Just looking for some feedback

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chubbard9
chubbard9 Posts: 565 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey there :)
I have my diary open, so I was wondering if anyone would like take a look through my diary and let me know if there's any areas I should tweak? I have been measuring my foods out, practically religiously. I weigh all my snacks ahead of time, log my water and all other beverages.
I go to the gym every other day, generally, and take walks every day that I don't get to the gym... I have also been adding strength workouts in most gym days, but not all. I am looking to lose 40 pounds(short term goal) but in total ~80(I'll be tinkering with that when I get closer)
So, if any of you have any suggestions towards my diet/routine, please let me know :)

Any feedback is appreciated :)

Replies

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    Are you weighing solids, or measuring? I ask because your post is a little unclear on that and I see things like cups of strawberries, a medium banana. At the beginning with so much weight to lose - you can estimate and still have enough calorie deficit to lose weight. But if there comes a time when your weight loss stalls for 6-8 weeks, you will want to improve your accuracy by weighing everything. What you think is a cup of strawberries could easily be more, depending on how you fit them in. 25-50% more, and its a regular snack for you. Or what you think is medium may be large. Terms like small, medium, large are kind of vague and have different meanings depending on who you ask.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    Ps-it looks like you're using an activity tracker, and either not earning calories for it - or are earning negative calories. This may indicate that your MFP activity level is set too high. Which could impact your calorie intake goal.

    When you set your activity setting, did you consider your workouts?
  • chubbard9
    chubbard9 Posts: 565 Member
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    Yes, I am weighing. When I put the 1/2 cup strawberries, it's because I weigh out 4oz of strawberries cut up. And the "medium banana" is because I always buy the small ones. I tend to over-estimate on certain things, like the banana. I couldn't figure out with the banana options if the gram weights are before or after the peel(I know that sounds dumb), so I opted for a different option.
    I tend to weigh all my foods at the start of the week, because once I get back to work week, it's harder to take the time out to do that...
  • chubbard9
    chubbard9 Posts: 565 Member
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    And also, I'm working with a digital scale, sometimes my scale won't switch from oz to grams as easily as I would like :/
  • chubbard9
    chubbard9 Posts: 565 Member
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    When I set my activity, I mainly accounted for my job (I do retail and am on my feet walking from 4-8 hours). I just received a replacement band, because my band was not accounting for all my steps(it was defective, and not syncing steps/not syncing at all). I have a new one now, and have just used the calorie count from activity that Jawbone gets, and use that when logging.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    For bananas, weigh what you eat. I typically will weigh, then eat, then weigh the peel. In the database the easy way to find fruits/veggies by weight is to search Banana USDA. If you generally get bananas about the same size, perhaps weigh occasionally when you can just to spot check.

    If you need to convert, 1 ounce is roughly 28 grams. :)

    For now, you don't need to stress over being 100% accurate on weights of foods. When you have 80 pounds to lose, your body's BMR and general burn rate for activity is high. As you lose weight it comes down. So when you get to 20-30 pounds left, you may find you NEED to be more accurate on your food log.

    Unfortunately technology sometimes means you get a dud, so well done on getting it replaced. :) Because its a complicated pedometer (and I don't mean that as a bad thing, I love my Fitbit One) you may not want/need to log walking and other step based activity once our tracker is working right.
  • chubbard9
    chubbard9 Posts: 565 Member
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    Thank you for the advice, I just wish fruit that fruit is as easy as scanning our packages and then weighing out from there, lol. But I didn't even know the Banana USDA was in there, there's a MILLION banana entries in the database, lol. I'll keep that in mind for the next time I log one!!!
    But thank you for the conversion too, I'll keep that in mind... I'll write that down in my notes so I can keep better track.
    And my Jawbone was acting up since I got it (literally took 45 minutes to sync one time) and I had a hassle trying to get a replacement... But now this one works wonderfully and I'll keep that in mind for when I log activity... I think I will log my exercise as 1cal, so that Jawbone can adjust the rest :)

    Thank you again for your advice & feedback :) I appreciate it! :)
  • pojinx
    pojinx Posts: 34 Member
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    Have you been hungry at all?

    I think your diary looks great. You're not eating too many diet foods and you're eating pretty nutrient dense food.

    My only thought is that I would be hungry eating what you eat. But if it's working for you and you're not feeling deprived or hungry, then keep up the good work :smile:
  • chubbard9
    chubbard9 Posts: 565 Member
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    pojinx wrote: »
    Have you been hungry at all?

    I think your diary looks great. You're not eating too many diet foods and you're eating pretty nutrient dense food.

    My only thought is that I would be hungry eating what you eat. But if it's working for you and you're not feeling deprived or hungry, then keep up the good work :smile:


    Honestly, I haven't been too hungry... Even though I log my food by times, I'm often munching every couple of hours on those foods, so it's really hard for me to be truly starving... I was more hungry at first though, because I was eating a total crap diet, probably twice my necessary calories... So it was hard to cut down, but I was able to cut out candy and sodas (occasional snack here and there), so I feel like this whole thing is coming together!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Your diary looks good, (weigh your fruit as well-1 med banana 110 c, is usually more like 125-130). I would up your protein a bit.
  • TheBigFb
    TheBigFb Posts: 649 Member
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    lol, this will get messy fast

    OP , noit you rfault, everyone thats lost a pound is an expert.
  • BCUONZO
    BCUONZO Posts: 27 Member
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    Your Journal looks great! I might suggest upping your protein. But this could also be something you do in a week or two if your progress stalls or you find yourself getting a bit more hungry. Combining protein and healthy fats in a snack is a great way to stay full. For example greek yogurt with almonds or sliced turkey and cheese roll up. Keep us updated, I'm sure you are going to rock this!
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    edited March 2015
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    +1 on weighing solids and netting out the rind/peel. I bring a container with me to work to hold my orange rinds and banana peels, then I weigh them when I get home to find the actual weight of what I ate.
    chubbard9 wrote: »
    Thank you for the advice, I just wish fruit that fruit is as easy as scanning our packages and then weighing out from there, lol. But I didn't even know the Banana USDA was in there,

    Use the USDA search for all the whole food you log (bananas, strawberries, beef, etc.).
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    weigh all solids, measure liquids. Log in your diary as weight not cups and as long as you have your activity level set correctly disable negative adjustments on your jawbone.
  • chubbard9
    chubbard9 Posts: 565 Member
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    Thank you all for your feedback :)
    I do realize I have to get more protein in my diet, so I am trying to add almonds, and more meat in, it's just a little hard sometimes with my work schedule.. But I will try to start adding more protein :)
    tincanonastring wrote: »
    Use the USDA search for all the whole food you log (bananas, strawberries, beef, etc.).
    I just found this this morning. I had one USDA on my list before, but it got lost, so now searching by that! Thank you for the advice :)
  • chubbard9
    chubbard9 Posts: 565 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    weigh all solids, measure liquids. Log in your diary as weight not cups and as long as you have your activity level set correctly disable negative adjustments on your jawbone.
    Thank you!
    I was tinkering with the Jawbone settings this morning.

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    Good idea. Honestly, I never thought of this. I just used the postage scale at work - then got a $15 scale from Amazon to keep at the office.
    tincanonastring wrote: »
    +1 on weighing solids and netting out the rind/peel. I bring a container with me to work to hold my orange rinds and banana peels, then I weigh them when I get home to find the actual weight of what I ate.

  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Good idea. Honestly, I never thought of this. I just used the postage scale at work - then got a $15 scale from Amazon to keep at the office.
    tincanonastring wrote: »
    +1 on weighing solids and netting out the rind/peel. I bring a container with me to work to hold my orange rinds and banana peels, then I weigh them when I get home to find the actual weight of what I ate.

    Netting out your banana peel is key. The banana I have today is 215g with the peel. I'll put money down that this peel is almost 70g. I eat a banana every day, so that's almost 500g a week of logged banana that I wouldn't actually eat if I didn't take it out. That's about 450 calories I could otherwise stuff in my piehole. Do you know how much peanut butter that is? DO YOU?

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