Getting fed up with all the complications of calculators
CarvedTones
Posts: 2,340 Member
Going to try KISS approach. I have been setting base manually for a while; going to keep doing that. I am going to keep logging food honestly but put up with a little sloppiness. My regular gym exercise is primarily cardio - ARCTrainer and resistance roughly following a circuit but skipping step platforms and setting weights high enough to be leaning towards weight training. I have been using treadmill/step and circuit training and adjusting based on my perception of my effort using 10 calories a minute as my top end. I am going to watch the scale for trends and just adjust base up and down for trends. Last couple of weigh ins were 3 below top of 10 pound range, so currently trying to trend down until I get weigh ins bouncing around mid point. Seems to be working (got close to top end for a bit). I have been successfully maintaining for over 8 months making myself crazy trying to be spot on but having to tweak, tweak, tweak. So I am going to try to be generally correct instead. Anyone else tired of the minutia? How is this sort of approach working for you?
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I'm only a couple of pounds from goal and I have been doing this for awhile. If the mantra for success is "it's a lifestyle change" decide what you want your lifestyle to be. For some people logging, weighing every morsel, logging every calorie burn is what they want to do for the rest of their lives, for some it is not. For me my downfall in the past was denial, I would stop weighing myself. Stepping on the scale a couple of times week is a lifestyle I can be happy with.6
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I probably lost weight in a more relaxed way than you and certainly switched to maintenance in a far less strict way than you but that was because I've always found maintenance (not always at the right weight though!) relatively easy and it didn't have a fear factor.
But similar to you i relaxed even more as maintenance became the new normal. Stopped logging food a long time ago and just go by scale weight trends. But even then I'm relaxed about fluctuations and even weight drifts as long as they don't breach my upper intervention point. I regard a winter creep up in weight and spring slow loss as my personal "normal". An ongoing need to have rigid control would feel like a permanent diet (verb) drive me crazy too.
I do still log my exercise just to give me a rough idea of my overall calorie needs but that's partly because my exercise is pretty extreme by most people's standards and also very varied.
Best of luck, it's good to experiment - you can always reverse any changes that don't work out.2 -
This is what works for me.
I dont care about how many calories I burn in the gym, on the bike, running etc. Zero.
I set up my MFP as if I dont do any exercise and try to eat to that. If I go a bit over I dont care. But I do not ever eat back all my calories. Works for me for maintaining or losing.
Same here. I've never calculated exercise calories either with either a cut or bulk. I've had zero issues controlling my rate of gain or loss. However, I will concede that I don't do a lot of cardio and my daily routine and training schedule is pretty static.0 -
I am going to keep logging, but I am starting to use entries like "apple, medium" and logging my turkey burger patty as 240 calories because that's what the box says (actual weights rarely match label weights, but they are pretty close). Rule of thumb for calorie burn over time based on perceived effort and weighing every couple of days. I don't use a trending app because my trend is so obvious; I am rarely outside a 3 pound range and when I seem to be it is usually because the range just moved and I will quit seeing the other end of it.
EDIT: and OMG - I forgot to log that clementine yesterday (literally just happened when I ate one today) has become a shoulder shrug. Premeditated, I would consider it cheating.5 -
jseams1234 wrote: »This is what works for me.
I dont care about how many calories I burn in the gym, on the bike, running etc. Zero.
I set up my MFP as if I dont do any exercise and try to eat to that. If I go a bit over I dont care. But I do not ever eat back all my calories. Works for me for maintaining or losing.
Same here. I've never calculated exercise calories either with either a cut or bulk. I've had zero issues controlling my rate of gain or loss. However, I will concede that I don't do a lot of cardio and my daily routine and training schedule is pretty static.
I am kind of the opposite; nearly all my exercise is cardio and some of it just has heavy enough weight on resistance circuit lifting that it is shaping me. According to some body builders, I am a mythical creature because there is no such thing as toning.
I disagree. Probably semantics; I am probably at the low end of power lifting with my modified resistance circuit. I don't let my HR drop much from when I come out of the locker room and get up to speed on the first machine until I go back in. If I am there an hour I will have a HR above 145 about 40 minutes and below 120 maybe 5.
EDIT - the pic is a couple of months ago. shoulders and arms are bigger, waist is smaller. Just a little, but enough to have donated some pants I was still wearing when this picture was taken. Weight is about the same.
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CarvedTones wrote: »jseams1234 wrote: »This is what works for me.
I dont care about how many calories I burn in the gym, on the bike, running etc. Zero.
I set up my MFP as if I dont do any exercise and try to eat to that. If I go a bit over I dont care. But I do not ever eat back all my calories. Works for me for maintaining or losing.
Same here. I've never calculated exercise calories either with either a cut or bulk. I've had zero issues controlling my rate of gain or loss. However, I will concede that I don't do a lot of cardio and my daily routine and training schedule is pretty static.
I am kind of the opposite; nearly all my exercise is cardio and some of it just has heavy enough weight on resistance circuit lifting that it is shaping me. According to some body builders, I am a mythical creature because there is no such thing as toning.
I disagree. Probably semantics; I am probably at the low end of power lifting with my modified resistance circuit. I don't let my HR drop much from when I come out of the locker room and get up to speed on the first machine until I go back in. If I am there an hour I will have a HR above 145 about 40 minutes and below 120 maybe 5.
EDIT - the pic is a couple of months ago. shoulders and arms are bigger, waist is smaller. Just a little, but enough to have donated some pants I was still wearing when this picture was taken. Weight is about the same.
If it works for you that's all that really matters at the end of the day... and what you have done has obviously worked. Sometimes we have to find our own unique way of getting results. You look good and probably have better cardiovascular health than a guy like me. I'm not "unhealthy" by any means, but my father who is 68 could run and bike circles around me. He does some strength training but is primarily a cardio type of guy. He spends more hours a week either biking or jogging than I do lifting. If I had to bet who was in better all around "shape" I'd put all my money on my dad.
and I'm not the gym bro type that gets all bent out of shape when I hear the word "toned". I know what people mean. 2 -
You could set a 5-10 lb maintenance range. When you get to either end of the range, go back to a stricter tracking method.3
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You could set a 5-10 lb maintenance range. When you get to either end of the range, go back to a stricter tracking method.
As I mentioned in my original post, i am about 3 pounds below the top of my 10 pound range. I am not sure I need to be stricter if I want to go up or down; I just need a different daily goal to get reasonably close to. To be clear, I am not talking about being crazy sloppy. I am just not obsessing over whether I burn 350, 450 or 500 in an hour on the ARCTrainer or whether or not slices of bread weigh what the label indicates. I am just taking the middle number - 450 - and logging the bread as what the label says. I weighed frozen yogurt to fill a small cone. Now I just fill the cone and log it as the same. I log "medium apples", guess the weigh of bananas (I have weighed a lot of bananas), etc,0 -
I think you have taken a huge step towards a much more relaxed maintenance, and I'm really happy for you.
You have worked your numbers well over your losing, and initial maintenance, so if things do go awry I think you have the tools and mental fortitude (?) to fall back on.
You have worried a lot about regaining, again, and that helped you set yourself up for success this time.
Cheeers, h.6 -
I simply use my FitBit, linked it to MFP and base my meals and snacks around what it says. Sometimes I go over a bit, sometimes I go under a bit, but it's keeping me in maintenance pretty well.2
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If being relaxed with logging things will work for you, go for it. I'm someone who has to be strict or go back to being morbidly obese. Of course, being strict with logging doesn't stop weight gain when I keep shoving food in my mouth.3
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I think the biggest single thing that is helping is setting the upper limit with a "not even spikes" rule.Getting close means setting a goal for a deficit that is big enough that slightly sloppy logging won't cancel it out. I did choose not to weigh today, am eating crazy light and will workout a lot later. I am knocking down a spike without looking at it as it is an unusual situation.3
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I started present campaign around March '16. Recently passed 1000 days logging my meals. It works very well. But come February '19 I don't plan on renewing my subscription to MyFitnessPal. This plan has made reducing very easy. I managed to shred 57lbs.
But I will be keeping a very close eye on consumption come the New Year. Don't ever want to gain weight again.0 -
There's a link to some really excellent articles in this thread. I think you have to know yourself. You can't drive yourself crazy with calculations out the wazoo. You already have a lot of data. (of course as we age or change activity those #s may change). Me personally I am NOT a moderator type. I will always have to be careful with some things.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10709958/i-have-two-modes#latest3 -
SummerSkier wrote: »There's a link to some really excellent articles in this thread. I think you have to know yourself. You can't drive yourself crazy with calculations out the wazoo. You already have a lot of data. (of course as we age or change activity those #s may change). Me personally I am NOT a moderator type. I will always have to be careful with some things.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10709958/i-have-two-modes#latest
I got wooed in that thread for saying I consider myself kind of a third category. I average out as a moderator but I do it by going overboard on some things and then cutting them out for a short while.
The last few weeks I have been successfully trending a little lower with my "sloppy honest" logging. I didn't get out of my range, just spent more time right up at the top than I like. This morning I weighed just barely under the midpoint. It's a 10 pound range and my weights are usually pretty steady (I get the predictable salt and/or late big meal spikes, of course) so there is at least some slight significance to that. I am still logging everything but not letting it bother me that I can't find the exact entry for some office treats or when I am guessing at a portion size. I am definitely going on the low side with exercise logging. Every now and then I will even skip logging a gym trip that wasn't all that long or strenuous.3 -
CarvedTones wrote: »SummerSkier wrote: »There's a link to some really excellent articles in this thread. I think you have to know yourself. You can't drive yourself crazy with calculations out the wazoo. You already have a lot of data. (of course as we age or change activity those #s may change). Me personally I am NOT a moderator type. I will always have to be careful with some things.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10709958/i-have-two-modes#latest
I got wooed in that thread for saying I consider myself kind of a third category. I average out as a moderator but I do it by going overboard on some things and then cutting them out for a short while.
The last few weeks I have been successfully trending a little lower with my "sloppy honest" logging. I didn't get out of my range, just spent more time right up at the top than I like. This morning I weighed just barely under the midpoint. It's a 10 pound range and my weights are usually pretty steady (I get the predictable salt and/or late big meal spikes, of course) so there is at least some slight significance to that. I am still logging everything but not letting it bother me that I can't find the exact entry for some office treats or when I am guessing at a portion size. I am definitely going on the low side with exercise logging. Every now and then I will even skip logging a gym trip that wasn't all that long or strenuous.
To be fair, you set yourself up for that woo.
(It wasn't me...)
I have to use a five pound range, ten pounds is too much for me. If I "allowed" a ten pound range, I'd have to lose Ten. Pounds. That's a lot for me at 5'7" 140ish.
I'm glad you're relaxing a bit on the exactitude bit. Progress not perfection.4 -
cmriverside wrote: »CarvedTones wrote: »SummerSkier wrote: »There's a link to some really excellent articles in this thread. I think you have to know yourself. You can't drive yourself crazy with calculations out the wazoo. You already have a lot of data. (of course as we age or change activity those #s may change). Me personally I am NOT a moderator type. I will always have to be careful with some things.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10709958/i-have-two-modes#latest
I got wooed in that thread for saying I consider myself kind of a third category. I average out as a moderator but I do it by going overboard on some things and then cutting them out for a short while.
The last few weeks I have been successfully trending a little lower with my "sloppy honest" logging. I didn't get out of my range, just spent more time right up at the top than I like. This morning I weighed just barely under the midpoint. It's a 10 pound range and my weights are usually pretty steady (I get the predictable salt and/or late big meal spikes, of course) so there is at least some slight significance to that. I am still logging everything but not letting it bother me that I can't find the exact entry for some office treats or when I am guessing at a portion size. I am definitely going on the low side with exercise logging. Every now and then I will even skip logging a gym trip that wasn't all that long or strenuous.
To be fair, you set yourself up for that woo. (It wasn't me...)
I have to use a five pound range, ten pounds is too much for me. If I "allowed" a ten pound range, I'd have to lose Ten. Pounds. That's a lot for me at 5'7" 140ish.
I'm glad you're relaxing a bit on the exactitude bit. Progress not perfection.
The idea of the 10 pound range is that I want it spike proof. Going out of range is full stop - go into a barely healthy deficit to get back in range and the more of a slight deficit to drop within range. Not all that long ago, I skipped a weigh day because I was pretty sure I would have been just outside the range. Purely a mental thing but I still went into full on weight loss mode. So really I want it to be two 5 pound ranges, one to stay in and one to start losing but not be too freaked out about.
EDIT - The reason I thought the woo was odd was that I didn't recommend doing what I do; I just related my history. It's true, not woo.3 -
CarvedTones wrote: »
The last few weeks I have been successfully trending a little lower with my "sloppy honest" logging.
I like that term. I do the same thing quite often. If it's not something I cook, and that's pretty often, I just make a pretty good guess at a similar food in the database and a reasonable estimate of the portion size. Using the food scale at home regularly helps keep my estimating eye somewhat accurate for portion sizes. As to whether the food I eat is similar to the food in the database, or that the database is even correct? Who knows. This generally works. I stay mindful of what I log. That said, I've been several hundred calories over quite a lot of days lately, and guess what the result is? Well... I gained weight. Who could have predicted THAT???
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This is what works for me.
I dont care about how many calories I burn in the gym, on the bike, running etc. Zero.
I set up my MFP as if I dont do any exercise and try to eat to that. If I go a bit over I dont care. But I do not ever eat back all my calories. Works for me for maintaining or losing.
It is exactly what I do, sort of my own TDEE. I only log exercise time, not calories (just log 1). If I am hungry after reaching my goal, then I don't mind to eat a little bit more because I know that sometimes I am below my calories. It seems to be working well for me too. I have been in maintenance for almost 9 years.2 -
This is what works for me.
I dont care about how many calories I burn in the gym, on the bike, running etc. Zero.
I set up my MFP as if I dont do any exercise and try to eat to that. If I go a bit over I dont care. But I do not ever eat back all my calories. Works for me for maintaining or losing.It is exactly what I do, sort of my own TDEE. I only log exercise time, not calories (just log 1). If I am hungry after reaching my goal, then I don't mind to eat a little bit more because I know that sometimes I am below my calories. It seems to be working well for me too. I have been in maintenance for almost 9 years.
Heh, I posted with naïve enthusiasm about this approach in a different thread today, and got a couple chilly dismissals in response.
It's been working well for me, and the simplicity feels sustainable.
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