Looking for some tips..

SheepDog26

Good morning everyone,

I'm looking at monitoring my food closely now that I'm doing Crossfit five times a week. I'm wondering if you guys can give me some tips to maximize MFP.

First, does the app adjust your macros after working out? I tend to workout 5-6 times a week for about 45 minutes a pop and am wondering if the app will adjust macros after I log activity. I know that it adjusts my calories but wasn't sure if it adjust macros as well.

Also, on the food prep side, does anyone have any suggestions on what to use? I know there are templates out there, but I'm hoping to be able to food prep 1-2 times a week and take away the confusion.

Maxxitt

As your calorie allowance goes up due to exercise (if MFP is getting that data), it will apply the percentages you chose and so the macros will rise accordingly. No ideas about food prep but I bet others will.

Strudders67

Assuming I've understood you correctly and food prep means you'll make a big meal and eat it over a few days... use the Recipe page. These are your recipes - I'm not aware of any templates.

Select to enter your 'recipe' Manually. Enter your ingredients and the weight of each and also select how many portions this will make. Click the button at the bottom for MFP to go away and find your listed ingredients from its database. Check those results carefully - it comes up with strange things at times and also may pick items that are user entered with very incorrect calories. You can replace an item and Search for something more suitable if necessary. Save. On the appropriate day, select to enter a food but then click on the Recipes tab that's to the right and select the item from your recipe list. You can choose whether you're eating 1 portion, 2 etc. Click Add.

Next time you make that same dish, go back to Recipes, find the recipe and edit it. If you're using the same ingredients, great. If not, I tend to leave the ingredient on the list (especially for my Salad one as the contents change every time I make a big salad) but edit the quantity to something like 0.01 so it registers zero calories for anything not in the dish this time. Then, when you eat some of it, select the Recipes tab and add a portion. As long as you choose the entry from your Recipes tab and not from your Most Recent list, it'll pick up the new info. Old entries on prior dates with the previous data will not be impacted.

If you make the same dish before you've finished eating the first batch, you can copy a recipe and just give it a slightly different name. I have Fish Pie and Fish Pie 2 in my recipe list,simply because I still had some of the original batch in the freezer at the time I decided to make another one. You just need to remember which batch is which.

Unicorn_Bacon

I think they mean a template of the best foods to eat while doing their vigorous exercise routine and getting the right macros to support themselves. So they can just make those few meals and not have to really think about it.

I imagine they're looking for someone to tell them what to eat and how much of each thing

cmriverside

SheepDog26 wrote: »

Good morning everyone,

I'm looking at monitoring my food closely now that I'm doing Crossfit five times a week. I'm wondering if you guys can give me some tips to maximize MFP.

First, does the app adjust your macros after working out? I tend to workout 5-6 times a week for about 45 minutes a pop and am wondering if the app will adjust macros after I log activity. I know that it adjusts my calories but wasn't sure if it adjust macros as well.

Also, on the food prep side, does anyone have any suggestions on what to use? I know there are templates out there, but I'm hoping to be able to food prep 1-2 times a week and take away the confusion.

The app does adjust your macros when you add exercise. They are added in the percentage that you chose in Goals.


I don't understand the food prep question, and I don't think anyone else did either.

Maybe you could elaborate on what that means (the food prep paragraph.)


I think in general food prep gets easier after you do it for a while. I know how much of stuff to use now - but in the beginning I just had to enter it into the food diary before I ate it and adjust until it fit. A bit of a Rubik's Cube, if you will.

SheepDog26

KrissCanDoThis wrote: »

I think they mean a template of the best foods to eat while doing their vigorous exercise routine and getting the right macros to support themselves. So they can just make those few meals and not have to really think about it.

I imagine they're looking for someone to tell them what to eat and how much of each thing

Sorry for the confusion. Kriss got the gist of what I was saying. I've had issues in the past with hunting down the best foods/combos to meet my needs with my workouts.

Unicorn_Bacon

SheepDog26 wrote: »

KrissCanDoThis wrote: »

I think they mean a template of the best foods to eat while doing their vigorous exercise routine and getting the right macros to support themselves. So they can just make those few meals and not have to really think about it.

I imagine they're looking for someone to tell them what to eat and how much of each thing

Sorry for the confusion. Kriss got the gist of what I was saying. I've had issues in the past with hunting down the best foods/combos to meet my needs with my workouts.

HA! Take that person who disagreed 🤣🤣😝😝

Unicorn_Bacon

I'm surprised no one else has said much of anything.

I normally get the protein goals all messed up so usually I just let someone else mention it lol

I mean technically once you meet your protein and fat goals, carbs make up the remainder but the recipes can be up to you..

quiksylver296

SheepDog26 wrote: »

KrissCanDoThis wrote: »

I think they mean a template of the best foods to eat while doing their vigorous exercise routine and getting the right macros to support themselves. So they can just make those few meals and not have to really think about it.

I imagine they're looking for someone to tell them what to eat and how much of each thing

Sorry for the confusion. Kriss got the gist of what I was saying. I've had issues in the past with hunting down the best foods/combos to meet my needs with my workouts.

It takes practice to get this right. Start by logging what you currently eating. At the end of the week, look at see what foods served you well and which did not. Start slowly subbing out the "not" foods for other things that help you reach your goal.

I've found that I won't meet my protein goal unless my breakfast is really high in protein. That means no pancakes/waffles for me (usually). I personally do better if breakfast and lunch are pretty routine, and then I can eat regular dinner with my family. What works for you may be different.

Side note: LEO? Weird shifts? If so, that always takes some practice to work around, too.

ssorg9

One of the tools that I use for meal planning is Dr Fuhrman's ANDI chart which is basically nutrients divided by calories. I am a distance runner and losing weight can be hard. The chart gives you an idea which foods are going to give your body the most micro-nutrients for the calorie. Do a search and it's easy to find.

AnnPT77

If you're looking for specific structured eating plans, some people like this site:

https://www.eatthismuch.com/

I'm too impulsive and flaky for that, so I did pretty much what quiksylver296 said, the "gradually remodel your eating" approach. There's a more detailed write-up of that here:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

daveejane2020

Please can some give me some advice please 🙏
I lost 5st last year with the help of mfp and my support from friends on here.


I reached my goal weight of 13st now i have put weight back on and i am now 14st 0.5lb
And no matter what i do its not shifting,
I feel like i am wasting my time and want to give up... 😔 then i realise how far i have come, please could anyone give me some pointers on speed foods and idea for meals that work around working life and children..
i am very self conscious more so now i noticed i am getting fatter any advice would be appreciated
Thanks davee

quiksylver296

daveejane2020 wrote: »

Please can some give me some advice please 🙏
I lost 5st last year with the help of mfp and my support from friends on here.


I reached my goal weight of 13st now i have put weight back on and i am now 14st 0.5lb
And no matter what i do its not shifting,
I feel like i am wasting my time and want to give up... 😔 then i realise how far i have come, please could anyone give me some pointers on speed foods and idea for meals that work around working life and children..
i am very self conscious more so now i noticed i am getting fatter any advice would be appreciated
Thanks davee

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

PAV8888

daveejane2020 wrote: »

Please can some give me some advice please 🙏
I lost 5st last year with the help of mfp and my support from friends on here.


I reached my goal weight of 13st now i have put weight back on and i am now 14st 0.5lb
And no matter what i do its not shifting,
I feel like i am wasting my time and want to give up... 😔 then i realise how far i have come, please could anyone give me some pointers on speed foods and idea for meals that work around working life and children..
i am very self conscious more so now i noticed i am getting fatter any advice would be appreciated
Thanks davee

I would start a new thread with full details about what you're after and what has happened.
1st is 14lbs, right?

Things that would be relevant would the the length of time it has taken for your average weight to increase by 14lbs.

Is your weight stable during the past 4-6 weeks, or still increasing? Are you using Libra/Happy Scale/Trendweight/Weightgrapher, some other app that looks at your weight trend over time?

Are you logging your food?

What detail level are you using to log your food?

How did you lose your weight? How many calories were you eating then? Now?

Things like that. If you're consistently gaining weight you're eating more calories than your activity supports. What will work is controlling that... not necessarily some magical food combinations.

PAV8888

As to the OP, and as i mentioned in a weight-watchers post, the beauty and pain of calorie counting is that you're free to eat anything and everything and to formulate your own way of eating plan.

With great freedom comes great responsibility.

Thus you're free to eat anything and everything subject to you meeting your appropriate caloric and nutritional needs.

Without being "incompatible" with counting calories (nothing is actually incompatible), templates take away some of this great freedom to choose that comes from properly counting your calories

There are a lot of people who sell "templates". I did read through a template that an MFP friend bought from an outfit called "renaissance periodization". It looked like a fairly reasonable plan for someone with a different personality and approach to food than myself.

pfprimo

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, and I certainly don't mean to come off as insensitive, and perhaps I'm missing the OP's intent, but... If I'm doing Crossfit 5x week - and I fully understand what proper Crossfit consists of - I'm not too worried about counting calories. You can't do Crossfit that often if you're abiding by a poor diet, so you're obviously eating fairly healthy. If you're eating healthy and doing Crossfit 5x week, theoretically you should be in a near-constant calorie deficit and thusly shouldn't be too concerned about calories unless you're doing this at a competitive level.

L1zardQueen

pfprimo wrote: »

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, and I certainly don't mean to come off as insensitive, and perhaps I'm missing the OP's intent, but... If I'm doing Crossfit 5x week - and I fully understand what proper Crossfit consists of - I'm not too worried about counting calories. You can't do Crossfit that often if you're abiding by a poor diet, so you're obviously eating fairly healthy. If you're eating healthy and doing Crossfit 5x week, theoretically you should be in a near-constant calorie deficit and thusly shouldn't be too concerned about calories unless you're doing this at a competitive level.

I have most definitely ate more food than i should have while doing intense exercise. It was easy to do.

CI/CO

pfprimo

L1zardQueen wrote: »

pfprimo wrote: »

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, and I certainly don't mean to come off as insensitive, and perhaps I'm missing the OP's intent, but... If I'm doing Crossfit 5x week - and I fully understand what proper Crossfit consists of - I'm not too worried about counting calories. You can't do Crossfit that often if you're abiding by a poor diet, so you're obviously eating fairly healthy. If you're eating healthy and doing Crossfit 5x week, theoretically you should be in a near-constant calorie deficit and thusly shouldn't be too concerned about calories unless you're doing this at a competitive level.

I have most definitely ate more food than i should have while doing intense exercise. It was easy to do.

CI/CO

But that's just it, right? You demand so much of your body, you have to give back at some point. So perhaps I'm just not understanding the dilemma here. Regardless, and I'll say again, if you're actually doing Crossfit 5x week, expending the calories you should be expending, and you're eating even half-way healthy, I don't see where you're having trouble reconciling anything unless you're going at this at a competitive level. If I'm off on this, please help me understand, no offense taken - I'm here to learn from you all.

L1zardQueen

pfprimo wrote: »

L1zardQueen wrote: »

pfprimo wrote: »

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, and I certainly don't mean to come off as insensitive, and perhaps I'm missing the OP's intent, but... If I'm doing Crossfit 5x week - and I fully understand what proper Crossfit consists of - I'm not too worried about counting calories. You can't do Crossfit that often if you're abiding by a poor diet, so you're obviously eating fairly healthy. If you're eating healthy and doing Crossfit 5x week, theoretically you should be in a near-constant calorie deficit and thusly shouldn't be too concerned about calories unless you're doing this at a competitive level.

I have most definitely ate more food than i should have while doing intense exercise. It was easy to do.

CI/CO

But that's just it, right? You demand so much of your body, you have to give back at some point. So perhaps I'm just not understanding the dilemma here. Regardless, and I'll say again, if you're actually doing Crossfit 5x week, expending the calories you should be expending, and you're eating even half-way healthy, I don't see where you're having trouble reconciling anything unless you're going at this at a competitive level. If I'm off on this, please help me understand, no offense taken - I'm here to learn from you all.

How many calories does one burn on average doing CrossFit?

cmriverside

Well, I have to agree with Crossfit guy @pfprimo -

If you're doing serious amounts of intense exercise and eating halfway healthy, you're not likely to out-eat your exercise.

I don't even exercise that hard and when I am eating mostly homemade whole foods, I don't generally want any more than I need. It's using the machine as designed.

Now, if I start throwing a bunch of fried foods or sweets in the mix, yeah, I'll over-eat.

AnnPT77

pfprimo wrote: »

L1zardQueen wrote: »

pfprimo wrote: »

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, and I certainly don't mean to come off as insensitive, and perhaps I'm missing the OP's intent, but... If I'm doing Crossfit 5x week - and I fully understand what proper Crossfit consists of - I'm not too worried about counting calories. You can't do Crossfit that often if you're abiding by a poor diet, so you're obviously eating fairly healthy. If you're eating healthy and doing Crossfit 5x week, theoretically you should be in a near-constant calorie deficit and thusly shouldn't be too concerned about calories unless you're doing this at a competitive level.

I have most definitely ate more food than i should have while doing intense exercise. It was easy to do.

CI/CO

But that's just it, right? You demand so much of your body, you have to give back at some point. So perhaps I'm just not understanding the dilemma here. Regardless, and I'll say again, if you're actually doing Crossfit 5x week, expending the calories you should be expending, and you're eating even half-way healthy, I don't see where you're having trouble reconciling anything unless you're going at this at a competitive level. If I'm off on this, please help me understand, no offense taken - I'm here to learn from you all.

I respect Crossfit. Some of my friends are or have been Crossfitters. I was under the impression that for Joe and Jane Average who are Crossfitters, part of the appeal is high fitness with relatively modest time investment. There are only so many calories a person can burn in an hour.

I don't personally know any Crossfitters who've gained fat (usually not their goal, and this tends to attract disciplined people), but I know some who cumulatively gained quite a bit of muscle, over time. That normally will require a calorie surplus, to do efficiently/expediently - maybe not a big surplus, but a surplus, not a deficit. Do some/many lose weight? Sure, especially early on, when that is more likely to be their goal.

I also know people who train for and run marathons. That training is a biiiiiiggggg calorie burner. I know some marathoners who've gained weight (fat) while training. That's a calorie surplus, even with a monster TDEE.

Ditto triathletes: There's a big team of them based at my Y, with all experience levels and event-length goals. Big calorie burn, big TDEE during training, especially the longer lengths. Most of the sprint beginners seem to lose weight. Most of the experienced/distance triathletes maintain weight, i.e. they're not in a calorie deficit, despite a big calorie expenditure.

There are lots of possible combinations of TDEE size and bodyweight outcomes, training style and bodyweight outcomes, etc. People's goals matter. People doing the more extreme things (at least the ones who don't give up quickly) are usually IME quite goal driven: They're not going to gain fat if their goal is to maintain or lose. People who've been doing these high-TDEE training sports for a long time are usually maintaining weight, so not in a calorie deficit, because that would be counterproductive to their goals. The long term Crossfitters I know are maintaining weight, too, if not gaining (slowly), same reason. Deficit would take away from their goals.

Unicorn_Bacon

I dunno... when I read this board all I got from it was..

Hes an active crossfitter, i figured he was trying to add muscle, as I'm sure hes probably fit. And wanted to know if someone could tell him what is a good amount to eat and how much of it to cook
to achieve gains with his active lifestyle because he doesnt wanna fuss over it too much and just wants to make a few different things suggested and eat that.

pfprimo

KrissCanDoThis wrote: »

I dunno... when I read this board all I got from it was..

Hes an active crossfitter, i figured he was trying to add muscle, as I'm sure hes probably fit. And wanted to know if someone could tell him what is a good amount to eat and how much of it to cook
to achieve gains with his active lifestyle because he doesnt wanna fuss over it too much and just wants to make a few different things suggested and eat that.

Thank you for your perspective, I think you nailed it. I misconstrued and I hope the community can more accurately address SheepDog's query.