Lyssa's Thread

macgurlnet

Probably won't generate much activity but numbers are fun! I'll add a comment at the start of the new month to update.

Here we have my weight graph from trendweight.com from mid-January through today (as you can see I'm pretty much maintaining for the moment):



And this is a screenshot of the calculations tab of my Google sheet with various pieces of info from my Fitbit. The January numbers are inaccurate, in part because I got my Fitbit around January 6, and in part because I wasn't weighing any of my food at the time. I believe I got the food scale in March.


Following everything along, the numbers still don't match up, but I don't weigh absolutely everything. Pre-packaged, single-serve items don't get weighed and I don't weigh slices of bread and the like, either. Plus I eat out a couple times a week, and we all know that's tough to record accurately

The overall trend is right where I want to be, and I have the formulas for October doing calculations already, so I'll be able to take a peak each week to see if I'm on track. I was fighting off a cold all week, which threw my activity out the window so my calorie burn was much lower than usual.

~Lyssa

robertw486

Great data. I'd like to get all my deficits on a spreadsheet, and then compare to figure out where my logging is less than accurate. For now I'm not weighing food and getting away with it, and I also know that some of the fitness trackers seem to want to throw calorie counts high.

Great job on the steady loss.

OsricTheKnight

Your graph looks awesome! Looking forward to an update at the end of October.

Osric

macgurlnet

I'm sorry, y'all...totally failed with posting an update.

On the upside, I did continue to record data, and have modified the spreadsheet for 2016!

Here's where I was at as of December 2015:



Calculations here:


Now, going by the numbers, I should have seen a gain of 3.2 pounds.

The scale showed me weighing in between 115 and 117 pounds during the month of December, bouncing around a bit in relation to what I was eating (more carbs/sodium, less water, etc), but that kind of fluctuating was the same from October-December.

I also was not weighing as much of my food throughout December, and even October or November. The scale I had became a finicky little thing, insisting on having brand new batteries in order to be reliable. It also didn't seem to be accurate - I was noticing that I could shake the bowl/container I had on the scale, put it back, and get a new weight! No thank you!

So, I have a new one now. Hopefully it behaves

The conclusion I'm drawing from the numbers for now is my intake was almost certainly off - higher, lower, I honestly don't know - and my output may not be 100% accurate, either. Perhaps I'm one of those whose Fitbit underestimates their calorie burn? I suppose time will tell.

Still not weighing every tiny little thing - that feels too obsessive for me, even though the accurate numbers would be nice. Weighing most things has been good enough, so I'll be sticking with it. I don't plan to weigh for life, even though I do plan to log consistently until I'm happy with my weight and how I look.

Hopefully I remember to post a January update

~Lyssa

robertw486

@macgurlnet

That spreadsheet is a lot of good data. At one point I was going to do something similar, but with all the variations in weight not being linear, along with trying to nail down calorie burns, decided that the scale was the one feedback that was really important. Data or not, you've done great with dropping the pounds.

Interesting that you made note of your food scale being wacky when the batteries are low. Our human scale does the same, and tosses the fat percentage reading all over the place. I've personally never even purchased a food scale, as I can't see taking the time to do it day to day, and there are just so many times you can't have a scale with you. But I'm in the 180 pound range, so I have more calories to deal with.

macgurlnet

I get a piddly calorie allowance (I'm 5 feet tall, and pretty light now), so being tight with logging while losing is key for me. I'm pretty sure I could lose without the food scale, but it's just easier for me to drop a container on there, hit tare, and add whatever's going in.

I do plan to quit weighing day-to-day stuff eventually, though I'll get out the food scale for cooking meals. I've found a few dishes taste better when things are more exact.

The scale issue was most aggravating because it wouldn't even turn on - the display would come up briefly, then back off it went - without actually giving me the low battery indicator. I don't eat too much stuff that's not pre-packaged or portioned out at home (pack a lunch every weekday, don't eat out too much), so no big deal about not having the scale with me.

The primary spreadsheet that I enter the data in is below - I don't use all of it in the calculations tab, but I wanted to save some more info this time around. Numbers are fun



~Lyssa

robertw486

I do really feel for people that have such tight allowances to deal with. I never thought about it much until I saw the numbers for the daily calorie totals. Especially since you can't always buy 1/2 a food portion or something! I think the pre packaged food choices would get a lot tougher for me.

But great progress, and I'm glad your end goal is when YOU are happy with it, not a number picked out of the air before the fact.

macgurlnet

I'm much more aware of what food costs these days - both from a money perspective and a calorie one.

When I go out for food, a sandwich place like Subway is the easiest one to fit in my calories. I'll have a lighter dinner to compensate, but it doesn't break the calorie bank.

Pasta and burger places are killers. I try to be under my calorie goal so I don't have to choose to skip anything - If I have ~300 extra calories for the week, then I can have the burger and the fries without being super hungry earlier in the day to compensate. Pasta reheats OK, so some days I'll just eat half of my entree and save the rest.

I could go on and on and on....and on

In progress-related news, I picked up heavier dumbbells for my workouts. Hooray for strength gains!

~Lyssa

robertw486

Good job on the strength gains. And even at my weight, and even on days I work out hard, those burger joints and such can make the rest of the day harder. But so worth it at times.

macgurlnet

Okay...February is here. Means the January numbers can go up.

Weight trend according to trendweight.com - in the direction I'm going for:


The January numbers:


And I'm currently playing around with tracking my weekly deficit (right now, every 7 days starting with January 1).This info is viewable in the MFP app if I want to see it, but I like having everything in one place.



The numbers say I should be down about 2 pounds. Scale says 3. Assuming initial water weight loss + likely inaccuracies in estimations, along with the knowledge that my lowest previous weight was 114, I'm thinking I'm really only down 1 pound.

Still a win. February should be a better data-collection month as the numbers won't be skewed by the water weight drop.

~Lyssa

robertw486

As usual Lyssa, great data use and great results!

I've tended to watch weekly vs daily goals myself, but never made the time to get all the data together as well as some of you have. I'm trying to get used to using primarily my body scale as the major input, and nailing down calorie burns during exercise to adjust my intake for weight control and recovery goals.

Maybe one of these days I'll get more of the data together and start a thread, as I feel like a lurker just commenting on the threads of you and Osric!