I analyzed by MFP data since 2013 - Here's what I learned

I have been tracking in MFP since 2013 (back in high school). Albeit not super consistently, but there is still a wealth of information stored.

The purpose of this post is to share the findings from a data analysis I performed on my own data from the past near decade. If you would like me to share the excel formulas/charts and graphs I created to glean these insights - simply comment down below and I can share, or even do the analysis for you on your data.

So, I started out with the following questions to guide me:

1. For a given day when do I usually have my first meal?
2. For a given day how many calories do I usually have for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks?
3. How many calories did I have per day?
4. How many grams protein per day?
5. How many grams carbs per day?
6. How many grams fat per day?

These questions gave me a place to start. Once diving into the numbers, I learned way more than the answers to those questions. I summarized (in my opinion) the most interesting findings from my data analysis. For context I am 5'9", African American, Female and this data is from age 14-25.

FINDINGS

• On average I weigh 179 +/- 13 lbs. I usually start checking my weight again when I reach 191 +/- 20 lbs. I usually fall off the bandwagon when I reach 179 +/- 21 lbs. I have had bouts of weight loss/focus that last anywhere from about 4.5 years to one week. On average, I lose 13 +/- 9 lbs during each weight loss stint. For one year in particular (9/2022 to 10/2023) I was the most consistent with tracking my weight. During that year, I weighed 177 +/- 4 lbs.
• Eat between 11 AM and 8 PM. If I were to limit calories to no more than 1900 per day consistently and control the carbs - I can control the calories. Carbs lead to overeating and excess calories (1,000+).
• I enjoy between 0.636 and 1.14 lbs a food a day, or 288.5 and 517.1 grams. Following low carb <50g, using the high end, that leaves 467.1g for protein and fat. Aiming for 33% protein would be 170g protein (right on par with typical weight) and 297.1g left. To fill in the gap, we are approximating 113g fat to reach 1900 cals a day optimally. If I ate only protein and carbs (no fat) that would be 2,068 calories. So I can either watch fat or carbs following strictly macro manipulation. For example, to reverse, and do low fat <50g and protein stays at 170g, then fat would have to stay under 192.5g carbs to reach 1900 cals a day.

Variables to perform my analysis:

• Start of a weight loss phase
• End of a weight loss phase
• Duration of a weight loss phase
• Weight lost during a weight loss phase
• Meal Type (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack)
• Time of Meal
• Calories (by Meal)
• Number of Protein/Carbs/Fat in grams and calories (by Meal)
• Macro Eaten in Weight (per Day)

Graphs that I created with the variables:

• Date v. First Meal Time (line)
• Date v. Last Meal Time (line)
• Total Food Weight (lbs) (box & whisker)
• Date v. Breakfast Calories (line)
• Breakfast Total Protein/Carbs/Fat (grams) (box & whisker)
• Date v. Lunch Calories (line)
• Lunch Total Protein/Carbs/Fat (grams) (box & whisker)
• Date v. Dinner Calories (line)
• Dinner Total Protein/Carbs/Fat (grams) (box & whisker)
• Date v. Snack Calories (line)
• Snack Total Protein/Carbs/Fat (grams) (box & whisker)
• Total Protein/Carbs/Fat (grams) (box & whisker)
• Protein (grams) v. Calories (scatter plot)

*In this post I do not share the analysis of each individual graph, to keep this post from getting even longer. If this is valuable information, just comment below and I can dive into more detail about how I interpreted information from each graph.*

Conclusion:
I thought this was a fun, and informative, little experiment. I hope you enjoyed this data-driven deep dive into my MFP data, and I've given you some ideas for reflecting on your own habits. I didn't analyze exercise, notes, water, etc. because my tracking was particularly faulty there - but that would definitely be cool to analyze in the future, so I'm making a point to be more diligent moving forward.

Happy tracking!