Hi everyone, can I join please?
This is a bit of an essay, but just wanted to share some of the stuff I've done over the last couple of months.
In my fifties and have seen weight steadily climb over last few years. I'm 5' 2.5 was at 157 pounds mid Feb. Have tried a few different things over the years, but decided some time ago the most important was to find meals that fit in with the rest of my family. Am now at 148.2.
So, since end of Feb I've been using MFP to tweak all the main meal recipes that I regularly cook for the whole family so I know exactly what is in them and so my portion is lower in calories. Also I have been studying the things I would normally have for breakfast and lunch to do some ingredient swaps to lower calories whilst making them satisfying, and where possible healthier.
I have set MFP to lose half a pound a week and put all sorts of figures into one of the online calculators to see what my maintenance no of calories will be when I hit 145lb (first target), 140lb (second target), 130lb (well within my 'normal' range). I don't want to eat much below the maintenance amount for that healthy weight (1500-2000 calories depending on exercise level). Mfp currently gives me 1480 to lose half a pound a week, so that is perfect. If I exercise then sometimes I eat the calories but mostly I don't. My aim is a lifestyle that is maintainable long term, a post-menopause recalibration. What is really interesting is to put in your figures and then change your age from 55 to 25. That really shows you where middle age spread comes from.
For breakfast I usually have two soft boiled eggs, 100g frozen edamame, a tomato or two and 80-100g of brocolli or mangetout. I got a Cook4me pressure cooker from Mumsnet last year (it is fab) and I can cook all of that at once in the Cook4me (sometimes I also chuck in mushrooms, baby corn etc to cook for using later). 4 mins pressure cooking + time to heat up, but so easy as you just press the buttons and leave it. About 350 calories and 3 of my 5 a day.
I am mostly at home, so I usually have breakfast mid-morning, and lunch later too, to try and cut down on late afternoon snacking.
If I am going out first thing, or if I know I will be eating a bigger than normal meal later then I have porridge with skimmed milk - 215 calories, giving me some spare for later.
Lunch I often have half a pack of cheap stir fry veg, done with minimal oil, ginger, chilli flakes and soy, with half a tin of lentils/black beans and a tin of salmon or some left over chicken. 2-3 more veg portions, 425 calories, and it is a very big plate of food. Would be good precooked and used as a packed lunch too. If I haven't had eggs for breakfast then sometimes an omelette plus large salad and slice of bread for lunch. Homemade lentil soup plus salad and poss bread another option.
A while ago I looked very carefully at the calories in bread vs pulses and now use pulses where I would previously have had bread. I find them more filling too (and tinned in water they are easy to use) and there is no temptation to cover them with butter (was definitely one of my weaknesses).
Dinners, as I said I am trying really hard to adapt normal family meals. For example we eat a lot of curry. So, I am having less rice, cooking more vegetables into or with the curry and minimising the added oil. We have a couple of pasta dishes but I am now measuring the sauce carefully, and using penne instead of spaghetti so I can count the number of pieces in my portion (the easiest way to work out what I'm having) and then having a large salad. After some trial and error and weighing I can knock up a v. large salad that comes in at about 80 cals and would be about 3 more portions of veg.
We have one night a week where we have ready meal curries, but I am now cooking a Cauliflower, carrot & chickpea curry (under 250 cals for a huge portion) that I have instead of the v. creamy ready meal. I might have a couple of chunks of the ready meal chicken with it, and a small amount of rice.
Exercise.
As with most people i have had phases of using the gym, but they don't last long. Have done C25K, Joe Wicks HIIT etc. Have suffered for at least 18 months with achilles tendonitis (thank you Joe) which meant running was out, so was walking. Before Christmas was doing bodyweight exercises at home which seem effective, but a bit unsatisfying. So, at some point I was watching a TV health programme and they were out with someone walking and she wasn't seeing the benefit, so they talked about her just not putting in enough effort. So decided to buy a heart rate monitor.
I now have a Garmin and it is a fab motivator. Fortunately my tendonitis has cleared up so I can run on the spot whilst viewing my heart rate on my propped up phone linked to the Garmin and watching a video on my tablet - in my own bedroom, whatever the weather. No gym charges, minimal time taken and I look forward to watching something. eg this morning 35 mins, 280 cals, 68 of the 150 mins per week you're supposed to do (because over a certain heart rate they count double). When the weather improves I plan to run outside again, but I don't absolutely have to.
I've realised that because stuff happens at weekends it's good to have some extra calories to work with so i don't regress every Monday, so I do try hard to run on Saturday mornings. Also on Monday mornings to kick start the week.
Hope some of that was interesting/helpful. The thing that really works for me is taking control of the food and using the calories where I want to, not where some Diet Guru or ready meal manufacturer says. Honestly, my meals are so much more satisfying than 'diet' food.