Tracking food honestly
I was tracking, for the most part. Admittedly, I had days and even weeks when I failed at tracking, but i was open and transparent about that! I am talking about honesty in what I was tracking. And when I think about it, I honestly think I was being pretty honest. I think my issue would be with the fact that when I would look for something on myfitnesspal I would play and find the ‘best possible option’ for me. There is a huge database on my fitness pal (which is one of the reasons that I have stuck with that app versus switching to something else). With that huge database comes multiple options for your searches! I can look up something like mashed potatoes and find hundreds of options! Where I went wrong is that I found the lowest mashed potato option and used that! I have changed and gotten honest with myself. If the item in question is more subjective, I am finding the middle of the road option. For example, if I found mashed potatoes with calories ranging from 200 calories to 600 calories, I am not estimating the 200 calories in my count but rather the 400 average! I am also taking the time to once again enter my recipes to get an exact calorie count. Thus, I am being much more honest with my tracking!
Acceptance of my body and my limitations
Another big change is that I have finally not just admitted but more importantly accepted that my body does not lose weight at anything over 1400 calories. I’ve accepted the fact that for me to lose weight I can’t eat my earned exercise calories. I’ve been admitting this for a while but I didn’t want to accept it!!! I didn’t want to restrict myself down to 1200-1300 calories! So I resisted. There were some weeks that I did great with that and kept my calories low. (and lost). But then the next week I would eat 1500 calories on most days of that week and boom my weight would simply maintain my weight or worse, I would gain! Then I would say ‘but by the numbers, I should be losing weight. And then I would cry and whine about it a bitZ. I wasn’t being honest with myself and my bodies particular weight loss idiosyncrasies! I had to not just admit that for my body and method that I chose to lose weight that I have to keep my calories lower....I had to accept it!
Limitations of Sweet Treats
I have been saying for months ok probably years. ‘I refuse to give up my sweet treats. And that is all good and fine. I am whole heartedly still behind that statement! I can’t give up everything and live a life of total restriction! However, I was indulging in the sweet treats more than once a week. I am ashamed to admit it! But I was! Oh it was tracked....but that sweet treat frequently took my calorie count (which as I already mentioned was Most likely estimated way too low) way over my daily goal (which as I previously said was not a good goal for my body!). Being honest with myself, I had to admit and accept that my sweet treats really need to be more restricted! So cakes, chocolate, cookies...whatever I chose to indulge in, is much more limited. I did indulge once in the last week and I felt ok with it! Even better, I haven’t seen any adverse affect on the scale!!! I am not counting occasional snack of a banana in the evening toward that ‘limited food’ even though I add some chocolate syrup! A banana is healthy! The chocolate syrup is sweet but minimal!
I had to get really honest with myself in order for my weight loss efforts to really take off. I had to stop trying to stretch things as far as I could while still being ‘healthy’. The dishonesty wasn’t hurting anyone but myself!!! Luckily, I have opened my eyes and I see where I was wrong. I can’t go back and take the past away. But, I can move forward and operate with totally honesty to myself!
7 comments:
It's so tough isn't it but good for you for keeping up the motivation to learn and adjust.
The simple fact of it all is that we can't lose weight unless our in calories are less than our out calories. Simple but not really.
And yes, although calorie counting apps are great for convenience, we are often trusting those that input the data to be correct. So yes, a potato can be 200-600 calories and what size is that potato? I found that weighing my food was a real eye opener for me. If a bag of nuts said that a serving size was 1/3 of a cup, if I actually weighed out a 1/3 of a cup, it would often be higher in grams than the package said, therefore I was eating more calories in a "serving".
The other thing is finding out a more accurate BMR. When I've used the calculators online they range from anywhere from 1500 to 1800 for my BMR giving the exact same stats. So lately I've been basing my BMR on 1500 calories which means I have to keep my food calories lower than 1500 to see any results. My sweet spot seems to be 1200.... UGH :(
Keep it up!!! You will find your sweet spot and the lbs will start melting!
It's so tricky to weigh and measure every little thing. I found when I was tracking I had to estimate certain things, especially sauces and recipes that had several ingredients. It's crazy how low your calories have to be in order to see progress! When I was active, my fitbit was giving me between 1,900-2,100 calories and I was losing about a pound a week. I had a hard time eating that many calories when I was eating clean but it was nice to know I could splurge a little if I went to a special dinner etc.
I was doing that with myfitnesspal as well. I changed a few years ago, but I still find that I want to click that option of the lesser calories. I find that I sometimes need to look at the options that automatically pop up because I've used them before to make sure they are not really low. I realized recently that the chicken breast I was using all the time had REALLY low calories (which is silly because chicken breast is not that heavy in calories anyway), and I didn't realize it.
My sweet spot is also right at about 1200 calories...it’s not fair for either of us!!!! But it is what it is!!!
I have always resisted weighing my food...but just a few months ago toyed with buying a good kitchen scale and trying.
Ohh to have that problem of struggling to eat that much!!! I have been this way for years. I remember years ago in weight watchers they were talking about eating your earned exercise points and I kept trying but I never lost if I did! A friend looked at me and said ‘that just makes me sad for you’. Lol
It’s an easy trap to fall into! Because I would much rather eat a chicken breast that has 100 calories versus the 200 calorie one...even though they are the exact same size! :-) but I’m only cheating myself when I do that!!!
My Fitness Pal.
The verified numbers all have a green check mark next to them. So the green checked mark numbers are accurate.
I only use those numbers I have loaded myself, or those with a green check mark.
I would not recommend using any other numbers.
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