Oops, success and wisdom

kevinogorman4
kevinogorman4 Posts: 10 Member
I hope to share successes, problems and wisdom. A bit of support and encouragement would not hurt either.

My biggest oops was discovered when I started using this site to track my food. It turns out I'm way over on sodium, way under on calcium. I had no idea I was a salt junkie because it doesn't come from the usual snacks. It comes from a salsa I like on my celery, from my cottage cheese, and from the salt I like on my hard-boiled egg. It's about double the goal this site recommends. Eeek.

My biggest success has been my weight loss. Being a guy helps, of course. But I'm still proud. I started on October 1 at 244 lbs. I weighed 182 this morning. I have an official NS goal of 173, so I'll have a 70-lb bear and a goal bear when I'm done. The long-term goal I have in mind is to stay in the 170's. I wouldn't mind the 160's, as my weight in college and the military was about 165 all the time, but I'm 71 years old now and I'm not going to push it. Normal BMI for my frame goes all the way up to 189, but I'm going to treat 180 as the dreaded red line.

I'm really loving the tracker here. It tells me so much more than the NS trackers did. And I just started with a Fitbit Zip, which tells me my walks with my dogs are probably the main reason I'm losing so well. Yesterday, I was out with them for about 2 hours, and it gave me credit for an extra 600 calories burned. Yippeee!

Replies

  • linna62
    linna62 Posts: 988 Member
    I wasn't clued into my sodium either- yowsers- front and center.

    you are doing - awesome!
  • Joanne3366
    Joanne3366 Posts: 2,135 Member
    Kevin-you are doing awesome! :) I do not salt anything. There is so much sodium in almost everything we eat, so I try not to add to it. I have a fitbit zip and I average around 12 steps a day and that is only at work.

  • dia_shewolf
    dia_shewolf Posts: 177 Member
    i'm enjoying this site much better to food tracking too. it helps clue you in on different things, like the sodium, that the NS one didn't. i'm thinking silver lining on the dark cloud of them shutting down the NS boards. never would have looked outside it otherwise :)

    btw, great job so far Kevin :) that's ALOT of pup walking :)

    ~kel
  • RogerToo
    RogerToo Posts: 16,157 Member
    I hope to share successes, problems and wisdom. A bit of support and encouragement would not hurt either.

    My biggest oops was discovered when I started using this site to track my food. It turns out I'm way over on sodium, way under on calcium. I had no idea I was a salt junkie because it doesn't come from the usual snacks. It comes from a salsa I like on my celery, from my cottage cheese, and from the salt I like on my hard-boiled egg. It's about double the goal this site recommends. Eeek.

    My biggest success has been my weight loss. Being a guy helps, of course. But I'm still proud. I started on October 1 at 244 lbs. I weighed 182 this morning. I have an official NS goal of 173, so I'll have a 70-lb bear and a goal bear when I'm done. The long-term goal I have in mind is to stay in the 170's. I wouldn't mind the 160's, as my weight in college and the military was about 165 all the time, but I'm 71 years old now and I'm not going to push it. Normal BMI for my frame goes all the way up to 189, but I'm going to treat 180 as the dreaded red line.

    I'm really loving the tracker here. It tells me so much more than the NS trackers did. And I just started with a Fitbit Zip, which tells me my walks with my dogs are probably the main reason I'm losing so well. Yesterday, I was out with them for about 2 hours, and it gave me credit for an extra 600 calories burned. Yippeee!

    Hi Kevin
    Welcome to this group. I must admit I do not always look at the sodium too. OTOH many days I do not have a big worry about it if I only eat NS foods.

    BTW Your 70 pound bear should also be kept company by a Goal Bear. If You hit both in the same shipment time frame You will have to call to get the one they did not ship since they only ship one per shipment.

    Good Luck
    Roger
    linna62 wrote: »
    I wasn't clued into my sodium either- yowsers- front and center.

    you are doing - awesome!

    Hi Linna
    That is one thing that they do a pretty decent job of with the NS foods. Mine must spike like crazy if I eat Ham or Chinese food.

    Have a Great Day
    Roger
    Joanne3366 wrote: »
    Kevin-you are doing awesome! :) I do not salt anything. There is so much sodium in almost everything we eat, so I try not to add to it. I have a fitbit zip and I average around 12 steps a day and that is only at work.

    Hi Joanne
    I used to be a heavy salt user. Pun sort of intended, Heavy with the salt and heavy weight too.

    Now if I try some of the things I used to eat they taste so salty!

    Cheers
    Roger
  • linna62
    linna62 Posts: 988 Member
    - I don't know Roger as just keying in my NS entree's my sodium is pretty close to max some days (below 2gms). When I see it as it is now, it did get my attention. Agreed about chinese and ham- although I rarely have either.
  • kevinogorman4
    kevinogorman4 Posts: 10 Member
    Let's see if I can attach the chart I made of my progress:
    0loonfggctmq.png

    I had to clip it, so you can't see the horizontal axis. The first one is 250 some time in September the next one is 244.0 on Oct 1 when I started fast 5. Then there are weekly weigh-ins for a while. Now I'm logging almost every day, to get a handle on what I should expect in maintenance. I knew it would be bumpy but I wanted to know how much.
  • Ladywolfe1127
    Ladywolfe1127 Posts: 5 Member
    Kevin, yes, the sodium intake was a surprise to me! I do not add salt to anything, but because of my power fuel choices, my sodium has been high, need to make different choices. Weight Watchers cheese has more sodium than Borden 2% I discovered, just from using this tracking. And speaking of Chinese, my husband, deceased now 3 years, was Type 1 diabetic. When he ate Chinese food, his blood sugar went up in the 400's!

    Jeannie
  • kayyield
    kayyield Posts: 568 Member
    nv6af08ihoiy.jpg

    Hi! Hope this is where it goes. But I made it to ONEderland and really wanted to share it!
  • Chalmation
    Chalmation Posts: 2,625 Member
    edited April 2015
    Kevin, yes, the sodium intake was a surprise to me! I do not add salt to anything, but because of my power fuel choices, my sodium has been high, need to make different choices. Weight Watchers cheese has more sodium than Borden 2% I discovered, just from using this tracking. And speaking of Chinese, my husband, deceased now 3 years, was Type 1 diabetic. When he ate Chinese food, his blood sugar went up in the 400's!

    Jeannie
    Same here. I don't add salt but some of my PFs are high sodium - MorningStar burgers, ham/turkey, cheese, etc. I got so frustrated with seeing high sodium numbers on my MFP tracker that I changed it so I wouldn't see it anymore! Even the Walden Farms dressings, which a lot of NSers use, have sodium. Its the only number on the label other than zero! I know salt is a good preservative, but can't we invent something better? :D
    kayyield wrote: »
    nv6af08ihoiy.jpg

    Hi! Hope this is where it goes. But I made it to ONEderland and really wanted to share it!
    Congrats!

    Cindy
  • dia_shewolf
    dia_shewolf Posts: 177 Member
    kayyield wrote: »
    nv6af08ihoiy.jpg

    Hi! Hope this is where it goes. But I made it to ONEderland and really wanted to share it!
    Congrats Kay!! :)
  • RogerToo
    RogerToo Posts: 16,157 Member
    kayyield wrote: »
    nv6af08ihoiy.jpg

    Hi! Hope this is where it goes. But I made it to ONEderland and really wanted to share it!

    Congratulations on Your Success

    Roger
    April 25, 2015 -155.5

    vqivar950p9y.jpg
    HxEv8k.jpg
    My Fitnesspal links
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    RogerToo from NutriSystem Stray Thoughts
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    [/URL]
    Early Risers - Eastern Time Zone
    I’ve Got the Power - Mon 3/30 to Sun 5/10 - Join Anytime!
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    Notice that the ticker only records in 1 pound increments,
    and only shows my loss since I joined My Fitness Pal :)
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  • mrbodance
    mrbodance Posts: 1,390 Member
    kayyield wrote: »
    nv6af08ihoiy.jpg

    Hi! Hope this is where it goes. But I made it to ONEderland and really wanted to share it!

    OOOOH that's one of the many badges I designed for the NS community! So happy to see you grabbed one and CONGRATS on ONEderland!!!

    Picture1_zpsumdu4laa.png61Kd6gpIIL__SX522__zpswemuctbc.jpg1DT3rOc


  • kayyield
    kayyield Posts: 568 Member
    mrbodance wrote: »
    kayyield wrote: »
    nv6af08ihoiy.jpg

    Hi! Hope this is where it goes. But I made it to ONEderland and really wanted to share it!

    OOOOH that's one of the many badges I designed for the NS community! So happy to see you grabbed one and CONGRATS on ONEderland!!!

    Picture1_zpsumdu4laa.png61Kd6gpIIL__SX522__zpswemuctbc.jpg1DT3rOc



    Yes, it is. Thank you. I had to get it before they were gone. It's like a going out of business sale. There were so many I had a difficult time choosing.
  • hope4change_val
    hope4change_val Posts: 2,116 Member
    Hi Everyone. Thanks Kevin for starting this topic. I agree that tracking nutrition here is much better (and easier) than on NS site. I probably would not have ventured out, but for them throwing us out. I never add salt, and tend to not eat the salty desserts (popcorn , etc.). My eye-opener was I had been markedly low on potassium. Who would have thought? So, now I seek out potassium rich foods like mushrooms, spinach, and potatoes, plus I bought a potassium supplement from Walgreens (BUT...it only adds 3% of daily value, so almost worthless).
  • maineapple
    maineapple Posts: 133 Member
    Having just finished the fast 5+ part of the program, today I am starting to add in the power fuels. I am finding that there is a place to log the NS foods, but not the power fuel foods. How are you guys tracking the 3 power fuels each day? When I have used the MFP app in the past I liked the fact that you could select snack.

    If I log the 3 power fuels and the NS foods, how is that going to work? If I log everything on the NuMi app is it going to show me as being over the calorie amount, even though I am eating the right amounts recommended by NS per day? Maybe my best choice is to just use the MFP app for all of it? It kind of seems too bad since there is a NuMi app to not be using it, but I definitely have to use one or the other and not both. Any suggestions? Thanks!
  • hope4change_val
    hope4change_val Posts: 2,116 Member
    I track everything on MFP. And occasionally update my weight on NuMi.
  • ssflbelle2012
    ssflbelle2012 Posts: 322 Member
    I track everything on MFP. I have no idea how that NuMi works. I don't even have the kind of cellphone I guess you need to make the thing work. I am old school a tracphone with straight talk.
  • Chalmation
    Chalmation Posts: 2,625 Member
    maineapple wrote: »
    Having just finished the fast 5+ part of the program, today I am starting to add in the power fuels. I am finding that there is a place to log the NS foods, but not the power fuel foods. How are you guys tracking the 3 power fuels each day? When I have used the MFP app in the past I liked the fact that you could select snack.

    If I log the 3 power fuels and the NS foods, how is that going to work? If I log everything on the NuMi app is it going to show me as being over the calorie amount, even though I am eating the right amounts recommended by NS per day? Maybe my best choice is to just use the MFP app for all of it? It kind of seems too bad since there is a NuMi app to not be using it, but I definitely have to use one or the other and not both. Any suggestions? Thanks!
    On a computer, from you MFP home page, click Food, then Settings. Scroll down and you will see where you can change the names of each meal.

    I just track on MFP. There's no reason to also track on NuMi. The only thing I'm going to use NuMi for is to track my weight so I can get Nutribears. :)


    2HyQ.gif
  • Nightingale2200
    Nightingale2200 Posts: 1,183 Member
    Chalmation wrote: »

    I just track on MFP. There's no reason to also track on NuMi. The only thing I'm going to use NuMi for is to track my weight so I can get Nutribears. :)

    2HyQ.gif

    I've been tracking both NuMi and MFP, but if we only have to use NuMi for the Nutribears, I'm going to stop that one and just keep MFP only.

  • Chalmation
    Chalmation Posts: 2,625 Member
    Chalmation wrote: »

    I just track on MFP. There's no reason to also track on NuMi. The only thing I'm going to use NuMi for is to track my weight so I can get Nutribears. :)

    2HyQ.gif

    I've been tracking both NuMi and MFP, but if we only have to use NuMi for the Nutribears, I'm going to stop that one and just keep MFP only.
    Yeah, its just too much work to track in both places, and unnecessary. But I want those bears! :D
  • Nightingale2200
    Nightingale2200 Posts: 1,183 Member
    LOL! Me, too.
  • eku0
    eku0 Posts: 10,438 Member
    edited May 2015
    Congrats Kevin, Kay, and everyone else in working on and meeting your goals. I have been using the mfp tracking for a long time, and it is very good for keeping track of different components of our diets. So it's great if you have special requirements....the nutrients are customizable. A lot of packaged food has a ton of sodium and lots of various sugars, and unhealthy oils.
    Best wishes for continued success. I think the mfp tracking is really helpful. :)
  • hope4change_val
    hope4change_val Posts: 2,116 Member
    Chalmation wrote: »
    Chalmation wrote: »

    I just track on MFP. There's no reason to also track on NuMi. The only thing I'm going to use NuMi for is to track my weight so I can get Nutribears. :)

    2HyQ.gif

    I've been tracking both NuMi and MFP, but if we only have to use NuMi for the Nutribears, I'm going to stop that one and just keep MFP only.
    Yeah, its just too much work to track in both places, and unnecessary. But I want those bears! :D

    To get the bears, we only have to enter our weight on either the NuMi app or website. We do not have to track food/water/exercise there.
  • Nightingale2200
    Nightingale2200 Posts: 1,183 Member

    To get the bears, we only have to enter our weight on either the NuMi app or website. We do not have to track food/water/exercise there.

    Just the weight? Oh, that's great. Thank you. :)