When I first started using fitday I began to realize that I needed an
inexpensive scale to weigh my food in ounces and I needed measuring cups and
spoons so that I could accurately input the data to fitday.
A food scale at K-Mart is about $7.
So I think you are right on track based upon your questions.
I discovered that I could measure the food in ounces, tablespoons, and cups
and that fitday would convert that to grams of fat, protein, carbs, and
alcohol.
So I was in business. Over time I learned that 1 ounce of almonds was 22
kernals ... that 4 ounces of hamburger satisfied my hunger when I used to
make 12 ounce hamburgers ... basically I began to learn what a portion size
was.
I adopted the motto "If you can't measure it you can't manage it."
Like you are experiencing, I found fitday to be perfect for my particular
approach.
Using fitday, I would input what I planned to eat for the day and kept
tweaking the portion sizes until they matched my formula.
To make things simple, once I did come up with the magical menu that meet
all the % criteria, I stuck to it and ate the same thing every day. This
approach is not for everyone but it worked for me. I soon learned how to
reach in and pull out exactly one ounce of almonds ... how to measure
exactly 4 ounces of V8 juice ... etc etc.
So for me this approach was my way of unlearning bad habits and relearning
good eating habits.
I don't know exactly how I came up with the formulas. Some of the
information I got from the www.atkins.com web site. The web site has a
search engine that you can use boolean expressions and pull out articles
that specifically answer your questions.
This board was also a major source of information.
You have to figure out what works for you. Many people have different
approaches and many people told me that I was doing the wrong thing.
Professional nutritionists were notorious for trying to discourage me.
The only three things that I would add as tips ... is that it is very
important to take your EFA's (Essential Fatty Acids) each day ... its very
important to take a good multi-vitamin ... and it is important to never be
hungry.
I eat about 6 times a day. I always carry almonds with me in case I get
hungry while I am out.
Like I said, these are just things that worked for me. You have come to a
good place for information by coming to this board.
You seem to be asking the right questions so I think you will be able to
weed out the good advice from the bad advice.
More than anything this is a process. It is learning a new way of eating. It
takes time. In the end, I was amazed at how effortlessly I am able to follow
my plan, regardless of where I am. I am also facinated (silently of course)
watching those around me scarfing down all those carbs!
Anyway, I am rambling on here, but good luck on low-carbing. Sounds like you
are on the right track.
Take Care,
Placid
203/149/150
"One of the Survivors" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:This is extremely helpful, thanks a lot. Let me ask you, how did you
figure out all of these formulas that you use? Is it just from trial
and error, or from books you've read or something else?
I am now using the fitday website and am finding it to be a wonderful
resource, too. The only problem I see myself having is maybe trying
to learn portion sizes. For example, I've been eating steak and I
don't really know how to measure it except in grams. They always ask
how many cups of it or how many ounces. I guess I probably just need
to learn the conversions...
Also, do you eat a lot of times a day? I'm trying to work out a
system, but I have never been a breakfast eater and there have been
long periods in the past where I haven't had lunch either. I've never
been a healthy eater. For the longest time, I only at one big meal at
dinner time and then maybe a snack late at night. So I wonder if I
should eat three times a day or eat a little bit a bunch of times a
day? Any advice for this?
Thanks for the advice.
"PlacidBull" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:Welcome to low-carbing.
Here is the formula I used:
I take my current weight to determine my caloric intake for the day. At
220
pounds it would be a minimum of 2200 calories (220*10) and a maximum of
2640
calories (220*12).
What I like about my formula is that it is based on my current weight, so
as
my weight changes, so do my goals.
I only weigh myself once a week and set my next weeks goals based on that
weekly weight.
I use the following formula for grams of fat, carbs, protein, and
alcohol.
70% of my caloric intake is from fat. So at 220 pounds my fat intake
would
be a minimum of 172 grams and a maximum of 205 grams. More importantly to
me, I very strictly target for a minimum maximum saturated fat intake of
20%. So at 220 pounds the minimum saturated fat would be 48 grams and the
maximum would be 60 grams. I feel that it is important that the amount of
saturated fat intake be controlled.
Carbs I target at 5 % of my daily caloric intake. So at 220 pounds the
minimum would be 27 grams and the maximum would be 33 grams per day.
Protein I target for 20 percent of my daily caloric intake so at 220
pounds
my goals would be a minimum of 110 grams of protein and a maximum of 132
grams per day.
Alcohol I allow 5% of caloric intake. If I have a beer that is 13 grams
of
carbs plus the alcohol grams ... so (at 220 pounds) I would drink one
jigger
of rum each day, with diet rite cola. That adds up to between 16 and 18
grams of alcohol per day.
I also use a formula for amount of water to consume. I take my current
weight and divide by two .... so at 220 I would strive to drink 110
ounces
of water a day.
For the first 3 months I rigorously followed these formulas on
www.fitday.com . Doing that helped me to learn portion sizes and really
nail
down and stick to my daily goals.
This is the approach I took, and it worked well for me. My target weight
was
145 ... based upon a nutritionists analysis ... but for the past several
months my body has been saying ... no ... 149 - 150 is just fine.
Hope you find some of this information to be useful as a starting point
for
formulating your goals.
Take Care,
Placid
203/149/150
Quoted message said:"One of the Survivors" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:I've been low-carbing for a couple of weeks now and I'm wondering how
caloric intake affects your weight loss on this diet. I've stayed at
a good level of carbs a day (15-30g, cut from probably 300g at least),
but how does the increase of calories affect a person on this diet?
How do you calculate how many calories you should have in one day? I
am 6'2, 220lbs (down from 226)...Isn't there a number of calories that
a person just works off in a regular day? I do a fair bit of moving
around at work and I've been walking 4 or 5 nights a week, so I'm
curious as to how to limit my intake.
Also, is there a number to shoot for as far as grams of fat are
concerned?
