Insightful conversation about my diary?
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Thanks guys! I’ll be more patient with myself.6
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If you've lost 4 lbs in 30 days, that is a healthy and sustainable rate of loss. I don't think you need to review your diary. I think you need to review your expectations. Last time you lost and regained. What can you change in your approach to not repeat that?
Last time I unexpectedly got pregnant! Lol I was able to maintain throughout my pregnancy and then after it was all down hill 7 years. 7 years, a bout of postpartum, breastfeeding, a divorce and now I’m finally getting back to me again.
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duskyjewel wrote: »
Why are your posts so aggressive in nature? You can successfully lose weight with or without scales, with or without measuring cups, and with or without logging everything you eat. What works for one won't work for all. The key is to find what works best for you.
I personally like using scales but I certainly am not obsessed by them and definitely don't worry about weighing food when I am out, just like you wouldn't take measuring cups with you to a restaurant. What I like most about weighing is that it is the most accurate and it saves having to wash those additional cups and spoons.
If someone is not losing weight as they would like it means what they are doing is not working for them. At this point, I would recommend weighing over anything else, at least short term, simply for the accuracy. I'd never suggest it to anyone that is seeing results they are happy with.26 -
You really need to change how you think. 4lbs a month is a huge success rate and really anything else is not needed and potentially unhealthy and unsustainable. You need to accept that proper, sustainable weightloss is a slow experience and not an overnight thing. You’re going great guns at that rate. Keep it up.5
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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.6 -
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.
What does careful mean? How can it be taught via a message board? How much pressure should be applied when putting solid food in a measuring cup to make sure you are not compressing it and increasing the calories?
A food scale absolutely does not have to be used to be successful. You don't even need measuring cups, MFP, or calorie counting. However, if someone is logging their food and possibly eating more than they think then the food scale is highly recommended because at the very least it will teach them how to use whatever system they prefer more carefully.
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Hannahwalksfar wrote: »You really need to change how you think. 4lbs a month is a huge success rate and really anything else is not needed and potentially unhealthy and unsustainable. You need to accept that proper, sustainable weightloss is a slow experience and not an overnight thing. You’re going great guns at that rate. Keep it up.
Thank you! I think you are right and the right balance is what I need to find. What worked for me last time was making sure I was getting enough protein and fiber and keeping my calories in check. So I’m now doing the same thing BUT eating closer (or just over) my daily allowance. I think I do have some sort of eating disorder, and body distortion is definitely an issue. This all just shows me that I just have more work to do then before!4 -
sroberts1522 wrote: »Hannahwalksfar wrote: »You really need to change how you think. 4lbs a month is a huge success rate and really anything else is not needed and potentially unhealthy and unsustainable. You need to accept that proper, sustainable weightloss is a slow experience and not an overnight thing. You’re going great guns at that rate. Keep it up.
Thank you! I think you are right and the right balance is what I need to find. What worked for me last time was making sure I was getting enough protein and fiber and keeping my calories in check. So I’m now doing the same thing BUT eating closer (or just over) my daily allowance. I think I do have some sort of eating disorder, and body distortion is definitely an issue. This all just shows me that I just have more work to do then before!
If you continue to struggle perhaps finding a professional to chat to would be helpful. I wish you every success2 -
sroberts1522 wrote: »If you've lost 4 lbs in 30 days, that is a healthy and sustainable rate of loss. I don't think you need to review your diary. I think you need to review your expectations. Last time you lost and regained. What can you change in your approach to not repeat that?
Last time I unexpectedly got pregnant! Lol I was able to maintain throughout my pregnancy and then after it was all down hill 7 years. 7 years, a bout of postpartum, breastfeeding, a divorce and now I’m finally getting back to me again.
Ok, a more complete picture. I would still return to the idea of revisiting your expectations. We don't lose weight/ body fat in a linear way and an average of 1 lb per week is a healthy rate of loss.
As another poster mentioned, it's only been 4 weeks. A story to illustrate. A couple of months ago I started a mini cut. I reduced calories by 250 per day. Then nothing happened for 6 weeks. I kept weighing in at the gym and nada!
Finally, after a whoosh where I dropped a bunch of water weight overnight, i weighed in at the gym. 3 lbs down right on target and have maintained that for several.weeks.
Realistic expectations and patience can be you most useful allies. That a food scale, weight trending app and an emotional discipline about just seeing scale readings as data points in a long journey.6 -
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??)8 -
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.
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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
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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
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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
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