As I enter week 3 of this Half Marathon training program, I’m getting pretty tired of my clothes fitting a lot tighter than they did a year ago.
In the past, I wrote a blog review of an app on my iPhone: LoseIt! Well, after the using it for some time, I’m finding that the weight loss that I’m looking for just isn’t happening. This can only be for three reasons:
- I’m not tracking *everything* that I’m eating: Counting calories requires attention to minute details. That extra cookie could be 150 calories! And yes – guilty as charged.
- I’m not able to track everything I’m eating: This is usually due to an incomplete food database in your calorie counting app.
- My BMR is lower than what my tracking app calculates
I really really need to start dropping some of the major poundage that I have put on in the last year. To get things back on track, I’m going to change up my calorie counting regimen. Here’s what I’m doing:
- I’m changing to MyFitnessPal. The food database seems to be more complete than LoseIt (at least based on what I eat). And, my calculation of my BMR is a full 200 calories lower in MyFitnessPal that LoseIt. Not to mention, it’s never my fault, right?
- I will be tracking *everything* that I’m eating. Period.
My goal is to drop 30 pound by the end of the year. That’s about a pound a week. About 3500 calories less to eat. Keep the carrot cake and casino buffets away!!!!
Speaking of burning calories – I ramp up by a couple miles this week:
- Monday: Scheduled rest.
- Tuesday: 3.5 easy miles
- Wednesday: 2 miles
- Thursday: 3.5 easy miles
- Friday: Scheduled rest
- Saturday: 5 miles
- Sunday: Erg 35 minutes
- Total: 14 miles plus rowing
Good luck, Glenn! I've been most successful on the weight loss front when I don't eat too many sweets (they are my downfall by far). Those suckers just come with so many calories... I haven't tracked my intake in years and have been mostly stable. =D
ReplyDeleteIf you save that cookie for the weekend, you'll be doing yourself a favor already. I try not to eat treats during the week (yeah, dreadful), unless they are prepared by me (e.g., vegan, not much sugar, etc.).
Nice site - I'll have to bookmark that. It's always the sneaky stuff like the salad with 72000 grams of fat that smacks you when you are not watching! Keep up the momentum and have a great week!
ReplyDeleteYeah actually admitting I ate stuff is my biggest downfall... I don't want to own up to pigging out!
ReplyDeleteI started using my fitness pal a few weeks back to make sure I was getting enough protein every day. Seems to be a pretty comprehensive database of foods!
ReplyDeletegood luck!
I use Dailyplate when I am really struggling (like now!) and I love how it shows me where I am screwing up - ha. Good luck, Glenn - you can do it!
ReplyDeleteI used to use LoseIt too, and the database was awful. I recently changed to My Fitness Pal and I love it! It has everything! Good luck and allow yourself a cookie now and then :)
ReplyDeleteI've had a similar experience with calorie counters. I'm focusing more on expenditures to see if that at least gets me started. Keep us posted on you progress.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you're figuring it out. Yeah, on paper it's all cut and dry, but really paying attention to caloric intake VS caloric burn can seem tedious at first. Thank goodness for phone apps, but even better that you know yourself well enough to tweak the plan a bit. PS, it's OK to splurge a little once a week. :)
ReplyDeletegreat plan! Good luck. I always find it so hard to keep track of everything, but when I do I usually lose some weight. :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Glenn! Hope changing things up a bit does the trick.
ReplyDeleteHi there, I found you through the Runners World Forums. An app/site that I've been using a lot is Sparkpeople.com. It's also free, and I feel like their database is great. It does rely on user entry at times, so it can have some items that aren't 100% accurate, but that's usually the exception and not the rule. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteCasino buffets?! Yeah definitely stay away from those! They are like ninja assassins!! Good luck with your new cal tracker! You will do it!!
ReplyDeleteYou got this Glen!
ReplyDeleteI have used MFP since January of this year and it has REALLY helped me to see where my calories were coming from. I highly recommend it. Hope you like it!
ReplyDelete