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 know exactly what you're saying red. My friend died a couple of nights ago. She had a car crash 8 months ago, survived threats of life support being turned off, got through a heart attack, a stroke, a collapsed lung and many many more injuries, only to die after a muscle graft operation. It put it all in perspective for me.

I really hope your friend and her baby are ok.

And your pics looked lovely

gibs - im really sorry to hear that.I dont know what to say :(

My friend, bless her, is only 20. Shes not with the father and he doesnt know anything about it at all. She had no idea she was expecting, her life was very turbulent while she was leaving him and she thought the sickness and constant eating/weight gain was due to that.
She back at home with her parents for the momment.

But i just think, from not knowing you were having a baby, to 4 weeks later having a very premature baby in an hospital an hour away.... That you cant even see daily. :(

Im seeing her friday, and am at a bit of a loss what to say to her to be honest. Im one of the few people shes told.

My bf's sil had a baby at 26 weeks. He's now a healthy bouncing baby at home, and although very small for his age, he has no apparent lasting effects. I'll pray that your friend is as lucky as her.

As for what you can say to her, I would just put my arms around her and let her cry/talk/shout as much as she needs to. Good luck.x

gil so sorry to hear about your friend, and red thinking about yours too, hard enough to have a baby at 20 by yourself without dealing with it being premature and far away.

Of course weight loss doesn't really matter in the scheme of things, but the way I see it is that my new WOE is an investment in my long term health which is important to me. I have been focussing on other reasons for eating well, because for me now its not really about weight loss. Things I am thinking about are for example, pcos symptoms, IBS & indigestion, not waking up in the night needing toilet anymore since I have been on diet (not sure why?!), also had long term anal fissure (couple of years) which gave constant pain and now seems to be better.

rg - food looked really great well done . re: carbs sometimes, depends whether you are aiming for a ketosis diet or not. Personally I decided a ketosis diet was not for me as too restrictive, esp it meant no fat free dairy (which I love). So I aim for low carb not no carb, which means that occasional treats are ok, eg skinny dipper ice lollies! My key is 7462 if you want to see what I am eating.....

sandstorm snacks - I love activia fat free yoghurts although there are some carbs in them. 25g of cashew nuts another nice snack.

Yeah - it is a long term investment for future health, totally agree, its just sometimes its almost impossible to think long term if you are going though a traumatic time. I was kind of beating myself up about the weight gain, but really, when i think of what ive gone though, to be honest, its amazing im still standing! :) Being committed enough to stick to a diet, or even thinking of anything more long term than the end of the day or week is sometimes impossible.

Im still going to lose the weight, i think im just going to not feel guilty about it.

also - had a mortifying momment at work. New maxi dress, floating downstairs to answer the door at work, talking to woman who makes a 'when are you due' comment.
Fucker!

i dont look pregnant at all, im chubby, but not pregnant looking. Have decided maxi dresses are awful things. Collegues fell about laughing and have told tales of when the same thing has happened to them.. even when they were thin.
People!

gggrrrr!

I know I shouldn't laugh but can a have a little snort? Bad Gilbonzo, bad. Sorry. You do have my most massive sympathies though because I carry all my weight on my stomach and boobs so people always think I'm knocked up. I remember nearly dying of embarrassment last summer when a french person asked me if I was pregnant at a party. I was so mortified (I had left the house thinking I looked great, then eaten more than a grape so bloated) that I forgot all my french (which is shocking at the best of times) and every time I attempted to say I wasn't, she assumed I was trying to say I was. She left not long after that thank God.

I've always wanted to wear a maxi dress - especially one with an empire line but the fear of that happening has always put me off. Although I have to say, I don't think the dress makes people look pregnant, I think men see a big flowing dress and automatically assume it's covering something.

And red saw your other thread and that it happened twice! Oh dear.

you are allowed to laugh. I DO NOT look pregnant at all. Ive been to vist 3 people this afternoon and asked all of them and they have all fallen about laughing.
Its the dress, its billowy.

and my boobs are fantastic. New lady at worked asked if they were real :) and she thought i was 23. So, those compliments counter act the others.

But bloody hell. twice in one day!!!! thats going to knock even my confidence! lol

Red - I do feel so much better after cutting out 90% of my carbs. I dont have half as much bloating and deffo dont have carby poos as much either (sorry for TMI!!) :o I'm really enjoying it! :o LOL @ your maxi moment!! I think i would have been mortified and would have gone out and bought a new outfit!!

Fingers crossed for your friend's little baby. Technology is so advanced these days - i'm sure baby will be fine. It certainly does put everything into perspective tho, doesn't it.

I think your camping pictures are fine btw and LOVE your supertent!!

Sandstorm - I have to admit that yesterday was a very good day for me, carb wise. Sometimes tho i end up going way over, either intentionally or unintentionally! Snack-wise, personally i go for Geo's bars and Eat Natural bars, as well as seeds as these are all pretty natural and guilt-free.

Gilbonzo - so sorry to hear about your friend. What a horrible thing to happen, especially after all the battling she did for the past 8 months. :(

Forever - I dont want a no carb diet. I just want to reduce my carbs as i know i was eating way too many carbs in a day and it was just doing me in! Will have a nosey at your diary, thanx! :o Erm..... what's your MFP name again??

Today was going very well foodwise (identical to yesterday in fact!) but then i made my infamous Beanburgers and slap that in a roll and bang goes my carb limit and almost my calorie limit too!! I did suggest to DP that we knock them on the head and only have them once in a while but seeing as we only have them once every five weeks I think the damage limitation is there already...... Spanish omelette for dinner tomorrow night so that should be fine. :)

Didn't do any cardio today - i was just sooo tired! DD has been a bit under the weather and woke me up at 1.30am with a croaky throat and then again at 5.30am wanting to come into our bed. Plus i was at the gym last night doing body pump so didn't really have the energy to do a step class first and then pump after that so took the easy option and just did pump. Am going to give Spin another go this weekend too. I really need to up my cardio and i'm not getting enough satisfying cardio work outs at the mo.

Right, off to make my food for work tomorrow. N'night all! :o

RG don't want to post my MFP name here as its my real name but I'm the one feeding the birds.

I agree about ketosis - no carb diet, think too extreme. I've had great success with less carbs rather than no carbs, although did have yummy del monte fruit smoothie ice lolly this evening....

Found you, forever.

btw - im not in any of my camping pics.. ??? is that why i look fine in them? lol

Glad your liking the lower carb thing, ive found it makes a huge difference to how i feel too. whats this beanburger?? sounds nice.. can we have a reciepe? Could you have them in a pita? warpped in lettuce leaves instead? ( so you still get to have them?)

Well I was 8s 9.4lbs (21.7%) this morning which is the lightest I've ever been (well since I was a teenager I guess), am still loosing 1lb a week on average. Not sure how sustainable this is, but don't want to eat more as feeling so great on this WOE.

Red - exactly my point! :o

The beanburger is an immense piece of ingenuity! My DD (3 yo) absolutely LOVES them and DP and i love them with some added dried chillies, a la spicy beanburger stylee!

It's simple:

400g tin baked beans, drained
45g cheddar, grated
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp herbs of your choice (i use parsley)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 egg, lightly beaten
100g soft brown breadcrumbs
Freshly ground black pepper

For the coating:
Dried breadcrumbs

(I think that's it!)

1. Drain the beans, put into a bowl and mash with a fork.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and then form into patties (normally around 6-8).
3. Cover in dried breadcrumbs. Put on a plate, cover with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for about 30 mins.
4. Heat some oil in a frying pan and slowly fry them, turning now and then until golden brown.

Great idea about having them in a pitta or a lettuce leaf! Maybe even a chapati too?? hmmm, the possibilities are endless! :o

Forever - wow, you are doing so well! Am very of you! They should have an emoticon for "in awe" too! :o

Could use oatbran in the beanburgers instead of breadcrumbs, esp for the coating which would make it superhealthy! It is carbs but very high in soluble fibre so it doesn't really count as carbs.

Oooo great idea Forever! Thanx for that! :o

I always experimented with healthier versions of food, some changes work well, others are less good!

I would also try adding quark instead of the cheese and see if it worked well.

Hmmm could try quark. What puts me off tho is the enormous tub it comes in and for the tiny amount that i need, it hardly seems worth buying it, especially as i very very rarely eat cheese these days......

Fair enough re: quark, I spread on oatcakes or ryvita. Or use to do smoked salmon and cream cheese salad. I have some in fridge at the moment so might try. I like it as unlike fromage frais and yohurt its more solid!

The beanburgers sound nice. The whole cheesy beany thing. Ah, god. i love a cheesy beany jacket potato.

I am STARVING today, VERY VERY hungry.

Still, there is no room for cheating at all after this last weekend. Does anyone else feel a little offput salad at the momment with this whole cucumber ecoli thing? Yeah - my salad was not enjoyed quite so much today.

Well, its a new month, and having not got on the scales to mark the end of the month, im going to go with the last figure i had, which was 8lbs lost in may :) ( although that was a whole week before the end of the month)

Not bad going at all.
Im hoping for the same in june. Actually, im hoping to make it to 2 stone lost by the end of this month - Why?

Because im going to see TAKE THAT!!! and if im going to throw myself at howard i want to look awesome!

ANyone else got a goal for this month?

Hi guys,

Just signed up to MFP, was just wondering can you change your user name? If so how?

I may just be being stupid, but it's not letting me!

b4beatrice - have messaged you my MFP username.

b4beatrice - go to settings (at top) and then change username....

maybe I should change my mumsnet username, feel quite upset someone was very rude to me today - someone else said what treats if low carbing. she said no treats as can't stop at one. I said I didn't agree because part of being on a diet was to learn to have one treat and then stop. And then she was very rude saying I was bitchy and jealous becauase i was "foreverondiet" as she'd lost 98lbs (she had 138lbs to go, so clearly still very overweight).

Big thanks to RG who was supportive.

red wow 8lbs in May is excellent. It might even have been more. Well done. I lost 4lbs in May which I was happy with as my weight loss is much slower now. My target for June is to get down to 20% body fat and not gain any weight. I also had salad tonight but didn't really enjoy it.

I am now obsessed with diet books have ordered 2 more - Zoe Harcombe and also the Lean and Clean diet book - my feelings now are that eating unprocessed food is the best way forward. I need to find longer term WOE that I can stick to.....

Hello all, I have missed your inspiration and your funny stories, will go back and catch up a bit I think!

Anyway back from holiday and got on the scales - had put on 7lbs , however weighed again today and think it may have been a bloatey glitch as am back to 183lbs (not good but what I was expecting after the holiday and built it in to my long term plan tbh). Holiday was lovely but I came back with a perforated ear drum and a dd with gastro. Fab, didn't really help me feel inspired for food or diet tbh. But am getting back on track again and hoping that those extra pounds will fall off by next week, fingers crossed!