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?

forever - i agree, the type of carb makes a HUGE difference, and eating ones with less sugar ( insulin) does make a big difference. I think ive just had to come to terms with the fact that big pasta meals, cereal and toast and sandwiches and things cannot be part of my everyday diet. They just cant. Im not going to be able to go back to eating them when ive reached my goal weight either. My body cannot deal with the insulin. It was getting so bad id be getting the shakes and almost fainting from them if i wasnt eating something sugar packed every two hours. THAT is not healthy and actually probably some kind of pre diabetic state. Since ive cut the sugar out ive not had the shakes for about 2 months.. and i was getting them daily at one point. Im still eating carbs -and hey, i had pizza on sat - but its just in very very small quanitities and not very often.

ive got a few pcos books and things too - and there are lots of cook books or low GI ones out there.. might be worth a look gibs?

forever - i cant believe that! lol are you going to become one of the crazy fools ;) who swim there all year round?

red - no I did not enjoy swimming in the pond, but might go again before triathlon. Will stick to the lovely (clean, clear, warm) pool in my gym thank you very much! My MIL loves the pond and swims there regularly (although with her head out of the water), but not in the winter. She did take me once years ago but I have never been back!

I agree about carbs. If I want to stay slim they (pizza/pasta/rice/potatoes)just can't be a big part of my diet. Ok occasionally - eg if going out for a meal but not part of regular eating - TBH even if I was out for a meal unless it was a pizza restuarant would try and go for something less carby. Legumes are great though.

The thing that struck me about the PCOS diet book was how prescriptive it was, eg it allowed an apple as a snack but it was to be eaten with a handful of nuts to balance out impact on blood sugar. In the end I only followed it for about 6-8 weeks as I got pregnant with DD (after no periods for months and months), so it worked but not sure whether it would have been sustainable longer term. It wasn't really a cook book more of advice book.

link

I completely agree with you both about the carbs. It's how I used to eat but then I was told to eat 'normally' and I continued to lose weight. What is in my diary is what I've been eating since September which has produced weight loss. I'm thinking it's a combination of more muscle building exercise (although I'm aware this can't explain it all) and having reached a plateau with my diet. That's why I was saying that I'm going to cut out carbs for a bit and see what happens. I'm hoping that a week or so of no carbs will shock my body into doing something useful and then I can add in a few a week.

I was definitely told I had to eat carbs every day including pasta, rice, etc and as you can only get white pasta/rice out here that is what he meant. I don't eat potato as it causes huge amounts of bloating and pain so I'm going to put pasta and rice in the same group and avoid avoid avoid.

I have loads of low GI books from when I was trying to get knocked up so I'll get them out again.....

The thought of swimming in a pond makes me shiver (I'm terrified of not being able to see the bottom - I can swim for miles as long as I can see what I'm swimming in/over) so hats off to you forever.

probably just a plateau then :)

gilbonzo I think when you reach a plateau on your diet then its time to try something else, for many reasons one of which because not loosing is very demoralising.

That was why I switched from tesco diets, (very similar to doing MFP with 1200 calories except 80 calorie apples were less totals than 80 calorie chocolate bars but if you ate balanced diet it was 1200 a day. If you ate refined carbs was more like 1000 calories etc.) - to low carb - I had lost 2 stone but was at plateau. Tried both IPD but I got constipated and couldn't bear to eat the cream/butter and dukan but hated the protein only days (although did like that he allowed low fat dairy). Ended up doing my version of dukan where I ate basically protein and veggies each day and stuck to 1200 calories. Now am in maintenance do allow myself some treats but I did go through phase (couple of months?) without. I am still basically following dukan as much as possible (although I eat pulses which he doesn't allow and I don't do protein only days).

Just out of interest, how do I make 1500 cals without carbs?? There's only so many vegetables I can eat in one meal! Is it a case of eating little and often as opposed to 3 meals a day? And how do you do that on a budget? Vegetables and meats like ham are so expensive out here and they are what I would choose to snack on.

easy :)

eggs are good.
tuna with light mayo ( LARGE serving, like a whole tin) -and a BIG salad and some coleslaw is about 400/

Chicken in all kinds of ways. yesterday and today ive had 'spanish chicken' 1 breast ( though i cooked 3 at the same time) courgettes, peppers, mushrooms, onions. Chuck several tins of tomatoes over the top, salt, pepper, ton of tyme and then bake for a few hours.
tis lush :)

or i eat a whole lot of king prawns done various ways- garlic, chilli, corriander :)

yeah - i basically eat lots of eggs, chicken, tuna and prawns, a ton of tins of tomatoes and then lots and lots of veg.

Do you have a lidl out there?

I mostly get meat/eggs from the local butcher - its all locally sourced and is actually cheaper than the supermarket. hes an award winning butcher too and also writes for the local paper - does catering for weddings and such things. basically hes lovely.

gil I buy cheap frozen fish in supermarket, and chicken/turkey as its low fat and cheap. Also buy value eggs. Pulses - cook and soak and then have in fridge and use some each day.

Roughly:
300 calories of low fat dairy (500g)
200 calories of chicken/turkey (200g)
100 calories of fish (100g white fish)
150 calories eggs (2)
150 calories nuts (25-30g)
200 calories of pulses
300 calories healthy fats (eg avocado, olive oil, extra if fish is oily and not white, small portion hard cheese)
200 calories vegetables

This adds up to 1600, so use as guidance - eg some days you wouldn't have the fish, or only smaller serving of pulses or no nuts etc.

I also eat a ton of chopped tomatoes, buy the tesco value tins, easily eat 5-6 tins a week. Sometimes frozen veg can be cheaper. Always have spinach / brocoli and cauliflower in freezer.

i used 3 tins yesterday! lol. But it was for yesterdays dinner, and then todays lunch and tea for DD.

My lunch is HUGE!! like massive. My collegues have actually just said ' bloody hell redder, you got enough food there'

its mostly veg and then the lean protein. less cals than their sandwiches . There have been a few eyes raised as my jumbo salads as well ;)

The best thing is the prawns though, god i love prawns so much and they are so lean and low in cals its amazing. I eat about 2 bags of frozen jumbo ones a week!! lol

I know lidl does them frozen too - cheap as well. I used to buy them when i lived in germany :)

Good afternoon all. I hope everyone is well.

gilbonzo I know exactly how you feel, that was me a few weeks ago. I know I had stuck really well to diet and had done more exercise than ever before, but still managed to put on weight I decided after listening to everyone on here to drop doing shred every day, do more cardio and stop eating exercise calories for a while. And, Im happy to say that it worked I've lost 3lbs this week!!! This is the first decent loss I've had since the very first week and its just what I needed. I know that next week might only be 1lb but I'll still be happy with that.

I've started running and I'm actually enjoying it. Only really short distances at the moment but I'm building that up. I might try looking for a 5k or 10k run somewhere to aim for. forever your triathlon sounds really really scary and that was before I read about swimming in manky ponds!!! urgh! I can't imagine myself ever managing something as difficult as that. All kudos to you.

Anyway, not sure if we are doing weigh in today but I'll start with mine just in case....

hairypotter 12st 4lbs loss this wk 3lbs total loss 14lbs target 10st7lb

Good luck everyone

HAIRY!!!! bloody hell. that is quite amazing.
:) :) :) :) :)

Im weighing in tomorrow.

Fantastic Hairy!! Gives me motivation so thank you I hope you're feeling suitably proud of yourself!

Thanks guys, really appreciate your support. Gil you totally motivated me with your early morning biking. It was walk to school week here last week and dh usually drops dd2 off on way to work but I walked her every day then went for a run. It's a good feeling knowing I've got some exercise done before brekkie.

Ive had a wee look and have found the Great Scottish Run. 10k on sept 4th. I was hoping dd1 would do it with me but the min age is 15 and she is only 12. I don't know anyone else who would want to do it and I'm not brave enough to go myself. I might try and work up to that distance anyway. < no hope in hell mind you>

I wish I could be as focused on my food intake as you all, I'm just counting cals with no thought to carbs or low gi. To be honest I wouldn't know where to start.

well done hairy thats fab.

in terms of your comment about not knowing where to start, re: carbs or GI, if you do want to, just look for things in your diet containing refined carbs and work on reducing them eg added sugar is the obvious one. Also white flour bread - replace with wholemeal, white pasta replace with wholemeal, etc etc. Or keep this as a trick up your sleeve for the next plateau!

10km is quite long for a first run but doo-able in the time you have. Is there not a 5km "race for life" near you in the meantime.

Gilbonzo - with all the exercise you're doing, do you think that maybe you need to eat back some of your exercise calories? It might not be feasible to eat them ALL back, but maybe you are burning off so much fuel that your body is holding on to all that it can coz it's not getting enough fuel put IN?! Also agree with what red says about cleaner food and maybe just hitting a plateau?!

Red - hmmmm, dont think i'll bother with cap'n jack til he comes out on DVD / Love Film then! Shame that!

Hairy - well done on your loss!! Fab!

Talking of carbs, i DO get the shakes if i dont eat my lunch before 2pm, even after having breakfast and a snack. Normally it only happens at work as i tend to take my lunch from 1.30 til 2.30 and when i'm at home, i normally eat at around 12.30-1pm.

Having reviewed (in my head) my carb intake, i know it is pretty huge and is pretty much 99% of my diet. It's probably no wonder i am not losing weight (despite numerous people saying that i have lost weight recently!). When i did Atkins for a while, i lost loads of weight and had BAGS of energy, it was FAB! I also remember not needing too much sleep either and just waking up ready to leap out of bed. I think i would like to feel like that again and i suppose i have to realise that in order to do so, i have to make some sacrifices.

Forgot to weigh in this morning, so will weigh in tomorrow instead.

Hairy - well done on this weeks weight loss!

I am not weighing myself this week as I know I won't of lost any weight. I am going to make an extra special effort this week and hope that i get below 12 stones next Monday.

Firstly my thoughts on exercise calories - as you know I don't generally eat (all of) them (although do save for weekends), but here is some food for thought - when I went on holiday, one of my friends who I am doing triathlon with went on holiday too. We both ate loads didn't weight food and did exercise. Yet I gained only 2lbs and she gained over 10lbs. Why? I think its because I filled up on eggs for breakfast (3-4 egg omelettes!) and yoghurt and also filled up on veggies and fish at lunch before I ate the desserts. She on the other hand ate carbs with abandon including chocolate cake for breakfast. So basically I think if you do eat your exercise calories make sure they are healthy ones. IMO eating them as extra carbs esp white ones is likely to mean scales don't move.

rpargy I agree that its unlikely you'll loose weight if your diet is mainly carbs esp if eating all of exercise calories...atkins is quite extreme and there is a halfway house with carbs if you want to eat some carbs - I got great results on a low carb (rather than no carb) diet. Unlike atkins though my diet was a low(ish) fat - no butter or double cream.

So no wheat / rice / potatoes / sugar / oats but I did eat:

protein (obviously) including meat fish eggs tofu quorn
vegetables, including small portions of starchy ones like carrots
fat free dairy provided no sugar added
legumes (contains carbs but also protein)
occasional low sugar fruit eg 3-4 portions a WEEK apples, pears, berries only. def no bananas or fruit juice.
25g of nuts, ok to eat avocodo / olives in moderation (ie within MFP calorie limits)

Goodluck with whatever you decide!

am super busy this morning and really should not be on the pc. but just wanted to say - another 2lbs off this week!!!!!!!!!!!!

well done red on the weight loss and for staying focussed!

Wow well done red!!! Good work!!

Another 1lb ON this week. . Am not surprised tho. Have been terrible this week!

Hi everyone - may I join you? I started MFP on 1 feb and have lost 24lb. Am vegetarian so have not been as rigorous in cutting out carbs as many on here seem to, but still appears to have worked. Have also had a LOT of nights off - not so much for food, more for wine ;)

Prob bad time for me to join as going on holiday on fri (have a 4lb 'buffer zone' - so long as I stay under 11stone am happy). Starting weight was 12.7 and target 10.7. Currently 10.10. Am 5 foot 9.

Good luck with it everyone - am delighted it works - SW did absolutely nothing for me last year, nor did Paul McKenna of numerous other things I tried.

Well done red that's fantastic!! Woo hoo.

Rg I feel your pain.... Hate it when that happens. Your exercise always puts mine to shame. You are seriously dedicated.

forever had a look for 5k, only one I can find close by is in 3 wks. Really don't want to do charity one either as everyone is skint and hate asking for sponsors. I'll keep looking tho. Just back from a 3k run with maybe a bit of walking

Hi mater and welcome. Well done on your loss, thats fantastic!! We are all on mfp so let us know your name on there so we can add you.

Hi Mater - welcome! :o Feel free to add me on MFP - same user name as this one. :o Fantastic loss, btw!

Hairy - Have just discovered it's TOM today so that would (hopefully) account for the extra pound on. Phew! How did the 3k go? As much as i am always at the gym, i cant bare running lol. Maybe it's because it's just sooooo hard and i wobble and jiggle sooooo much!! haha!! :o