myfitnesspal.com and Weight Watchers (WW)

[FigureSpins]

One of my cousins joined myfitnesspal.com and says it's really good for him.  He's done Weight Watchers and he just didn't want to spend the money on meetings, etc. 

mfp lets you set a goal and objectives for weight-loss. (ie. calories in and out)  Seems to be a good Food Diary/calorie counter site - you can search for name-brand or home-made items.  You enter and calculate the approximate calories burned from workouts.

I always thought that WW meetings were weigh-ins to help keep you on track, but it seems like there's more to it than that.  mfp has a "community" section that my cousin said takes the place of those meetings.

Any suggestions or tips?

[davincisop]

I love myfitnesspal. The hardest part for me is remembering to track the food I eat. But it has everything in its database.

My only complaint is if you work out it adds calories to your daily intake.

[taka]

I use it too!

Biggest tip is to double check the entries you are about to add to your food log! There are people from several countries using the site and the products listed can be different for each country and also supermarkets/ food companies keep changing the sizes of products too. Folks also don't always add all the details which can be annoying too but you can edit the database entry to add them if you want.

The thing that confuses lots of people is the exercise calories. The way the site is set up is that your calorie deficit is calculated for the week based on your activity level settings and as if you do no additional exercise. If you then exercise and log it, it then adds the calories you burnt exercising back to your allowance for that day. You are supposed to eat this back or your calorie deficit for the day may be to high.

Example - Say you skate for 1 hour burning say 500 calories and you enter this in to the log. Say your normal allowance is 1500cals. It would show you had 2000 cals total to eat that day! (If you don't, then your overall calorie intake for the day is 1000 which is lower than recommended.) Have a look at the forum bit as there are a million posts on this! I tend to eat some back after a busy, longish skating session as I get insanely hungry after skating hard and risk stuffing my face come teatime if I haven't eaten enough early on. (I skate mornings.). If I've just walked fairly slowly for an hour  instead then I don't bother...

[jjane45]

I use it too!

Biggest tip is to double check the entries you are about to add to your food log! There are people from several countries using the site and the products listed can be different for each country and also supermarkets/ food companies keep changing the sizes of products too. Folks also don't always add all the details which can be annoying too but you can edit the database entry to add them if you want.

The thing that confuses lots of people is the exercise calories. The way the site is set up is that your calorie deficit is calculated for the week based on your activity level settings and as if you do no additional exercise. If you then exercise and log it, it then adds the calories you burnt exercising back to your allowance for that day. You are supposed to eat this back or your calorie deficit for the day may be to high.

Example - Say you skate for 1 hour burning say 500 calories and you enter this in to the log. Say your normal allowance is 1500cals. It would show you had 2000 cals total to eat that day! (If you don't, then your overall calorie intake for the day is 1000 which is lower than recommended.) Have a look at the forum bit as there are a million posts on this! I tend to eat some back after a busy, longish skating session as I get insanely hungry after skating hard and risk stuffing my face come teatime if I haven't eaten enough early on. (I skate mornings.). If I've just walked fairly slowly for an hour  instead then I don't bother...

How does one estimate calories burnt for different skating sessions: group, freestyle, dance, moves etc?

[taka]

I use an heart rate monitor sometimes to double check it! There is an entry for "Skating, ice, 9 mph or less" which seems to vaugely match the value my HRM gives me. I also tend to under report the actual time spent if I am doing fairly static stuff eg working on my dodgy back 3 turns slowly instead of dances at speed! I'd rather underestimate it than the other way round - loosing an extra 0.2lb or so a week isn't a hardship as I have a lot to loose! I've lost quite a bit of weight using MFP though!

My HRM doesn't exactly ignore the heart rate spike as I realise I'm about to run over the oblivious 7 year old (who just appeared from nowhere!), or almost falling on those outside mohawks or wonky backspin so I figure it is over reporting a bit anyway - so I don't tend to eat all the calories back!

[MimiG]

I use MFP too! It's been working pretty well for me, when I stick with it (took a looong break at the end of last year, but am getting back on track now)

I set my activity level to take into account running around with my 3 year old, doing the bulk of the house/yard work and the amount of coaching I do (I'm a stay-at-home mom by day, coach by night - superhero style!) so that I don't have to log every walk into town (we go every day for various library, YMCA & preschool activities) but I'll add in an extra bike ride around the neighborhood or if I go skate for myself, since I don't do either of those on a regular basis.

I mostly use the iPhone app to track, so I don't get the benefit of the larger community section , but occasionally check into the website, too, since I like to read the success stories.

[AgnesNitt]

I'm doing weight watchers. Those of you who care can track my weight loss in my sig. I put it there to show solidarity with kck.

[SynchKat]

I've used Mfp and lost about 2lb.  It's great because it gives you kind of daily accountability when you can see what you are eating every day.  When you do input your exercise it does give you more calories.  I liked that because then it makes you really want to exercise so you can eat more. 

[PinkLaces]

Does it have a place to track your water?  I use the Lose It app.  It sounds very similar.  The only thing I don't like about it is there is no place to track your water in-take.

[taka]

It has a bit where you can log the cups of water you drink (on the web version anyway). Not sure about the app version.

[MimiG]

You can track water in the app, too.

[FigureSpins]

It's 8-8oz. glasses of water, but the Mayo Clinic and several other health org's say that's more than needed.  The 48 oz./day should include all liquids, but I guess it's too hard to guesstimate that total amount if you have soups and other liquids.

[phoenix]

I use the loseit app too, i like it the best of everything i've tried. Weightwatchwrs works for sure, but as long as you have something structured, they work too.

[FigureSpins]

I've found mfp to be helpful, but the free loseit online option looks interesting, too. 

Today, I put in my recipe ingredients for a chicken salad and realized that, if I get rid of the nuts, cut the mayo and the currants in half, I save a lot of calories, fat and carbs. 

I really like the restaurant menu entrees that have been added to the food database because there are variations that are simple changes: ask for different side dishes, hold the sauce, etc.  The trick is to check the site BEFORE you order.

I really have to start measuring quantities, but since I usually eat at home, that's easier than if I had to eat out often.

[FigureSpins]

This morning, I used Wii Fit Plus for the first time in two months.  Aside from it trying to joke with me (by calling me by DH's name,) it measured my weight wrong.  It didn't see anything wrong with my weighing less than a pound!  ROFLOL