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?

princess but every pound helps.

WRT holiday, good to have a goal before you go, but think about this..... both me and my friend went away over easter to all inclusive hotel. I ate masses but stuck mainly to low carbs - eg omelettes, salad (huge quantities), yoghurt, fish, meat and fruit & some chocolate. She ate masses including carbs, cakes, biscuits. We both did exercise. I put on 2lbs she put on 9lbs! I lost the 2lbs with a week, now 3 weeks later she hasn't lost her extra weight yet.

Yes, sensible loss is 1-2lbs a week so if you have a lot to loose its long and slow. If you do loose more quickly you then need an even longer maintenance phase, so either way the diet is for the same length of time.

just realised i am a fool and ive lost 13lbs not 11.

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 13lbs. Target 10s

forever - how does this 'maintence' phase work... what this about 5days per lb??????

In the Dukan book, Dr Dukan says that after you've just lost a lot of weight your body is very vulnerable to putting it back on (famine has finished must replenish fat stores etc), which is why so many people end up yo-yo dieting.

He proposes that the very vulnerable time is 5 days for each 1lb lost. He proposes that during this time, you are very careful but gradually increase what you eat so your body gets used to having more calories without gaining weight.

The maintenance plan is very specific to the dukan diet, but the principle of it - that you need to really be on guard during this time makes sense.

the problem is going to be french bread and cheese...................
but we shall see

ah - thats a very good way of looking at it,

Am feeling a bit crap about the whole weight loss thing today. Ive almost lost a stone so im feeling quite good about that, i feel thinner, but then when i look ina mirror im still fat and have two more stone to go until im a healthy bmi.

Just seems so far out of reach at the momment and inconceieable that i will get there.

Also noone has noticed at all. You would think someone might after a stone.. but nope.

Tis mildly depressing.

I decided to do my measurements as it's been a month and I'm pissed off with my weight and I'm bloody pleased I did!

I've lost 1 inch from my bust, 1 inch from my waist, my hips have stayed the same and 1 inch has gone from my thighs - not bad in a month

Hello all, this is a shamefaced worriermum signing in. Sorry for the long, long absence on my part. Long story but briefly, a planned trip to Australia for family reasons had to be brought forward suddenly and so I was flung into finishing last minute work and preparing for a complicated trip to Australia. This meant I had to stop logging in to Mumsnet at all and go hell-for-leather on various deadlines. And then/now I was was/am in Oz, and it's taken me ages to get my head around being here, and to work out access to a computer.

But here I am in Sydney, where there is simply no excuse at all for not eating well: healthy, low cal options are offered on every menu and portion sizes are stingy helpfully small. But with all the turmoil of the past weeks I have been comfort eating with a vengeance. I am full of resolve to get back to MFP and to weight loss, and am starting here.

How are you all ? I havent read back to when I last logged in but Forever and Gilbo it's nice to see old friends, and hullo to all on the thread who are new to me (please allow me to introduce myself ...).

I did try to weigh myself but the only scale available is my niece's and I cant read the teeny tiny numbers - thank goodness!!! So, tomorrow, I will be back on MFP.

0215am here. Am going to sleep and will be in touch on either MFP or MN tomorrow.

Hi worriermum, was thinking I hadn't seen you on here for a while. I have found that even when away its possible to stick to the diet - I visited my parents and my mum wasn't so well so didn't want to bother her with my eating fads so just ate stacks of yoghurts at my parents and then chicken or tuna salads at resturants. If hungry between meals had a latte (with skimmed milk if possible). I didn't bother with MFP though.

Sounds like you have lots of choices though and I hope the comfort eating didn't do too much damage.

Hi everyone!

I am totally rubbish at getting onto this thread on a daily basis.

Hello worrier, i am very of you being in Australia! It's where DP and I want to end up eventually (although i am a bit of an arachnaphobe (sp?) so i dont know how i will bear up to all those Huntsmans!! EEK!! I'm bad enough with a bloody crane fly {shudder}. Hope you're ok tho.

I seem to be NOT losing, as usual. I just cant seem to stick within my calories most days, even when there are loads of them! My main problem this last week has been wine and chocolate. DP and I have been really really bad last week. We've had wine and a large bar of chocolate between us most nights last week. This week's been fine really as DP is working away (although he's back tonight) so I haven't had any booze or chocolate. I just need to crack the back of knowing how much food my body doesn't actually need. I think to even just get back into the 16 stone something bracket will be an achievement for me! I've not gone lighter than 17.1 st at all this year and just keep going up and down between 17.3 and 17.9!!

However, all is not lost. I bought a mountain bike from ebay last night so now I can get out on it and get some more cardio exercise. I go to the gym 5 times a week but i seriously need to do more cardio but cant seem to do anything suitable. I love step but have had to limit myself to doing it once a week due a dodgy knee. I also do Combat once a week, so that's ok and i did take up Body Jam (a dancey class) but i have found the standing around waiting for the next track to be a bit dull and just when i'm starting to warm up, she tells us it's the cooldown!! Maybe i'm just a lot fitter than the women in the room as they tend to be a bit older (not that i'm age-ist at all!) and weren't making much effort with the moves.

Who knows!

Well done to everyone who's lost weight this week. When is our weigh day on here? i will adjust my day to suit this thread i think so i can keep up with you all, get more support and participate more.

Anyway, sorry to have rambled on and on and on and well done if you got this far!!

:o

rppargy well done on that exercise. I have also just got a bike as I am doing a triathlon in 3 weeks and haven't been on it yet as am terrified of traffic!

I hope its ok that I had a wee peak at your food diary, and I'd really recommend you thinking about the south beath diet. Its very very sensible - for 2 weeks you cut out all carbs to get rid of carb cravings, and then gradually introduce good carbs (fruit, wholegrains) back into diet. You don't really need to calorie count (although does help control portion sizes on carbs and proteins). Its not faddy like dukan, atkins or pig to twig and its great long term. Even better if you could persuade your other half to do it too because you never go hungry on it.

Honestly, loosing weight is about what you eat rather than exercise - for a woman I think its 80% food, 20% exercise. Even riding a bike for 30 mins at a moderate pace only really cancels out one bar of chocolate if that.

My DH has been eating my diet food, he does eat some extra but tried not to in the house to be supportive and when we go out or get takeaways choose something I'll eat.

BTW I also love chocolate but now am satisfied with a couple of squares of the tesco 85% stuff. In terms of snacking, I am now happy with snacking on things like - fat free yoghurt, turkey breast slices, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, cashew nuts (although only 25g a day), skinny cow ice cream sticks (again only one a day), apples (although do limit fruit to 1 or 2 pieces a day).

We have weigh in on Monday.....

RG - sorry you arent losing. I dont think you need to do more exercise. you do amazing amounts and have HUGE burns. you sound like you are really really fit and i dont believe at all you have to be thin to be fit, i was always fitter than my thinner friends.

Its mostly about the food but i really think you have to be in a certain mindset and have a huge determination to do something about it and stick to it. It seems it comes down to tiny tiny choices every day about what you put in your mouth. Ive been on half arsed diets and delcared them not to be working or that i cant lose. Problem is i was half arsing it. I think if it was easy then everyone would be thin :)

Its not easy, its actually hard.Its one thing knowing what you should be eating and another thing to stick to it. Passing up on foods handed out under our noses, or situations socially or with partners where food is part of the experience is also bloody hard.

Plus, food is lovely :) i love food. I like buying it, and cooking it and reading about it.

its just HARD.

Sorry - what i mean is that, every day im having to make a conscience thought about what im going to eat that day and how im going to cook it.

In fact right now im planned probably till well. actually the end of next week. i know what ill be eating and how many cals it roughly is. Which could be viewed as mildly depressing. BUT i damn well want this weight off and i know that seriously watching what i eat is the only way thats going to happen.

Like forever, ive quite quickly ( over 2 months) been able to be satisfied with only a tiny amount of chocolate. Ill have a small bit and then stop. Or ONE biscuit. Or a few haribo. Or 30g of cheese. before starting this i could quite happily eat a large dinner, thinking about it ( even though it was healthy, home cooked meals) at least 800/900 cals in one meal. then go on and eat a family sharing bag of malteasers in the evening and think nothing of it.

yesterday i really wanted a baked potato with butter and beans and cheese. REALLY wanted it. didnt have it. I want to be a size 12 more than i wanted the melty beany cheese. just. :) only just.

When DD came home from rainbows i made her a slice of toast, i really wanted some then too. but i had to chose not to. I could quite happily just eaten two sllices, so the cals wouldnt have been too bad.. but i didnt.

its just hard.

red well done. I agree with all that you say, and although I'm at target, it all still applies - I want to stay this size more than I want to eat (whatever it is). I don't know exactly what I will be eating at each meal, but I do know that each meal (dinner and lunch on non working days) is 80% vegetables. I made a "lasagna" yesterday,

In a way its harder now because I can let my guard down sometimes but what is working for me is that I basically eat what I want when we are with friends/out socially, and then I am careful when its justme / me and family.

I?m also embracing Paul McKenna?s principle of only eating when hungry and stopping when full. Before I put anything in my mouth I assess if I am hungry and I stop when full. Last Saturday I was at a friends for lunch and she put food on my plate, and I didn?t finish it ? I thought I?d rather have a little space left for dessert. Before I?d have finished it and then had dessert!!
I also used to buy a bar of chocolate on the way home from work, now I look at the chocolate stall and think ? wow I used to want a bar of chocolate!

It?s hard but loosing weight (and keeping it off) is simply about eating less (or none of) of the foods that make us fat. These foods are those high in fat (although small amounts of healthy fat ok) and those high in refined carbohydrates. Exercise can help keep the metabolism going and help us to be fitter and more toned but its not a substitute for being careful about what we eat.

oooh what was in your 'lasagna' reciepe please ;)

Thanx for the pep talk ladies :o

The thing with me is that when i am being good, i am BLOODY good, but when i am being bad, i am absolutely terrible. I tend to go out all hell for leather and just eat what i like because i'm on a cheat day/week so what the hell.

I know i should cut down on my carbs as i admit that i eat far too many of them and would probably lose a lot of weight without them, but cutting them down scares me a bit. Y'see, i used to be on Atkins and lost quite a bit of weight on it (21 lbs i think) but then it all started to get technical and really difficult, and when i had the opportunity to go to America (all expenses paid!) i thought that there was no way i was going to go low-carb out there and miss out on all their culinary delights! So i just ate what i wanted and here i am, back where i started.

On a good note tho, i DO know what i'm going to be eating at dinner times as i am anal and have written a 5 week menu plan. It sets out all the evening meals for the next 5 weeks so i know what to buy and can shop accordingly and can plan my day's food according to the menu. A lot of the meals are from a couple of WW books that i've had laying around and i also found some recipes on the SW website. Calorie wise, the recipes are really low calorie, normally no more than about 300 calories per meal, which I think is quite impressive for a dinner, dont you?!! :o

I think sometimes my DP is a bad influence on me. Dont get me wrong, he doesn't sit there tempting me with food or encouraging me to be bad but if he DOES suggest something bad like a chinese, i'll just jump at the chance to be naughty and agree to it. Any excuse to fall off the wagon!!

OK I will weigh in on Monday and start again lol. :o

Lasagna:

mince was quorn mince (very low fat) with loads of chopped tomatoes, onions, courgette, mushrooms and seasoning - but could use minced chicken or turkey breast as also low fat. Didn't add any oil at all when cooking - simmered it in the chopped tomatoes.

Pasta was very finely sliced aubergine.

Cheese sauce was cottage cheese (saw Jamie Oliver putting cottage cheese in a lasagna so thought it must be ok!) but could make white sauce instead using skimmed milk and cornflour and eggs to thicken - and a little very strong cheese like parmesan to flavour. Cottage cheese was quicker and it was just a quick dinner.

Have done cottage pie with same mince using mashed cauliflower and celeriac as the topping.

RPPArgy - glad you are not too offended by the pep talk! Also south beach is not atkins, and anyway whatever diet you are on you'd have gained it afterwards if you ate a lot again.

In terms of cheats - for me its a cheat meal of an extra around 500 cals BUT I never eat my exercise calories so think that this covers it.

FWIW I went to America over Easter on all expenses paid holiday, all inclusive, 3 amazing meals a day laid on PLUS all day tea room containing cakes, biscuits, sweets, cakes, ice cream, chocolate, drinks & sushi(!). Plus all day burgers, chips, chicken, kebabs laid on too. Plus as much fizzy drink, wine, juice as I wanted.

I decided that although I wanted to enjoy the food I would not risk undoing the good work.

Breakfast I had massive omelette and fruit. I tasted the waffles (1/4 waffle) one day, 1 pancake another, 1 freshly baked cake another etc.

Lunch I had vegetables and grilled fish only. Dessert a couple of times.

Dinner I had the starter and main course (although left carbs) (it was plated)and the dessert some days. I had one glass of wine.

No juice at all whole holiday.
Went to burger tent once and had a few of DD's chips.
Was restrainted in tea room..... 3-4 little dark chocolates.
Did loads of exercise. Did not eat if full.

Came back having only put on 2lbs which I lost in first week back.

Not offended at all, forever!! :o

I know South Beach is not atkins, but IIRC you reduce your carb intake on it?? I could be completely wrong as i haven't looked into.....

It's interesting that some people dont eat their exercise cals and some do. I am on the "eat as many exercise cals as you can" side of the fence lol.

I have to say i admire your amazing restraint on holiday!! How inspiring!!

Im not eating my exercise cals either. but then again im only burning about 200/300 a day.

Im eating low carb. maybe at one meal every other day. if i go longer than that i get awful headaches and a very swimmy head.

Forever, you did do very well i think. Ive got 3 course meal out sunday. Am most likely going to try and pick the best thing i can. It will still be my cheat meal, but im not going to gorge and just eat whatever the hell i like im going to attempt to be good, but still enjoy it.

rppargy NO south beach not atkins. It is not a low carb diet, its just very sensible and healthy eating. You do cut down carbs for just 2 weeks to rid body of cravings (although these two weeks are not about ketosis, just cravings so you can still have stuff like diary and pulses that atkins wouldn't allow).

After 2 weeks you can have 3 normal sized portions of carbs as long as they are wholegrain ones and 3 pieces of fruit each day.

red I also am on the eat as few calories as possible side of things, although I will not let myself go under 1200, last night was under so eat balance in cashew nuts and some dark chocolate.

Yes I did well on holiday but I felt I ate very well, tasted everything I wanted to and enjoyed the food. I did eat some chocolate but didn't pig out. I actually now find food more enjoyable if I am hungry for it so prefer not to eat if not hungry.

Ah ok, thanks Forever. I will look into South Beach.

Hi everyone, long time no see! Well done all those who've kept going with the diet and continued to lose.

Sorry to have been absent for so long. Easter was a disaster for me - all that chocolate :) - and two weeks ago we got some awful news about primary school admissions (we are one of the 8% of families who didn't get any of their three preferences, instead being allocated a terrible school 2 miles away). To cut a long story short, I am now involved in a campaign group and up to my neck in stress! Have also been through redundancy, had two interviews and got a new job, as well as going back to work after maternity leave. It's been a pretty adrenaline-fuelled fortnight...

So, anyway, I haven't really been paying attention to what I've been eating, but I don't think I've gained too badly - think the adrenaline has kept my appetite down. But I do really need to get back on the wagon.

Can I have one of your famed pep talks please??

Betty well you have had a bad few weeks, so hard to focus on diet. But now is time to get back on wagon! Eating lots will not make it easier for your DC to get a school place.

Are you on MFP and have you made us your friends?

Most of us are doing MFP with a focus on slightly lower carbs than average what sort of diet are you following? Either way now is time to get back on that wagon...

Yes - I had been doing MFP, had lost a total of 10lbs on MFP (1 stone in total since having DS2 July 2010). Am oysterpots on MFP - think I am friends with most of you.

Was doing really well... Just feel a bit lost now. I've really been enjoying being able to wear some of my old clothes again, but likewise I've been enjoying eating whatever I fancied again. I know I can't go on like this... Just need a kick up the bottom to get back on it. Maybe I will try to do one day tomorrow and see how it goes - I think I'll probably get back into the swing of things...

Betty - naughty naughty you haven't logged in for a week!

Also you haven't made your food diary public so can't comment on what you are eating (mine can be seen by all friends)... once you do a day easy to get into the swing of things.

Come on whats better chocolate every day or being thin!