Ad Lib April (All Experience Levels)
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Dragonwolf
Posts: 5,600 Member
April is just about on us, so it's time for another challenge! This is now our second annual Ad Libitum April.
What's that mean?
This challenge revolves entirely around not tracking your calories.
Yep, that's all there is to it.
It sounds simple, but a lot of people have become so indoctrinated into the idea that you need to count and consciously limit your calories in order to lose weight or avoid gaining weight. The idea of not doing that is downright terrifying!
The goal of Ad Lib April is for you to prove to yourself that yes, you can lose or maintain weight without consciously counting/restricting calories.
Each week, you'll post your weight or change in weight, as well as any other thoughts you're having about the challenge. That's it!
Tips For Success
Post your targets and starting stats here. Next Friday (4/8), I'll start weekly check-in threads and link to them from here.
Week 1 Check-in -- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10368200/ad-lib-april-week-1-checkin
Week 2 Check-in -- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10372305/ad-lib-april-week-2-check-in
Week 3 Check-in -- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10378004/ad-lib-april-week-3-check-in
What's that mean?
This challenge revolves entirely around not tracking your calories.
Yep, that's all there is to it.
It sounds simple, but a lot of people have become so indoctrinated into the idea that you need to count and consciously limit your calories in order to lose weight or avoid gaining weight. The idea of not doing that is downright terrifying!
The goal of Ad Lib April is for you to prove to yourself that yes, you can lose or maintain weight without consciously counting/restricting calories.
Each week, you'll post your weight or change in weight, as well as any other thoughts you're having about the challenge. That's it!
Tips For Success
- If you want to keep logging your food, so you can keep track of macros, but don't want to see the calorie amount, have a look at the Greasemonkey/Tampermonkey script that we built just for this purpose.. Do note, though -- it's only a browser display modification, so this only works on your computer (not in the app), and only on the computer(s) on which you've installed the script.
- Pay special attention to your hunger signals. Are you eating out of habit, or because it's a certain time? Try to make sure to eat only when you're hungry, and stop when you're satiated. This may mean that your meal times shift. Try to honor those shifts as much as possible.
- Pay attention to your mindset around food. Is it just fuel? Or is a source of comfort, too? The more you can shift toward "just fuel," the more successful you'll likely be, because you'll be less likely to eat when you're not hungry.
Post your targets and starting stats here. Next Friday (4/8), I'll start weekly check-in threads and link to them from here.
Week 1 Check-in -- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10368200/ad-lib-april-week-1-checkin
Week 2 Check-in -- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10372305/ad-lib-april-week-2-check-in
Week 3 Check-in -- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10378004/ad-lib-april-week-3-check-in
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Replies
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I am excited but yes, a little scared.
Especially since I'm new to maintenance and have been experimenting with higher calorie and carb levels. I might try logging just carbs, or mentally keeping track of servings (e.g. aim for X servings of veggies a day, 0-1 serving of fruit, 0-1 small sweet treat, and fill in the rest with fats and proteins.) 0 -
I'm in for this. Is this our reporting thread, or will it be weekly, etc! Thanks for hosting @Dragonwolf!0
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macchiatto wrote: »I am excited but yes, a little scared. Especially since I'm new to maintenance and have been experimenting with higher calorie and carb levels. I might try logging just carbs, or mentally keeping track of servings (e.g. aim for X servings of veggies a day, 0-1 serving of fruit, 0-1 small sweet treat, and fill in the rest with fats and proteins.)
I'm logging just carbs. I'm got too much on my plate to keep mental tabs right now. But your tallying idea sounds awesome.
I've been doing this for a month as you know and I've gained a couple pounds, but it wasn't specifically from not logging calories, it was from snacking way too much. And mistaking not being stuffed to the gills with still being allowed to eat. I've cut myself off from the kitchen after supper. And doing a 16:8 IF, and it's helping me read the satiety signals better.
Unless you go completely off-the-rails-crazy you aren't going to suddenly gain a lot of weight this month. So don't worry. 0 -
I'm in for this one, I actually started 3/25 because I felt like I'd need a few "practice days" before the official start. Should I post my target carbs and SW in this thread or will there be a different one?0
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I downloaded the script but I am not sure what I am doing...I am still seeing my calories..Can someone please help ?0
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ms_smartypants wrote: »I downloaded the script but I am not sure what I am doing...I am still seeing my calories..Can someone please help ?
What browser?0 -
baconslave wrote: »ms_smartypants wrote: »I downloaded the script but I am not sure what I am doing...I am still seeing my calories..Can someone please help ?
What browser?
firefox0 -
Thanks, @baconslave.
I have a long history with yoyoing, and I can gain weight pretty fast but it takes forever to come off. I think the biggest thing I need to watch for is carb creep, b/c I know it's easy to hit that point where suddenly I'm hungry all the time and craving everything.
I might keep track of servings in the "notes" section of my food diary, or do like you're doing and simply log carby foods. I might try a week of each and see how it goes. When you log carbs, do you log things like HWC, certain processed meats, etc. with 1-2 gm per serving?0 -
ms_smartypants wrote: »baconslave wrote: »ms_smartypants wrote: »I downloaded the script but I am not sure what I am doing...I am still seeing my calories..Can someone please help ?
What browser?
firefox
OK. Have you installed Greasemonkey yet?
If not install it.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/
And download that.
Go to you Firefox menu button. Click.
Click Add-Ons. Click Extensions on the right hand side. Make sure Greasemonkey is enabled.
Then once that is done, go into User Scripts and enable the script.
Let me know how that goes.
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macchiatto wrote: »Thanks, @baconslave. I have a long history with yoyoing, and I can gain weight pretty fast but it takes forever to come off. I think the biggest thing I need to watch for is carb creep, b/c I know it's easy to hit that point where suddenly I'm hungry all the time and craving everything.
I might keep track of servings in the "notes" section of my food diary, or do like you're doing and simply log carby foods. I might try a week of each and see how it goes. When you log carbs, do you log things like HWC, certain processed meats, etc. with 1-2 gm per serving?
I log everything that has carbs. So processed meats. Eggs if I have more than 1. If you only do one or 2 tbsp HWC per day, I wouldn't worry about it. I do h&h so I log that. It's definitely 1 carb. I'm doing keto still though so it makes a difference for me. It may not make much difference for you if you aren't trying to stay under the hard line.0 -
I am going to try. I am a die-hard logger and used to weighing and measuring everything. Good luck
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I'm in for this one, I actually started 3/25 because I felt like I'd need a few "practice days" before the official start. Should I post my target carbs and SW in this thread or will there be a different one?
You can post your targets and starting stats here. I'll have weekly check-in threads starting next Friday.0 -
baconslave wrote: »ms_smartypants wrote: »baconslave wrote: »ms_smartypants wrote: »I downloaded the script but I am not sure what I am doing...I am still seeing my calories..Can someone please help ?
What browser?
firefox
OK. Have you installed Greasemonkey yet?
If not install it.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/
And download that.
Go to you Firefox menu button. Click.
Click Add-Ons. Click Extensions on the right hand side. Make sure Greasemonkey is enabled.
Then once that is done, go into User Scripts and enable the script.
Let me know how that goes.
I have done all that and I still see my calories ....everything is there and enabled ...0 -
ok so my targets: 35g total / 25g net carbs or fewer and SW is 141.0 lbs. as of this morning. Excited to see where this takes me!0
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ms_smartypants wrote: »baconslave wrote: »ms_smartypants wrote: »baconslave wrote: »ms_smartypants wrote: »I downloaded the script but I am not sure what I am doing...I am still seeing my calories..Can someone please help ?
What browser?
firefox
OK. Have you installed Greasemonkey yet?
If not install it.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/
And download that.
Go to you Firefox menu button. Click.
Click Add-Ons. Click Extensions on the right hand side. Make sure Greasemonkey is enabled.
Then once that is done, go into User Scripts and enable the script.
Let me know how that goes.
I have done all that and I still see my calories ....everything is there and enabled ...
I haven't touched it in a while, so MFP might have changed some things. Give me a little bit to update it.0 -
Dragonwolf wrote: »ms_smartypants wrote: »baconslave wrote: »ms_smartypants wrote: »baconslave wrote: »ms_smartypants wrote: »I downloaded the script but I am not sure what I am doing...I am still seeing my calories..Can someone please help ?
What browser?
firefox
OK. Have you installed Greasemonkey yet?
If not install it.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/
And download that.
Go to you Firefox menu button. Click.
Click Add-Ons. Click Extensions on the right hand side. Make sure Greasemonkey is enabled.
Then once that is done, go into User Scripts and enable the script.
Let me know how that goes.
I have done all that and I still see my calories ....everything is there and enabled ...
I haven't touched it in a while, so MFP might have changed some things. Give me a little bit to update it.
Okay thanks0 -
Updated it! As I suspected, MFP made some changes to their system that broke it. It should work again now.0
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Dragonwolf wrote: »Updated it! As I suspected, MFP made some changes to their system that broke it. It should work again now.
Do I need to uninstall and reinstall everything so it will work ?.... I have disabled and enabled and its still not working0 -
ms_smartypants wrote: »Dragonwolf wrote: »Updated it! As I suspected, MFP made some changes to their system that broke it. It should work again now.
Do I need to uninstall and reinstall everything so it will work ?.... I have disabled and enabled and its still not working
I got it to finally work 0 -
For those that want to hide the Dashboard info, as well, I've created one for that, too. However, this one requires a different plugin, called Stylish. Unfortunately, the way the Dashboard is coded, I can't use the same script that I made for the diary page. At some point, I'll find a way to combine the two (ideally in an easy to install setup), but for now, they're separate.
https://github.com/LowCarberDaily/stylish-calorie-hider0
This discussion has been closed.