Myfitnesspal/testosterone?

[stephk]

Hi ladies, just wondering about myfitnesspal (which is such a brilliant invention!). I have been using it for the past 3 months and have lost 8kg in that time. I have made better food choices but have also been stepping up the exercise. All month I have been doing the 6 days of exercise. I started this week trying to ease into the LE diet just by having 1 meat/fish portion a day rather than 2 and soon I will cut that further. This Friday I will be meat/fish free for a day – yay! My question is – all of this logging, is it raising testosterone? I have to admit, on the rare occasions that I have got to 60g protein and 60g fat I have been really pleased with myself. It does help to plan what you will eat for lunch when you have already eaten breakfast and logged diner for example. Meeting the calories is no problem because I burn 700 when I exercise anyway. So the question is not on the diet itself as I have ordered a sway plan, but whether using myfitnesspal is a problem in terms of testosterone levels. It has to be ever so slightly better than logging onto a spreadsheet?

[JenB17]

This is a good question and I have been wondering the same as I have all the classic boy mum traits (competitive, control freak etc, lol!). The two things I would say though is 1) We are not 100% sure that testosterone sway-its still a theory at the moment and things like doing the diet and exercise are going to make far more difference than the testosterone levels from logging in MFP 2) I have been using MFP and have been logging it the whole time - everything, everyday. I have been doing this for 12weeks now and where as in the beginning I would be chuffed to hit and get within the limits, now it has become part of my life to get near the limits and if I don't hit the levels/get within them then I feel a bit down! So the way I look at it is different now.
Hope that helps! x

[JenB17]

Also, forgot to say - come and join us on the Exercise motivation group! Its a nice thread where we chat and log our exercise to help each other along. Its been going quite a while but if you go straight to the last few pages we are all fairly new to the exercising thing!

http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...ion-group.html

[mommy2j&l]

My fitness pal is really a great thing! I too have the "control freak" typical boy mom thing going, but it seems like being able to add in what I eat relaxes me somewhat, because I am then not worrying all day long if I have eaten too many cals/sodium, etc... That would cause additional stress if that was on my mind each day, all day Best of luck in your sway!!!!!!!!

[sbowman]

I feel like for me trying to keep track of it in my head is stressful. But I've been using MFP for 4 years and it's become a part of my daily routine, just another chore that I do...if it's giving you this great sense of accomplishment I would worry about t-levels.

[dreams529]

I understand where your coming from. For me I find it easier to stay on diet if I eat the same thing every day. I know that doesn't work for most people but its always been the only way I can stick to a diet. So I did mfp at the beginning while I was working out the kinks in my diet. Now I'm on autopilot eating the same thing & knowing that I'm good with everything. Maybe you could do that for one or 2 meals & than you would only have to track once a day.

[stephk]

Thanks everyone. I do love using it as it has really helped to make better food choices and now that I'm in the "transition period" easing into the LE diet it's even more helpful to calculate totals for me. More accurate and less stressful than doing it in your head although I probably spend a fair amount of time thinking about meals (nothing new there I love food...). Good point that it's part of the daily routine. Admittedly I will feel a sense if accomplishment when I manage to do a day within totals - but then this will become routine and less of a goal. Glad I'm doing it well in advance (start TTC in Jan).

JenB17- thanks for letting me know about the exercise group I will check it out. Although it's probably food motivation that I need lol. I'd spend hours in the gym every day if I could but I'd also spend the day eating if I could too

[atomic sagebrush]

I do wonder about that myself. It's a very visible and tangible way to track and get that little "boost" when you see the totals come out right, and I do think it has the potential to raise T. At best I think MFP can be a learning tool, so when you kinda get the hang of LE then you let it drop and just eat what you know is going to work for you without thinking about it much.

When I was first starting off on LE Diet I did do adding and figuring on paper, but after a while I knew what I was eating and that it worked and I just let all of that go.

Re calories, I think you should stick to the calorie limits of LE Diet even withthe cals you burn unless you're really losing weight super fast. Part of the point of the cal restriction is that when you eat less cals of food, you're also eating less nutrients at the same time. But if you need to keep the wieght on, then you have to do what you have to do!

[girliedreamz]

Jus speaking for myself... but as boy-mom/control freak, I am more stressed when I don't plan and track. Planning and tracking actually calms me down. I'm finding this about other parts of life, too. It's not the organizing I stress about, it the not organizing. Organizing actually calms me... the trick is picking which things I actually can control and organize (like my food choices, or little things like my nail polish drawer or laundry room) and which things are a losing battle that will end in T raising frustration (like futility trying to get rid of the dishes in the sink or having my teen's room clean). Those, I'm stepping way from.