Opened Diary-Looking For Your Advice!

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  • MelAb8709
    MelAb8709 Posts: 140 Member
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    I am also 5'3" with PCOS and a solid diet and exercise regime keeps me effortlessly at 120lbs, eating 1800-2000 cals or so a day with the right macro ratios.

    I would say a solid diet/exercise regime does take effort.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    Other people have mentioned this, but do you weigh your food? I'm a little confused about some of your entries -- 1.6 slices of bread? Unless you're weighing it, how do you know that's not 1.5 slices, or 1.7?

    Also, it's always better to log the individual components of your meals, so if you're having toast with butter, you should enter the bread and the butter as separate entries (instead of finding a "buttered toast" entry).

    Good point, and great feedback. Will be working on logging foods more carefully. :smile:

    I kind of had this attitude of, "better than what I was doing". I need to step it up and buy a food scale!
    That's actually a perfectly fine attitude to have, as long as you're happy with the results! I think for a lot of people, making little changes and giving yourself time to adjust to the changes works much better than jumping into a drastic change suddenly. Trying to be just a little bit better every day can keep you going a lot longer than trying to be "perfect" (whatever that means) instantly.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    When you guys weigh food to stay within macros like 40/30/30 c/p/f...do you pre-log to make sure you are set for the day?

    I got there in baby steps. I started by getting my calories set (like you have done) and then looked at my macros and saw I was getting less protein than I wanted (I aim for at least 105 g, which is 30% of my minimum goal--my calories fluctuate depending on exercise). So I made an effort to add more protein--mostly this meant adding a dairy side (greek yogurt or cottage cheese) to my breakfast eggs and adjusting lunch a little--and doing this basically took care of it. My carbs and fat tend to be close if my protein is on target, and if I'm a bit high on fat (I do 30%) which is my usual issue, I don't much care.

    I think prelogging is a great approach as well and have used it too, but I've found it really helpful to just look at past days and see how they could have been adjusted.

    I don't prelog more than the current day, but I have a sense of the macro breakdown of the foods I eat and a general pattern to my meals that you probably develop from doing this for a while.

    Edit: oh, I misunderstood the question--you mean to meet the macros? I adjust the amount I'm eating sometimes to get there (have more steak or whatever if I'm low on protein so far and less potatoes), but usually the differences aren't so significant that adjusting estimated weights from prelogging will mess up my ratios much. I don't worry if they are a couple percentage points off, though.
    Also, dumb question. How to you gage the 40/30/30 on MFP? Is there somewhere on the daily food logscreen that shows percentages?

    The app will show this much better (it has a pie chart), but you can also do custom goals and put in your macro goals that you prefer, as well as your calorie target. (I think it's fine to have yours set on 1200 and aim for 1500 if that is what you like, but all that red would drive me mad. Even when I briefly did 1200 I reset mine to 1250 to have some wiggle room.)
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    When I pre-log I then go back and adjust weights as needed.

    For some things I'm pretty consistent. Like 9 times out of 10, I put exactly 24g of peanut butter on my sandwich. Too much or too little and I scrape off/add more. Other things it depends. Each banana is slightly different, for example, And honestly I don't fret so much for low cal items. Today I actually had 59g carrots with lunch. Did not go back and adjust the pre-logged entry from 56g. Then again, I actually used 13g of mayo instead of 14g on my tuna sandwich. If I use more on a high cal item: I DO adjust.

    One note about pre-portioned items: weigh them anyhow. Today for the first time in ages my 2 slices of bread came out to 42g. One serving of 2 slices is supposedly 41g. Its typically 45g-50g which is 10-20% higher. That's why you'll often see 2.2 slices on my lunch. Because if its 45g then that is 1.1 serving and so instead of 2 slices MFP shows 2.2.
  • JoJoLtd
    JoJoLtd Posts: 11 Member
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    I am also 5'3" with PCOS and a solid diet and exercise regime keeps me effortlessly at 120lbs, eating 1800-2000 cals or so a day with the right macro ratios.

    I would say a solid diet/exercise regime does take effort.

    True...been doing for so long now though it's integral to my life and does feel effortless :)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Good point, and great feedback. Will be working on logging foods more carefully. :smile:

    I kind of had this attitude of, "better than what I was doing". I need to step it up and buy a food scale!

    I started that way (and with that attitude, which is fine) for logging too. What pushed me into buying a food scale was realizing that it was actually less work (and kind of fun!) compared with the hassle of trying to estimate or fine workable entries. It's possible I was overthinking the latter, but once you get the tricks of the MFP database and get used to a scale I really do think it ends up being easier. There's a great post with logging tricks that I can never find that I hope someone will link.
  • moonspells
    moonspells Posts: 126 Member
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    From what I saw, there were some days that looked great and some where you probably need to add some fruit/veg...I've found fruit and veg to be lifesavers as far as filling me up with not too many calories. There's also the added benefit of fibre and nutrients. As others have noted, if you are eating a more balanced diet, you will likely find a big decrease in food cravings which will help keep you on track.
    Otherwise, keep doing what you're doing and don't be too impatient...it takes time but that time is going to pass, whether you are eating healthy and getting some exercise or not. Good luck! :o)
  • miniwheatxoxo
    miniwheatxoxo Posts: 51
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    You guys are flippin awesome. Love all of your feedback.

    Sometimes you get set in what you think is right, and need to try something new or hear it from a different perspective.

    I never had my diary open to even MFP friends, because I felt like I had something to hide. Like if I had a bad "eating week"-people would judge.

    But, its the opposite. It holds be accoutable to be honest and really evulate what I am shoving in my mouth.
  • lizarddev
    lizarddev Posts: 100 Member
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    You guys are flippin awesome. Love all of your feedback.

    Sometimes you get set in what you think is right, and need to try something new or hear it from a different perspective.

    I never had my diary open to even MFP friends, because I felt like I had something to hide. Like if I had a bad "eating week"-people would judge.

    But, its the opposite. It holds be accoutable to be honest and really evulate what I am shoving in my mouth.

    You are getting some great advice. I would add to the thread this, Take out the dairy for the time being and add some protein in to replace the calories losing from dairy. also remove the bread and add rice (Wheat long grain) to your meals. To measure you can either use the hand option, fist option or measure option. I usually do the fist option. I get a fist full of protein, fist full of veggies and half of fist of rice. to start. Also one thing that is missing is the sodium intake. I keep mine around 1000mg or under so I dont retain too much water and I able to hydrate my muscles correctly. You can always look at my diary cause it is opened to my friends. I ahve everything logged and I also have up'd my calories and stil losing weight. I haven't eaten break products or any dairy for the last 5 weeks and went from 275 to 257 as of this morning. I get all my macro nutrients that I need and meals. I eat between 5 to 6 meals a day and also incorporated a protein shake and one meal replacement shake (Protein) in there. I hope this helps you in making a logical decision for your health.

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