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7 Day Motivational Thread starting May 20 - Stay Strong!

Old 05-24-2013, 06:59 AM
  #71  
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Originally Posted by iansteele

You know what? I can't do this <1500! Next week I need to make more realistic goals
I hear you, Ian. I hear the frustration and I also hear the disappointment. First off, deep, cleansing breath...

Originally Posted by iansteele

...Even a small binge can change everything! It;s like being vigilant 100% of the time, I just can't handle it.
I don't think most people can be vigilant 100% of the time. Well, not without being extraordinarily stressed out, and who needs that. That's one of the reasons I like looking at rolling averages rather than daily absolutes. It gives me some leeway to react and correct without feeling like a one-day binge throws the whole scheme out of whack.

Originally Posted by iansteele

...Screw it, I will push myself to the limit (exercise wise) rather than not eat the food I need to!
With the number of sit- and push-ups you're doing, are you already at the limit? Not just the limits of what your body can tolerate but also in terms of how much time you can devote?

I'm curious: how did you settle on 1500 calories/day? I agree with Jenn; it seems most guys may need to consume more than that (depending, of course, on height, age and body structure). What sorts of foods do you enjoy? Can you work those in to your diet (I'm using the generic word "diet" here)? Are there some foods on which you will not compromise? For example, for me, it's coffee with real cream -- any diet that doesn't allow that is not for me.

I'm so sorry you're feeling grumpy. I hope you'll continue to re-evaluate, though, and figure out a new and improved strategy. You can do it!
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Old 05-24-2013, 09:09 AM
  #72  
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Originally Posted by episode2011

I must say, using rolling averages has been a big help to me this time round. Before, having a "bad" day, or a "bad weekend" would cause me to jettison the whole project ("Bah, I'll start over Monday" -- then "Monday" would become "Next Month" and so on...). So far, this time, I'm more able to snap back. I think it's because I'm looking at a bigger picture. It just feels right. So far...

Let's make it a Fabulous Friday, everyone!
I've been lurking around here for a while and your idea of a rolling average intrigued me....so I had to go google it to see what exactly you meant. How do you calculate this...sadly I couldn't figure this out for myself!
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Old 05-24-2013, 09:33 AM
  #73  
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Originally Posted by lildebbieg
I've been lurking around here for a while and your idea of a rolling average intrigued me....so I had to go google it to see what exactly you meant. How do you calculate this...sadly I couldn't figure this out for myself!
Welcome, Debbie. I don't know how epixi calculates her rolling average - maybe she made an excel spreadsheet, or maybe she just does it by hand. I'm sure she'll be back to let you know. Glad to have you here!
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Old 05-24-2013, 09:46 AM
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Originally Posted by lildebbieg
I've been lurking around here for a while and your idea of a rolling average intrigued me....so I had to go google it to see what exactly you meant. How do you calculate this...sadly I couldn't figure this out for myself!
Hi there, and welcome aboard, Lil Debbie (love the name!)! Glad you asked!

First, with regard to what the 7-Day Rolling Average is, it's just an average of the past 7 days. Not necessarily a Monday-thru-Sunday average, but literally the last seven days, whatever those days were. In other words, if I look at May 23 for example (Thursday, yesterday), my average will include all values starting with May 17 (last Friday) up to and through May 23 (yesterday, Thursday). 7 actual days. In Calories, then, I would have to add up all the calories I reported for those 7 days and divide by the number of days (7, in the case of a week). That is the value I would report as Calories -- the average calories per day for the past 7 days. Same thing for all the values.

It sounds like an awful lot of calculation but fortunately, Fitday has a report that does it all for you (yay!)! If you look at the group of tabs on the upper left side of your Fitday page, you'll see a tab near the end named "Reports". Clicking that tab will allow you to see a bunch of reports, grouped under several headings. Look in the first heading (Food and Nutrition). In there, the third report down is called "Nutrition Facts". That's the one you want.

Once you go into Nutrition Facts, you'll see the Food Label with which we're all familiar. This food label is a bit different, however, because it displays the stats on what you've eaten in a Rolling Average format. You can select to have it display Week (the past 7 days), 2 Weeks, 4 Weeks, This Month or 2 Months. Very handy for seeing your trends, be they Calories, Sodium, Protein... whatever is important to you!

Notice -- "4-weeks" and "This Month" are different -- 4 weeks is literally the past 4 weeks and will span months if need be. This Month is Calendar Month, so if today is the 17th, it will ONLY include values from the 1st through the 17th.

I generally check in the morning and roll the day back to yesterday. That's because today is not finished (and thus will mess up the averages). Yesterday is 100% complete, as are the 6 days prior to yesterday. This gives me a good, solid 7-day average. To roll the day back to yesterday, simply click Show Previous Day (link immediately to the left of the bold Entries for (Date)).

To make sure things were on the up and up, I audited the numbers periodically when I first started using it. I'm satisfied the results are accurate, so now I just run with the numbers from the report, as is. No calculations needed (whew!).

I only started using the Rolling Averages a few weeks ago (early February, when I re-started on this journey). At first, I used a 4-week average, but found it was a bit too broad. As I said earlier, I really liking using the Rolling Average because it helps me keep things in perspective, and the 7-Day Average is just broad enough.

Hope that helps!

Last edited by episode2011; 05-24-2013 at 10:14 AM.
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Old 05-24-2013, 09:52 AM
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Ian - a couple of suggestions... but first, don't get discouraged.

Did you use FitDay to calculate your calorie base rate? (how many calories you need to maintain your current weight at your current activity level). If you just cut back 500 calories a day from that, you'll lose about a pound a week. If you do exercise daily where you burn an additional 500 calories a day (you can use the FitDay activity log), that would be an additional pound a week.

What changes can you make to your diet? Cut out sugary drinks (including juices - eat the fruits themselves instead). Cut out candies and pastries and substitute fruits. Switch from refined grain breads & pastas to whole grain versions. If you drink, limit alcohol consumption. Cut back take-out meals to once a week. Just suggestions - and no need to make a lot of changes at once. Choose one diet change as a goal and keep it until it becomes second nature to you. Small changes really do add up.

One last suggestion: Build snacks into your diet. I have one mid-morning, one midafternoon, and another a couple of hours after dinner. Snacks will keep your blood sugars at a more even level, which is good. When I have had a snack, I'm not ravenous at the next meal.

It's good you're re-evaluating your goals - they do need to be something you have a reasonable chance of attaining.
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Old 05-24-2013, 11:09 AM
  #76  
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Carolyn - thank you so much for the very warm welcome I posted here for a few days a few months back hoping the support might help me. I ducked out in shame when I only met my goals for a few measley days. Not very productive I know! So thanks again for making me feel welcome!

Epixi - thank you for the very thorough explanation! Funny, I've seen the reports before but never noticed that one. I like the way you think! I'm an 'all-or-nothing kind of person which results in me not ever getting anywhere...very frustrating! I'm going to check out this report and see if I can keep a focus on the broader picture. Maybe it will actually work for me too and help to get me to where I want to be.
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Old 05-24-2013, 01:35 PM
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Debbie - not meeting our goals has happened to all of us - and more than once! It's a daily struggle for us all. When I've gotten discouraged, people here have motivated me to keep going. Hope you'll join in more.

epixi - wow - I didn't know FitDay could do that. Very clever of you to figure it out.
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Old 05-24-2013, 01:47 PM
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Epixi, thanks for the detailed info on how to calculate rolling averages on Fitday, I was considering calculating them myself...........so in exploring this I learned the difference between Fitday Classic and Fitday 2.0. I have only been using 2.0 but now, thanks to you, I found ALOT of stuff on Fitday Classic that I did not know it could do. So there you go, I think next week I will go to rolling averages.

Welcome back lilDebbie, I think I remember you! Lots of people come and go but if you stick with us that would be great! The support is very helpful.

Ian you sound so discouraged......Never give up! Just adapt it so it's more doable for you. Clearly you need to eat more calories. As long as you are in a deficit. You will learn so much about yourself logging.

Goals for this week:

1. Green tea 1x per day:M-Y, T-Y, W-Y, Th-Y, F-Y
2. Calories 1200-1400: 1837, 1286, 1326, 1304, 1226
3. Swim once: Th
4. Gym once: W
5. Walk at least 2x: T, W
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Old 05-24-2013, 03:24 PM
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Hey. . i'm new to this but thought it might help me from binging and forgetting about the weight loss plan i have for myself

female, just over 5ft, 20 years old.
Current weight: 10 stone/ 140 pounds
Goal weight: 8 stone, preferably before the end of summer when i go back to uni which gives me 3 months to lose 2 stone.
My plan:
Run an hour a day
3 pints of water (min) a day
Cut out snacking and late night eating ( biggest weakness)

hope your doing well! Nice to see such a great support network going on here
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Old 05-25-2013, 12:36 AM
  #80  
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Originally Posted by jjrudd
Men can have more calories so it might be a good idea to up the calories a little if you are finding it hard. Are you someone who likes veggies?
I like veggies but it's not easy to find the ones I like. I live in East Asia and the things they eat are very different from things back in the states. Also the price of certain foods here makes them very unappealing, most fruit is ridiculously priced, strawberries are $45 a pound for example.

Originally Posted by episode2011
With the number of sit- and push-ups you're doing, are you already at the limit? Not just the limits of what your body can tolerate but also in terms of how much time you can devote?

I'm curious: how did you settle on 1500 calories/day? I agree with Jenn; it seems most guys may need to consume more than that (depending, of course, on height, age and body structure). What sorts of foods do you enjoy? Can you work those in to your diet (I'm using the generic word "diet" here)? Are there some foods on which you will not compromise? For example, for me, it's coffee with real cream -- any diet that doesn't allow that is not for me.
Naw, when I can't get up the next morning that will be the limit

I just randomly plucked 1500 out of the air since it seems to be a sort of average of the people here. Well, I eat a lot of rice unfortunately since its the easiest thing to get. A lot of mushrooms, onions, carrots, lettuce and eggs. Since all of that is pretty much protein free I also eat a fair bit of pork (beef is overpriced here). And a bunch of Asian food that I won't list as I'm not sure how strong your stomache is I don't mind cutting anything out but there isn't much else I can replace it with.

Originally Posted by carolynnq
What changes can you make to your diet? Cut out sugary drinks (including juices - eat the fruits themselves instead). Cut out candies and pastries and substitute fruits. Switch from refined grain breads & pastas to whole grain versions. If you drink, limit alcohol consumption. Cut back take-out meals to once a week. Just suggestions - and no need to make a lot of changes at once. Choose one diet change as a goal and keep it until it becomes second nature to you. Small changes really do add up.
Like I said above, its not easy to get fruit here I don't eat candies and not too many pastries. Not too much bread or pasta either, these things aren't really popular here. I only drink once or twice a week, but I can't really cut that out, the culture here is very hierarchial and a lot of times I don't have much of a choice. I do try to mostly drink lite beer though. I suppose I'll have to dial back the take out meals, that can be my mini goal for next week
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