We always eat above our BMR with MFP, We SAFTFBS and we are EMTWL.

[ShirleyKnot]

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Roll Up, Roll Up for the all new, amazing thread for those of us who are trying to eat good, healthy, natural foods while counting our calories and eating LOADS!

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I like the toffee and chocolate ones! Although I do have a very sweet tooth, so I tend to have them mid-afternoon to stop me wolfing down chocolate and/or biscuits.

I'm often tempted to have another around 9pm for the same reason, but I'm guessing two a day might not have a good effect on me.

I'm also debating mixing up the flavours

Just had my mid afternoon smoothie, half a banana (because DD pinched the other half while I was cutting it up!) some oats, flax, hazelnut milk, peanut butter and toffee powder. Delicious!

Minnie, I'm also sticking to one a day for now. I had two in a day a week or so ago. Last one was shortly before bed. I really regretted it the next day.

Could you split them and have half in a smoothie in the afternoon and half in the evening?

I haven't braved the shakes yet, the packets are sitting in the cupboard.

Loving fridge porridge though, and finding it massively filling. I couldn't finish my pot this morning, which was disappointing because it was lovely (strawberries, strawberry jam and chopped brazil nuts).

I have had a debacle with some oaty/cookie bite things that I bought in sainsbury's. Shall not be getting those again unless there is someone else here to help me eat them!

For the first time since I started this, I've just given into the mental voice that says 'just eat some buttery toast for fuck's sake'

But but but, even though it's pushed me well over today's cals due to butter and jam, I see looking back on MFP that this is only the second time I've had any bread in over a week This is madness! Usually bread would be daily, if not thrice twice daily thing. Bread machine is looking positively forlorn.

fredge porrige?

I just had buttery toast. IS THAT SO WRONG?

I think it's only wrong when you have 3 rounds of it while you decide what to actually have for dinner.

Shirley, this is the lightbulb moment I was talking about - this is from the very beginning of the first thread, I'm not very far into it yet.

Now, the next thing you need to find out is what your Base Metabolic Rate (BMR) This is the number of calories your body burns just BEING in existence.

Mine is at around the 1,500 mark. I make sure that I always NET 1,500 calories everyday. I'll explain a bit more about net calories in a bit...

Monday - Eat 2,000 calories. Gym - burned 500 calories. Net calories = 1,500
Tuesday - Eat 2,000 calories. Rest day
Wednesday - Eat 2,000 calories. Gym - burned 700 calories. Net calories = 1,300 calories. Eat 200 additional to bring net to 1,500...

So my BMR is also around 1500. Its difficult for me to work out an accurate TDEE as my days vary so much from day to day, and even from week to week so I cant even really work out an average. So I have a fitbit, which is a high tec pedometer, it knows my hight and weight and so can work out exactly how many calories I burn each day. It links up to MFP too so I don't even have to calculate anything myself.

So for example today. On MFP I have my goal set at 1200 calories, on my fitbit so far today I have used 2900 calories so it links to MFP and allows an 1290 calories for exercise, so
Goal 1200 + food 2091 - exercise 1294 = Net 797.

So obviously that is quite a lot under my BMR. Now I have already had my dinner with the kids, so I'm wandering do I really need to eat another 800 cals today? And if so what would you recommend as the best way to do it?

Actually realised that's wrong anyway, it wouldnt be another 800 would it. It would be another 400 to get up to my goal of 1200 cals a day.

I think my brain is frazzled now.

Thanks for that. Yes it is an active day today, school run x2 is just over a mile each way, I did a 5 mile run and I work on my feet, and also flat (above work) is 4 flights up which I do a lot. I've walked/ran 13.4 miles today and done 53 flights of stairs.

Goodness when I write it all down it does sound crazy to put my MFP goal at 1200.

I was thinking maybe nuts would be a good high cal snack on active days, but are they too high in fat, or should I not worry too much about fat.

I think the reason I've put on weight is that too many of my calories would normally come from alcohol so ive put a bit of a ban on it for now until I get a bit closer to my goal.

I have been eating somewhere between my bmr=1400 and my tdee-15%=1900. I have been putting exercise in as my walking dds to school/pre-school/activities is my gym/cardio. I do weights or pilates/yoga dvds at home.

For instance, on a Monday I do 45mins fast walking home>school>pre-school>school (I help out) before 9:30. I have been logging fast walking as I do loads and thought it was over and above moderate activity. Is this right?

I don't think I'd add any of that except the weights/dvds, quirky, but whatever works for you!

Maryz -- you're exercising without realising it. I burn more calories doing gardening/housework per hour than I do at the gym.

Ahashahah! O I LOVE that idea Mary.

Maryz I don't do structured exercise either. I did try the gym and classes for a while a couple of years ago but after a few months i decided that i hated it with a passion usually reserved for brussel sprouts and people who use mobile phones in quiet carriages so i stopped. I did go to pilates classes for a time before i got pregnant and loved them but they are so expensive i can't afford it at the moment.

I am trying to get in at least one good walk everyday but apart from that it is just lots of baby joggling, which is basically heavey wieghts...right...

Sometimes I burn more than the tdee (-15%) -bmr, which is 500cals. I think I won't put in small walking etc. but when I have been very active. Rarely eat back all the cals anyway. My activity levels can vary massively too.

I like the exercise ball idea. Think a small person might be kamikaze on an exercise ball, though! Gardening and housework is most definitely exercise. I only do loads of walking as I don't have a car and dd1's school is 20mins fast walking away when we are running late and dd2's pre-school is 20mins in another direction so loads of fast paced drop offs and pick ups. Much less at weekends and holidays.

I tried the latte protein shake today with milk. Much nicer, although quite sweet. Perhaps the trick is to mix it with something else.

Maryz - I do like you. Some strength exercises, a bit of pilates, and then just normal things like the preschool run, housework, running round after 2 under 4.
I have got a twisty board thing which I use as well which is to exercise waist, hips, obliques etc - and it seems to be working. I do about 5-10 minutes a day, and I am now almost officially hourglass rather than apple.

Yesterday ended up being a bit disastrous. After the biscuit debacle, I wasn't hungry for my dinner so didn't bother. Tiredness and hunger hit at 10pm, and I ended up sending DH out to get me a quarter pounder with cheese and fries. Oh it was so nice - and when I filled in MFP, I had still only eaten my TDEE, although my carbs were waaaaaay over and I had eaten very little protein.