episode2011

Vicki: Gah, if it's not one thing, it's another (*nod* to Roseanne Rosannadanna). Sorry to hear about the liver issue. At least they've been able to narrow it down for you. Take care and try to eat as healthfully as possible while on the road (a hard thing to do, I know).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, folks, I read a few enlightening (and somewhat discouraging articles) last night. We're all are doing our level best to be truthful and accurate in our food logging, right? We try our hardest to be conscientious and log everything we eat, be it a meal or a snack or a nibble, right? We meticulously weigh and portion out every single morsel that passes our lips, right? (please note the sarcasm in that last question )

Wellllll, according to scientific studies by researchers and whatnot, it turns out we're probably not quite as accurate as we'd like to think we are. First of all, we tend to do a lot of estimating and eyeballing ("hmmm yeah, that looks like about a cupful"). Secondly, we often forget that nibble or taste, or go by the rule that says foods eaten while standing have no calories . We tend to exaggerate the amounts of healthful foods we eat and sorta, kinda underestimate the not-so-healthful ones (it's only a "handful" of Fritos if your hand is the size of Godzilla's).

For most of us, it's not deliberate. We have good intentions. Apparently, we simply want to make ourselves seem more dutiful than we are. It's as much psychology as physiology at play here.

There was a lot more to the articles but the one thing I found most interesting is that WE ARE NOT ALONE. Apparently, even the PROFESSIONALS under-report the same way we regular folks do. Their variances weren't as large as our, because they've been better trained (hopefully), but the key is, they are not perfect.

The takeaway for me is I'm going to assume that yes, although I've been doing my best to be accurate, I've probably been under-reporting. Yes, I DO tend to estimate sometimes (pffft I'm not going to weigh and measure each and every chicken thigh). Therefore, I'm going to keep my target calorie range at 1200-1300 per day, with the assumption that the REAL intake is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1320-1430 (a 10% difference). The secondary takeaway is that my calorie deficit probably isn't quite as high as I want to believe it is. Ahhhh maybe that's why I'm not losing 15 pounds a month!

Anyway, I found the info interesting, even though a tad disheartening, and thought I'd share. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

episode2011

Man, the M&A thread gets no love on the weekends. What, is everyone out, partying it up on a Saturday night? Am I the only homebody, glued to her 'puter? Oh well, it is what it is, I suppose .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Strategy for the Week (April 6 - April 12):

• 7-day Rolling Average calories = 1200-1300: 1189, 1186, 1201, 1237, 1265, 1293
• 7-day Rolling Average water/tea, minimum 2500mL (10+ 8oz glasses): 3962, 3962, 3895, 3895, 3895, 3901
• 7-day Rolling Average sodium = 1000-1500: 1295, 1287, 1198, 1138, 1193, 1300
• Extra Credit -- 7-day Rolling Average Sat-Fat = under 15g: 15, 15, 16, 15, 16, 16 <--- sat-fat, grrrr
• Extra Credit -- 7-day Rolling Average Carbs = under 150: 133, 125, 122, 122, 114, 118
• Extra Credit -- 7-day Rolling Average Fiber = 15g or greater: 11, 11, 12, 15, 14, 16 <--- well, perhaps all that salad was good for something...
• Extra Credit -- 7-day Rolling Average Protein = 50-75g: 57, 59, 63, 68, 74, 73
• Explore! Try something new or do some nutrition-related research at least 2 times:
  • Thursday: Tried a new seasoning for chicken. It's... well, ok... rather bland.
  • Thursday: Read some interesting articles about weight-loss comments.
  • Friday: Read some information about how people tend to (unintentionally) underreport when filling out food diaries or completing food logs.

FINALLY finished off all that salad stuff. Probably won't make another salad for 6 months .

Week's almost over, friends. Don't give up now! ((Hey, that was this week's theme!))

AZLisaLou

Today was a day of junk food. There was absolutely nothing in the house to eat for lunch so I had 2 pb&j's. Then, it was just me and Jeff for dinner tonight and I don't like cooking up a whole dinner for 5 for just the 2 of us (all of the meat is packaged for a full family dinner), so we had taco bell. Surprisingly, I didn't go crazy over my calorie goal. Will have an atkins w/ milk in a little while to top off the night.

Epi, yes, it's hard to "estimate" what we eat. When I'm right on track I weigh and measure everything, but I haven't been that good lately.

Vicki, so sorry to hear your liver is giving you problems. I hope that by eating healthfully and losing some weight that that will alleviate the problems.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

lildebbieg

Hi all! Apologies for being MIA most of this week. Truth is, I'm struggling with some personal stuff and feeling extremely negative so just didn't feel like posting. I would rather post positive thoughts and deal with my own crap on my own. I know some like to have somewhere to get out their frustrations, but for me, I need to do that on my own (otherwise I risk people calling me a 'Debbie Downer'....LOL!)

Epixi - Interesting article. Maybe that's why I find it so tedious and hard to maintain daily tracking...when I'm diligent about tracking, I weigh and measure every single thing. So hard to do long term! The threads do get very quiet. There was a time last year that it literally was only Lisa and I posting for an entire week! Not the best thing for motivation

Lisa- Congrats on the scale moving in the right direction! Woohoo!!

Vicki - Sorry to hear you're having issues with your liver! Is this something that will heal over time? What does this mean for you?

Denise - Hello! Glad to see a new fitdayer here on the Motivation and Accountability thread! Does you plan only have you eating 677 cals a day? What plan are you doing?

Annette - Sorry to hear your home life is so unhealthy.

Have a happy Sunday all

HappyHen

Hi all! Happy Sunday from GA!

Epi- I know being honest about measuring and keeping up with every little bite or plate I have is a big weakness for me. Therefore, I tend to lose weight better following a plan that doesn't require weighing and measuring closely.

Lisa-Condrats on being a loser this week! I love it when I am a loser. LOL. I am down another lb since chatting with you gals last...at 196.5 now.

Vicki- So sorry to hear about your pancreatic problems. A dear friend is battling the same thng. My prayers ar with you and your docs.

Annette- Hope your weekend provided some peaceful time for you.

Debbie- I am following the book entitled Wheat Belly. I usually stay between 1200-1400 cals daily. However, I was so hungary for salads that day and just didn't get in a lot of cals. I did have more cals yesterday, and I have already grilled DH and I a big T-bone steak with grilled onions and sweet gypsy peppers with oljve oil for lunch today. Last night I enjoyed a blender full of frozen skinny margaritas with a little tequilla and a handful of our hydroponically grown sweet strawberries. I really felt like I was cheating, but i enjoyed every swallow. Dh and I went fishing yesterday at a neighbors pond and caught 26 fish in less than two hours. We walked around the banks catching them so I felt like I got a great deal of exercise. We then went down to check the local river and sat on the bank and caught a few more. It was a very enjoyable day as we really like each other's company. (Well, most of the time anyway.). That helped keep me from muching all day as I don't have as much self control on Saturdays. I am finding that this new lifestyle of eating has caused me to lose my appetite so I have to make a conscious effort to eat during the day sometimes instead of waiting untill I am starving, then I mess up and eat the wrong things.

Hope all is well with everyone today. Sundays can be hard to stay on plan for me unless I can keep myself busy.

episode2011

Hi folks! Happy Sunday, happy end-of-the-Fitday-week to us all . So glad to see some activity on the thread! And belated thanks to Debbie and Lisa for keeping the M&A concept afloat last year when it was basically just the two of you .

Lisa: I agree. It's very hard to cook for 1 or 2 when everything comes packaged in bigger quantities. Either you have to pay a premium for the smaller quantities (like those 100-calorie snack packs, grrr) or buy it bigger and divvy it up into smaller portions. Meats are tough. Lettuce is tough, too, although I recently found a store that sells loose romaine lettuce leaves.

Debbie: I totally understand about wanting to keep personal stuff personal. Each person has to do whatever is best for him/herself. I'm sorry to learn that you're dealing with feelings of negativity (not fun). (((hugs)))

Denise: Set an extra place at the table for that steak -- I'll be there in ten minutes . Seriously, steak, peppers, onions... sounds scrumptious! It also sounds like you had a relaxing day with all the fishing. Would you believe I've never gone fishing? With regard to diminished appetite, I'm right there with you. I commented on that very subject a few weeks ago. Since I started on this new nutrition lifestyle, my appetite has gone way down. I have to work to get in more than 1200 calories (of relatively healthy stuff -- I'm sure I could do it with more junk food) because I'm just not all that hungry. It's an odd phenomenon but I did a little research and found out it's not all that uncommon (who knew?).

Will be back later to update progress.

episode2011

And... finishing up my week...

My Strategy for the Week (April 6 - April 12):

• 7-day Rolling Average calories = 1200-1300: 1189, 1186, 1201, 1237, 1265, 1293, 1289
• 7-day Rolling Average water/tea, minimum 2500mL (10+ 8oz glasses): 3962, 3962, 3895, 3895, 3895, 3901, 3919
• 7-day Rolling Average sodium = 1000-1500: 1295, 1287, 1198, 1138, 1193, 1300, 1357
• Extra Credit -- 7-day Rolling Average Sat-Fat = under 15g: 15, 15, 16, 15, 16, 16, 16 <--- may as well just get used to it
• Extra Credit -- 7-day Rolling Average Carbs = under 150: 133, 125, 122, 122, 114, 118, 118
• Extra Credit -- 7-day Rolling Average Fiber = 15g or greater: 11, 11, 12, 15, 14, 16, 18
• Extra Credit -- 7-day Rolling Average Protein = 50-75g: 57, 59, 63, 68, 74, 73, 74
• Explore! Try something new or do some nutrition-related research at least 2 times:
  • Thursday: Tried a new seasoning for chicken. It's... well, ok... rather bland.
  • Thursday: Read some interesting articles about weight-loss comments.
  • Friday: Read some information about how people tend to (unintentionally) underreport when filling out food diaries or completing food logs.

I'm beginning to believe sat-fat and I will simply never get along, but at least I'm keeping it somewhat in check. I'm pleased with the way protein has been going up. I'm also rather pleased that I'm gradually bringing up fiber while simultaneously lowering carbs (all that blinkin' salad).

All in all, not a bad nutrituonal week. Now the big question is, will the scale agree? Will the scale appreciate all the work I'm doing??? Tune in tomorrow for the next EPISODE (haha I made a funny).

AZLisaLou

Well, tonight was a birthday celebration and I made the most decadent chocolatey chocolate cake with chocolatey chocolate icing. Did I mention it was chocolatey? So moist, dense without being too heavy, rich, ugh. so freaking good. Definitely NOT from a box. The rest of the day I was good.

Tomorrow is check in day for the challenge, so it'll be interesting to see how my weekend number looks.