Tips on being successful

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LRDeMo_Oo
LRDeMo_Oo Posts: 1 Member
in Motivation and Support
I am having a hard time with tracking my food. I find it to be tedious. I start off the week with the best intentions and then always fail by Wednesday or Thursday. And because of this, I am not making any progress. Any suggestions to be more successful?

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  • tehzephyrsong
    tehzephyrsong Posts: 435 Member
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    How well can you stick to a weekly eating plan? Try planning out your meals on Sunday or Monday night. Log everything then and there, and then all you have to do is refer to your diary the rest of the week. I don't know if that would be more or less tedious for you, but it would keep you in line through to the end of the week. Plus, if you've filled your pantry with healthful food choices, chances are you'll have a few calories left over each day; doing this allows you to see how many calories you will have "banked" if you follow your plan to the T, so you know right away whether or not you can afford to have a drink after work if you're invited out, for instance.
  • themedalist
    themedalist Posts: 3,214 Member
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    Logging everything you eat is a bit tedious. But I also think its essential. I'm not sure how anyone can lose weigh without a good handle on what they are currently eating. It was a real eye opener for me. If you have a smart phone the app makes logging pretty easy. My suggestion is to treat food logging like bushing your teeth. A necessary and daily task that you do to achieve the results that you want. It's definitely worth the few minutes each day.
  • ChrisC8181
    ChrisC8181 Posts: 29 Member
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    I think a large part of it has to do with mindset and getting "into it." Yes, it can be tedious if you consider it a chore. I know that tracking keeps me accountable and that's why I stopped finding it tedious. Like the other posters said, consider it something you have to do just like brushing your teeth or washing your face. To make it less draining, think of it as a break in the normal cycle of eating aimlessly - this is something that's helped me. I know that it's very easy for me to eat 3 or 4 of those delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies but once I log the first one, I find myself not as likely to eat more. Also, once you get in the habit of counting, it'll become easier. Just stick with it and know that doing it will bring results so that in the future, counting calories may become almost second nature.
  • Mitzimum
    Mitzimum Posts: 163 Member
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    For me it's about how much losing weight means to me. If I really want to make progress I have to log everything. It isn't so tedious when you think of every food item you add as progress. Also, it might help if you set yourself a time goal. Say 5kg by new years or something like that, I find that my goal is what keeps me in check more than anything.
  • Luvr2502
    Luvr2502 Posts: 26
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    Try pre planning your meals on here, using less calories than it suggests, then add in the little cheats you had throughout the day later. It makes you feel less horrible if you look at your food chart at the end of the day and realize that even though you cheated you are still doing okay.
  • maricash
    maricash Posts: 280 Member
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    It gets easier as you go on -- after a while the things you eat the most will be in your foods list and you can just add them quickly from there. Don't get too caught up on logging every little thing. That is, I know some people on here log ketchup, cough drops, spices, but it's not necessary. If I felt like I had to log a teaspoon of mustard, I'd find it tedious too, but I don't. Also, take advantage of the recipes tab if you cook a lot. I chose MFP over some other sites because of the recipe feature.
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
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    First of all, how long have you been doing this? Because if you only started out recently, then you ought to consider taking baby steps instead of doing everything all at once that will only leave you overwhelmed & can affect your motivation to lose weight.

    For example:
    week 1 - 1 can of soda per day (assuming you drink 2 or more cans of soda a day)
    week 3 - 2 cans of soda per week
    week 4 - 1 can of soda per 2 weeks plus trade a bag of doritos for a carrot stick as your snack

    I also did this myself 22 kilos (50 pounds) ago & well it worked for me.

    EDIT: wrong grammar, sorry
  • charelg
    charelg Posts: 599 Member
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    I log everyday it became part of my daily routine. If you find time to get on FB, etc you can make time to log food. I allow one day where I don't really log and go over. It really does work if you stick with it!! Good luck!????

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