Unrelated: tracking really does help you "keep track"

tracengel

My own experience has shown that our memories fail us when it comes to our own behaviour, especially over time. Tracking here, and with my nerdy spreadsheet, has shown me that I need the data to have a proper picture of what's going on. Otherwise it's very vague, like - oh, I'm sure I ate all the cake once last week (actually 3 times), I'm sure my weight has gone up / down in the last month (it's been the same for 3 months or whatever) etc

I did a similar exercise for my mom who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and was getting a bit depressed at her lack of energy, and worried for the future that it would just get worse. She didn't correlate *what she did yesterday* to how she felt today, or even remember all the good days she was having in between. So I made her a spreadsheet (wot a shocker), where she tracks discomfort levels, her activities and mood for the day. Over time, when she has a bad day, she can now relate it back to something that happened earlier (like when she decides to build cupboards and doesn't think this will affect her tomorrow ), so it now makes sense and doesn't necessarily indicate the end of the world, and also see that she's having a lot more "good days" than she thinks. It has helped her mood immensely, and thus her overall health.

It's entirely unrelated to MFP, sorry, but thought it showed well how we *forget* what we do, and don't relate it to effects that turn up days or weeks later. Which is what MFP is trying to get us to do: look at trends over time instead of focusing on one day, but also realising that all those "one days" add up.

manderson27

I think what you have done for your mum is really interesting. I have osteoarthritis and after reading your post I started thinking about my flare ups. I have realised that actually this month has been pretty good. I may start a spread sheet myself. Most of my life is on spreadsheets anyway so why not my flare up info and mood.
Sounds like it has helped your mum a lot, well done, great idea.

Gisel2015

Great idea, to both of you!

tulips_and_tea

Actually, that is exactly related to MFP - tracking here is key to success, so keeping track of other things such as activity for your mom is the same thing.

And it's surprising how quickly we forget what we did or ate just last week or a few days ago. I'm always saying how I pretty much eat the same things all the time. Well, my food log shows differently and as much as I DO pay attention to what I eat and how much I don't think I could accurately tell you everything I ate on a given day last week, let alone last month.

Tracking and noting trends is important, so thanks OP for sharing this.

onemanpeloton

Couldn't agree more. After a few months of tracking, I found I was in a good routine and often ate the same things week to week. So i stopped tracking.......then I put weight on!

MarvinsFitLife

This is good

MikePTY

Tracking has been a really big help for me, even just over the last few days. I know for some things, it's not an exact science (for instance, I get lunch most days from a non chain restaurant, so it takes a lot of guesstimating), but it helps me really consider what I put into my body, and limit portions and high calorie choices when I am getting close to my goal. Otherwise it is just "well I think this food looks like it is healthy", without actually having any idea of how I am doing.

MsBaz2018

@MikePTY That is sooo true.

I was going to cook a really heavy meal, and before I started, I opened the recipe builder and wrote down what I thought the quantities of ingredients were (usual recipe that I cook but I didn't have it on MFP)… I built to 606 calories per serving. THEN I cooked and corrected the quantities. 809 calories per serving! It "looked" like I could afford two servings today but I can't. The very fact that you stop to think about it for one minute you make different decisions.