Why consistency matters more than accuracy (to me)

pinuplove
pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
edited December 19 in Health and Weight Loss
I recently did a fun little exercise with numbers based on the past 16 weeks of logging my food and weight. I've been fairly diligent with my food log (only a couple of quick adds :tongue: ) and weigh daily, using Libra for a trended weight. A post by a friend prompted me to see what my maintenance calories looked like and how that compared to MFP's activity levels. (My total loss in the chart below is based on trended weights to smooth out any fluctuations near the beginning and end of the 16 weeks.)

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Neat. Now I know I can set my activity level to lightly active on MFP and be somewhere in the ballpark (it's just a bit low for me but not significantly so). What are the chances I'm actually eating an average of exactly 1511 calories per day? Doubtful. I'm probably close, but even with the most meticulous logging and weighing (which I won't claim to be doing all the time) there will be errors. The beauty of this is, it doesn't matter! 1511 is representative of how I logged over a significant period of time. So what if my 1511 was actually 1650 or 1445?

I often see people who are struggling jump from one thing to another, with barely any time to register the effects of one strategy before they're off to the next because 'it just isn't working.' Too many changes too fast or changing too many variables at once obscure the results and create a cloud of dust and frustration. People often don't like to hear it, but patience and consistency are key in making any weight loss effort successful long-term. I'm not saying you should throw out your food scale (I have a couple of friends who might disown me for that :wink: ) But you don't have to agonize over every calorie burned or try to sift your way through 12 different BMR, TDEE, and NEAT calculators hoping to find one that fits you. Your own data will do the work for you with time and consistency.
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Replies

  • Tic78
    Tic78 Posts: 232 Member
    Excellent post thanks
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    This is what I always say. Make one change at a time and wait to see how it plays out. Don't "eat 50% of exercise cals" one week and then 100% of them the next week without taking into account all the variables. Get good data over TIME.

    Funny, I do weight/exercise/net cals calculations every 16 weeks, too. I also fall pretty close to MFP's numbers...now that my thyroid meds are straightened out. Again. *Sigh* I kinda liked it when they were too high and I could eat a lot more. Except that leads to other problems.

    I don't know why I chose 16 weeks, other than I wanted a decent amount of time to average but didn't want to enter a million numbers. This is the first time I've done this exercise. I'll probably continue, at least periodically :smile: I was under no illusions that I might be an outlier (my results have been too predictable) but it's good to know I'm not as sedentary as I thought I was, either!

    Glad your meds are straightened out. That can be a mess.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    Very enlightening, thank you!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    kami3006 wrote: »
    I also think that bouncing around is where a lot of misinformation comes from. A person is doing well but the scale doesn't move for a week so they change up their exercise and the scale moves. Then they're telling everyone that they beat a plateau by keeping their body guessing...and so it goes...

    I've had weeks where I had a whole pizza and half a bottle of wine (or was it half a pizza and a whole bottle of wine...maybe both :lol: ) in one night and lost 2 pounds. Obviously the pizza and wine diet is magic!

    Exactly.

    It's what happens over time. Not two weeks.

    My data has always been my guide.

    I take it your calories in the above table are Net Calories? I track my exercise too...but I don't have a fitbit or anything.

    My Excel sheet has become so messy and complicated that I just decided I'll start a brand new one at the first of the year. I've used the same sheet for years...but I can't mine the data anymore due to my own little changes. :lol:
  • ata1anta
    ata1anta Posts: 115 Member
    I need to revisit the table I did. I used to track in FitDay and when I joined WW I made a table of what I weighed and the week number. I need to do that again (I think the computer crashed before I could save the table).
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    @cmriverside They are net, but most activity outside my normal daily stuff was so limited in this time frame I didn't bother inputting it for activity calories. There are a few days in there where I added some back for heavy duty yardwork and the like, but that's about it.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    "Patience and consistency"... everyone's two favorite words ;)

    Nice post :)
  • AEC50
    AEC50 Posts: 124 Member
    I really need to do this math! Thanks for the post 😊
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    Thanks for that. I just did my maths for the last 12 weeks and worked out I have gained an average of 0.24 pounds a week (I am slowly trying to gain) eating around 1628 net calories and maintenance would be 1508 net calories. Not bad when MFP gives me 1205 maintenance calories instead.

    MFP only gives you 1205 for maintenance :open_mouth: Is that for the sedentary setting?
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    dhMeAzK.gif
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    dhMeAzK.gif

    Such a beautiful man applauding for me? Thank you :blush::lol:
  • AEC50
    AEC50 Posts: 124 Member
    Can I ask a really embarrassing question - how did you calculate the daily deficit?
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Great post :smile:
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    Thanks for that. I just did my maths for the last 12 weeks and worked out I have gained an average of 0.24 pounds a week (I am slowly trying to gain) eating around 1628 net calories and maintenance would be 1508 net calories. Not bad when MFP gives me 1205 maintenance calories instead.

    MFP only gives you 1205 for maintenance :open_mouth: Is that for the sedentary setting?

    Yep. I am a wee little thing. Lucky I can eat more and I fit in the very active range when you take my exercise into account so actually eat over 2000 calories.
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