OK to Obsess for 30 days- Count Calories/portions/excercise

KETOGENICGURL

People question if all the counting calories, or fats, and exercise is being too self focused.

I say NO..for the first month to motivate and EDUCATE yourself where those calories and grams of sugar are coming from It is a good thing. Once you get into the swing of it, you can relax and have a good idea if you are accidentally adding more fruit, or snack than you think.

WEIGH & MEASURE EVERYTHING the first month. MFP let's you be obsessive… but HELP YOURSELF by gathering a whole drawer of measuring spoons, cups, from tsp. to TBL.. (1 tsp =3 tbl -use the right one) and once you also get the hang of measuring, fewer extra calories can sneak in. ( if you don't want to buy a bunch of fancy colored measuring tools with mark lines then use your own teaspoons, soupspoons at home…use a real measuring tsp. and pour a sample amount of level sugar/flour/salt, etc, into your home teaspoon ( a measuring tablespoon equals most soupspoons). Fill a measure cup with water pour into one of your small coffee cups, or save, and use mark lines on reusable food containers.

If you grab any drinking cup to measure you may be filling a 12oz or 16 oz cup.. but noting you only used 8oz amount to your food diary.

Many from WW are allowed "free" fruits or veggie- unlimited... guess what? Eating healthier may ALSO mean sneaking an extra 400 calories in or more..maybe enough to KEEP you from losing weekly. Even no calorie foods like Stevia, and <1 carb items add up..count it all.

Last- most people OVERcount exercise calories burned…after my car accident and in the PT gym I saw exactly how few I was burning going 15-30 min on a stationary bike!!

And worse, treadmills and such can't be accurate because the more you lean on the bars the less energy, and for real gym rats, over time, the more you exercise the better you 'get into the flow', more efficient, so you burn less than newbies stumbling all over.

Barbs2222

I agree with you but I really think you need a food scale.

KETOGENICGURL

Barb…..Of course!…my post was so long I stopped listing the obvious <grin>
a WW scale is good for <1 pound, others for up to 5 pounds.