Slicing and Dicing the Data
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amy19355
Posts: 805 Member
I have a personality that thrives on evidence-based information for measuring performance. Data integrity is pretty critical to accurate information, and I have read about, and experienced the semi-reliable data points from linked apps like Fitbit. My life habit is to assess things - all things - on a pretty regular basis, and try to not a miss a reason that would support a change for the better.
All that said, I’m pretty pleased so far with how MFP provides so many charts and lists with the information that I log into it. There is nothing better, in my mind, for getting a handle on the facts of my reality. Even factoring some slop for inaccuracies in some of the nutrition or exercise data, it’s still more useful than no data at all. (If it isn’t recorded it cannot be used as evidence, either for or against the program of your choice).
If I flip to my nutrition charts and select Calories, it tells me exactly how many over/under calories I am from my target. Day or Week view, each I like for different reasons. I can look at the distribution of my calories over the course of a day, in pretty bar charts. My macros are displayed as pie slices, again, in attractive colors with an over/under report with respect to my goals.
I love the Progress line graph. (I didn’t so much like looking at it when I relaunched it 3 yrs after I’d stopped using it and saw the 20 pound weight gain) I’m goal oriented, and DOWN is an easy first goal to aim for, and to see take place. LOL
Fitness, and making appropriate choices about Nutrition, is such an individual journey; it is each of us alone that picks up the fork and puts the food in our mouth.
I’ll offer a strong opinion, and that is, that I think It is worth more than an hour of anyone’s time to look through, if no where else, the Nutrition section. Go ahead and click on, and read about and play around with all the different ways your data can be sliced and diced. Go wild and crazy and spend an entire afternoon or evening clicking everything that can be clicked in MFP and wonder to yourself what benefit any one or more of them could be in your personal quest for good health and fitness. (On Mobile it is under “more”).
None of this is to discard the valuable exchange of information that takes place here in the forums; wow, this is a great community, and another MFP resource for me.
Seriously, though, to the point of the Discussion Title, I have found that logging food and activity, and analyzing the results on a regular basis is letting me connect choices with results, in real time, and it is great support for my confidence that I’m making informed decisions for myself.
Good luck to you and good fitness to us all!
Amyfb
All that said, I’m pretty pleased so far with how MFP provides so many charts and lists with the information that I log into it. There is nothing better, in my mind, for getting a handle on the facts of my reality. Even factoring some slop for inaccuracies in some of the nutrition or exercise data, it’s still more useful than no data at all. (If it isn’t recorded it cannot be used as evidence, either for or against the program of your choice).
If I flip to my nutrition charts and select Calories, it tells me exactly how many over/under calories I am from my target. Day or Week view, each I like for different reasons. I can look at the distribution of my calories over the course of a day, in pretty bar charts. My macros are displayed as pie slices, again, in attractive colors with an over/under report with respect to my goals.
I love the Progress line graph. (I didn’t so much like looking at it when I relaunched it 3 yrs after I’d stopped using it and saw the 20 pound weight gain) I’m goal oriented, and DOWN is an easy first goal to aim for, and to see take place. LOL
Fitness, and making appropriate choices about Nutrition, is such an individual journey; it is each of us alone that picks up the fork and puts the food in our mouth.
I’ll offer a strong opinion, and that is, that I think It is worth more than an hour of anyone’s time to look through, if no where else, the Nutrition section. Go ahead and click on, and read about and play around with all the different ways your data can be sliced and diced. Go wild and crazy and spend an entire afternoon or evening clicking everything that can be clicked in MFP and wonder to yourself what benefit any one or more of them could be in your personal quest for good health and fitness. (On Mobile it is under “more”).
None of this is to discard the valuable exchange of information that takes place here in the forums; wow, this is a great community, and another MFP resource for me.
Seriously, though, to the point of the Discussion Title, I have found that logging food and activity, and analyzing the results on a regular basis is letting me connect choices with results, in real time, and it is great support for my confidence that I’m making informed decisions for myself.
Good luck to you and good fitness to us all!
Amyfb
9
Replies
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Same. Data monkey here. I love me a good spreadsheet. If you're not that way inclined I can see why all the data in MFP might be overwhelming, but it you're a data nerd, it's very interesting...3
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I'm not a data nerd- I am glad you are enjoying drilling your way through your numbers.
Though not overwhelmed by the amount of info I can dredge out of MFP, I, personally, do not thrive in a spreadsheet world.
So many people on here thrive on the number crunching I sometimes think I am missing out. Then I remember the early years, I tried spreadsheets etc, they got abandoned through lack of interest almost as soon as they were built.
Give me the simple life.
Cheers, h.8 -
I find them too inaccurate to waste my time with.
It's all just guesstimates.4 -
Ok...1
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middlehaitch wrote: »I'm not a data nerd- I am glad you are enjoying drilling your way through your numbers.
Though not overwhelmed by the amount of info I can dredge out of MFP, I, personally, do not thrive in a spreadsheet world.
So many people on here thrive on the number crunching I sometimes think I am missing out. Then I remember the early years, I tried spreadsheets etc, they got abandoned through lack of interest almost as soon as they were built.
Give me the simple life.
Cheers, h.
I'm an information geek to a point, but spreadsheets that aren't manual just aren't my thing.
I've tentatively dipped my feet into the waters of daily weighing and tracking and crunching that data again after going through a spell of having it be an issue for me. I think that's about all I'm capable of at the moment.1 -
I like the information to a point , I want to enjoy my life but also have control over it. If you don’t take the time to review your stats and adjust as needed , you might be wasting your time 🌸
The posts about eating chips and cake and only counting calories makes me break out into a rash 🙄3
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