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

Trying I went away for 12 days and I managed to stay within a pound or so of my weight at the time. I walked every day, a lot. Did 3 runs, didn't eat between meals, leaned more towards protein than carbs. Light breakfast/lunch/main course for dinner no starter or dessert. It probably sounds miserable but it was fine, I had my drinks/cocktails, odd ice cream/custard tart/biccies/few crisps. First time ever I didn't come back at least 7-10lbs on.
Watching Fat Friends on YouTube, something to distract me til lunchtime!

Well I have not lost any weight since Monday. No surprise after the the 5lb loss last week I suppose. Hopefully I am building up to a loss of some kind!

As shown by the various posters on this thread, losing weight is not easy. I certainly don't want to be doing this forever, it's brutal. How much better to get to weight we are happy and healthy at, and then work out how to maintain it? Seems so easy, yet clearly isn't for a lot of people.

I did that bbc quiz emz that you posted up thread. I remember that TV series and I had done the quiz before, the quiz reminded me, that when I completed it last time, I was a constant craver, yep got the same result again. The explanation of a constant craver suggested that I may find it harder to lose weight than others and may be genetically disposed to not knowing when I had eaten enough. No shit Sherlock!

So jonty there is definitely something in this training the eye on portion sizes. For me, if my stomach literally (for whatever reason) cannot recognise when it is full, then my eyes will need to do the job.

Strange really, my stomach surely knows when it is empty!

The only time I managed to maintain a healthy weight was on weight watchers maintenance plan for 5 years. But I was still pointing and weighing. So clearly I didn't trust my own stomach (am I full?) or my own eyes (is that a reasonable portion?). And as soon as I stopped I put on weight, grrr.

Over the years, friends I have known who have maintained healthy weights (have never been overweight) have a natural rebalancing attitude.
E.g. When younger, on a works night out (big meal followed by drinks) a colleague said "it will need to be a soup day tomorrow." To which I replied "what's a soup day?' I don't know who was more confused! When I was younger (twenties) it would never have occurred to me, to "cut back" the next day because I had eaten or drunk a lot. The subject of weight was never on my radar, I could not understand why so many people were constantly dieting.

I blame my mother! Only joking mum, I am an adult and must take responsibility for my own choices!

Re holidays. I had one holiday that I did not put on weight, it was a great holiday to Canada. It was moderately active, kayaking, horse riding but we ate out at a restaurant every night. The key to my success was being in self catering lodges, so it was porridge for breakfast, healthy lunch, which was often barbecued veggies then out for dinner. No desserts but starter and main course for 14 nights on the run. No bread/butter!

It was actually my best holiday ever, which just shows me, that unhealthy food does not make me happy!

Oh I did that quiz I forgot to say thankyou for the link first it measured my bmi and its lower than I thought, I thought anything over 10 stone would be in the overweight category (I'm 5'7 but we have smallish frames in my family so any bulk shows) so my bmi was nearly 23 which is approaching the top limit. Then it said I didn't match the emotional eating types they test for and should try keeping a food diary lol and look at portion sizes and moods

I don't need a test or scales to show me that I have a tummy and a muffin top in my bigger sizes of jeans now, there's a lot of some extra fat there where there's never been any before!

Well psycho mfp is the king of food diaries! So you are in the right place.

I love it! I keep finding new things in it! I am a big eater people always comment on it but I thought I ate really well when in fact I eat mostly packaged things and takeaways so it's really helpful for making me more aware of what goes in my mouth and sort of makes me want to be 'good' I mean make proper food so I can feel less ashamed at the end of each day

I don't think there is space in MFP to record moods when you are putting in your meals? Not that my moods affect my eating directly but when theres a lot going on I'm stressed I don't sleep so well, I'm tired and CBA to go shopping or cook so it's more convenience foods and that's where it's going wrong I think

I know what you mean, psycho it's pants typing crap food into mfp and seeing how many calories I have wasted.

I was in a local shop and the 2 guys in front of me were both buying pies from the takeaway bit and I felt a shimmer of happiness as I looked at my basket of broccoli and courgettes, for my dinner. I was not judging them, just grateful it wasn't me! I am trying to find joy in my healthy choices.

Also in this shop, they usually try and flog me some cake at the till (a cake to go from the takeaway bit) and today they didn't. Am I reading too much into this or am I giving off a healthier vibe! I am a desperado.

psycho no I don't think mfp has anything about the emotional side of eating. That I have found anyway.

lol! People always offer me cake! I must not give off very healthy vibes at all!

There's a section for "food notes" in the app and on the website version but it wouldn't give me the at a glance pie or bar chart type thing of how stressed or relaxed I was during any given period like it does for calories and protein/carbs/fat.

hey all! hope that everyone has had a good day, TGIF! I'm so excited to sleep until about midday tomorrow, it's going to be great

I had a great low carb dinner tonight, gammon steak, peas and swede chips with some cheese sprinkled on top, it was amazing. i've posted a picture so you can see it. It only worked out at about 300 calories too. I love when swede comes back into season, making it into chips is great because it feels like a treat but it only works out about 50 calories a portion or so

emz that is a great meal for 300 cals.

I on the other hand have just eaten 5 border dark chocolate ginger biscuits for a whopping 415 cals. Guess who made the wrong choice . . . Tip, it wasn't you!

Both those sound great to me! I'm making an approximately 750 cal supper of 120g dry weight fusilli, tub of lightest Philly, tbsp of grated Parmesan and 200g of mixed greenery (mostly rocket and spinach). I've had a much better day by focusing on protein and drinking more water but I have a race in only nine days time so last long run tomorrow so PASTA party for one!

Swede chips sound and look awesome, how did you make them?

My macros are almost perfect today! I'm so proud!

There was supposed to be photographic evidence there

psycho what is a macro? I am sure they perfect!

Well I have finished my Friday Munchie attack with 174 cals over for the day. Could have been a lot worse. A lot!

ha well done on your macros psycho, hope the pasta was good, cheesy pasta is one of my favourite meals

Swede chips are super easy, peel and chops it up into chip shapes, microwave for 10 minutes and cook in the oven for 25 at 200 degrees, i love them

Gosh 174 is nothing is it, if you need 3500 extra to make 1lb then it doesn't seem much to worry about! Macros are macronutrients, the protein fat and carbs, as opposed to the micronutrients like vitamins and stuff. I spent way too much time on the MFP community this week!!!

The pasta wasn't great, the Philly made for a sketchy kind of texture but the Parmesan made it super cheesy without adding much fat or calories. I'm finishing the day just under 1700, the first time I've been close to target instead of 500 or 600 over!!

THanks for clarifying psycho. Does that mean you had the perfect ratio of protein/carbs/fat?

I know, I agree 174,over is nothing. I am not sure how I managed it after scoffing over 400 cals on biscuits. All I can say is there was a lot of broccoli on my plate tonight . . .

Mmmmmmm broccoli, I would have really preferred more veg with my meal but at least I cooked! I know for sure it would have been pizza delivery again if I wasn't doing MFP.

Yes 47% carbs 22% fat and 31% protein

So psycho are you a marathon runner or similar? What kind of race are you doing? Nosy Parker here!

Don't know if that's perfect but it's close to what MFP suggested, I think when I'm really on top of logging calories I might look into it more? At the moment I'm just calories in calories out but there's more to health than that isn't there!