Time Zone Question and Impact on MFP stats

You can record whatever you like for whatever days you want regardless of what the calendar and clock say. This is something those of us who keep to nonstandard schedules deal with regularly. My last snack of the day is frequently after midnight, but I record it on the same day as the rest of my food for that waking period.

I had this issue when I travelled to the middle East from north america this summer. I didn't think about the change of times, rather just calendar days. It may have helped that I took a red eye flight. when adjusting to the time difference I ate light meals and constant snacks and just tried to act as if I was still back home. Best of luck. Also, MFP may not have the items you are eating in the database or while travelling you may need to guestimate the values of certain foods. Don't freak out, just do your best, be as active as you can and don't pressure yourselfm. You don't need to lose weight while travelling, but preventing weight gain is optimal.

madwells1 wrote: »

All, I am traveling from the East Coast to Europe (Switzerland and France) where I will stay for a few weeks, and am anxious about the time zone change and how that is going to impact my stats on MFP. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I've worked very hard to track everything I eat and the amount of exercise I get, but am afraid that if I change time zones my numbers and stats will get reallocated and I won't be able to take things into account. Although I plan on enjoying myself and not being to obsessive compulsive with MFP, I really still want a good sense of my eating patterns, etc.

Am I over thinking this?

I'd be thinking more about the amazing food (France) and the best chocolate in the world (Switzerland). Enjoy

@Maria_FFM I recently traveled to Asia from the US via several flights totaling 26 hours and had this same issue you're anticipating. When I first got there I realized I was constantly under calories because I was entering foods at weird times and my Fitbit was recording and synching activity when I would normally be asleep.

The time difference from where I live to where I traveled to was 12.5 hours so that's a significant enough jump for MFP to be confused / think I'm skipping meals and give me more calories at the end of the day. I changed the timezone setting in MFP to reflect where I was and it all sorted itself out. Changed it back when I returned to the US.

I think your first couple days will be a little confusing. Just eat when you feel hungry and try to get on the new schedule as soon as you can. I ate a snack when I arrived (in the middle of the night) and ate breakfast at the local time. If you arrive at 6am, try to have breakfast at local time and stay awake / try to have as normal a day as possible (maybe with a small nap if you're tired) and go from there.