Really???

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  • kq1981
    kq1981 Posts: 1,098 Member
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    Just a small aside. @kq1981 funny you posted today. This morning you came to my mind and I was wondering how you were doing since I haven't seen much of you since Feb. Glad to see you're doing well.

    Oh my gosh!!! great minds! Lol i saw you post aswell and wondered how you were!!! Love your posts, always learning From you :)
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,645 Member
    stevephi01 wrote: »
    Hi @staceyuden. I'm straying into the lions den here and will no doubt be getting a lot of woos over my post Many of these knowledgeable folk have been here for awhile and understandably get tired of the same sorts of questions.
    I've been in the same boat and was trying to find a starting point when what I thought was right stopped working, my tuppence worth - if it helps brilliant.

    If I may take the discussion away from calories for a moment. Start by capturing absolutely everything in your diary, if you are not using the MFP app, I suggest you load it and scan everything. I have found the database is very good at every UK item I've thrown at it. The same applies to meals you prepare at home, create recipes of the meals, again every bar code I've scanned has worked, even the supermarket own branded products. Use a digital scale and weigh every item you add - I write it down and scan/capture later. It sounds a bind, but pretty quickly it becomes second nature. I'm forever reaching for my trusty Salter!

    Then once you have that, you naturally will have the calories consumed, but don't stop there. MFP have a very good breakdown of carbs, protein, fat and nutrients.
    You now have a good base from which to work.
    Explore the reports and then look at each of the items available. You can see how you stack up against the 'RDA' for each and if one is too high, then you know which area to look at, likewise if one is low.
    Now you can start to make adjustments based on fact. For me this is getting the balance right. If you fancy a McDo, put it in and you'll see what that does to your figures. You can try and experiment in your diary before you buy one and then decide.
    OK, lets bring back the calories - it did seem like I was dismissing them, not at all - get the balance right and within your calorie allowance and I am pretty confident in no time at all you'll be having to go down the dress shop for something smaller ;)

    In my case, I was hell bent on the calorie deficit. I'd stay within my limit and burn a modest amount of cals walking and attacking my rowing machine, it worked for a while then stopped. I was feeling washed out, depressed and generally felt awful.
    I hadn't paid attention to the nutrients and in my case found I was almost non existent in my potassium intake, fat was low and I was under in my protein. I've adjusted that and lost a bit overnight. I had been losing, but not that I could tell from the scale - I was retaining water.

    Once through the maze it is so easy to look back and see the right path, whilst in it, well it's just a maze!

    I wish you well and applaud what you do, my OH used to do that and know how stressful it is. You don't mention the reason for the lack of sleep, could be because you do nights, or it could be due to not being able to sleep. If the latter, possibly when you are in balance you'll find that becomes easier too.

    Good luck

    This is actually really solid, and how MFP is meant to work. Once in a while, a hater will come along and act like counting calories or macros on MFP is promoting a garbage diet. NO. Not if you really delve into all the features of the program. Calories are only the first piece of the puzzle to take it beyond just weight loss, and into the realm of an overall healthy and nutritionally balanced diet. You can start with said "garbage diet," get the hang of tracking and see some results without the shock of a sudden diet overhaul, and then make small tweaks as you go to get more of that balance between nutrition and satisfaction.
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