I’ve been recording what food I put in my mouth on and off for 5 years. I started this journey after gaining 30 lbs my first year out in the real world and discovering I am horrible at estimating calories in food and more importantly booze (Hint: It’s a lot!) This logging never lasted long: my longest stint being 6 months or 182 days. After I hit my goal I logged on and off while steadily gaining weight.
However, this time is different. MyFitnessPal (MFP), my preferred food logging app, just reminded me that I have been logging my food every day for the last 400 days. That’s a serious record for me. The difference between the first 6 months I was logging last year and the latter (keto) could not be more different. In the former I was always hungry and grouchy and despite not eating a lot I still wasn’t losing weight. I’d lose a little, gain a little and the cycle would continue. I went from 182 to 166 in 6 months only to expand back to 180+ by Christmas. A few days after New Years I started keto.
MFP has been invaluable to me on this journey. I learned when I started using it 5 years ago that I have no idea how many calories or carbs are in things. I am also bad at eyeballing amounts, but after the last 6 months of weighing everything (thank you sister and brother-in-law for the gift!) I am more aware. A serving of pecans (30g) fits in the palm of my hand. So does an ounce of shredded cheese. I’m getting better at it, but my love of data and logging information keeps me going. It gives me peace and the ability to analyze what I’ve been doing and come to conclusions and recommendations. Though a quick caveat: calorie amounts on packages and estimates for fresh foods are often off by 20% or more. Also calories matter a lot less than what the calories consist of (carbs/fat/protein) and what the body does with the calories as a result of their composition. As a result I’m not putting 100% faith into the numbers I record, but instead trying to keep my general trends going in the right direction.
I have a little more than 100 days (118 to be exact) until I leave Seattle and want to be as close to 132 lbs as possible for a 50 lb loss overall. My current projection says I will be 136.8 by that time, but once again: estimates don’t necessarily reflect reality. After I reach the end of the year and 365 days on a diet (also a record!) I’m going to keep doing keto and most likely recording my calories until I understand what maintenance levels feel like. I hoping that one day I’ll be able to figure this out myself and be able to let go of MFP…even though it’s free 🙂 .