Maintenance and blood product donations

Luke_rabbit
Luke_rabbit Posts: 1,031 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
When I searched older posts on blood donation, most responses recommended not counting it because it's just a small amount of extra calories to replace donated blood over 4-6 weeks. I feel like that is probably reasonable advice for people losing weight.

However, for maintenance, I'm trying to keep an accurate record of calories consumed and used, so it seems counterintuitive to just ignore something that's perhaps 450-650 calories, depending on which donation I do. I wouldn't eat a 500 calorie item and not record it, or do a 500 calorie exercise and skip adding it.

In my case, I am donating platelets, which I found online is about 450 - 500 calories over a week to replace, so about 65 - 70 calories per day.

How would you handle something like this, especially the data-driven people who like to keep as accurate as possible records? I could easily just add the full amount as a negative the day of, since I try to balance calories over an entire month, not each day.

Perhaps it's important to know that I am still struggling to stabilize my weight and stop my slow loss of about a third a pound a month, so ignoring a largish calorie expenditure seems like a bad idea for me.

Replies

  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    Though large when accounted in total the per day amount it likely within the margin of error for most people. For instance, 70 calories out of a hypothetical 2000 cal/day TDEE is only 3.5%. Even if you're on the small side or inactive that same 70 calories is 4.667% of a 1500 cal/day TDEE. Even for the most diligent of data collectors, there variability in the stated nutrition content (even on a per gram basis) that could easily incur that much variability.

    Also, consider that most operate within a weight range when in maintenance and adjust accordingly when hitting the low or high end of that range. I would suggest operating on that same principle; pick a strategy for a given time, observe the weight effect and adjust if necessary.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I've been in maintenance for years (except right now trying to lose my COVID weight)...for myself, this isn't something I ever concerned myself. Something in the realm of 65-75 calories per day is going to be well within the realm of human error anyway. Beyond that, it wouldn't be enough of a deficit to really do anything at all. The human body strives for homeostasis so being a bit under or over calories isn't really going to change anything weight/fat wise. The longer I was in maintenance, the more I realized maintenance isn't a fixed number...it isn't a static thing, it is fairly dynamic and a rather considerable range.

    I know I have days where I'm over what is listed as maintenance calories...and days when I'm under...and days when my CO is much higher than a more routine day because I happened to be much more active that day than normal...and days when I'm practically nothing more than a bump on a log. It's always just averaged out for me...I stopped trying to dial in perfection with this stuff a long time ago...the human body is just far too dynamic.
  • Luke_rabbit
    Luke_rabbit Posts: 1,031 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    When I was tracking I just added it as "exercise" on the day of donation - over the course of a month it didn't mater to me that the actual expenditure was spread over an extended period of time.

    To me it's no different to a 500cal jar of peanuts or sweets (candy) you might dip into over an extended period of time, log it as one item or a multitude of small amounts and it still adds up to 500.

    Thanks. I'll go with this idea. Logging it as "exercise" makes more sense to my brain than logging it as negative food calories (which I saw in the database and other threads).
  • Luke_rabbit
    Luke_rabbit Posts: 1,031 Member
    And thanks for the other answers.

    I do get the concept of maintenance. I hit the top end of my goal weight in early 2020. But, mostly due to GERD (which eliminates many high calorie foods and limits quantity and eating hours), I have struggled with getting enough calories in to stabilize. I really hope that eventually my body will hit homeostasis -- and before I am officially "underweight".
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    You’re really replacing those calories over a 6 week period, or whatever the allowed frequency is for your donation. So that’s less than 100 cals per week or 10-15 per day.
    On the other hand, if you feel better adding them Back in to ensure you’re eating enough, do it and monitor the effect on the scales. That’s what maintenance is all about 🤗

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