Recording Calories You Stuff In Your Cake Hole

[Poppy]

This is in no way pushing a particular APP or style. This is what works for me and hopefully show the importance of tracking things you put in your cake hole if you’re on a mission to gain…lose…maintain.

I was told a long time ago that putting things you eat on paper will look way different than what you “think” you’re eating. That could not be more true by ten fold. I’m a struggling type 2 diabetic and was heading in the wrong direction. I also hatched a plan last September (2020) to grow some abs like you cool guys have and look the best I possibly can by September 2021.

I have a friend that recommended the “MyFitnessPal” APP. So I started tracking what I ate last September. I know there are other APP’s but this is what I “learned” on and am comfortable with. I calculated out my my maintenance calories and deficit calories as best I could. My daily caloric count is 2250 for a “deficit” according to the general calculation. It has everything (macros) broken down into daily requirements.

Here is the rub… I’m looking for the “holy grail”…fat loss as well as at least maintaining muscle…gaining lean muscle would be the grand prize.

I was chatting with my beautiful wife the other day as I measured out 1 cup of trail mix (tex-mex) and added it into my daily intake. The only reason I was even eating it was I had a bit of the munchies AND…AND it fit into my macros at that moment. Prior to last September, I would regularly put down a whole bag of that stuff in no more than two days. Sometimes when I had a big project/problem to solve for work and didn’t leave my desk for hours; I would eat a whole bag in one 9 hour work day…with a lunch. It dawned on me at that moment (measuring out a cup) why my a1c was up and down like a ping pong ball and I couldn’t shake that pesky pudge.

Back to counting calories…by entering my intake exactly; I can tweak my requirements as to my needs for that day. I shoot for ~125g carbs on strength training days (a bit more on my leg/squat day) and <100g carbs on non strength training days…anything below 75g of carbs can get sketchy for me. I can do it occasionally but not often.

A good estimate of my carb intake prior to actually counting them was ~750 maybe upwards of 1000. Not bueno for a diabetic or someone trying to shed some fat.

I believe I have everything dialed in at the moment. I’m keeping my carbs down to less than 100g a day on non strength training days and a 100g-140g on training days. I will dip as low as I can go so long as I’m not getting twitchy. My protein is ~200g a day with whole foods (including egg whites). I will supplement with powder to get more but I (for me) consider it a failure if I use more than 2 scoops(50g) a day.

My opinion for someone that isn’t gaining or losing as they think they should is to record everything for a month.

 

[NeuroRN]

This is often the first thing I say when someone outsides of UGM comes to me for fitness advice.

Eat normally. Record everything you eat for 3 weeks. Everything you drink. When you eat. And the macros of it all. If you bring it back to me, we will come up with a plan.

In three years of saying this how many people have come back to me? One.

That one person is currently down 58lbs in a year and making some solid gains and all natty btw.

Most people don’t realize the effort it takes to make changes… and when they do. They still want an easier way out.

 

[JLee]

Solid advice. Working out is the easy part tracking food sucks.

 

[PNWmuscle]

Tracking is the best tool imo. So easy now too, I literally track everything everyday it’s so easy.

I wish more people understood this who are new to the fitness scene, especially the AAS community. Diet/Nutrition comes first and foremost. Without it being proper, you’re just spinning your wheels

 

[Poppy]

Working out is the easy part tracking food sucks.

Aint that the gosh darn truth

 

[Dirtnasty]

Getting an calorie counting app and food scale is e biggest thing to starting weight loss cause you can’t even go off the 1 cup of f this is serving Alway go by weight

 

[squatter]

I weigh out everything i eat except at restaurants. Then put it in my fitness pal, i like to now exactly what im eating.

 

[Dirtnasty]

What you don’t being yiur scale with you not dedicated enough bro. Haha

 

[Poppy]

For the record I count as 2/3’s…you’ve had a major influence. I was counting cals prior to ugm… you put a foot in my tail as needed.

 

[NeuroRN]

Hoooray! I’ll count it!

 

[PNWmuscle]

I’ve actually heard of people doing this. I won’t go that far lol

 

[Dirtnasty]

Yeah if I’m eating out I’ll just cut more out of other meals so I can enjoy the experience

 

[PNWmuscle]

Same here

 

[Kad1]

All great advice. General pop people have literally no idea what they are cramming in there
Mouths. I’ll just start by asking if they drink coffee or tea. If yes, how do you take it? Milk, sugar, cream? Add those calories up for the day amd then the week. It usually overlooked by most. So yes, putting pen to paper with regard to intake is usually eye opening for most but I’ve also seen in some cases how calorie deficient some folks are which can also be detrimental to weight loss and general health and wellness. Another huge factor people over look is water intake. Most of us my self included are chronically dehydrated. It’s amazing how people Neglect literally the most important thing you put in your body. So getting people even close to normal hydration has a huge impact on weigh loss amd wellness. Basic rule for water is drink 1/2 your BW in ounces of water. So if you are 200lb drink a min of 100 ounces. That should be the minimum you shoot for

 

[John]

Yup, write it all down,its easy,and all the time we spend doin other things Involving this lifestyle,what another 15 mins a day.Also, I’ve been lazy on other cycles and not wrote shit down,and EVERY single one was less productive overall.

 

[Bigmurph6]

My opinion for someone that isn’t gaining or losing as they think they should is to record everything for a month.

This is a golden write up

I mean it also im not giving you a pat on the back.

Knowing what you are actually eating is so incredibly different than knowing what you eat.

I believe that 80% yep that high know what they eat but don’t know what they are actually eating meaning cals and macros which are protein carbs fats for anyone reading.
This is also 70% of how your cycle turns out in the end depends on your diet.
Its incredibly important and when like you said you write it down or actually track what you know you eat and then compare it to what you actually eat there’s normally a difference then everyone has that ah hah moment which will get them on the right set of tracks.

 

[Poppy]

Tex mex trail mix was my ah ha moment! Hahaha

 

[Bigmurph6]

Even I thought I had it all figured out then started tracking I had nothing figured out lol

Its definitely needed and not forever once you get a diet plan together and start prepping you already know what everything is and then its really easy.

Great write up

 

[Poppy]

Thank you sir

 

[herrubermensch]

Tracking intake on MyFitnessApp definitely taught me that I was overeating. It wasn’t so much WHAT I was eating, but how MUCH. Double the amount of rice I should be eating in one serving. WAY too many carbs on off days. That all said, what I eat has not changed much.

The real difficulty for me living in the downtown area of an urban city is how to calculate nutrition for ordered food. Sometimes, the app is so good, it plugs it in, e.g., a Subway turkey sub with double meat. But in many cases, it’s impossible to plug it in with any accuracy.