Hi newbie here😃

Options
karen_fitness_goalz
karen_fitness_goalz Posts: 7 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hi I’m Karen
Total newb, no friends on here I could ask....so I’m going randomly public with this 😂🤫
I’m wondering if I need to add coffee to my daily meals and if so where do I do it.....
And I’m also finding it difficult to know how many exact calories I’m burning off when doing an at home YouTube exercise tutorial video ....I’ve been guessing so far....
Also I’m having difficulty when adding meals how to calculate the calories (meals don’t have a barcode unfortunately 🥺)
Any suggestions???

Replies

  • imran_sheikh
    imran_sheikh Posts: 10 Member
    Options
    Hi Karen,
    You can add coffee by clicking add food, and then adding coffee (after searching it) to whatever time you are having it in > like Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner ... etc.

    Youll have to guess calories for exercise, I do it in a different way. I have a Heartbeat belt that is linked to endomondo app. So when I do my exercise I select that exercise in the app and start the session the app calculates accurate calories burned with respect to my heartbeats. Endomondo links to myfitnesspal so all exercises with calories burned are transferred automatically :)

    For some meals, if you can't find them, you'll have to break down the items in the meal and find them one by one to calculate calories. I usually create my own meals when I don't find the item I am looking for. Also you'll have to weigh some items also.

    Hope this is helpful. Good luck!

    Regards,
    Imran Shaikh
  • karen_fitness_goalz
    karen_fitness_goalz Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    Thanks so so much for putting the time in to helping me out!
    Appreciate it so much 🙏
  • karen_fitness_goalz
    karen_fitness_goalz Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    How long have u been using the app Imran?
    Are u trying to maintain weight or lose weight or gain weight and have u been successful?

    If I wear my Apple Watch while exercising will it tell me calories burned do u think?
  • imran_sheikh
    imran_sheikh Posts: 10 Member
    Options
    I started using the app in 2014, lost 23 Kgs (50 pounds) in about 6 months on a calorie deficit of 1000 calories per day. But over time (last 5 years) I lost discipline and got half of it back. Now I am back on it.

    Planning on losing 14 kgs in a similar way now.

    I think apple watch should work just fine, I haven't used it so you'll have to research this.

    Feel free to add me as a friend :)
  • apple852hk
    apple852hk Posts: 210 Member
    Options
    Hello Karen - I'm not new to MFP but I recently started using it again as I want to track my calories to lose weight.

    Are you using MFP to lose weight or for other reasons?
  • karen_fitness_goalz
    karen_fitness_goalz Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    I’m trying to lose weight I’m 79kg 🤫
    Wanting to get to 60 or 50 would be even better!
    My calorie allowance is only 1200 I’m finding that really difficult how about u?
  • shaf238
    shaf238 Posts: 4,021 Member
    Options
    Yes definitely log your coffee. Log everything (do you use a food scale? if not, you should!) and be mindful of the database entries you use on mfp because there's a bunch that are inaccurate.

    Get yourself a fitness tracker to monitor your calorie burns and eat back about half that amount (they're never going to be 100% accurate but ball park is good rather than guessing).

    When you say you find 1200 difficult? Is that because you go above that or you struggle to eat that much? And how did you figure out that you should be eating 1200 daily?

    Welcome to mfp!
  • karen_fitness_goalz
    karen_fitness_goalz Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    I do have a scale now! Didn’t at the beginning 🤭
    What are database entries? I normally Choose create a food or use the barcode when applicable.

    Does coffee add a lot of calories?

    Would my Apple Watch suffice as a fitness tracker?

    Why eat back only half the amount burned?
    Why does the app not subtract my burned calories from my daily diary?
    It always says ;
    calories -1200 food- points I’ve had, exercise-0,then points remaining.......
    Even when I’ve logged fitness and calories burned in the exercise section below 🥺🥺🥺

    I find 1200 difficult because I don’t drink water at all I’m very fussy I only drink coffee ocassionaly and generally (as terrible as this is) drink my addiction drink which is dare double espresso iced coffee 750 ml which is 644 calories.
    And I like to have 2 per day so that’s 1288 (over my calories 🤫🤭

    Obviously I’m going to try to cut it down to 1.....
    it’s difficult because coffee or apple juice are the only alternatives I actually like and apparently apple juice is just as bad sugar wise......

    They told me my calorie allowance after I entered all my information height weight gender etc.

    Thanks for your message!
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    Options
    karen_fitness_goalz wrote: »
    I do have a scale now! Didn’t at the beginning 🤭
    What are database entries? I normally Choose create a food or use the barcode when applicable.

    Does coffee add a lot of calories?

    Would my Apple Watch suffice as a fitness tracker?

    Why eat back only half the amount burned?
    Why does the app not subtract my burned calories from my daily diary?
    It always says ;
    calories -1200 food- points I’ve had, exercise-0,then points remaining.......
    Even when I’ve logged fitness and calories burned in the exercise section below 🥺🥺🥺

    I find 1200 difficult because I don’t drink water at all I’m very fussy I only drink coffee ocassionaly and generally (as terrible as this is) drink my addiction drink which is dare double espresso iced coffee 750 ml which is 644 calories.
    And I like to have 2 per day so that’s 1288 (over my calories 🤫🤭

    Obviously I’m going to try to cut it down to 1.....
    it’s difficult because coffee or apple juice are the only alternatives I actually like and apparently apple juice is just as bad sugar wise......

    They told me my calorie allowance after I entered all my information height weight gender etc.

    Thanks for your message!

    The myfitnesspal food database is user-editable. This means that many of the entries in it are erroneous.
    https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list is the USDA food database. The values on this list are gold standard accurate.
    Just about any food you can find in the USDA database has a corresponding accurate listing in the myfitnesspal database. To find it you need to first find your food in the USDA database. For instance, search for "egg, whole, raw". You get a bunch of choices. Click on the one that said 'egg, whole, raw, fresh'. It takes you to a page called the Basic Report. Copy the text following the words Basic report, which are "01123, Egg, whole, raw, fresh".
    Go to the myfitnesspal food diary, click on Add Food, then paste "01123, Egg, whole, raw, fresh" in your search field. You will find the myfitnesspal database entry and you can verify that the values in myfitnesspal do match the values in the USDA database. You can even log the food in grams.
  • karen_fitness_goalz
    karen_fitness_goalz Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    Thanks so much for your help Jerome
    I’m not from the US though
    I’m from Australia
    Anyone else on here from Australia?
  • TravisJHunt
    TravisJHunt Posts: 533 Member
    Options
    Nope, Canada and today I really wish I was in Australia, we've been having such cold and dreary weather it totally sucks.
  • apple852hk
    apple852hk Posts: 210 Member
    Options
    karen_fitness_goalz wrote: »
    I’m trying to lose weight I’m 79kg 🤫
    Wanting to get to 60 or 50 would be even better!
    My calorie allowance is only 1200 I’m finding that really difficult how about u?

    When I first started MFP I was 88kg. I stopped eating snacks and got to 81kg. Then I started logging on MFP and lost weight but now I've put it back on.

    I aim for 1200cal a day too. For me it was ensuring I ate regularly at a meal time. So if I wanted to eat - I'd look at the clock and see how much longer I had to wait. But I still felt hungry. It is difficult as its changing a mindset. Before I didn't set boundaries.

    How about you? Can you recall why you might have put on weight by how you perceive food? Are you good at portion control and delaying eating times?

    You can change your mindset - please believe it.
  • EmBeatie
    EmBeatie Posts: 33 Member
    Options
    https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/05/fitness-trackers-accurately-measure-heart-rate-but-not-calories-burned.html Fitness trackers don't measure calories burned so they're pointless in that respect. Anyway, by far the most important aspect in losing weight is what you eat and drink. So you'll have to learn to love water or low calorie drinks because sugary drinks are the worst for gaining weight. I was heavier than you when I started and now I'm 9 stone 8 and still losing. I lost 2 stone just by giving up cokes. Then I lost more by reducing other sugary drinks (I replaced sugar with sweetener in tea). Then sugary snacks and junk food, don't have them in the house. Just doing that for most people will lose them lots of weight. I haven't given up sugar entirely, I still have sugary, milky coffee sometimes (though more like 70 calories a cup than your 500!) so you don't have to give it up entirely, but make it more of a treat than a daily habit. If you want to lose weight that is. Sugar's the enemy.
  • karen_fitness_goalz
    karen_fitness_goalz Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    Margie_gaughran needs some friends for encouragement help and support....
    She’s in the early stages of attempting to exercise like me she and I can only handle low impact short time frame fitness atm unfortunately 🥺
    She’s my mum 🤗
    The greatest mum in the world
    Give her a boost of ego and some motivation by friending .....(and expressing how this app has actually worked for u and what I did to make it help) ....her pretty please someone (females preferred)....
    Thanks everybody 😉
    Don’t tell her I sent u ....🤭🤫
  • erekstrusinski1989
    erekstrusinski1989 Posts: 42 Member
    edited May 2019
    Options
    Hey you might want to invest in a bluetooth heart rate monitor for better tracking your exercise calories burned. I use the polar OH1 and polar flow app, it counts HR and calories and tracks what exercise you do. Then I just type in my exercise and calories burned to myfitnesspal to adjust calories for the day. Hope this helps. Polar OH1 is also waterproof so if you forget its in your pocket and put it in the washing machine it will survive! Not sure about dryer though lol

    Edit: I have been using for five days and lost 5% body fat from 34% to 29% just by staying within 2,200 calories recommended, also gained muscle percent by the same amount. No change in weight. I only drink 3 cups of coffee with zero calorie sweetener and fat free half and half in the morning, then water for the rest of the day besides a single banana and protein smoothie, with lowfat and sugar free plain greek yogurt and skim milk. I get way more than 100% calcium and right on or just over 100% protein daily. I'm 5'10 and 215 lbs.
    As far as your high calorie coffee addiction, you're just going to have to kick that. You can do it!

Categories