Positive cheats?
#1
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: canada
Posts: 441
Positive cheats?
Does anybody else do this?
I'm not as interested in having a completely accurate log as I am in losing some weight, so I tend to round up all the bad things and round down all the good things. I seem to need all kinds of ways to trick my brain. For instance, if a serving of chocolate is 4 squares, I'll have 3 and say it was a serving. Or at work - there's a lot of standing, but there's also a lot of going up and down stairs and ladders, hauling heavy boxes around, etc, but I just put in that I was standing. Or if I walk for 1:15, I say it was an hour. And so on and so on.
I guess it's kind of like keeping track of your finances and rounding up your spending and rounding down your income. Or setting the alarm clock ahead so you trick yourself into thinking you've slept in.
I figure if I'm always doing a little better than I think I'm doing, it'll make things a little easier. Even if I'm just shaving off 100 or so calories a day. Do you guys keep accurate logs or do you do like me?
I'm not as interested in having a completely accurate log as I am in losing some weight, so I tend to round up all the bad things and round down all the good things. I seem to need all kinds of ways to trick my brain. For instance, if a serving of chocolate is 4 squares, I'll have 3 and say it was a serving. Or at work - there's a lot of standing, but there's also a lot of going up and down stairs and ladders, hauling heavy boxes around, etc, but I just put in that I was standing. Or if I walk for 1:15, I say it was an hour. And so on and so on.
I guess it's kind of like keeping track of your finances and rounding up your spending and rounding down your income. Or setting the alarm clock ahead so you trick yourself into thinking you've slept in.
I figure if I'm always doing a little better than I think I'm doing, it'll make things a little easier. Even if I'm just shaving off 100 or so calories a day. Do you guys keep accurate logs or do you do like me?
#3
I keep my logs as accurate as possible. It's the reason I bought a food scale, so I could be accurate in my logging. I have a real problem eyeballing a portion size, and it helps me to know what's what. Even on my really bad days (ahem, yesterday) I log everything. Just so I know where my weaknesses are. If I'm unsure of how much of something I've eaten, I will always round up just to be on the safe side.
I know that I'm in this for the long haul, I don't want even "positive cheats".
I know that I'm in this for the long haul, I don't want even "positive cheats".
#5
FitDay Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 106
I log everything as accurately as possible...it is what works for me. I think if I started trying to fudge I would at some level start compensating.
The analogy I can thinking of is setting the alarm clock so it is early, but in the end saying, 'oh, I can sleep in, since I have an extra 10 minutes anyway', and end up being late because the clock was only set 5 minutes early.
Everyone is wired a bit differently, so find whatever works for you and stick with it.
Of course there are times I have to do some estimating...like today I went out for lunch and only had part of my fries (special treat I let myself have every couple of weeks). I now what a regular order is at this place, so I guessed that I probably had about 75% of that. In these cases I will always guess on the high side.
The analogy I can thinking of is setting the alarm clock so it is early, but in the end saying, 'oh, I can sleep in, since I have an extra 10 minutes anyway', and end up being late because the clock was only set 5 minutes early.
Everyone is wired a bit differently, so find whatever works for you and stick with it.
Of course there are times I have to do some estimating...like today I went out for lunch and only had part of my fries (special treat I let myself have every couple of weeks). I now what a regular order is at this place, so I guessed that I probably had about 75% of that. In these cases I will always guess on the high side.
#6
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: canada
Posts: 441
I've been setting my clock 20 minutes ahead since grade school and I'm still tricked by it. I guess it's just how I'm wired. When I see that I ate 4 squares of chocolate, that's what my brain computes, it doesn't ever think "Oh, but it was really only 3 squares, so I can have another 30 calories."
#7
nobe, I wasn't trying to imply that you weren't in it for the long haul...that was simply about me and how I'm "wired". I know that for me personally I can't cheat because I'll start justifying negative cheats. We all have to find what works for us
#8
I log as accurately as I can. If I were to start rounding things off then I would also have in my mind that I have those extra calories 'in storage' and use them later. I need to know exactly what I am doing. Of course once in a while I take a week or so off from logging too. Because sometimes the logging gets to feel like an addiction to me or a crutch and I like to go it alone and know that I can at least maintain without logging. Not that I recommend that. It is just how I do things. Find what works for you and go for it!