MFP to lose weight - Part 3

[Emz449]

Can't believe we've had to start a new thread already!

I'm on plan today and feeling good about it, this weight will go down! Still 10'13 this morning, not too disappointed. Hoping it'll go down with a good sleep or two over the weekend!

Hello everyone and newcomers. Back to MFP and exercise yesterday! Gained over the holidays so back up to 10.8.5.
Family holiday to Florida in April (a mere 14 weeks away, who is counting!) so I am committed to getting under 10st by then. That would be quite low for me ( I am 5'8 and lowest adult weight is usually 10.2) but I really need to get toned as well. Got the fit bit on, started focus t25- let's do this!
jonty- well done on your whoosh!

That's brilliant Bath, I'm hoping to join you back in the 11's by the end of the week, 1lb will do it! I thought of doing dry January but drank last weekend, I suppose I could still do it, I haven't drank so far (big whoop it's only Tuesday lunchtime lol) hmm I'll see how I feel come Friday, defo won't drink before then

What an amazing goal to look forward to Lounging!

I only started Dry Jan yesterday Not, so not officially a whole Dry Jan. I caved Saturday and Sunday. But I'm usually 1/2 bottle minimum a night, so I certainly need it and convince myself I don't have a problem !! I think no drinking in the week is a great philosophy. Shame I can't do it .

If you can manage til Friday with me bath, you'll have saved between 1200-2400 cals I reckon. You managed last night, you can do that again 😉

Grr! Same issue again today. worked perfectly this morning but now I can't get back on it. I wonder if it's a local thing? Gives neighbours the evil eye

Does anyone know how to delete or change recipes you've made on MFP? I've over estimated my meal by at least 150 cals after weighing my usual portions size out. At this point I'm even questioning how I got this fat tbh. I've now had 3 meals and if I include my 150 overestimate I have 500 cals left of my 1250 allowance.

Yesterday and today I've eaten the exact same meals I'd eat in a normal week apart from switching white bread for brown and measured my butter and both days I've been well under my allowance. Yesterday I had a cup of tea and jaffa as a snack which I eat anyway but also had a banana instead of my usual chocolate bar at night but considering I only used 997 calls I'd have been allowed a chocolate bar anyway within my calories.

For the last 2-3 years I've stayed the same weight give or take 3 lbs (touch wood I don't pile any more on) without watching what I eat so, only thing I can think of is whether I piled all the weight on when I used to eat freezer shit, because for the last few years I've been making all my own meals and stayed the same, or my pill didn't help with weight gain. It's all a bit confusing really.

I am having a really annoying few days. I have been good for a few days and I'm just bouncing around the same few pounds. I have spent the last 2 weeks not really losing. Just waiting for my body to get its act together and actually lose some weight! I know I just need to be patient and keep on keeping on.

That's very frustrating must - you could just have a very low tdee or could you have been underestimating portions or too many blt's (bites, licks, tastes)? And mfp isn't always right, I've developed a taste for those chewy moam sweets? Mfp says 30gr is 30 calls, eh no search again and it's about 35cals for 10grams.
Stick to 1000 lowest, 1200 most days, 1400-1600 for a treat day, see where that gets you in 2-3 weeks

I don't think so, today I made fakeaway kebab with my homemade chips but I weighed my meat and chips to check portion size and it turns out the normal amount of lamb I have weighed 130g and my chips were 70g. I don't even eat it all. Yesterday I weighed my brown rice out 50g, usually use boil in a but never eat it all and I think that's 65g. I cooked 300g of chicken and split it in two.

I don't usually weigh butter and obviously white bread has more cals than brown but I hardly eat bread. I'm not a big fan of sandwiches so usually have something on toast for lunch and only one slice and one slice of toast for breakfast. I hardly drink fizzy drinks or alcohol. I have fish, chips and curry sauce from the chippy once week and go to a restaurant once a month. I'm going to be royally pissed if I don't lose weight, I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Are you calculating calories in the lamb & chips after cooking? Sorry if that sounds like a silly question but 100gr's of potatoes uncooked will weigh a lot less cooked, same as mince. So say lamb mince is, eh I dunno, 160 cals per 100gr but that might only weight 60gr when cooked. You may know all this so apologies

well my chicken was 300g before cooking and rice 50g before cooking. I weighed my lamb and chips after cooking because I cooked for OH too so it was all done together so I weighed my bit. When am I supposed to weigh it? 😯

Got a bit of a headache too, started a few hours ago. Will it be because I haven't had any sweet stuff or just coincidence? Not had any snacks or tea all day, was hoping to hold out till half 9 so can have a cuppa with TV.

9'10 this morning, will probably be a bit more tomorrow

Why is working in an office such a bastard! Yesterday three packets of biscuits and chocolate oranges. Today, krispy creme donuts and greggs cookies! There is literally temptation everywhere. It's people bringing in their things left over from christmas and pushing it onto those who are weak willed me for example I had a healthy day planned but it has gone out of the window completely.
___

At the risk of being a cliche, that is my line drawn. Tomorrow is a fresh start and i will not eat anything except for the food i have planned. Will also be posting regularly, it really does help to keep me on track!

I did the fakeaway before, so I measured all ingredients uncooked, so 500gr lamb mince etc (must dig out the recipe and do it again) so total uncooked weight, get total cals. Then weigh when cooked and then you'll know how many grams you get for how many cals. So for example total uncooked ingredients was, random number, 600gram and that's 1200 cals taking into account all ingredients. So cooked it weights 300gram, half of it is 600 cals. Ykwim?
The chicken & rice is very easy, 300gr uncooked chicken, c. 320 cals, 50gr uncooked rice c. 180. So even if you are half you're only at 250. Potatoes are swines for post cooked vs precooked weight, 100gr chips uncooked wouldn't fill a saucer!

Oh must, make sure you're staying hydrated, dehydration can cause woeful headaches but yes could be sugar.
Emz tis only sugar bloat! Be gone in a day or 2, I work on my own mostly so no-one to temp me anymore but last office I worked in, shocking amount of sugar. Just had to be stronger, I wanted my figure more than a bikkie😉

Oh crikey Not2b this is confusing stuff 😧 so even if I take all that into consideration i think I'm still under my daily limit, with my cup of tea and jaffa cakes. I'll have to remember that for next time. So am I best to cook my chips on a separate tray to OH then if I weigh them raw coz obviously he'll be eating more than me so won't know how big my portion is when cooked. And if I'm going to be putting chips into MFP do i just calculate the amount as raw potato? What portion should I be eating?

I always weigh things raw Must, it's easier and just gets too confusing if you do it after cooking. I see the raw weight as the real weight.

Thanks Not2, I hope it is! I'll have more restraint tomorrow!

If you make chips from scratch ( or even frozen) weigh them before cooking, e.g 400gram uncooked potato is 320 cals and if you drizzle/spray with oil add that in too. Once cooked weigh again, say they weigh 200gr for easy example, 100gr cooked is 160 cals plus oil cals if applicable. To be honest you probably don't need to be too anal but there are times that certain food could be wayyy more calorific than you think and I think that was the case today with the fakeaway. 130gr was more likely 200 gr uncooked so a good many more cals.
Bottom line with weight gain or loss is there are few mysteries, probably more misunderstandings!

But not2 I'm finding about 70 Cals for 100g cooked (boiled) potatoes? Are you sure re:160 Cals?**

Or was it just an example you gave?

At least we now know for sure they're alcohol-free.

Thanks, I'm getting it now 😂 I never knew any of this! Think it'll be hardest with my meat because I buy from the butchers so has no calories on the package, will have to Google. I think the hardest thing to let go will be mash tbh.

Tomorrow I'm at the hairdressers at dinnertime and I'll be there for 2 and half to 3 hours so will have to just have a more substantial breakfast, miss dinner and have tea. Think I'm having haddock and veg.

Excuse the nocturnal post, can't sleep. Boiling vs baking are very different, one will increase the water mass & weight (boiling so less actual potato weight) but baking will dehydrate. If you check the label on the bag of potatoes, it should be 79 cals per 100gr, that's what my spuds from Aldi are. So if I know what it weighed going in to cook, no more maths needed, as emz says she goes on raw weight. If you're cooking for 2, I know this seems like a lot to do but it's only for the first while until you are truly getting the calories you think you are - and then you can judge by eye. Don't believe everything mfp says, check labels too. You can scan barcodes and mfp will bring up the right reading a lot of the time.
I hope that helps and doesn't dishearten but it's important to get your head around the fact that your body has been getting enough calories to maintain your weight, so either you have a very very low tdee or you've been eating a couple more 100 cals a day consistently. My own problem was I was good as gold Monday through Thursday and then eating and extra 3000 over a weekend (and that's if I was good!) I had been gaining and loosing the same 10 pound for 6 months. I'm "getting" it now. You can get away with 1 blow out every couple of weeks, any more and I reckon in a few weeks you'll see a gain creeping on slowly.

Sorry last thing must you absolutely don't have to let go of mash unless you're eating a tonne of it with 100gr of butter and 100ml of cream!
You don't need to give anything up, you just need to make the calories work, and wherever you can get good value/nutrients, work on getting the best bang for your buck. This is a marathon not a race and giving up things you love could cause you to fall off the wagon. Weight won't all be lost in January

Morning all. Down 0.75lbs today to 10st 2.75. Not surprised it's dropping off at the moment with how active this week has been already! Got my good totally right yesterday, had really high solid energy levels all day, right through strength training, baby group, shopping trip, mucking out two horses, poo picking the field and riding one for 45 minutes. Trying to emulate that balance again today, it's so easy for me to feel awful if I don't eat properly or drink enough.
Thought I'd share a screenshot of my progress - you'll see two identical upturns, which are my August holiday and the period over Christmas - both about the same length, both the same amount of gain, both gone super quickly as soon as I was fully back on track. I didn't go 'mad' on either holiday, but certainly didn't measure portions etc like I usually would, and some of the weight gain in both cases was bloat from eating out with saltier food/more bread than usual.

Supposed to say 'got my FOOD totally right yesterday'! 🙄