myfitnesspal.com support thread all welcome, part 2

[foreverondiet]

New MFP thread, as old one is full....

Support for those doing MFP, if you are new post your MFP user name so we can befriend you there, and introduce yourself!

Some of us doing low or moderate carbs alongside MFP.

We were doing Monday weigh-ins but thats very flexible!

Link to old thread:
old thread

Forever Thanx for the info on green tea! I will be downing that as much as poss from now on lol. Bottoms up!!

Hello and welcome Magical! Will add you on MFP!

Hope everyone is doing ok today. I did a spin class on Sunday which has aggravated my (slightly dodgy) knee and then yesterday i did a step class before pump, which probably hasn't helped my cause! I dont think i will do spin for a bit. The bike was set up fine but for some reason it's really made my knee stiff. I have heard tho that you are meant to use your heel or keep your foot flat or something instead of using the ball of your foot, like you would if you were actually cycling. I have no idea tho as i am not a regular to spin! Thankfully tho i have today and tomorrow to rest my knee (work days) and then on Saturday i am doing Body Attack and Body Pump in the morning. Dont think i'll be doing any exercise on sunday either as DP and I are off out on the (strawberry) beer on Saturday night! :o

Hi Magical, good to hear you are getting better and back into exercise! I have added you.

Wifezilla, I am used to walking a lot as I don't have a car but not to biking at all. I will try and be realistic about my exercise. I will have to stick with it though, otherwise I will never get rid of those love handles.
So you think it would be useful if I made my diary public? Maybe that would shame me...

I took the bike to work again today but am not sure I can do it again tomorrow.
Bit embarrassing but the bones in my bum hurt like crazy, no idea what that is. It's not the muscles, it's the bones. Very weird.

Today was my weigh in day and even though I had pizza I lost 2 pounds last week. I had lost even more when I cheekily weighed myself in the last few days but pizza put it back on. I am very happy though, 2 pounds is great for 1 week I think. I hope this will help me motivate myself.

I also sat down last night writing down the reasons and motivations for why I want to lose weight. I am now on 22. I will try and ready them whenever I am tempted to go grab too much chocolate.

Hi all!

magical exercise does really help, even though I am at target I still exercise every day, have to find something that works for you! Even brisk walking gets heart going and helps.

wifezilla my diary is public for that reason although TBH now that I am maintaining I don't do every day....

marypoppins I think MFP is good to demonstrate that actually its bloody hard to loose 2lbs a week. If sticking to 1200 isn't going to work for you, either commit to some exercise, even 20 mins of shred (200 cals) or accept that weight loss might be slower - why not set it for 1lb a week? In terms of pizza ok to have night off, more important to get back to it the next morning - beaver talks sense!

harry well done on the weight loss!

Thank you forever

I will try and up my exercise. The last two days I felt so exhausted after biking home from work, it was unreal. But I got the Shred DVD and could probably do that in the morning.
I have decided to put up my calorie goal for now though. If I want to lose 1 pound a week I get to eat 150 calories more a day. I think that will be better for me for now.

Can I eat the extra calories I get from cycling every day or should I rather not?
With them I would have enough left to have a small dessert tonight

It's definitely showing me how much food you have to cut out to get results!

Hi all
thanks for adding me as a friend on mfp. Today I had a lovely day off work and I spent it with an old friend. We were walking around for most of the day, then I was straight out to book group where wine and nibbles were on offer. That was probably where I failed today, perhaps I should have brought some healthier snacks along, I was really hungry and completely forgot that I should take it easy with the twiglets and crisps. I think next time I will eat a healthy snack just before hand, or bring one along. Crashing out now as I have had a fun but exhausting day

marypoppins yes you can eat you exercise calories, but best not to eat just for the sake of eating them - ie eat them if you are hungry for them.

Another thing for everyone - I really believe that its as much WHAT you eat as the quantity. You'll get better weight loss from 1500 of good calories than 1200 of less good ones. If your weight loss is slow cut out processed food, including "diet" products. Cut out all white foods - rice, pasta, bread, sugar and read ingredients. Brown bread/pasta/rice is better than white but watch quantities as well.

If treats (chocolate, ice cream, cake, nibbles etc) are important to you then limit to 100 calories a day.

MaryPoppins, I've made my diary open to friends only - even if no one looks at it, just that thought that they can seems to be enough to deter me from gorging (so far!).

My homepage on MFP just keeps showing everyone seems to be exercising loads and eating under their calorie goal - well done :O)

I ate my calories from exercise tonight. Surprised at how much my little bowl of pudding had... It's no surprise I failed to lose weight before. So I had way too many calories in treats today, something I will work on!

I am not sure whether I want to eat them every day though, with cycling to work I could eat 1488 which seems a bit much. i will aim for the 1350 that MFP has estimated should give me a weight loss of about one pound a week. i will see how it's going this week.

I have also followed the advice on here and made my diary open to friends. Maybe you lot can shame me into eating less.

Six weeks holidays after today for me .....am compiling a new playlist for my iPod in the hope that it will inspire me to get out and about....oh and start using MFP properly .

Hi everyone :o

Open diaries deffo help me to keep on the straight and narrow. But you have to remember to be completely honest in your diaries. You are only cheating yourself after all, as they say!!

I try not to eat my exercise calories and normally i dont go anywhere near them but that's because my food is normally very natural, i.e. meat and salad or veg etc and i try and steer clear of bread, pasta, rice and potatoes (although it has been known for me to have a teeny tiny portion if i feel like i would be missing out too much lol). I mostly have to make sure i eat something "snacky" (oatcakes and peanut butter is my thing atm) to bring my calories up to at least 1200. I NEVER thought i'd be saying that!!! It's nice to know that my exercise calories are there as a buffer tho for when/if i want to eat naughty stuff and drink booze at the weekends. :)

mfp has really opened my eyes to the calories in so many of my favourite chocolate foods

im still in shock at 115 calories in a finger of fudge...but they come in packs of 6, i would have eaten the whole pack in one day no problem

ezzie I agree it is a eye opener.

I used to eat during the day (ie excluding breakfast and dinner)

Banana mid morning - 100

Pack of 3 sandwiches - with tuna mayo / cheese / egg filing 700 cals.
Pack walkers crisps -130
Apple - 75
Yoghurt - 100
So basically 1000 calories for standard work day lunch.

Plus a boost bar on way home from work - 326.

So 1400 calories WITHOUT breakfast and dinner.

And then I wondered why I was putting on weight?

I put on more during pregnancy, and post pregnancy was eating 2 magnums a day - 260 cals each!!!!!

pregnancy eating was fantastic

buy THREE danishes

one to eat on the way to car....one to eat driving home and one to eat when i got home = 1500 + calories!

Hello people. I thought I had screwed it all up over the last two weeks. My parents were here and it was very stressful with dad ending up in hospital so lunch was grabbed quickly - sandwiches, crisps, etc and although I was cooking healthy evening meals, I was eating the bread/pasta/potatoes instead of replacing them with a salad like normal. I didn't bother weighing myself because I didn't want to see the huge numbers but I bit the bullet today. I weigh exactly what I weighed before mum and dad got here so considering that I weighed myself after lunch (I normally gain 1-2kg in a day) I must have actually lost a kilo. Woooo!

I'm back to not eating many carbs and riding my bike again now things have settled down so fingers crossed I can get some serious losses in the next couple of weeks.

And sorry for not adding new people on MFP. I don't use it anymore as I got really OCD with it and found that it became counter productive for me.

I've bought some green tea now - can't quite bring myself to drink it yet (I HATE it!!) but if it shifts the pounds then I'll have a go :)

Gilbonzo, sorry about your dad but well done on losing a kg whilst going though that stress! It's always a nice surprise to find you've lost when you're not expecting it.

Forever - I've seen a few of your posts on other threads, I'm so impressed at your weight loss! I really have no excuse not to do the same....

I am finding it sooo hard to shift the pounds. They're coming off but ever so slowly. I think I need to come up with a strategy and stick with it - I keep trying to do a little bit of everything - low carb one day, eating exercise cals another day, swapping a meal for a fresh juice etc depending on what I've been reading about. I'm still b'feeding DS2 (6m so recently on solids as well too but no sign of reducing feeding just yet) otherwise I'd follow one of the many diet books I've gathered recently (17 day diet & 7 day juice diet are the 2 latest, although now I keep seeing info on Dukan everywhere, which seems to now be THE diet to do!)

Can anyone offer any advice on what would be the best eating strategy? I haven't read much about Dukan but is that something I could follow whilst b'feeding & exercising? Should I be eating my exercise cals back? (if I go for a long run then they could easily be 700 cal +). I have not added any cals for b'feeding as I figure I have enough fat stores for my body to draw on, but I obviously don't want to cause any issues with supply. I really don't know why everyone else in the world "can eat whatever they want when breastfeeding and the weight just falls off"....this has not been the case for me at all!

I like the idea of "clean" eating and my long term goal will be to eat clean, but at the moment I need the convenience of a cereal bar/occasional ready meal.

As the weight is coming off, should I just be happy and muddle along as I am? Apologies for the long self indulgent post, but any advice would be welcome. Thanks!

Wifezilla - is it flavoured green tea? I drink the cranberry flavoured green tea (Twinings) and it's soooo much more tolerable than normal green tea!!

Gilbonzo - hello and welcome back!! Sorry to hear abour your dad. Hope he's on the mend now.

Had a bad weekend, food wise. Pub meal yesterday. Lots of strawberry beer after. Fry up today (not too bad as it goes), Chinese tonight, more strawberry beer, berry cider and a big baileys! Oops!

Back on the wagon in the morning. I am looking forward to it!! :o

wifezilla - firstly I should say that I didn't start until I weaned DS2 onto solids, at 6 months and at that point was only doing 2 BFs a day (morning and night) as was back at work. I am so hungry when BFing that I put on weight.

In terms of what diet, I have read so many diet books (bit of an obsession), and think that:
a) I don't agree with dukan's protein days as they are constipating and its not healthy to cut out vegetables
b) IMO juice is not a good idea, as it raises insulin levels which results in fat storage, better to eat the whole fruit and the fibre that goes with it
c) clean eating is best for weight loss....

If weight is coming off consistently then keep on doing what you are doing, but if it slows down, aim for clean eating with perhaps a 100 cal a day "treat" or dukan protein and veggies days (not so different to 17 day diet) - basically lean protein and veggies.

I only ate exercise cals if genuinely hungry - I like Paul McKenna for that. I did eat some, but not all.

Wifezilla - I am also breastfeeding and trying to lose that last bit of baby weight although my "baby" is now 17 months old. She obviously eats solids but still feeds as and when she wants, including lots of times in the night.

I find that "clean" eating as Forever puts it is the best way to shift the weight and this has worked for me between babies in the past (this is baby number 4). By eating healthy fresh and wholegrain food, with a special treat scheduled for the weekend I find that the weight drops pretty well - but I have to be careful to eat enough or I get really hungry and then eat badly again. Breastfeeding does account for about 500 calories a day if babies aren't on a schedule.

I try to eat a normal breakfast, biggish lunch, afternoon fruit, and then nothing in the evening once I've had my normal-sized dinner.

My biggest downfall is tired eating, and if I can get a wee nap during the day or a bit of a sleep-in it is much better for me. I like to stay up too late once all the kids are asleep and combined with feeding in the night (albeit in my sleep in my bed so not really awake) I can't go day after day racing around without some extra rest sometimes.

more sleep - that's my diet challenge for the holidays!

Oh, I meant to say also - it isn't a good idea to eat less than 1500 Calories a day whilst breastfeeding or to lose too fast because the toxins you are getting rid of might effect the baby through your milk. It's a good idea to try to drink enough water - check your wee to see that it is pale straw colour - anything lighter and you've probably had too much.

And, as far as milk supply goes - the more you feed the more milk you'll have. It is demand and supply.

thanks for your replies. I think I've been in such a panic about losing weight as with DS1 I just waited for it to "magically disappear"...obviously it didn't and on his 1st birthday I realised I no longer had a new baby but was still fat :) I'd started losing weight but he was 14 months old when I fell pregnant again, and I felt so rubbish thoughout the pregnancy that I didn't exercise at all (apart from chasing an active toddler about!). I didn't want that to happen again...as it happens, on Sunday I hit my pre DS2 pregnancy weight, which has given me a mental boost! Now anything I lose is from DS1 (still about a stone to go).

I think for the next few months I will just keep going as I am, although I will try to eat as "clean" as I can. Thanks for the calorie advice handbagsandshoes - I will aim for 1500/day as I think often I eat far below that. Whilst we have a bit of a routine in place, I'm still feeding on demand, and drinking loads of water (and sadly I always check the colour of my wee - I used to live in a tropical climate so started doing it then!)

My diet challenge will be to only eat if genuinely hungry. I'm on maternity leave at the moment and seem to find myself wandering into the kitchen on autopilot sometimes.

Handbagandshoes, good luck with finding more sleep. With 4 kids I'm amazed you find time for any at all! :)

RGPargy - I just got the plain green tea. Still haven't tried any yet, will do so today and if it's as terrible as I remember, I'll go and get some with extra flavour!

Clean eating
Food to eat more of (in no particular order!):

• pulses
• vegetables (other than starchy ones, although ok to eat starchy veggies in moderation)
• berries and fruit lower in sugar (save tropical and dried fruit as treat)
• fat free dairy, esp live natural yoghurt
• eggs
• lean meat & poultry
• fish and seafood
• nuts and seeds (in moderation if aiming for weight loss)
• wholegrains - esp jumbo oats / quinoa / barley / spelt / millet etc
• healthy oils - avocado, olive, flaxseed etc

Foods to cut down on and avoid

• sugar, and corn syrup (high fructose corn syrup)
• processed food
• wheat esp when white / refined (although ok occasionally if wholegrain/granary)
• artificial sweetners
• fats - avoid transfats, saturated fats eg from animals ok in moderation
• caffeine (ok in moderation)

Obviously organic is good (but expensive) and we are all only human so 80:20 rule is good (ie make sure 80% of what you eat is clean)

If you need inspiration, check out Nattybo on MFP. There is a thread running at the moment showing how he lost 1/3 of his body weight in a year! The before/after photos are amazing.

mumpotnoodle - I lost 30% of my body weight - from October 2010 until June 2011, although most by April. Am not losing more as am now a size 8 & toned.