Otis fad diet thread — yoga, fasting, and kevzilla walking on🚶‍♂️ (3 Viewers)

[Ministry of Pain]

My plan for this week is to try to "bank" some WW points in anticipation of having pizza and wine madness on Saturday.  I can carry over up to four WW daily points per day that then get added to my weekly allotment.  Today I was under my daily points by three, so will carry those over.

I'm in the "no breakfast" crowd for the most part, because I just am not hungry early in the day.  Sometimes I'll have a hard-boiled egg if anything.  Today was no breakfast.  Lunch was an amalgamation of green stuff I wanted to eat before we have our next produce pickup on Wednesday - some mixed rabe, string beans, and kale (0 WW points).  Sometimes I'd add a hard-boiled egg to a salad like this (also 0 points), but today I treated myself to some shaved pecorino cheese.  For dinner I ate five homemade meatballs and sauce leftover from Mr. krista's making them late last week.  I prefer putting greens on my meatballs to having them over pasta, so I threw some pea shoots and a little extra olive oil on there.  Had a Cara Cara orange for a snack.

I'm still doing my daily yoga and bipedal locomotion, but not counting it up or using it to gain extra food points to use.

ETA:  Drinking fizzy water instead of any wine today.

-Why do you not like breakfast? What about one of the many yogurts that are delicious like Fage 0% or my wife swears by Icelandic which is usually at Whole Foods. Banana/Apple/Berries? 

-If not breakfast, how about brunch a little later? Move lunch to 2:00, Dinner to 6:30-7:00. 

Kudos on not eating the exercise cals back. 

 

[The Flying Turtle]

5/4 - under my 35 points and ran 3 miles. Perfect month so far. Haven’t even dipped into my weekly “extra” points yet. 

 

[Ministry of Pain]

I will not be weighing myself daily however...this morning for S&Gs I wanted to be as transparent with my results and my calorie intake as possible. 

MFP gives me 2,210 Cal daily. I ate 2,331 according to my log yesterday but I got 888 exercise calories added on top. I had a 767 calorie deficit

5/4-200.0

5/5-199.2

I lost over 3/4 of a pound yesterday and I'm trying to just lose 1/4 lb daily.  

 

[bostonfred]

Let's work it out together and not make up stuff or accusations 

Let's break this down.  First,  is unsafe for somebody who is already burning enough calories to lose 1.5/week to then do a bunch of exercise and not increase their intake.  Full stop. The consensus is that the maximum calorie burn should be 2 pounds per week.  

But i think there's a problem with the calorie goal in mfp. I think the problem is that he set up myfitnesspal as "moderately active", which automatically assumes you're doing about 500 calories of exercise throughout the day. That's why his daily allowance is so high (2280). I don't know what he does for work but unless it's pretty active I think it's better to just start at low activity.  So the advice ends up being similar - change your settings in mfp or don't eat the calories from exercise.  

Third, I agree with you about choosing healthier food options, but you are trying to force years of changes into the early stages of a diet plan.  That's not going to help most people.  It's just too daunting and that's why people quit - they set unreasonable expectations, fail to meet them and give up.  That's why i am asking people to just track.  I will talk more about this as we go but i would really like to keep the focus on one thing at a time for now.  

 

[fred_1_15301]

@bostonfred    In myfitnesspal, I've changed the setting to lightly active (given that I'm mostly stationary throughout the day).  My new calorie goal is 2,250 based on my other input parameters.  What do I count as "exercise"?  If I go for a walk with the family, I can count that?  If I'm climbing up and down the steps for 10 minutes, I count that?  Playing catch with my son?  

 

[kevzilla]

Another 34-minute walk. My Achilles starting barking at the same point again today, and I'm frustrated. I may have to dig up the walking boot and give it full rest for a while. 

 

[bostonfred]

@bostonfred    In myfitnesspal, I've changed the setting to lightly active (given that I'm mostly stationary throughout the day).  My new calorie goal is 2,250 based on my other input parameters.  What do I count as "exercise"?  If I go for a walk with the family, I can count that?  If I'm climbing up and down the steps for 10 minutes, I count that?  Playing catch with my son?  

I put myself down as sedentary or whatever the least active is, and i would definitely count a walk with the family if it was more than a few minutes.  I personally wouldn't count walking downstairs to check the fridge or cleaning my room. 

But there's actually an activity for vigorous house cleaning for those times that you're actually working your tail off for an hour or two nonstop. If you're working up a sweat or an appetite you should log it.  If it's less vigorous, but still a long day, like 3 hours of reorganizing the garage, i might log it as 60 minutes instead of 180 - in other words, I've earned a beer or two but not like a cake.  

I don't remember if "lightly active" is the lowest setting or the middle one but the difference seems to be that the middle setting assumes you're doing stuff all day like walking around at work, maybe moving heavy stuff around - imagine the difference between an office job and retail or stock room work.  It's not very scientific, they just give you a few hundred extra calories to work with.  If you're on that middle setting then I wouldn't log any of that stuff - I'd still log a 5 mile run or something, but the rest is part of that assumed activity.  

 

[bostonfred]

Another 34-minute walk. My Achilles starting barking at the same point again today, and I'm frustrated. I may have to dig up the walking boot and give it full rest for a while. 

https://grokker.com/individuals

Free yoga and other classes this month.

I personally love Ashley Sergent's recovery yoga for athletes. It's not overly intense but it does an awesome job opening things up for me and i don't mind taking a day or two off from exercise to do it. 

(I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice, consult your physician before beginning this or any exercise plan) 

 

[Steeler]

I have tracked calories in the past using My Fitness Pal and I'm in for the May track-your-stuff challenge.  Yesterday I came in at 18 calories under the target

My activity level set to "light activity" because I (used to ) walk a lot and I never enter any additional workouts/activity to gain "extra" calories for the day.  I just use the same calories per day regardless of how much I work out - which works for me.  BF seems a bit more rigid which is great too.  There are many ways to skin this cat, IMO.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

:(  

 

[DocHolliday]

If everyone stays on track through May with the calorie counting and net calorie reduction, there is going to be some quality weight loss.  

 

[fred_1_15301]

I put myself down as sedentary or whatever the least active is, and i would definitely count a walk with the family if it was more than a few minutes.  I personally wouldn't count walking downstairs to check the fridge or cleaning my room. 

But there's actually an activity for vigorous house cleaning for those times that you're actually working your tail off for an hour or two nonstop. If you're working up a sweat or an appetite you should log it.  If it's less vigorous, but still a long day, like 3 hours of reorganizing the garage, i might log it as 60 minutes instead of 180 - in other words, I've earned a beer or two but not like a cake.  

I don't remember if "lightly active" is the lowest setting or the middle one but the difference seems to be that the middle setting assumes you're doing stuff all day like walking around at work, maybe moving heavy stuff around - imagine the difference between an office job and retail or stock room work.  It's not very scientific, they just give you a few hundred extra calories to work with.  If you're on that middle setting then I wouldn't log any of that stuff - I'd still log a 5 mile run or something, but the rest is part of that assumed activity.  

Thanks.  My new goal is 2,145 calories based on using the lowest activity category.  I'm actually trying to keep my weight steady and not lose any weight.  

 

[cheeseypoof]

I disagree with MoP completely on this one. 

First of all, his advice may be unsafe. 

When you set up myfitnesspal it told you that you can eat 2280 calories and burn 1.5 lbs per week.  If you had chosen 2 lbs per week - which is the most that doctors recommend - that would be 2030. Anything more than that is generally considered unsafe and could cause health problems.  

Second, you're trying to build sustainable goals.  You have a long way to go so this isn't about how fast you can lose weight, it's about building positive habits that you'll stick to a year later. 

One of those habits is just sticking to your diet every day. You don't need to do anything but stay at 2280 calories a day for 5 weeks and you'll lose about 7.5 lbs. 

But another important habit is exercise.  What's magical about those calories myfitnesspal "gives you" for your exercise is that you get to eat more if you exercise. Rewarding yourself for exercise means you're more likely to challenge yourself to walking further tomorrow or trying some running or rowing or maybe some incline walking on a treadmill.  

And guess what?  A month from now, walking 30 minutes a day will seem like nothing and you'll be able to walk further, faster, up hills or even run/ bike/ etc.  And you'll want to. Go for a 30 minute walk, burn over 150 calories, that's enough for a big Gatorade. Go for a 10 minute run with 20 minutes walking and you'll get over 200.  That's a small slice of pizza. I did 30 minutes of jogging and 30 of running and burned 700 extra calories yesterday.  That's like a bacon cheeseburger. That's a huge incentive to increase your activity level.  Rewards like that drive behavior (note - I'm not suggesting eating a bacon cheeseburger every day, that's just used for comparison). 

There will be days you eat too much for lunch and you realize you don't have enough left for a decent dinner. Then you'll think,  if I go for a walk, I'll have enough calories for some chicken and vegetables.  That's motivation.  It feels like a game that you can win every day. 

That's also important because as you lose weight, you'll see that the number of calories you get each day goes down.  2280 is a LOT of calories.  You might lose 1.5 lbs per week at that rate right now, but if you lose 30 lbs you might see your new goal drops to 2000. That's ok - you're learning good habits that will make it easier. 

Now having said all that... I think you may have set up your profile on myfitnesspal as "moderately active". Because 2280 seems high to me for someone who is "sedentary".  I strongly prefer choosing "sedentary" because it lowers your starting goal but rewards tracking  your exercise. But if you choose "moderately active", it assumes you're doing stuff like walking around all day. And then you really shouldn't count those extra calories for going for a walk unless you've already done a lot of other active stuff that day.  So you might want to double check that before you get used to that new 2280 number.  

Thanks.

On the bolded part.  I have it set a "Lightly Active" since I've been averaging about 40 minutes of dedicated exercise a day since March 1.   I mostly ride my recumbent exercise bike at night.  Sometimes I supplement with walking around the neighborhood.  

The not very active setting gives me 1950 calories/day;

The Lightly active setting gives me 2280 calories/day.

That seems to make sense.  According to the activity tracker on my iPhone/Apple watch a 45 minute ride on the recumbent bike shows I burn about 350 active calories and about 500 total calories.  No clue to the accuracy of those numbers, or what the distinction between to 2 are.

Keep the thoughts and advice coming.   I'll continue to play with the numbers/settings and find the path that works for me. 

 

[bostonfred]

The not very active setting gives me 1950 calories/day;

The Lightly active setting gives me 2280 calories/day.

I'll continue to play with the numbers/settings and find the path that works for me. 

Yeah that sounds right.  

I agree that you've been lightly active.  And it feels better to say you're lightly active instead of not very active. 

I just like the psychological benefit of plugging in my 330 calories of exercise because I earned them. Because I am trying to train myself to want to exercise.  I want to reward myself for exercising and reward myself for logging my exercise. It feels great to update the app with hundreds of calories i just burned. 

And if you skip a day, you'll have the opposite affect - you'll burn 330 fewer calories than the app says you get.  Will you remember to subtract them?  It feels crappy to subtract calories.  Will you reward yourself with food for lying to yourself in the app? Because that's what a lot of us do, basically.  We eat and don't keep track even though we know it's bad.  

I know what worked for me. 

 

[cheeseypoof]

Yeah that sounds right.  

I agree that you've been lightly active.  And it feels better to say you're lightly active instead of not very active. 

I just like the psychological benefit of plugging in my 330 calories of exercise because I earned them. Because I am trying to train myself to want to exercise.  I want to reward myself for exercising and reward myself for logging my exercise. It feels great to update the app with hundreds of calories i just burned. 

And if you skip a day, you'll have the opposite affect - you'll burn 330 fewer calories than the app says you get.  Will you remember to subtract them?  It feels crappy to subtract calories.  Will you reward yourself with food for lying to yourself in the app? Because that's what a lot of us do, basically.  We eat and don't keep track even though we know it's bad.  

I know what worked for me. 

Thanks.  Still finding the combo that will work for me.  

I'm not to the point where I'm looking forward to the exercise, but actively making sure I get some in most days (think I missed 3 days in April).  I also have an outside influence that is helping me to self motivate and keep making progress.  It all helps.

 

[SWC]

do you guys use strava it is an app on your phone that you can start and stop when you go on walks or hikes or bike rides or runs and so on and it tracks your route using gps satelites in the sky and tells you your monthly totals so for instance last month in april i did 94 hours and 27 minutes of activities for a total of well i think it was over 220 miles and this month i am on pace to be above that it is pretty cool and i recommend it take that to the bank brochachos

 

[fred_1_15301]

Breakfast- cinnamon spice oatmeal (120 calories)

Lunch - leftover pasta (including splitting a small frozen meal with wife) and some lentils (750 calories)

Snack - 3 crackers and a small bowl of fresh pineapple (100 calories)

Dinner - Spanish rice (from a box), cream cheese stuffed mushrooms (ate 2 of them), and salad without dressing (550 calories)

No more grazing.  Just planned meals.  I have 620 left and I haven’t even done my 45 minute HIIT yet.  Honestly this is so much easier than I ever thought it would be.   And so much fun!

i know it’s only been a few days but I think this is definitely sustainable.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

i am starting to figure this out.  

first, i think @bostonfred is right, to put the setting to inactive.  when i was working (on my feet for 8 hours a day) maybe not.  but right now, i'm an unemployed, sea slug.

i realize that some of my favorite things are calorie bombs     bread.  cheese.  cashews.  avocados.  booze.  triscuits.  my wife's cookies.    

however, with some adjustments, i am sitting at 500 calories.  and i'm ready to enjoy our cinco de mayo, fish tacos and some corona.  i have 1400 calories left, without exercise.  but this number should be lower, because i have it and slightly active, when it should be at, "my 600 lb life"

breakfast:  2 egg whites, 1 egg, 2 cups of spinach, 1 oz onion, scrambled.  coffee & cream 1Tsp.  1 dark chocolate mini bar.  total, 279 calories

lunch:  4 oz grilled chicken.  1/4 cup quinoa.  1/2 cup green beans  1 mini yakult drink.  total, 221 calories

  

 

[fred_1_15301]

Yeah I definitely consider myself living a sedentary lifestyle now.  Although I'm in an office based job, I used to easily burn 400-500 calories on a typical work day by just going for a walk up and down 4 flights up steps 4-5 times a day.  Now that I'm working from home, I just sit in my room all day in front of the computer.  When it's nice out, I'll go out with my son to play catch or take the kids for a walk around the neighborhood.  Other than that, I do one nice HIIT workout (or run) in the evening.  

 

[bostonfred]

Even if you're "active", in the sense that you run or walk or golf every day, you should still put inactive and log your running walking and golfing. Active is really only for people who are constantly doing stuff but not enough stuff to track.  It's for the people who sometimes hit their 10,000 steps for the day without meaning to. There's times in my life that's been me. 2020 is not looking great for that so far. That's why we're doing this challenge.  We can still maintain or lose weight even with the lifestyle change.  We just need to be mindful of what we're doing, and the first step is tracking what we're doing.  

 

[bostonfred]

I love seeing people crushing their goals already.  Not because I'm a personal trainer type.  I am trying to get people on board and be positive about everything but I'm not looking to bull#### anyone. 

I think it's great that people are motivated, but I also know what is coming and I'm looking forward to talking about it when it happens.  

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Even if you're "active", in the sense that you run or walk or golf every day, you should still put inactive and log your running walking and golfing. Active is really only for people who are constantly doing stuff but not enough stuff to track.  It's for the people who sometimes hit their 10,000 steps for the day without meaning to. There's times in my life that's been me. 2020 is not looking great for that so far. That's why we're doing this challenge.  We can still maintain or lose weight even with the lifestyle change.  We just need to be mindful of what we're doing, and the first step is tracking what we're doing.  

this is me in normal life.  according to my phone on 3/14 , i hit 12,706 steps and climbed 20 flights of stairs.  and worked out for an hour.   the steps are gone.  and the workouts aren't as hard.  although, today's little HIIT cycle i put together, kicked my ###

I love seeing people crushing their goals already.  Not because I'm a personal trainer type.  I am trying to get people on board and be positive about everything but I'm not looking to bull#### anyone. 

I think it's great that people are motivated, but I also know what is coming and I'm looking forward to talking about it when it happens.  

i'm already focused on what i eat, just not quite with an eye for calories.  now that i am working that into the mix, i "think" it will stick.   the only difference between today's food and previous days, would be a snack of cashews and cheese.  probably an avocado with breakfast.  not bad for me at all, just heavy on the calorie side.  booze will always be my caloric downfall.     

 

[fred_1_15301]

After my workout just now, I have almost 1,000 calories left and it’s 9:30 at night.  So many options.......

 

[DA RAIDERS]

After my workout just now, I have almost 1,000 calories left and it’s 9:30 at night.  So many options.......

i'm nearly at a 2000 calorie deficit .   only 500 calories so far  565 in exercise  i guess i'm - 65 atm     

 

[cheeseypoof]

66 minutes today.  237 minutes for May.

 

[gianmarco]

Going to eat no more than 1,500 calories per day through this challenge. As part of that will severely limit or avoid alcohol.

You know the challenge is longer than a day, right?

 

[cashman88]

Question for the group:  Setting aside any benefits related to cardiovascular or muscular improvement, and only thinking about calories burned, is there any difference between an uninterrupted 30 minute run versus a set of three 10 minute runs separated by a rest period?

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Looks like Fred got exactly what I was trying to say with the MFP Set up...if you go into settings, I wouldn't go past lightly active, I'm thinking about moving it down to NOT ACTIVE for the very reasons you bring up Fred. 

I have mine set at lightly active HOWEVER I followed Fred's advice and am setting myself at only 1lb per week. By doing that and allowing myself room to breathe, I increased my calories from 1,800 up to almost 2,100 so even if I want to shoot for 1,800 that's fine but on days I feel hungrier or just want to eat I have that freedom.  I am adamant about not going backwards or back where I cam from to get to this point so finding something consistent that doesn't feel like I am depriving myself all the time would be beneficial. 

-I've got to incorporate more wine vs beer in my evenings. 

Today was Cinco De Mayo, we had tacos and Modelo and still didn't hit the max calorie goal today. 

 

[krista4]

:(  

Whatsa matter?

do you guys use strava it is an app on your phone that you can start and stop when you go on walks or hikes or bike rides or runs and so on and it tracks your route using gps satelites in the sky and tells you your monthly totals so for instance last month in april i did 94 hours and 27 minutes of activities for a total of well i think it was over 220 miles and this month i am on pace to be above that it is pretty cool and i recommend it take that to the bank brochachos

When I do a real hike, I use both Strava and MapMyRun (used to be MapMyHike).  When I first starting using these about seven years ago, I found MayMyHike/Run to be the best for tracking elevation gain, which was the most important element to me for hiking, but Strava more accurate for distance.  Both have improved such that I don't see big differences anymore, but I still like to use both and average them out if there's a disconnect.

ETA:  Amazing work on the mileage for April!!!

 

[krista4]

Well, I didn't bank any new points today, and in fact I lost the three points I banked yesterday.  But it's OK; I still have 100% of my weekly points available, and tomorrow I'll try to bank some again.

My downfall was the booze; without it I came in at four points under for the day, but I "spent" seven points on wine because I made my first foray out in public for quite a while and it was freaking stressful.  Then I got home and Mr. krista had prepared homemade gnocchi topped with shaved brussels, apples, and walnuts in a ####-ton of olive oil.  I held back on the gnocchi, eating mostly just the brussel/apple topping, so I could have a bit of wine.  Again, I stayed only three points over my daily (and within the "healthy eating zone" I vowed to hit six of seven days per week), but I would have been in better shape without the angst of the farmers market and grocery store.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Day 35

60 Min walk in the middle of the afternoon, last 15 minutes were HOT HOT HOT!!! Must stop walking long distances during this time, 20-30 min is plenty to walk off a salad, dagummit 

-Mrs and I had terrific afternoon with a fresh bottle of Olbas Oil which if you have never used this for muscles and aches and pains, just trust MOP on this. It's $20 a bottle in some places, it smells like peppermint and under no circumstances should you apply it to your cha chis but for back and legs and arms it's heavenly. Magic!

60 Minute walk in the evening with the Mrs and then we grabbed the bikes for 30 minutes more. 

150 today will push me up to 635 total for May,  575 for Mrs and I just want to say that after April and seeing my results, she is taking the MFP App very seriously this month and I anticipate some bigger drops for her. We had a small tift over the way she was tricking the system but this month we seem to be on the same page...usually when one of us loses a little chunk, magically the other person suddenly figures out how to track their food.  

-Note to self...focus on MOP 

Calorie deficit tonight 867 as I am sipping on another can of beer today. 

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Question for the group:  Setting aside any benefits related to cardiovascular or muscular improvement, and only thinking about calories burned, is there any difference between an uninterrupted 30 minute run versus a set of three 10 minute runs separated by a rest period?

This question has come up a few times and so far we don't have anyone brave enough to test it out and report back. 

I can tell you what 120-150 minutes of walking and cycling does broken up over 2-3 sessions during the day 

If you use that as an outlier and just decrease the number down from 120 to 30...seriously I think it will work but I do find the first 10-15 minutes feel like the body is warming up and even when you stop moving, after you are warmed up it feels like your body is still burning long after you stop walking or cycling...it's not like the body magically stops burning calories as your foot takes the last step on the track/street. 

 

[krista4]

Question for the group:  Setting aside any benefits related to cardiovascular or muscular improvement, and only thinking about calories burned, is there any difference between an uninterrupted 30 minute run versus a set of three 10 minute runs separated by a rest period?

You might want to ask in the running (10k) thread, or @gianmarco or @MAC_32 who check into this thread now and then.

 

[krista4]

@Otis, could we trouble you for a title update?

 

[fred_1_15301]

Well, I didn't bank any new points today, and in fact I lost the three points I banked yesterday.  But it's OK; I still have 100% of my weekly points available, and tomorrow I'll try to bank some again.

My downfall was the booze; without it I came in at four points under for the day, but I "spent" seven points on wine because I made my first foray out in public for quite a while and it was freaking stressful.  Then I got home and Mr. krista had prepared homemade gnocchi topped with shaved brussels, apples, and walnuts in a ####-ton of olive oil.  I held back on the gnocchi, eating mostly just the brussel/apple topping, so I could have a bit of wine.  Again, I stayed only three points over my daily (and within the "healthy eating zone" I vowed to hit six of seven days per week), but I would have been in better shape without the angst of the farmers market and grocery store.

Out of curiosity is Mr. Krista also participating in this challenge with you?  My wife hasn’t been participating but she’s supportive of my recent lifestyle changes.  Somehow we are both losing weight during isolation (and neither of us really needed to).  

 

[gianmarco]

Question for the group:  Setting aside any benefits related to cardiovascular or muscular improvement, and only thinking about calories burned, is there any difference between an uninterrupted 30 minute run versus a set of three 10 minute runs separated by a rest period?

I'm only guessing at this, but I would think any difference, if any exists, would be negligible.

However, from a cardiovascular standpoint, getting your heart rate up and sustaining it for 30 minutes will be better overall than only getting it to 10 minutes at a time. Also, it depends on what speed you're running and which HR zones you enter. You can initially burn more calories at higher paces and higher HR, but it won't be sustained since you will require more fuel to accomplish that over time.

 

[krista4]

Out of curiosity is Mr. Krista also participating in this challenge with you?  My wife hasn’t been participating but she’s supportive of my recent lifestyle changes.  Somehow we are both losing weight during isolation (and neither of us really needed to).  

He is not.  When I started tracking on WW last fall, he was participating as well as we both needed to lose weight at that time.  He did fantastic for a couple of months but...stopped.  And then put all the weight back on.  It's definitely been harder for me to eat well lately since he is working less (he's a chef and can only serve take out right now), and he makes elaborate meals when I would normally just have a sandwich or salad. 

Like you, I'm not trying to lose weight at this point, but I don't want to fall into the Quarantine 10 (or 20) and gain any, either.  

 

[matuski]

Successful day.

Homemade red pepper chicken corn chowder for lunch, some cheese ravioli with meat sauce for dinner, AND A BOTTLE OF WINE... still 400 calories under.

Bring it.

 

[krista4]

Homemade red pepper chicken corn chowder

Want.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

He is not.  When I started tracking on WW last fall, he was participating as well as we both needed to lose weight at that time.  He did fantastic for a couple of months but...stopped.  And then put all the weight back on.  It's definitely been harder for me to eat well lately since he is working less (he's a chef and can only serve take out right now), and he makes elaborate meals when I would normally just have a sandwich or salad. 

Like you, I'm not trying to lose weight at this point, but I don't want to fall into the Quarantine 10 (or 20) and gain any, either.  

You've been super supportive throughout this journey. You and Fred have sort of been the Mom and Dad of the group in here. Otis has been relegated to Grandad status of late.  

 

[matuski]

Want.

Learned from my step mom..  do it by memory.

Kind of like this....  but I use chicken broth, fresh corn and pepper, and heavy cream instead of soy milk.  Shredded rotisserie chicken instead of potatoes.  Spritz of cayenne.

I don't know about the 8 hours part ... I go faster than that, just using eyeballs.

There is a decent option where the ingredients are mostly in a packet.. I have used this on occasion, I like it.  Quicker, still add chicken.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

One of the things in the MFP is when you close the Diary or finalize it which you might not do until the following morning. But once you do this, there is a message that appears that will say something like..."You will hit 200 lbs in 5 weeks if you maintain this level of calories" or something close to that. But it's encouraging to know where you will possibly hit a new milestone or mini-goal on your way. 

 

[matuski]

One of the things in the MFP is when you close the Diary or finalize it which you might not do until the following morning. But once you do this, there is a message that appears that will say something like..."You will hit 200 lbs in 5 weeks if you maintain this level of calories" or something close to that. But it's encouraging to know where you will possibly hit a new milestone or mini-goal on your way. 

MFP is great if you can stick to it for long enough.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

MFP is great if you can stick to it for long enough.

There is a direct connection about the time I usually stop tracking my calories or food and when I start gaining back all the weight I lose from when I first start. 

I was playing Tennis 3x a week prior to the crisis and just floating about the same weight and not making any progress. I stopped the Tennis(OK we were all forced to stop playing), started doing Morn and Evening exercise mainly walking and then cycling and then slowly tracking and watching what I was eating and April was a pretty good month. I also wanted to channel some of my disdain and anger about the crisis, whatever those feelings might have been. 

Fred actually introduced tracking the calories early in April and I started incorporating it before we started the May challenge and its helped a lot. I'm not perfect and wish I didn't have to record every drop of food but that's the point I guess. Even today I realized I overlooked a snack I gotta log back in. 

Good Luck this month, the more the merrier

-Cheers  

 

[The Flying Turtle]

Made it though Cinco de Mayo with 13 points to spare

Breakfast - 1 banana and hard boiled egg

lunch - chicken breast cabbage and broccoli with a little zero point dressing 

dinner - tilapia (with taco seasoning) cooked in a pat if butter, refried beans, small salad with zero point dressing, 12 tortilla chips (yes, I counted them out) salsa and 3 Michelob Ultras

snacks - various fruits throughout the day

Ran 3.25 miles

Mid-week weigh in yesterday showed 234 lb - down 1.4 since Friday. 

 

[fred_1_15301]

I was so many calories under last night that I justified having a couple drinks, 2 mini kit kat bars and an ice cream bar.    :(      Normally I hardly ever snack at night.  Still was under for the day but I think I'll plan out my meals a little better so that I'm not at such a deficit by night time (and I'm eating slightly healthier snacks).

 

[bostonfred]

Made it though Cinco de Mayo with 13 points to spare

Breakfast - 1 banana and hard boiled egg

lunch - chicken breast cabbage and broccoli with a little zero point dressing 

dinner - tilapia (with taco seasoning) cooked in a pat if butter, refried beans, small salad with zero point dressing, 12 tortilla chips (yes, I counted them out) salsa and 3 Michelob Ultras

snacks - various fruits throughout the day

Ran 3.25 miles

Mid-week weigh in yesterday showed 234 lb - down 1.4 since Friday. 

Great job. This looks like about 1500 calories to me (depends on the fruits you had for snacks and portion sizes) before even counting the running. Just be careful that you're getting enough calories - i don't know how points translate but this looks a little light to me.  

 

[bostonfred]

I was so many calories under last night that I justified having a couple drinks, 2 mini kit kat bars and an ice cream bar.    :(      Normally I hardly ever snack at night.  Still was under for the day but I think I'll plan out my meals a little better so that I'm not at such a deficit by night time (and I'm eating slightly healthier snacks).

This is so important and exactly what I expect to happen as people start tracking.  You're not trying to lose weight so I expect the transition to be a little easier, but for people who are used to over eating and now switching to under eating by 1000 calories a day, I expect some changes soon. I'm going to pest about it in the May challenge thread. 

 

[The Flying Turtle]

Great job. This looks like about 1500 calories to me (depends on the fruits you had for snacks and portion sizes) before even counting the running. Just be careful that you're getting enough calories - i don't know how points translate but this looks a little light to me.  

Thanks Fred, Total was about 1800 after adding in the fruit and slice of cheese and a little steak I didn’t mention. 
 

I didn’t actively stay that low, I really just wasn’t hungry at all. I understand that too few calories for an extended time is dangerous. 

 

[The Flying Turtle]

I was so many calories under last night that I justified having a couple drinks, 2 mini kit kat bars and an ice cream bar.    :(      Normally I hardly ever snack at night.  Still was under for the day but I think I'll plan out my meals a little better so that I'm not at such a deficit by night time (and I'm eating slightly healthier snacks).

That usually happens to me after a few drinks too - I tend to graze. I am focusing hard on stopping that nonsense.