New/Question About Food Tracking

sivyaleah

Hi everyone. I'm a 56 year old female, in the middle of those years where weight gain is a big problem and getting it off, even more so. Over the years, I've mostly done Weight Watchers but I decided that I was tired of seeing such a small allotment of points, it made me feel deprived and gave a false sense of doing things healthy since there's no way to track your nutrition. I have a lot to lose but am realistic that I will never be what I was at 21. I'd settle for what I was at 40 right now

So, once again, attempting to get healthier and shed more than some pounds I joined MFP. Or rejoined as the case may be. I had an account here previously but wow, the site has gotten SO much better than the last time I remember using it.

I've been tracking every day for 3 weeks now - haven't missed anything, and have been reaching my calorie and nutrition goals daily, sometimes slightly more or less but not by much. I don't have a problem with motivation once I get going. The most I've lost on my own was 50 pounds several years ago. I kept it off for many years but it's been creeping back up slowly and surely in the last 5 or so.

Yesterday, however, my total came out to just barely over 1000 calories. Not on purpose, I ate normally all day but the overall totals were under my usual 1350 calories I'm allotting myself. My dinner, was particularly healthy and filling and I was not hungry enough to want to eat just for the sake of eating. That is a habit I'm trying to break.

When I went to wrap up the day with the app, it gave me a very strong caution about not getting enough calories and saying that that day was not going to count against my report totals. So, to circumvent this, I just bumped up my portions of the foods I ate until it came out to just under 1200, when the app allowed me to input the day.

I do understand there are many people who believe that under eating is the way to lose weight. There are those who have unhealthy eating habits but for me personally this was never an issue. I get why it would put out this caution, and I think it's a good thing for those who have disordered eating patterns. However, it seems to me the app should be more intuitive about your overall eating pattern. For instance, how does it then account for times when a person is ill for, and for whatever reason, not able to eat much?

Has anyone else encountered this? What do you do about it personally? Follow the app suggestion, or tweak your numbers until it's able to be plugged in? Is there a way to circumvent this? Or should I just follow the advice of the app, and allow it to work the way it is designed?

Thanks!

Ready2Rock206

One day under isn't a big deal. Every day under is a problem. I'm not understanding why you would put food you didn't eat in your diary? No one is coming to your house to force you to eat if your day is low. You don't even need to ever hit the complete button.

CurlyCockney

If I'm ever below 1000 after my meals, I have some almonds. They're not bulky enough to make me feel over full, but they bump up my calories enough. Putting false information onto MFP would only be cheating myself, and I find it interesting to compare amounts of food with weight so I want the information to accurately reflect what's going on.

If I'm between 1000 and 1200 I don't worry so much, as long as the weekly amount is ok.

SueInAz

I rarely ever even hit the "Complete this entry" button myself. Skipping that step is certainly an option if you have a low day because it certainly does happen from time to time.

barbiecat

If you consistently don't get enough nutrition, your body will suffer from it. Occasionally going under is no big deal.....pay attention to how you feel....if you are very active, you are likely to feel lightheaded or dizzy if you don't eat enough....pay attention, too, to the quality of what you eat and make every calorie contribute to good nutrition

lorrpb

MFP is a tool. It knows what you're putting in but not why. If you're ill and unable to log, or you eat less, it is not MFP's job to figure that out. That's just one of the factors YOU need to consider when evaluating your progress. You could make a "dummy" food entry with no cals that says "Sick today" and enter it along with your food items. I created one that says "Ate this meal out" to remind myself why my cals or macros might be off. MFP doesn't know that I ate out, but it helps me. Don't be a slave to the app, just like you can't be a slave to getting x steps on your fitbit every day. Most yes but some, no. It's all a balancing process that takes awhile to figure out.

sivyaleah

lorrpb wrote: »

MFP is a tool. It knows what you're putting in but not why. If you're ill and unable to log, or you eat less, it is not MFP's job to figure that out. That's just one of the factors YOU need to consider when evaluating your progress. You could make a "dummy" food entry with no cals that says "Sick today" and enter it along with your food items. I created one that says "Ate this meal out" to remind myself why my cals or macros might be off. MFP doesn't know that I ate out, but it helps me. Don't be a slave to the app, just like you can't be a slave to getting x steps on your fitbit every day. Most yes but some, no. It's all a balancing process that takes awhile to figure out.

Thanks for your suggestions. Making a "dummy" entry is brilliant and might work. Those kind of days are rare, if any. It was the first time I encountered this so I just didn't know how it should be handled in the app.

FYI for others who said don't hit "complete" - this too is a good idea and I thank you for it!

One day out of 3 weeks I went low; I guess I shouldn't concern myself too much with it since my trend is always to eat properly.