May 4

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Replies

  • KCJen
    KCJen Posts: 1,089 Member
    edited May 2022
    Daily Check-In Date: May 4th Wednesday

    Did I track everything? Yes
    Did I stay within my calorie range? Yes 1393
    If calories were over for the day, was the difference walked off before bed? N/A

    How many miles on Treadmill today? 1.12
    Treadmill Days are Mon thru Fri and Sat & Sun Off
    Active for 20 minutes on Sat & Sun

    Progression of weekly 1.5-to-2-pound lost goal: 2.2 lost so far
    Did I drink my daily water goal? 5 out of 7
    Pass Day Count: 0/3
    Last Month Pass Day Count: Skipped April so that would be 30



    May Goals: After the emoji is the progress on each goal.
    Track calories immediately after each meal 💙 I set the notifications up for this in the app so once the habit is built up again I will remove this from my goal list. :)
    Cook at home - eat out twice a month 💙 Aiming for 2 Fridays out of the month
    Use my food scale to measure everything.
    Use my ramekins for measuring individual servings to learn and control correct portion sizes for me and my son.
    Learn there are no "good" and "bad" foods and I am not on a diet anymore 💙 I have this drilled deep in my brain so this will take a while to unlearn - all food is ok if it is within my calorie range :)
    No more starting and stopping because I am not on a diet anymore. 💙 No more diets. Period.
    Learn how to have a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable for the rest of my life 💙 Track, Food Scale and Portion Control, Exercise, and well-balanced meals. Not-so-healthy foods are ok once in a while.
    Fine-tune meals to get within calorie range 💙 Breakfast is planned out. Lunch is next. Dinner will be open for whatever using the remaining calories.
    Learn that going over calorie range for a meal or a day is not a "failed diet for the month". 💙 This is a new one for me and I think a mental game-changer once I fully grasp this concept.
    If calories are over for that day, need to walk them off before bed.💙 This is new as well. I am trying to replace my "diet mindset" with a "healthy weight management mindset". It is not the end of the world if I go over my calories for a meal because I can walk off the extra calories before bed.
    Use fewer pass days in May than I did in April
    Get back on my treadmill

    <End of Check-In Post>

    As for today's discussion: I am in the learning and changing of tracking. I know that I need to track when I am on a "diet" and I do it, the problem is that I will stop once I hit my goal (and eventually gain it all back). So I am learning that tracking needs to be done on a consistent basis. I read an article on MFP in one of the sections that have the "start here important must-read articles" that talked about tracking. The post said that food tracking needs to be thought of like finances - we check our bank account balances before we spend money and we should check our "calorie bank" before eating. That made the lightbulb appear and I realized that I am going to have to have a food budget like I do a financial budget. Tracking needs to be lifelong instead of just when I am on my diet. And I also shouldn't think that tracking is my punishment for being irresponsible and overweight, but rather tracking now is something that I do just like monitoring my finances because I am responsible. Why this is clicking just now I don't know, but better late than never I suppose. I guess it is clicking because I am having a change of mindset.

    I am currently building my food database in MFP (I used to use the "quick add" alot) and it seems that everything that I am currently eating is not on my MFP food list. That will just take time. It is just a habit that needs to be redeveloped. I do have the tendency to track every single thing which can become overwhelming when something is new. I also will input the information myself and not use MFP database for accuracy.

    Sidenote: I am currently wondering exactly how do I track the marinade that was used to soak the chicken in? Beginning marinade weight minus leftover marinade weight that will be discarded? Then what about the marinade and sauce that is brushed on? This might need to be an estimated count.

    Last night as I sat down to eat dinner, I realized I didn't weigh out my chicken breast on the food scale. Still working on that habit as well, but I just used the night before chicken breast weight. An approximate estimate is better than nothing, and this isn't rocket science so I don't need to worry about it.

  • MizSpiffy
    MizSpiffy Posts: 145 Member
    Yes X 3
  • Elbee1
    Elbee1 Posts: 2,023 Member
    edited May 2022
    May 4
    Looking at the steps. I am at the 2-3 stage & have been there for a while. Good at tracking. I’m a slow learner, so no consistent change … thus very little weight loss & lots of up & down and back & forth.
    I do best when I plan ahead. I haven’t gotten the hang of it without a definite plan. So no plan is leading me to no loss & to gain.

    So working on it & when I plan ahead, it works

    Exercise no
    Tracked yes
    Calories No, but better
    Passes used up.
    Daily UAC goals: 0/4

    I’m adding tracking of how many times I succeed in May.
  • hopefaithlifts
    hopefaithlifts Posts: 36 Member
    May 4

    Exercise ✅
    Calories ✅
    Tracked ✅

    1/3 Pass Days (May 2 )
  • bookieNJ
    bookieNJ Posts: 3,447 Member
    edited May 2022
    I think I am in the conscious competence. I track as soon as I eat or sometimes before just so I know if I am staying on track. If at in-laws house, I am known for waiting and then Messin g up
    3 yeses
  • Marilynsretired
    Marilynsretired Posts: 5,291 Member
    Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? yes

    Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? yes

    Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? yes
  • ideas2
    ideas2 Posts: 1,221 Member
    KCJen wrote: »

    Sidenote: I am currently wondering exactly how do I track the marinade that was used to soak the chicken in? Beginning marinade weight minus leftover marinade weight that will be discarded? Then what about the marinade and sauce that is brushed on? This might need to be an estimated count.

    Last night as I sat down to eat dinner, I realized I didn't weigh out my chicken breast on the food scale. Still working on that habit as well, but I just used the night before chicken breast weight. An approximate estimate is better than nothing, and this isn't rocket science so I don't need to worry about it.

    @KCJen

    I wanted to tell you I appreciate your long posts where you allow us to see what you have been thinking about. There might be some days where I don´t have time to read everyones detailed posts, but I really appreciate them on days I do have the time.

    I have also thought about that whole issue of how to count marinade, or recipes that are drenched in butter that I leave in the bottom of the bowl. I have tracked for years and have come to feel that if I just try to sincerely make my best estimation of how much is actually consumed, I lose weight. Just being really mindful of what I eat and trying to get the best nutrition density I can in what I eat works, and the tracking is the way I keep plugging along at making the best choices and habits I can. I think the potential problem comes when there is a systematic error in something you consume regulary. A recipe with a marinade I eat very rarely isn´t going to have much effect. But I have become concerned about ¨getting it really accurate¨ on things I habitually eat.

    My weight loss has slowed a bit these past couple of weeks and I am not sure if it´s just a normal little plateau or if there is more sugar in the homemade kombucha than I have been counting using other people´s homemade kombucha in MYF. Because it is something I drink everyday for my gut health, I asked my son about how to determine the sugar content and he got me a refractor for Mother´s Day. (What good support from my son for my health goals, no?) Apparently, once I learn how to use it I will be able to test the sugar content of each batch. So hopefully it will help me make decisions about what quantity is ¨the best bang for my buck¨ healthwise. Other than the purchase of a food scale this is really the first time I have felt the need to get that detailed with investigating ingredients and quantities.

  • victorious55
    victorious55 Posts: 3,259 Member
    May 4, 2022

    Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes, Iron Series by Caroline Girvan
    Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes
    Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes

    Habits to maintain this month:
    Kitchen Closed? Yes
    Did you go "nuts" with nuts today? No (4 days -free)
    Within Sugar macro today? Yes (4 days)

    Pass day 0/3 (this is for accountability to myself and my records).
  • victorious55
    victorious55 Posts: 3,259 Member
    Thank you very much for the diagram @enlightenme3


  • strongerfaith
    strongerfaith Posts: 43 Member
    May 4

    Did I exercise for at least 20 minutes? Yes
    Did I stay within my calorie budget for the day? Yes
    Did I keep track of everything I ate and drank? Yes

    0/3 Pass Used

    LNS Me 4
  • ashleycarole86
    ashleycarole86 Posts: 6,089 Member
    Jana_2020 wrote: »
    Interesting topic @enlightenme3. When I'm on the wagon, I'm probably a 4-5. I need to be consistent with the program though. Having said that, I have been working on some of my issues and feel I have made progress. I will be going into the office starting Monday (I've been working from home since I started on MFP). We will see how I adjust to this challenge.

    Yes to logging & exercise, no to staying within calorie budget. (Pass day 1)

    Until a month ago, I was in the same boat!
    It was definitely a big adjustment, and something I thought a lot about before it happened.
    Hope your transition goes well! How are you feeling about the change?
  • enlightenme3
    enlightenme3 Posts: 2,417 Member
    I used to use this competency ladder to coach people that worked for me to help them in their work performance. I find it sort of a combination of several adages such as "practice makes perfect" (unconscious competence) and "the first step is admitting you have a problem" (conscious incompetence). I find my self vacillating between steps 2 and 3 but leaning more to conscious competence. I may be mixing things up by thinking that step 4 of unconscious competence when it comes to tracking is successful intuitive eating. I know, not tracking per se on paper or pixels, but essentially tracking in your head.
  • KCJen
    KCJen Posts: 1,089 Member
    ideas2 wrote: »
    KCJen wrote: »

    Sidenote: I am currently wondering exactly how do I track the marinade that was used to soak the chicken in? Beginning marinade weight minus leftover marinade weight that will be discarded? Then what about the marinade and sauce that is brushed on? This might need to be an estimated count.

    Last night as I sat down to eat dinner, I realized I didn't weigh out my chicken breast on the food scale. Still working on that habit as well, but I just used the night before chicken breast weight. An approximate estimate is better than nothing, and this isn't rocket science so I don't need to worry about it.

    @KCJen

    I wanted to tell you I appreciate your long posts where you allow us to see what you have been thinking about. There might be some days where I don´t have time to read everyones detailed posts, but I really appreciate them on days I do have the time.

    I have also thought about that whole issue of how to count marinade, or recipes that are drenched in butter that I leave in the bottom of the bowl. I have tracked for years and have come to feel that if I just try to sincerely make my best estimation of how much is actually consumed, I lose weight. Just being really mindful of what I eat and trying to get the best nutrition density I can in what I eat works, and the tracking is the way I keep plugging along at making the best choices and habits I can. I think the potential problem comes when there is a systematic error in something you consume regulary. A recipe with a marinade I eat very rarely isn´t going to have much effect. But I have become concerned about ¨getting it really accurate¨ on things I habitually eat.

    My weight loss has slowed a bit these past couple of weeks and I am not sure if it´s just a normal little plateau or if there is more sugar in the homemade kombucha than I have been counting using other people´s homemade kombucha in MYF. Because it is something I drink everyday for my gut health, I asked my son about how to determine the sugar content and he got me a refractor for Mother´s Day. (What good support from my son for my health goals, no?) Apparently, once I learn how to use it I will be able to test the sugar content of each batch. So hopefully it will help me make decisions about what quantity is ¨the best bang for my buck¨ healthwise. Other than the purchase of a food scale this is really the first time I have felt the need to get that detailed with investigating ingredients and quantities.

    Thank you @ideas2. You are very helpful to me, and your response about marinades has helped me as well! That is a supportive son 😊 I have been having long-winded posts lately lol - my chatterbox fingers have been hurting from all this typing. But I need help with trying to unlearn my old diet ways and learn how to have a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable. And I appreciate everyone's feedback on my posts, and I hope I am not that annoying to everyone. My posts will settle down once I get with the program better. I think for the marinade I am just going to use an estimate and adjust as needed. Thanks for your help!