I’m starting to calorie count. Anyone want to join me?

[Bookaholic73]

I’m going to be starting calorie counting from tomorrow, with the aim of losing around 2st (28lbs).

Would anyone else like to join me and hold each other accountable here on this thread?

I’ve tried so many ways of losing weight (Keto, Vegan, Low Carb etc) and none of it works long term.
So I’m quitting the fad diets and starting something that I can stick to.

I’m 5,5 and 12st. My aim is 10st, and I’ll be eating 1600 cals a day.

Hello 👋. Really struggling this week. i am staying on target. My TDEE is 2072, my app is set to 1427 a day and I weigh/ measure everything apart from milk in tea (I have 2-3 cups a day) so I am definitely eating less than 500 cals of my TDEE a date. I am focusing on protein. I try not to eat my exercise calories back. On 1st May I was 188lb but since then my weight has been hovering between 192-193lb. I had my period on 1st May as well so it’s not like I’m bloated now with fluid retention.

So, either my scale is screwed or my body is. Since this stagnation I have felt consistently hungry, despite focusing on protein rich food and can’t stop thinking about food. I am wondering if I need to increase my calories. Or throw out my scale and just trust the process.

I am reading “Atomic Habits” and realising that I focus too much on goals rather than the person I want to be. For example my lowest weight was 157lb about 5 years ago. But it wasn’t the weight that made me happy, it was the person I was with it- I was lifting very heavy at the gym and thought I was strong, rather than a goal on a scale. I was strong, I could lift things, move my body etc. Maybe I need to ditch weighing myself and just build calorie counting in as a habit that gets me closer to the stronger healthy person I want to be.

@ForSaleChesterDraws that sounds like a really good to remember. I liked when I was able to run, to not feel sore from my weight. I know I'm getting older and when I was pregnant I felt so decrepit with my trapped nerve, hurt leg, I cannot stand the thought of being old one day and unable to do things because of my weight.

Been out for a walk, was a cold wind off the sea and started misting with rain, so didn't go as far as normal, but decent enough, about 2.5 miles.

Weigh in day tomorrow, see if I made any progress or not with the bank holiday weekend. This weekend is Eurovision, trying to make some space for snacks!

B: Kidney bean burrito
L: Minestrone with quorn
D: Mango chickpea korma, half naan, cucumber
iced protein coffee

Evening all.
I’ve stuck to my calories today, in fact I have almost 200 left for the day. But I’m not in the slightest bit hungry. So I’ll bank them for the weekend.

@ForSaleChesterDraws I would give it a try, not weighing for a while. Sometimes it gets a bit too much relying on the scale. Have you thought about taking measurements instead?

@WeirdPookah well done for getting out for a walk despite the rain. It’s always harder to get out of the house when it’s wet.

@Bookaholic73 thanks for the cheering on! I am glad I did, as today I have a horrible hormonal headache, and outside it's horribly bright and sunny, so not up for a walk. Will get a short one at school pick up time.

I lost nearly 2.5lbs this week!
Got me down into the next 10lbs increment on the scales, so pleased about that.

Hello all. Not checked in for a while so am back to help kee myself on track! I’m interested to see what the scales say tomorrow as I’ve eased off the diet this week. Not breaking the diet just increasing calories as I was starting to feel weak/tired a lot…and psychologically I was needing not to work so hard to stick to such a low calorie number.

@WeirdPookah well done on the 2.5lb loss this week. That’s fab!

Hi everyone, how has your Thursday been?

I went out for a run again today, then a 3 hour walk this afternoon. Ending the day having walked 23k steps. Really pleased with that.

Breakfast was 531 calories, protein porridge with some fruit.

Lunch was a chicken pasta from Morrisons as I forget to take lunch to work with me. That was just over 530 calories! Honestly, I thought that was very high for what it was.

Dinner was leftover chilli and rice, which was 400 calories.

Snacks were some strawberries and a few squares of chocolate (274 calories).

So I’m ending the day on 1737 calories.
Don’t forget that I’m eating a higher amount of calories this week, as recommended by my PT. It’ll be interesting to see if it makes any difference to my weight.

Weigh day tomorrow, we will find out.

And massive well done @WeirdPookah for your loss, that’s great!

I’ve ended up today on 1399 cals, a bit over my allowance but not too horrendous. And still under my tdee by a fair amount. I’m not running this week as I have a sore hip but I did go for a short walk this evening after finishing work. I actually went to the chippie for dh and ds after football, and did not have anything myself and not even a stolen chip! 😇

just did a shopping order for collection tomorrow so I should have some nicer bits in for the weekend. I am determined not to drink this weekend, I do find it difficult after a long week but I really don’t enjoy the tiredness the next day, plus the calorie overload. So I’m planning to be totally on it this weekend. Weigh in Saturday - no idea if it will be good or not, I’ve not had a particularly great week, plus no running, plus due on so….. 🤷‍♀️

@thenewaveragebear1983 we live in a seaside town, I am only thankful we don't actually live in walking distance of bringing home chips!

Doing ok today, not sure what's happening at the weekend, it's Eurovision and we do like to to watch with snacks and it's one of the incredibly rare occasions I might have a cider, then Sunday, in-laws are coming, I can eat ok from what I am doing, just got to only have small bit of flatbread and skip the icecream!

Today:
B: yogurt and peaches
L: salad and chicken
D: Schupfnudeln, cabbage, veggie sausage

How are you feeling better for increasing your cals @Bookaholic73? I think it was you struggling a bit with cutting.
Well done on the loss @WeirdPookah that is a decent chunk!
Good luck for tomorrow @thenewaveragebear1983 I hope your sore hip is soon feeling better.
I weighed this morning and am down 1lb, I'm surprised because I haven't really been following any kind of plan other than being a bit mindful, but more so because I'm having the longest most painful period ever. But I'll take it, keeps me nicely in my maintenance range.
We're going to a theme park and staying overnight tomorrow, I think there will be ice creams but lots of walking too. Anyone else got plans? Lots of Eurovision excitement around @WeirdPookah!

@Summerscomin it will be ok, I have a hip flexor tendonitis and I’m a running wanker so I just keep running on it and then it gets quite painful. I’m getting better at resting it when I start to feel the tell tale hot burny sensations in it, rather than wait til I physically can’t walk on it. Small changes 😂

I feel like this past few weeks I’ve really let the enthusiasm of getting healthier and losing weight dissipate.

Does anyone else feel that way too? Maybe you’ve stopped posting and just read our posts instead.

Well…

My husband is on night shifts as from tomorrow night, which means I won’t really see him for the next 2 weeks.

So I thought I’d do a kind of ‘reset’ and recommit to my goals.

If you’re struggling to stay on track, feel free to join me.

Starting with meals, I’m doing anything I can that will save me effort and time when it comes to eating better. So I’m writing down 5 meals that I love, and creating them all as recipes in MFP. That means on the evenings I cook them, i won’t have to input all of the data into MFP, I can just add it as one of my meals. I also want to reduce carbs at dinner time.
I’m buying pre chopped veggies to save time chopping. And frozen diced onion. I seem to spend half my life chopping onion.

In regards to exercise, I’m writing a plan for the next 2 weeks. I want to work out 5x a week, and incorporate more running for the cardio side.

I am going back to 1600 calories now, as I feel like 1800 was too many and some days I was forcing myself to eat when I wasn’t hungry.

Today has mostly been all about planning.

How is everyone else getting on?

@Bookaholic73 I agree. Motivation ebbs and flows and I think it’s normal to need an occasional ‘restart’ where we refresh our strategies and get renewed enthusiasm. Planning is definitely key. I think especially as shopping is so expensive now, making strategic changes is necessary. Eg. I buy 5 packs of ‘green veg’ - eg tenderstem broccoli, mange tout, asparagus, sugar snaps and have one between dh and I each night. It’s more expensive but we eat it all, no waste, no prep etc. I can then plan that into my menu and I stick to it. I also plan all my workouts and exercise as well.

@thenewaveragebear1983
its so difficult to stay on track with calories, not spend too much money on food, as well as not spend every waking minute in the kitchen. At least I feel like that. Like you said, it may be more expensive to buy the pre chopped food, but there is much less waste and gives me some balance.

For me, planning is key. I cook pretty much every evening and don’t necessarily enjoy it. I need quick, easy & healthy recipes.
So I think things like stir fry using pre chopped veg will make calorie counting and eating healthier so much easier.

Yes, I also buy the stir fry veg packs but I do find they need to be eaten pretty much on shopping day or the day after regardless of how long the date is. I always buy florette salad, it lasts 5x as long as any other salad bags. I’ve started buying the really nice cherry tomatoes and hiding them just for me, i figure i eat salad 10x a week at least so a box of them isn’t too bad over a week. And I also like the pre-grated carrot, it doesn’t go wet and squishy it’s really dry. I buy a couple of bags if that each week as well to liven up my salads. Dh and the dc see salad as a real punishment but I love it !
in contrast, I buy the tinned mixed bean salad (which is cheap) and add a dressing of oil/lemon/herbs, and I also saw a petit pois salad made with defrosted frozen peas and a minty herby dressing which I keep meaning to try so I do make cheaper switches too. You could add tinned sweetcorn (but i think it’s the devils own so I cannot eat it!). I also love the packs of lentils that are copies of the merchant gourmet ones, Lidl and Aldi do their own version and they are Aldi delicious on a salad , especially with feta cheese.

I’ve been buying the pre seasoned chicken from Asda, tonight i had chipotle and lime and they do a Smokey bbq one as well. It does add a few extra cals but it really makes the meal. I’d love to know how to really season and marinate meat.

Oh! And Asda do a Light sweet chilli sauce which is only 15c a tablespoon and that’s immense on pretty much everything I’d take it neat like medicine

I can really identify with the posts finding it all getting a bit difficult! I think it's fair to say I've fallen off the wagon, but I am still here. Maintaining always makes me complacent and it's silly because, historically, it's the bit I find the hardest. I find I can lose weight relatively(!) easily if I set my mind to it but I can't keep it off for any kind of extended period.
It's exactly as you say for me too @Bookaholic73 that it's juggling time, taste and finances. I'm pretty good with my food budget usually, but I'm increasingly time poor!
After a very off plan weekend (at a theme park and I can honestly say I didn't have a choice!) I'm tucked up in bed writing a meal plan and a shopping list. Apart from anything else I really miss vegetables and I'm bloated as hell!
I started a thread over in food/recipes called something like "meals like chilli/curry/Bolognese" and got some brilliant ideas if anyone's stuck for inspo.

@thenewaveragebear1983 I looked at those pre-seasoned chicken bits this week but decided against them, but only because I wasn't sure how they taste. I think I'll pick them up next week if they are good.
I love buying pre-grated carrots, but my whole family love them so there is often none left by the time I decide to eat them!

@Summerscomin I'll take a look at that thread, thanks for letting us know about it. I'm very time-poor too, but also on a tight budget. Not a good mix! So I've decided to increase my food budget a little, in order to buy more convenience items such as pre-chopped veggies. At the end of the day we can't do it all, so have to identify where we can cut corners. For me, I have SLIGHTLY more money than time, so it makes sense to cut corners by buying pre-chopped veg.
If I was more money conscious than time-poor, I'd probably spend the time pre-chopping all my veg for the week. However, I think diced onions are quite budget-friendly, as are pre-chopped peppers etc.

@Bookaholic73 I like them, I’ve had chipotle and lime, and there’s a Chinese stir fry one that’s really nice, it has veg included. I do enjoy cooking but life gets in the way so it’s good to have a few nights where I can just bung it in the air fryer and job done.

@Bookaholic73 I'm not good at links but hopefully this takes you to the thread! https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/food_and_recipes/4802118-meals-like-currychillibolognese?reply=126074591
It felt like too much overhaul/brainspace/trial and error to completely change my shopping habits so I was looking for ideas of what alternative meals I could make with the type of ingredients I seem to automatically put in my shopping trolley. Some really great suggestions and easy enough to tweak for a low cal meal.
Freezer space is so tight I can't really do much frozen veg- I have a bag of mixed and the obligatory peas/sweetcorn- but if you can afford the space and a little extra in the food budget, it has to be worth a try!

I think the mental load of trying to lose weight is huge.

Factor in the load of most of us also trying to meal plan for family (who never have suggestions!), it's a load we mostly shoulder alone, meal planning, shopping, prepping, cooking. My children are pretty small and can't help, my husband works full time, I don't, and he does plenty to help in other ways, so I can't complain really.
But I can recognise it's a huge load. And it gets tiring. And repetitive.

+Something we all like for dinner is minestrone, which I make nearly double of, so we all have for dinner today and my husband and I have it reheated for lunch tomorrow.
+Roasting vegetables for dinner, I will often put in an extra tray in the summer with peppers, tomatoes and onions, roast them, then have cold for lunch the next day, they are like the fancy antipasti vegetables, but lots cheaper!

I didn't do well on Saturday, we both had a nightmare of a morning with washing machine disaster, and various other crappy home things needing done, and we decided to get a takeaway to have watching Eurovision (which was disappointingly dull). Sunday was ok, though my FIL managed to not food shame anybody, my MIL decided to bring attention to my not having icecream. FFS, my 4 year old can understand it's rude to comment on people's food.

Today:
B: Black bean burrito
L: New potatoes, asparagus, eggs in real butter
D: Minestrone, chicken

@WeirdPookah i always used to do this and have got out of the habit- another thing to add to my list for next week!

Love cold roast vegetables here too @WeirdPookah they taste so different especially if you're not shy with herbs! Speaking of which, I've got some compost and turned over an area in the garden to plant up a mini herb garden- so far I have mint, thyme and rosemary and will see how the go (grow?) before I add any more.
I'm trying to focus on maintaining this week, and including more iron-rich food into my meals. The thread I linked above has helped my meal plan too. I've done the food shop and am ready, albeit not raring, to go- new dish of the week will be beef stroganoff (tomorrow - hopefully).
Lunch was some leftover quiche and salad that needed eating to make way for the fresh stuff.
Dinner might be Cajun chicken, with rice rather than pasta, and lots of veg.

I’ve been really hungry today so I decided early doors that as it’s day 1 of my period the choice was to allow more protein/veg or to rattle around and eventually crack and eat rubbish. So I have had more than I usually allow but ultimately have had considerably less than if I’d hit the toast at 11.30. Ended up on 1450 but a lot of carbs at 123g (which I am a bit surprised at as most of my food has been meat or veg 🤷‍♀️)
but anyway, it got me through the day relatively unscathed. I can already feel my body releasing its stored water/bloat, I got up 3 times in the night for a wee- aren’t hormones weird?!

So the weight is slowly coming off. I have been eating at least 100g of protein, as recommended by my coach. Some days I am struggling to eat my 1,600 calories. But getting there. I have started to cook more, again. So that has been fun.