Christine - we all thank you... is there anything that I can explain to help you with the site?
Fox - it is good to see you posting with us
Oregongal and
Foepsie - what I count and how I count it when I'm being good...
People use all sorts of apps these days - but I am perfectly happy using the computer account that I have been using since 2007... I have a free account from They do other accounts too - but a free account is perfectly good enough... some new people feel that there are more modern apps with fuller databases - but I do not have an issue at all... All my favourite prepackaged foods have already been added as custom foods years ago so my personal database includes everything that I like... You can add recipes as custom foods too and I have things like that in there too...
Anyway with fitday you set up all your profile information (things like age, weight, gender, activity level)... I tend to set myself as very sedentary... Then each day you log all your exercise (with having selected very sedentary I can log all my walking as exercise plus every bit of the other exercise that I do)... You also log all your food and drink... I must admit that I tend to ignore the calories in things like diet cola since they are pretty negligible...
Anyway it not only tells you how many calories you have had - but it gives you a full break down of all your macros... fat, carb, protein, alcohol, sat fat, sodium, fibre, calcium and loads of different vitamins and minerals...
The targets that I try to shoot for are as follows:
calories - between 10 times and 12 times weight = 1560 to 1872
sodium - less than 2300mg
protein - 1g per pound of lean body weight = about 100g per day
fibre - 21g
calcium - 1000mg
water - 1 ounce per 2 pounds of actual body weight
I actually tend to have a pretty low fat diet - but I do not actively watch to hit any targets... If anything the chances are that I went "too low fat" during my big project...
The hardest target to explain is the protein target... I think that the actual RDA for protein is something like 50g... The only problem is that a lot of experts believe that this figure is not nearly high enough... Lots of experts have said that it should be other values... 1g per 2 pounds of weight (about 78g) is suggested by some authorities, 1g per pound of lean body weight by another, 1g per pound of actual body weight is another...
We all know that there are diets out there like Atkins that are based on high protein and that body builders go high protein...
I must admit that I have a lot of respect for someone who has read widely and said that in their opinion 1g per pound of lean body weight was best... I calculated mine a long time ago and am convinced that I have not gained muscle since then - although I have gained fat... Basically using a body fat monitor you calculate your percentage body fat and reduce your actual weight by that percent... I had a very accurate reading of body fat at a medical establishment (for UK Biobank) after I got to goal - and while I have gained fat since then I am certain that I havent gained muscle... That gives the weight of the lean part of you...
I think that it actually calculated out to something like 100.6 but the straight number of 100g is easier to remember...
All of these things can impact weight loss
My weight is well up today... There is a simple reason for it as our friend Andy (who lives in Spain) flew in we went out for an Indian meal... My calories during the rest of the day were pretty good (785), I only drank water when we were out and no starter or dessert or chocolate at the end... I did however have a pretty fattening giant portion of chicken korma with nut rice and garlic naan... My calories would be high and my sodium would be high and the 3.25 litres of water that I had would not counteract it... The calories would not be high enough to justify a gain of over 3 pounds so there will be some fat weight, some food weight and some sodium water weight in that gain...
06/03/2013 11st2.8 i.e. 156.8 pounds --- drank water but no improvement
07/03/2013 11st2.0 i.e. 156.0 pounds --- drank water - heading back down
08/03/2013 11st1.8 i.e. 155.8 pounds --- drank water - getting a touch lower
09/03/2013 11st1.8 i.e. 155.8 pounds
10/03/2013 11st2.0 i.e. 156.0 pounds
11/03/2013 11st2.0 i.e. 156.0 pounds
12/03/2013 11st1.8 i.e. 155.8 pounds --- getting a bit sick of this
13/03/2013 11st0.6 i.e. 154.6 pounds --- ate salmon - a new low since the house move
14/03/2013 11st0.8 i.e. 154.8 pounds --- slight fluctuation
15/03/2013 10st13.8 i.e. 153.8 pounds --- new low since the house move - ate salmon
=== under 11 stone
16/03/2013 11st0.0 i.e. 154.0 pounds --- I always fluctuate a bit
17/03/2013 11st0.0 i.e. 154.0 pounds ---
18/03/2013 11st0.0 i.e. 154.0 pounds ---
19/03/2013 11st0.0 i.e. 154.0 pounds ---
20/03/2013 10st13.8 i.e. 153.8 pounds --- still fluctuating at much the same place...
21/03/2013 10st13.8 i.e. 153.8 pounds
22/03/2013 10st13.8 i.e. 153.8 pounds
23/03/2013 10st13.8 i.e. 153.8 pounds
24/03/2013 10st13.8 i.e. 153.8 pounds
25/03/2013 10st11.8 i.e. 151.8 pounds --- at long last...
26/03/2013 10st13.2 i.e. 153.2 pounds --- and back up...
27/03/2013 10st13.6 i.e. 153.6 pounds --- and higher
28/03/2013 10st13.4 i.e. 153.4 pounds
29/03/2013 11st2.8 i.e. 156.8 pounds --- Indian meal out with Andy