Has anyone lost weight using My Fitness Pal

[tonyharrisonboosh]

I have almost just signed up for Team RH but stopped myself as this will be the latest in a long line of plans I've signed up for that I never stick to. I've done Slimming World, WW, Second Nature (worked well but they've changed the format of the group support), slimfast and Exante meal replacements.

I nearly always feel restricted and then end up throwing in the towel and feeling very fed up, not to mention skint!

I'm just wondering whether I'm best putting a moderate calorie limit into my fitness pal and using my step tracker to make sure I do 10000 steps. Does that sound hopeless or have other people managed to lose weight this way?

I have six stone to lose and am feeling utterly fed up.

I use my fitness Pal. It helps me lose the weight I need, then I get bored with tracking, come off fitness Pal and put the weight back on over the course of a year or so, then start again. So, I'm not the best example but it does work, there's no denying that. And it's free. It's just really depressing how little a person actually needs to eat, IMO.

It doesn't sound hopeless.
I lost over 40kg with fitness pal. Still a lot to go though.

My advice.
Don't go too low especially if you cave in when too restricted.
Get lots of different spices and herbs. Flavour, flavour, flavour. You will then enjoy it much more!
Allow for things you love. In my case it's cheeeeeeeese.
Understand that you are creating a deficit hence you will eat less than later when you are maintaining so don't let your brain do "omg I can't do this for ever".
Make food you love. Twist it if needed. I love spaghetti. I now make smaller portion of spaghetti and top it up with courgette. I couldn't do just courgette so this is good compromise.
Get non stick pan. Use things which add flavour instead of oil. Like couple of slices of chorizo add plenty if flavour and fat to fry things in. No need for extra oil. Streaky bacon is great. 1 streak adds lots of flavour and roght amount of fat.
Use this to build good food habits so when you reach goal weight you don't juat return to what made you put weight on in a first place, but you have food habits which help maintain and you are happy with.
Get good scales and measuring spoons to learn portions. You will be able to do it without soon.

It's small things but they make a difference. Just make sure you are making food you enjoy.
Get super friendly with vegetables. Great taste, low ler cal fillers and good for you.

The main thing about my fitness pal is honesty. You need to weigh everything to get an idea of what portions really are, most people under-estimate hugely and accidentally miss hundreds of calories without meaning to.

Yes. Using mfp is the only way I've managed to lose weight. It's a faff to start with but gets really easy once all your regular foods are in there, you don't need to keep weighing etc.
I don't know how people manage to lose weight without counting calories tbh. And mfp is the easiest way to count.

What you do as well is to sit down with it and check all functions so you know what is there. It makes it much easier when you start logging in.

@tonyharrisonboosh

TeamRH have been amazing. Their app syncs to MFP and works out your macros for you. Honestly, best weight loss support I've used.

I lost nearly 4 stone calorie counting with MyFitnessPal and have kept it (mostly) off for about 3 years . I tried all sorts of diets in the past but learned that I'd much rather cook the food I liked and calculate the calories. It's a pain for the first few weeks if you cook from scratch but once you've got your regular meals in your account they're easy to find again. It's also eye opening to learn how little tweaks to calorie dense ingredients made a massive difference.

I stopped using it once I had several weeks maintaining my goal weight and then used it again every time I had gained more than 6lbs. You've just reminded me that I need to get back on it, lockdown has not been kind to me

Yes lost somewhere in the region of 6 stone (I wouldn't weight myself at the start) 4 years back. Half a stone goes back on when I get lazy or stressed but it comes back off soon enough.

But literally not a single calorie passed my lips without checking MFP. I weighed everything and I became chronically addicted to having a set of electronic scale on my kitchen top, I cant cook without them.

It is reliant on you keeping to a diet, MFP just makes the process easier and a bit freer.

Yes, if you can be honest about what you eat.
Set a sensible limit, don't be tempted to go too low as it'll be miserable. Combine with intermittent fasting and you'll be away.
I'm eating 1500 between 12:00 and 18:00 and losing a moderate but steady amount each week with a manageable amount of exercise.
Good luck!

I lost 5 stone counting calories on MFP, slowly dropping my daily intake, and making sure I did 10,000 steps per day. I never felt like I was missing out as I could still have what ever I wanted, just not too much (and on the plus side it slowly helped me make better choices). Took about 9/10 months. I've kept most of it off for 6 years - my weight went up a bit when I started running and weight lifting. I would really recommend getting some digital kitchen scales to weigh out food portions.

I lost 3.5 stone using mfp. Gained some back as I’ve just had a baby but have now started using it again to hopefully shift baby weight.

I'm on my second round of using MFP/CICO to lose 8 stone.

It's very very helpful!

I lost 3kg in a month using MFP. Not actually that much but I'm very pleased.

Only thing is that the calculator for your daily calories is slightly out. Mine recommends 100 calories more for maintenance than I should be.

I lost 3.5 stone with MFP 7 years ago and then I used what it taught me to lose 3 stone of baby weight twice since then.

I lost 3 stone with it. You have to be honest about portion size and weigh everything though if you want it to work. It actually really helped me with learning what an actual portion size should look like and with figuring out what I could eat lots of for a reasonable number of calories and feel satisfied for a while. Protein is your friend!
I pretty much stopped eating bread because the amount of full I got for the calories wasn't worth it. I didn't low carb though- still ate potatoes and pasta.

I started using mfp in the new year and I have lost over 2 stone just by tracking and therefore being mindful of what I eat. No food is off limits but it's all about portion control and monitoring. I had 5 stone to lose in total. Good luck 🍀

Agreeing with all pp’s.

Be strict and weigh everything. It soon becomes easy and the lbs will drop off - especially as you have a lot to lose.

I wanted to become thinner. Bmi was already fine. I lost 10lbs in 5 weeks using MFP and have kept it off for over a year.

It works because it’s calories in vs out. You can eat what you like within the cals but you soon start making healthier choices to preserve the cals.

Good luck OP xxx

I am probably the only person not being super strict
I can't be arsed to measure milk for coffee. I did once. Then looked over few days at small negligibles like bit of wasabi, garlic etc, tiny things, and just took 100cal a day off for these so I don't have to log them🙈

Like others I have successfully lost weight (just shy of 2 stone in about 7 months) just counting calories on MFP and walking more. Came out of the habit over Christmas/Jan lockdown (my birthday but successfully back on it now.

What I’ve found really useful is that it makes me really think about my food choices - am I actually hungry or do I just want a snack? Do I want a dessert or a hot chocolate before I go to bed? I haven’t really had to change how I eat - I’ve always eaten fairly healthily - but it has made me think about seconds/portion sizes/the impact of adding copious amounts of cheese to pasta (), and helped me work out where I’m over eating (usually cheese, tbh).

Though I don’t measure milk in my tea (no thanks, what a faff) - I just make sure the deficit is big enough to account for a few tbsp of milk!!

I've used it, over the years. Lost over a stone and periodically use it to reset my eating habits when I find that I'm gaining.

I don't eat any "diet" foods. Just reduce carbs a bit and nuke the sweet tooth which has usually been my downfall and make more effort to get out and walk, whatever the weather. I like the emphasis on gentle, sustainable, weight loss when you're a healthy weight but there's plenty who use the community with a lot more to lose and they're largely not existing on rice cakes and mugshots.

they're largely not existing on rice cakes and mugshots.

Oh yes! I ate a mini ben and Jerry's cookie ice cream sandwich for 75kcals most days during the bulk of my diet!

It was freeing to be able to eat what I want as long as its within the count. I worked I could still have the odd KFC or small fish and chips of example. Although generally my diet improved dramatically as I figured I was less hungry eating huge piles of veg and carbs seemed not really worth the calories.

not existing on rice cakes and mugshots.

Corn cakes are much nicer😂 No idea what mugshot is

Thank you all so much for your replies. It's given me a kick up the bum.
I've set my calories and I've got my step tracker on so I'm going to give it my best shot.

I love MFP. It's easy to use and sensible- no fads.
Good luck!