Recording Progress.. Do you cheat?

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returningmyfatsuit
returningmyfatsuit Posts: 35 Member
in Motivation and Support
Lately especially, maybe since I've had some down's followed by discouraging ups, I find that I am hesitant to record my full progress. I weigh myself in the morning with no clothes and after I've pooped ;p. I find that if my scale is showing -2.5lbs.. I want to and feel comfortable logging -1.8lb. Or 2lb. Or 1.5lb! Depends on my mood I guess. Just something for when I inevitably weigh myself tomorrow even though I shouldn't and I feel disappointed because I'm above my last weigh in number. I guess I like to set the bar low.
Anyone else do this? Should I suck it up and log it properly.. ? Does it matter?
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Replies

  • AwesomelyAmber
    AwesomelyAmber Posts: 1,617 Member
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    :wink: I don't. Here is why. I keep my diary private. What I eat and when is my own business... I feel I am more honest when I don't think people are looking. My exercise diary is open... if I'm not doing what I need to then I want people (my friends) to say "Step it up girl, you're slacking!" and I also WANT/NEED to be told good job when I do exercise... I enter my gains and losses and even tell them when I do gain. Crap happens! For instance, I lost 3.5 pounds last week... SUPER EXCITING! This week I gained 2!!!.... Super sucky! But it will all come out in the wash :bigsmile:
    But to answer your question about does it matter.... It only matters if it matters to YOU. THis is YOUR journey :flowerforyou:
  • chachadiva150
    chachadiva150 Posts: 482 Member
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    Be accountable to yourself. Log everything. There is NOTHING called "cheating." It's all just food. Log it in and see where it fits into your daily calories. No food is bad or wrong. It's just food.

    It doesn't matter if your diary is public or private. Your accountability is to YOURSELF.

    Own up to what you are eating.

    I eat snickers, ribs, fried chicken, fries, whatever. I eat them a few times a month and I log it all. I plan ALL my meals including the high calorie meals.

    I also exercise daily so that gives me extra calories.

    Don't sabotage yourself by thinking wrong thoughts about food. Log and be accountable.
  • slrrese
    slrrese Posts: 180 Member
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    All your cheating is yourself. No I log everything as best as I can.
  • babygurl48
    babygurl48 Posts: 1,236 Member
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    All your cheating is yourself. No I log everything as best as I can.
    ^^^^^^
    this
  • reneepugh
    reneepugh Posts: 522 Member
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    I log everything. If I don't I am only cheating myself. I am my own worse critic and it really keeps me focused on what I need to improve.
  • minipony1320
    minipony1320 Posts: 6 Member
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    I try to overestimate the amounts I eat because I feel it gives me a safety net.

    Megan
  • antoniosmooth
    antoniosmooth Posts: 299 Member
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    I try to log everything however it is hard for me to do when I make specific foods for dinner. Often I can easily log what I eat for breakfast, lunch, and after workout meals. Dinner is a different story.
  • Tami113
    Tami113 Posts: 117 Member
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    I weigh myself often, every time i go to the gym. But whatever the scale says on fridays is what i log, no matter what. If during the week i see myself gaining or maintaining and not losing i step it up a notch with exercise and make adjustments in my food.
    Perhaps pick a day a week or every other week and have that be your day to weigh in. It will give you something to look forward to
  • JoKool
    JoKool Posts: 7
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    I LOG EVERYTHING!!

    It's important to be honest with yourself...plus you have a historical guide to your progress.

    It's been the process of logging every "tid-bit" that has actually made it work for me this time.... I look at food so differently now. If I am hungry I eat....if I go to snack on something not so great....I realize that I could have a tiny bit of "junk" or a whole lot of something better for the same calories. It's been the logging that has made me accountable for my actions and in-actions.

    LOG EVERYTHING!!
  • returningmyfatsuit
    returningmyfatsuit Posts: 35 Member
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    Ok so maybe the title was a tad misleading, but it looks like most? everyone didn't read the post? Or maybe I just didn't ask properly.

    I DO log everything I eat. It wasn't what I meant to ask but to elaborate, If I'm 2200 calories over, so be it. I also eat whatever I want to. I try to eat healthy/ier for sure, but I still go out for dinner and eat cake. Cause I like it.

    To reiterate what I said and was asking,

    I like to log on the LOW SIDE of what I LOST. Thinking about it now, though, the advice fits anyways. Accountable to self, etc. So I should just log what the scale says, and not worry if it goes up later. Mostly I just usually feel like if I lost 3lbs in a week that it MUST be a joke. So I'll log 1.5 lbs instead. Etc.

    Anyways, thanks for your input :) GO US. :DDD
  • nz_deevaa
    nz_deevaa Posts: 12,209 Member
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    I've picked a day, (Sunday morning) and I log that weight, no matter if it's up or down.

    If I do happen to weigh during the week and it's down, I still don't record that weight.
  • ElPumaMex
    ElPumaMex Posts: 367 Member
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    I wouldn't call it "cheating" to not fully record your weight loss (e.g. if the scale says you lost 2.5 lbs, to only log 1.5 lbs lost).
    During a week, weight can easily go up or down by a few pounds.
    Eventually, you will be tracking the correct weight loss.

    Everyone has different strategies to log the weight.
    Mine, is to weigh myself every day, and record the weight when I lose from my previous lowest weight.
    You may very well call that "cheating", but it is working out for me because I have very much consistently been losing weight since November 2011 (sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks to break my record low, though)

    I may need to change this weight recording, once I am close to my weight goal or in maintenance.

    So don't sweat it, it is not cheating what you do !
  • zoodalia
    zoodalia Posts: 294
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    I log what I weigh in as that morning... if I'm a little heavier the next morning, I don't add the weight back in as I know it's fluctuations (unless I've been consistently over-eating which I haven't in a while). However you do it, is up to you. My mum's scale weighs people in at about 4 pounds lighter than they are, I knew that, and I still went by the weight it said on the 'kind scales' as we call them. Now I have digital ones and they don't pull any punches but at least I know where I am!
  • turbophoenix
    turbophoenix Posts: 152
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    I do cheat but usually when it's beyond my control. For example, Fridays are my weigh in day. I weighed in this morning and showed a 4 pound gain from last week. However, it's my TOM and I can gain up to 8-10 pounds in bloat so I never count this week of the month. Next Friday I will record my weight.
  • MrsR0SE
    MrsR0SE Posts: 343 Member
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    I have to say, if my weight was up one week on the previous week I would probably leave that as a week without logging it into mfp. I do, however, write down every time I in myself in my diary whether up or down and however frequently, because I'm interested to see the ups and downs and trends through the week. It only 'counts' on my regular weigh in day though :)
  • returningmyfatsuit
    returningmyfatsuit Posts: 35 Member
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    Everyone has different strategies to log the weight.
    Mine, is to weigh myself every day, and record the weight when I lose from my previous lowest weight.
    You may very well call that "cheating", but it is working out for me because I have very much consistently been losing weight since November 2011 (sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks to break my record low, though)

    Ahhhhh! I think I like this, I might just try it out. I try to weigh in once a week or so but I pretty much can't avoid the scale for more than a day or two anyways. Thanks for the idea :D
  • vegamy
    vegamy Posts: 204 Member
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    Ok so maybe the title was a tad misleading, but it looks like most? everyone didn't read the post? Or maybe I just didn't ask properly.

    I DO log everything I eat. It wasn't what I meant to ask but to elaborate, If I'm 2200 calories over, so be it. I also eat whatever I want to. I try to eat healthy/ier for sure, but I still go out for dinner and eat cake. Cause I like it.

    To reiterate what I said and was asking,

    I like to log on the LOW SIDE of what I LOST. Thinking about it now, though, the advice fits anyways. Accountable to self, etc. So I should just log what the scale says, and not worry if it goes up later. Mostly I just usually feel like if I lost 3lbs in a week that it MUST be a joke. So I'll log 1.5 lbs instead. Etc.

    Anyways, thanks for your input :) GO US. :DDD

    I think it's important to log your weight accurately just so you can see long term progress accurately and your little 3-month chart can really show you the trend of how you're progressing. That way you can keep doing what you're doing if it's working or adjust if it's not and get an accurate read.

    But, ultimately, like others have said, it's only to help you. It's a personal decision. I only log my weight once per week, on the same day every week (Mondays).
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    I don't get it. You'd only be cheating yourself.
  • AllergicToExercise
    AllergicToExercise Posts: 436 Member
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    It's not cheating but think of it this way - if sometime in the future you reached a plateau and wanted to look back at your history to figure out what to do next, you'd really want the history to be as accurate as possible otherwise it isn't a useful tool if you didn't put the exact numbers in at the time, if you see what I mean? Part of what I find useful about this site is the ability to look back at things and compare what I was doing at certain points.

    Saying that, it's important that you do whatever works for you!
  • ball858
    ball858 Posts: 395 Member
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    I've picked a day, (Sunday morning) and I log that weight, no matter if it's up or down.

    If I do happen to weigh during the week and it's down, I still don't record that weight.

    ^^^ Exactly - I weigh myself on a Saturday and log every little 0.1 as it all ads up

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