At Goal & Successfully Maintaining. So Why Am I Doing This All Over Again?
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We had Mexican for lunch today. BL had chicken fajitas.
Last time we had Mexican, I peeked at his diary, and he had charged himself 371 for a full Mexican fajita meal. We’re talking salad, guacamole, rice, beans, tortillas and the whole sizzling platter thing. 😬
We had a brief talk about trying to be a little more accurate. So this evening I looked and he’d charged himself 671. 😬😬
I do the cooking and weighing and he generally copies my entries. Other than that, it’s the occasional fast food, where he can snag the generic entries.
He really has no clue how large a tablespoon of anything is, or an ounce, or the frequent 15 and 28 gram servings.
He had calculated 10 grams of peppers and onions. We reviewed his lunch and came up with just shy of 1300. (We didn’t have chips and salsa, and he didn’t get tortillas for his fajitas this time.)
That’s when he confessed to me that he’s been really worried about the message he gets when he closes his diary.
You know. This message:
(This is a screenshot from my own diary)
He said he’s nowhere near where the five week prediction generally puts him and it’s had him down.
Y’all, this message is utter BS. Long time users have been begging the folks at MFP for years to get rid of that thing.
One thing you need to understand is “that if every day were like today” doesn’t exist.
No two days are alike. Even if you somehow manage to eat the exact same things every day, your steps are different, your activity is different, you may have applied more salt, drank more or less fluids, been constipated, had work and/or personal stress, suffered road rage, the weather was hot, your didn’t sleep well. NO TWO DAYS ARE ALIKE.
I get the good intentions of posting a banner like that, but it creates unrealistic expectations. IGNORE IT.
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BL is also concerned he hasn’t lost more weight.
If you’re one of those people who loathes getting on the scale, I’m sorry, but you’ve got to do it more often than him. He has weighed in maybe four times since he began in August.
Weight fluctuates up and down for the same reasons as above. I was up 11 pounds Sunday morning after a transcontinental flight. I’m already down six of those, and anticipate the rest gone by next week.
But if I didn’t have a consistent source of data to draw from, study, learn from, I’d probably think “OMG I’ve failed”, beat myself up, and go buck wild.
Or be like BL and berate himself for not having lost when he might have chosen the one day his weight bounced up to weigh in.
It’s really common for people to be up and down at consistent times of the week. My highest weight of the week is customarily Monday, and my lowest is Saturday. It can be a difference of four pounds and I have absolutely no idea why, but data proves I’ve been like this for months, and have grown to expect it. If I didn’t weigh regularly, I’d have no idea of this trend.
Ladies, your monthly cycle (obviously) has a similar cyclical effect.
IMHO, the more data points you can give yourself, the more likely you are to succeed.
So BL is going to begin weighing in several times a week now, so he can start to understand what’s going on, and maybe why.
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I never bother closing my diary because I got tired of that message.
Re: estimating Mexican food. I generally find one of the chains that has massive portions and is required by law to list calories, and work from there. Also, good on him for avoiding the chips and tortillas! For some reason flour tortillas spike my blood glucose worse than anything.
Re: water weight. I had a low calorie but high sodium Korean meal (haemul sundubu aka seafood tofu soup, plus side dishes of pickled whatever) and bounced up FIVE POUNDS overnight! Next day, gone.7 -
That banner can be really demoralizing because even IF it were accurate, it is always 5 weeks away. It's like this goal that you never reach. I don't know about you, but I don't remember what it told me 5 weeks ago, so did I "succeed" this 5 weeks or not???? Instead, all I have is a message telling me that this lower weight is "still over a month away, suckah!". Tell him there are many of us that agree with you and he should just ignore that stupid thing. He's still logging and trying to reach his daily calorie goals. He's exercising. THOSE are successes!
And yeah, I agree, he needs to weigh more often. I didn't think I would like daily weigh-ins but they are SOOO comforting on those water weight days. I don't even think about it now: wake up, go to the bathroom, weigh myself. It's just what I do.7 -
He weighed in this morning for the first time in three weeks, and was up half a pound.
Down in the dumps but says he will keep on plan.
We’re going to sit down and review his diary tonight and tighten up on logging.
He’s really upped his activity level, so it’s got to be inaccurate logging. I don’t think he’s cheating because he’s been so invested in this.
I’ve been hesitant to review his diary because, as a grown man, and essentially a retired statistician/forecaster for a major corporation, this is something that should be well within his wheelhouse.
I don’t want to be diet nanny, ya know? But if it helps him stay on track and , above all, healthy, a gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do.7 -
That five week message always reminds me of this skit about winter on Canadian tv a few years ago:
https://youtu.be/wkDvqQKGgDA11 -
ridiculous59 wrote: »That five week message always reminds me of this skit about winter on Canadian tv a few years ago:
https://youtu.be/wkDvqQKGgDA
Hilariously accurate. Today it was -41 but on Tuesday we're gonna be -2... until Tuesday gets closer, of course.2 -
I don't know how to quote someone (I'm seriously old school,) but the
(remember the chickens riding goats stampede? LOL
had me rolling.
Springle, your post bring out the best in people. So fun and educational to read.
I haven't started exercising yet. I have some severe physical limitations, but when some of this weight comes off, maybe some of the pain will go with it.9 -
anmlmzdiet wrote: »I don't know how to quote someone (I'm seriously old school,) but the
(remember the chickens riding goats stampede? LOL
had me rolling.
Springle, your post bring out the best in people. So fun and educational to read.
I haven't started exercising yet. I have some severe physical limitations, but when some of this weight comes off, maybe some of the pain will go with it.
Just hit the “quote” button at the bottom of the post you want to quote. It will prefill in the response box so you can then type your response after it.
Like so:
No worries. I still can’t do a lot of the fun stuff like snips and such.
Regarding exercise. One of the best posts I ever read was from a woman who was morbidly obese with restricted mobility. She made a decision to all to the end of her driveway and back. Then to the mailboxes and back. Then to the first fence post, then to the telephone pole, the next pole. She increased distance every time she felt comfortable with it. Eventually she was walking by several miles at a time. She was overjoyed at her own success.
To paraphrase Bilbo;
It's a joyful business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you keep to your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.12 -
And PS if you quote someone OR use an @ sign in front of their ID like @anmlmzdiet it both highlights their name in the post and puts a flag up top that you’ve been mentioned in a post so you can check and see why your ears are burning.3
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Another take on the banner…. I know it’s unrealistic, but I see it and think - if I stick to the plan I can make a real dent in my weight in 5 weeks, might even see this number (whatever it projects) in 10 weeks. So I find it encouraging.7
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Are you using the meals / recipes function?
You’ll find it in the main menu.
With the recipes function, you can import recipes from many other websites by pasting in the url.
Later you can find the recipe and import it into your daily food diary. It will show in your diary as one lump item, ie “Lasagna 626 calories”. It will also give you lump sums on the macros included in the ingredients.
Personally, though, I prefer the “meals” function to save a recipe.
Yes, you have to take a few moments to individually find and enter each ingredient. But you have to futz around with recipes, too, to find the appropriate items prior to saving.
When you save a meal to your daily diary, it will save each ingredient individually.
This makes it easy to change a single ingredient. For example you substituted chicken or mushrooms for ground beef in your lasagna that day. Or maybe there was a sale on the store brand, which has slightly different calories than what you usually use. You can copy your meal and save it with the revised ingredients.
Saving as a meal also lets you track your macros in more detail, by individual ingredient.
You also have the ability to copy a meal as many times as you want, and easily adjust the ingredients, if you’re still experiment or improving on it, while still saving a copy of the original meal.
I find it helps to include the date in my title, because the last version is typically the most accurate and up to date.
Here I’ve saved the original entry as “lasagna sauce only”, because this sauce also happens to make a terrific spaghetti sauce.
Then I copied the sauce entry and added the rest of the lasagna ingredients for a full pan of lasagna. (After deducting 25% of the sauce because I’ve set that aside for spaghetti for anther couple meals. )
It’s also easier for a spouse or friend to find and transport a meal from your diary into their own, and know exactly what they’re eating. If they copy a recipe all they’re getting is that lump sum total.
I generally save a meal as 1 serving and then adjust the quantity within my diary function before I add it to my diary.
For example, this pan of lasagna Is a total of 7,538 calories. It will make 12 servings.
When I find the meal in my diary, I’ll change the serving size to .083 (or 1/12th) before saving it to my diary. This will add 626 to my daily food diary for dinner.
Please note. I do use the iOS app. The Android should be similar. I rarely use the web version, so YMMV. The best way to figure these out is simply to sit down and play with them. But if you’ve got a pretty consistent rotation of meals, using either function will make your life- and logging- much easier!
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And btw, this really is the Worlds Best Lasagna.
allrecipes.com/recipe/23600/worlds-best-lasagna/
Stick the sauce in a crockpot and let it simmer all day.
Double the sauce because it makes a great spaghetti sauce and we all like a two’fer, am I right?
I use ground chicken and add a bit of salt, ground black pepper and a tablespoon of Italian (actually, we prefer herbs de Provence). Mix well and let sit in the fridge for two or three days, then brown and crumble in a pan. It will taste just like Italian sausage at a fraction of the calories.5 -
Thanks for the tips @springlering62!
I tend to use the recipe function, because entering "0.08 portion" messes with my head.
My husband is the head chef of the household and *usually* follows the same recipes, but when he changes it, I can edit it in the app OR if there are a lot of changes, I'll go to the desktop app to copy it and change the copy. (go to recipes --> hover over the recipe and a menu appears on the right ---> click "copy"). I haven't been able to find the "copy " function in the app. It might be there, but I don't know where it is.
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@dralicephd ….and that’s why you guys are so awesome.
I didn’t know that.
But I still prefer recipes entered as meals because I can see where particular macros need amping up. (That may onky be in the paid version?)1 -
springlering62 wrote: »But I still prefer recipes entered as meals because I can see where particular macros need amping up.
Ahh that makes sense. I'm just happy if I can get my husband to remember what he put in the food so I can log it accurately. lol... Sooooo many nights of: "Where's the label so I can scan it?" "oh oops, I threw it away again." Or: "How many cups of turnips did you add?" "Ummm.... 3? No, 4! No wait, it was 3".
But since I'm not cooking, it is all good.
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Noticed the gallon of milk isn’t being used, other than the wee bit we froth for chai.
When asked, BL announced he’s given up milk. “Too many calories. I’d rather eat something.”
😱 BL loved his big morning glass of milk.
He’s even making noises about trying the 25 calorie cashew milk so he can continue having the occasional cereal.
This is serious re-wiring.8 -
springlering62 wrote: »Noticed the gallon of milk isn’t being used, other than the wee bit we froth for chai.
When asked, BL announced he’s given up milk. “Too many calories. I’d rather eat something.”
😱 BL loved his big morning glass of milk.
He’s even making noises about trying the 25 calorie cashew milk so he can continue having the occasional cereal.
This is serious re-wiring.
Calorie counting does tend to re-wire, doesn't it? Good analogy!
I think some of the power in that is when people see the individuality, find their own strategies . . . when too often others (not you) urge cookie-cutter strategies they've read about, or that may've worked for them. (The "don't eat bread" or "no white foods" kind of thing.)
Personally, I use more milk since starting calorie counting for weight loss/maintenance: It's long been skim milk for me; the calorie/protein ratio is really good for me as an ovo-lacto vegetarian; and - with that beauteous hand-pump frother you mentioned here and I bought - a good lot of that milk feels really luxurious in/on my breakfast coffees.
Underscoring: Not saying your guy should drink the milk. Saying personalization of tactics is crucial IMO, and counting is a great tool for finding those individual tactics.5 -
I am a cheese addict. I have decided that piece of cheese on my sandwich, burger, or salad for an extra 70 or 150 cals just isn't worth it at this time. Rewind, most cheese: Feta on the other hand doesn't require much to provide the taste needed. So at 70 cal for a 1/4 cup and only needing a tablespoon for flavor this is a game changer for now. Tomato and Basil Feta is my favorite Feta.
Drooling over Gouda, Havarti, Cheddar, Gruyère...MMMM cheese. Moderation at some point down the road.
I have never had almond milk, but I am going to look into it. Sometimes a bowl of Cocoa pebbles is needed because it just so chocolatey delicious.7 -
fatty2begone wrote: »I have never had almond milk, but I am going to look into it. Sometimes a bowl of Cocoa pebbles is needed because it just so chocolatey delicious.
Particularly on days one doesn't want to adult ... and plans to spend the rest of the daylight hours in one's blanket fort. With crayons. And the bowl of Cocoa Pebbles.11
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