Shocking first day of food tracking

13

Replies

  • Back_2_Fit
    Back_2_Fit Posts: 33 Member
    Haha! If you don't yet, wait until you get into weighing your food and instead of eyeballing 2tbsp of peanut butter or salad dressing.... extremely depressing!!
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    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.

    Sausage McMuffin with egg 450 calories. Tastes even better
  • ktekc
    ktekc Posts: 879 Member
    edited January 2018
    I make a breakfast sandwich with southwestern eggbeaters, slice of velveeta cheese , 100 calorie english muffin and whatever i have on handfor a meat usually bacon or canadian bacon. comes to around 200 calories and yummy. . I didn't know til recently that velveeta cheese slices are 40 calories.
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    Yep, been there too.
    Many of us don't realize, #1 the actual number of calories you need to maintain a healthy weight, #2 just how many calories we were overeating each day.
    That is why this site is so valuable to many of us. It is a real education.
  • sofchak
    sofchak Posts: 862 Member
    I used to get a doughnut from the grocery store (plain glazed) every now and then and log it as a doughnut. When the store starting listing calories on the bakery bin, they were double what I had been logging. Not worth it anymore, they aren't THAT good!

    @blueheartrisen - I think about that every time I go to Wegmans. The bakery area has selections upwards of 1200 calories PER SERVING of some items (i.e. fully loaded brownies). I keep thinking that there’s no way that a bakery item that small is THAT good! Luckily, I’ve never been tempted to find out since I am gluten sensitive... but I always ponder the thought every single time!

  • 7elizamae
    7elizamae Posts: 758 Member
    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!

    If you're a Starbucks customer, try the spinach feta wrap instead. It's really good and only 290 calories.
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
    sofchak wrote: »
    I used to get a doughnut from the grocery store (plain glazed) every now and then and log it as a doughnut. When the store starting listing calories on the bakery bin, they were double what I had been logging. Not worth it anymore, they aren't THAT good!

    @blueheartrisen - I think about that every time I go to Wegmans. The bakery area has selections upwards of 1200 calories PER SERVING of some items (i.e. fully loaded brownies). I keep thinking that there’s no way that a bakery item that small is THAT good! Luckily, I’ve never been tempted to find out since I am gluten sensitive... but I always ponder the thought every single time!

    Seeing the calorie count would definitely stop me... although it doesn’t seem to stop me at Chick-fil-a...
  • mlinci
    mlinci Posts: 402 Member
    Motorsheen wrote: »
    I just have my strength coach email my personal chef with the needed macros and nutritional information.

    He prepares the meals and I just eat what is needed.

    It's so much easier when I don't have to think about it.







    * what? it's time to wake up??

    ... but I was having the best dream ever.

    Drat.

    I have regularly said that if I win the lottery, a personal chef will be my first purchase.

    Ha ha, I always say if I win the lottery, I'd be hiring a sushi chef and installing a sushi conveyor belt that goes all around my flat.
  • MarylandRose
    MarylandRose Posts: 239 Member
    sofchak wrote: »
    I used to get a doughnut from the grocery store (plain glazed) every now and then and log it as a doughnut. When the store starting listing calories on the bakery bin, they were double what I had been logging. Not worth it anymore, they aren't THAT good!

    @blueheartrisen - I think about that every time I go to Wegmans. The bakery area has selections upwards of 1200 calories PER SERVING of some items (i.e. fully loaded brownies). I keep thinking that there’s no way that a bakery item that small is THAT good! Luckily, I’ve never been tempted to find out since I am gluten sensitive... but I always ponder the thought every single time!

    The chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookies are worth their calories (190). For me, those are the only other chocolate chip cookies besides "homemade from the recipe on the Tollhouse bag" that I like...and then dipped in chocolate? WIN. (other than the gluten thing, sorry)

    I really appreciate how good they are about calorie counts: bakery stuff is labeled, hot bar is labeled, sushi is labeled...anything they make in-house comes with a clear label, which makes my life so much easier. Otherwise I'd be happily deluding myself into believing that the chocolate dipped macaroons (delicious, 140 cal) are like 100 each and I should eat two. And the information is also readily available online, so I can pre-plan if I know my coworkers and I are going to grab lunch there. /sidebar about why Wegmans is my favorite grocery store
  • kellyjellybellyjelly
    kellyjellybellyjelly Posts: 9,480 Member
    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.

    I always get sad when I see how small a portion cereals can be.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Back when I used WW, I was horrified to find that the tostada salad from El Pollo Loco was all of my 27PP for the day. It is basically a giant chip with some stuff on it, they should call it nachos haha.
  • ckdprevent
    ckdprevent Posts: 105 Member
    I have learned quick to log the food before I eat. Don't assume anything. I'm always shocked.
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    wizzybeth wrote: »
    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.

    If you look at it as "a waste" to eat it when you do not need it - that may help you overcome that. It is a waste to consume excess calories - it is a waste because it counters the work you've done to become healthy and creates more work for you to get rid of those excess calories and fat. It serves no nutritional purpose if it puts you over your daily calories - unless you plan on eating less the next day. :)

    This is how I had to start looking at food. Also thinking why don't I love my body enough to put good stuff into it? Not just stuff that tastes good for a minute, but food that is going to provide nourishment and fuel for me. Food that's going to benefit me, not drag me down.

    When I realized how many calories I would waste on food I was previously eating, I suddenly didn't want to eat it anymore lol.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    It definately makes you think twice before choosing what to eat.
  • robingmurphy
    robingmurphy Posts: 349 Member
    That's probably the biggest benefit of logging for me. It makes me constantly ask myself if the food I'm eating is tasty and filling enough to warrant the calories it's costing me, and whether there's anything lower calories that would be more tasty or filling. There often is. It makes cake/candy/cookies/brownies not worth it to me unless they are REALLY amazing or it's a special occasion. I walked right past a plate of chocolates left in the breakroom because they were just Hershey's or something and if I'm going to use calories on chocolate it's going to be HIGH QUALITY, baby.
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,899 Member
    For me I am so taken aback when I see that I only have 500 cal left for dinner :'(
  • Wingsont84
    Wingsont84 Posts: 335 Member
    Been living off eggs or chicken and veggies.
    Made a sweet chilli chicken tonight though
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    You can eat a lot of food for 1400 cals if you plan properly. For starters, pack every meal with vegetables.
  • geordynkirsch
    geordynkirsch Posts: 18 Member
    It's crazy isn't it!?! I've been on and off MFP for a few years and I've always thought I eat pretty decent. Never fast food, no pop or candy or sweets etc, but my 1400 cal goal is HARD sometimes! I always think "oh this can't be so bad" but even though it seems healthier it's still lots of calories... makes me sad Haha I love food!

    It also doesn't help that I work out in the morning so I am CONSTANTLY hungry all throughout the day, anyone else have that problem???
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    Ditto on this scale. Been using several years. Batteries last amazingly long for something in use multiple times every meal, multiple meals per day. It came with batteries that lasted >2 years.
  • SilverRose89
    SilverRose89 Posts: 447 Member
    Yeah it's eye opening for sure.

    For me it's the things I just wouldn't even consider before, like how much pesto I'm mixing into my pasta dish. That really adds up! And you know what, I discovered that halving the amount of pesto in the meal doesn't even make a difference to how much I enjoy it. So I get the same meal and something extra for the same calories.
  • TMcChamp
    TMcChamp Posts: 165 Member
    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.

    I'm still not recovered from this one
  • slimbyjune18
    slimbyjune18 Posts: 101 Member
    Mostly used to portion sizes now, however, today 60g of cooked rice looked tiny! Surprised how filling it was in the end.
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