OMG, I'm OVER my calories (epic rant coming up)

Options
epadmeister
epadmeister Posts: 102 Member
in Motivation and Support
... by FOUR calories. I'm over by FOUR calories and my home page is ridden with this huge, negative red line. Had I not eaten that extra cherry tomato, or that extra almond, I'd be warmly welcomed by a green line that says "Hey Emma, you're AWESOME!"

25srlev.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/25srlev.jpg

Nope, this is NOT the post you guys are expecting. This is not a post written by some girl who's freaking out over eating more than her "goal calories". This is not a post asking for reassurance or motivation to feel better about myself - sorry if you were getting ready to reply with an "it's just one day!" quote :laugh:

This is actually a post about how annoyed I am at the colour "red" and its association with going OVER calories. I mean, the colour generally means "DANGER" or "WARNING" or something negative. On MFP, it's amazing how those little red numbers can make people feel about their choices, about their day... you can go from feeling confident about your day and long term progress to feeling like you've done something WRONG, something bad.

Yet MFP has absolutely nothing (except for this tiny message at the bottom) to tell people to eat more if they are severely under their calorie goal. I've seen loads of users who've eaten 500 / 600 calories in a day. THAT number is in green. Not in red. So never mind starving your body by severely undereating, as long as you don't go OVER your calorie intake, those numbers will always be green, 'positive', 'under your calorie goal'.

My point being? Don't let the colour red on MFP make you feel crap. Ever. The fact that you're on here logging everything and trying to stick to your goals is amazing enough. Be healthy. :flowerforyou:
«13

Replies

  • karmac0matic
    karmac0matic Posts: 285
    Options
    If mine does that , I log like 10 minutes walking, because I'm sure I do at least that in a day. It keeps me feeling like not such a huge f/ing failure.
  • CindyMarcuzAdams
    CindyMarcuzAdams Posts: 4,006 Member
    Options
    They could use friendly yellow say 50 calories over and under. Then RED if you are more or less. Just an idea...
  • lucasmoten
    lucasmoten Posts: 143 Member
    Options
    I agree.. being under calories should be something other then green. The green/red just comes off as a binary Good/Bad when actuality is otherwise.

    If this really really bothers you, I can put together a greasemonkey userscript that will change the color of the bar.

    Maybe the bar should gradually transition colors when within 10% of goal.

    Perhaps the background of the bar should always say "Emma, you are most assuredly awesome!"
  • albionjen
    albionjen Posts: 86 Member
    Options
    Haha, totally agree. It annoys me so much that there is not a range "on target" but that stupid red green thing. Sigh...

    I just ignore the daily page, I never complete my log for the day and I just use MFP as a tool to make a food diary. This comes up again and again as a suggestion to change the site and app, but nothing has happened so far in the year I've been here. Try not to let it annoy you if you can. And never feel like you are failing if you get the "red line of doom". As you say 4 cal is hardly worth the bother.
  • epadmeister
    epadmeister Posts: 102 Member
    Options
    If this really really bothers you, I can put together a greasemonkey userscript that will change the color of the bar.
    Don't worry, it doesn't bother ME that much about my own calorie goals... I just know how it can make people feel super insecure about their calorie intake, that's what bugs me about it!
    Perhaps the background of the bar should always say "Emma, you are most assuredly awesome!"
    haha YES, I should so look into that :laugh: :laugh:
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Options
    I would totally jump on this rant waggon.. We need a way to set a RANGE rather than a value. I don't eat a specific number so I need to change my goals daily to stay in the green, set my goal at minimum to avoid under-eating or set my goal at maximum to avoid overeating depending on the situation. It's frustrating
  • I_love_frogs
    I_love_frogs Posts: 340 Member
    Options
    I agree.. being under calories should be something other then green. The green/red just comes off as a binary Good/Bad when actuality is otherwise.

    If this really really bothers you, I can put together a greasemonkey userscript that will change the color of the bar.

    Maybe the bar should gradually transition colors when within 10% of goal.

    Perhaps the background of the bar should always say "Emma, you are most assuredly awesome!"

    Personally I would LOVE a script like this....except for the "emma" part lol but the colors would be awesome and helpful for me at least.
  • SteampunkSongbird
    SteampunkSongbird Posts: 826 Member
    Options
    As far as I can remember, I've always finished the day under my calorie count (except maybe once, before I discovered just how massive a portion size of mince and tatties I was eating) but a few times I've been a few points in the red of my sugar or sat fat, and despite sometimes being as much as 500 calories under, those couple of red points make me feel awful.

    I like the idea of green changing to yellow if you go over by a little bit, and not going red unless you go significantly over.
  • CCSunlight
    CCSunlight Posts: 249 Member
    Options
    I have my goals set for 1.5 lbs a week, that way I give myself 250 calls on either side without feeling like I'm eating too much or too little
  • wolf23
    wolf23 Posts: 4,144 Member
    Options
    I always thought of it as a traffic signal...green means go, red means stop.
  • forkofpower
    forkofpower Posts: 171 Member
    Options
    I agree -- MFP should give you a calorie range rather than a set number.
  • PJPrimrose
    PJPrimrose Posts: 916 Member
    Options
    Walk around your house for awhile ( or in place watching TV or whatever) and log exercise calories over it! :smile:
  • lemonlionheart
    lemonlionheart Posts: 580 Member
    Options
    This is so so true. I drove myself crazy over that colour for a while, then I had the brilliant idea of setting my daily goal to 100 calories more and aiming for somewhere within that 100 calorie range! :)
  • SunKissed1989
    SunKissed1989 Posts: 1,314 Member
    Options
    Hear Hear!!:drinker:
  • b7bbs
    b7bbs Posts: 158 Member
    Options
    They could use friendly yellow say 50 calories over and under. Then RED if you are more or less. Just an idea...

    Good idea
  • Blacklance36
    Blacklance36 Posts: 755 Member
    Options
    Walk around your house for awhile ( or in place watching TV or whatever) and log exercise calories over it! :smile:

    2 push ups would do it.
  • liftingandlipstick
    liftingandlipstick Posts: 1,857 Member
    Options
    THIS! I exactly hit my fat goal the other day (which is lower than the MFP recommended BTW), and that 0 at the bottom was red! GRRRR. It's a goal, and I made it perfectly, and you're giving me the bad color!? I think when you hit one of your numbers right on the head it ought to be all sparkly and rainbow-y. Then green for 10ish% either way, yellow for 20 or so, THEN red. I'm with you.
  • Forty6and2
    Forty6and2 Posts: 2,492 Member
    Options
    Perhaps the background of the bar should always say "Emma, you are most assuredly awesome!"

    But.. what about the Amandas?
  • krawhitham
    krawhitham Posts: 831 Member
    Options
    I agree that there should be some sort of a color range.

    like: Red if way under, orange if 200 cals under, yellow if 100 or so cals under, green if a only little bit under, green if exact, green if a only little bit over, yellow if 100, orange if 200 cals over, and red if way over.

    I know if would be more complicated to program into the MFP program, but definitely would be more helpful for those of us tracking calories to lose weight.

    Whenever I go over, I find myself distributing those calories over the next week or so, so I'll know to eat a *little bit* less each day, since I decided to splurge on one day :)
  • 970Mikaela1
    970Mikaela1 Posts: 2,013 Member
    Options
    Hi Emma. you're still awesome:)

Categories