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?

[foreverondiet]

Haven't looked at MFP for maintenance programme, as I said sticking with 1200 until holiday and no doubt afterwards for a week or so until back down to 9 stone.

Plan then to increase calories very very gradually. ie 50 a day, increasing each week, whilst watching scales. I know I could loose more now, as its still coming off easily (and still think bum/thighs too fat) but realistically have never been this low so don't think maintaining lower weight going to be possible.

[tookoolforskool]

thats really amazing, and more amazing that its still coming off easily. you must be really proud.
just goes to show that as long as you stick with it, then it does work.

Good plan with the maintaining as well.. to do it slowly. you might lose a bit, then gain a bit.. but then i bet it will even out.. plus all the exercising you are doing now as well.

huge congrats :)

[ChocolateEggyrolls]

I'm a coming to join you if thats ok? Figgyrolls on mfp so don't defriend me.........please?

Have so far lost 27lbs from full term pg weight (well I did have a 5lb baby so I think I've done quite well really but its all in the mind and makes me feel better!!!!!) Am 10lbs off lightest weight in nearly 4 years (2 babies) however I actually would like to lose in total from here 50lbs (4 ish stone?) to be in the middle of my healthiest bmi and give me wriggle room for treats . Am fed up of my fatness at the moment and so am feeling hopefully inspired, excercise is a bit of an issue though as have a very non sleeping child who is making my life very tiring - but I AM NOT REACHING FOR THE CHOCCIE BICCIES FOR ENERGY although I also have very little energy for full on excercise!

[foreverondiet]

I think its coming off easily because of high protein low carb diet. I reached plateau in January at 10 stone 4 on basically 1200 calories a day but with "normal" proportion of starchy carbs (still healthy ones, like shredded wheat for breakfast, wholemeal bread sandwich for lunch, plus small serving rice etc in evening) plus 2-3 pieces of friut a day including bananas.

Now really believe its the quality of the food rather than the quantity that makes the difference. Love having eggs for breakfast!

re: exercising - have always done this much (have been member of gym since 1998!) just when pregnanct and breastfeeding exercise was at lower intensity.

And welcome chocolateeggyrolls

[tookoolforskool]

eggs are fab. i shall be having two boiled ones shortly... i have no idea why, but the seem really indulgent and a treat. Its the yolks i think. i love egg yolks.

Ah -im careful on the fruit front, no bananas and ive read its best to avoid exotic fruit as that has high sugar.. and its best to eat ones where you eat the skins too, such as berries, or apples, pears.. that kind of thing.

i really hope to be where you are ( or thereabouts in 6 months time, heck, id just be pleased to be a size 12)

and welcome chocolateeggyrolls.

[ChocolateEggyrolls]

Thank you! I started out thinking I would attempt the Dukan Diet however on reflection I am still bf (albeit only at night) and I think cutting fruit/veg/salad out even for 5 days would be a poor idea at the moment. However I am trying to really lower my carb intake.

Meals yesterday

Breakfast - low fat fruit yoghurt approx 150g
Lunch - onion and chive cottage cheese (av pot - the small ones in supermarket 1.4% fat) and 300g cooked prawns
snack - 3 mini cheddars - well they were hanging around and I was peckish (very very naughty I know!!!)
Supper - Chicken tikka made with fresh chicken, tikka paste (3 spoonfuls for dh and I) and a small low fat yoghurt and some remaining buttermilk, sauteed pak choi - with a small amount of oil - the spray stuff - and a large salad with tomato, cucumber, lettuce, beetroot strands, celery and a tomato vinagrette, for a post supper pudding I had some Greek Yoghurt and strawberries with 2 tablespoons of oatbran mixed in to amke it fuller

do you reckon thats good? Do I need to add more/take away, am trying to low carb it as I am a carb fiend so reckoned it would be good to get rid of some carbs anyway!!! (I.e if I'd had the baked pot dh had I would have slathered it with butter therefore by taking away that temptation I couldn't do the butter on it!!!!)

[tookoolforskool]

3 mini cheddars isnt bad! :)
sounds like a nice days worth of food to me, quite alot of prawns though, maybe half that, with salad or something?
What did my fitness pal work it out as cal wise?
if it says its ok, then its ok.

only thing is maybe its quite a small amout of food during the day before supper, which might lead to snacking because you are hungry.

Took me a week or two to get the hang of eating 1200 cals and spacing it out throughout the day so im not hungry and so less likely to cheat.

[tookoolforskool]

and there is nothing wrong with a little bit of butter, in fact im sure i read that for most veg a small amout of butter on them helps absorbation of vitimins/minerals etc... I think that was in some jillian michaels book.

In fact a baked potato isnt bad either, i think its just if you are carb after carb after carb for every meal, that is not so good.

[ChocolateEggyrolls]

Ooh,will go and see what mfp says about my meal!

The thing is though that I can't just stop at a little bit of butter so I thought by not leading myself into temptation I wouldn't go ott with the butter! (I love butter )

Wow - just checked - was 200g of prawns and total calorie content of 130! with the cottage cheese at 225. Thats not too bad is it although I appreciate that it would be better to have more calories during the day rather than at night but dh likes his main meal then

[TitsalinaBumSquash]

Welcome ChocolateEggyrolls

I know it was different times of day that made the 3lbs difference but I am in the habit of weighing on a Thursday morning first thing, my scales live next to my bed. I never weigh more than once a week because I know it isn't productive so I was just getting back into routine.

I am currently 152lbs my fist goal is 140lbs not to bothered when it happens eventually I will want to be 126lbs, I am only 5ft so do have quite a bit to loose to be an 'ideal' weight.

I have just gutted and de-cluttered my boys bedroom, took me 3 hours and I have ended up with 6 full bin bags of old clothes, toys, books and rubbish. I don't usually include housework in my exercise but this was hard work so I included an hour to my diary!

[BettyButterknife]

Wow, forever - well done!!!! What an achievement. I can't imagine what that will feel like :) Looking forward to finding out.

I had a rubbish day yesterday, and had to have a really speedy supper as I had a meeting to get to as soon as the kids were down. Ended up having filled pasta with pesto... couldn't eat it all though, as it tasted so stodgy. Also ended up having a couple of cakes at the meeting, so I think yesterday was my cheat day!

Back on the straight and narrow today. One of my tips that I've found really works for me so far, is to make everything you eat really visually appealing. So rather than just peeling an orange and eating it on the go, I put it on a plate and sit and enjoy it properly. Likewise, a yoghurt - I decant it into a really nice bowl along with the rest of my meal and try to appreciate what I'm eating. Weirdly yoghurts seem a lot bigger when in a bowl rather than a pot! Also, water seems nicer from a wine glass. Am playing mind games with myself.

My other tip is to save some kind of reminder message to your phone wallpaper. This is what I have on my home screen:
instagr.am/p/CNKek/

Anyone else got a good tip to share?

Hi to the newbies, think I've added everyone. There's quite a gang of us now, isn't there? :)

[foreverondiet]

chocolate - I agree strict dukan not ideal when bfing, but you could do it but not have any protein days (ie protein and veggies every day?). Cuting out fruit isn't a problem if you eat enough veggies. Personally one yoghurt seems to me like tiny breakfast, I have 2 yoghurts and 2 eggs and oatbran.

re: big evening meal. I just make rice/pasta/potaotes for DH and then don't eat any. I have the protein and veggies he has his big meal. Then I log everything into MFP and only allow myself extra dessert/treat if I have calories left.

And yes never ever eat on the move. Always sit down and saviour each bite.

Add me on MFP - you'll see me as a friend of everyone else, I'm feeding the birds in a zoo!

[MouseWheat]

Hi ChocolateEggyrolls.

Well I'm failing dismally at following anything that resembles a low GI diet and I am shamelessly blaming this on the DC and the chaos that comes with stupidly having two children close together. It has absolutely nothing to do with me being completely disorganized at the moment.

Anyway I have decided that I am going to focus on exercise and listening to the Paul McKenna cd's as this has worked for me in the past. I don't think I'm in the right mindset for anything too restrictive just now.

Titsalina I felt guilty at first passing off cleaning as exercise but if it's good enough for MFP, it's good enough for me! I do worry that the calories burned are inaccurate though so tend to declare slightly less mins than I've actually done just in case. Anyway, baby in bed - I'm off to vigorously clean something!

[MouseWheat]

Betty when I lived alone (pre-babies), I once did slimming world and every time I lost a pound I would buy a 500g block of lard. Completely impractical now but it was a fantastic visual reminder of how far I'd come every time I opened the fridge. When I fell off the wagon I used to put them in carrier bags so I could feel their combined weight! God, that sounds sad!

[foreverondiet]

MouseWheat I think of it now in terms of DC.

Eg when I lost DS2's weight (first stone), when I lost DS1's weight (2.5 stone). DD is 7 and is 3 stone 8 lbs but I'm at target and have lost 3 stone 5lbs which is pretty close and she is heavy!

[MouseWheat]

Forever DD1 is 2.5 stone which is pretty much what i need to lose - don't know whether to be encouraged or cry! She seems sooo heavy!

[foreverondiet]

mousewheat Keep on picking her up. Also work out how long it will take to loose weight equivalent to your younger child, and focus on that for now.

[TitsalinaBumSquash]

When I went to Slimming World the consultant had a big, gross, yellow jelly thing that represented 2lbs of fat, she would hand it round saying, 'imagine that round your stomach or on your bum' it always made me gag, and when I lost 2lbs she would say 'look you have lost this!' It was a great feeling.

I have a fun night of ironing and Martina Cole's 'The Runaways' ahead of me tonight.

[worriermum]

Hi everyone, nice to see our thread is trundling on. Welcome to the newbies. Please add me to your friends list too: I am 'wouldbegood' on MFP.

Forever, I have now signed up to do a bit of a triathlon, and its all thanks to you. I'm part of a team, doing what has been termed an 'intermediate' triathlon. One friend swims, one friend runs and I only have to do the cyclng in between, and then only 6km. But still, it's a start. The scary thing is that I went for a cycle tonight with DS, who is 7, AND I COULD NOT KEEP UP WITH HIM!!! He's a sporty little blighter but still...I was stunned - a real wake up call. I had no idea I was that unfit. So thank you Forever for prodding me towards some exercise.

Confession time: I havent yet, not even once, made 1200 calories on MFP. But I think I am losing a teeny bit and once my eating pattern has settled and I am calmer about it all I will tighten up the regime and go for a more stringent diet. For now, I am loving MFP. It is helping me to eat less and to eat better. I am learning a lot: for example that the plate of spaghetti napoletana with chilli in the restaurant tonight was a stonking 685 calories!!! I am amazed. I really have been a bit clueless about dieting: I vaguely thought anything with a tomato sauce is okay. But Forever...do you NEVER eat white carbs ? Is life really worth living without pasta ??

[foreverondiet]

worriermum well done on signing up to bike ride. 6km is a nice distance, around 20 mins.

re: the 1200 do not worry about it for now. my target was higher initially. 1400 more realistic.

re: carbs. I am reintroducing them back into diet want to maintain 9 stone, initially introducing carbs and then will try and increase calories too. but no will probably not ever eat massive plate of pasta again, esp not white pasta. TBH giving up ice cream would be a problem (had 30g of haagen dazs again today!) also had some quinoa with dinner but white pasta doesn't really do it for me. i'd never go for pasta in a restuarant though (even when i wasn't fussy about diet), genuinely prefer meat/fish/salad.

[RGPargy]

Hi everyone, mind if i join you? I've been on MFP since January 2011 but have only lost 6lb. My main trouble is getting to grips with how little i actually need to survive and not being greedy! I've got a lovely 1,590 calories per day (plus exercise calories) to eat but i still keep going over, ggrrr!!

I have to learn to portionate, that is my MAIN problem!

Please feel free to add me on MFP. My user name is RGPargy :o

[ChocolateEggyrolls]

RGPargy - you are so lucky I got 1200 !

I worked something out today which makes me realise that I might stick it out until the end of the week -

1. I started off doing this as the Dukan diet, therefore I have cheated everyday by not following it to the letter - must be psychological!!!!
   

1. I genuinely don't want to be fat any more!
   

Although my excercise might not be what I want it to be at the moment I really hope that I might be able to do more when I am not feeling quite so knackered!!!!!!

[foreverondiet]

chocolate - I have been doing MFP as dukan/south beach meets 1200 calories a day. Sort of think that if its allowed on either dukan or south beach its ok to eat, and if its not then calorie limit restricts the diet. Has worked for me, good luck. Dukan is a bit hardcore if done strictly, I think best reserved for if you have a plateau then can do it for for a couple of weeks.

waves at rgpargy - trick is to eat mountains of veggies, I ate HUGE dinner tonight but it was 75% vegetables - around 450 calories. I seem to need to feel really full after dinner otherwise snack all evening.

[RGPargy]

Chocolate - i would much rather have 1200 cals and be slimmer!! The key is to exercise lots and then that way you get to eat all your exercise calories too! Yay!! I have no trouble with the exercise thing at all. For the past 2 years i've been going to the gym 5 times a week and doing 1 or 2 classes per day, so that's not my issue at all!

Forever - yes, you are right re veggies. I love veggies and years ago (when i was crash dieting) i used to just eat veggies on their own with some currified gravy over the top. Yummy!

Erm.... what is Dukan???

My friend at work has been doing slimming world for the past few weeks (she is so thin i'm surprised they even took her on!) and on her first week she lost 6lbs!!! Its tempting to join up but i hate paying all these fees..... What i have done however is to print off a few of their recipes from their website as i am always in need of dinner ideas! Slimming world does seem a bit too good to be true tho, so i am very reluctant to believe it. Having said that, i did go on it for a few weeks many years ago and lost a bit of weight with it so i know it does work.

I think forward DAYTIME planning is the key to success for me. It's all very well planning my dinners for the next 5 weeks but i actually need to plan EVERY meal in order for me to NOT cheat and go over my calories!

[foreverondiet]

RGPargy if you want to try slimming world on the "cheap" buy their magazines and follow meal plan and log it all in MFP. I'd also resent paying for slimming club - paid £30 for 6 months of tesco and even thought that was too much!

I eat meals like you describe (veggies in chopped tomatoes) just add some very low fat protein like quorn pieces or quorn mince.

Dukan is a high protein, low carb, low fat diet. Basically for the first 5 days and then every second day you just eat lean protein (no veggies) - so lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, low fat dairy, tofu, quorn and also oatbran as source soluble fibre. Then every 2nd day allowed veggies (not fruit though).

Will also say I didn't generally eat exercise calories.... what suited me more was to not eat, and then know that if I had a cheat meal at the weekend it wouldn't matter.