly. Lol.0 -
No doubt that the food scale is a valuable tool, but by no means is it imperative to losing weight. If she's averse to using a food scale but you can get her to log her calories at all, that may be demonstrative enough of a push in the right direction to help her see the light and start losing. I didn't get my food scale until well after I'd lost weight I needed to lose, got into weightlifting and wanted better accuracy in my logging to properly shape my physique. Now I'm pretty convinced the food scale will be evidence in the inevitable murder trial when my wife finally gets tired of me insisting I weigh everything and snaps.
When I first started with MFP in late 2011 or early 2012 I started logging what I was eating normally at the time and it was really eye-opening just how many calories were in certain staples (or that it's ok to have two oreos, but having eight at a time is how you ended up 30lbs overweight). From there it was readily apparent what/how much I needed to be eating and I've been hooked ever since.4 -
just round up the calories to the next multiple of 50 up. That's what I've been doing and i think it accounts well for any variance. Also much cleaner numbers.4
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How successful has your mom been never using a food scale?
In the past she lost weight by exercising 2 hours a day and eating "whatever she wanted". Lately she hasn't had any success. She keeps thinking that by just eating less, that she will lose weight. I suspect her *less* is still too much. She is also older now and cant exercise as much as she did in the past. In fact, she rarely exercises so I suggested she focus more on her diet and have been trying to get her to log her food, but she says it is too much work. * sigh*
She is not ready so drop it and you do your thing.
Someone who truly wants success does everything possible for that success.
You can't do it for her!5 -
Yes I have. Several years ago I lost 20 lbs using mfp and NO food scale. In my mind weight management should be a lifelong change and bringing out a food scale to weigh every food you eat for the rest of your life is unrealistic. At least for me, I know I wouldn’t want to do that.7
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Yes I have. Several years ago I lost 20 lbs using mfp and NO food scale. In my mind weight management should be a lifelong change and bringing out a food scale to weigh every food you eat for the rest of your life is unrealistic. At least for me, I know I wouldn’t want to do that.
The reason being for food scale is to train the eye of what a serving actually is. Starting out judgement is very poor hence inability for many to lose weight appropriately.6 -
How successful has your mom been never using a food scale?
In the past she lost weight by exercising 2 hours a day and eating "whatever she wanted". Lately she hasn't had any success. She keeps thinking that by just eating less, that she will lose weight. I suspect her *less* is still too much. She is also older now and cant exercise as much as she did in the past. In fact, she rarely exercises so I suggested she focus more on her diet and have been trying to get her to log her food, but she says it is too much work. * sigh*
She is not ready so drop it and you do your thing.
Someone who truly wants success does everything possible for that success.
You can't do it for her!
You're right. Lately, she has been talking a lot about wanting to lose weight but I dont think she is ready to put in the effort.0 -
Spadesheart wrote: »just round up the calories to the next multiple of 50 up. That's what I've been doing and i think it accounts well for any variance. Also much cleaner numbers.
Great idea0 -
I lost 10 of the 20lbs I needed to lose without a scale, but after that it was necessary or I probably still wouldn't have got to goal.0
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I have a food scale, but I don't use it very often - usually only for meats that aren't pre-portioned (which honestly, I don't eat that much of anyways). I just use measuring cups/spoons when needed or buy stuff that is already single serving size, easy to divide, or something that I can eat the whole package of and it still fits within my goals. In the last year (April 14th is my one year anniversary), I'm down about 125 pounds.
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I lost 14 kgs without a food scale or ever paying attention to calories. I just ate intuitively and skipped the obviously calorie dense stuff. Then I was struggling with the last few kgs for like 1 year, I couldn't lose weight anymore with this method. Last year for Christmas I got my FitBit, with the app I tracked my calorie intake as well, set a deficit and finally the scale moved again. In March I started to use MFP as well, still didn't use the food scale, but I had success with weightloss just with estimating. Now I'm at an almost ideal weight, I bought my food scale 5 days ago and use it since then. I've just realized that before I was really overestimating how much I really eat and I actually struggle to eat the proper amount now, because I was so used to undereating... So you shouldn't use a food scale to lose weight, however it makes things much easier.2
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