MFP Thread 7

[Not2bObvious]

Continued chat for those using MFP as a weight loss tool

not perhaps you could put the exact allowed junk food into mfp at the start at the weekend - say 3-400cals worth of snacks? Then you could let yourself have only what fits into your allowance?

need I suspect you could probably maintain on a bit more than 1900, given your activities will routinely use up 400+ cals in one go. I routinely have healthy snacks like nuts/fruit/oatcakes in addition to my meals. I used to also have dried fruit and cheese but I had to cut out as found it too difficult to eat these in moderation.

dawhead have you pulled the deccies down yet and put the snacks in the bin ....? You can do this, you know the routine....

loli glad the hair cut was a big success. I'd really like to go blond again at some point but I'm putting it off as I can't really be arsed maintaining it all.

jonty today is a new day.

sugar my tip for injury avoidance is to really listen to your body and if there's any pain at all then scale it all right back. You could build up/add distance real slow, do walk-runs, add in extra recovery days (eg 3 clear days between runs). Other things to limit the impact on joints might be running only on the flat or on grass (or mixing the terrain to use different leg muscles). One other thing I do to limit myself and prevent injury is to make a point of scaling back to 80% effort. I will routinely do this in yoga now - eg I injured myself in the past by overstretching my hamstrings. Now I will only go as far as feels comfortable. I also do a long session of stretching/whole body cool down after my runs which helps to reset my body. Other than yoga once a week, I don't currently do a lot of core work - although I probably should do more - my main approach is more gentle alignment/balance focused sessions - I do another 2 classes focusing only on these techniques each week.

Running has defined my thighs more than anything else, particularly lifting what would otherwise be a flabby bit of flesh above my knees.

Bit of a binge last night. Snacks added up to over 1300cals. To be fair, 500cals of that was the scone I skipped breakfast for. But the rest was all sorts of random crap I delved into whilst watching a film including excess fruit, dark choc and half a box of meringue nests I had left over from NYE. There isn't a lot of junk in my house so I had to improvise.....

Happy weekend all!

I've tried that sesame, sadly mfp doesn't come with a baseball bat to make me to stick to it, of course neither would a snack box. But thanks for the suggestion, it's a great one and I'm sure it would work for others with less greedy behaviour😉 I'm not glad you're in the 1300 cals of sugary sh*te but it's nice to know I wasn't the only one last night. Oh I am bored!!! Awake early, slow cooker beef prepped & cooking, potatoes prepped, cooked the breakfast stuff, bathed the littler lady and fancy'fied her for the party she's going to. The house needs a thorough Hoover but I can't drag myself to do it - the grind of being a grown up sucks. I wish I had a cleaner...sob.

Jonty. Lattes are my weakness. I love them in the morning.l, especially when it's cold.
Sugar. I think Pilates is really good for strengthening your core. There's loads of videos on YouTube for all stages. I'm working on banishing my mum tum.
I'm down 3lbs this week. Which I find hard to believe but I will keep going.
It's my birthday this week so I've had a birthday meal today and on Monday so will be over those two days but I want to enjoy my food. I love eating and I'm not beating myself up for enjoying my birthday. If I can maintains ny 3lb loss over the week I'll be happy.

Mfp just told me that if I ate like this everyday I'd gain 8lbs in 5weeks. Oops.

Spent today visiting family. Shattered now. No exercise but have plans for tomorrow!

Finishing up on 1500cals which is ok for a weekend I think. Having leg of lamb roasted for dinner tomorrow, so will probably be about the same.

Shade under 1800 - better that yesterday, so that's something. Barely moved today in the end, sloth...

Kitchen closed today on 1984. Better than yesterday but no halos for me either.

Morning all! Well I'm back down to 11.11 so happy here. I've reset my target to 11.7 and then it stops (bearing in mind this 'target' was originally 13 stone lol!). Out for a long walk with dogs later and DH is actually coming with us, miracles happen. Happy Sunday everyone.

That's amazing loli, only 4 pound to goal. At the rate you're going, you could be done by the end of January! Talk about a success story madam😉 And you got himself out haha, I'd need a crowbar & menace to get my fella out.
Thinking about joining a Zumba class, I want to mix things up and I'd love to mix with other grown ups. And I do love a boogie. loli, iirc you're a Zumba'er? Or am I thinking of someone else

Thank you Not. Yes I go to Zumba. I love it. It's fun, good cardio and I agree about the grown ups as I've made some great friends through it. It's also increased my flexibility. Fitness wise it's not enough for me alone now but I mix it up with other stuff.

Sounds good loli, I have gym membership for this month (of course I lost a week with being ill) so I suppose I'm looking for something a bit social but active to do - could be good. Feeling a lot better, out for a bit of sale shopping, I need some new basics, feeling frumpy

I've often thought about trying Zumba but I'm so badly co-ordinated! The problem with me joining any classes is that DH sometimes has to work evenings, and I do one evening in 5 on call. Since we have no family around there's no help with childcare so inevitably I can't commit to a weekly class. But would be nice to make some new friends nearby too.

Well done Loli! We are currently the same weight so! My target is 10st 7 to start with. Would love to be under 11 by this very posh wedding in march. Need to pick an aspirational dress I think, I've worn the same dress to the last 4 weddings I've attended!

Had a long sleep. Went for a run/walk as suggested. Kept it very slow. I think maybe I ramp it up to fast normally- I used to enjoy longer runs the most and always hate the first 10mins or so until I properly warm up. It's also very very hilly where I live which is good for fitness but bad for knees!

Plan for today: I'll have a brunch soon of eggs, turkey rashers and spinach followed by some fruit. Then for dinner it's a roast leg of lamb- which I will have with roast veg, some cauliflower+kale and maybe one Yorkshire pudding (my husband loves this particular English thing!). Also planning to do a short core Pilates video later.

Sugar £60 is a lot for a PT, I pay £15, prices Ooop North eh? I wasn't specifically suggesting PT, I did wonder about one session with a physio too, as they are brilliant usually giving specific exercise advice. FWIW, I think 90% of folk run far too fast in general. I think they would enjoy it more and be less prone to injury or to drop out if they slowed down! Good tips from Sesame too.

I'm taking the 'whole body' approach too this time round. I like your ideas in your post, Sesame, all sensible and achievable.

I agree with you Loli, too. It's good to mix it up for all round fitness benefit. I went to Boxercise last week, and that alone wouldn't be enough for me now, when I started I was knackered after a class. Brilliant weight loss too.

Well, I'm buzzing today. 10 mile trail race today. Very hilly, muddy and tough. A lot of tough hills in the last half of the race. Took it very steady, at a pace I felt really sustainable and loved it. Ended up first female for the club and 7th in my age category from 76. Really chuffed as this was not a maximal effort, there's loads of photos of me waving and skipping for the cameras. I love that there's fast runners out there, but also those that will take twice as long at least. They always get the biggest cheers and are giving out so much effort and commitment. Such an inclusive sport.

Also burned 800 extra calories, which is always a bonus.

Brekkie - porridge and blueberries.
Gel mid race, half a low cal energy drink.
Lunch - ham and cheese sandwich (protein for muscle recovery). Mango with natural yoghurt.
Dinner - will be roast beef dinner, lots of veggies, wine.

Well done need! You must be on a high. I love when I do parkrun (not often enough) there's people clapping and cheering you on all the way. Managed to get a new pair of boots, which means I've 2 pairs the same colour that can go in the charity bag. And new jeans which will replace a pair that are too big for me. Once something new comes in, something old has to go out. Meatballs, pasta & garlic bread for lunch. Starving!

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! We went away for 9 days, only just home.... I wasn't neglecting you all, I promise. I don't have MN app on my phone (as otherwise I'd be on it the whole time_, so I couldn't touch base away. We were skiing, which was brilliant. It's taken me a v long time to get to the stage I can just go, and we had a blast. Yes, plenty of calories burned, but even more consumed in the form of 3 hot meals a day, afternoon cake, and as much wine as was brought to the table .

So my new years resolutions all start tomorrow. I'll have had time to catch up with all the posts then too. Hope all is well with everyone. Really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, and finding out what everyone are up to!

Just had a quick scroll back to see how many pages I need to catch up on, and just seen that Jonty is back. Big wave. I won't be braving the scales tomorrow I don't think, especially after Indian Takeaway this eve - as nothing in the fridge - but a week sticking to 1200 and NO WINE might get things started. Until tomorrow ...

Oh hi Bath lovely to 'see' you! 😁
Sugarandsalt I have a whole core workout I do regularly that I could share with you? Takes about twenty minutes and I try to do it 4 times a week.
So the it's confession time. The weekend was awful. I broke my Dry January on Friday while at dinner at in-laws (so ashamed f myself), then had an argument with DH on Saturday and so I bought wine for at home (emotional crutch) and with wine comes far too much food. Friday morning I was down to 10st 7.5, this morning back up to 10st10.5. Anyway, no socialising planned for next weekend, so I have a much better chance of making it through without wine, chocolate, biscuits, cheese, buttered toast, chocolate, more chocolate......anyway, back on the straight and narrow today and hoping at least some of that gain is just 'weekend weight' and will drop off tomorrow! 😁🙄

Hope you had a lovely time bath, no harm to stay away from mn for a spell, I'm trying to set myself rules on digital downtime.
Ahh jonty never mind, I read something about dry Jan being a bit like a crash diet and we all know what happens when you crash diet, there's a tendency to crash & binge. Of course some of that extra weight is carb/sugar bloat - and no beating yourself up, doesn't burn calories & only sets the stage for misery. I hope the row has been put to bed and you & dh are ok. I'm off the drink for the duration of my course of anti-b's but sure made up my drink no cals in junk. I think I have it under control now. Still 11.8 this morning so that's grand, it all starts from here.
B: Rasher, scrambled egg, toast & butter, pro-b drink for my digestion as rec when on ABs
L: leftover meatballs with a little pasta & a garlic toastie
D: Shepards pie, broccoli & peas
Going to have some fruit throughout the day too. So all comfort food but smaller portions, I've been left with a sniffly cold so I'm in need of stodge.

Well done need! Welcome back bath delighted you are back! Jonty I'll take any suggestions you have re core exercises thank you! And don't worry about slipping, we all slip up. It's the dusting ourselves off and getting back on track that matters!

I've been working from home since 8am. Have an afternoon session I can't miss though so am leaving now to take a very convoluted trip to work. Walking shoes in my bag as I expect I'll need to walk at least part of the journey each way. Wish me luck!

Not your food sounds great. I love comfort food in the miserable month of January. I've had scrambled eggs with turkey rashers and tomatoes, will grab a soup for lunch probably and have leftover lamb leg which will be used to make "doner" kebabs. Mine will be filling lettuce leaves instead of pitta, with a side of salad and some delicious garlic sauce (just Greek yoghurt which is infusing at present with garlic, and some salt and pepper).

sugar well done on your run-walk. Sounds good. If it’s pretty hilly where you are, do take care on those downhills, as it multiplies the pressure on your joints.

cora well done on the loss, and happy birthday!

loli wowsers, only 4lb away from target! That’s amazing!

need that’s a bargain PT you’ve got there! Well done on the race!

bath welcome back, glad you had a nice time! Good luck with your weigh in!

jonty today is a new day!

not the menu looks good, especially if you’re aiming for smaller portions. Hope that sniffly cold buggers off soon!

Yesterday was a good day, kitchen closed yesterday on 1714. That’s 56 cals under, plus 500 odd cals banked from my Sunday run.

First day back at work today though, so feeling a bit down. The treat table is also pretty well stocked, with everyone’s Xmas leftovers. Work days tend to be harder for me calorie wise food is an escape mechanism for me so I’ll have to try hard to resist.

Porridge with berries for breakie (made with coconut water – thanks for the tip need). Work canteen hot lunch today if they’ve got something nice . Dinner will be pasta and a leftover mascarpone and veg sauce I made – quite rich, but will be under 500 cals if I only have 50g of pasta.

Well my trip to work was completely uneventful! Made it with time to spare! Have 12k already though which is great. Will be much busier at home time I expect. Having lunch now and then back to work!

Busy work days all round eh? - frantic deadlines here too, so only eaten mango so far. Am glad to be back, thank you all. And scales said 11.8 which I'm v pleased with. I reckon nervous energy is working wonders at the moment. Back to MFP logging today, & hoping to get exercising again tomorrow. In haste for now, but will check in again later ...

So busy today as well, barely stopped! We're weight twins bath😉 Waiting for my pie to cook & kicking back for a few mins. I may even manage to stick to 1200 today, that would be a great start to the week. I had toyed with the idea of starting Zumba tonight but I think I need to feel a bit better than I do before I get my dancing shoes on (or infect innocent standers by!)

Evening all!! A hungry day here. Hopefully I'll still end under 1300 so it could be worse. Off to Latino in a minute with the trainer who would have made a fab army PTI. Very shouty!
Had my 3 monthly check-up with haematology today. She's very happy with me. I promised her last April I'd loose weight and I blooming did.
Remember I was taking DH on a walk yesterday? 8 and a half miles and I think I killed him. He couldn't move for the rest of the day. Whoops.