Shocking first day of food tracking

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  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    srclark89 wrote: »
    My rubbish bin mentality got to me yesterday. I have been doing really well, then, my older son left a piece of pizza on his plate. As it glistened and shone at me I thought what a waste. Then it was in my mouth. I have decided the best course of action is to ask him to through his leftovers in the bin.

    Pizza can certainly be a fine choice in moderation.

    A great tool for me is to portion foods for lunch instead of eating too much at one meal. I would stick that slice in my lunchbox with some flavored water and veggies. Knowing a slightly bigger than normal lunch makes me able to make sensible choices that day. Lunch made to look forward to, no drama, no sense of wastage or forbidden pleasures.
  • chestinator
    chestinator Posts: 16 Member
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    mlh2018 wrote: »
    It’s shocking and eye opening. 25g of cheese looked tiny at first. Like others say use a food scale, it’s surprising how much of other foods you can eat (esp veg, salad, fruit). I find it really helpful to plan meals out using the restaurant website nutritional info now too.

    I know I found a recapie for a salad that called for 1 oz of cheese but it was 115 calories so trying to keep my calories lower today I just cut the cheese out. That’s one good and bad thing about me. I don’t follow a specific restricting diet but I’m not much of a dairy or meat eater. So it makes my diet naturally high carb low protein which I’m trying to change.

    Hey mlh2018!

    Are you eating close to your calorie allowance for the day? From the sounds of your post you might be trying to eat way under on some days? Following the IIFYM principle works perfectly with MFP and is far from restrictive!

    Apologies if I have it wrong - just a concerned citizen :smiley:
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    sullus wrote: »
    vingogly wrote: »
    mlh2018 wrote: »
    I have never tracked food in any way. No calorie counting or macros. So today I started tracking and let me tell you. I set up my account and the app recommends me on a 1400 calorie diet. I think alright that’s do able for now. I grab my breakfast sandwich and bam 700 calories!

    It's all about different choices. It's less than half the 700 calories if you make your own sandwich as follows using reduced calorie options:

    Morningstar Farms Vegetarian Sausage Patty 80 cal
    Thomas Light English Muffin 100 cal
    Large Egg 70 cal
    Sargento Reduced Fat Cheddar Slice 60 cal

    Total: 310 cal

    You can make up a few of them and put them in the refrigerator, and pop one in the microwave in the morning. The Morningstar Farms fake sausage and fake bacon options are very good, by the way.

    Think of your 1400 cals as a budget. You can choose what to spend your calories on each day, and you can choose when to spend them during the day. For example, I like to have a snack in the evening, so I replaced lunch with mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks so I could save calories to spend later.

    Gross.

    Egg McMuffin: 300 Cal. And it has the benefit of tasting good.

    Nothing wrong with good old Egg McMuffin, but making your own low fat version at home like the kind mentioned ends up being cheaper. And really, the light cheddar cheese and English muffin is fine (haven't tried the Morningstar veggie sausage).
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,573 Member
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    Why do you think that law will go away soon?
    In a weird way, the more "packaged" convenience foods you eat as you start, the "easier
    for the "eye opener". The more chain restaurants you eat at, the easier for the "eye opener", though I predict that law for chain restaurants to list calorie counts will go away soon.

    It's amazing, isn't it?

  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,573 Member
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    sullus wrote: »
    vingogly wrote: »
    mlh2018 wrote: »
    I have never tracked food in any way. No calorie counting or macros. So today I started tracking and let me tell you. I set up my account and the app recommends me on a 1400 calorie diet. I think alright that’s do able for now. I grab my breakfast sandwich and bam 700 calories!

    It's all about different choices. It's less than half the 700 calories if you make your own sandwich as follows using reduced calorie options:

    Morningstar Farms Vegetarian Sausage Patty 80 cal
    Thomas Light English Muffin 100 cal
    Large Egg 70 cal
    Sargento Reduced Fat Cheddar Slice 60 cal

    Total: 310 cal

    You can make up a few of them and put them in the refrigerator, and pop one in the microwave in the morning. The Morningstar Farms fake sausage and fake bacon options are very good, by the way.

    Think of your 1400 cals as a budget. You can choose what to spend your calories on each day, and you can choose when to spend them during the day. For example, I like to have a snack in the evening, so I replaced lunch with mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks so I could save calories to spend later.

    Gross.

    Egg McMuffin: 300 Cal. And it has the benefit of tasting good.

    Always loved my Egg McMuffins until they really started skimping out on the Canadian bacon. :(
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
    edited January 2018
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    wizzybeth wrote: »
    Why do you think that law will go away soon?
    In a weird way, the more "packaged" convenience foods you eat as you start, the "easier
    for the "eye opener". The more chain restaurants you eat at, the easier for the "eye opener", though I predict that law for chain restaurants to list calorie counts will go away soon.

    It's amazing, isn't it?

    It's state law for me that chain restaurants have to post calories, and honestly it's allowed me to go to restaurants more. Knowing that there are some decent 300-500 calorie options at many places makes it so I don't usually feel like I can't go to the local burger/sandwich/etc place. Extra kudos to places like Domino's Pizza which makes it easy to calculate online.
  • keithwp99
    keithwp99 Posts: 83 Member
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    Agree. And, I've been using this tracker for what seems like a couple years. It's a good daily habit and you will quickly come to know what will give you the "most bang" for your bucks. Well done to you.
  • kfischer1018
    kfischer1018 Posts: 37 Member
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    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Are you using a food scale yet? If not, wait until the first time you see how small a "serving" of peanut butter actually is.

    This is so true! I was measuring out my food today for lunch (first day for me too) and weighing out 30 g of sweet potato chips was very eye opening! I kept looking at it thinking "There is no way I can eat all of those chips, and my sandwich and my fruit!" so I opted for the sandwich and the fruit. Some things seem like so much and others seem like so little! It's a freaking mind game! And not a fun one! lol
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
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    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    sullus wrote: »
    vingogly wrote: »
    mlh2018 wrote: »
    I have never tracked food in any way. No calorie counting or macros. So today I started tracking and let me tell you. I set up my account and the app recommends me on a 1400 calorie diet. I think alright that’s do able for now. I grab my breakfast sandwich and bam 700 calories!

    It's all about different choices. It's less than half the 700 calories if you make your own sandwich as follows using reduced calorie options:

    Morningstar Farms Vegetarian Sausage Patty 80 cal
    Thomas Light English Muffin 100 cal
    Large Egg 70 cal
    Sargento Reduced Fat Cheddar Slice 60 cal

    Total: 310 cal

    You can make up a few of them and put them in the refrigerator, and pop one in the microwave in the morning. The Morningstar Farms fake sausage and fake bacon options are very good, by the way.

    Think of your 1400 cals as a budget. You can choose what to spend your calories on each day, and you can choose when to spend them during the day. For example, I like to have a snack in the evening, so I replaced lunch with mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks so I could save calories to spend later.

    Gross.

    Egg McMuffin: 300 Cal. And it has the benefit of tasting good.

    Nothing wrong with good old Egg McMuffin, but making your own low fat version at home like the kind mentioned ends up being cheaper. And really, the light cheddar cheese and English muffin is fine (haven't tried the Morningstar veggie sausage).

    According to the Database entry on MFP, Egg McMuffins are fat free ... NICE!! heh.

    No question the OP's sandwich involved a Bagel and Sausage - those are the breakfast sandwich killers. Calories are high on both of those. Sodium and Fat are high on the Sausage. Carbs are up on the bagel (a bagel is 6 servings of bread) ....

    I dont do anything crazy on my breakfast sandwiches, but I go English muffin on the bread and Ham/Canadian bacon for the meat. That's how I lighten up a breakfast sandwich.

    I can get it down to 200 cal going with egg whites and skipping the cheese .. but I generally shoot for a 300 cal breakfast.

  • Treece68
    Treece68 Posts: 780 Member
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    And that is why we gain weight
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
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    I drank 3000 calories of Coke the first day.

    You were drinking 250+ oz of Coke per day?
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    lemme tell ya .... ive been doing this 5 years now. lost 100 pounds. i RARELY eat fast food burgers cause i really dont like them. but my son andi were out, and thats what he asked for and i figured okay, ill have a burger. did i mention its been a REALLY long time since ive had one (from fast food) and didnt know the calorie count off my head?

    yeah. get home. log it. 900 calories.


    i get 1200 a day.

    ive never been so glad i automatically give my son my fries LOLOLOL

    im having zucchini noodle something for dinner instead of the fish tacos ive been looking forward to for 3 days :/
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    lemme tell ya .... ive been doing this 5 years now. lost 100 pounds. i RARELY eat fast food burgers cause i really dont like them. but my son andi were out, and thats what he asked for and i figured okay, ill have a burger. did i mention its been a REALLY long time since ive had one (from fast food) and didnt know the calorie count off my head?

    yeah. get home. log it. 900 calories.


    i get 1200 a day.

    ive never been so glad i automatically give my son my fries LOLOLOL

    im having zucchini noodle something for dinner instead of the fish tacos ive been looking forward to for 3 days :/

    The sad thing is those fast food burgers never fill me up.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    crazyravr wrote: »
    In a weird way, the more "packaged" convenience foods you eat as you start, the "easier
    for the "eye opener". The more chain restaurants you eat at, the easier for the "eye opener", though I predict that law for chain restaurants to list calorie counts will go away soon.

    It's amazing, isn't it?

    Its really amazing. I was at a Chinese buffet the other day and they had the calorie count above all the dishes. What amazed me it that never did it say what that portion actually is haha. I wonder how many clueless folk thought the tub with those green beans in teriyaki was only 200cal, cause you know, they are veggies right? ;)

    Typically it's per laddle or for 3oz, but obviously it's impossible to tell unless you're weighing everything.