New here and already discouraged :(

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  • jrbb03092
    jrbb03092 Posts: 198 Member
    I love my fitbit. It really motivates me to move. Just remember though that it calculates your BMR (basal metabolic rate - the calories your body burns just keeping you going and alive) and then adds any activity you do on top of that (so don't freak when you wake up in the morning and see 400-600 calories burned - yes, you did burn those sleeping).

    As well, if you link fitbit with mfp, log your food on mfp and log your activity (see below) on fitbit.

    If you do anything step-based, walking, running, leave things alone - fitbit will track that. DO NOT enter it anywhere.

    If you do elliptical, bicycling, rowing, etc, log your activity on fitbit (complete with times) and it will remove its record for that time and insert yours (still counts your steps, but will acknowledge the added activity that it couldn't record).

    Hope that helps :)
  • SpeSHul_SnoflEHk
    SpeSHul_SnoflEHk Posts: 6,256 Member
    Accoding to MFP, you justjoine din September, and it's only the 16th. That means at most, you have been tracking here for 16 days. Not a full month. more like 2 weeks. That's not a lot of time to get anything moving. It's hardly time to have formed any new habits. Looking through your diary, I see about 11-12days of logging.

    I don't know what your stats are: height, activity level, etc. I just know you said you were 182. What is your goal weight? How are you measuring your food? Do you weigh it? Do you measure it? Are you just eyeballing it?

    I see you are exercising most days. How are you measuring yor burns? Are you going with what MFP says? Are you going by what the machines say? Are you wearing a HRM, or a fit bit, or similar device? I know that for different people there are different levels of burn for the same exercise. For me, I was going with what MFP said for a while, and not moving. I started plugging in the machine burns when I used them, and they were better. When I finally got a HRM, I realized the machines generally overestimated my burns by a signifcant factor, and was able to tweak my plan and start losing again. I have friends who have found the HRM and machines/MFP pretty much matched up.

    If you haven't had a chance to look through the forums, check out some of the threads out there that already have some good helpful information available.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read
  • quiltchickie
    quiltchickie Posts: 50 Member
    Thanks guys. Happy today is a new day and every day I get a "do over". I will start watching a lot more closely. Can't wait to get my FitBit.
  • jbladecki
    jbladecki Posts: 15 Member
    I feel your pain! I watch what I eat and I can't say that I'm under my calorie goal everyday but I'm close (50 cal).I have lost .6 in the last month so I feel I'm not working out enough but I work out about 20-30 min on cardio and try do some strength also(only when my husband is not home because he laughs at me). Just don't give up because it will become a habbit and you will automatically add everything. Hang in there:smile:
  • Nico_the_enabler
    Nico_the_enabler Posts: 123 Member
    Realising this may have been mentioned already :P But firstly. Welcome to the madness that is MFP. Try to stay clear of the trolls and the fads.
    Also. Just be aware that scanning is a great tool. But you absolutely have to make sure that the serving size you scan is the actual ammount you are serving yourself. Food companys will often say xxx cal per serve on a 'single serve' item. Only if you read the nutrition label it will sometimes reveal that 'single serve' is in fact two servings. They do this to make their product seem healthier than it is. So, pay attention to nutrition labels and serving sizes.
    Also. Not all foods saved on mfp are logged accurately. Members can add foods which get added to the database and some of the harder to track foods ie.. homemade curry or such. Are at best guestimates. And some of the foods i have gone to log like soup and what have you. Have been way off. So I spent the first 3 months here.. checking everything. lol. OCD for the win lolol.
    And lastly your husband has become one of many spouses in the world currently wondering if his partner has lost her mind, by logging every single thing she sticks in her mouth. But give it 3 months and if you are one of the lucky ones. He will be weighing that spagetti and cheese before he puts it on your plate.
    FR sent.
    Good luck :D
  • quiltchickie
    quiltchickie Posts: 50 Member
    I went about six days back on your log - the calories looks off - too little to be believable for pizza, beer sounds like light beer but not logged as that...And I did not see a single piece of fresh fruit or vegetables...Lots of beer, alcohol, pretzels, mac & cheese and pizza....
    That will be an issue.....Also, if you don't have a food scale, how do you know you are logging correctly?
    Do feel like I need to address this comment. Lots of beer, alcohol & mac & cheese was a result of a softball picnic this weekend. These haven`t been on my daily intake foods (maybe a light beer now and then which I am reserving for an occasipnal light beer on weekends) I believe my struggle is that, believe it or not, my eating habits have changed tremendously, plus I have added excercise too (something new to me). Previously with the kids running to ball games & such, I lived on fast food & concession stand food. Thanks for the reminder about fruits & veggies, too. Started new today & am confident I am much better educated now because of all of the suggestions here. Thanks again.

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