Just signed up at 'My Fitness Pal'. Any advice, experience, or desire to join me?

[worriermum]

I read about the website, myfitnesspal.com on MN. Am truly desperate to stop the ever rising weight gain - I have just topped my full term pregnancy weight. I've never really been a dieter, or even believed in diets, but I Have To Do Something. Would love to do it with some other Mumsnetters - anyone interested in joining me?

All the weight loss threads seem so bloated, if you'll pardon the metaphor. I'm intimidated by 537 messages, or 219 messages. Feel I cant be arsed to read through all that and I will never be part of the club if I dont read the history. Advice please?

red thats great. Its good to eat out and not deprive yourself too much, all about balance i think

gillbonzo oh dear hope you get better soon and i bet you'll loose a couple of pounds from not eating.

How do you add a friend on MFP without inviting them by email address?

You need their MFP name. But once you befriend one of us then we are all friends with each other so can add friends.....

gilb - hope you are feeling better today

good luck all those weighing in :)

Just eaten bacon and eggs for breakfast for 235 cals. I really didn think id fancy it at all, but it was good and i am very very very full :)

Well, I'm pissed off. The Wii Fit says I've gained 2kg. I have no idea how that's even possible. I haven't once gone over my cals and I didn't bloody eat at all yesterday. Bastard shitty bollocking crappy diet.

Still, I'm telling myself it's muscle gain as I've gone down a dress size in the last month. Last time I went to the UK (March) I had to buy an 18 for my top half and a 16 for my waist. This time I had to buy a 16 for my top half and a 14 for my waist. Sod the weight, I'm going by clothes

after 4 days of perfect eating and calorie counting and exercise I have gained .... 5lb!! Again ... think I need a new measurement but can not get tape measure round ass!

water weight? have you maybe been eating more carbs while you have been away?

scale on a different place on the floor?

What sort of exercising have you been doing? Strength type stuff or cardio?
I know that if i do strength type stuff i hold onto weight... but i do lose inches.

In the interests of getting my bmi down im sticking with just cardio for the momment.

Ok ladies time for the weigh in! I'll do mine as a guide, each person copy and paste the other weigh ins and put yours underneath in same format. Only bold your own name and put it at the top.

Stones or kg doesn't matter. So weight, change in week, total loss since start of diet and target weight.

foreverondiet: 9s 1lb. Change 0. Total Loss 2s 5lbs. Target 9s 0lbs.

Good morning ladies, wow look how many of us there are now!!! Anyone not added me yet, feel free.

Is it monday already?

Well, im back to 12'8 after managing to put on 2lbs over the last two weeks. I was getting pretty hacked off with slight gains when I've stuck to diet and done tons of exercise, so I've decided to cut down on the shred and do more cardio. Finally went back to my zumba class last week and felt great afterwards. Doing zumba on the wii is good but not the same, so am def going to try for two classes a week.

I know the shred is possibly to blame for slow weight loss and I know its doing its job because I am more toned (under the lard) but I am in real danger of giving up if i don't see the scales move soon!! I know it shouldn't matter what I weigh, its how I look and how clothes fit but still. So, will do shred 3 days a week for the time being instead of everyday.

gilbonzo poor you, you have a bit of a time of it recently. Hope things start to get better, mahoosive congrats on going down a dress size tho

forever 4 weeks? yikes, good luck! Your dedication puts me to shame.

Ok, can't put this off any longer, here goes

foreverondiet: 9s 1lb. Change 0. Total Loss 2s 5lbs. Target 9s 0lbs.
hairypotter 12s 8lbs loss 1lbs. Total loss 10lbs Target 10s 7lbs

So, back to where I was two weeks ago Oh well, will try v v hard for a 2lb loss next monday.

Good luck everyone

thought id post this as i find it quite useful and it keeps me going, especially the part about how long it takes and sticking with it.

Disclaimer

This is the part where I tell you I am not a doctor, or a nutritionist, or anyone with any special qualifications to write a post of such a nature. This is the part that will cover my ass if someone out there follows my ideas, and then things go awry. This is where I reinforce my ultimate goal, the ultimate goal of throwing on a white t-shirt, and a pair of jeans and liking what I see ? having, what I consider, a normal, nice, body, not a size 0 body, or even 2, or even 4, but a size comfortable, a size where I can sit in that white t-shirt and pair of jeans and not worry about my stomach. I?m not trying to be skin and bones, or to be unhealthy? so do not take my thoughts the wrong way. I just think I?m being realistic. I wrote the words below to my 200+ self (aka a twenty something female actually considered ?obese?). I didn?t write them to a 125 pound person, trying to weigh sub 100. Here my tips, from my(!!) experience, the experience of a 26 year old girl who has lost 50+ pounds? and still wants to lose 25 more.

Motivation and Commitment,

Whatever, Nike, it?s not just as simple as ?just do it? because guess what? If it was that simple, we all would have ?just done it.? Sadly, it?s every man for himself when it comes to finding motivation. And most likely, finding motivation will be the hardest part of the whole losing-weight-journey-thing. All I know is that no matter what I write here, no matter how many inspiring blogs you read, no matter the number of skinny photos you ogle at, it?s 110% up to you.

Nobody, and I seriously mean nobody, can lose your weight, but you.

I learned that one the hard way. I have had a personal trainer, a nutritionist, and a blog dedicated to losing weight. I have trained for a freaking full marathon and then run two marathons(!!). I have told friends and family about my goals. I have had every type of support surrounding me, but I didn?t do it. Why? Because I hadn?t 110% committed to it. Yes, I wanted it, but was I really willing to sit in front of a tray of cupcakes and not eat one? No. I wanted the best of both worlds. And y?know what? When it comes to losing weight, it turns out that it is impossible to have the best of both worlds. The quicker you learn that, the better. Losing weight is sacrifice and hard work and doing things you don?t want to do. 

Just wanted to say, I have done shred or equiv(with light weights) the whole way through my weight loss and I disagree that it prevents weight loss (although it might slow it down a tiny bit) esp for women (unless it very big weights). However in the last month I have been lifting bigger weights 3x a week to exhaustion, and my weight has stayed the same but fat % has dropped so I have clearly built some muscle .

I am now very toned (body fat 23%). I have monthly measurements of weight and body fat (weight each week). I have estimated the number of "fat pounds" based on body fat %, and it (number of fat pounds) has fallen roughly at same rate as total weight loss. Additionally extra muscle mass makes you more metabolically active and the exercise you do in shred burns calories. However it might be a better idea to focus on cardio rather than toning if pounds off are really important.

If you are not loosing need to look at what you are eating, both quality and quantity. Also TOTM can make a difference.

Alternatively buy a set of body fat scales (around £30) and you can then see you yourself.

My numbers in case interested:
weight BMI Fat % Fat pounds Weight Loss Fat Weight Loss
Month 0 173 29.72 40% 69.2 -15.00 -12.32
Month 1 158 27.14 36% 56.88 -21.00 -17.52
Month 2 152 26.11 34% 51.68 -29.00 -24.56
Month 3 144 24.74 31% 44.64 -37.00 -31.12
Month 4 136 23.36 28% 38.08 -42.00 -36.45
Month 5 131 22.50 25% 32.75 -47.00 -38.12
Month 6 126 21.64 24% 31.08 -47.00 -39.53

In terms of exercise calories, I think shred is around 200 but I'd never eat them.

OK feel the shame

foreverondiet: 9s 1lb. Change 0. Total Loss 2s 5lbs. Target 9s 0lbs.
hairypotter 12s 8lbs loss 1lbs. Total loss 10lbs Target 10s 7lbs
zzmum 12s 7lb GAIN 5lb total loss 1lb Target 10s 7

I have been doing weight stuff with PT but not enough to generate this much muscle! It could be TOTM but given age, that time is now randomly generated so can not be blamed.. not downhearted but ever more aware of just how hard this os going to be - why i dod not lose this 2 stones when I was 30 and could have lost it overnight is now source of regret, mainly as am sure it was only 10lb then!

thats really interesting.
and i intend to get a set of those scales once ive a bit more weight off. ( plus am a bit skint this month :) )

It is mostly to do with what you are eating though isnt it. I think that if you are exercising as hard as the shred( becuase you do work hard doing it) then its easy to think you can eat more, but if you eat those 200 cals back in bad foods is sort of defeating the object.

Im buring roughly the same, or more than the shred doing cardio stuff, of course i dont feel like im working anywhere near as hard but im still burning it off.

This week ive been very very stict with what ive been eating, only lean protein, veg only one fruit ( berries or apple) a day. and its made a huge difference.

The two weeks when i lost nothing i was kidding myself that i had eaten well, when actually i had a fair few cheat days, or the things i was eating, while still in my cal goal, where not all that great.

red yes mostly to do with eating, and I agree easy if exercising to eat more to compensate. I never eat exercise calories. That way I always have a bit of leeway at social engagements without feeling I have lapsed.

And I also got much better results with weight loss when sticking to lean protein and veggies than when I stuck to calorie limit alone. Now its different as I just want to maintain (although as I said before am building muscle mass so do want to loose fat to get to 22%).

forever - what method do you use to calculate body fat - do you have the tanita scales or do you use a handheld device? I have some scales at home that just measured me as 78% fat which looking at my ass could be accurate...

oh ignore - just seen your comment - sorry!

zzzmum - i have tanita scales. Find morning measurement is most accurate as have had body fat measured with callipers in gym too. Used to have handheld, truth is both (handheld and scales) take shortest route round body so if all your weight on bum then handheld will underestimate, scales will overestimate.

78% sounds very high, would be surprised if it really was that high unless your weight was into the morbidly obese category. Mine was 40% at outset when BMI was 30. Both borderline obese.

But yes its an estimate and the point is to watch it go down as weight goes down. Even callipers still just an estimate.

foreverondiet: 9s 1lb. Change 0. Total Loss 2s 5lbs. Target 9s 0lbs.
hairypotter 12s 8lbs loss 1lbs. Total loss 10lbs Target 10s 7lbs
zzmum 12s 7lb GAIN 5lb total loss 1lb Target 10s 7
ThePrincessRoyalFiggyrolls 13s 4lbs change 2lbs. Total Loss 2s 5lbs. Target (10s 5lb)

Hi.

I forgot to do my weigh in yesterday. I lost 3lb last week! Just the incentive I needed to keep on going this week. I have still got over a stone to lose though .

I am going to get on the wii today. My friend has let me borrow wii active (I think that's what it's called anyway). I think
It definitely helped that I did more exercise than usual last week- even if it was just more walking.

Am sure this has been done before, but how many calories is a shred session? Cheers

foreverondiet: 9s 1lb. Change 0. Total Loss 2s 5lbs. Target 9s 0lbs.
hairypotter 12s 8lbs loss 1lbs. Total loss 10lbs Target 10s 7lbs
zzmum 12s 7lb GAIN 5lb total loss 1lb Target 10s 7
ThePrincessRoyalFiggyrolls 13s 4lbs change 2lbs. Total Loss 2s 5lbs. Target (10s 5lb)
redderthanred change: 3lbs. Total loss 11lbs. Target 10s

urgh. Absolutley rubbish day yesterday. RUBBISH! not eating wise, just emotionally shitty.
Didnt comfort eat. horray. Was temped to today but so far havent as a bloody well want to be thinner more than i want a bar of galaxy.
However, am going to have a bacon and pea rissotto for tea ( under 400cals) so that being carby might do the same job.

redder - saw something in the mail yesterday (don't hound me for reading it but was bored...............and it was online) about foods to curb sweet cravings - here if you scroll down on the left it might help?

Anyway did my weekly weigh in again this morning due to having weighed myself on tuesday last week - and seem to be 1.4lbs lighter than yesterday! However am not going to log this or will be doing it everyday for eternity so perhaps might note it gently to myself. IF this is the case and it stays off I am 1-2lbs off my pre preg weight 9 months down the line which I am so happy about (9 on/9 off anyone?) that still doesn't help that I am still then 3 stone off my target of 140lbs or lighter (bmi suggestion) have lowered the target on here as I need a goal that I might make and is viable before I get too depressed - in an ideal world I would like to be 10stone or just above/just over.

Well done to both red for staying strong yesterday and to princess for doing so well also.

FWIW I weigh myself each day, I wish I could stop .

Am having a strict week now as went to a BBQ last night and ate loads, plus indulged over the weekend. Was 2.5lbs up this morning but will get this off....

My thought on this are if you do indulge, then get right back on the diet right away (in this case the next morning) and have an very careful few days. Applies in maintenance phase too - I agree with Dukan's interpretation of maintenance phase - 5 days for each pound lost, which in my case is 235 days or nearly 8 months, ie longer than it even took to loose the weight.

Forever - I won't see the light until well after the olympics then and possibly not before ds is in school! Oh well, tbf it is very much required and now that the results are starting to happen it is getting more realistic! My philosophy has changed from past times which was - lose shed loads of weight as quickly as possible for a specific event, I do have a goal now (a family holiday in August) but I know I won't have reached my goal weight by then - i.e to do this sensibly I have 12 weeks until the holiday with hopeful weight loss of 24lbs (so still not on target!) however I expect that due to a few other events in between I would be realistically aiming at 20lbs for then making me hopefully 165lbs by Beg Aug, I would be happy with that tbh as it would make me the thinnest I have been in a long while - I will then probably come back from that holiday and try to get back on track. Who knows though perhaps it will be a bit more or maybe a bit less - I would like to be in that region though!