Insightful conversation about my diary?
Replies
-
duskyjewel wrote: »Oh my, someone violated the orthodoxy! Commence flutter!
I lost over 50 lbs in six months measuring with cups and teaspoons, which because I cook, I already had. I'm not carrying a freaking scale around with me at all times.
So it is ok to carry measuring cups and spoons around but not ok to carry a scale?
I have: taken a scale to McDonald's to measure vanilla cones and milk used in my coffee. To the all you can eat fish and chip place to measure 400g of chips and 450g of fish and batter 200g of mushy peas and 100g of ketchup! To the all you can eat sushi place... I've also gone on 2 week vacations without a scale and come back 3lbs more, the same, and 2 lbs less all at different times.
The scale is a tool that is both easier to use and more accurate than measuring spoons and cups.
It is not necessary; but it is helpful to troubleshoot unexpected outcomes.
How you view things and what they imply and mean to you and the level of concern they generate are all in your own mind and ultimately controllable by you!
Btw: unless you are still well over 200 lbs, you are over-restricting
As to the OP, a sustained rate of 1lb a week is good enough to get you there!!!14 -
A food scale hasn't been necessary for me to lose weight, but it obviously helps other people. I once ordered a scale and it's still in the box.
The biggest tool that helps me is not a measuring cup, spoon, or a scale. It's meal planning and prep.
I didn't get fat because I didn't measure an extra tablespoon of salad dressing or ketchup. I got fat because at work I would grab a bag of potato chips (750 calories, according to the label) and a candy bar (250 calories, same info) = a whopping 1000 calories of food with little nutrition.
Meal prep means I take a banana and some measured almonds for a snack for a fraction of the calories and better nutrition. I may not know exactly how many calories are in my banana, but it's definitely not 1000.4 -
duskyjewel wrote: »Why are my posts so aggressive? They're not, I just don't use soft flowery language. Also:Ok! I took a quick look and I'm seeing a lot of cups and teaspoons when it comes to sauces and stuff. That will never be accurate
Statements like that need to be challenged.
It definitely can be accurate if you're careful. I don't like doctrinaire opinions being touted as fact.
Rock on keyboard warrior! (Where did that eyeroll emoji go??)
How on earth does this whole part of this thread help me? I use a scale at home and it can convert to cups and tablespoons. I got so good at the math when I was doing this before, that I could easily convert grams and ounces just as quick. Watching you guys fight over this tiny part of this conversation has been unhelpful.
9 -
A food scale hasn't been necessary for me to lose weight, but it obviously helps other people. I once ordered a scale and it's still in the box.
The biggest tool that helps me is not a measuring cup, spoon, or a scale. It's meal planning and prep.
I didn't get fat because I didn't measure an extra tablespoon of salad dressing or ketchup. I got fat because at work I would grab a bag of potato chips (750 calories, according to the label) and a candy bar (250 calories, same info) = a whopping 1000 calories of food with little nutrition.
Meal prep means I take a banana and some measured almonds for a snack for a fraction of the calories and better nutrition. I may not know exactly how many calories are in my banana, but it's definitely not 1000.
Thank you! My work makes it very easy to eat healthy ( both my bosses are plant based vegans). I care less about measuring healthy wholesome foods (fruits and veggies) and more about cheese and carb snacks and nuts... I just want this to be sustainable and feel natural instead of starting to obsess about scales again.4 -
Different strokes for different folks.1
-
sroberts1522 wrote: »A food scale hasn't been necessary for me to lose weight, but it obviously helps other people. I once ordered a scale and it's still in the box.
The biggest tool that helps me is not a measuring cup, spoon, or a scale. It's meal planning and prep.
I didn't get fat because I didn't measure an extra tablespoon of salad dressing or ketchup. I got fat because at work I would grab a bag of potato chips (750 calories, according to the label) and a candy bar (250 calories, same info) = a whopping 1000 calories of food with little nutrition.
Meal prep means I take a banana and some measured almonds for a snack for a fraction of the calories and better nutrition. I may not know exactly how many calories are in my banana, but it's definitely not 1000.
Thank you! My work makes it very easy to eat healthy ( both my bosses are plant based vegans). I care less about measuring healthy wholesome foods (fruits and veggies) and more about cheese and carb snacks and nuts... I just want this to be sustainable and feel natural instead of starting to obsess about scales again.
I feel much the same -- I don't worry about wholesome foods (but do log everything).
I'm not going to eat five apples, but I might eat two unplanned candies etc. with extra hundreds/thousands of calories if I don't pack my own snacks.
Lucky you to work with bosses like that. It sounds like you're on the right track. Good luck!1 -
sroberts1522 wrote: »A food scale hasn't been necessary for me to lose weight, but it obviously helps other people. I once ordered a scale and it's still in the box.
The biggest tool that helps me is not a measuring cup, spoon, or a scale. It's meal planning and prep.
I didn't get fat because I didn't measure an extra tablespoon of salad dressing or ketchup. I got fat because at work I would grab a bag of potato chips (750 calories, according to the label) and a candy bar (250 calories, same info) = a whopping 1000 calories of food with little nutrition.
Meal prep means I take a banana and some measured almonds for a snack for a fraction of the calories and better nutrition. I may not know exactly how many calories are in my banana, but it's definitely not 1000.
Thank you! My work makes it very easy to eat healthy ( both my bosses are plant based vegans). I care less about measuring healthy wholesome foods (fruits and veggies) and more about cheese and carb snacks and nuts... I just want this to be sustainable and feel natural instead of starting to obsess about scales again.
I'm not saying this is wrong, but would just be careful about this mindset. There are healthy wholesome foods that are calorie dense, and just because something is easy to over eat doesn't mean it isn't healthy.
There are people here who have great success only worrying about portion sizes of specific foods! There are just as many people who come here asking why they can't lose weight when they changed to a clean, plant based, wholesome diet and are shocked to see how many calories they are eating when they weigh it all out. Heck I know someone who gained weight doing Whole 30!
It sounds like you know what you're doing so this might be totally unnecessary, but if you find that your results aren't coming, the best way to troubleshoot is to commit to weighing and logging every damn thing for a couple of weeks to get a really solid foundation of data to point you in the right direction. Just something to keep in mind
8 -
sroberts1522 wrote: »duskyjewel wrote: »Why are my posts so aggressive? They're not, I just don't use soft flowery language. Also:Ok! I took a quick look and I'm seeing a lot of cups and teaspoons when it comes to sauces and stuff. That will never be accurate
Statements like that need to be challenged.
It definitely can be accurate if you're careful. I don't like doctrinaire opinions being touted as fact.
Rock on keyboard warrior! (Where did that eyeroll emoji go??)
How on earth does this whole part of this thread help me? I use a scale at home and it can convert to cups and tablespoons. I got so good at the math when I was doing this before, that I could easily convert grams and ounces just as quick. Watching you guys fight over this tiny part of this conversation has been unhelpful.
Two things. One, knowing what the equivalencies are doesn't mean your cup isn't healthily rounded or packed. Two, yes you started the thread but people are interacting with more than just you. Parse what you need and ignore, I feel like this forums are excessively moderated and the kind of spats we get are pretty minor or get cleaned up fast so it could be so much worse.6 -
So looking at the diary, I agree with the poster who said logging could be tighened up. There are entries such as "mongolian beef" that don't specify brands, and others, like the smoked salmon, that look a lot lower than the smoked salmon I am familiar with. Also, stuff like a tsp of mayo you need to be really careful with, as it's common for people to use heaping tsps and get quite a bit more. Your zucchini entry looks like an untrustworthy entry in that it's a brand and the word is misspelled -- I think it's best to use the USDA entries for whole foods, although granted with something like zucchini it's unlikely to make a big difference if it's a little off. If you used any butter or oil to cook the zucchini, make sure that gets logged too.
I get not wanting to weigh. I didn't weigh initially and lost fine, although I did decide to try weighing and found it to be more enjoyable than trying to estimate, but you do need to be really careful about the database entries chosen and check against your package information (it does seem like most of what you are eating is from packages, which will make that easy). Otherwise, if you pick a method and are consistent, you can decide in a couple of weeks or a month if you are happy with your rate of loss.
How active are you? Did MFP give you the calorie goal?3 -
sroberts1522 wrote: »duskyjewel wrote: »Why are my posts so aggressive? They're not, I just don't use soft flowery language. Also:Ok! I took a quick look and I'm seeing a lot of cups and teaspoons when it comes to sauces and stuff. That will never be accurate
Statements like that need to be challenged.
It definitely can be accurate if you're careful. I don't like doctrinaire opinions being touted as fact.
Rock on keyboard warrior! (Where did that eyeroll emoji go??)
How on earth does this whole part of this thread help me? I use a scale at home and it can convert to cups and tablespoons. I got so good at the math when I was doing this before, that I could easily convert grams and ounces just as quick. Watching you guys fight over this tiny part of this conversation has been unhelpful.
Would you mind sharing the name of that scale? I'd love to look into that. Thanks. ☺0 -
So looking at the diary, I agree with the poster who said logging could be tighened up. There are entries such as "mongolian beef" that don't specify brands, and others, like the smoked salmon, that look a lot lower than the smoked salmon I am familiar with. Also, stuff like a tsp of mayo you need to be really careful with, as it's common for people to use heaping tsps and get quite a bit more. Your zucchini entry looks like an untrustworthy entry in that it's a brand and the word is misspelled -- I think it's best to use the USDA entries for whole foods, although granted with something like zucchini it's unlikely to make a big difference if it's a little off. If you used any butter or oil to cook the zucchini, make sure that gets logged too.
I get not wanting to weigh. I didn't weigh initially and lost fine, although I did decide to try weighing and found it to be more enjoyable than trying to estimate, but you do need to be really careful about the database entries chosen and check against your package information (it does seem like most of what you are eating is from packages, which will make that easy). Otherwise, if you pick a method and are consistent, you can decide in a couple of weeks or a month if you are happy with your rate of loss.
I know the Mongolian beef is a personal recipe. It’s broccoli, petite sirloin steak, soy sauce, onions and red pepper. Mayo is gross and the flat out wraps are dry so I used my scale and used LESS then a serving that time but still marked it a tsp. The smoked salmon is something I can get at work and it’s served cold, I requested the ounce size from the cook who is amazing and provides me info on what he makes.
My work provides discounts for healthy foods purchased in our restaurant. Salad and broth based soups are staples. Lean proteins, bananas and whole grains in our break room. For the zucchini, I bake it, I use Pam or non stick spray and salt and pepper... it’s easy and delicious.0 -
@sroberts1522 What lemurcat is talking about is that there are lots of incorrect entries in the database. Measuring portions is one thing, and choosing database entries is another. She was just suggesting you double check the generic entries you use for the stuff you are getting at work, because the calories look off.
People will set up entries in the database with all kinds of bizarre calorie amounts, who knows why. No matter how healthy something is, if you choose a database entry that incorrectly says there is 100 calories in a serving, but there's really 150 in a serving, and that happens with enough foods you eat, you will be off by several hundred calories and will not lose weight.
There are literally hundreds of database entries for something as simple as chicken and many of them are flat out wrong. Double checking that the entries you are using have correct calories listed will go a long way, especially when you are eating food that you didn't prepare, so you don't have the brand name or label to confirm.6 -
sroberts1522 wrote: »I know the Mongolian beef is a personal recipe. It’s broccoli, petite sirloin steak, soy sauce, onions and red pepper. Mayo is gross and the flat out wraps are dry so I used my scale and used LESS then a serving that time but still marked it a tsp. The smoked salmon is something I can get at work and it’s served cold, I requested the ounce size from the cook who is amazing and provides me info on what he makes.
My work provides discounts for healthy foods purchased in our restaurant. Salad and broth based soups are staples. Lean proteins, bananas and whole grains in our break room. For the zucchini, I bake it, I use Pam or non stick spray and salt and pepper... it’s easy and delicious.
If you cook something at home, it's important to log the ingredients separately or create your own recipe rather than relying on some random entry in the database, or you will not get accurate numbers.
If mayo is gross (I mostly agree), why did you use it? There is no set serving size for anything unless you are talking about on a package or container.
The problem I was talking about are the entries chosen. The amounts are likely to be a bit off since you seem to be estimating, but that's fine so long as you are consistent and adjust calories if your results aren't what you want. The thing to be careful about is using either the brand of the item you are using and checking the package information OR finding the USDA entries for whole foods and using those.
Depending on how much Pam you use, there are going to be some calories. I typically logged a small amount when I used a spray, but if you don't want to, that's again fine so long as you are consistent and adjust.
It seems like you are eating lots of foods that others make/restaurant items without calories listed. If so, just be aware that there's going to be a built-in error, so I'd pick your calorie goal more by results than assume you are absolutely eating the amount of calories MFP says. In other words, if you get an average of 1500/week and only lose 1 lb/week (which is fine), it could be that you are really eating more like 1750/week. So you could drop cals maybe 250 or something like that.
But if you are happy with how things are going, no need to change it up. You can come back and ask for help if you stall.3 -
sroberts1522 wrote: »duskyjewel wrote: »Why are my posts so aggressive? They're not, I just don't use soft flowery language. Also:Ok! I took a quick look and I'm seeing a lot of cups and teaspoons when it comes to sauces and stuff. That will never be accurate
Statements like that need to be challenged.
It definitely can be accurate if you're careful. I don't like doctrinaire opinions being touted as fact.
Rock on keyboard warrior! (Where did that eyeroll emoji go??)
How on earth does this whole part of this thread help me? I use a scale at home and it can convert to cups and tablespoons. I got so good at the math when I was doing this before, that I could easily convert grams and ounces just as quick. Watching you guys fight over this tiny part of this conversation has been unhelpful.
Would you mind sharing the name of that scale? I'd love to look into that. Thanks. ☺
I'd be curious too, although I don't understand why this would be desirable. A certain number of grams is never going to be convertible into an accurate cup or tbsp amount because it depends on what's being measured (scales that convert to cups or liters are doing it for water weight, typically). Plus it adds a step and all the best entries (USDA) have grams as one of their many options.3 -
Just a generic note that scales cannot measure volume, they measure weight.
They just add a meaningless option to increase their feature score cards.
The meaningless option being to present each gram as a ml.
1g is equal to 1ml if you're talking volume of water and weight at room temperature.
This works for many liquids.
But it does not work well at all for things that have fat or are whipped
No go for oil. Or whipped cream. Or ice cream... Just saying8 -
sroberts1522 wrote: »duskyjewel wrote: »Why are my posts so aggressive? They're not, I just don't use soft flowery language. Also:Ok! I took a quick look and I'm seeing a lot of cups and teaspoons when it comes to sauces and stuff. That will never be accurate
Statements like that need to be challenged.
It definitely can be accurate if you're careful. I don't like doctrinaire opinions being touted as fact.
Rock on keyboard warrior! (Where did that eyeroll emoji go??)
How on earth does this whole part of this thread help me? I use a scale at home and it can convert to cups and tablespoons. I got so good at the math when I was doing this before, that I could easily convert grams and ounces just as quick. Watching you guys fight over this tiny part of this conversation has been unhelpful.
Would you mind sharing the name of that scale? I'd love to look into that. Thanks. ☺
I'd be curious too, although I don't understand why this would be desirable. A certain number of grams is never going to be convertible into an accurate cup or tbsp amount because it depends on what's being measured (scales that convert to cups or liters are doing it for water weight, typically). Plus it adds a step and all the best entries (USDA) have grams as one of their many options.
I just want to see the description. I'm perfectly happy with the scale I use.0 -
sroberts1522 wrote: »duskyjewel wrote: »Why are my posts so aggressive? They're not, I just don't use soft flowery language. Also:Ok! I took a quick look and I'm seeing a lot of cups and teaspoons when it comes to sauces and stuff. That will never be accurate
Statements like that need to be challenged.
It definitely can be accurate if you're careful. I don't like doctrinaire opinions being touted as fact.
Rock on keyboard warrior! (Where did that eyeroll emoji go??)
How on earth does this whole part of this thread help me? I use a scale at home and it can convert to cups and tablespoons. I got so good at the math when I was doing this before, that I could easily convert grams and ounces just as quick. Watching you guys fight over this tiny part of this conversation has been unhelpful.
Would you mind sharing the name of that scale? I'd love to look into that. Thanks. ☺
I'd be curious too, although I don't understand why this would be desirable. A certain number of grams is never going to be convertible into an accurate cup or tbsp amount because it depends on what's being measured (scales that convert to cups or liters are doing it for water weight, typically). Plus it adds a step and all the best entries (USDA) have grams as one of their many options.
I just want to see the description. I'm perfectly happy with the scale I use.
I figured! ;-)1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 424 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions