Hello, I'm new here

mtaratoot

As requested, this is my introduction.

This is my first venture into logging what I eat. You'd think this far along in life I'd have tried it before. As a recovering scientist, I can easily geek out on the data, so that's cool. In the last few years since I started going to the gym again (on and off), I usually record my exercise to see my progress. Adding what I eat is the natural next step, and it seems to be working. I don't have a whole lot of weight to lose, but I want to make sure I'm getting adequate nutrition as I'm making some lifestyle changes. I found the USDA food tracker, but it's going away in June, so I thought, hey, why not try MFP?

About me: I didn't eat meat for 30+ years. I added some meat to my diet a few years ago, and then kind of went nuts for a while. Not eating nuts; eating too much meat. So now I'm letting the pendulum swing back the other way for a number of reasons. And yes, it all started with bacon. I've never been "On a diet." I know nutrition science is a very young science, and we still don't really know that much about what our bodies need and what we should avoid. When "everybody" said to avoid butter and eat margarine, I always said, no, eat butter, just not the whole stick. When people I know went on the low-carb diet, I figured carbohydrate is what fuels our bodies, so I kept eating carbs. Whole grains! The closest thing I thought to an interesting diet was a friend who went on the "don't eat any white food" diet. No white bread, white rice, cheese, sugar; I think he decided that cauliflower was more beige than white.

I've generally been an active person, but my work has become more sedentary, and some of the things I do for fun have become less active for me as my skills have improved. I don't get that much exercise kayaking anymore. The river does a lot of the work if you paddle smart. I still play Ultimate a few months a year, but I worry about injury. I probably should stop. For some reason, I don't commute by bike as much anymore. With this decreased activity and decreased metabolism (middle age started creeping up, and my middle started creeping out), I figured it was time for some changes.

It seems to be working. My stamina is increasing when I do cardio workouts. My swims are getting faster. I'm increasing the mass I can move around with my strength work. Oh, yeah, and I feel better, too! I've lost about ten pounds over about five weeks, and am solidly back in the "normal" range of BMI. I'm actually close to my goal, but expect the last sprint to be the hardest. I also know I want to build some more muscle mass trade it out for some of the flabby bits even though my BMI tells me I'm doing fine. I don't plant to or want to bulk up; I just want to be strong so I can enjoy all the things in life that bring me joy. Like rivers.

Challenges with MFP are where to set my calorie goals, finding the right entry in the database, and guessing when I eat things I don't make myself. At some point, I'm sure motivation to go work out will be a challenge. Probably as the weather turns nicer and I don't want to go inside and ride the bicycle to nowhere or swim indoors.

That's more than you wanted to read, so I'll call it a good enough introduction.

4legsRbetterthan2

Welcome,

I think these two links are extremely helpful and can help you get started in the areas you said you are stuggling:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

The first covers accurate logging and some of the tools in MFP to help you make things easier. The second discusses caloric needs and setting goals. These two posts completely changed my MFP experience and helped me be much more successful, so I hope they do the same for you.

~Best wishes on your journey

mtaratoot

Thanks much for the welcome to MFP, for the feedback and for the links. I've read the first post in each and will go spend more time with them later. My challenge with the database is wading through the entries to find the right one. Now that I know there are neat tools to refine/edit, I will see about doing that. I already figured out how to make my own "meal" from ingredients.

For some things I'm ok with guessing. I'll still log it, but my accuracy (and precision) may be low. As an example, if I make a big batch of salad to last several days, the vegetables may change based on what looks good at the market. I'm probably not going to make a new recipe each time. Yeah, I'm a data nerd, but maybe not that much. The other challenge with that is if I'm eating out or at someone's home and I just have to guess. As an example, a local grocery has a wok kind of like a Mongolian grill that I grab lunch sometimes. I load up a variety of veggies and soba noodles, and they cook it. There's no way I'll weigh each item, and I probably won't even try to guess it was a half cup of spinach, a quarter of Nappa, and a crap-ton of garlic. I can pick a sauce, but they choose how much they slather on. I'm ok with guessing at some things. I can still track how my progress is going. In the case of that big wok for lunch, I try to overestimate.

As far as setting daily caloric goals, I think that will be a work in progress. I can observe how well I meet the goals, how I feel, and what results I get. I can tweak up or down as needed. For now I think I'm doing ok. I and already set my goal significantly higher than MFP suggested. The goal suggested by the MFP tool was right about (or just under) my BMR, and I don't want to go below that.

I'm probably not going to make body measurements, but it's also probably a good idea. Probably easier with a second set of hands. I know I'm losing girth by how clothes are fitting. I know I'm feeling good, and I know people have told me I look like I'm losing weight and generally healthier. These are good. As I get to or close to my goal weight, I actually expect to lose less easily as I'm also going to be building lean mass. This is also ok!

Thanks again for the welcome. I'll go read more from those forum topics.

I'm still ok being an evil 2-leg