Failed my first day calorie counting....

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  • ufoundfaith
    ufoundfaith Posts: 10
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    The first few days are more like "educational" days. You're learning how man calories are in each thing that you're eating. Noticing things that you may have never paid attention to before. Don't be too hard on yourself! Think of it as a learning experience.. you're learning whether or not those calories are worth it!
  • julietcrooks
    julietcrooks Posts: 14
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    log it BEFORE you put it in your mouth

    amazing how this helps stop the mindless eating and hoping


    Sounds like good advice to me!
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
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    Just to give you some more options, 1200 is usually low for anyone that's not short and not sedentary. If you have less then 50 pounds to lose, maybe you should set your weight loss to 1 pound or 1/2 pound a week. This will give you more calories to work with. I know we all want the weight to come off fast, but it's just not that easy. Also, if you're using MFP default settings, don't forget to eat your exercise calories.

    ^ This.

    Undereating coming from impatience is a big cause of failure for a lot of folks, so try to reassess your goals a bit to give you some more wiggle room.
    log it BEFORE you put it in your mouth

    amazing how this helps stop the mindless eating and hoping

    ^ this too.
  • SDHudgins1976
    SDHudgins1976 Posts: 140
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    Just keep at it!
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    You probably have your goals set too low. Did you select the recommended 1lb a wk or did you select 2lbs a week? Unless you have 50+ lbs to lose, you don't have to starve yourself. As a matter of fact, if you eat too few calories, you could end up depriving your body of nutrients that it needs. In turn, your body could react with counter-measure that could hinder your weight loss. I suggest that you re-examine how you have your goals set up.

    Also, tomorrow is another day. No reason to beat yourself up over this.
  • lorac321
    lorac321 Posts: 627 Member
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    I found it really helped after I got a HRM and a scale for my food. You're here and logging, keep it up.
  • Dabbadee
    Dabbadee Posts: 9
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    I failed at my calorie counting almost everyday, but I continue to strive to make it better.
  • julietcrooks
    julietcrooks Posts: 14
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    All good advice :) It's nice to have somewhere to discuss out journey's without judgement :)

    C'est La Vie....tomorrow is another day!

    Thanks!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    I used my first couple of weeks as an education as I had never tracked calories before. It was eye-opening to see what I was really eating and identifying which foods were really high in calories. I could then identify a set a of regular meals which I knew would keep me within my calorie goal and satisfy me.
    MFP set me at 1200 as well but I found myself really hungry and upped my calorie goal to 1300 which was doable for me.
    Spend some time finding out what works for you.

    Pretty much same here. When I first started a diary and weiging and measuring food, I didn't make any real changes initially. I wanted to use the first couple weeks for education...see what I was eating and where I was going wrong, not only in RE to my calories, but also in RE to other things I needed to watch (i.e. processed sugars, sodium, saturated fats) due to health concerns and my doc putting a foot up my *kitten*. I started disecting my diet and was pretty well on track within about a week and a half.

    Also, I had to play with my calories a bit. I found MFP's recs to be a bit low for me and I upped them and losing about a pound per week, which is my goal. Obviously I was never at the 1,200 level, but just an FYI, it can be a bit much for some and completely unnecessary in most cases. I know the urge to just jump right in and go all out and lose as much as possible as fast as possible...but trust me, you will find more success in going slow and low and you'll be more likely to make lasting habits going forward to maintenance.
  • UKMarjie
    UKMarjie Posts: 257 Member
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    First day? Epic Fail. And I mean 3500 calories worth of epic fail. LOL. So here's my tip - when you go to the birthday party with your kid - don't eat another full meal (especially if it involves bacon, creme a sucre, pancakes, whipping cream, two pieces of chocolate cake and ice cream and bacon - did I say that already?).

    What's that song? "Mama Said There'll be Days like this..."

    All you need to remember is that a year is made up of many days. Get your head around the fact that you are planning on having most of your days be within your goal (being sure it is realistic for what you want to achieve and your level of commitment) and then when that doesn't happen just pick up the next day and keep going.

    It takes a bit of getting used to. I was sucky about it for three days until I realized I could eat anything I like so long as it was within my limits. Forced better choices into my life and made me more accountable for some of the insanity (see bacon reference above).

    Chin up and keep on going! You'll do great!
  • betsij
    betsij Posts: 299 Member
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    log it BEFORE you put it in your mouth

    amazing how this helps stop the mindless eating and hoping

    Every time I go into a forum I love your comments!
  • UKMarjie
    UKMarjie Posts: 257 Member
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    Pretty much same here. When I first started a diary and weiging and measuring food, I didn't make any real changes initially. I wanted to use the first couple weeks for education...see what I was eating and where I was going wrong, not only in RE to my calories, but also in RE to other things I needed to watch (i.e. processed sugars, sodium, saturated fats) due to health concerns and my doc putting a foot up my *kitten*. I started disecting my diet and was pretty well on track within about a week and a half.

    Also, I had to play with my calories a bit. I found MFP's recs to be a bit low for me and I upped them and losing about a pound per week, which is my goal. Obviously I was never at the 1,200 level, but just an FYI, it can be a bit much for some and completely unnecessary in most cases. I know the urge to just jump right in and go all out and lose as much as possible as fast as possible...but trust me, you will find more success in going slow and low and you'll be more likely to make lasting habits going forward to maintenance.

    THIS!
  • nashsheri33
    nashsheri33 Posts: 225 Member
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    I am really proud of you for posting everything you ate. i have been tempted to 'forget' to post something that wasn't a good food choice. i admire your committment.
    i also agree that 1200 calories a day would be too much of a hardship. not an impossibility, but it definitely seems like torture, and maybe even foolish, if you are working out! your car won't go anywhere with no gas, and your body won't go with no food. i think you were wise to raise the number to a more reasonable one. the best number is the one you can stick with.
    by the way, i don't believe you failed. you counted your calories, and that's the point. maybe you feel bad about consuming too many calories, but please forgive yourself and remember that every day is a new beginning.
    keep up the good work.!
  • krissielynn87
    krissielynn87 Posts: 214 Member
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    I pre-log as much as possible. Especially on days I don't go to the gym or plan on doing anything extraordinary. It seems to be helping me. I find that weekends are much harder for me to do than anything
  • nicleed
    nicleed Posts: 247 Member
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    Thanks for the support guys....I've only got about 12 pounds to lose so I've changed my weight loss goal to 1 and a half pounds per week which has upped my calories to 1370 which is more realistic.....especially if I am going to be adding exercise into the mix too. I'll see if I can stick to 1370 tomorrow! No quitting! lol

    Hi there and welcome.

    Just a couple of points. If you only have 12 pounds to lose, try setting your goals to 1 or even .5 pound a week. Yes, it will take longer, but you will be SO, SO much more content. When I first started, I had about 20 pounds to lose, set my goals at 2pd a week, MFP gave me 1200 cals and I was STARVING and STABBY. Someone pointed me to this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/804485-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12 and I started upping cals. In the end, I lost the weight (and a couple of pounds more) in about 4.5 months eating around 1700 a day. And didn't have to give up any treats, just limited them. and I prelogged main meals so I knew if I had leftover cals for "treats"

    Also, given that a 2 pound weightloss a week is 1000 cal deficit, 1800 was still likely to be under your TDEE (the amount of cals you use going about your day-to-day activities), so yay you!
  • Rays_Wife
    Rays_Wife Posts: 1,173 Member
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    I always count up how many calories is in something first, then decide if I want to "spend" my calories on it. Now that I've been at this awhile, it's pretty much like second nature to me. It is tough at first learning how to log food, but once you get the hang of it, things go very smoothly. You will start to build up foods you normally eat on a regular basis that MFP will save for you and after some time it becomes just a matter of clicking boxes off. Logging my food literally takes me 10 minutes a day. If I decide to plan my day, maybe 15.

    So don't worry, you will learn and it will get easier. It's normal to "mess up" at first but you are doing great. You are trying! That is the first step. And I agree with others that with only 12 pounds to lose you should set your goals to .5 pounds-1 pound a week. That will make it easier and most sustainable for you. Then when you reach your goal it will be easier to maintain. Plus you'll retain more of your muscle that way :smile:

    If you really want to get into the nitty gritty of it all, I recommend this link to figuring out your maintainance calories and BMR :
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    You should be eating somewhere between your BMR and your TDEE (maintenance). I'd say 10-15% below TDEE given the small amount of weight you'd like to lose. Good luck, I hope that helps!

    ETA looks like someone beat me to posting the Roadmap link LOL! Good job nicleed.
  • bronnyd
    bronnyd Posts: 278 Member
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    log it BEFORE you put it in your mouth

    amazing how this helps stop the mindless eating and hoping

    Yes, this is really good advice. Especially with snacks, I always log it before I eat it. I like to see how much my afternoon snack is going to cost me and cut in to what I can have for dinner.
  • Surreallia
    Surreallia Posts: 16
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    log it BEFORE you put it in your mouth

    amazing how this helps stop the mindless eating and hoping


    Sounds like good advice to me!

    LOVE this. 2 days in and let me tell you... I added in an iced capp from timmy's and wouldn't even finish it because I saw the calorie jump in my diary =(
  • mathematical2011
    mathematical2011 Posts: 55 Member
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    I agree with what others have said!

    Also, I see that baby in your picture! If the baby is yours and you're breast feeding, you need to consume calories for that too! It's in the database as negative calories.
  • bronnyd
    bronnyd Posts: 278 Member
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    log it BEFORE you put it in your mouth

    amazing how this helps stop the mindless eating and hoping


    Sounds like good advice to me!

    LOVE this. 2 days in and let me tell you... I added in an iced capp from timmy's and wouldn't even finish it because I saw the calorie jump in my diary =(

    Those things are addictive but EXPENSIVE in the calorie department! After a while you'll start to get a knack for knowing what is worth spending your calories on and what is not. :smile:

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