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?

I also added Hairy, thanks .

Hello all, I am feeling proud of myself today, I didn't weigh in officially as I couldn't face it (especially as I don't feel it would be a proper reflection of weightloss to date ) but no I am proud because I went into a coffee shop this afternoon, was feeling like I needed a bit of something sweet, picked up a pannetonne, looked for calorie content - none, put it back, picked up a brownie put it back did this with several items to add to my coffee but checking all the calories made me realise they weren't worth it, went back to the pannetonne, picked it up and then put it back! I did add a "syrup" to my skimmed latte BUT the total snack of 160 instead of 400+ was good! It actually was pretty disgusting as it happens so won't be doing it again however I am proud for not falling into the "it won't hurt trap".

Welcome everyone btw! Add me am Figgyrolls on MFP

So teriyaki chicken salad for supper and I might add a glass of vino as have over 700 calories for the day and would like to have a treat as am on my own!

Yay *figgy!

hi marian and pebbles and welcome

Marian - well done on your loss so far. after 3 weeks ok to weigh yourself! what a fab start to your diet/

Pebbles - 5lbs is a great start. But why do you think you gained weight? I have just lost almost 50lbs and I am so nervous of putting it on... Still obsessivel doing 1200 on MFP even though am at target.

figgy well done, and its never worth it!

red sounds like the meal went well, good to go out somewhere really nice and enjoy it - because the food is so good the calories are totally worth it!

gilbonzo glad the bloating has got better.

Forever, I had a really difficult year and was diagnosed with depression. I'm very much a comfort eater, I'm adamant I would have carried on losing had I not got so ill.

I'm on the mend now and its good to have this focus too.

pebbles ah ok, hope you are better now, can see how depression would result in comfort eating. you'll loose the weight you put on in no time though.

Hi everyone :o

My day started out all well and good but then i met my friend at a kids soft play centre and she bought me a drink and came back with a cake! It was a bit awkward for me to say no so i had to eat it

Then at dinner time i was really hungry and just cooked a thin crust C&T pizza from the freezer (DP is away so no point cooking properly for just me) and as much as i just intended to eat half of it, i ended up scoffing the whole bloody lot. It was like a feeding frenzy at the zoo! So cross with myself! However, tomorrow is yet another day so i will start again in the morning

I did manage to weigh myself today and have added myself to the list :)

gilbonzo 14s 8lbs(+2lbs) Hips 42(-/+0) Waist 38(-1) Bust 47(-1) Thigh 21(-1)
hairypotter 12s 7lbs loss 1lb total loss 11lbs target 10s7lbs
PebblesAndWine 11st 5lbs (-5lbs) Target 10st
MarianH 13s 4.5lbs (-9.5lbs) total loss 9.5lbs target 10st 5lbs
RGPargy 17s 7.4lbs Total loss - 0

rg - of course there is plenty of reason to cook just for you! Im a lone parent and before that was a military wife, if i never cooked when it was just me i woiuld have wasted away! There are plenty of low cal, under 10 min meals you could have cooked quicker than a pizza :)

Figgy - sounds like you did really well :) Its really not worth it you are right, not when your trying to lose weight anyway - if you are maintaining, then maybe.. but thats a whole different ball game! Excellent will power :)

Gibs - glad the bloating is better :)

Forever - how is the maintaining going? have you managed to increase your cals yet?

Weighed myself this morning. Another 3lbs loss for the week....!!!!!!! Aim for may was to lose 10lbs. 4 more to go and i will have done it :)

gilbonzo 14s 8lbs(+2lbs) Hips 42(-/+0) Waist 38(-1) Bust 47(-1) Thigh 21(-1)
hairypotter 12s 7lbs loss 1lb total loss 11lbs target 10s7lbs
PebblesAndWine 11st 5lbs (-5lbs) Target 10st
MarianH 13s 4.5lbs (-9.5lbs) total loss 9.5lbs target 10st 5lbs
RGPargy 17s 7.4lbs Total loss - 0
Redderthanred (-3) total loss 1 stone 2lbs. Target 10st.

Fantastic redder! 10lbs in a month is amazing

i reckon i should do it. 2 weeks to lose 4lbs. Easy! lol

I think im just really really determined. Once i say im going to do something i mean it. Also its been quite good having a goal to get to rather than just a long term goal thats going to take months.

If i hit the 10lbs ill be really pleased and that will kind of spur me on alot because ill feel im achieving and getting somewhere.

No meals out or birthdays this week so no cheat meals. Am going to the cinema with a big group of people on the weekend to see capt jack ( for letching reasons!) plan on taking a bottle of water ( which is what id usually take as its all i drink) and a NORMAL sized bag of malteasers. Not a huge family sharing bag which i would have had before. Shall also work it into my daily cals.

just realised ive lost just short of half stone in 2 weeks. thats rather good if i do say so myself :)

That's bloody amazing if you do say so yourself! You're spurring me on - I dropped the dcs at school/nursery, read your post, got changed and did a 5km bike ride and now I'm eating banana and yoghurt for breakfast instead of toast

RPpargy, I don?t really see why your DP being away means no reason to cook. If anything makes it easier as you can cook what you want to eat for your diet, and not something that he will want to eat.My DH often home from work late or last night he was happy to eat leftovers of pasta and chicken. Means I can cook for myself without worrying about what he wanted to eat. I had the most huge dinner last night for 400 cals and honestly only took 5 mins preparation and 10 mins cooking, not much more effort than a pizza ? in a large sautee pan add a tin chopped tomatoes, a courgette, an aubergine, a pepper, an onion and some mushrooms. Add water and a piece of white fish (I added 110g piece of frozen haddock) and 20g of (uncooked) basmati rice. Add seasoning and lid and leave to simmer for 15 mins.
Also why put temptation like that in front of you (ie whole pizza when only intending to eat half?) ? if you are serious about loosing weight, give foods that are high in (white) carbs and low in protein a miss, even if the calories are within the amount allowed.

red Sounds great that you are so focussed! I will confess going to cinema with bottle of water and apple! 2 weeks to loose 4lbs is def possible if you stay focussed

its easily possible and i will do it. 100%

Then shall set a goal of 8lbs for the next month. Having a short term goal to work towards is helping me.

Gibs - yay! thats a good breakfast ( dont eat too many bananas though.. lots of sugar!) Ive been having berriers and non fat youghurt for breakfast ( was having greek yougurt but got fed up with it) So, strawberries, raspberries, backberries, blueberries. You can do it :)

RG- i must say i dont think id be able to not eat the whole pizza either. id eat the lot then feel bad andbut then wonder when it came to weigh in why i hadnt lost anything. I dont know. i dont buy anythng like that, nothing like that is in the house, bar chocolate fingers.. if i eat two its 60 cals so really not that bad. If its in the house i will ( eventually) end up eating it. Of course this means DD is also eating really really well, but i dont see this as a bad thing, only a good thing. Hopefully teaching her about healthy eating and portion sizes before she gets too old and ends up in yoyo diet hell too.

red I agree about having stuff in the house. I don't buy frozen pizza either or anything else like that either. Freezer stuff is frozen fish and meat, always frozen in individual portions (if i freeze I split before I put in freezer) and also frozen veggies eg broccoli/cauliflower/spinach incase I run out of fresh. If DH and DC really wanted pizza as a treat, I'd send them out to buy and then eat right away. There are some things I do need to buy, eg cheese, full fat yoghurt, rice, pasta.

Also have homemade frozen soup in freezer so thats another quick meal - if veggies are going off before I have chance to eat I cook and freeze.

Kids like ice cream for the summer so I have been buying - but I have stuck to the mini-milks (30 cals!) or skinny dippers. I don't really like the twisters DS likes but the cornettos that DD likes are a bit tempting. Meanwhile we've only got mini-milks left so that shows its me with restraint!

Chocolate fingers are dangerous though, fine if you stop at 2!

oh. ive managed to just eat two. I had 6 on saturday but the box had been open for 2 weeks.
there is another box in the cupboard that will propably remain unopened for a week. There are also come cake bars and some mini cheddars in there ( pack lunch things) from pre diet that are untouched by DD or i. oh, and some crisps too.
Yeah my freezer is ( and only ever was, full of those kind of things, ive never brought things like that...i just ate way too much of what i was coooking)

mini milks are good. I shall buy those for DD. is there any small ice lollys thats are ok too?

?Frutini Pineapple Sticks 1005 pineapple just 27 cals and made with 100% pineapple
?Rainbow fruit lolly by Tesco 34 cals trace fat
?Fab Lolly 73 cals
?Fruit Pastille Lolly 57
?Mini Milks around 30-35 cals
?Solero 99
?Mr Men Mini Pots Vanilla 74 cals/Choc 81 cals
?Fruitini 44 cals
?Skinny Cow Lolly around 80 cals
?Malteasers (45ml size) 113 cals
?Tricky Licky 54
?Starburst 97
?Ice cream van cones ? Small 110 (with a flake around 200 cals)
?Asda/Tesco smart price choc ices are around 80 cals each
?Mini Cornetto- Tiny but just 69/67 cals each when all you need is a taste!
?Iceland Good Choice Chocolate and Vanilla Cone 136 cals
?Strawberry Cornetto 150 cals/ Chocolate cornetto 190/11g fat (15g sugar)
?Smartie Cones 165 cals 7.6g Fat (14.4g sugar)

Hello everyone, hope you don't mind me barging in like this? I'm off sick today, and been reading a bit of this thread. I'm using MFP to keep track of my eating - used to try to do it in my head, but by the end of the day it's too easy to lose count! Been doing it for 4 weeks now and lost 16lb, but I don't excpect to keep that rate up :o

Feeling a bt down in the dumps today as too wheezy (cold/sore throat playing up my asthmatic chest) to do any exercise really, and am bored at home and trying to resist snacking. Did "give in" to a banana earlier, but not so bad.

Have just tidied up the freezer - your talk of freezer contents made me realise I didn't know - and found all sorts of things. Apart from some burgers and sausages nothing too unhealthy, all pieces of fresh meat or fish and a few packs of back up veg. Some bread, ice lollies for DD, and some frozen berries etc. But a surprise to find things we put in there months ago and forogot about! So at least I can menu plan this afternoon :)

Well today I didn't do too well, I had a chocolate brownie - except this one was really worth it! However I did walk around the shopping centre for 3 hours at a fair old pace, however I have put it in as 2mph due to stopping occasionally to look in the odd shop! I am amazed at how many calories that actually burnt off and the brownie was history before it started , however its not something I would usually do its just these are particularly GOOD brownies that are well worth the calorificness - you know there are some that are just calories...................this isn't, its a taste sensation however I do feel that I need a little bit of chocolate and cheering up, although I have to say I felt quite unwell afterwards which will teach me to have another brownie any time soon!!!!!!!!!

figgy sometimes we do need treats, and its ok as occasional treats, and esp ok if they are really worth the calories.

(Actually if I have taste of something that isn't worth the calories, eg dry cake I just stop eating it.)

BUT I am a bit about exercise calories for walking around shopping centre because when you populate MFP initially it asks for level of activity and unless you put "sedentary" then it basically assumes that you are moving around a bit in the day, and those calories are already added in to your daily allowance eg I walk for an hour a day - 10 mins to station, 10 mins from station to work, same in reverse in evening and at least 20 mins at lunchtime. But I wouldn't add these as I put "lightly active" (more so on days I am not at work) rather than sedentary as these are already accounted for - its around 100-130 calories a day between activity levels - around the same as 35 mins of brisk walking.

It will not let you go below 1200 so for me to loose, both sedentary and lightly active are 1200 (ie sedentary should be 1100), but for maintenance there is a difference. To me this means that if you are sedentary then need to do 100 calories of exercise a day to be actually entitled to 1200.

I added walking around a town shopping when I was in England because it was extra walking on top of what is in my everyday life. I went for 'lightly active' as I spend my days cleaning, playing with the kids, walking around the property (it's big), etc. If I then walk to the shops or around the town then I can add those cals as they are on top of my normal activity. If I went for a walk along a river for an hour I would add that so I can't see why walking around a town is different. Sedentary, to me, means an office job or sitting on the sofa all day.

I've had a good day today. Very healthy food wise. I did a 5km bike ride this morning which I'm not eating the cals for but I want to have a icecream tonight for pudding so I mowed the lawn for 30 mins to cover those cals. However, looking at my day on MFP I'm going to struggle to meet my basic allowance. Hooray for vegetables and Rivita!

I put sedentary as my lifestyle. I sit on my bottom for about 5 hours a day working. Yes i work up 3 flights of stairs with no lifts and am up and down them lots and lots of times in that 5 hours... lots of errands/school run/housework etc...

I dont log housework unless its made me sweat. Like cutting the grass ( huge old mower that weights a ton) or gardening or cleaning windows.

I do log walking the dog, because thats a good pace of walking for a lenght of time.

figgy, that brownie sounds lovely :)

forever, thanks for that list. is useful to know...

I've changed my setting to 'sedentary' to see if it makes a difference. I'm not sure that it will as it has lowered my cals to what I was reaching anyway and I barely sit down at all during the day, but at least this way I can add all the exercise I do and eat the extra cals. I just want this to be a life-long way of eating, not a drastic and fast weight loss bonanza.

redder do you do your hair colour at home? It is the exact colour I want mine to be but I'm scared it will come out wrong or not suit my skin tone (quite 'pinky').

forever point taken, although was obviously trying to justify the brownie also tbh I don't usually push the buggy around for 3/4 hours in a day on my own so at quite a good pace, I too think I am in the sedentary catagory but wanted to check (please tell me how Gilbonzo!), I also did take the dog for a huge walk this afternoon - and discovered that I am walking quicker than I originally thought and am doing about 1/2 mile per 15 mins with the dog which is great! I definitely did more exercise today than I have done in a long time.

Hello
Well I have to say I am impressed with the whistles and bells. I am 8wks post partum and about 21lbs above my long term average. I walk for at least an hour a day. I do have a very hungry baby and this means if I do exercise too much or increase too much I am absolutely knackered.
As for my stats I am 5'2" and 154lb.
Mixing imperial and metric...

Waist 79cm
Hips 109cm
Bust 102cm
Thigh 63cm
Bicep 34cm
Calf 36cm

Have been using the food tracker and it's useful. Today is our takeout day and with the tracker I am on 2700' calories. However not too bad since I don't do it every day.

gibs - no. i have it done at hairdressers. I think it took about 6 months of hairdresser colouring to get it that red. Bleach then colour. Then i had to re red it at home once a week. I had it like that for 10 or so months and went back to dark feb time. ( i should change my picture!) BUT the red is still coming through the dark.. lol. Even with the constant weekly colouring it would end up pinky towards the end of the month. Was costing me approx £85 a month to keep it like that. It was lovely though. Really lovely.

So- have more details of next weekends camping.. and it seems that each tent is going to proviide one days worth of meals for everyone going. Its all going to be camping type food - ie fry ups. and bbqs and things like that. I cant see how ive got any hope other than eating small portions of what it is im given. Has any one got any good ideas how i can handle it? or do i just have to write off those days and enjoy it for what it is and get back on it when i get back?