For those who bank calories, technical question

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  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    If you're a numbers person, use MFP for logging, but then dump the numbers into excel so you can really see what you're doing. That's what I do and the information I get from excel is much more meaningful than that from MFP.
  • shinycrazy
    shinycrazy Posts: 1,081 Member
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    lightenup2016 wrote: »
    Anyway, I will look into premium--are there many other benefits to having premium? (I can search on the topic as well).

    I'm considering going to premium to get rid of the ads and to be able to choose which macro total you see for each meal in the app rather than the total cals. I'm diabetic and for me seeing the total carbs per meal is beneficial. I believe there are a few other perks too. It's $50 a year.

  • rachelr1116
    rachelr1116 Posts: 334 Member
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    I've occasionally had "hungry days" and changed my calorie goal from a 1 lb deficit to a .5 lb deficit just for that one day. It's never affected any of my previous days' goals.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    lightenup2016 wrote: »
    I'd really rather have my calorie goal set accordingly each day, so I don't have to constantly think "okay, today I need to stay 300 below goal", or "today I need to stay AT goal", etc.

    I don't pay any attention to the message after closing out the day.

    Does anyone actually go in and change their calorie goal a few times a week like I'm trying to do?

    Pay for premium then
  • tahxirez
    tahxirez Posts: 270 Member
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    TmacMMM wrote: »
    I do it with custom entries. I bank a portion of my exercise cals. On the day of the exercise, I log whatever portion I intend to eat (usually 350 of the 500 I burned). Then I go to Sunday and put in my custom exercise entry, "Banked exercise cals," for the remaining 150.

    I also come in under on my eating some days, so when I get to Sunday and look at the Weekly View, it tells me how many net calories I'm under, and I can eat those too, if I want.

    I just look at my weekly average under the nutrition tab but this option is brilliant as well.
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
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    rachelr1116 wrote: »
    I've occasionally had "hungry days" and changed my calorie goal from a 1 lb deficit to a .5 lb deficit just for that one day. It's never affected any of my previous days' goals.

    I've also changed my goals up some--sometimes it works fine and sometimes not. That's why I was wondering if there's a trick I'm missing. Thx!
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
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    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    If you're a numbers person, use MFP for logging, but then dump the numbers into excel so you can really see what you're doing. That's what I do and the information I get from excel is much more meaningful than that from MFP.

    I'm sure I could delve into that and love it! But I also just want a simple way to set up my day (pre-logging, I'm new to this concept) and keep track throughout the day. I'll look into the excel thing though. I currently do everything on my phone app.
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
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    MonsterToBe wrote: »
    I used to do something similar, and handled it by creating custom foods. I'd suggest:
    Set your goal to 1800.
    Create custom foods named for the days of the week you'll use them.
    M-W Goal Adjustment would be a 600 calorie food, Thurs Goal Adjustment would be a 300 calorie food. On Monday thru Thursday, just log the appropriate adjustment "food" with one of your meals.

    The nice thing is that whatever your protein/fat/carbohydrate goals are on an 1800 calorie day, it's easy to calculate how many grams of each your custom foods should be. For protein, for example, the protein goal for an 1800 calorie day by 3 and put that in for M-W Goal Adjustment, and divide by 6 to get the Thursday amount, if you want them to all stay at the same ratio every day no matter how many calories total. Personally, I only put carbs and fat in my adjustment foods because although I wanted my calorie goal to fluctuate, I wanted my protein intake constant.

    Hope this helps!

    LOL, I had to read through this a couple of times, but I get it now. I've never entered in custom foods. I think I'll try this, and if it doesn't work well for me I'll probably just end up getting premium. Thank you!
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
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    OP here with an update! I figured out the problem, and thought I'd post my solution in case it helps anyone else. Apparently if I try to change my calorie goal in the morning, it will change yesterday's as well. But for whatever reason, if I wait until 1pm or so (US Eastern time) I can change today's goal and it won't change yesterday's. There must be some kind of syncing that goes on between morning and early afternoon.

    I only have to change my calorie goal 3 times per week. So when I'm preIogging, I just add in 300 or 600 calories of extra food or exercise depending on if I need more or fewer calories that day, then change my calorie goal later in the day and delete the extra food/exercise I had added in. It's a bit of a run-around, but it will work for now, since I don't have an extra $50 sitting around for premium. Maybe in the future, though, since I do like the idea of supporting this awesome app!

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