MFP Thread 7

[Not2bObvious]

Continued chat for those using MFP as a weight loss tool

I really don't like courgette so the shortage won't bother me😁 Every time I joined ww I'd go roast courgette/butternut squash crazy and it's ruined me for both. On the back of all the lovely recipe/meal plan talk I'm thinking ahead to the weekend - always my downfall. I feel a trip to the Asian market coming on. I'm not weighing in today, if I can hold off until Friday I will. As predicted pretty achey this morning, but not too bad.
Food today:
B:Poached egg on whole grain toast
L:Brown bread with tuna & sweetcorn
D:HM shepards pie with veg
Around 1000 so far but need to plug it into mfp. So a bit of wriggle room for few nuts/berries maybe

Still at 11 9, which I am relieved at, given w'end excesses. Finished yesterday at 1248. Determined to have another day on target, esp as I'm not able to burn off through exercise atm. Have a good day all

Bath at least there's no upwards movement
Not Asian market sounds great, I wish there was one near us!
Finished yesterday on 1597. No loss today as hoped for, but have a low cal day planned so hopefully that will help.
B = avocado and fried egg on toast
L= Thai noodle soup with butternut squash and kale
D= Thai red chicken curry
Bit of a Thai heavy day, but you get lots of flavour so it doesn't notice so much that it's low cal!

Weight unchanged here too. Probably down to my pasta+cake on Saturday. I always seem to get stuck at this point and takes me a few weeks to get under. Probably need to drop to 1200calories but I like the freedom an extra 150-200 gives me. I've been exercising everyday which makes me hungry too. Jonty I love Thai, Indian, North African and middle eastern food. The flavours are so fantastic you don't even notice the calorie cutting you can do. I was definitely not meant to be born in Ireland and served the same meal every day for 15 years! (Overcooked meat, with veg boiled for hours, potatoes- my DM was never the best cook!).

Not your food sounds great too. Comforting shepherds pie on a cold day.

Breakfast- porridge
Lunch- salad from yesterday
Dinner- cod, puy lentils and minty peas

I adore Thai, I'd eat it every day if I could. I want to do a prawn dish on Friday night & I think the Asian market is the only place I can get a particular sauce, I do love a potter around. I've a big store only a short drive away and it's like another world! Just dropped some ibuprofen, hoping it reduces the aches a bit - quite a lot to do this morning in work but should be finished by 2, Zumba tonight all going well😉

Hello all! I'm on my phone and I've missed loads so I'm not going to be able to go back through everyone's updates sorry.
No weight loss to report but I'm well well under calories and doing loads (too much?) of exercise and I low carb so I'm actually beginning to wonder if I'm eating too little? MFP sets me at 1700 but out of habit and panic of putting it back on I keep around 1300. My weight is stagnant at 11:12/12 stone yet I do something every day.
So you wise and wonderful people what do you think?

Hiya loli! Imho considering how much you've lost, and how much exercise you're doing I would try to eat at least 1500, and 1700 on hungry days. Apart from anything you need some energy to fuel your workouts. It could just be a plateau & a rise in cals often breaks that. 1300 sounds quite punishing considering how hard you're working - no need to do that. I'm sure you'll see a whoosh soon.
Got some new supplies from the Asian market, looking forward to making some super flavoursome dishes (slobber)

Sugar. You and me both re recipe planning and cooking in general. It's one of my great pleasures. I think it helps keep on track too, but that's very lower down the list of why I do it, I do it because I love it.

7.6 here today.

loli I think you could allow yourself more calories. I'm not convinced very low calorie diets can be good, and you do lots of activity. PT was chatting to the class yesterday and did mention that the less you have to lose, the slower it will go. Therefore, it would take me a while now to lose a couple of pounds (not that I plan to) compared to that initial loss.

Been a busy day and just in from the dog walk.

Breakfast - porridge, coconut water and blueberries.
Lunch - tuna and rocket sandwich.
Dinner - carrot and orange soup, crusty bread.
Snack - banana, energy gel, graze box, wine.

I'm running with the club tonight, 10 miles, so lots of activity by the end of the day.

'very lower', damn phone!!

I can't shed any wise words, sorry Loli. But you obviously know what you're doing, to have done so well to get to where you are now! Sugar is plateau-queen I seem to recall.

I love Thai too. All this talk is making me slobber too Not, esp red king prawn curry. Maybe I'll do that at the weekend.

I've cheated for dinner this eve & bought spatchock chicken, chorizo, sweet potato tray-bake thing, all ready to go in the oven. One portion is 600 calories, which isn't too bad really, but by the time I count my teas, coffees, pineapple, lunch & wine for later, just leaves me enough for the chicken bit & broccoli. Day 3 of no sugar today wine excluded, and headache kicked-in.

Did you sleep better last night Not? And you Jonty? hope so.

Hope you have lots of layers for your long run this evening Need. Brrrr. Watch the ice too.

Oh Bath you didn't accidentally do that with a customer did you . I love the idea of body armour - I just wish I had a sharp tongue sometimes (I'll make do with a sharp sword ). Eeeew on the clicky thing on the back but so great that they were able to help. 1248 was a brilliant day - well done - and that sounds like a lovely dinner tonight.

Need your food always looks so lovely - esp like the idea of a prawn risotto. Hope you're having a nice run tonight - how many people go out together?

Not thank you that's the thing - I know I've done nothing wrong so I have to keep reminding myself. Yummy for Asian food too - and shepherd's pie mmmm - haven't had that in aaaggges you are giving me nice ideas.

Sugar could the tiredness be hormonal? Or might it be from the PT sessions? I'm fascinated by the idea of an Online PT - is he 'live' IYKWIM? Does he shout at you from the monitor . I wonder if you're just going through a bit of a plateau on the scales - you're doing so well it can't be anything else.

Jonty that's a great cal total yesterday esp as you've had a tickly throat. And that Thai menu does look fantastic.

Loli I really think you're going through a plateau too - you are doing brilliantly with the calories and exercise so it can be the only reason. I agree with Not and Need that you can afford to take in a bit more and see what happens.

You are all putting me to shame with your lovely meals and food planning. I don't think I've ever bought a courgette. We are v v bad at buying fruit/veg here. Spuds & peppers is about it (and some steam veg for the microwave ).

Did have some cake last night so finished on 1740 bringing my weekly average to 1800. WI day today and scales say I've lost 1kg ~2.2lbs, down to 63.8kg ~10st 1. I don't know what's going on . I have a few theories, either:
a) it's the stress
b) I'm overestimating my calories - I am guessing at the cake contents but everything else is weighed
c) my thyroid is still being over-treated so my metabolism is up (blood test again in a few weeks)
or
d) last week was a minor blip upwards and I hadn't gained as much as I thought.

Anyway, I did weigh a few times so I'll just take it at face value and see where this week takes me. Doing ok today - tuna pasta bake for dinner so 1520 planned so far. Will really try to resist tonight and see if I can end up close to that. Would love to get my average down to around 1400 this week.

I got a solid 5.5 hours last night bath, thanks for asking, improvement on the previous night but still woke before 5. But it was a proper sleep unlike the 4 hours from the night before. How's your back now?
I'm not going to Zumba as the doms have kicked in & I'm still quite tired.
Wow dawg, you're so close to the 9's, you're very likely overestimating the cals, hope it's not the thyroid meds.
I'm just under 1000 and am going to have a snack - crackers/some cheese & a bit of fruit is what I fancy. Being a bit fuller might help with the sleep problem. I would LOVE a glass of wine (jealous of you need😉) but I'm determined to stay booze free until Friday.

Need take care on your run its below zero here already
Bath nothing wrong with th odd cheat meal especially as you can still meet your calorie target
Daw thank you for the sleep wishes, unfortunately last nights sleep was awful, between me coughing, husband having epilepsy complications that meant he was twitching and jumping a lot of the night, and the rig wanting to go for a wee at 1am 🙄. DS also has conjunctivitis now, so I had to stay home to look after them both today. Praying for sleep tonight and for both of them to be better tomorrow, so I can go in to work!
I was headed for a really low total then bought DS some mini sausage rolls while we were out earlier and inhaled half the box in the car, then reached the 'fuck it' point when I got home and now I'm nursing a beer and probably just under 2000 cals for the day. Oh well. Survival is the main aim at the moment..

Thanks all for your advice. It's SO hard to up the calories (goes against the grain after all this time!) but I'm going to have to do something. On 1370 tonight and only did a short walk with the hounds.
Jonty you've had an outing all of you. I hope everyone gets better and you get some sleep.
Not I hope you get some better kip as well. You've had a rough start to the year.
Daw lets hope the scales stay down (and what's the secret??)
Bath did you watch that diet programme last night? One of them was no sugar and really worked.
Need how was your run?
Sugar loving the Irish menu lol!
Big excitement in our leisure centre last night, actually it was chaos, they were feeling Casualty there. Quite bizarre seeing blood covered actors eating their sandwiches in Reception.

Wow, Loli, filming Casualty. Exciting. I guess they've got to film somewhere, I never thought! To be honest, I would make the same food choices whatever I set my calorie goal at or activity level. I know what you mean about adjusting.

Jonty Your whole family has had a tough few days. Hope the sleep goes well tonight and you get back to work tomorrow. A few sausage rolls won't make a difference, promise!

You've lost Daw, that's brilliant. I go for the 'blip' reason. I also think you might be onto something, you seem to eat a sensible amount of calories overall. Slow and steady wins the race. How was work today?

Your allowed to cheat Bath, re the meals sometimes. How's the back?

Ha Not I ALWAYS ache. I never ever don't, unless I've tapered down for a race that I have targeted. Especially at the moment as I am slowly increasing volume. So I've dead legs from more miles and my abs and upper body are taking a hit from the PT. But it's all part of the fun and part of the process of making me stronger and fitter. I sort of enjoy the feeling iyswim? When you marathon train, I can't tell you the fatigue that sets in, I think that's why you feel so emotional afterwards.

Thank you for caring guys. It's actually pretty mild up north, about 7.5 degrees. I togged myself up seeing your kind comments, then sweated like mad. However, 9.5 miles done, 3 with my friend and the rest with the club.

In answer Daw, about 30 tonight, which is usual, although there can be as many as 50. There's 'pace' groups, setting off within 5 minutes of each other according to how fast folk are, so we all finish pretty much together. There's really and truly all paces, shapes and sizes, it's so very inclusive.

This year I'm running all manner of trail, fell, cross country and off road races and a few fast road ones. Marking my place in the sand to see where I am at and enjoying being back running. Base training for a year, then a marathon 2018, ultra 2019. A plan. I like a plan.

I've 500 calories left at least as I've put 2 glasses of wine into MFP but only having one.

Not there's also a shortage of brocolli, spinach, aubergine and peppers apparently. I love the Asian market in Dublin- they have the best curry pastes there.

Bath staying steady is great from one day to the next. I've been steady all week, which is frustrating but I have to trust it will fall again. Your chicken sounds delicious.

Loli I'm not a believer in starvation mode but I do believe in set points. I seem to get stuck at different points and after a few weeks then it whooshes down. Unless of course like in December I get fed up and go totally off the wagon. I think sometimes a week or two of eating at maintenance can help, probably through the effect on mental health and motivation tbh! Wish I was taller, I'd love 1700calories! Filming casualty sounds entertaining to watch!

Need hope you enjoyed your run. Very icy here tonight too. I'd love to be fit enough and injury free enough to run a marathon next year. I've done 7 halfs but never a marathon.

Dawhead it's probably a combination of stress and overestimating calories. Although probably worth getting your thyroid checked as if it's overtreated it won't be helping with your anxiety either. I think my tiredness is down to poor sleep to be honest, only managing a few hours a night and waking for an hour or more at 3am. Combination of stress and little person. The PT isn't live, it's an automated programme. Monitors heart rate/effort via Fitbit, and personal effort and recommends programmes based on that. Started off very easy but last few sessions have been tough.

Jonty given the stress you've been under you need to give yourself a break too. Fingers crossed you get some rest tonight.

I've done less steps than usual (12500) and my workout. On target calorie wise. Made very green soup for tomorrow lunch, and will have slow cooker beef casserole tomorrow for dinner.

Just read the courgette story. I failed to find broccoli on my last 2 weekly trips to lidl. One of those visits was immediately followed by a trip to aldi, given the stupid number of items missing off my list. They didn't have any either.

Talking about our new trend for watching diet shows, I watched one of the bbc size zero ones this morning. Super slim me. I thought she looked great both at the beginning and the end.....

Kitchen closed at 1479 today. 273 under. It's a miracle given how consistently I seem to be in the 2000s these days. Very busy at work. Still not caught up properly with everyone's posts from the last few days. Night all.

Morning all. Awake again before 5am, but asleep before 11, up to 6+ hours sleep now. Might get lucky and get a full 7 tonight! Despite my best intentions I ended up doing the sad step. 3 days of restraint and the scales is up to 11.7, I was 11.5.2 on Tuesday and 11.6.4 the previous Friday. Glad I don't waste cash on WW or SW, I'd be raging seeing a gain on such good behaviour. It'll drop in time I'm sure - just trying not to get hung up on a number. Still v achey, the day is looming long in front of me. Have a bit of a dicky tummy too to add to my achey muscles, my, aren't I the cheery one today? I'm taking heart on what you said sugar to loli, this could just be a set point and it'll tip downward soon.

Morning all! Course day today so don't need to leave til 930! Got up, put my beef casserole in slow cooker, got DD ready and then did my exercise session early. Just showered and sitting down to eggs, feta and bacon medallions with some kale for breakfast. Lunch is my super green spinach, pea and ham soup. Dinner beef and veg casserole, with cauliflower mash. Will come in at 1300-1400.

Don't loose heart Not. Water-retention with dicky tummy? You are doing everything right. Long-term goals.

You've been a bit off-sorts so far this year, health-wise (still as witty here ). Have the antibiotics upset your digestive flora? Worth taking some live yoghurt, or those activa things, to get everything sorted again? Antibiotics always give me sore tummy & thrush too. Nice. Not. Thankfully haven't had to take them in years. Lecture over

Not I often gain a little after a few days of eating well. Just more gas etc from all the veg, it disappears as quickly as it comes. And scales are generally only accurate to a kg either side, body weight naturally fluctuates within a range so I'm guessing it's not a real gain or is delayed effect from a few bad days before.

Thanks guys, yes gut quite upset after medication but then I am quite sluggish of bowel as a rule (now there's an attractive trait!) Ahh I know it's just a glitch or past indiscretions- I'll get over it, just sulking a bit😉 Eyes on the prize, I'm only on day 4 of my drop a dress size plan - by day 14 I'll be like an elf!

Do you ever read the mfp community? They have a long running thread in success stories called "What's your latest NSV?". I find it cheers me up when I'm not getting places as fast as I like. This morning I wore a jacket I got as a Xmas present which barely zipped up (Zara size M) but today it zipped up easily. Have a think about your own?!

Not. I'm thinking the fluctuation is entirely normal? Think about it, when we reach target, you expect a couple of pounds either way. Having a large glass of water would stick a pound on your weight, it's nonsense really if you think about it, but means so much.

I've had my PT session, which I enjoyed and one dog walk. Lots of arms work today.

Breakfast - avocado on toast.
Lunch - tuna wrap, mixed berry pot.
Dinner - omelette later as DD is training.
Snack - banana pre PT session, graze box, bagel.

A bit more than usual snack-wise but an odd eating day (omelette will be very late tonight hence a snack half an hour ago) and I've been quite hungry. I'm still going to work out under.