My life depends on it

stormieweather

Log everything! And weigh and measure everything you put in your mouth. What you think is 1/2 a cup might actually be 3/4 a cup. Or you may think you're eating 1 TBSP of peanut butter when you're actually eating 3. I bought a simple scale and two sets of measuring cups/spoons. Nothing goes on my plate or in my mouth that isn't weighed or measured and logged.

And eat all your calories!! Really important to fuel your body adequately.

smae1980

There are a couple of things to consider from a physiological stand point. First stress can have an impact on weight loss or gain. When your body is overly stressed it triggers a release or epinephrine(adrenaline). This causes your metabolism to slow down so your body can conserve energy for the body's "fight" response. Also if your body is not getting enough calories to function properly, meaning you are creating too much of a calorie deficit, your metabolism will also slow down to conserve energy. This is actually a physiological response dating back to our species beginnings as a precaution against starvation. Your body needs energy to burn energy.

smae1980

I do mean to log on your exercise, but take it off your settings if you have it in your initial profile - when you picked your lifestyle. Because lots of people (including myself) start with saying how much exercise you'll do in a week, and then ALSO log it when you do it - and if that's the case, you're essentially counting the exercise TWICE. Once as part of your weekly activities, and if you're entering it again as exercise on the site after you do it, then you're giving yourself credit for having done the exercise twice. SO, I took it off my personal setting, and then if I do it, log it. I have been able to lose weight without incorporating the exercise piece as of yet, and I set my goal at 1-2 pounds per week. if you put it on the profile, MFP is calculating extra calories for you, assuming you've done the exercise for the week, and that's part of what you do EVERY week, and would not be considered above and beyond the normal activity.

smae1980

I don't think that's true about setting you're exercise goals on your personal setting asnd then having them counted twice when you log your exercise daily. I tried taking my goals off and resetting and nothing changed my calories were the same and my projected weight loss was the same. I think it's just there to let you know how you're coming along for the week in reaching your workout goals.

txcwgirl

tjones - I have Fiber one and kashi bars for when I need a snack, they are about 130 - 140 cals for a bar. Good luck and make sure you are eating enough of the stuff that is good for you.

tjones7

I'm confused are you telling me not to log my exercise on MFP?

I think they are telling you to be careful not to double log the ex. Do you count the ex in your activity setting - sedentary, active, etc? If so, don't add more to ex log. Most of us set our activity setting to a level without exercise. That way we can be more specific on eating ex cal if our ex varies day to day.

Okay so I changed my settings to zero workouts and 0 minutes in my settings is that right?

mrsbeck

In your settings, it's gonna ask you what your activity level is. If you sit at a desk, or in a car all day, you want to put in sedentary. MFP will then assume you burn a lower amount of calories than someone who delivers mail on foot or waits tables. Your goals are just that-goals, things for you to aim for. You should enter some goals, because then you're making a commitment to exercising X amount of minutes per day or week.

I think what the person who mentioned counting exercise twice is saying is something else altogether. Let's say that you enter yourself as sedentary. So, just for the sake of an easy number to work with, let's say MFP thinks you burn 1800 cals a day. Ok, so MFP will set you at 1300 calories per day, so that you have a built-in 500 calorie deficit, whether you exercise or not. But if you were to put your settings at Lightly Active, MFP is going to think you burn around, say, 2100 calories per day, and therefore is going to give you 1600 cals to eat. And I think what that person upthread is saying is not to enter your mail route or your shift waiting tables as exercise, because those calories have already been accounted for in your settings. So, if you were to go into your exercise log and enter "walking, moderate pace" for 8 hours, you're counting exercise twice. BUT--if you wait tables or deliver mail for eight hours and then go to the gym and burn another 300 calories on the elliptical, you need to enter that exercise, because you should be eating at least half of those calories back.

I hope I stated that clearly enough--trying to post at work with the phone ringing off the hook!

auntbliz

MrsBeck, I think that was stated very well. For example, I am a homemaker with four kids, so I have my settings set at lightly active. Now, I know that you can log housework as exercise, but that is what makes me lightly active, so I don't log that as exercise. If I DID put in housework in the exercise tab, then MFP would tell me that I had extra calories to eat, because they would assume I went above and beyond that day, then I would be eating those exercise calories twice.

If you put in your settings that you have a goal of exercising 3 times a week for 20 minutes, it will say something like 60 calories burned goal, but it will not figure those extra 60 calories into your daily eating, at least not for me, and I've checked on that a couple of times by changing my goals, and my calorie allotment for the day stays the same. That's just there to remind you that you haven't done the workouts you've said you would do. It adds the calories in only after you've actually logged a specific exercise in that tab.

mrsbeck

Right, Auntbliz...it's been awhile since I've been in the settings tab, but what I remember is entering a goal of 4 workouts per week, 40 minutes apiece. It then gave me a calorie goal per day of 287, I think. That goal number doesn't get entered into my calories left for the day. That number is used (by me, anyway) to determine how hard I need to work. If my HRM says I haven't hit 287 today, then I either need to go longer or go harder...I consider that goal number to be the MINIMUM I need to aim for. However, no exercise calories get added to your calories remaining until you actually enter your actual numbers into the exercise log.

As far as housework, you're right. Don't enter anything that you do every single day. But if I'm doing deep cleaning, where furniture is getting moved, stepladders are being climbed repeatedly, etc, heck yeah I put that in!!! That's a skinny cow bar right there! :laugh:

tjones7

Okay, Thank you Mrs. Beck that makes sense. I have never logged me taking steps are walking for my jobh anyway just the stuff I do at the gym. I'm going to change my goals back:happy:

viliberty

I don't see many vegetables there. Focus on good nutrition and the rest will follow. Good Luck!