'don't-count' treats...

trudijoy
trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
in Food and Nutrition
does anyone else do this? I don't eat back excercise calories but if I burn over 500 I let myself have one 'it doesn't have to go in the log' treat, like a cookie or an extra glass of wine or something because I know my defecit is still there. Kinda cheating without cheating.

Anyway it kinda works as an incentive for me to have decent workout sessions :)
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Replies

  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
    I've never logged exercise or my disgustingly regular and copious alcohol intake and my daily spoon or two of ice cream never makes it to the log.

    Somehow it all seems to work out OK ... :)
  • SenseiCole
    SenseiCole Posts: 429 Member
    sorry no

    reason being it will be easier for me to maintain if I know what is coming in and out of my body
  • victoire713
    victoire713 Posts: 720 Member
    I used to, but now I'm very self-consious of my body and what I eat...Except the acohol.
  • AntWrig
    AntWrig Posts: 2,273 Member
    does anyone else do this? I don't eat back excercise calories but if I burn over 500 I let myself have one 'it doesn't have to go in the log' treat, like a cookie or an extra glass of wine or something because I know my defecit is still there. Kinda cheating without cheating.

    Anyway it kinda works as an incentive for me to have decent workout sessions :)
    No.
  • Debbie_Ferr
    Debbie_Ferr Posts: 582 Member
    nope.
    Because when I review my reports.....to see 'how I did last month', the reports are then meaningless.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/reports

    I spend alot of time and energy logging in MFP, so for me, it's important that it shows the whole picture. an accurate picture.
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    nope.
    Because when I review my reports.....to see 'how I did last month', the reports are then meaningless.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/reports

    I spend alot of time and energy logging in MFP, so for me, it's important that it shows the whole picture. an accurate picture.

    i logged everything religiously for 3 months and i've lost 15 kg so if I burn big I feel like it's okay. oh well, each to their own :)
  • Rarity2013
    Rarity2013 Posts: 196 Member
    Nope. I use exercise calories as flexibility, rather than eating them back, because I do low impact exercise and don't burn very many. However, I do log every treat I have, regardless.
  • StArBeLLa87
    StArBeLLa87 Posts: 1,582 Member
    I used to, but now I'm very self-consious of my body and what I eat...Except the acohol.

    I want to hug you can you add me as a friend!
  • StArBeLLa87
    StArBeLLa87 Posts: 1,582 Member
    I suffer from OCD and if I don't log it i feel like I'm cheating myself and it drives me nuts! Ugh so I log every lil thing
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    I used to, but now I'm very self-consious of my body and what I eat...Except the acohol.

    I'm concious of things it's just..

    ah you know what? forget it. the people who do see it will probably not post here now anyway :laugh:

    forget i asked :)
  • Funnyfishat40
    Funnyfishat40 Posts: 52 Member
    Log everything because if you stall you may find your not eating enough e.g. if you eat one 100cal cookie and burn more
    than 500 cal your body may not like it and like the others said you have nothing to look back on to see where the problem could be
    I've found it a massive help
    xx
  • missdaisy79
    missdaisy79 Posts: 566 Member
    OP - I totally get where you're coming from, and I do this occasionally myself. In fact, I did it last night with a cookie and two chunks of dark chocolate. :smile:
  • Montarosa456
    Montarosa456 Posts: 133
    I log absolutely everything (a tiny bit OCD) and eat back most of my exercise calories (and still am losing weight) the reason I put on weight/hit a plateau previously is because I was working out and having too many treats because I thought I'd earn't it.
    Just by changing my treats and using extra the calories to make really healthy meals to ensure my body was/is fuelled efficiently I lost 3.5lb in two weeks!
    When I say changing my treats I mean having dark chocolate, peanut butter, frozen yoghurt, oaty home made cookies and granola and yoghurt over cake, sugar laden cookies, chocolate bars, dipping my spoon in nutella..(oh boy I miss that nutella!)
    If your 80% healthy you can afford to be 20% naughty! :)
    Whatever you do don't get down about it all..keep smiling :)
  • joyjay4fun
    joyjay4fun Posts: 160
    You arent alone, I dont either. I am aware of what I eat so I know internally whether or not its something I can have. I burn up to 1,000 cals some days per my heart monitor so for me if I eat a snickers oh well, I subtract that from my burned and keep it moving. It really is to each his own, dont feel bad. I applaud those who log everything, this just seems to work for me. :-)
  • vtmoon
    vtmoon Posts: 3,436 Member
    If you have a lot of weight to lose then being super accurate doesn't matter as much. You will be fine not entering stuff when you workout. Though once you get closer to ideal weight range, not entering stuff will make your logging some what pointless.
  • Joehenny
    Joehenny Posts: 1,222 Member
    I try not too. I just want to have the best possible relationship with food as possible. Don't want to trick my brain into thinking I deserve a reward every time it does something it's supposed to do. Ya kno?
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    OP I do what you do FREQUENTLY!! I exercise loads and end up completing my diary leaving a few hundred excess cals....!butttt as the evening wears on thats when I enjoy a wee treat (on top of the other treats that my diary DOES show!) and I know its ok cos I'm still under!!
    is it cheating? maybe but at the end of the day the most important thing is not going over our allowance and for me its rare that I do :)

    At the end of the day we still get results :-D
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    You arent alone, I dont either. I am aware of what I eat so I know internally whether or not its something I can have. I burn up to 1,000 cals some days per my heart monitor so for me if I eat a snickers oh well, I subtract that from my burned and keep it moving. It really is to each his own, dont feel bad. I applaud those who log everything, this just seems to work for me. :-)

    this is it. i burned 1014 today when i hadn't wanted to go to the gym but made myself. I had ONE cookie that i didn't count. and now this bunch are like óh MFP won't work for you now'.

    Tell that to my 15kg smaller body and see what it says. I logged religiously for ages. I started doing this when I started working out. It's a small treat occasionally. I'm not a binge eater.

    Some people need to actually read things properly and not throw stones!
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    on days I walk from my couch to my air-conditioned car in my garage, I don't count the gallon of ice cream I eat. I earned it!
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    OP I do what you do FREQUENTLY!! I exercise loads and end up completing my diary leaving a few hundred excess cals....!butttt as the evening wears on thats when I enjoy a wee treat (on top of the other treats that my diary DOES show!) and I know its ok cos I'm still under!!
    is it cheating? maybe but at the end of the day the most important thing is not going over our allowance and for me its rare that I do :)

    At the end of the day we still get results :-D

    mmhmmm. I don't have cheat days, or even cheat meals, because I'm serious about being more healthy. Loads of people have cheat days and theres a thread on the forum atm about a chick who wants to eat 5000 cal in one day.

    I don't have unlogged food on non workout days, or days when my workout is under 500. This was meant to be a lighthearted thread and now i'm pissed off lol
  • furrina
    furrina Posts: 148 Member
    I don't get in the mindset of "cheating" because I don't judge myself too harshly if I go over my calorie limit sometimes. I mean, nobody's really looking at it but you, so rather than rewarding and punishing yourself (especially with food), just get into the habit of logging and analyzing without the emotional connection.

    also when you use treats to "cheat' it's like saying your healthy diet is somehow oppressive and undesirable, something to be escaped. It's better to log everything (though don't beat yourself up if you miss a day here and there, esp. once you really know how much of what you can eat) and work any treats you want into your regular diet. It really is possible (and that's from someone who nets around 1250-1400 cals a day on maintenance, and had to go as low as 1150 to drop a few pounds).

    i mean it's sometimes tempting to do that: "I know i'm so much under today I'll just have this big hunk of cheese and not log it" or whatever, but at the rare times when i find myself doing that, it's like, well, who am I fooling, and why am I even thinking of it? The counting isn't meant to be oppressive or feel limiting, it's just a way of keeping track. It wouldn't really matter if I ate it or not, and when you get to the point where you know that intuitively (at the point where your healthy diet is really habit), there's less of that temptation.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    i log EVERYTHING.... because i LOVE MFP!!!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    This was meant to be a lighthearted thread and now i'm pissed off lol

    you got annoyed cos people didnt agree with you.... you obviously dont go on the forums much!!!

    you do what works for you... other people do what works for them!
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    This was meant to be a lighthearted thread and now i'm pissed off lol

    you got annoyed cos people didnt agree with you.... you obviously dont go on the forums much!!!

    you do what works for you... other people do what works for them!

    no no, i don't care if they disagree, but i got pissed off where people start giving me advice and telling me i'm doing it wrong, because I'm sure as hell not ...for me :D

    15kg down since Boxing Day WITH a crapped out thyroid and having had a big setback in the middle due to that is fine by me.
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
    I don't count white chocolate. Because I don't eat it.

    I also CBF being meticulous logging differing things. IE, if sampling different ice cream flavours, I will not log "choc ice cream, .0000001.24 cup" "vanilla ice cream, 0.023045324g".
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    does anyone else do this? I don't eat back excercise calories but if I burn over 500 I let myself have one 'it doesn't have to go in the log' treat, like a cookie or an extra glass of wine or something because I know my defecit is still there. Kinda cheating without cheating.

    Anyway it kinda works as an incentive for me to have decent workout sessions :)
    by not logging it the only person you're cheating is yourself. You're also giving yourself bad habits for the future if you start thinking that something doesn't matter because you've exercised its very easy for that to get worse so you assume you've exercised enough for such and such. IMO it's a matter of in the future when you're not calorie counting and maintaining your weight knowing that everything counts means you're more likely to be sensible with your eating rather than thinking something doesn't matter because you have exercised. I'm not saying you can't have treats now I just personally think you should log them so you learn there caloric value and worth within your daily diet.
  • EllaIsNotEnchanted
    EllaIsNotEnchanted Posts: 226 Member
    not logging will be lack of willpower.
    I don't want to go downhill back to bad habits.
  • deadbambi
    deadbambi Posts: 368
    I log every little thing. I find it makes it easier for me to keep track on how i'm doing. And to make myself aware of how bad some of the treats I used to eat really are!
  • chelseascounter
    chelseascounter Posts: 1,283 Member
    I count everything. I could see it turning into a habit if I didn't.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    It's ok if you're still having a deficit I suppose but not ideal as you might get carried away with the treats. I can over-enjoy crisps if I didn't have to log them. :devil:

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