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Weight loss chat

A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Original poster

Just signed up at 'My Fitness Pal'. Any advice, experience, or desire to join me?

999 replies

worriermum · 06/04/2011 08:38

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 weightSad. 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?

OP posts:
tookoolforskool · 19/04/2011 08:50

1.5lbs off this week.
not bad.
( esp since ive had a a fair few cakes and chocolates , again!!

Treat meal at pizza hut today, might try and log it, out of interest. but i expect to go way way way over my 1200 cals today. Prob wont eat dinner, but still.. going to be way over.

Am hosting an easter sunday bbq and egg hunt this week too. Not a hope in hell of eating well that day. But am going to make sure im really really good the rest of the week. No chocolate or cakes on any other day. If i see even a 1lb weight loss next week quite frankly ill be amazed and super pleased.

ChocolateEggyrolls · 19/04/2011 08:55

Hmm, Easter - can I stick to the plan do you think?

I really hope so - or at least get loads of excercise in to help me out!

tookoolforskool · 19/04/2011 09:12

im just going to write easter sunday off i think.

because it will just be a chocolate fest and really. its one day. Family and friends.. life happens :)
BUT there will be no chocolate or cake eating from me for the rest of the week ( and this will be HARD) and then after the sunday there will be no chocolate or cake eating for another WHOLE WEEK) because im going to a royal wedding type party thing on the friday.

literally if i manage to lose another 1lb the rest of this month ill be pleased. ideally id like to lose 4lbs which will take me to a stone. but cant see that happening.

QueenStromba · 19/04/2011 10:43

Hi guys, can I join in please? Here's my weigh in:

QueenStromba: 14s 6lbs, Target: 10s 0lbs. Hips 49 Waist 43 Bust 50 Thigh 23.

All of my weight is around my middle so I'm doing low GI and lowish carb and am only allowing myself alcohol once a week. I've been dieting since last Monday and have lost 8 pounds :)

I'm QueenStromba on MFP too.

ChocolateEggyrolls · 19/04/2011 10:50

Have added you as a friend and welcome to my fellow newbie! You and I have the same target weight

ChocolateEggyrolls · 19/04/2011 10:52

Ooh have just discovered the BMR calculator and apparently if I stay in bed all day I would use 1569 calories. Interesting!

GilbonzoTheSecretPsychoDuck · 19/04/2011 11:34

I've added you Queen and welcome Smile

Does anyone know if we're supposed to eat our exercise calories or not? I've been ignoring them and just sticking to my goal amount as I can't see the point in doing the exercise and then eating what I've just worked off. But now I'm worrying that I may not be eating enough if I'm doing this and I'll get stuck in the starving/bingeing rut again......oh it's so complicated! If I read another thread where someone comments that losing weight is a simple case of cals in vs cals out I'm going to scream!

hairypotter · 19/04/2011 12:00

Hi queen welcome, I've added you as well.

gilbonzo im eating some of exercise calories, I think i'll have more chance of sticking to this if I'm not feeling to deprived.

ChocolateEggyrolls · 19/04/2011 21:25

I've just been told off by mfp for not eating enough - do you think I could make up the calories with chocolate buttons? Grin

QueenStromba · 19/04/2011 23:47

Thanks for the warm welcome. Met a friend in the pub this evening and I was going to be good and drink vodka and soda and get a salad but in the end I decided to have a cheat day so had some beer and ordered fish and chips. I only ate half the fish and chips - I actually stopped eating when I stopped being hungry rather than stuffing myself to bursting point! I also only had 2.5 pints and a vodka which is very little for me. I put it all into MFP anyway and even though I've gone over for the day it still reckons I'd be 3 pounds lighter in 5 weeks if I did that every day :)

Original poster
worriermum · 20/04/2011 07:56

Hi, just checking in with you all and welcome to Queenie. Gilbo my understanding, from Weight Watchers all those years ago, is that yes, most definitely you can eat your exercise calories and still maintain your weight loss. YOu should lose more if you dont eat back your exercise calories.

Hasnt been a great week so far but hey ho, I'm hanging in with MFP and I have started daily cycling (I'm doing a short team cycle of 6km on the 30th -big incentive for me). I am vastly encouraged by what tookool said - I'm hoping the diet thing will stabilise soon.

OP posts:
ChocolateEggyrolls · 20/04/2011 14:38

Can someone come and kick me up the backside please?

I am really cross with myself, for 10 days I have been so so so good about the food that I eat, I have had one cheat day which was when I met up with my cousins after my aunt died and had 2 glasses of wine in addition to lots of bits and pieces (think I mentioned it above) but I wasn't terrible I really wasn't. The night my Aunt passed away I had 2 drinks which I logged but wasn't in the mood for supper so didn't have it. Anyway to cut a long story short dh decided at the last minute to work from home this morning after a meeting was cancelled - I did the charitable thing and took the dc's out and we decided to go to the cinema where I munched through some popcorn only to come back and try and log it to discover it is full to the brim with calories. I am so cross with myself I could actually cry. Ridiculous isn't it, purely ridiculous to want to cry over something like that.

foreverondiet · 21/04/2011 06:06

You are supposed to eat the exercise calories but I generally kept them for my cheat day maybe eating some (150-200?) on the day I earned them.

QueenStromba · 21/04/2011 08:56

Don't you beat yourself up about it too much ChocolateEggyrolls, you didn't know how many calories was in it and popcorn really isn't something that you'd think of as being high calorie. Try not to dwell on it, you'll know next time not to have much of it.

ChocolateEggyrolls · 21/04/2011 09:08

I have to say I feel better about it todya but it really gave me a shock, I now know what I should and shouldn't be putting near my face and will stick to fruit as a snack I think!

tookoolforskool · 21/04/2011 09:15

thats a good thing then isnt it :) thats the great thing about MFP.

i always thought chocolate covered raisings would be a better choice than say, malteasers, on account that they are mostly raisin...therefore i could eat more of them. WRONG!

scoffed the rest of the packet last night ( could have thrown them out i supose.. but how unlikely is that!)

wont be buying them again.

Feel a little bit sick this morning :(

ChocolateEggyrolls · 21/04/2011 11:23

Have just got rid of the popcorn by spending 30 mins on the wii fit - was wanting to see how much weight I had lost on it as it had been a month since I last tried it out - err 2lbs, got to be bollocks though as I know I weigh less than that Grin

Anyway, had a bit of fun and apparently burnt off 191 calories, although I only went on it to log my weight so am now massively behind on the household chores Blush oops.

GilbonzoTheSecretPsychoDuck · 21/04/2011 11:36

Is anyone else having problems with MFP today? I'm trying to add a meal and everytime I find the food I need and try to add it, it says they have encountered an error. It's doing my head in because I want to have lunch (we're an hour ahead here) and I need to know how much dinner will be so I know what I can have. Grrrrr. Still, it's delaying the start of my afternoon of filing.....

RGPargy · 21/04/2011 12:20

Hi Everyone!!

Welcome Queenie! :o

Forever - glad you made it! The tea room does sound rather tempting tho. I'm not sure i could be strong enough to resist stuffing my face and worrying about the consequences later...... Hmm

Gilbonzo - yes MFP is playing up today. What a pain!! As for exercise calories, you are DEFINITELY meant to eat them back, otherwise your body will be in a calorie deficit which will mean you wont lose weight. For example, if you are on 1200 cals a day, but burn off 500 doing some exercise, you will only have supplied your body with 700 calories (which isn't enough!) so you will need to eat back the 500 that you burned off. Make sense?

Choc - i wouldn't have thought popcorn had that many calories in it either so dont beat yourself up about it! One good thing tho is that it doesn't weigh very much so cant possibly weigh heavy in your tummy for the next time you weigh yourself..... Wink As for household chores, what are they?! Shock

Well so far this week my new 5 week menu planner is proving successful. Basically what i normally do is plan my meals for the next 5 weeks and write them out so that i can look at it and i'll know exactly what i'm having for dinner that night and can plan/shop accordingly. I get so stressed if i dont know what i'm supposed to be cooking for dinner as my imagination is not very bright! I've stolen loads of recipes from the SW website and from a couple of my old WW cook books, as well as still having a couple of favourite recipes from Nigella too. I've cooked 2 of the SW recipes and one was under 200 cals for a pasta meal and the other was under 300 cals for a rice/stir fry meal! Both were really nice, (except the recipe for the pasta one told me to put too much sweetener in the pasta sauce so it was a bit too sweet for me) and have kept me well under my calories. Normally i go way over in the evening so this is ideal for me!

I've got to come into work tomorrow! BOOOOOOO!! I suppose i shouldn't complain too much tho - it's double time all day, plus an hour's worth of travel time each way too.

Oh and i've just noticed that i'm the fattest kid on the block in this thread :(

ChocolateEggyrolls · 21/04/2011 14:07

Rgy - have found the fatter you are the quicker it comes off to start off with Wink, besides there are no fat kids on this block there are only thin glamorous women going to escape from their winter shells Grin.

Funnily enough I actually feel so much better for what I have been doing and dare I say it have become slightly obsessed with how many calories are in something before I eat it! this is coming from someone who never really knew anything so am feeling quite good about gaining a bit more knowledge! Long may it last!

RGPargy · 21/04/2011 14:51

Well that's one way of looking at it Choc!!

Well done on getting to grips with it all. Sometimes it's like a lightbulb goes on inside your head and you suddenly realise how "expensive" alot of foods are in calorie terms!

I too am now calorie obsessed again. I used to be, then did Atkins and didn't give a flying f* but now am counting avidly again, as well as making my HRM work it's butt off to tell me how many cals i've burnt (and then can subsequently eat!) 5 times a week! I even put my HRM on when i was cleaning the bathroom! haha!! Mind you, it was minging so i think i was justified to wear it and burn off 250 cals!

ChocolateEggyrolls · 21/04/2011 16:33

So housework counts eh? Good I have loads to do an inlaws arriving tomorrow at 11 so better get started if I can get off mn

RGPargy · 21/04/2011 20:10

Yeah deffo it does!! Go for it!! :o

BettyButterknife · 21/04/2011 22:48

Oh, I've had a terrible couple of days! I haven't even been logging :(

Really need to get off my butt and do it properly again for the next couple of days, otherwise it's going to be a full week of dreadfulness.

Tsk, bad Betty. Very cross with myself. Trying to stop thinking about chocolate eggs...

RGPargy · 21/04/2011 23:28

Dont be too hard on yourself Betty. Tis almost Easter, so you must try to be good for at least 2 days before you are allowed to have a day off on Easter Sunday!!

I can talk tho - I had about 100 calories left that i was just going to not bother having but instead i have sat and stuffed 2 hot cross buns with butter!! Waaaaay over my 100 calories!! Blush However, i am justifying it by the fact that i have been under my cals all week but a good 200-300 calories so i think i might get away with it. Way day for me is tomorrow so only time can tell!!