Living the Lifestyle, (LTL) Friday 4 August
Jimb376mfp
Posts: 6,236 Member
Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.
Monday -- imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday -- bwmalone (Brett)
Wednesday -- minimyzeme (Kim)
Thursday -- misterhub (Greg)
Friday -- Jimb376mfp (Jim)
Today’s Topic: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff?
For the past two weeks a new member at my WW meeting has cited the reason for her losing weight is that she had cut back on "condiments". At first I thought "How many condiments were you eating?"
I rarely think about the "small things" like catsup, tartar sauce, and other "condiments" as SPs, do you?
What "small thing" do you count?
What "small things" do you ignore?
Do you Sweat the Small Stuff? when it comes to counting SPs, calories and life in general?
Monday -- imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday -- bwmalone (Brett)
Wednesday -- minimyzeme (Kim)
Thursday -- misterhub (Greg)
Friday -- Jimb376mfp (Jim)
Today’s Topic: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff?
For the past two weeks a new member at my WW meeting has cited the reason for her losing weight is that she had cut back on "condiments". At first I thought "How many condiments were you eating?"
I rarely think about the "small things" like catsup, tartar sauce, and other "condiments" as SPs, do you?
What "small thing" do you count?
What "small things" do you ignore?
Do you Sweat the Small Stuff? when it comes to counting SPs, calories and life in general?
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Replies
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My attitude was shaped by my WW Meeting Leader saying we didn't gain our weight from eating too much fruit! The point being that yes moderation in all things but I wasn't fat from eating fruit. I have cut back or eliminated some "small things". I have cut out artificial sweeteners from my coffee, I limit my cream to 1 Tbsp of SF hazelnut flavored.
I don't track how many servings of fruits and vegetables I have on a daily basis. I don't measure the skim milk I pour on my cereal (I do try to measure the cereal).
Just how diligent I am may be a matter of laziness. As long as I continue to lose (slowly) I feel I am On Program. If/when I hit a dreaded "plateau" I will start to Sweat the Small Stuff.
(Next week I may ask that lady what she was consuming in the way of condiments Pre WW? I'll report back next week.)1 -
Unless she was talking about mayonnaise and ranch dressing I'm having a hard time understanding how condiments caused that big of a loss!
I consider myself a rough tracker, but it works for me. If it didn't then I might start getting more vigilant. I track every day but I rarely pull out my measuring cups or scale. I do know how many cups my Tupperware holds and I do calculate the calories of what I cook and put it into individual servings so that covers most of my meals. I'll occasionally pull out the measurements if I think things are getting out of hand, but day to day I think I do a fair job of eyeballing. Like you Jim, I don't think I got fat because I didn't weigh my banana to figure out how many grams it was. I think the awareness of writing things down is what keeps me on track and I like that I don't have to be obsessive about it.1 -
I eyeball fruit and vegetables, but I track them. OK, maybe not the lettuce in a sandwich which is 5 calories.
I tried intuitive maintenance but that hasn't worked for me since I gained back 10 lbs over my personal goal. I'm back to tracking, measuring and weighing.
In losing mode, MFP gives me 1200 calories per day. A banana at 105 calories is a big chunk of 1200. I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. I track them but I eyeball the size.
That said, perhaps her condiments included guacamole, hummus or chocolate syrup on her PB sandwich. j/k. I have no idea how cutting condiments could be responsible for her weight loss.1 -
I track and weigh as much as I can. yes even fruits and vegetables because I like to see what I am eating and my over- indulging. Condiments not so much. If I have 70 calories of small things in a day then I will add it.1
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The only condiments I use are mayonnaise (the real stuff), ghee, and fresh salsa. I do measure them although I will toss in the last bit from the salsa container if it is getting near the end. I didn't get fat eating too much salsa. But mayonnaise and ghee can pack a punch so it gets weighed.
I don't bother weighing the frozen spinach I put in my omelette but since I nearly always get 4 servings out of a bag, I've already factored that into my pre-built recipe for my omelette.
I know from prior experience that relying on eyeballing portions will result in portion creep. My kitchen scale is always at the ready and the food I take to work is pre-portioned so it doesn't add any appreciable amount of time to my routine to just weigh/measure.
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I track (on WW) all my fruits and veggies. Also my margarine, which I eyeball. I weigh/measure just about everything else, in house. Outside, guesstimate. Catsup, mustard, not so much.1
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Sadly, my recent challenge is to "sweat the tracking stuff". For whatever reason, I have been struggling with just making myself track what I eat. I know that tracking helps me eat healthier and lose weight. I think I need to do a little soul-searching to figure out what is going on with me.1
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@gavinflynn1 I've been doing some soul-searching as well. I'm going through a high motivation period to lose the 10 lbs I've gained over my personal goal. I figure now is the time to think it through and see if I can figure out how to maintain my weight.2
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If it is a fat based product (butter, mayo, as example) then yah... I track it. Sometimes I eyeball, but I've weighed enough times that I trust my eyeballs for the most part, and I check in with the scale every 3 or 4 times using a given product to make sure I know what is what. Things like mustard, salsa and other low calorie condiments.. not so much.
Fruits I track, but not always weigh unless they are unusual size... Veggies I eyeball every time, unless they are going into a recipe, in which case I want to get as accurate as possible so the only error should be in portioning out the recipe.0 -
When counting, I counted everything that had points. Green veggies were "free" I think, but fruit had points.
Salsa and mustard became my favorite condiments.
Today for lunch while fishing, I had a grilled chicken sandwich with brown mustard. Old habit now.0 -
I try to account for the small stuff if it has points (still following WW). If I don't have a known quantity, I'll estimate or just assign a point or two depending on how much I eat.
A long time ago, our meeting leader made the point about how this stuff can add up but more importantly, urged us to just go ahead and track it (and whatever else we eat). It was a mental emphasis for me: just track it. It didn't make me a bad (or good) person. It didn't change my life in some profound way. Even if I ate way over my allocation, tracking it was a way of accounting for it, learning from it if need be, and moving on.
The points are what the points are. On my craziest day now, I'm eating far less than I used to and thinking about it in the process. Whether it's a 40-point burger or a schmear of mayonnaise, it goes in the tracker. Fruits and veggies--no. Our internet is so slow that I lose patience tracking things I don't absolutely have to.1 -
Some years ago there was a goadster, WOODMANGLER, who despite 'doing everything right' was not losing weight. Or gaining. He may have been the biggest Negative Nancy of all time and did not take kindly to the more 'upfront' feedback he was receiving.
After weeks of whining, Woody finally acknowledged he was drinking eight cups (YES, 8 CUPS)! of coffee every day. Each with cream.
This was also a common theme when PointsPlus first came out ("I don't know why I'm not losing weight. I stay within my points, and can't even manage to eat them'" all while consuming several bushels of fresh fruit daily.)
So, the lesson learned is small stuff can become big stuff. So if the scale isn't responding the way one thinks it should, it's time to 'sweat the small stuff.'
Before I went to IM, I tracked everything with points (plus F/V). When I choose to track, I do the same.1
This discussion has been closed.