General Weight Loss Support Thread

Faith

I haven't weighed myself in weeks, and while I have been continuously tracking, my calories have been sky high. Starting this evening, I'll be doing some travelling for work during the week, which means cooking for one. I'm going to use this opportunity to get back on track by being strict during the week, and then allowing myself some leeway at the weekends.

As an added incentive to hit my goal, I've been asked to be bridesmaid next summer. I can't be the chubby bridesmaid!!

Michellenman

Faith wrote: »

I haven't weighed myself in weeks, and while I have been continuously tracking, my calories have been sky high. Starting this evening, I'll be doing some travelling for work during the week, which means cooking for one. I'm going to use this opportunity to get back on track by being strict during the week, and then allowing myself some leeway at the weekends.

As an added incentive to hit my goal, I've been asked to be bridesmaid next summer. I can't be the chubby bridesmaid!!

You've had a hectic couple of weeks now at this stage, not easy to stay on track for that but you've managed to keep yourself logged in to MFP and that makes a person aware at the very least of what they are eating and keeps it in the fore front of the mind. Use this week away as the stepping stone to get back on track, you've been doing so well up to now

Being bridesmaid is pretty much my motivation too, by the way! I'm one of three bridesmaids in April, I'm 5'0'' and a full size 12 at the start of this. The other two are at least 5'6'' and skinny malinks Long and lean, marathon runners and yoga lovers. I love them both and don't begrudge them their figures, I just can't be the chubby bridesmaid

I've been getting kind of frustrated over the last 3/4 weeks because I kept losing and putting on the same half pound. I was pretty much about to throw in the towel and go back to eating 1000 cals and adopting all my old bad habits. Then I went to buy a pair of trousers on Friday in Oasis and the twelve was slightly too big Now the ten certainly don't fit amazingly either but neither am I absolutely bet in to them. Wore them out on Friday night and felt great in them and then.... I weighed in this morning and was 2.4lbs down

So now, I'm back on the band wagon! It's my birthday in 2 weeks and I'm still 4 lbs off my target that I wanted to be at that date but you know what? Slow and steady wins the race. If I have to take this half pound by half pound up until April then I can definitely manage that

Jrop

I've not been tracking but i'm definitely eating less. I started walking 20 mins twice a day which is doing wonders for my mental health as well as helping me lose weight. WI in tomorrow I'm hoping for loss fingers crossed

Heat_Wave

Not sure if this is an appropriate thread to post this in, but with all the hype about caesar salads being 'danger foods', I wonder if is perhaps relating to american diner portions, and not the standard Irish portion.

I have a strong background in nutrition, and the only calorific part of the classic Caesar salad is the dressing - which lets face it, it can be one tbsp, two tbsps, three, four etc. You choose.

Would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this?

Btw - I struggle to find things I'll eat for lunch and have come across a place near the office which does a fantastic Caesar salad.

Jrop

Morning ! WI today I was down 3.5 pounds. Heat_Wave the croutons can be heavy in calories if they deep fried.

livedadream

Heat_Wave wrote: »

I have a strong background in nutrition, and the only calorific part of the classic Caesar salad is the dressing - which lets face it, it can be one tbsp, two tbsps, three, four etc. You choose.

Would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this.

With all due respect id be very worried about someone who claims to have a strong background in nutrition who can't see that deep fried or even roasted cubes of white bread that is cooked in oil and salted (croutons) , parmasean cheese and bacon that's fried arnt calorific and full of trans fats. The only good thing in a Caesar salad is the lettuce as in most places the chicken is processed mechanically engineered ****e. Unless you go to a restaurant , most cafes service that plasticky chicken.
I've also never seen only three or four tablespoons of dressing on any salad in Ireland!

Heat_Wave

livedadream wrote: »

With all due respect id be very worried about someone who claims to have a strong background in nutrition who can't see that deep fried or even roasted cubes of white bread that is cooked in oil and salted (croutons) , parmasean cheese and bacon that's fried arnt calorific and full of trans fats. The only good thing in a Caesar salad is the lettuce as in most places the chicken is processed mechanically engineered ****e. Unless you go to a restaurant , most cafes service that plasticky chicken.
I've also never seen only three or four tablespoons of dressing on any salad in Ireland!

I should have said, I don't have croutons in my salad, there is so little bacon it's hard to find in the salad, wouldn't worry about a few parmesan shavings. The dressing is best asked on the side so you can control the portion. Chicken - I only eat free range.

So the answer is - always ask for the dressing on the side.

livedadream

Why ask for people's opinion then? Lol
If you think it's grand munch away that's a personal preference the warnings about it being a high fat, high sugar food are correct, and a lot of people eat it thinking oh sure it's a salad it's healthy and they be better off having the burger that's less processed or has less calories. It's more about education than anything else, their trying to get people to look at the ingredients rather than the idea of if its healthy or not.
I don't eat Caesar salad mainly because if I want a salad it means I want something healthy and tasty, not something covered in a greasy cheesy dressing and bacon (I don't eat pork) and deep fried bread.
Would it not be easier to get a different salad? Turkey with a lighter dressing? Can you bring in your own lunch? Might make it easier...
As for the chicken as well the free range is good but it's hard to tell unless your in a pretty established restaurant where they note the suppliers..

Heat_Wave

livedadream wrote: »

Why ask for people's opinion then? Lol
If you think it's grand munch away that's a personal preference the warnings about it being a high fat, high sugar food are correct, and a lot of people eat it thinking oh sure it's a salad it's healthy and they be better off having the burger that's less processed or has less calories. It's more about education than anything else, their trying to get people to look at the ingredients rather than the idea of if its healthy or not.
I don't eat Caesar salad mainly because if I want a salad it means I want something healthy and tasty, not something covered in a greasy cheesy dressing and bacon (I don't eat pork) and deep fried bread.
Would it not be easier to get a different salad? Turkey with a lighter dressing? Can you bring in your own lunch? Might make it easier...
As for the chicken as well the free range is good but it's hard to tell unless your in a pretty established restaurant where they note the suppliers..

Actually don't know why I posted haha. It seemed like a good idea earlier to get a Caesar salad discussion going, now not so much! Lol

livedadream

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Actually don't know why I posted haha. It seemed like a good idea earlier to get a Caesar salad discussion going, now not so much! Lol

no fair enough posting it, its a valid question, but i think most people would agree that unless its a fresh dressing, made the old fashioned way no mayo then its pointless having it as a 'salad'
i think most would say what you are having isnt a caesar salad its a variation, the research shows the common types of caesar salad are made with deep fried croutons, mayo in the dressing, olive oil salt pepper, anchovy fillets, bacon for some reason and chicken.

yes this isnt the original ''normal'' type of Caesar salad but its what the 'experts' are warning about because its high in fat.

try and ask the waiter if they can make you up a simple salad, most good places can do it easily.

Smoked Tuna

I created a spreadsheet to log my food, macros and workouts

A little bit of work initially but should be a case of a lot of copy and paste now and occasionally adding new food as I come across so should work well I think.

Now if only I had done this aged 20 instead of 30.

Smoked Tuna

Yeah the sauces and croutons on these ready made salads are excessive I'd like to know the nutritional value for these items separately

Faith

Smoked Tuna wrote: »

I created a spreadsheet to log my food, macros and workouts

A little bit of work initially but should be a case of a lot of copy and paste now and occasionally adding new food as I come across so should work well I think.

Now if only I had done this aged 20 instead of 30.

MyFitnessPal is useful for same

Smoked Tuna

I have compiled a list of my common foods and portion sizes on the spreadsheet, so easier than using My Fitness pal app I reckon.

But then I like spreadsheets and doing stuff on a computer whereas most others prefer phones and tablet apps so i'm an anomaly..

Mike folan

Hi Folks,

Recently, 3 months ago, started an new fitness plan. I am currently down over a stone, which I am happy with, could always be more!!

Just reading through some of the posts here and I like the idea of this support thread. I too, use the My Fitness Pal app to track calories and what I am eating daily. I find that this is a great app, it shows me where I am daily and I can review each week to make sure that if I did go over target any day that I am under for the total week. A very handy app indeed.

As part of the new fitness plan, I am also trying a new mental fitness plan. This is more around the mind frame that I can be in at times. Letting my weight get me down, my lack of motivation sometimes, my failure to follow through with a plan so as to achieve a goal. I have started reading books on it, to help me keep focused and to help see the positives. Been suggested quite a number of books lately too. Maybe, if people are interested on this thread, that we can suggest books that can aid either weight loss or our mental blocks that prevent us from getting to our goal.

As part of it I also started a new blog, here, where I hope to track how I am getting on, review the books that I read, share ideas from the books, share recipes that I use to help with my weight loss, anything really. It's a personal blog too. (Only two posts so far ) Let me know what you think of it.

This thread perfectly compliments what I am trying to achieve with my goals. I hope to learn a lot from others here too and to help others where I can.

Talk again,

Mike.

Smoked Tuna

Went to the brothers house for dinner, how many calories in this do you reckon?

MyFitnessPal telling me 164 calories in one small roast potatoe, seems alot!

But 89 for a medium one!

I don't mind not knowing the calories once or twice a week but at a wild guess I would say 850 calories.

250 for potatoes
350 for the meat
50 for the veg
100 for the breadcrumbs
100 for the gravy

Bananaleaf

Smoked Tuna wrote: »

Went to the brothers house for dinner, how many calories in this do you reckon?

MyFitnessPal telling me 164 calories in one small roast potatoe, seems alot!

But 89 for a medium one!

I don't mind not knowing the calories once or twice a week but at a wild guess I would say 850 calories.

250 for potatoes
350 for the meat
50 for the veg
100 for the breadcrumbs
100 for the gravy

Interesting question! There is no way that any of us will know how many calories are in this meal. It depends on so many things. Eg: what's in the gravy? How much gravy is even there? How was meat cooked? Roast potatoes have oil/goose fat? But, from looking at it I would guess that there definitely is not 850 calories on that plate, provided there isn't a load of oil on potatoes, in the stuffing and on the beef.

As I do like guessing the calorie content and weight of foods by looking at them I will give a guess though. I would say about 650 calories but would secretly be hoping to have overestimated by another hundred calories or so.

Smoked Tuna

Breakfast in a cafe this morning. My guess:

2 thick medium sausages: 300 calories
2 rashers: 120 calories
Scrambled egg: 200 calories
Tomato: 80 calories
2 pieces of bread: 300 calories
Butter on the above: 70 calories

Total: 1070

Michellenman

Smoked Tuna wrote: »

Breakfast in a cafe this morning. My guess:

2 thick medium sausages: 300 calories
2 rashers: 120 calories
Scrambled egg: 200 calories
Tomato: 80 calories
2 pieces of bread: 300 calories
Butter on the above: 70 calories

Total: 1070

Do you use my fitness pal? It's good for getting you used to estimating calories. For example, I think those sausages would be more than 300 cals given the size of them and they look to be fried rather than grilled. And the tomato is definitely less, half a plum tomato is only about 30 cals. A small foil butter pat is 35cals so you can judge the amount in that dish against the size of a pat yourself. For me I find it best to not try estimate calories of meals I eat out, I just try make a concerted effort to offset it against other meals that day. Like if I know I'm going out for dinner ill have poached eggs for breakfast and brothy veg soup or a salad for lunch. Then I can enjoy the dinner without overthinking it.

I've been very lax over the last week or so, just small things like going over by 200cals here and there. Would probably be ok to maintain but I definitely want to be losing still. Today I'm kicking myself in the bum and getting back on track. Going to aim to be under my cals all week up until Saturday morning.

Smoked Tuna

Michellenman wrote: »

Do you use my fitness pal? It's good for getting you used to estimating calories.

I've been using a weighing scales and labels to quantify the calories in what I'm eating most of the time. So I have a spreadsheet going which is handy to copy paste.

However eating out is more difficult obviously as no calories given but of course you can give an estimate

Makapakka

Would anyone have any high protein high carb lunch ideas? I'll take ones that can be heated or not. I am going to the gym in the afternoons a few times a week and will be eating before I go.

On a side note, I weighed myself and I'm up 1.5 lbs.. its so hard not to get disheartened and unmotivated I've been trying really hard this week...

Dtp1979

Makapakka wrote: »

Would anyone have any high protein high carb lunch ideas? I'll take ones that can be heated or not. I am going to the gym in the afternoons a few times a week and will be eating before I go.

On a side note, I weighed myself and I'm up 1.5 lbs.. its so hard not to get disheartened and unmotivated I've been trying really hard this week...

Spaghetti bolognese

Faith

Makapakka wrote: »

Would anyone have any high protein high carb lunch ideas? I'll take ones that can be heated or not. I am going to the gym in the afternoons a few times a week and will be eating before I go.

On a side note, I weighed myself and I'm up 1.5 lbs.. its so hard not to get disheartened and unmotivated I've been trying really hard this week...

It's super hard when you are up weight, but just try to remember that it could be due to a huge number of factors. You may be retaining water for some reason, for instance. There will be weeks when you're up weight, there'll be weeks when you plateau, and there'll be weeks when you lose more than you should have. The overall trend is the important thing . And even if you have gained, trying alone is better than not trying at all!

I weighed myself again last weekend, after a scales hiatus. It was mid-day, because I had just bought the scales and I wanted to try it out. With that in mind, and given that I had eaten a large breakfast and drank a pint of coffee, I was up 3lbs from my lowest weight. I was actually really happy with that! I reckon it was, in reality, a gain of 2lbs. If I only gained 2lbs after the month I'd had, I think that was an absolute win!

I have been really disciplined during the weekdays, but last night, there was a 'cheese and wine' night. Whatever about cheese, I drank my weight in wine! Alcohol calories don't count, right? .....

Alf Veedersane

Makapakka wrote: »

On a side note, I weighed myself and I'm up 1.5 lbs.. its so hard not to get disheartened and unmotivated I've been trying really hard this week...

Like Faith said, it could be a number of factors like water etc.

The important thing to focus on is getting healthier eating habits in place (portion sizes included) and getting in some exercise. If you're doing that, then the results will come.

Also, short-term figures on the scales are not necessarily indicative of the effort. But that doesn't mean the effort is wasted. See where it is in a week's time...in two weeks' time. If the trend is upward, then an adjustment is needed. But it may also be down over those few weeks.

Just don't get disheartened...it's a long game

Ilyana 2.0

Well I'm roughly two months into maintenance and so far, so good. I'd be lying if I said that I'm 100% disciplined all the time with my diet, but there's definitely a little more leeway in terms of calories when you're not trying to lose anymore. I'm still weighing everyday, which is helpful. If I have a cheat meal I expect to see a 2lbs gain but I know it's only temporary. I'm hovering around the 128lbs mark, which I'm happy with.

Due to a non-ideal work situation I had to put my jogging on hiatus but as of this week I've been getting back into it. It's refreshing to exercise for fitness' sake, rather than purely to increase my calorie deficit. I had missed jogging more than I expected, which is very unlike me! However I am going to have to drag the OH out with me in the evenings when it gets dark

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

Faith

This thread is very quiet at the moment!

I'm finally starting to settle into a country, if not a routine. I'm away for work Monday - Friday at the moment, and that has been helpful in getting my eating back on track. I bought a new scales for my new house, and it broadly tallies with the one in my parents' house. Right now, I'm weighing in as 1lb above my lowest recorded weight - i.e. 14 lbs down from my starting weight. But I suspect my previous scales was underreporting my weight, and judging by how my clothes fit, I may be down closer to 16 lbs. In any case, I can't confirm anything beyond the readings on the scale, so I'm happy to still be at -14 lbs and losing. I'm still not being terribly strict, so I'd say I'm losing a maximum of 0.5 lbs per weeks right now, but I'd be perfectly happy with just maintaining, given my circumstances!

My biggest hurdle right now is cutting out snacking again. I'm sitting around all day, every day right now (unavoidably) and while my meals are calorically controlled, I find myself eating chocolate and cakes too often. I'm going to work on reducing that right down, and by November, I hope to be back on track of losing 1 lb a week. When I first started this journey, I had hoped for a solid downward progression, but of course life gets in the way. It looked at one point like I'd comfortably hit my goal by Christmas (26 lbs total), but now I suspect it'll be around my birthday in mid-February. My outlook has really changed this time. It's no longer a race to lose weight as quickly as possible. It's now about a slow but steady weight loss that fits in with my lifestyle, which will help me not to put it all back on a few months later!

Finally, I can't quite believe it, but I have been logging daily on MFP for 146 days now! I don't even notice it anymore; it has become a total unconscious habit. But I credit it 100% with keeping me from gaining weight over the last few weeks.

Smoked Tuna

Faith wrote: »

This thread is very quiet at the moment!

I'm finally starting to settle into a country, if not a routine. I'm away for work Monday - Friday at the moment, and that has been helpful in getting my eating back on track. I bought a new scales for my new house, and it broadly tallies with the one in my parents' house. Right now, I'm weighing in as 1lb above my lowest recorded weight - i.e. 14 lbs down from my starting weight. But I suspect my previous scales was underreporting my weight, and judging by how my clothes fit, I may be down closer to 16 lbs. In any case, I can't confirm anything beyond the readings on the scale, so I'm happy to still be at -14 lbs and losing. I'm still not being terribly strict, so I'd say I'm losing a maximum of 0.5 lbs per weeks right now, but I'd be perfectly happy with just maintaining, given my circumstances!

My biggest hurdle right now is cutting out snacking again. I'm sitting around all day, every day right now (unavoidably) and while my meals are calorically controlled, I find myself eating chocolate and cakes too often. I'm going to work on reducing that right down, and by November, I hope to be back on track of losing 1 lb a week. When I first started this journey, I had hoped for a solid downward progression, but of course life gets in the way. It looked at one point like I'd comfortably hit my goal by Christmas (26 lbs total), but now I suspect it'll be around my birthday in mid-February. My outlook has really changed this time. It's no longer a race to lose weight as quickly as possible. It's now about a slow but steady weight loss that fits in with my lifestyle, which will help me not to put it all back on a few months later!

Finally, I can't quite believe it, but I have been logging daily on MFP for 146 days now! I don't even notice it anymore; it has become a total unconscious habit. But I credit it 100% with keeping me from gaining weight over the last few weeks.

Well done, I lost a large amount of KG this year. Didn't really track food too much until recently, just ate a lot less. Maybe I wasn't eating enough, but didn't really go hungry.

Have been tracking calories in detail over the last two months, and now tracking macros too. Have been eating close to maintenance but still dropped a little bit of weight with exercise.

Another few KG's of fat to lose, hopefully within two months I can do it.

Birdsong

Faith wrote:

Finally, I can't quite believe it, but I have been logging daily on MFP for 146 days now! I don't even notice it anymore; it has become a total unconscious habit. But I credit it 100% with keeping me from gaining weight over the last few weeks.

You have inspired me to get on MFP, I had got very lax with it and haven't logged in while. I am going to log everything until Xmas, that's my aim for the next few weeks. It will keep me in line over the silly season.

cactusgal

Me too! I've set myself a challenge to log in everything I eat on MFP for the next 30 days. I keep losing and re-gaining and re-losing the same 5 pounds