First Day- Suggestions

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TAK0221
TAK0221 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,
I started today tracking my calories and I consumed a large amount of carbohydrates and sugar. I am not judging myself for what I ate, but I am curious what others eat and how to consume enough protein.
I do not wake up hungry, and normally drink coffee until about 11:00, before I eat my lunch. I normally have a sandwich (or a salad with chicken) and some cheese, fruit, and nuts. I then enjoy some more coffee. (I drink one cup of caffeinated coffee and the rest of the day, decaf- I love the taste). I then make it until about 4:00 pm at work and then the cravings come on strong. I then end up eating my weight in all kinds of sweets and foods in the evening once I get home from work. I think part of it is just being home from work and being able to turn off my brain. Does anyone else struggle with this?
Please make suggestions *KINDLY* about any thoughts you may have or encouraging words.
Thank you!

Replies

  • foreverslim1111
    foreverslim1111 Posts: 2,610 Member
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    You've made a good first step by joining MFP and starting to track your calories. I will tell you some of what has helped me:

    Pre-logging my food each day. Helps me plan my meals and make adjustments to portion size.

    Eliminating foods containing any form of sugar as it makes me hungrier.

    Concentrating on making my MFP macro goals for protein and fiber.

    Weighing my self every morning. Taking measurements once a month. Helps to see progress.

    Having the occasional treat and fitting it in to my calorie count.

    Doing regular weight workouts during the week using various Youtube videos.

    These are Just a few behaviors that have helped me lose 27 lbs. LOL I'm a coffee lover too! Still have 2-3 cups a day. I think you will find very helpful people here.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
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    TAK0221 wrote: »
    Hi,
    I started today tracking my calories and I consumed a large amount of carbohydrates and sugar. I am not judging myself for what I ate, but I am curious what others eat and how to consume enough protein.
    I do not wake up hungry, and normally drink coffee until about 11:00, before I eat my lunch. I normally have a sandwich (or a salad with chicken) and some cheese, fruit, and nuts. I then enjoy some more coffee. (I drink one cup of caffeinated coffee and the rest of the day, decaf- I love the taste). I then make it until about 4:00 pm at work and then the cravings come on strong. I then end up eating my weight in all kinds of sweets and foods in the evening once I get home from work. I think part of it is just being home from work and being able to turn off my brain. Does anyone else struggle with this?
    Please make suggestions *KINDLY* about any thoughts you may have or encouraging words.
    Thank you!

    If you want to swap out some carbs for protein, the afternoon snacks sound a good place to start. Jerky, hard-boiled eggs, cottage cheese (if you have a refrigerator at work) are some easy protein snacks.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Plan an afternoon snack - have that snack before you get home from work. Bring an apple with some peanut butter or Greek yogurt with berries.

    If I've had a stressful day, I can just graze my way thru a few hundred calories before dinner. Can you go for a walk before or after dinner? I find yoga is helpful to shut things down. Yoga by Adrienne is really good.

    I often make a night time snack of popcorn using a microwave popping bowl with just a little oil (helps the salt stick). This makes a big serving for a limited number of calories.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    honestly, i find not buying things i know that are 'trouble' foods for me, the best way. that said you CAN have sweets and chips and stuff. my diary is open. i have sweets of some kind nearly every day. but I plan for them and log them.

    things I have no self restraint over (peanut butter cups, the nutter butter wafer cookies).... they make rare appearances in my diary because it has to be a very purposeful purchase and planned. No keeping it in the house randomly lol
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
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    Welcome!

    So if it's your first day, I would just start by entering your info into the "goals" section on MFP to get a calorie goal for the day. Then, go ahead and start logging everything you eat/ate. Do that for a day, or even a week, so you can see how much you are truly consuming. Make sure you have a food scale so you can weight everything you put in your mouth. And I mean EVERYTHING. If you eat all the cookies in the pantry, log them. Have 3 cups of coffee with cream and sugar? Log them.

    Now that you have some data, you can start making intelligent choices. Where to cut back? Where to substitute? Is it worth eating all the cookies for 1,000 calories when I could have fruit or a yogurt instead and stay within my goals? Is that salad really as low cal/healthy as I think or one I'm done adding all the junk is it over 1,000 calories (very easily done BTW).

    MFP is a tool, and just like any tool it depends on how you use it. Most people on here that are new struggle because they don't log accurately and get frustrated when they don't see the scale drop but they are in fact eating more than they think.

    There's no one right or wrong way to get to the promised land, but the method of eating less calories than your body needs is the only constant. How you get there is up to you!

    Good luck!
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
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    I'm seconding the suggestion to keep just logging honestly for a week. It's easy to get discouraged and overwhelmed if you try to change everything all at once. It's not a race, the goal is not to drop the pounds as fast as possible (that's actually dangerous). Right now, you're just gathering data to get a baseline.

    It sounds like you have some idea of what kinds of patterns you're going to see in your diary after a week of honest logging, but give yourself that time to actually see those patterns. Maybe there's a larger pattern than just "I turn off my brain and open my mouth when I get home from work in the evenings," which will inform your strategy for how to address the nighttime snacking. Are there days of the week that you get home earlier or later? Days that are more or less draining of your energy? Are there pockets of time in the week you could prepare lower-calorie snacks for yourself to eat later, so it's easier to reach for (e.g.) carrots and hummus instead of cookies and chips?

    The things that have helped me the most, I think, are using my food scale and pre-logging as much as I can in advance. I meal-prep breakfast and lunch for the week on Sundays, so once I've packed up all my servings, it takes five minutes to log my next five days' worth of those meals. And then I know what I'm working with as far as how much I have available for dinner and snacks. I choose dinner recipes that will yield leftovers and pack them up immediately, weighing out the portions so I know they're all the same, and we have the same dinner for 2 or 3 nights each week.

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