OMG, I'm OVER my calories (epic rant coming up)

epadmeister

... by FOUR calories. I'm over by FOUR calories and my home page is ridden with this huge, negative red line. Had I not eaten that extra cherry tomato, or that extra almond, I'd be warmly welcomed by a green line that says "Hey Emma, you're AWESOME!"


http://i62.tinypic.com/25srlev.jpg

Nope, this is NOT the post you guys are expecting. This is not a post written by some girl who's freaking out over eating more than her "goal calories". This is not a post asking for reassurance or motivation to feel better about myself - sorry if you were getting ready to reply with an "it's just one day!" quote :laugh:

This is actually a post about how annoyed I am at the colour "red" and its association with going OVER calories. I mean, the colour generally means "DANGER" or "WARNING" or something negative. On MFP, it's amazing how those little red numbers can make people feel about their choices, about their day... you can go from feeling confident about your day and long term progress to feeling like you've done something WRONG, something bad.

Yet MFP has absolutely nothing (except for this tiny message at the bottom) to tell people to eat more if they are severely under their calorie goal. I've seen loads of users who've eaten 500 / 600 calories in a day. THAT number is in green. Not in red. So never mind starving your body by severely undereating, as long as you don't go OVER your calorie intake, those numbers will always be green, 'positive', 'under your calorie goal'.

My point being? Don't let the colour red on MFP make you feel crap. Ever. The fact that you're on here logging everything and trying to stick to your goals is amazing enough. Be healthy. :flowerforyou:

karmac0matic

If mine does that , I log like 10 minutes walking, because I'm sure I do at least that in a day. It keeps me feeling like not such a huge f/ing failure.

CindyMarcuzAdams

They could use friendly yellow say 50 calories over and under. Then RED if you are more or less. Just an idea...

lucasmoten

I agree.. being under calories should be something other then green. The green/red just comes off as a binary Good/Bad when actuality is otherwise.

If this really really bothers you, I can put together a greasemonkey userscript that will change the color of the bar.

Maybe the bar should gradually transition colors when within 10% of goal.

Perhaps the background of the bar should always say "Emma, you are most assuredly awesome!"

albionjen

Haha, totally agree. It annoys me so much that there is not a range "on target" but that stupid red green thing. Sigh...

I just ignore the daily page, I never complete my log for the day and I just use MFP as a tool to make a food diary. This comes up again and again as a suggestion to change the site and app, but nothing has happened so far in the year I've been here. Try not to let it annoy you if you can. And never feel like you are failing if you get the "red line of doom". As you say 4 cal is hardly worth the bother.

epadmeister

If this really really bothers you, I can put together a greasemonkey userscript that will change the color of the bar.

Don't worry, it doesn't bother ME that much about my own calorie goals... I just know how it can make people feel super insecure about their calorie intake, that's what bugs me about it!

Perhaps the background of the bar should always say "Emma, you are most assuredly awesome!"

haha YES, I should so look into that :laugh: :laugh:

amusedmonkey

I would totally jump on this rant waggon.. We need a way to set a RANGE rather than a value. I don't eat a specific number so I need to change my goals daily to stay in the green, set my goal at minimum to avoid under-eating or set my goal at maximum to avoid overeating depending on the situation. It's frustrating

I_love_frogs

I agree.. being under calories should be something other then green. The green/red just comes off as a binary Good/Bad when actuality is otherwise.

If this really really bothers you, I can put together a greasemonkey userscript that will change the color of the bar.

Maybe the bar should gradually transition colors when within 10% of goal.

Perhaps the background of the bar should always say "Emma, you are most assuredly awesome!"

Personally I would LOVE a script like this....except for the "emma" part lol but the colors would be awesome and helpful for me at least.

SteampunkSongbird

As far as I can remember, I've always finished the day under my calorie count (except maybe once, before I discovered just how massive a portion size of mince and tatties I was eating) but a few times I've been a few points in the red of my sugar or sat fat, and despite sometimes being as much as 500 calories under, those couple of red points make me feel awful.

I like the idea of green changing to yellow if you go over by a little bit, and not going red unless you go significantly over.

CCSunlight

I have my goals set for 1.5 lbs a week, that way I give myself 250 calls on either side without feeling like I'm eating too much or too little

wolf23

I always thought of it as a traffic signal...green means go, red means stop.

forkofpower

I agree -- MFP should give you a calorie range rather than a set number.

PJPrimrose

Walk around your house for awhile ( or in place watching TV or whatever) and log exercise calories over it!

lemonlionheart

This is so so true. I drove myself crazy over that colour for a while, then I had the brilliant idea of setting my daily goal to 100 calories more and aiming for somewhere within that 100 calorie range!

SunKissed1989

Hear Hear!!:drinker:

b7bbs

They could use friendly yellow say 50 calories over and under. Then RED if you are more or less. Just an idea...

Good idea

Blacklance36

Walk around your house for awhile ( or in place watching TV or whatever) and log exercise calories over it!

2 push ups would do it.

liftingandlipstick

THIS! I exactly hit my fat goal the other day (which is lower than the MFP recommended BTW), and that 0 at the bottom was red! GRRRR. It's a goal, and I made it perfectly, and you're giving me the bad color!? I think when you hit one of your numbers right on the head it ought to be all sparkly and rainbow-y. Then green for 10ish% either way, yellow for 20 or so, THEN red. I'm with you.

Forty6and2

Perhaps the background of the bar should always say "Emma, you are most assuredly awesome!"

But.. what about the Amandas?

krawhitham

I agree that there should be some sort of a color range.

like: Red if way under, orange if 200 cals under, yellow if 100 or so cals under, green if a only little bit under, green if exact, green if a only little bit over, yellow if 100, orange if 200 cals over, and red if way over.

I know if would be more complicated to program into the MFP program, but definitely would be more helpful for those of us tracking calories to lose weight.

Whenever I go over, I find myself distributing those calories over the next week or so, so I'll know to eat a *little bit* less each day, since I decided to splurge on one day

970Mikaela1

Hi Emma. you're still awesome:)

Cathalain

Four calories over? I'm so not going to worry about THAT ish. I burn four calories just breathing. :bigsmile:

Sharon_C

The Fitbit dashboard has green, yellow and red. I always aim for green but if I'm in the yellow it doesn't bother me too much.

SeeKrisRun17

I never even noticed the red line. I care more about my weekly average than daily totals.

Alatariel75

Agree with all this. They make a big deal about it being a calorie goal, and that you aren't supposed to eat under your calories, but even if you are actually 100% spot on it turns red! What message is that sending??

krazyforyou

I dont understand the need for color coding in the first place. Hell we all know if we go over, they dont need to tell us. Its just like the change with blogs. I dont want a list determined by a vote of popularity. I was happy with the options before that. Sometimes you just need to leave things alone.

ChristineS_51

That red line is scary - and because our goal is a TARGET not a limit, it would be better if it was shades of green if within say ? 5% / yellow 10% / red more than 10% - maybe contact MFP and suggest that idea for a future upgrade?

Love the idea of the sparkly rainbow colour for being on target

SexualJesus

I don't mean to be malicious, but the original post is highly-neurotic.

First of all, you're getting upset over 4 calories? You probably burn more than that by merely thinking every day.

Second, use your head. I'm glad that there's a tool that provides a hard limit; I can understand why some people wouldn't want this, but if it bothers you then simply ignore it. It's a freaking different color!

amusedmonkey

I don't mean to be malicious, but the original post is highly-neurotic.

First of all, you're getting upset over 4 calories? You probably burn more than that by merely thinking every day.

Second, use your head. I'm glad that there's a tool that provides a hard limit; I can understand why some people wouldn't want this, but if it bothers you then simply ignore it. It's a freaking different color!

Have you even read the first post? She is not upset about going over her calories or the color, she is just stating the system is wrong and that people should not worry too much if the color is red because the logic behind the color coding is broken

Moving on.

GiGiBeans

Mine has been red so often lately the green startles me now. :blushing:

PinkCupcakes84

I don't mind the red at all especially since sometimes I pre log what I plan on eating. It's like it's saying "your big butt needs to stop now while you're ahead", or "nah, try again" lol.