when you eat, do you plan before or log afterwards? what wo

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thestacy
thestacy Posts: 8
in Health and Weight Loss
list of fails..low carb with nutritionist, weight watchers, exercise alone, and jenny craig. I've been up and down, but mostly up since I quit smoking.

On a plus size I just logged in my fitness pal and realized I'm down 10 pounds from last year.

Now I may start on the track of counting calories and continue my exercise which is 3x a week of 30 mins lifting and 30 mins HIIT


I need advice on counting calories, what works best? Where do I start? and How do you stay motivated and fearless?

Replies

  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    I think planning ahead works best - it certainly does for me. I plan my meals for the day ahead then add in snacks or extras with meals to hit my calorie target. If things change during the day (which they often do) it's easy enough to see what I can change in a later snack or meal to make my diary balance for the day.
  • whoiskat23
    whoiskat23 Posts: 103 Member
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    I'm probably not the best person to give advice on this cause I hate "counting calories" ... ugh... but I find that is pretty much what works best for me. My biggest issue is portions and desserts so it's easy for me to over eat that way. By tracking my intake on myfitnesspal, i'm forced to be more accountable and can see exactly where I am going wrong.

    I personally do a combination of logging, before and after. I try and pre-plan my meals so I know what I am going to have. I'll enter those before hand. If I eat out, i'll scan it in after so I stay in-line with my count for the day. I'll also look up my menu choice before hand and enter it so I know just how much I will be taking in. Logging calories forces me to really look at my food choices.

    Like I said, I hate to do it, but it really is what works for me.
  • tiffygrl12
    tiffygrl12 Posts: 40
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    I log what I eat afterwards but I mentally keep track of what I eat during the day. So I guess it's a combination. It works best for me but you have to experiment a little to see what you feel comfortable with.
  • RoseyK
    RoseyK Posts: 157 Member
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    I plan ahead and then if things change I go back and tweek my journaling. If I didn't plan ahead, I would definately go over on calories and not get in my fresh veggies and fruits.
  • mudya
    mudya Posts: 128 Member
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    Before hand, and then alter throughout the day.
  • TXPiper
    TXPiper Posts: 13
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    I tend to have a very predictable/repetitious breakfast and lunch plus one afternoon snack that equals about 700 calories (total) and then I have another 700 calories to "spend" on dinner. I guess because those are rather repetitious, you could say they are planned. Really it's just habit and lack of variety, because I know those choices are "safe" for me. Dinner is planned. Always, always. If we're going out, I look beforehand and know exactly what I will be getting. If we are eating in, I try different combinations out with my calorie calculator to see what is going to give me enough to eat and not go over. If I don't plan beforehand, I most definitely will go over. No foods are off limits for me, but I definitely don't eat the foods I used to. Once I caught on that I can have more (volume) of the good-for-me foods, I started making much better choices. I can't stand to be hungry, so I remind myself of how much more (volume) food I get to eat if I don't go for the junky stuff.
  • susanswan
    susanswan Posts: 1,194 Member
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    I do both, but definitely if you can plan your meals ahead of time and begin to estimate your calories burned through exercise you can better plan your day of food.

    www.fatloser.com worked GREAT for motivating me when I had fallen off of the wagon for a year before I started here. I started here and started his free, no hassle program and the rest is history. I have never done better and just 2.2 pounds away from meeting my lifetime goal wish of being 135 pounds! I am forever grateful to Steve Siebold who opened up his program for free! You can google him for info. He is a renown motivational speaker and designed this program to help himself lose the 30 pounds he had packed on. It isn't a diet. It is the motivation to get YOU to follow YOUR plan and do YOUR exercise. I can't thank him enough for helping to motivate me to do what I thought was impossible. He delivers a lecture to you by email that you open up when you have the time. They are 8 - 20 minutes long. it is a 30 day program and then POOF he's gone. Nothing to sign up for except to get the email delivered for FREE.
  • TXPiper
    TXPiper Posts: 13
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    delete-duplicate, sorry
  • thestacy
    thestacy Posts: 8
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    this all very motivating to hear yall share. I think I'll start counting calories.
    I will look up steve siebold and fatloser.com.
  • LadyFaile
    LadyFaile Posts: 60
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    I record what I eat afterwards. Whenever possible I log it right after I eat so that I get immediate feed back on where I'm at with my goal for the day. I've definitely been paying a lot more attention to labels and find myself putting things back on the shelf that I wouldn't have thought twice about buying for a snack. The accountability and awareness are what seem to help me make the most progress.
  • Nana_Booboo
    Nana_Booboo Posts: 501 Member
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    Planning my food for the day works best for me so if I'm over I can adjust servings and such. If I eat first, that leave my exercise to correct the deficit. I'm not totally in love with exercise, but I will do it.
  • fakeplastictree
    fakeplastictree Posts: 836 Member
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    I plan my day in advance so I can get my macros close to what I need.
  • gatorgirl7
    gatorgirl7 Posts: 103 Member
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    For me, planning ahead works best. I don't log it all at once, I log as I eat/drink but I like to plan out my meals for the week so I know what I have and what's available to me.

    Staying motivated is tough--I'm not going to lie. My best friend is doing MFP too and she's a motivator. I also feel better when I eat healthier so that helps too. I've recently found more success when I stress less about food. If I make healthier choices without thinking about it, it seems to help.
  • AnarchoGen
    AnarchoGen Posts: 400 Member
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    I log in advance - usually the night before - then I add/subtract throughout the day. I definitely try to plan it out before I make all my food preparations ahead of time. Then I package enough food to last me 4-5 days. If it's a lot I try to cook most of it then freeze it so I can reheat it. It's good for your body to eat at the same times every day. Logging food is easier that way - sure I may be eating the same thing everyday for each meal but there's no guessing and it still tastes great.
  • kjannan
    kjannan Posts: 248 Member
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    I plan ahead too, it keeps me on track.

    In my early MFP days I used to think about what to eat & then run to the computer to ask MFP if it was ok lol

    I don't need to plan as much as I used to as I have a fair idea of what I can eat but YES, planning is definitely a good way to do it!
  • cunokyle
    cunokyle Posts: 58 Member
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    I log while I am eating or immediately after. I do not plan my daily meals. I just wing it. I look to see where I am before deciding what to eat at a meal though.
  • bilzprincess
    bilzprincess Posts: 107 Member
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    Before hand, and then alter throughout the day.

    i kind of do the same...if i'm working outside the home, then plan and pack it all in the am or pm before work. if i'm home, then i log as i go. when i plan it and something changes, i change it right away. any delay causes me to forget or my amounts are off. i confess to all food, so i like it to be right in my charts.

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    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Nutrition Facts For Foods
  • SFalconStorm
    SFalconStorm Posts: 77 Member
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    I only plan meals at work for the most part. Since I have an iPhone, I can log as I go. A lot of times, I'll get my food, sit down, and make myself log everything that is on my plate. Then, I start eating. When I'm done, I get to go back in and take out the calories I didn't eat. One of my problems is sheer over eating and psychologically speaking, I have issues if I limit my portions, telling myself I CAN'T have more. I get very rebellious. Yes, I probably have an eating disorder. Oh well. That's why i started doing it that way. Getting to go back in and remove some of the calories that I didn't eat is positive reinforcement for myself every time I leave food behind. It's been helping.

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