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 - just for the last week or so I stopped having breakfast as soon as I woke up and had it at about half ten instead. Then I had a snack mid afternoon and a meal in the evening; I wasn't getting hungry, was eating good stuff and it worked. But then one slight slip at the weekend undid it all. I really don't understand how my body works...

cherry - not convinced that a late breakfast is a good idea. From what I have read best to eat shortly after getting up, (ideally within 30 mins of waking up), eating it later slows down metabolism - its likely that this is what has happened to you, hence gaining when you ate three meals. Tim Feriss talks about this in detail in his 4 hour body book.

I wake up hungry in the morning and eat a big breakfast (2 eggs and yoghurt). And I'm hungry by lunchtime.

Personally I think go back to eating 3 meals each day.

Hi Football and welcome! I have added you as a friend on MFP :)

P&W - well done on the 5lb loss! That's fantastic!

Cherry - I second what Forever says about breakfasting. I always wake up hungry, although i eat breakfast probably around an hour after waking up as DD and I normally sloth around in bed first thing in the morning and watch kids TV for a bit (i refuse to get out of bed at 6am on a non-work day!). The only time i eat breakfast a few hours after waking up is on a work day as i dont have time to have breakfast until i get to work. I'm up at 5.30am and out of the house by 7am but generally have to get my DD ready too (who of course has no sense or urgency!) and then dont get to work til 9am by which time i'm starving!

Welcome football :)

Feel like I've got off to a fairly good start with MFP but now feel it's time to get a bit more serious, so am taking the following steps:

• Increase my 'weekly loss target' to 1.5lbs from 1lb
• Review my breakfast and lunch choices to find healthier alternatives
• Find a way to get some regular exercise that isn't just walking or running around after my son

Now it's down in writing I HAVE to do it :)

If anyone has any good suggestions for healthy and filling breakfast and lunch choices that are quickish to prepare, I'd really appreciate them TIA.

I guess I eat very soon after I wake up. Alarm goes off at 7am and work day or not (I work 3 days), so get up and the wake the DC as DD and DS1 need to leave the house for school at 8.15am. We are all eating breakfast by around 7.45am. It is very rushed but important to me to eat breakfast before I go out.

On Sunday I go straight to gym without eating for 8am when it opens - if I ate and went straight there would have indigestion. On Saturday I guess it varies depending on how hungry I am.

You might be right - I'm usually totally incapable of functioning without my eggs for breakfast, but last week I started waking up feeling a bit bloated and not wanting to eat. So I thought if I ate later with a snack in the afternoon it make keep my calorie intake down, but I'm not convinced it's the way forward. Anyway, am back to being ravenous at 7.30am so back to my old ways...

Well, I'm off on holiday tomorrow. Despite my car dying today and some bastard wanker stealing £115 from my account. I have to say I couldn't give a shit about calories right now. I just need to have a good time and get away from things for a few days.

I'll be back on Monday ready to regret that last sentence!!

Have gone over my cal allowance today because I've had my Dad and Step-mum over for a nice meal and several glasses a glass of wine, but I've run 3 miles today and shaved a min per mile off my time and I'm still under my weekly average cal allowance so Im not stressing. Going to get up early tomorrow and do a Davina workout so that should help. Hope you've all had a good day. I'm gingerslimmer on MFP if anyone wants to add me as a friend. Big thanks to those who already have xx

Duh! The several glasses glass of wine has addled my brain and I forgot to ask the question I came on to ask!! I've got the iPhone app. I logged my first weight loss as 5lbs but it's still showing my loss as 0lbs. It seems to have just amended my starting weight . What have I done wrong?

Gilbonzo - have a fab holiday and dont worry about it til you get back. Not great advice but if i were going on holiday i wouldn't worry about calories either!

Not sure about the problem with the iphone app - are you sure you have set it up right and you're not actually amending your starting weight?? You should be able to amend your weight from the "progress" button at the bottom of the screen......

football - will add you now.

im de-lurking to ask for some 'there there' mumberlings

my trusty 2.99 tesco scales were up graded this morning as weight watches scales are half price in argos, they do body fat, h2o levels etc

they have me at 11 lbs more than trusty 2.99 scales, which means the stone i have lost this past month i have to lose all over again

ezzie - well done on losing a stone in a month! Might have a look at those in Argos but I don't think I could bear it if they are meaner than the ones I already have...

thanks cheeryburton, i was so pleased at a stone lost and 6 inches off my belly

i guess its a kick up the arse i needed at this point to keep going again

Hi ladies, I hope its not too late to join. I've just signed up to MFP after reading this thread as nikosmum. Hoping to get some motivation and tips. I had a baby about a year ago and I think sometime after having him I gave up with keeping on top of the weight, now I've gone back to work and that's when its hit me. I need to lose over 3 stone.

Hi nikosmum have added you on mfp. Good luck with the weightloss, I've been on there a short time too but finding it incredibly useful so far, am in the same boat as you, my ds is 13months old.

Ezzie, what a complete shitter, but you have still lost a stone and 6 inches so in a way what the scales say is less important. You're already on the way down anyway so you can do it! What's your mfp name?

Ezzie - hello and welcome! :o Well done on losing a stone, regardless of the number the scales say!

Hi Nikosmum and welcome to you too! Well done on joining MFP. It's such a great site and the calorie and exercise counter is fabulous too! slight word of warming tho - when you log your exercises, the MFP site tends to over estimate the amount of calories burned by quite a bit so be warned (and maybe dont eat your exercise calories?).

Feel free to add me as a friend on there. Same username as this one. :o

im ezzie1uk

having just gone back thru my meals...there is no consistency with my days, except i eat on the run alot fast food whilst picking up/dropping off a selection of teenagers

Hello new people!

Well, we're back. We had the most fantastic long weekend in La Rochelle which involved loads of walking and not much eating - wooo! We were in a self-catering apartment so it was easy to choose healthy food (even though dh and the brats went all out with fried breakfasts while I had a banana ). I love architecture and beaches so it was the ideal place for exercising. I'm gutted we didn't take the bikes though as it's like a mini Amsterdam with all the bike paths. I did partake in the odd vodka but with diet coke so fingers crossed that won't have done too much harm. I'm going to jump on the scales in the morning and think light thoughts (although I'm due on any day so I'll allow myself a kg).

Anyway, back to reality.......

Glad you had a great break Gil. I wouldn't worry about WI tomorrow too much but I'll be thinking light thoughts for you!

Hello to new people too - I've added you over on MFP. I tend to post more over there than here.

Anyway, today I was 30 cals under my limit and it told me I was undereating and in danger of going into starvation mode. I didn't take it too seriously though as yesterday I had a complete blowout and was about 6/700 calories over! Made me smile anyway.

hi all

pc is sort of fixed. hopefully. bloody good job as its like my arm has been cut off or something. Actually missed the support of this board, and its made a difference in my eating for sure.
For various reasons, including nights out and hosting art thingys and fathers day bbqs and hangovers from hell... this week has been awful food wise.
BUT - ive been dieting 3 months, lost almost 2 stone and its my first bad week. Ive not been totally stuffing my face, but its not been good.
BUT - on the other hand, im feeling good. ive uploaded some new pics on facebook and im starting to be a lot happier about how i look.. there are even some of me in a swimming costume in the hot tub. My size 14 skinny jeans are loose at the waist and i wore a size 12 tshirt today.
I still have more to lose, and im back on it monday... but you know, feeling quite pleased with myself.

Also went out friday, and didnt feel awful, or like the fattest one in the bar, and actually thought i looked quite good :)

Big steps huh.

Welcome back gilbonzo!! I would have been gutted if i'd have missed out on all those bike trails too!! Nevermind, you can insist on taking your bike next time Well done on restraining yourself with the fried breakfasts!! I'm not sure i could have done! Dont be too hard on yourself at your WI tomorrow. Holidays are meant to be just that. A holiday - from everything! :o

Hi Red! Nice to have you back! I think one bad week in 3 months is pretty good going so well done! Excellent stuff re the size 12 top! I haven't worn a size 12 in about 18 years lol

WI day for me tomorrow. It's also TOM too but i've not eaten an awful lot today coz i had a dodgy tummy yesterday (very painful to touch, sort of above my tummy button area). Not sure if it was caused by eating spaghetti (haven't done any shopping for a while so we're scraping out the contents of the cupboards lol) or whether it was due to TOM or even a bug. Who knows?!

I will be thinking light thoughts to all of you who are also weighing in tomorrow morning. I am nervous but excited as i think i am deffo in the 16 stone bracket now and finally out of the 17s. I have been weighing daily but tomorrow I will weigh my official weight, so who knows!

:o

Hi All!
rgpargy wow saw your loss on MFP, really well done. I guess now you know what you need to do - I found it much easier once the scales were moving, just gives a confidence that its all worth it.

red you've done so well, ok to have a bad week once in a while. And the main thing is to be able to get back onto it!

gil glad you had nice holiday

2 new things though to comment on:

1. I bought a great diet book - most of you know that I am a bit addicted to buying diet books but this one really is very good - "adore yourself slim" by Lisa Jackson. Combo of lowish carbs / hypnotheraphy / exercise.

2. Am v v excited as my friend is going to lend me her ki fit. Have you heard of it? Its a thing that you wear 24/7 and it monitors how many calories you use. How cool is that. Would never buy one as v expensive and actually once you wore for a month you'd know how many calories everything used. Will be cool though to see how many calories a gym session ACTUALLY is.

My weight isn't budging (8 10) - which is fine, but body fat is dropping nicely (since triathlon am doing more weights, esp upper body) - scales said 19.1% this morning which is a new low, and its been under 21% for a week now. I'd like to get to 18%, although want to get it verified by gym instructor with callipers (sadly the only instructor who can measure body fat is hardly ever around) rather than just rely on scales. Am aching a bit from the weights but don't mind . For me now each % body fat is equivalent to just over 1lb of fat - so am nearly there.

Hi everyone! Blimey it's quiet on here today!

Forever - thanx! It's just the boost i needed! I cant believe that i've been on MFP since January and lost 2lbs and then as soon as i drop my carbs, three weeks later i've lost 12lb, making my first stone! It's really noticing too coz the girls at the gym are coming over and commenting on my weight loss! It's great! :o My jeans are pretty much hanging off me and i can even take my jeans off without even undoing my belt haha!! Looking forward to getting into the 15 stone mark now! Yay!!

Cant say i've ever heard of a ki fit but i have heard of some sort of monitor that you wear all day to find out how many cals you burn in an entire day. I'm not bothered about the rest of the day but when i'm at the gym i ALWAYS wear my heart rate monitor so i can get an accurate calorie burn. I cant imagine working out without it now!

Well done on your body fat %! That's awesome! the last time I checked, my scales said my body fat was about 61%!!!!!!!

No gym for me today. It's TOM (and yes, i still lost 3lbs!!!) which causes my legs to feel really heavy and a bit achey so i didn't want to go and do the new body balance (which is apparently REALLY hard on the legs) coz i have step and pump in the morning. My gym friend would call me lazy but i would call it sensible.

RGPargy wow fab that its TOM and you still lost 3lb, bet next week will be good loss too. Have seen what you are eating and weight will fall off if you continue like that.