Simple trick that took an embarrassingly long time for you to figure out...
Options
Replies
-
I wouldn't say I'm embarrassed, but I wish I realized years ago what a difference NEAT could make in my weight loss.12
-
I think the biggest thing is realizing I didn't have to eat rabbit food to lose weight. The thought of salad and constant veggies doesn't appeal to me so figuring out I could eat more of the food I liked, but in moderation, was a big deal to me.31
-
Lillymoo01 wrote: »I started off on another app and forum which had been hijacked by 'Dr' Fung followers. Although deep down I knew much of what was being said was woo I began fearing too many carbs and even started feeling guilty about eating bananas. Finally woke up to myself and could see how thing way of thinking could easily lead to an eating disorder. Found this place which is so much better, increased my carbs (still feel a tad guilty about going over 45% or 200 grams but getting better) and unsurprisingly still manage to lose weight at the same rate until I hit my goal weight. I am healthier and so much less stressed about food as a result of coming here.
Had to pop in and tell you I just happened to be sitting here eating a banana as I read your comment @Lillymoo01 lol! I love them so much that I kept buying them even when banana prices soared because of cyclone damage. Yeah, I don't think I'd go too well with low carb lol. Anyway, it's great that you are feeling more relaxed about food.
My revelation since joining MFP is that there is a difference between calorie targets while in deficit vs maintenance. I used to think I would have to eat at my deficit calories target forever if I was going to avoid putting all the weight back on. I felt like I had failed if I didn't reach my set calorie target every day. Now, I'm also more flexible with my calories and eat more on days that I'm hungrier, knowing that anything under maintenance will eventually lead to weight loss, albeit more slowly.20 -
That I didn't have to eat lettuce and other "rabbit food" for the rest of my life to lose weight. That I could still eat the things I enjoyed, I just had to be a little more careful with how much.
It was a giant eye-opener, let me tell you. (I hate most kinds of vegetables and fruits.)8 -
For me it was when I used to just eat a meal, track it, eat a meal, track it, and panic towards the end of the day when I'm starving and realized I have 50 calories left. Learning to plan my whole day out ahead of time definitely took the guess-work out of eating!40
-
silverblaze55 wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »ladyhusker39 wrote: »
But the particularly embarrassing one is that I spent months scooping out foods like cream cheese, peanut butter, oil, butter, etc into a container so I could weight it on my food scale. Eventually someone on here pointed out that I can simply weigh the container before and after I get what I want and subtract the difference to get the total amount I ate. Duh! Now it seems so obvious.
Even easier, put container on scale, tare, remove required amount. Negative reading is your grams
This is a great trick for those of us that like to eat yogurt right out of the container. Lol. It took me a few weeks to figure it out.
I tend to eat Ben&Jerry’s and Hagen Daas straight out of the pint. So this is how I figure out how many portions I’ve actually eaten, lol.
7 -
That I don't need to make sure I get 20k+ steps in a day to maintain my weight.... no, I actually just have to eat 200 calories LESS and voila! all that extra energy expended for years for 200 calories!!! needless to say I wish the penny had dropped for me a longggg time ago LOL (I have now no clue how many steps I do in the day and what's more, I don't care)27
-
Planning the day vs. planning for each meal. In fact a lot of days I will plan for the week, except dinners and than I will add that.11
-
The fact that I can eat pretty much anything as long as I do portion control on it.24
-
You can also put the plate with the piece of bread on the scale, tare it, then put mayo on it and see how much. The tare it again, put cheese on it, etc.14
-
Nony_Mouse wrote: »collectingblues wrote: »Also the recipe builder -- but that ingredients don't have to be set in stone.
For things that I make as a recipe that have variable weights -- like a potato gratin, pot roast, chicken paprika, etc. -- I set it up once, and then, as I'm making the actual meal, I go in and alter the quantities to reflect the actual weight of the ingredients. Because things like flour/butter aren't going to change from making to making, but it's not like I'm going to have the exact grams of potato or veg, or beef or chicken, every single time.
Yep, I do this too.
Also, if you're entering the recipe manually, the 'old' recipe calculator works a hell of a lot better for actually matching ingredients.
I will try that old calculator. That new one is crap for matching ingredients.
1 -
Put bowl on scale. Tare. Add ingredient until desired weight is reached. Tare. Repeat.
I don't wanna talk about how long it took me to start doing this. And I have a Ph.D.36 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »That I don't need to make sure I get 20k+ steps in a day to maintain my weight.... no, I actually just have to eat 200 calories LESS and voila! all that extra energy expended for years for 200 calories!!! needless to say I wish the penny had dropped for me a longggg time ago LOL (I have now no clue how many steps I do in the day and what's more, I don't care)
200 calories seems rather low for what must equate to over 2 hours of walking?6 -
BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »You can also put the plate with the piece of bread on the scale, tare it, then put mayo on it and see how much. The tare it again, put cheese on it, etc.
This is how I build my salads.4 -
The tare button is my thing that took me ridiculously long to understand too.5
-
That I am capable of gaining weight on an autoimmune diet. Who knew my TDEE would be ridiculously high??1
-
collectingblues wrote: »Also the recipe builder -- but that ingredients don't have to be set in stone.
For things that I make as a recipe that have variable weights -- like a potato gratin, pot roast, chicken paprika, etc. -- I set it up once, and then, as I'm making the actual meal, I go in and alter the quantities to reflect the actual weight of the ingredients. Because things like flour/butter aren't going to change from making to making, but it's not like I'm going to have the exact grams of potato or veg, or beef or chicken, every single time.
I use it for meals like Frittatas/soups and change up the ingredients all the time leaving the ones I'm not using with 0 grams (= 0 calories ... AHHHH), so its quick and easy to use and change up. Once you change a item it goes to the bottom so most current changes sit there.
11 -
It’s great that everyone is learning as they go along. You should never feel “embarrassed “ about learning something, or not learning it as soon as someone else (per the title of this thread). All the weighing and logging stuff can be a bit mysterious at the outset and it’s not unusual for it to take people awhile to learn all the little tricks. There’s no reason you should automatically ‘know’ how to tare or do some of the other things. It’s not an embarrassment.
Just keep learning and moving forward!15 -
You can go in to any recipe you have a change it to reflect what you are making this time. For example, I add different things to basic spanakopita like mushrooms or different cheeses but the phyllo and oil stay the same.3
-
BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »You can also put the plate with the piece of bread on the scale, tare it, then put mayo on it and see how much. The tare it again, put cheese on it, etc.
This is how I build my sandwiches ... and I also either write it down on a piece of paper or enter it into my smartphone's MFP app as I build it. Same goes with ingredients for my cooks.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 388 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 918 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions