If I could do that, I wouldnt have gotten fat in the first p

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RoadkingDavid
RoadkingDavid Posts: 143 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok -- I'm finished my whining weight loss plateau pity party. So I consulted with a certified trainer to determine my next step. Time to rock this app and get down to business with my goals. I will hit 200 by my birthday, April 22. I am increasing my calories from 1520 to 1998; not logging or eating my exercise calories based upon the day that they are earned but rather including them in my calorie count as a weighted average -- I will log the exercises in my diary, but I won't add the calories to my diary. This will better enable me to keep my macro straight, as I will stay at 100 carbs. It will also keep me from eating too much when my elliptical burn is fantastic and eating too little by the mind-games I tend to play by not eating my exercise carbs. Recently, when I tried to eat some of my exercise calories, I made bad food choices and/or overate. It is too hard for me to deal with the app telling me I have earned an extra 1,000 plus calories from exercising. That's like passing out cookies to the cast of Biggest Loser and saying, "Ok, you've earned this... but only one cookie." IF I COULD DO THAT I WOULDNT HAVE GOTTEN FAT IN THE FIRST PLACE !!! Imagine that. LMAO

Replies

  • chelsifina
    chelsifina Posts: 346 Member
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    Good for you!!! I love how you have identified your obstacles and are coming up with solutions and new approaches for each. This is how its done! Also, good for you for getting a trainer. The more resources you have at hand, the more easily you will reach your goal. You know, the basic formula is less calories in, more calories out, but when you get down to the nitty gritty, we all have our own little foibles and idiosyncrasies to address. And you are ROCKIN' it!!!!
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
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    Well done you have done amazing so far!

    i totally agree with your way of tracking, when i joined MFP recommended that lose 2lb per week i have 1240 cals plus eating back exercise cals (600/700 4x per week) i which I have never done as i know i will be starving on low cal non exercise days and overeat when i have done loads of exercise and am meant to eat the cals back!

    i have reduced to 1lb per week (1740 cals) but dont eat any exercise cals back and am still losing 2lb per week. i only log exercise in the notes as it messes with my head saying you can eat XXX more cals as you have done some exercise! this way the exercise is actually doing something towards my goal other than encouraging me to eat more :)
  • Mary2270
    Mary2270 Posts: 32
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    Great insight. I have a sign on the top of my computer, "Just don't go there!" If I could eat only one cookie, etc, I wouldn't be in the place I am right now. However, I am one of those that just one leads me to great quantities and to mental Chaos! Way to take charge of your life!
  • bexxgirl
    bexxgirl Posts: 260 Member
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    Well done you have done amazing so far!

    i totally agree with your way of tracking, when i joined MFP recommended that lose 2lb per week i have 1240 cals plus eating back exercise cals (600/700 4x per week) i which I have never done as i know i will be starving on low cal non exercise days and overeat when i have done loads of exercise and am meant to eat the cals back!

    i have reduced to 1lb per week (1740 cals) but dont eat any exercise cals back and am still losing 2lb per week. i only log exercise in the notes as it messes with my head saying you can eat XXX more cals as you have done some exercise! this way the exercise is actually doing something towards my goal other than encouraging me to eat more :)

    I am the same as you - joined and set my goal as losing 1lb per week. My loss has been more than that though - 9lbs in 4 weeks! It hasn't been too hard, because although I don't always set out to deliberately eat my exercise goals, I enjoy the bit of flexibility they give me to go over the 1,740 cals. That way, if it happens, I've 'budgeted' for it, so I don't feel bad!
  • Edithrenee
    Edithrenee Posts: 546 Member
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    Well done you have done amazing so far!

    i totally agree with your way of tracking, when i joined MFP recommended that lose 2lb per week i have 1240 cals plus eating back exercise cals (600/700 4x per week) i which I have never done as i know i will be starving on low cal non exercise days and overeat when i have done loads of exercise and am meant to eat the cals back!

    i have reduced to 1lb per week (1740 cals) but dont eat any exercise cals back and am still losing 2lb per week. i only log exercise in the notes as it messes with my head saying you can eat XXX more cals as you have done some exercise! this way the exercise is actually doing something towards my goal other than encouraging me to eat more :)
    I love this, Idea... I have been thinking that was what is wrong to with me because, I will eat thinking i can and at night it really messes with me. I lost 6 pounds before i got on here but seeing i can eat calories after i exercise made me eat more even when im not hungry. I dont know... so maybe i should log in my exercise in the notes section. I think that is great idea.
  • RoadkingDavid
    RoadkingDavid Posts: 143 Member
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    Ok, I wish this were easier to customize.

    For instance, I wish MFP would allow us to exclude exercise from the calorie calculation the way it appears on the iphone app while still logging it. It is absolutely motivating to log 1000 calories from absolutely busting my hump on the elliptical with interval cardio training, but I don't want to have an extra 1000 show up as available calories when I get off of the machine at 7pm. Im just toooo good at justifying eating those calories. And freakin Wendy's is too close to the gym! I don't care who you are, that extra 1000 calories at the end of the day, after an evening workout, is gonna show up on the hips!!

    Sooooo. I am evolving, learning, analyzing this whole thing. And although I am an auditor, turning the app into a calculus problem just seems like too much work. So here's what I have landed on for the sake of simplicity and sanity:

    1. Allow MFP to do the calculation for calories.
    -- enter my stats conservatively and truthfully.
    My activity is SEDENTARY except when a confrontational audit causes my heart rate monitor to register calories burned!!
    And my height is actually 6'1" (no shoes, and no football coach wanting to list me as 6'2")
    -- Set my weight loss goal at 1 lb per week rather than the more desirable result of 2 lb per week.
    Why? This increases my base calories from 1500 to 2000, effectively giving me permission to eat 500 of my exercise
    calories throughout the day rather than seeing it as an end of the day bonus. A psychological game? Absolutely. BUT I
    NEED PSYCHOLOGY. After all, my fat-guy psychology didn't work... that much is fact.

    2. Enter exercise when I do it, BUT ONLY EAT the extra exercise calories that exceed 500. So, I have to tell my brain that 500 of my exercise calories ARE NOT AVAILABLE.

    Until MFP makes a change, this is one way that I can deal with the psychology of calories and permission to eat them. So, with MFP calculating that I have 2000 calories (instead of the 1500 for a 2 lb per week loss), the app is calculating that I burn 2500 calories per day before exercise and that I have a 500 calorie reduction, or deficit, per day that will result in a 1 lb loss per week because I am eating enough calories to supply energy and keep me from starvation mode, and I am eating enough calories to build a little muscle tone from strength training (tabata style). With the settings at 1 lb, I can eat my calories burned ONLY if I burn more than 500, which is the difference between a 1 and 2 lb per week loss, as I have effectively built in the 500 calorie cushion and averaged it across the week. The beauty of it is that I am psychologically allowing myself the 2000 calories per day beginning at breakfast, and I don't have to wrestle with the whole eating thing based upon how many calories I burn at 7 pm at night in the gym. And I don't feel compelled to eat my normal dinner plus the 700 or 800 calories I busted my butt earning... before midnight!!! AND IF I WAS A MODERATE PERSON, I WOULDNT HAVE GOTTEN FAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!

    Any suggestions?

    Peace, Love, Happiness, and PASSION,
    Dave (Daddiocoolcat)
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
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    I agree that there should be an option to track cals and exercise separately, but since the site is free guess we have to work around what's already there !
    My gym has a fish and chip shop less than 100 m from the door there is no way in or out of the gym without passing it, luckily I don't really like them :p
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
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    I agree that there should be an option to track cals and exercise separately, but since the site is free guess we have to work around what's already there !
    My gym has a fish and chip shop less than 100 m from the door there is no way in or out of the gym without passing it, luckily I don't really like them :p
  • RoadkingDavid
    RoadkingDavid Posts: 143 Member
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    Yes, thankfully at my gym, I have to pass a Smoothie King to go to the Wendy's or McDonalds!
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
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    i forgot to add - actually INSIDE my gym is a costa coffee that will only make drinks with skimmed milk because 'it would be way to unhealthy to serve full fat milk in a gym' but then there is a massive counter full of muffins and cakes next to the checkout! i know not everybody at the gym is trying to lose weight but seriously, selling double choclate muffins in a gym is just wrong :noway: :noway:
    I'm sure they are scheming with the gym owners to make you fatter every time you attend the gym so you have to keep coming back :laugh: !

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