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

[ShirleyKnot]

If you've poked your head around the door of this thread then please read ourOld Thread, read all the posts, all the links and the links within links and then jump in with both feet to a new, better Way Of Eating (WOE)

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!

We had some brilliant successes on the last thread - inches AND pounds lost and lots of people feeling happier, calmer and more focussed on their goals.

Remember that this is NOT a DIET, it is a healthy way of eating. You will NOT lose 5lbs a week - you might even GAIN weight in the first weeks!

YY Maryz. That's why DD uses it.

I am having fish and chips tonight because my evening looks like this:
4pm leave work, go shopping for delicious picnic items for dirty weekend away
5pm go to gym
6.30pm pick up DC from cockface XH's
6.45pm pick up DP from station
7pm go to my sister's to see my delicious baby nephew and eat his face a bit (no calories in that, right?)
8pm get home, pack for dirty weekend away.

So I put fish and chips into MFP to see what else I had to play with. 900 fucking calories in regular fish and chips

It's lucky I'm going to the gym!

BTW, just as I'm typing this, 6Music are playing "You're the one for me, fatty".

I would definitely put walking around IKEA down as slow walking

Back to the exercise thing, I put my activity level as moderate, thinking my 3 30 mins runs a week, plus a swim, plus 10x school runs would equate to 5hours of activity, but now I'm thinking I should maybe eat back my run calories. Um, and now I think about it I usually do two 10 mile bike rides with 3 year old DS, too.

I'm starting to be hungry on my TDEE-15% cut, from having not been (ran last night), and I wonder if that's the difference?

Here's how I do it:

I put my activity level as moderate. And it is, especially when I finish work and the real work begins (running up and down the stairs with piles of laundry, cleaning the bathroom/kitchen, cooking dinner, sweeping floors etc). I know this because my Nike Fuelband tracks the calories I burn and the steps I take in a day. I am always over what they class as an 'active' day, even if I haven't been to the gym and it's just been a 'normal' day for me. And I can see it from the graphs they give me online -- it shows my activity and my active times.

Anything I do over and above what I would do in a normal day, whether it's going to the gym, mowing the lawn, walking for miles, playing frisbee with the DC for a prolonged period of time, hardcore cleaning or moving boxes from one house to another, goes down as exercise in MFP.

I then ensure I eat to at least my BMR, and up to my TDEE-15%, every day.

you got it Tobes.

Yay! :o

Not much exercise here Mary, although I'm gradually trying to build up strength and fitness and, would you believe, the exercises on Scooby's workout site are pretty good. I have actually completed 10 mins of really slow like an old lady burpees and 5 mins of half press-ups!

Also started the C25K with DD yesterday. She scoffed at the idea of only running for 1-minute intervals, but she was a knackered as me by the end.
I feel like I have to do the exercise bit of the programme, really - I haven't got much to lose supposedly so just doing the food would take forever.

And 'cos of my scoliosis, I can't really do anything hardcore so it needs to be steady and gentle. Plus my days aren't really active.

So do you think I should add extra exercise in? I'm pretty lazy with the housework-I def don't run up and down stairs with laundry, the laundry can walk .

I think I'll count runs,swims and cycles, but not school runs. I'll try to shift my arse up and down stairs more quickly, too!

Have been hungry all day, despit eating 1200 calories thus far. Was keeping 700 for tonight (eating out), but will eat to hunger, and try not to overeat when out.

shotgun, its suprising how knackering running for a minute is when you start

YY, count anything you do over and above your normal day, Not. Not school runs, but runs/swims etc definitely.

I did some exercise today for the first time in about 10 days - am exhausted!

And today I bought some mackerel in - get this - teryaki sauce.

Cheers TobyLerone. I think I got a bit fazed by ShirleyKnot's very energetic gym sessions, and thought less than that was just normal.

am currently eyeing up the lentil casserole that I know my kids will turn their noses up at!

Reading this, have I been doing it all wrong in terms of exercise etc?

I picked 'moderate' activity level (i.e. 3-5 hours of exercise a week) as I go to the gym 4 or 5 times a week - however, on those days when I have been to the gym, I input the exercise into MFP and often have to eat an extra 200-300 calories on those days to get back to my BMR rate of 1600 calories - should I be doing this as it would appear I am eating my exercise calories twice ?

Apart from going to the gym, my activity level is fairly low as I work in an office 4 days a week and only do the occasional school run on foot as usually dropping off/picking up on my way to work.

So, should I drop my activity level on Scooby calculator and then input my exercise on MFP and eat back the necessary calories to get to my BMR or stick with my 'moderate' activity level but not input any exercise into MFP and just have a standard 2100 calories a day?

No ceebee. You're fine. The only time you need to eat back your exercise calories is if your net calories drop below your BMR.

Shirley I get that but if I have counted my gym sessions as part of my activity level on Scooby, should I then be also inputting them into MFP as exercise or is this doing it twice??

Uh. It doesn't matter.

I go to the gym 3-5 times a week and have set my activity level to moderate.

I enter my exercise into MFP but ONLY eat back any exercise calories that take my NET calories to below my BMR.

So, this week for example, I burned 1200 calories on Monday doing pump and combat. This dropped my net calories to below my BMR by something like 800 calories - I ate these back. Tuesday I didn't go so just ate my TDEE less cut. Wednesday I burned 600 cals at pump, it dropped my net calories to below my BMR by 200 calories, so I ate those back. Today I went swimming and burned 230 calories. I don't need to eat these back because my net calories will not drop below my BMR.

So, I know that if my exercise for the delay is less than 500 calories I just ignore those calories and eat my usual TDEE less cut. (BMR - 1500, TDEE LESS CUT - 2000)

Thank you - that is exactly what I have been doing

Also, what is the EMTWL view on 'saving' calories for the next day? You could do this on diets that I have done but do you think it would work on this WOE?

I rarely have any calories left tbh but I do usually have too many on a Thursday due to the exercise I do and not enough on Fridays due to the wine I drink not doing any exercise - so I could I average the 2 days out?

I think it's a no-no, because we're meant to be consistent. Although saying that I do think that it's not a massive deal now and again.

Yy Shirl, I think I have worked out that I only need to worry if exercise is more than 500cals. I will probably do more tomorrow as school/pre-school runs will add up to 2 hrs 20 mins fast walking which is my cardio. I probably will do some weights which I will count and housework/laundry /chasing a small person around which I won't count. Maybe I should find my pedometer...

I have apple & cinnamon fridge porridge tomorrow- yum! I think I have almost hit my macros today too.

I think that was why I plateaued before. Lots of activity/eating small meals in the week > starving: lots of bigger meals and treats with rest during the weekend> putting it all back on. Consistency is better: the weekly graph will show you your net calories per day.

hello all , can I join you! I think you are just what I need. I have done some reading of the old threads and think I understand the basics!
Over the past 18 months I have lost about 4 1/2 stone - which obviously I am V happy about...trouble is over the past 4-5 months it has started creeping slowly back up, and worse than that I have been alternating between being quite restrictive and then totally bingeing:( I now think I would like to loose about 1 stone.
I have tried out potatoes not prozac before, but not sure I want to go the whole way with that. I do definitely try to limit the ammount of white foods and refined sugar I have, and I try to have good ammounts of protein with each meal. I am also a fan of protein powder - so many uses and great for whizzing up a quick shake with banana and almonds - yummy!
I also run about 3 times a week, usually clocking up 15-20 miles. I dont do the gym, but do also run round after 6 DC quite a bit!I have previously struggled when training for a half marathon and was also trying to eat less and less- you need calories for stamina!
So... according to calculator my BMR is 1363, my tdee is 2133 so I should be aiming for 1796 calories a day.
I'm going to start tracking on MFP tomorrow...hopefully this thread will give me the inspiration I need!

Well my wild and exciting lifestyle now includes a square of 85% dark chocolate! Oh yes ladies, I think we can agree that I KNOW how to let my hair down...

(new pudding : full fat greek yoghurt, handful of fresh blueberries, grate that dark square of bitter gorgeousness all over, mix up and scoff) YUM

:)