Untracked Olive Oil Was Adding 300 Calories a Day
Small bites and pours that never made it into the food log were enough to erase a weight loss deficit entirely.
The Metabolism and Menopause Podcast · 10 Secrets From Women Who Lost 30+ Pounds And Kept It Off | MMP Ep. 332One woman trying to lose weight learned that the olive oil she was not tracking was adding 300 calories a day. A calorie deficit is the gap between what you eat and what your body burns that makes weight loss possible. Those 300 calories were enough to erase hers, so she stopped losing weight.
Her coach says the problem was not dishonesty. It was perception versus reality. Many people think they are eating 1,400 calories, for example, while leaving out small extras like unlogged nuts, bites off a child's plate, and the oil poured while cooking.
Learning to track those things honestly helps long term, even though it feels tedious. When this client finally tracked her olive oil, she found an extra 300 calories in her day.
Questions people ask
How much olive oil is 300 calories?
About two and a half tablespoons. Olive oil has roughly 120 calories per tablespoon, so a free pour to coat a pan plus a drizzle over vegetables can get to 300 calories without looking like much food at all.
Why would 300 calories stop weight loss?
A daily calorie deficit for fat loss is often only 300 to 500 calories. That means an uncounted 300 calories can shrink the deficit to zero, leaving a person eating enough to maintain weight but not to lose it.