Posting pics of everything you eat thread!

[Friedbanana]

Hi! So during the first lockdown, i set up an instagram where I posted photos of every single thing that entered my mouth except from tea, and it really did discourage pointless snacking as I’d pop into the kitchen for a random biscuit but then I couldn’t be bothered to take a photo of biscuit as phone was in the other room, then I realised I didn’t actually really need the biscuit and back it went! It was super effective for a while and along with MFP I lost about a stone, but then I started to follow other instagram account and got some followers back and felt pressure to make everything look pretty, which meant I stopped posting absolutely everything so started having random snacks again, and have now put back on a few pounds! I tried setting up a new private instagram but wasn’t really that motivated! So I’m starting again but instead hoping a mumsnet thread will help!? Anyone fancy joining?!

I’m for a calorie deficit of around 500 per day, so eating about 1750-2000 and burning 2250-2500 (i have a fitbit alta which estimates total calories burnt). I walk a lot (1.5-2 hours a day with dog plus i walk to work) but am going to try getting into running again too! Trying to not be too restrictive food-wise as I’m having problems overeating by quite a bit some days! (when I don’t track while eating and then add up after I can easily put away 4000 calories a day without realising )
I’m currently about 9stone (havent checked for a bit so possibly more!) and aiming for about 8st4.
So yes, please do join and we can look at eachother’s non-instagram-able food!

Ps. a tip I never knew about MFP which makes life sooo much easier, is you can click edit, and check all ingredients for a meal if you’re batch cooking for example, then do ‘save meal’! Saved sooo much time! But maybe everyone knew this already except from me

Todays food for me:
Breakfast: banana bread muffin, microwaved with frozen berries, biscoff spread, 2 crumbled biscoff biscuits (fully recommended, tastes like berry crumble!), 200g greek yoghurt mixed with cinnamon, plus a small mocha ~ 508 cals
Lunch: chicken paella leftover ~ 410 cals
Snack at work: Almond bounce ball - 158 cals
Snack after work: mini hersheys bar plus 2 mini cinnamon biscuits - 78 cals
Dinner: Vegan burger with cheese, sweet pot fries and salad - 800 cals
Lots of tea with oat milk! - 44 cals
Total cals: ~ 1954

[Friedbanana]

and the photos..

[Friedbanana]

pics 2

[Friedbanana]

Breakfast today- one slice of toast with flora, biscoff spread and ginger and rhubard jam, with a gingerbread mocha ~ 279 cals

[Friedbanana]

packed lunch at work, plus tuna quesadilla and a couple of snacks, plus a mini fridge raiders chicken and a small drinking choc i didnt photograph! 1871 cals so I’m happy!! Think overall deficit today will be about 900, yesterday deficit was about 850 so feeling positive! However normally monday and tuesday are great because my work day is so full, working out the house then working at home, i dont have time to snack! Tomorrow working from home with huge lunch break may be harder but gonna go in with a positive mindset :)

[Friedbanana]

breakfast- wholemeal muffin, 2 eggs and 30g cheddar cheese melted in middle! Plus an oat milk gingerbread mocha.
Yesterday’s deficit was just under 1000, so I weighed myself today and I’m 8st 13.8 so pretty happy as I thought I might have put on more! This thread is really working even though no one has joined! Don’t mind me carrying it on just talking to myself

[Friedbanana]

lunch- tuna quesadilla with Polenta fries cooked in air fryer

[fingersdoublecrossed]

I'm following! I'm sure others are too!

[CucumberFacePot]

I love this idea! Following and will attempt tomorrow if laziness doesn't get the better of me!

[Coconut80]

Love this idea and the accountability of all the uncounted snacks and nibbles of food x

[Friedbanana]

Oo hello everyone! Thought I was just sadly chatting to myself 😂😂 so this is lovely, and yes please do join!!

The accountability is great however i did have a couple of extra snacks today as I’ve got a crappy cold, but deff didn’t go overboard and it was all tracked! Snacks were a fibre bar, a biscoff cream biscuit, handful raspberries, and 2 tsp of lotus biscoff spread, heated up in the microwave for pudding! Didn’t take photos as they were mostly scoffed down in my two minute breaks between zoom calls 😂 but going to try and be better with photos tomorrow!
Dinner was tomato soup with a few croutons and a brioche roll! Not what I’d planned but really felt like soup! Also had a hot chocolate..
Total cals today was 1920 and have burnt about 2230 so not a big deficit but v happy as I’m pretty sure last Wednesday I managed a 1000cal surplus 😂 so this week I’ll be happy if i manage a deficit each day no matter how small!
I also now feel i should explain what the funny yellow flakes that look a bit like fish food on my food is, it’s nutritional yeast! I bought for the first time a few weeks ago and sometimes add to salads! Kind of cheesey tasting and it’s high in protein!

[Friedbanana]

Feel so grateful to have morning off work after some really bad sleep with my cold! So had a very nourishing brekky of richmond vegan sausages, eggs and melted cheese in a wholemeal bagel, a gingerbread mocha with oat milk and a handful of raspberries :)

[Friedbanana]

oo also I weighed in at 8st 13.4 this morning :) going back to weighing myself daily I think as I find it useful to see how weight naturally fluctuates day to day, and then I look at the average of the week on the fitbit app and hopefully see a downward trend :)

[Coconut80]

Love the sound of your gingerbread mocha x

[Friedbanana]

Fully recommended @coconut80! I make it in milk frother with 100ml oat milk, 7g green and blacks hot chocolate powder and a tsp of monin gingerbread syrup, and instant coffee! Always look forward to it in the morning!
Todays lunch was crispy chicken and quinoa with chickpeas, then dinner was aldi filled pasta with salad and paprika pesto! Snack was a mini hersheys. Calories just under 1900. I’ve done very little activity as have been ill again so partner took our dog out, but will try and do a bit of housework tonight to create a tiny deficit!

[fingersdoublecrossed]

I'm just a lurker but I love your thread and your food looks delicious!
I'd share my daily eating but I spend too many calories on alcohol at the moment. I'll address that it the new year!

[Friedbanana]

Good morning! Aw thank you @fingersdoublecrossed!! Well I wouldn’t at all mind this being a food/alcohol thread!! It was a bit short sighted of me really not to put that in the title, as I know this pandemic has resulted in a lot of people upping their alcohol intake!

Starting my day with a decaff gingerbread mocha (in my fave little gingerbread mug!), will have breakfast later I think today!
Feeling super grateful for this thread as when I earlier mentioned ‘overeating’ i kind of meant actual binging- I would be triggered my something stressful and just head to the kitchen and eat and eat all the things until I really wasn’t enjoying anything or even registering what I was eating! It’s been about a week since I’ve done that, and I feel so much happier! I feel like this thread is really helping me so I wanted to say thank you to the people who’ve popped on to say hello as I think I might have stopped posting by now if I thought I was just chatting to myself 😂

[Friedbanana]

Oops here it is- need to practice my cocoa art as a touch messy today 😂

[BarryWhiteIsMyBrother]

Anyone here on 1,200 cals a day?

[Friedbanana]

I used to do 1200 calories as it was always what MFP suggested however I would lose about a stone quite quickly, but couldn’t sustain that way of eating for long so as soon as I went back to eating normally I put it all back on again. This cycle continued for about 10 years 😂 Not sure why I didn’t learn my lesson sooner! So this time I’m aiming for a small but sustainable deficit 🙂
Had the same breakfast as yesterday today because it was amazing and really filled me up!

[BarryWhiteIsMyBrother]

I've been on 1,200 since mid-August and I'm finding it OK. I have found food that I like and that allows me to stay within my limit. I do have treats included in the 1,200 but if I stray (say we eat out) then I'll cut back the following day.

How long after you start on too few calories do you find that level is not sustainable?

[Friedbanana]

That’s great, I think everyone needs to just find what works for them ☺️and we all have different activity levels/ different BMRs etc. I think I maybe managed for 1 or 2 months some years, but what I used to do was do it over summer when I normally have a bit of a break from work, but once I’m back at work I sometimes burn 3000 calories a day so really needed more calories to fuel me! Also, I’ve read up more about it this year and realised 1200 really wasn’t a reasonable/healthy goal for me (and earlier this year when I was on 1200 cals just for 2 weeks it stopped my period for 6 months- I just got it back this week, which is crazy/scary!) but like I say everyone is different! I think 1200 is the minimum you can eat without going into starvation mode so you should maybe allow yourself extra treats like eating out without restricting further the next day? But I’m certainly no expert 😂

[Friedbanana]

Very very unlike me but I just wasn’t that hungry today after my bagel so skipped lunch and then cooked teriyaki salmon for dinner, one of my faves! Had to self isolate today as bf had a covid test at lunchtime as he developed a dry cough after having a cold like me! Just eaten about 1350 calories so far today so if I feel like it later I may have some treats/a baileys hot chocolate! 😄

[Friedbanana]

15g of birthday cake hersheys, I love home bargains for random flavours of hersheys bars! Modelled in front of the fairy lights I just put up 🎄😄

[Schummakker]

Another lurker - seeking and finding motivation!

[Friedbanana]

Thanks for saying hello @Schummakker!
Final post from me tonight I think- it’s not a Baileys hot choc but chocolate oat milk plus pukka cacao latte i love!! The cacao latte is such a strong flavour (gingery cocoa goodness) that you only need a teaspoon which is like 10 cals! I mix it in the milk frother, however sometimes the chocolate oat milk froths and sometimes it doesn’t? Like the last carton I had did, this carton didn’t! weird! 🤨 but still yummy (even better as froth obviously)