MFP to lose weight - Part 2

[Emz449]

Thought i'd get the next thread started as we have reached capacity on the other one :O

Also we do actually have to eat and our hunger will often be legitimate? We don't HAVE to have wine or cigarettes or other fun drugs! So it's trickier ...

I tried mindful hunger thing just didn't work! Having my yog as we speak!
I know hummous so yummy! But so high in cals and fat but then it's "good fat" so enjoy a little!

majestic I have never worked in the addictions field, urge surfing is a new concept for me. I like the idea, also got a nice visual with it, of my desire for buttery toast disappearing over the horizon!

psycho yes agree. We do need to eat, which is one of the trickiest things about food addiction. We can't go cold turkey!

I agree that a lot of eating is habitual, I hadn't really thought about it in evolutionary terms, but there might be something in that, kinda, "see food, eat food, in case I starve". How to retrain or over ride those instincts though?

When I think of being mindful, (bearing in mind I am not a regular practitioner), I think of trying to be fully present and aware in the moment. So regarding food, I would try and be aware of what my body was feeling. If I had tuned into my body, I might realise that it was not hungry and therefore did not need that buttery toast. Or alternatively, that actually, yes I am hungry, but that was ok, acknowledge the feeling, but move on, do something else. The 3rd option, is obviously, realise I am hungry and then eat! But since this is a diet thread . . .

I guess successful dieters and more importantly maintainers have somehow conquered their evolutionary need to scoff and have conquered or learned to control the bodies desire to eat more than it needs.

It really seems to be a case of mind over body. Or is it the mind leading he body astray? I have confused myself.

Anyway I think pondering this today has helped me a little, I have been hungry, but have been thinking, yes I am hungry but this is not dangerous, it will pass.

I've done a mindfullness course and to be honest I really struggled with it. The thing is it's a constant thing, you need to practise it through daily meditation etc (or at least that's what I was advised, prob cause I was a hard sell!) I used to manage hunger very well when I was doing 5:2 but it broke something in me - I can't bear it now! In other news I replaced the scales in my scales that measures body fat and plan on tracking that and measurements (in cm's so I might see some progress!) Going to start tomorrow morning.
Delighted to hear your out of the 11's emz, I wish it was cause you're making room for me there Doubtful though

Very interesting reading re: mindfulness Irishe, i've been thinking about it quite a bit today and spoke to my friends about it. For me embracing hunger was quite dangerous when i was younger because I seriously under ate to get that hungry feeling because I enjoyed it, i was far, far too skinny. If i didn't go to bed hungry then it would be a failed day. I think trying to stop feeling that why is partly why I got overweight in the first place, i wanted to get better so I ate way too much. Then when I met my partner who loves his food it all went downhill from there!

I am very much a routine eater now, especially at work, breakfast is between half 8 and 9, fruit at 11 lunch at 12.30 and then dinner as soon as i can physically manage at 6ish. Weekends vary according to when i get up!

Today has been a good day diet wise, my dinner was absolutely amazing! So i'm in bed with the tv on and relaxing after a horrendous day at work. It's a real struggle with work at the moment. I feel so overworked sometimes it can be quite overwhelming. Looking forward to the weekend

Well lovely MFP ladies. I have been absent, but found you all again. Can't believe the board is up to page 8, and it is a new thread too. Have only just had a skim read, but seen that Emz is in the 10's, Jonty is below 11 1/2, Purpleknickers needs to go shopping for some more, Irisheis talking some very wise words, and everyone else are doing brilliantly!

We moved house, and lost internet for a week. Have been basically babysitting builders the last week, and not able to cook properly, or eat properly with 9+ blokes hanging around my kitchen all day. Plus DD's MH probs took a turn, DS has been challenging to say the least, and DH has been pretty useless. I absolutely daren't weigh myself, as I feel rather on the edge, and don't need bad scores on the doors to make it worse.

Perhaps next week when I get shot of builders and can make my house a home again I will be able to look out for me too. I will be taking strength from all of your positive vibes, so keep posting please! Is it very unMN'y to send xxx's? I'll throw in some 's in instead

Hey bath welcome back. Well they do say, moving house is one of the most stressful experiences, so you have my sympathy.

Don't weigh yourself, if you are feeling fragile, you have enough on your plate. Plenty of time to come back to the diet once the home situation stabilises.

We will be here. Like your stars

Bath it's lovely to see you, i'm glad you've found the new thread.

for the stressful time you're going through right now, hopefully once things settle down again you'll be able to join us

not2 please share your tips for how you managed hunger on the 5.2?
Sorry to hear you feel it broke you. I really don't think I could eat so little. 1200 cals feels like nothing to me.

emz thanks for your perspective on embracing hunger. I had not thought about it from that point of view. You are of course totally correct, that taking that concept too far could lead to very restrictive eating and possibly an eating disorder. I guess I am so far removed from ever tending towards being underweight, I had not considered how a different personality or differing situation might take that concept and move towards under eating as a desired outcome rather than balance which is what I was thinking about.

Trying to get to the route of this stuff is mind boggling but interesting.

emz what was your tasty dinner?!

Would never survive a fasting plan. I can't seem to finish a day much under 2500 calories yet, it says my net average is 2300 so far. I'm feeling miserable about it but it's such early days and it's pretty obvious where I could make changes eg had a giant bag of malteasers and some profiteroles for dinner yesterday, and half a tesco billionaires chocolate caramel tart thing (should serve about 8 people) after dinner today. I need to get organised in the kitchen and find less calorific sweet things to enjoy, any ideas?

psycho my main tip is not to have tasty treats like maltesers and caramel tart in the house. If they were in my house, I would scoff them down as well!

If you want something sweet have a piece of fruit. I know not the same.

Low cal meals in this house are stir fries, with lots of veg, tasty sauce and skip the noodles. We have also just invested in a spiralizer, which creates noodle shapes out of veg. It is great fun, my daughter asks for carrot noodles and courgette noodles now, healthy and low cal.

Tomato sauces are your friend. I had 2 tesco spinach and courgette frittatas for dinner (they were tiny IMHO) with a large side of stir fried peppers in a smoked paprika & tomato sauce. Very low cal and massive. I could not finish the portion!

When I can be bothered I cook big bakes like veggie shepherds pie made with quorn, kidney beans etc. sometimes i Make the mash out of butternut squash and swede or carrot. A hangover from my weightwatcher days when squash and swede were "free" but potatoes were not! These kind of meals are super healthy and low cal. Here, a big casserole dish serves 6 potions, that's 3 nights meals for one night of cooking. Plump it out with stir fried green beans on the side.

For me, the big bakes are the way to successfully lose weight and maintain over a longer period. I am not quite there yet and am eating a lot of ready meals with veg on the side. This is where I am heading though!

Good luck with finding inspiration in the kitchen

psycho, this may sound incredibly stupid but could you just not buy those sorts of things? Would that be an option? Or maybe buy treat size, individually sized chocolate/snacks and limit yourself to one or two a night? I find that the smaller bars of chocolate are still satisfying, i've also seen instagram pictures of people chopping them up with yogurt and meringues (which are still low calorie) to bulk it up a bit more and look bigger without too much calorie damage. Do you eat those foods because you're hungry or out of boredom? Perhaps try doing this quiz and see which type of diet would suit you while using MFP? www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z2csfg8

Irishe it was nothing special but tastes amazing! Grilled chicken with green beans, peas, sweetcorn mixed with a squeeze of extra light mayo and tsp pesto with cheese on top, tastes really indulgent but is very low cals, about 350 calories? It's my favourite thing right now! I also have about 12 chicken breasts to use up from the musclefood order i made at the beginning of July so it all works out very well

emz yes that sounds very tasty. I have got out of the habit of buying pesto, must get some in. I used to stir tblsp pesto through zero fat Greek yogurt, Ta da! A tasty sauce to go on anything. Hmm want some now!

bath and thank you for the

Irishe yes I didn't know about mindfulness but I guess that's what it is. And urge surfing definitely describes what I do when I get the urge to snack.

iMust you've opened up a really valuable discussion. Realistically, we're not all going to spend the rest of our lives logging every thing we eat in MFP, it's just the tool that is helping us focus on weight loss right now. So what do we need to change in our behaviour and approach to food that means we won't need MFP again in the future? Urge surfing is definitely one thing, something i'm planning try today, but also I think training your eye to understand what a portion really should be is one of the most crItical elements. Any others other people can think of?
By the way, down to 11st 5.5 this morning, focusing on another low carb day today and hoping the rest drops off by tomorrow, at least I'd be where I expected for start of October and then can look at if my goals are still realistic.

12.1.8 on the scales this morning. My weigh in of last Friday of 12.0.4 must have been a glitch. I had been tracking my weigh daily once the 7th September using a notebook and I started at 12.4.8 so 3 lbs since then. F**king soul destroying. Psycho, step away from treat aisle when you're shopping. Buy 1 bar, no multibags, no cakes, no traybakes. I'm going to take my own advice on that too so we can suffer in company.
Irishe for the 5:2 hunger pangs, distraction/hot drinks (black tea/bovril) water. It's doable but eventually it made me miserable and I put it all back on and then some. I'm not scared of hunger but if I'm truly hungry (I try to rule out thirst) I eat.

Morning - feel crap this morning, headachy, bunged up, bleh. Was 11st 6 again this morning but only by a smidge so should be 11st 5 by the morning if I stick to plan. Did cross trainer and body pump last night too.

Welcome back, Bath, sounds like you have loads going on and house moves do not lend well to healthy eating on a practical level, let alone emotional etc! Good luck with getting everything sorted.

Interesting reading all the mindfulness/embracing hunger posts. I'm a bit of a nerd so love all that. I saw a programme a few months back which looked at different eaters and how it affected their eating patterns and weight. I always thought I was an emotional eater, eat when I'm sad/happy but in fact, i'm a feaster which means I like to feel full. This is so true, I love food and lots of it and am not truely satisfied unless i'm fit to burst. This is not healthy but possibly relates to childhood issues - my biological mom was young and not the greatest of mothers and my brother and i didn't always get fed a great deal so maybe I now want to feel full in case I don't get to eat for a while? Who knows but i'm trying to embrace hunger in a healthy way....eat but don't overeat. Right, enough waffling!

Psycho, personally I would limit buying those sort of things, maybe have a blow out once a week? I buy weight watchers treats, individually wrapped to try and keep me in check. If I open a family size bag of crisps or chocolate, they're gone before my brain registers their existence! What calorie allowance are you ideally aiming for?

Jonty we seem neck and neck weight wise, although if memory serves correct, you are losing recent baby weight? So am I! from my nearly 4 year old

Thankyou such great ideas there! I foresee a grocery shopping trip at the weekend! I don't buy all the giant portions of choccy stuff myself but I live with other adults that I'm not the boss of. Sadly! Usually if I've eaten plenty during the day there's a limit to how much I'll have after work but it's all very unorganised at the moment. But I can tell people I want to improve my eating habits for my fitness and they will probably be supportive.

Looking further ahead I don't see why people shouldn't track their intake with MFP or something like it for life, in the same way that people stay 'in recovery' and continue to go to 12 step meetings etc to stay on track. It doesn't exactly take alot of time to do!

Oh I missed posts! Sorry mrsdlh, I'm trying to aim for around 1800 calories so I can lose about half a pound a week (I don't have a massive amount to lose and apparently that can take ages or is best done slowly?) although I'm ok with spending a week or two learning about how I eat now (not anything like as healthily as I thought)

I also enjoy food and have a sweet tooth! I find not having any food in house and weighing myself daily helps. When I see the pounds coming back on I get stressed and it kicks me back into gear. I don't know if that will help psychotropic?
I didn't weigh for 10 days put on 3 pounds?! And then last 2 days have managed to shift one of them. In hoping before my holiday next Friday I've shifted the other 2 (only to put them back on holiday?!!!) it's such hard work!
Any tips for staying same weight whilst away? I know loss just won't happen!

Trying not sure what sort of holiday you're going on (but am jealous nonetheless) but maybe try and keep fairly active, lots of walking/swimming etc? And maybe just eat 2 meals a day...miss out lunch or breakfast if you're planning a meal out in the evening. Or, if it were me, enjoy the holiday and get back to it when you return! Why am I overweight again?

Are you going to Italy? My granddad (mums side) is Italian! It's easy to eat well almost anywhrre there, so much fresh seafood and salads and vegetables where are you going? Pasta pomodoro is my mainstay from the secondi bit of the menu but I'm a cheap date!

I don't know if weighing myself every day will help me or not, I can't take the fluctuations seriously! When I had my body fat measured at the gym one time the machine said I was over 70% water, I think about 73%? so maybe as much as 100lbs of me is simply water?!!! That's going to go up and down by quite a few pounds every day and throughout the day depending on how well I stay hydrated and if I've been for a run or even just sweltering in the office lately. I don't think fat can come and go overnight but I know my water levels must constantly shift!

Here again...you can tell i'm at home...trying to allow ds to paint independently...eek. Psycho 1800 is a nice amount and plenty of room for treats if you manage your meals right. I weigh daily but try not to worry about the fluctuations and just see what the scales say at the end of the week. I have no idea about water and fat levels but I know I eat far too much salt...can't help myself! That won't help with water weight. Although, my super gym fit hairdresser came yesterday...she has an amazing body...thought I had lost more weight and thinks Im building muscle through the weights and my clothes are looser so that's encouraging. Im going measure myself when the paints are put away and log them on mfp.