Numbers Are Your Friend

dragonflyj0nes
dragonflyj0nes Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I know it can be intimidating to record numbers for physical assessments as well as keeping a track record of what you eat. But don’t shy away from it, let the numbers you record be an indication of what you need to do. They are yours, own them. Without knowing how much of what you’re eating, it’s hard to know what you need to adjust. Without knowing how many calories you’ve burned, how can you know what you need to replenish? People assume because one is fit they don’t eat pizza, pasta, hamburgers and fries. WRONG, those meals are earned by knowing those calories fit in to your diet with the work you’ve done. Get out there and own it!

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    I love numbers too! Nice post :)
  • cheyeneinthesprings
    cheyeneinthesprings Posts: 46 Member
    I think of it like a checking account. Imagine spending without knowing where the money is going or how much. There would be no way to reflect and make changes.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I think numbers can do much more though. For me they relieve any scale stress I might have. When I do my weekly number crunching on Friday I can see what my weigh-in weight is in relation to my 'by deficit weight change'. So let's say my weigh-in is 1 pound heavier than the week before but by deficit I should have lost 2 pounds. I can immediately see that in order for my weigh-in number to be correct and not a fluctuation I would have had to eat 10,500 calories more than I thought or logged. I could accept being off by 500 calories and maybe even 1000 calories if I ate out a lot more than usual but not much more, at least not now that I have a strong handle logging accurately.

    I started doing that 10 or so months ago and it made an immediate impact on my mental state
  • smoofinator
    smoofinator Posts: 635 Member
    Listen to Pickle Rick (@dragonflyj0nes)! CICO is liberating. I can build a bacon cheeseburger into my weightloss plan. If that isn't awesome sauce, I don't know what is.
  • CaffieneAndChaos
    CaffieneAndChaos Posts: 10 Member
    So true! I was a hardcore notekeeper before kids, then it fell apart during two difficult pregnancies and a loss. Just started again yesterday and decided to just eat like i have been and see where im at.

    I looked at the numbers and just went, "Oh dear jeebus. 😶 " It wasnt good. This aint baby weight, it's delusion weight. Its really great to be able to look at it and go, "Theres the problem."
  • vanityy99
    vanityy99 Posts: 2,583 Member
    no thanks
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    I hate even counting money so I found a no counting WOE that has worked out well for me for years.
  • pierinifitness
    pierinifitness Posts: 2,226 Member
    I'm a numbers guy and my numbers-oriented tracking using MFP and my own exercise journals gave me abundant information, influenced my behaviors and helped me achieve my goals. Still using numbers to keep me on task in maintenance, see no reason to go back to old behavior. Never gained weight or lost peak fitness while being in a numbers-mode. Have gained weight and experienced fitness erosion becoming relaxed and relying more on intuition and perception. There's deception in perception but good data creates good information that fosters good behavior. My two cents.

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