I'm Watching What I Eat.

Wyshiepoo

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I hate calling it 'going on a diet' because as soon as I say "I'm going on a diet" I crave food. I also think going on a diet is the wrong way to approach my health. Starting a lifestyle change is probably a better way of looking at it.
Coward that I am, I actually started a month ago, but I wanted to be sure that I could maintain the change before I announced it as I think the first month is one of the periods where it is easy to slip back.

I'm using MyFitnessPal, logging my food and exercise.
I did this a few years back and did (I think) fantastically well. In fact I berated myself as I couldn't believe how easy it was to lose weight, get fitter and still eat good food. I wished, at the time, that I'd done it earlier.
My silly mistake was to not have a plan for when I'd reached a weight I was happy with, so I got to a point where I felt "YES I'VE DONE IT" and just sort of stopped logging and checking. I know now I should have either gone on a maintenance diet or at least checked myself on occasion but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I think that the great feeling of having 'done it' rather led me to take my eye off the ball and month by month, half pound by half pound I gradually regained some of that weight I'd lost.
And then, as some of you know, I had a health upset, I had an episode of acute pancreatitis caused by gallstones and lost a large amount of weight in a matter of months due to a highly restricted diet.

Once I had my gallbladder removed I was able to eat 'normally' and I'm afraid my weight ballooned back on very quickly until a month ago I decided enough was enough and restarted MyFitnessPal.

The thing I like about MFP is that it is not 'faddy', nothing except excess is banned, I can eat what I like, when I like and how I like, I just have to try to ensure that the food/exercise ratio means that I end up under my calorie limit for the day.

This is what I got down to the first time I tried it (pic below) and this is what I am at least aiming for now. Except this time I'll have learnt my lesson and will maintain the weight loss indefinitely.

I'm currently 5 pounds down, so early days yet. If anyone wants to join me as a diet buddy or simply wants to share something then go ahead.
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Good on you for taking control to make a change :thumbsup:

I've used a very similar system to MFP to lose lose 3st 10lbs over the past 18 months. I like that I can eat what I want so long as I stay within my calories though I tend to eat less during the week and save up spare calories to "spend" at the weekend. For some people logging everything is too much faffing about, but it suits me.

I actually reached my goal weight at the end of February and since then I've set myself a target to go down a little further at a very very slow rate. I use a UK-based subscription service rather than MFP - mostly because I find the food diary better (its more UK-centric and because its curated it has fewer duplicate entries) but also paying a subscription is a motivator to keep at it and not let the money go to waste.

Good luck and keep up the good work!
 
I'd happily join in but I know what my downfall is. In one word: alcohol. In fact I'm pretty good at dieting where food is concerned and know all sorts of low-cal tricks. When I gave up alcohol, I easily lost 2 stone by simply sticking to 1200 cals a day. To me that is a lot of calories for meals. But of course, if I drink a bottle of wine (or two) that eats up at least half (or all) of those calories! Then there is beer...
 
I know what my downfall is. In one word: alcohol
Yep that's mine too :drink: If I look at my favourite foods report (the summary of what I've entered into my food diary each month) wine comes in at number 3 based based on frequency, and number 1 on total calories (its more than 3x higher than the number 2 entry!)
That's why I try to bank some calories during the week to spend at the weekend :laugh:
 
I'd happily join in but I know what my downfall is. In one word: alcohol. In fact I'm pretty good at dieting where food is concerned and know all sorts of low-cal tricks. When I gave up alcohol, I easily lost 2 stone by simply sticking to 1200 cals a day. To me that is a lot of calories for meals. But of course, if I drink a bottle of wine (or two) that eats up at least half (or all) of those calories! Then there is beer...

Yes, beer.

I've managed a couple while starting this, but limit myself to one.
I do intend allowing myself a couple of cheat days here and there where I'll allow myself three or four pints.

Guinness is one of the lowest calorie drinks going although all alcoholic drinks are 'empty calories' to some extent.

https://vinepair.com/articles/how-many-calories-guinness/

The point of me watching what I eat is to get healthier, not turn into a monk. I also think it is pointless beating yourself up if you do overdo it one day, it's a marathon, not a sprint!
 
I've been using myfitnesspal for years but have found that because I cook virtually everything from scratch, it became a chore to keep entering my recipes to work out calories consumed, don't get me started on nutrition! It was possible, don't get me wrong but I've been trying to lose weight (this time around) since October last year. Entering every recipe cooked every time since then was annoying to say the least. I rarely cook the same thing twice exactly, so ... MyFitnessPal isn't really set up for home cooking and even shop bought stuff needed to be checked very carefully because it was often inaccurate. A huge number of people can't tell the difference between grams, milligrams and micrograms so sodium in particular was often incorrect.

However, I still use the app mostly to record my weight.

Since October I've lost more than 13kg. I've got another 3-4kg to go to get to my upper limit of my target range. Ideally I'd like to very another 7-8kg off which will get me to the middle of my ideal weight (emphasis on my rather than the medical world's ideal...). That will get me back to what I was before my back went.
 
I've been using myfitnesspal for years but have found that because I cook virtually everything from scratch, it became a chore to keep entering my recipes to work out calories consumed, don't get me started on nutrition! It was possible, don't get me wrong but I've been trying to lose weight (this time around) since October last year. Entering every recipe cooked every time since then was annoying to say the least. I rarely cook the same thing twice exactly, so ... MyFitnessPal isn't really set up for home cooking and even shop bought stuff needed to be checked very carefully because it was often inaccurate. A huge number of people can't tell the difference between grams, milligrams and micrograms so sodium in particular was often incorrect.
Yes that's what I found with MFP too - I found the food diary became quite annoying as there were lots of duplicate entries, and each one had different nutrition values. That's the main reason I went back to weightlossresources instead - the WLR Helpteam are quite proactive in curating the food diary, plus you can highlight any issues to them and they'll correct them.

I also cook almost everything from scratch but I don't find it too difficult to create recipes for everything though I can't remember if the MFP recipe function works the same as the WLR one. I keep a small Chromebook in the kitchen and just update as I go along - I'll either start with a recipe I've done before and update it with the latest changes, or I'll just create a new one. For things where I stick to a recipe like bread or cakes I don't bother updating each time because they're going to be pretty similar each time I make them. To be honest in WLR creating a recipe doesn't take that much longer than simply entering foods into the diary.
 
Nothing lost this week, perhaps up to 1/2 a pound but as I'm rounding up it doesn't count.

Finding it easy going at the moment.
 
No significant weight loss Monday just gone, yet again.
I think in three weeks I've dropped three quarters of a pound.
However I'm hoping that Monday coming I will have better news.
 
I know that I'm struggling at the moment. It's very cold here and I live in what is known to be pine of the windiest places in all of NSW (which is about 100,000 hectares bigger than Texas). It has made dieting very difficult this last month. My weigh in this week had me at the same weight as previously so nothing lost. I tend to ignore a couple of hundred grams either way until it's been repeated.

I've got to do better but it is so hard right now. All I want to do is eat. I'm craving both sweet and fatty foods simultaneously. Not ideal. Plus my back is hurting me really badly so doing a lot is out. The swimming pool we usually swim in is closed for 2 months for its 5 yearly maintenance. So it's a much longer drive to a different pool to get one with a ramp and wheelchair access. I hate using the hoists to get in and out of the pool. Grrrr.
 
I know that I'm struggling at the moment. It's very cold here and I live in what is known to be pine of the windiest places in all of NSW (which is about 100,000 hectares bigger than Texas). It has made dieting very difficult this last month. My weigh in this week had me at the same weight as previously so nothing lost. I tend to ignore a couple of hundred grams either way until it's been repeated.

I've got to do better but it is so hard right now. All I want to do is eat. I'm craving both sweet and fatty foods simultaneously. Not ideal. Plus my back is hurting me really badly so doing a lot is out. The swimming pool we usually swim in is closed for 2 months for its 5 yearly maintenance. So it's a much longer drive to a different pool to get one with a ramp and wheelchair access. I hate using the hoists to get in and out of the pool. Grrrr.

For what it's worth, you have my sympathy. I can't imagine how difficult it is when you are also dealing with reduced mobility.
 
One pound down. Very slow at moment!

So I've just changed the settings from 'lose 1/2 pound a week' to 'lose 1 pound per week'.

Hoping this kick starts the weight loss for me.
 
Good for you. I made the same decision last SUN. Were cutting back on date nights to once, maybe twice a month instead of weekly. Right now I'm low carbing it. 20 carbs a day. Honestly, its tough to get to that eating meat and veggies.

I've been on this plan for about a week and a half and I'm down 5 pounds. I know its lol water weight. But its a start.

@morning glory alcohol is also my downfall. I've cut out beer altogether (except once a month and I'll have one beer). I've also cut out all bourbon except for SAT's when I'll only have one or two.

If this game plan doesn't work I'll try something else.

I use carb manager for track what I eat.
 
Good for you. I made the same decision last SUN. Were cutting back on date nights to once, maybe twice a month instead of weekly. Right now I'm low carbing it. 20 carbs a day. Honestly, its tough to get to that eating meat and veggies.

I've been on this plan for about a week and a half and I'm down 5 pounds. I know its lol water weight. But its a start.

@morning glory alcohol is also my downfall. I've cut out beer altogether (except once a month and I'll have one beer). I've also cut out all bourbon except for SAT's when I'll only have one or two.

If this game plan doesn't work I'll try something else.

I use carb manager for track what I eat.


Yeah that first water loss hit is a great encouragement.

I'm a bit annoyed really because the first time I tried this the weight just fell off me. Not sure why it isn't working so well this tme.
 
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