At Goal & Successfully Maintaining. So Why Am I Doing This All Over Again?

1353638404144

Replies

  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    EliseTK1 wrote: »
    @steveko89 Very interesting breakdown. I’m not sure I’ll ever get so detailed with my macro distribution, but I do already space my protein throughout the day to maximize the benefits. I’ll never say never though- for years I wasn’t optimistic I’d ever get as close to my goals as I currently am, so maybe by this time next year I’ll be actively body building and taking every single advantage I can find. Could be a fun challenge!

    Having been on MFP for over 10 years now, I've gone through many many iterations on what was "good enough" only to find that wasn't necessarily the case to most optimally work towards my goals. I've not purchased any products from Renaissance Periodization but the amount of their science-backed info you can find for free is impressive and I've found very useful. There's a free resources section on their website and Dr. Mike's youtube has some really good, extensive information, very geared towards body building.
  • beabria
    beabria Posts: 541 Member
    He told me later in the morning he sure felt a difference. “Special K is fine for Tai Chi, but I definitely ran out of steam during water aerobics”.

    We’ve both had similar learning experiences this week. The bakery clerk put an extra Apple fritter in the bag for Sunday morning Doughnut Day, and I ate it Monday morning, and had the exact same experience. Not only did it want to come back up during Spin & HIIT class, by the time I got round to aquafit I was already dragging.

    Breakfast sure makes a difference, if you’re doing early morning workouts.

    If you’ll pardon me, I just remembered I need to make a batch of pancakes to stick in the fridge……

    This is 100% true! I used to be one of those who thought breakfast just made me hungrier - which was true if I was having a very carby breakfast. The past month, I've been having protein powder in my morning tea (not my only breakfast item, for the record!). I've been pushing up against the top of my calorie range recently, and started eying that as something to cut. Was it really making a difference in my fullness??? Next day - YES that bit of protein is apparently key to holding me over to lunch!!!

  • MelodiousMermaid
    MelodiousMermaid Posts: 380 Member
    Thank you for this thread. I look forward to seeing future progress, recipes, and stories!

    Ninja should hire you as a spokesperson/marketer @springlering62 ! I have a new kitchen gadget, as I couldn't resist the lure of all the noms!! I have a lemon sorbet set in the freezer for prep now that has a total calorie load of 27 for a pint (used Cary's syrup instead of corn syrup, and swerve in place of sugar). Perfect for a day that I need to keep the footprint small, but have something that feels like at least a sort-of indulgence.

    ...Or at least I'm hoping it'll taste/feel like that -- swerve is new to me. Was looking for allulose locally, but didn't find it, but hadn't tried this sweetener before so decided to give it a go. And not sure Cary's was the right choice, could have gone with a bit of a Jordan's skinny syrups instead.

    9s14yfgdcswn.jpg

    As a side note, if any of you fine people are up for another MFP friend, I'd welcome more people.
  • Sparkuvu
    Sparkuvu Posts: 2,440 Member
    I'll second that!
  • joans1976
    joans1976 Posts: 2,201 Member
    Thank the MFP gods for this thread! So BL still won’t weigh? Does he take measurements? Or is it all clothes falling off?

    The 1200 calorie start off thing is painful but I will admit when I first started in 2011, that’s what I set it for 🙄
  • Pdc654
    Pdc654 Posts: 317 Member
    @springlering62 I recently found this thread and just finished reading it in its entirety. Loved it! I wish I had found it earlier. So much good information here...presented clearly and with humor. I have it bookmarked for future reference. The mental vision of BL with the chip clip holding up his pants had me LOL!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    Sharing this from another thread, because this question is important. User wanted to know why there’s so many inaccurate entries:

    All MFP entries are crowdsourced. Some are honest entry errors, but I’m convinced others are sheerly wishful thinking. I’d hate to think that someone is deliberately skewing their numbers after going through the trouble of recording in the first place, but nothing surprises me in the endeavors of weight loss anymore.

    Basically you have to use your common sense. If you see a Dunkin Doughnut listed at 45 calories, do you really think that’s accurate?

    You’ll also find entries for recipes or meals where some users enter a gram as a serving and then they’ll use 200 (or whatever they weighed it out as) when entering it in their diary. That’s a personal preference for some users.

    I usually enter a meal as 1 serving, and then calculate how many servings after I’ve fished it up and packed the leftovers. For example, cheese and chicken ravioli casserole tomorrow made 16 servings, so we’ll each get .125 of the meal I recorded when I baked it.

    I just Google the item and look for a reasonable middle-of-the-range estimate and choose an item from the list, based on best guess.

    Or Google “celery usda nutrition” and it will pull up the older (and MUCH easier to understand) USDA listing, then look for the equivalent or the food number in MFP.

    Green checks are helpful but not always accurate. Often they’re based on products that have been reformulated since they got their green check. My cottage cheese is one such. I use the un-checked listing because it’s more accurate.

    A lot of it is down to educated guessing. Is it perfect? Nope. But it’s way better than the unfettered eating I used to indulge in.

    This is great info, but one minor clarification: The actual USDA entries from MFP start-up do not include the text USDA. Entries that say "USDA" are user entered, one would hope in accordance with actual USDA data, but . . . ?

    The very best way to find the actual USDA entries is to go to USDA Food Central, find the food in the SR Legacy part of the database**, and search MFP using that exact food title.

    After a while, one begins to be able to recognize and even predict what the names will look like: Often, names only a bureaucrat could love:

    "Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat and skin, raw"
    "Oranges, raw, Florida"

    Often the default serving size is something unhelpful, like 0.5 piece for that chicken, or 1 cup sections for those oranges. But - here's a key clue that almost always identifies a true USDA entry - the drop down servings list includes a variety of different serving size types, i.e., not just different weight units, but options for various weights, fluid volumes, counts, sometimes inch sizes, etc. Almost always, there's a 1g or 100g option that's good. Usually, the entry is also green-checked.

    A very very few of those old USDA entries have one quantity that gives wrong calories, but they're howlingly obviously wrong, like zero calorie oil or thousands-of-calories garlic cloves. The other serving sizes are usually fine.

    Over time, I've learned to search for the plural with small fruits, the qualifier "raw" for most fruits/veg ("strawberries raw"), cooking methods for stuff like beans ("beans black boiled" gets me the "Beans, black, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt" entry, for example). I don't eat meat, so don't have meat search tips, but I suspect parts or specific types ("breast" for chicken, for example; or type of steak cut; etc.). You'll figure it out, with experience.

    Yes, this sounds crazy to beginners. After a bit, it's automatic search behavior. Once a food is in our recent/frequent list, it'll stay found, assuming we eat it somewhat regularly.


    ** https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/