What's On Your Mind Today?
Options
Replies
-
I'm probably not much help either but my thinking was more towards what @biketheworld said though she said in a much gentler way than I would have managed. It is unfortunate that the holidays focus so much on food instead of family, friends and even doing things to help those less fortunate.
Are you not having these treats because they're unhealthy or too caloric and won't fit into your plan. I would examine why you feel deprived and cranky. Is it a case of feeling left out? I liked what @BMcC9 said about trying to make it more about the process of creating together. Ideally in smaller amounts than in the past to limit the window of temptation.
On another note ... I've never understood sugar cookies. Even when I was a kid and liked sweets I always thought they were the most boring tasteless cookies ever. Give me dark chocolate bourbon balls any day of the week!
3 -
Important news just discovered on another of my bookmarked discussions ...Bulk Editing of Food Diary .. How To on iOS and android devices!springlering62 wrote: »From the School of Head Smack:
It’s always driven me crazy that I couldn’t bulk edit my food diary when I changed plans (I sometimes log as far as a week in advance.)
I often put in a meal that has ten or twelve ingredients, or have to change serving size on all. That means I have to delete every entry (swipe left to delete) to correct portions or replace with new meal.
Well today I accidentally discovered how to do it easily and it’s via the honking big EDIT button at the top of the page.
Simply hit the EDIT button (smacks head yet again!)….
…..and edit as needed, quickly and efficiently (may add a head bang or two here)
Duh duh double DUH!
How did I never notice this button before? Familiarity breeds contempt, old dog new tricks etc etc etc.
Hoping this will help some other numpty like moi.
🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️goal06082021 wrote: »NB: for Android users, the "Edit" button is a little pencil icon in the upper right, instead of the word "edit" in the upper left like on iOS. Which I *did* see before right this very second, but never bothered to tap on it to see what it was, maybe I assumed it was like...a quick-access Notes button? Idk. But it is indeed the Edit feature. Heck.
Next you'll tell me there's a way to copy the whole day at once, or use recipes as ingredients in other recipes.goal06082021 wrote: »NB: for Android users, the "Edit" button is a little pencil icon in the upper right, instead of the word "edit" in the upper left like on iOS. Which I *did* see before right this very second, but never bothered to tap on it to see what it was, maybe I assumed it was like...a quick-access Notes button? Idk. But it is indeed the Edit feature. Heck.
Next you'll tell me there's a way to copy the whole day at once, or use recipes as ingredients in other recipes.
Pencil button, check mark at the top to select the whole day and then tap on the the dots and you'll see 'copy to date' as an option 😉
Please let me (and all of us) know if there is a website counterpart .... I don't use either phone app, and I might not be the only one.
I use the website on my iPad and there is are food/exercise buttons (highlighted) on the home page (top photo) It takes you to the food page, (bottom photo) where I can edit/copy/paste previous entries. I do prelog a week ahead sometimes, although that is easier on the app, as you can copy paste a whole day at a time. It's useful for meals which you have often. E.g. I have the same breakfast almost every day. Quick Tools enables you to copy to/from a specified date.
1 -
@Caroline_slowandsteady – I’m afraid I have no answers for you.
I recognise the scenario @biketheworld painted – I also baked cakes, cooked food specially for the children, had cupboards of treats and my daughter is now seriously overweight. Whether from the association of food = love or from the efforts I made to introduce her to the idea of dieting when she started getting chubby in her teens. Could I have handled it better?
I had a husband who was much bigger – taller and muscular and sporty- than me and two growing children. I yo-yo’d constantly and was probably not a good role model for my daughter, who, as mentioned above, has been overweight since her teens and is now seriously obese.
Perhaps when this festive season is over and before the next event, you can sit down as a family and discuss what you should do next time – like @BMcC9 suggested – look at what is important and agree on a way forward.
4 -
Hi @Caroline_slowandsteady!
Great question.
I can share what I do, but as I thought about this, I realized we each have different situations, weight gaining tendencies, interest & abilities with exercise, and folks we live with and/or socialize with.
Over time, by identifying what YOU need, you will try different approaches, and eventually find what works for you. The holidays are yearly events, so we don’t get the practice we get on weekdays, weekends, vacations, so it can take longer to figure out an approach.
Here is what works (most of the time) for me.
1. Food is not love.
2. Food & Celebrating/socializing with loved ones/friends two separate things. I separate the socializing from the food.
3. My health comes first. Someone gave me her kidney.
4. People who love me will want my health to come first.
5. I don’t enjoy my food in social situations because I am busy chatting & listening, so it’s hard for me to pay attention to it.
6. It’s just food. Not love, not happiness. It’s healthy nutrients, which lead to low blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, etc.
7. 75% of Americans are overweight or obese. So I no longer think “poor me I can’t have that.” Instead I think, “I’m glad I’m healthy & fit with vastly better health. Keep it up!”
I have consistently not eaten at social events or eaten out, to keep healthy with my kidney transplant. so people now expect that. COVID made this ironclad in my situation with 3 vaccine jabs & still no immunity.
I socialize with others making art or taking hikes. I had my dad over for thanksgiving & enjoyed the day. Made some dishes healthier. Then back on track 2 days later (some leftovers).
I find if I keep the holiday to our home cooked, track all, it lasts 1-2 days not weeks or a month.
Also I limit myself to only eating two sweet foods, which I have most days. I have realized in the past few days how many foods I no longer eat at all.
Why?
Health.5 -
@MadisonMolly2017 for President- or world wide dictator or something!6
-
@bookieNJ , @biketheworld , @WhatMeRunning , @BMcC9, @LazyBlondeChef, @lesdarts180, @MadisonMolly2017
Such great insights! I don't have time to fully engage right now, but wanted to jot down a few thoughts and maybe return to my reflections tomorrow.
The angle of thinking about how I am raising my kids altogether is a good one. We do really want to raise our kids to eat and enjoy nutritious food, but this is an area we have somewhat let things go due to general pandemic giving up. We give them too much takeout food and mac and cheese.
Making the holidays not all about treats is also a good idea. I don't think they are. I just think Thanksgiving and the Hanukkah and what really did me in was the post-vaccine treat x2 immediately before and immediately after all of that - all came at once. We got a special Hanukkah meal from a local restaurant - not for any good reason but just because when your religion is in the minority and someone aims something at you you feel like you have to buy it. But it was unexpectedly SO much food! Much of it did go uneaten.
And then just the mental trick of staying in my own lane and focusing on what I want rather than what other people in my house are doing- that is something I am good at in the day-to-day. It is somehow getting harder, and I wonder if it is that I am getting close to a weight that my body really doesn't want to get below. Or if that's just an excuse.
I am going to keep thinking about it and check back in.
All of those treats are gone from the house, so that's good.7 -
The last time that I lost my excess weight when my children were younger I found that using the self hypnosis techniques in this book, ¨Think Yourself Thin¨ by Darcy Buhler, thriftbooks.com/w/think-yourself-thin-with-cd-the-revolutionary-self-hypnosis-secret-to-permanent-weight-loss_darcy-d-buehler/413139/item/3819983/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqbyNBhC2ARIsALDwAsCG44g_ZOGxrZu42WjbslL89JhvU3WM92eFWVGC9bhWqPKG4PxrU0IaAkq9EALw_wcB#idiq=3819983&edition=4689928 was what made an amazing difference in my ability to see their ¨treats¨ in a different way.
Before I did this I had a problem that got so bad that I remember sneaking pieces of my children´s Halloween candy. And after I used her self hypnosis, especially the sugar aversion script, then sweets like brownies and cinnamon rolls could be left on the kitchen table for days until they ate them or were thrown out because I was just no longer tempted by them.
Most of us have been conditioned by our society and our parents to see sweet and fat filled processed foods as treats and rewards. Actually I used a combination of changing my conscious attitudes to see added sugars, refined flour, and super refined vegetable oils as ¨slow poison¨ instead of a reward and her self hypnosis scripts.
I kept that weight off for 4 years but then gradually started allowing myself more Double Dark Chocolate Zone Bars although I knew they were glorified candy bars. Gradually over the next 5 years I slid back into more use of processed foods and letting myself see the Standard American diet as ¨normal¨ (although unhealthy), while consciously not feeling I had the fortitude to do the kind of meal planning and meal preparation that it takes to avoid the Standard American diet. I was not in a good place emotionally, was terribly burned out with my work and secretly resentful of my husband who retired early while I had the fear of running out of money in retirement, and told myself I didn´t care how long I lived--- I was back completely in the sugar and processed food addiction and told myself if it took 5 years off my life, ¨so be it.¨
This year I retired, am happy again, and had shifted back to feeling I have the energy to do the meal prep. Gradually, but especially with reading books like ¨Metabolical¨ and ¨Come Comida Real¨ (too bad that one is only available in Spanish-- it would be a great one for you) I am back to honestly seeing added sugar, emotionally, as ¨not desirable¨ instead of desirable. It has amazed me the difference going into the grocery store. In the book ¨Come Comida Real¨ he talks about our society and the food industry like the ¨Matrix¨-- the constant bombardment of the processed food industry to condition us to see sugar, fat, and processed food as desireable and good. For me, finding a way to see through that ¨Matrix¨ and truly see AND FEEL those things as undesirable instead of desirable, is the key. (Although this time around I haven´t been able to test out whether I can pass by brownies on the kitchen talbe for days because my husband and I live alone and he is dieting too.)
5 -
... (Although this time around I haven´t been able to test out whether I can pass by brownies on the kitchen talbe for days because my husband and I live alone and he is dieting too.)
Funny you should mention that last bit ... I was looking back at multiple years worth of daily weigh-in data (on my Wii Fit+ program) and the sharp increase in my progress as soon as he was termed 'pre-diabetic due to age' - his daily sugar limited, and most sugary things just DON't come into the house on a regular basis.
(The best place to cut fat and sugar from any food-plan really IS ... in the grocery cart!
) 6 -
@BMcC9 Totally agree, the easiest way to make progress is not to buy the things that aren´t on your plan. Back in those days when I was trying to avoid buying sugary things I rarely baked anything I couldn´t have. My husband actually told me-- ¨you are going to be an awful grandma because you won´t have all those homebaked things for your grandkids like my mom does for our kids! (His mother lived next door and was the babysitter for our children while I worked part-time.) Our society´s standard of good motherhood are impossible to live up to-- we feel shamed for not feeding our kids healthy and also feel shamed for not indulging them with sugar. And to a certain extent it applies to our spouses as well.
Including unhealthy things in the diet regularly is seen as the norm and those that eat too healthy as somewhat strange-- people usually only see the unhealthy eating as a problem if there is obesity or other health problems and then it is often considered ¨personal responsability¨ instead of working to change our society (which just feels like too much for us to fight for.)5 -
@ideas2 so true!2
-
So today I traveled 45 minutes to go to a doctor's appointment which allows me time to listen to a podcast or two. Today I listened to Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod episode 357 - An Unconventional Approach to Make 2021 your best year, which he recommended listening to before I listen to episode 407. This episode had great information on goals. The one thing that resonated with me is that we need to focus on the journey and not the destination. I need to focus on the joy of the journey of my health and not focus on the specific weight I want to get to. I recommend listening to these episodes as we go into 2022. I started listening to episode 407and it's a repeat of 357.5
-
The aroma of my new coffee (only available at Christmas-time and in "stocking-stuffer" 1-pack-makes-1-pot" size) is WOOOOOOONNNNNNNderful! Very "curl up with this on a snowy night"ish butterscotch and caramel and vanilla notes.
But plain "black coffee from grounds" calorie count aka very minimal. I like flavoured coffees where they steam the flavour into the beans, then grind them. (not the "coffee specialty shop add-flavoured syrup" version. Those are sickeningly-sweet to my tastebuds"
6 -
Sooo about this "base your Daily Intake Number on your TDEE" thing ....
I am:- Female
- 63 yrs old
- medium bone-frame
- 5ft 2 in
- sedentary computer-based job (2 yrs to retirement)
- currently 143.9
- aiming for maintenance range ~ 135=>138 (for now)
According to the TDEE calculator that we were pointed to in the introduction to Dec 9, my target TDEE to stay where I am is 1393, and for me to maintain 138 would be 1388 (pre-any exercise credit calories)
If I bring myself down to ~ 1250 cals (pre-fitbit activity credits) does that seem to be a reasonable setting? As it stands the last few days, I have had to push to eat UP to the 1300 I was currently set at, so I don't think it is going to be a strain.
On weekends, and holidays I tend to sleep in, which leads to "inadvertent intermittent fasting" (trying to eat the same amount of calories in a shorter length of time) and I have started my Winter Break holidays now - so I have three straight weeks of that ahead (and we have a rather limited social schedule, so if the Christmas Season goodies are not bought by us and brought into the house, events that feature them are slim outside The Day Itself with a special occasion dessert). And I don't want to feel I "aught to eat the catch-up amount" at the end of the day, when I really don't actually want it.
Does my reasoning make sense? When I do have activity-credits, I aim to leave a minimum of ~100 uneaten if I have earned more than that. I am not a heavy-duty exerciser, Mostly 6000 -> 10 or 12000 steps in a day.
1 -
@BMcC9
I think if you stay right around 1250 you should be good. Your weight loss rate will be slow but it should be steady. I base that on my own 5'3" (small boned) currently at ~120lbs. I'm still trying to get about 112lbs which will take slightly < 1200 for an extended period of time.
1 -
remember that TDEE cals take exercise into account already. So if your TDEE is 1400 that is not a base # plus exercise credits. Also, the calculator takes several weeks to give a valid # because of that. @BMcC9 I agree with LBC that 1250 will keep you on a downward trend. My thoughts are to stick with that and keep inputting data to the calculator for 6 weeks. That will give you a better idea of your TDEE.2
-
Thanks to both of you. I have all of Novembers weight data I can plug into that spreadsheet to give me a running 6 wk start. The only confusing part (to me) is .., Does this mean I enter the MFP NET cals eaten, or ALL cals eaten?
- THERE WERE WEEKS WHERE I WAS MUCH MORE ACTIVE AND DOING 12000 to 1500 steps consistently every day
- Fitbit doesn't start to give me ANY exercise / activity credits in MFP until AFTER a certain lag between what activity I earned (aka not sitting in a chair) and what I enter MFP as having eaten.
- I think it is at LEAST a 500 cal difference, but I can check. That degree of lag might even be changeable in the Fitbit setup
- I never enter MFP-exercise except for "1 minute walking" after using my exergame or walked outside, so that fitbit decides "I exercised today" (which gives no net change in total exercise credits; just shifts 4 calories off the Fitbit line and onto a new line)
So on days where I ate more than the original goal set at the time, it was because I had WAY more extra calories "in the pot" after that, and my MFP net was barely braking 1000 (and I wouldn't eat them all back - MOST times IF I ade any, only just enough to get the other side of the goal, and there would still be significant amounts left.
Or am I overthinking this? I have been known to do that ..... but once I understand how my spreadsheet parameters work, I am good at detaching myself from "personal data", looking at it as belonging to "someone similar to myself", and basing plans on what the data tells me.0 -
All cals.0
-
I am confused about how to change the settings in MFP for my TDEE. I recently got a FitBit and have it synced to where it adds my actual exercise. I can find the part under goals where I can tell MFP what I want my calorie goal to be (I am using the set in grams part) but I haven´t been able to find where I tell it how active I am. Does it not need this when it is getting all my activity data from my FitBit? Right now I also have marked the box telling it not to charge me negatives for less exercise than expected--- can you explain this enough to me to allow me to know if that is the correct setting?
I am trying to figure how to set this thing up to help me achieve around a 500 calorie goal per day.
0 -
SummerSkier wrote: »All cals.
Got it!0 -
I am confused about how to change the settings in MFP for my TDEE. I recently got a FitBit and have it synced to where it adds my actual exercise. I can find the part under goals where I can tell MFP what I want my calorie goal to be (I am using the set in grams part) but I haven´t been able to find where I tell it how active I am. Does it not need this when it is getting all my activity data from my FitBit? Right now I also have marked the box telling it not to charge me negatives for less exercise than expected--- can you explain this enough to me to allow me to know if that is the correct setting?
I am trying to figure how to set this thing up to help me achieve around a 500 calorie goal per day.
There is a Fitbit Users Group https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
They might have your answers in the FAQ section. (worth checking, anyway!)
If you go to MY HOME (beside the FOOD and EXERCISE tabs) and the MY HOME / GOALS subgroup, you can select "Guided Setup" On that page is the 4 levels of choice (sedentary through very-active) that would best describe your NON-EXERCISE life. There is a SEPARATE second section for your usual exercise routine (times per week / approx duration, etc) Between the two, MFP sets up a built-in deficit related to how much you say you want to burn per week.
Below is a copied image that explains in detail the formula for how MFP "picks a number of calories". Keep in mind that MFP ALREADY builds in the indicated degree of deficit ahead of time (which - IF I am understanding correctly - TDEE doesn't and you build in yourself if you are out to shed rather than maintain (?) Please someone-who-knows, confirm or correct that so that @ideas2 is using correct info.
0
