Weight loss seems more difficult because of exercise

You have time to do all the exercise you do, BUT not 5 or 10 mins to log!! :noway:

It takes me 5 mins. to log all my food and I have been consistently losing!! (see ticker below :bigsmile: )

Good luck losing weight!! :happy:

Since your diary was open I took a look at the past couple of days. Most entries are prepackaged products, which may be easy to log. I cook the majority of my foods from scratch and it takes a lot more than 10 min a day to log.

Also, some of the calorie counts for items on your log are much lower when compared to the USDA database (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list). So, how do you know how much you are really eating?

It's really easy. Make recipes or create meals. Or both. I rarely log anything individually. I logged my whole weekend and Monday in about 3 minutes. A lot of times I can enter a whole day in about 30 seconds, just a couple clicks. I spend more time deciding which beer to drink than it takes to log the rest of the day in fact. Be smart about it and it's extremely quick and easy.

You have time to do all the exercise you do, BUT not 5 or 10 mins to log!! :noway:

It takes me 5 mins. to log all my food and I have been consistently losing!! (see ticker below :bigsmile: )

Good luck losing weight!! :happy:

Since your diary was open I took a look at the past couple of days. Most entries are prepackaged products, which may be easy to log. I cook the majority of my foods from scratch and it takes a lot more than 10 min a day to log.

Also, some of the calorie counts for items on your log are much lower when compared to the USDA database (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list). So, how do you know how much you are really eating?

I prepare/cook my own foods, too. The first time I enter a recipe takes a bit longer, but after that you just have to click a box.

If you cook recipes the same each time, that is true.

If your recipes vary, then log it as a meal instead of a recipe. Then when you log the meal, it adds all the pieces individually to your diary. Just edit the quantities/weights from there. Very quick.

You have time to do all the exercise you do, BUT not 5 or 10 mins to log!! :noway:

It takes me 5 mins. to log all my food and I have been consistently losing!! (see ticker below :bigsmile: )

Good luck losing weight!! :happy:

Since your diary was open I took a look at the past couple of days. Most entries are prepackaged products, which may be easy to log. I cook the majority of my foods from scratch and it takes a lot more than 10 min a day to log.

Also, some of the calorie counts for items on your log are much lower when compared to the USDA database (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list). So, how do you know how much you are really eating?

I prepare/cook my own foods, too. The first time I enter a recipe takes a bit longer, but after that you just have to click a box.

If you cook recipes the same each time, that is true.

it's really easy to edit recipes through the app... not so with the website

Reduce exercise from 7 hours per week to 6 hours and 25 minutes per week. Use the additional 5 minutes per day to track your calories. :flowerforyou:

Winner! /thread

Hard to lose weight if you don't know if you are at a deficit or not.
How do you find out if you are in a deficit? You track what you eat.
Saying you do not have time to track is utterly ridiculous.

If you want to lose weight you do what it takes. Simple.
Maybe you just aren't ready to start back up which is okay...when you are ready you will.

Tracking your intake does not take much time. I spend probably 10 minutes logging a day (less if i don't input a recipe of something i've made from scratch) I recommend you start logging.

as far as your arguments that things don't always match usda, yeah some entries in here aren't exactly accurate. but as others have said once you look it up and (edit it if need be) you have it in your frequent and recent list and it's easy to find next time with information you know is accurate. the biggest complaint I have with entries is the entries that say a slice of onion or a tsp of this or that. I wish everything was in grams and ounces because I weigh my food.

but even if things are just close to accurate you still have a pretty good picture of what you're doing. Some days my diary probably isn't accurate. I ate out adn am guessing a little. I still have a good idea if I was in a low calorie zone or if I was exceeding a little. a lot more than if i were keeping a mental tally in my head.

You have time to do all the exercise you do, BUT not 5 or 10 mins to log!! :noway:

It takes me 5 mins. to log all my food and I have been consistently losing!! (see ticker below :bigsmile: )

Good luck losing weight!! :happy:

Since your diary was open I took a look at the past couple of days. Most entries are prepackaged products, which may be easy to log. I cook the majority of my foods from scratch and it takes a lot more than 10 min a day to log.

Also, some of the calorie counts for items on your log are much lower when compared to the USDA database (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list). So, how do you know how much you are really eating?

It's really easy. Make recipes or create meals. Or both. I rarely log anything individually. I logged my whole weekend and Monday in about 3 minutes. A lot of times I can enter a whole day in about 30 seconds, just a couple clicks. I spend more time deciding which beer to drink than it takes to log the rest of the day in fact. Be smart about it and it's extremely quick and easy.

What do you mean by "be smart about it"? When there are more than a dozen entries for the same item, all with differing calorie and nutrient counts, how does one choose one smartly? When you create most meals from scratch without a recipe, how does one log that smartly and quickly each time?

Look at the label on the ingredients that you use, then choose one from the MFP database that matches. Or create your own if it's something obscure. If there's no label, use USDA information. If you don't have the slightest clue what it could be, google it or make an educated guess based on existing MFP database information. If you can't do any of this and you have a bunch of conflicting MFP entries, just look at a couple of them and find one that's roughly in the middle.

You have time to do all the exercise you do, BUT not 5 or 10 mins to log!! :noway:

It takes me 5 mins. to log all my food and I have been consistently losing!! (see ticker below :bigsmile: )

Good luck losing weight!! :happy:

Since your diary was open I took a look at the past couple of days. Most entries are prepackaged products, which may be easy to log. I cook the majority of my foods from scratch and it takes a lot more than 10 min a day to log.

Also, some of the calorie counts for items on your log are much lower when compared to the USDA database (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list). So, how do you know how much you are really eating?

It's really easy. Make recipes or create meals. Or both. I rarely log anything individually. I logged my whole weekend and Monday in about 3 minutes. A lot of times I can enter a whole day in about 30 seconds, just a couple clicks. I spend more time deciding which beer to drink than it takes to log the rest of the day in fact. Be smart about it and it's extremely quick and easy.

What do you mean by "be smart about it"? When there are more than a dozen entries for the same item, all with differing calorie and nutrient counts, how does one choose one smartly? When you create most meals from scratch without a recipe, how does one log that smartly and quickly each time?

Use the same one consistently. It's simple. If I eat chicken, I use the same entry for chicken that I've used for hundreds of days. Same for broccoli.. or pizza.. etc. Work smart, don't work hard. The app, both on your phone and computer, keep frequently used items.

How varying are the meals? Even if you're creating a recipe using the same ingredients, they'll still be in your frequently used items.

Like, I had tacos for lunch today. Do I need to create the ingredients for tacos? No. I use the same entry for chicken, scan the tortillas, and roll on with it.

My meals vary a lot. Even when I make chili, or stir fry, or stew, or pasta sauce, I don't use a recipe and I don't make it the same every time. MFP only keeps a small list of frequently used entries. I suppose I could enter 'recipes' for single ingredients that I've verified. But, honestly that seems silly.

I'm not knocking MFP. I think it's a great site and I can definitely see how logging can be helpful for many. I'm just saying it's not quick for everyone.

Honestly without logging you can know nothing for sure. My dietician as well as many people here will tell you that most people greatly underestimate the calories they are eating if they are not keeping a food diary.

It might take some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it's real a no-brainer and doesn't take much time at all. Most of eat a lot of the same foods over and over, so they will show up in your frequent used items.

I honestly wouldn't be at my goal today if I had been left to my own devices.

My meals vary a lot. Even when I make chili, or stir fry, or stew, or pasta sauce, I don't use a recipe and I don't make it the same every time. MFP only keeps a small list of frequently used entries. I suppose I could enter 'recipes' for single ingredients that I've verified. But, honestly that seems silly.

I'm not knocking MFP. I think it's a great site and I can definitely see how logging can be helpful for many. I'm just saying it's not quick for everyone.

Weight loss is a math equation. If you're not logging and losing weight, you're on one side of the equation. If you're not losing, then figuring out why is a good start.. and I can't think of many other ways to interpret intake than counting accurately.

It IS a great tool, and for a lot of people, it's really pretty simple. If you have complicated recipes, that's your choice right? If you don't want to log them, or think it's too time consuming or hard.. that's a choice, right? It's not an inherent flaw in the system... and the OP has decided to not count.

When they decide that they actually want to try losing weight and counting calories, the tool is here for them.

Of course it's my choice (?? duh!). No need for the passive agressive comments at the end, though. People lost weight long before MFP existed. Many of them did not log anything. MFP is just a tool. A good tool, but not a requirement for weight loss.

Of course it's my choice (?? duh!). No need for the passive agressive comments at the end, though. People lost weight long before MFP existed. Many of them did not log anything. MFP is just a tool. A good tool, but not a requirement for weight loss.

Passive aggressive? You may be reading too much into my response. I'm normally pretty blunt with my critiques on here, so there was no passive aggressiveness there.

You're right though, it is just a tool. It counts calories if people decide to do so.

So if they are attempting to lose weight, and failing like the OP... would you recommend that they not count/track? Or would you recommend that they make time to track until they figure out what they're doing wrong... since, in the end, it really is just a big equation?

ETA: My response wasn't directly to you in the first place, you've been here long enough to know how this works. Derp.

You have time to do all the exercise you do, BUT not 5 or 10 mins to log!! :noway:

It takes me 5 mins. to log all my food and I have been consistently losing!! (see ticker below :bigsmile: )

Good luck losing weight!! :happy:

Since your diary was open I took a look at the past couple of days. Most entries are prepackaged products, which may be easy to log. I cook the majority of my foods from scratch and it takes a lot more than 10 min a day to log.

Also, some of the calorie counts for items on your log are much lower when compared to the USDA database (http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list). So, how do you know how much you are really eating?

So what!! 90% of everything I put in is scanned, now this past weekend I was at a Ladies Retreat, so I had to guess estimate!! This morning I lost almost a pound so I guess I must be doing something right!!! Anyways I have been consistently losing weight!! :bigsmile:

I agree, you are doing something right. Congrats on your success. But that is totally off point.

My point and the "so what" is that it's may be quick and easy to log if you can scan most everything, but that doesn't mean it's true for everyone. So telling the OP that it only takes 5-10 min to enter may or may not be correct, depending on what the OP eats and how it's logged (e.g. using a computer without a scanner).

No one is discrediting his accomplishments so far. But to say you aren't sure if you're in a deficit and ask for advice.. counting calories is really the only way to answer his own question.

He ALSO asked for thoughts/advice on the weight loss stall during times of intense exercising.

He said in the post he's not going to calorie count - so why do people bother to tell him to or berate him because he doesn't. Can't they just move along without comment?

Makes no sense to me, is all....

Respect people's choices.

When I respond in one of these seemingly "hopeless" threads, it's almost entirely for the benefit of the lurkers, not the OP themselves. If the OP also decides to abandon their approach that wasn't (or stopped) working for them and tries my advice, then that's just a bonus.

If people like yourself are put off by my approach to threads like these, that is completely inconsequential to my decision of whether or not to respond. Posts like yours questioning my motives are just a seemingly inevitable yet annoying byproduct of the discourse.

No one is discrediting his accomplishments so far. But to say you aren't sure if you're in a deficit and ask for advice.. counting calories is really the only way to answer his own question.

He ALSO asked for thoughts/advice on the weight loss stall during times of intense exercising.

He said in the post he's not going to calorie count - so why do people bother to tell him to or berate him because he doesn't. Can't they just move along without comment?

Makes no sense to me, is all....

Respect people's choices.

When I respond in one of these seemingly "hopeless" threads, it's almost entirely for the benefit of the lurkers, not the OP themselves. If the OP also decides to abandon their approach that wasn't (or stopped) working for them and tries my advice, then that's just a bonus.

If people like yourself are put off by my approach to threads like these, that is completely inconsequential to my decision of whether or not to respond. Posts like yours questioning my motives are just a seemingly inevitable yet annoying byproduct of the discourse.

I'm sure the lurkers who are lucky enough to benefit from your insights are INCREDIBLY grateful for your wise (and humble) words.

Philanthropy in action - and with not a trace of narcissism.

NOT a trace. Oh noes.

No one is discrediting his accomplishments so far. But to say you aren't sure if you're in a deficit and ask for advice.. counting calories is really the only way to answer his own question.

He ALSO asked for thoughts/advice on the weight loss stall during times of intense exercising.

He said in the post he's not going to calorie count - so why do people bother to tell him to or berate him because he doesn't. Can't they just move along without comment?

Makes no sense to me, is all....

Respect people's choices.

When I respond in one of these seemingly "hopeless" threads, it's almost entirely for the benefit of the lurkers, not the OP themselves. If the OP also decides to abandon their approach that wasn't (or stopped) working for them and tries my advice, then that's just a bonus.

If people like yourself are put off by my approach to threads like these, that is completely inconsequential to my decision of whether or not to respond. Posts like yours questioning my motives are just a seemingly inevitable yet annoying byproduct of the discourse.

I'm sure the lurkers who are lucky enough to benefit from your insights are INCREDIBLY grateful for your wise (and humble) words.

Philanthropy in action - and with not a trace of narcissism.

NOT a trace. Oh noes.

Maybe...

...and maybe not. I've received enough feedback over the years from those who have told me my posts have been helpful to know that it's likely that you're wrong...(and admittedly, have also received some feedback that agrees with the underlying message of your post, albeit decidedly minority).

Either way, I'm going to rely on a different metric than just your opinion as I personally give it very little weight.

No hard feelings.

:flowerforyou: