January 4 Sign In
RangerRickL
Posts: 8,469 Member
Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes?
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day?
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank?
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day?
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank?
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Replies
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The most important habit is tracking all caloric consumption from both food and beverages.
I posted the graphic above as a discussion starter and not the gospel of the UAC.
The most accurate way to track is to premeasure the portion to be consumed.
An important habit to establish is to use MFP to determine calories and to track contemporaneously immediately after or before eating or drinking something caloric.
What have you found to be helpful in tracking?12 -
Good chart.
I eat about 90 percent whole foods, meaning fresh vegetables, fruit, and plain oatmeal. Other than heating low sodium soup and oatmeal, I almost never cook anything. I'm a vegetarian.
I use the calories from labels for the few packaged things I eat, like soup and Greek yogurt, and count out my almonds.
For everything else, like the fruit and vegetables, I try to weigh once on my food scale and then estimate from then on. It turns out I'm good at estimating. This year I went from obese to normal with no problem and lost in line with how I set up my MFP diary.
Like the chart illustrates, I think weighing on a scale is a huge help if you cook a lot, and eat sauces, oils, and calorie dense food like peanut and other nut butters.8 -
January 4
Exercised?: Yes (6 km walk in 47 mins)
Calories?: Yes
Tracked?: Yes
Late walk again but kept up the pace. Happy to still be under 8 mins per km.
Dinner was at local Japanese restaurant. Nice food.
Did not take the option to go flying today, maybe tomorrow. Really should have, but head was not in the right place. Ended up doing very little around home.
@RangerRickL. I find with tracking it is better to weigh if unsure or if you notice that weight is starting to move (over a 3 week period) in an unexpected direction (up or down) or speed (too slow or too quick). This usually means either your estimation skills are slipping and need to be refreshed; or a potential medical issue may be starting and needs to get checked out.
After tracking by weighing for a number of months, you get very good at estimating portion sizes and can become less "obsessed" about weighing everything.10 -
I’m going to track for the rest of my life. If you don’t track accurately then what’s the point in doing this? The first sign of a plateau or weight gain is usually inaccuracy. I find that I have to pay more attention to the hidden calories like cooking oil, creamer, sugar, salad dressing which can add up quickly. A little extra shake can be very expensive. I estimate green veggies and salads but sweet fruits can sabotage my plan. Nuts are healthy but can be very expensive too. Healthy does not mean free. Therefore, I pay close attention to these. I over estimate when dining out or when unsure.10
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I weight everything as I either 1) compile my meal - such as a salad; or 2) if I am cooking - I weigh and enter as I am using ingredients and save it in "recipe" mode. When I remake the recipe, I adjust the weights each time. I am a bit pedantic like that. But also I like to track my micro's such as Iron & Calcium.
All this weighing means I have become really good at eyeballing weights and measures, so for example today, I ate an apple while out and can guesstimate the weight with pretty good confidence. I never use condiments when I dine out. They are often full of hidden calories. As a WFPB eater, since I eat almost only fruits and veggies, it's actually not too hard to keep track. So if I get a salad when I go out and it has 4 ingredients, it's quite easy for me to eyeball how much cucumber, how much tomato - and if in doubt just round up. But I weigh everything at home, even the cabbage and spinach and so forth which sometimes add laughably small amounts of cals to my meals. It's the habit of logging everything before I eat it that I need to monitor.
The things I find hardest to guess/track when I am out are things like olives and legumes. These are some of my more calorie dense food items. So I try to minimize those if I eat out, and again, I always measure at home - which really does improve ones ability to eye-ball as @craigo3154 pointed out.
Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes?
7 hours poolside! hell yeah. My fitbit is not good for detecting swimming - but I did a good 30 mins proper swimming and lots of walking today. Feeling quite tired now and ready for bed.
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day?
YES! Had a low cal fasting day today. Ate much less than I though I would given the amount of activity.
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank?
YES! Not too hard as I had an apple and 2 x 15g peanuts at the pool. And made a big delish salad when I got home. I need to drink a lot of water today, as I forgot to drink as much as I normally do.8 -
Piping in as an omnivore here... one thing that's always confused me is whether we're supposed to weigh meat before or after cooking. I used to weigh after, but I've started weighing before instead. What's the established wisdom on this?
Also, I tend to drink a little too much coffee and probably underestimated my "splash" of milk. I've changed to pre-measuring my allotted milk into an old baby bottle with ounce markings on the side. Once it's gone for the day, I'm done with the coffee for the day.10 -
I had a chill at home day watching far too much TV, but occasional days like this are good. No junk food in the house so decent choices and well within my budget. No exercise so it's pass day 1 for me.
I have started eyeballing most things but when I'm in routine I weigh the big stuff or the high calorie snacks. I don't weigh things like milk as I use it rarely and sauces I estimate as I also don't use that much of them.10 -
Exercise: 50 mins yoga
Calories: Yes
Tracked: Yes8 -
3 x’s yes! An hour of kickboxing and an hour of piyo.
When I’m in maintenance or ok with super slow loss I’ll eyeball most things since I eat the same things a lot and have my serving sizes pretty well practiced. Lol except peanut butter and salad dressing, those eyeballed servings are ALWAYS too big. I can finish a jar of peanut butter in 3 “servings”
Times like now when I’m pushing to lose and am restricting calories I weigh and measure everything.
I also like to pre-log meals each morning so there are no big surprises. I’ll adjust through out the day. For example: today I needed an afternoon snack so I took 1 egg, 1/2 ounce of cheese and 1 ounce of ham out of my dinner omelette. Dinner will still be big and satisfying and I got an extra snack.
I also usually close out my account and check in for UAC around dinner time. This mentally keeps me in check to stick to my pre-logged servings.8 -
Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes, a 60 minute Barre class, followed by a 60 minute Yoga class.
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes7 -
4th January
Exercise: Yes. Renewed my card at the swimming pool and swam for 30 minutes, walked for an additional hour or so.
Calories: Yes, stayed under.
Tracking: Yes, logged everything.
Was very proud of myself that, after a very difficult evening with my partner, who has early stages Alzheimer's, I took myself off for a quick walk round the block instead of hitting the bottle or raiding the fridge. Mind you, I try and make sure that the only bottles around contain fizzy water and that everything in the fridge is healthy and / or needs cooking ... It was gone 11pm, so shops closed as well!10 -
Going to take my first pass day today.
Exercise: I’ll be hitting my exercise goal today, getting ready for a long walk.
Tracking: Yup, all is tracked and accounted for, from the 2 am visit to the fridge to the post lunch raiding of the box of dates. Not proud, but few things derail me like insomnia and headache after a bad night do.
Calories: I’m over. After my walk, I hope to be at least at maintenance tonight, but won’t be able to hit my 1500 calorie goal.
Reminding myself that the important thing is to not be discouraged by a bad day, but to continue as planned.
Regarding tracking. I’m quite nerdy and love numbers, so everything is weighed and nothing is eyeballed. When I cook I use the recipes function and I weigh/measure everything that goes into the dish. Then I weigh the entire dish and record the number of grams as the number of servings. This allows me to eat it throughout the week or to share it with my significant other and to know exactly where I stand. It’s not that much work. When I cook the same dish again, I just modify the recipe...I even weigh the milk that goes into my coffee!7 -
Yes yea yes. My calorie intake was crap today but I managed to go for 2 big walks so I ended up under. 4/0 very happy
hope everyone else is doing well 7 -
Jan 4 - goals met (4 days out of 4!)
Tracked: Yes
Calories: Yes
Exercise: Yes - 30 min walk
Thinking about calories: MFP sets my calorie goal at 1275 (ETA: Just did the guided setup again, and now MFP has me at 1390/day, right in line with my 7-day average anyway). Out of the last 7 days, I've been under that 4 times, way over once (hello new year's eve champagne!) and under 1360 for 2 days. My tracked TDEE for the week was 2180 (taking out a huge day 1 - day 2 water weight loss), but my 7-day average for calories was 1378, even including the new year's overage.
Moving forward with this challenge, I'm keeping my MFP calorie goal listed at 1275, but I'm counting myself as under calories if I'm under 1400. My spreadsheet is set up to track 2-week TDEE next week, and 3-week TDEE following that, and I'll adjust my personal calorie targets as needed based on the results.
Who else here is tracking their own TDEE? (Hat tip to @craigo3154 for introducing me to this back in 2018 in the Biggest Loser challenge)7 -
Exercise: yes. It included running but wasn’t feeling it today, so had to force myself.
Calories within goal: yes
Tracked: yes6 -
1/4
Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes, 30 minute outside walk in the village today.
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes, on target
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes...and the kitchen is closed for tonight
IMHO weighing is more accurate than measuring...but that's easier to do when eating at home and preparing your own meals as opposed to eating out.
In response to @LesIckaBod I have my calories set at 1400, but I'm also in maintenance with BMI at 19.0 and not looking to lose weight. I need UAC to keep me in check.
The spoiler below includes what I have previously shared about my journey. Everyone should have a pretty good idea as to what works for them. These are just my thoughts and offered only for consideration.
7 -
Minimum 20 minutes exercise? Yes, 40 minutes low impact aerobics and 45 minutes housecleaning.
Without calorie budget? Yes
Tracked food and drink? Yes6 -
1/4
Exercise: Yes 40 min walk with my Penny Lane and 20 minutes hip PT
Calories: Yes, hubby surprised me with pancakes and bacon this morning so it was a bit of a challenging day but I still left about 300 calories unused
Tracking: Yes, even the pancakes and bacon
I just realized that I'm going to have to take a pass day either Thurs or Fri this week.............we're doing a buffet at one of the casinos and while I may not overeat, it's nearly impossible to even estimate calories. I'm also going to San Francisco for the weekend at the end of the month. I might still be able to get in under the wire with 3 pass days but it really depends on SF.
I started out weighing everything that needed to be weighed in 2013 and as I lost weight and moved into maintenance about 18 months later I had a lot of repeat recipes and a pretty good eye for portions. I guess if it's not broken we don't need to fix it. For anyone starting out I really think weighing is a real eye opener!
BTW, I know this space is a trust space but if anyone wants to see my exercise or food diary they're open. Sometimes it helps to get new ideas or see what others are doing.7 -
Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes -- eliptical for 20, then lifting.
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes -- under 346.
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes, even the cookie I had while I was getting a haircut.
7 -
(1) 20 minutes exercise? Yes, 23 min jog and 7 minute cardio
(2) Calorie deficit ? Yes
(3) Tracked food and drink? Yes
🥳🎉🎊👍🏋🏻♀️ 17 -
YES!!!! YES!!! YES!!!!!
Tomorrow is another day.
Have a successful day tomorrow all!6 -
LesIckaBod wrote: »Jan 4 - goals met (4 days out of 4!)
Tracked: Yes
Calories: Yes
Exercise: Yes - 30 min walk
Thinking about calories: MFP sets my calorie goal at 1275. Out of the last 7 days, I've been under that 4 times, way over once (hello new year's eve champagne!) and under 1360 for 2 days. My tracked TDEE for the week was 2180 (taking out a huge day 1 - day 2 water weight loss), but my 7-day average for calories was 1378, even including the new year's overage.
Moving forward with this challenge, I'm keeping my MFP calorie goal listed at 1275, but I'm counting myself as under calories if I'm under 1400. My spreadsheet is set up to track 2-week TDEE next week, and 3-week TDEE following that, and I'll adjust my personal calorie targets as needed based on the results.
Who else here is tracking their own TDEE? (Hat tip to @craigo3154 for introducing me to this back in 2018 in the Biggest Loser challenge)
Just a little expansion on this.
TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Calculating this is slightly different to the normal MFP CICO and requires tracking history and weight.
TDEE takes you averaged calorie history and weight and works out what your base energy requirement is without exercise.
It works on the assumption that 1 pound equates to 3500 calories. You need to take an average over at least a week as weight fluctuates per day based on water retention.
As you are tracking calories and exercise and weight you can work out TDEE average without exercise through a simple formula.
TDEE gives you a closer estimate to a true metabolic burn rate (without additional tracked exercise) than the usual MFP calculation as is is based off YOUR history, not average tables.
The only way to get a TRUE burn rate is in a laboratory (CO2MAX) or using doubly labelled water. As both are not viable options for us in the real world, TDEE based of history of tracking, weight and exercise estimation is about the best we can do.
I used this method when losing weight at my fastest to ensure that I did not have any long term adverse affects on my metabolism. (I dropped 50 lbs in 6 months actually had my metabolism increase to the point I was eating MORE calories per day in maintenance at 140 lbs than I was when I started at 190 lbs. This was dropping, on average, 5% of my bodyweight per month for 6 consecutive months).
For this to work you MUST be obsessive about portion sizes, weighing and measuring food. The better the accuracy of the numbers going in, the better the accuracy of the TDEE measurement as the end result.4 -
Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? 20 minutes on the recumbent bike, 3.65 miles; rowing machine 5 minutes, .77 miles
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes8 -
1/4
Exersized-?yes
Caleries?-yes
Logged?-yes
For me,I do better when I measure what I eat.Eat consistantly.7 -
Tracked: Yes
Calories: Yes
Exercise: Yes - 35 minutes of swimming laps! This is definitely motivating me to exercise! 6 -
I try and prelog in my diary. Then I adjust the actual weights when I weigh the food before serving it.
03 Jan:
20+ minutes exercise: Yes. 50 active minutes
Under calorie goal: Yes
Tracked? Yes
04 Jan:
20+ minutes exercise: Yes. 86 active minutes
Under calorie goal: Yes
Tracked? Yes
Pass days used = 0️⃣7 -
1/4
Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? yes Ran - Resolution 10K - not the fastest but better than I expected
Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? yes just under
Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? yes
Pass used 1/3 (on 1/1)7 -
Tracking: Yes
Calories: under
Exercise: Yes
Water - more than yesterday but still not enough
Goals/Day/Comments: flight tomorrow. Made my breakfast to take with me. My plan is to walk into little store with my eyes closed and buy water only. The flight is less than 4 hours so not bad.
Weighing: since I travel so much, I have to estimate calories. So when I’m home, I weigh everything. That way I’m at least accurate at home. When I wasn’t weighing, I’d estimate. Take nuts for example. I’d estimate them and put them in a bowl. But then I’d reach into the bag and pop a few in my mouth. My rule now is that I can pop it in my mouth only from the portion on the scale.7 -
Exercise: Yes 30 minute spin.
Tracking: Yes
Under calorie goal: Yes, but it was a bit of a struggle. I had a high call muffin at lunch because hubby made them, but it threw me off and left me hungry. Chinese takeout for dinner means my sodium is through the roof. I will likely show a gain tomorrow.6 -
2nd, 3rd, 4th Jan
Tracked yes
Under yes
Exercise yes5
