So, three days in to the new regime and I think it’s fair to say that I’m on a rather steep learning curve…I’m having to kick my handbrake on with every step to save me rolling backwards whilst I fanny about logging everything I eat and drink into My Fitness Pal. This land of calories is a whole new world and I feel a bit like a tourist, you know? After counting points for the last eighteen months, it’s like having a pocket full of pennies when everything’s priced in cents.
Friday, which was day one of my new regime, was the hardest. I got busy logging my breakfast, and made and logged some lunch to take to work, and then almost had a panic attack when I realised that I’d accounted for roughly two thirds of my daily allowance already. Whaaa..? I wanted to hammer down the door of Weight Watchers and beg them to let me back in so I could cling to the tried and tested like a drowning man would cling to a life vest. I didn’t, and in any event I’d forgotten they don’t actually know I’ve gone anywhere yet.
Seriously..? There’s no wonder I haven’t lost any weight recently if this is what a calorie budget buys you. Talk about a wake-up call..!
There’s no such thing as free food when you’re counting calories, is there? Even when you’re talking about foods with a negative calorie value. I distinctly remember someone telling me once that your body expends more calories digesting a tomato than the number of calories contained in the tomato which strikes me as a bloody good deal but even so, according to MFP they have to be counted.
I’m missing the free shit. Grapes are a great example, right? When I eat grapes, which I do all the time, what I actually eat is a punnet of grapes, and before you tell me that’s not normal just like eating a whole melon at one sitting isn’t normal, it’s normal for me. And Weight Watchers used to let me do it.
The Asshole voice went into overdrive on Friday and tried to persuade me that I was actually going to starve. I was fretting as I put my work bag in the car along with my small boxed chicken salad and my one hundred and sixty grams of grapes, to the point where I had to run back into the house for a stress poo, so convinced was I that the world as I knew it was about to end. I felt nervous and a bit twitchy, like an addict with a restricted supply chain…oh, wait a minute…
Thing is, I’d put it out there hadn’t I..? I’d told the whole fucking world that I was going to count calories on My Fitness Pal and as I’ve said a million times before, the only thing bigger than my arse is my pride, which would never allow me to quit on day one no matter how quickly I was fading away.
I’d also committed to drinking at least two litres of water, so for the last three days by lunchtime my eyeballs have been bobbing around above the fill level, and I’ve spent every afternoon peeing like a racehorse.
All that said, I’m starting to get into the swing of things. The weekend has gone really well, you know? God of Pain cast his eyes over my plan on Saturday and gave it the thumbs up, and I didn’t even flinch when the Shitbird Scale took a pot shot at me yesterday morning by declaring a small gain. I suspected that was coming after all the No Count carbs in the early part of last week so I made a jaunty exit from the bathroom without dwelling on it, and imagined instead what the number would be next Sunday. That’s one I’m excited to see.
I have a really good feeling about this. And listen, if any of you do MFP and want to come knocking and add me as a friend, I’m logged as BOTSG_Dee and I’d love to hook up with you. We’re all in this together after all 🙂
By the way, one or two people have asked me why they weren’t able to leave comments on Nicola’s Shitbird page, and I hadn’t realised that the comments bit wasn’t enabled – all fixed now if you want to chat to Nic directly.
I love MyFitnessPal. I use it every day. It’s not just calories you want to look at…it’s also your macros. You want to make sure you are eating enough protein. The key to a successful day is lean protein and vegetables. Lots of both. Salad will be your new best friend and egg whites will find a place in your fridge where you never thought there’d be one. It is a tremendously humbling voyage when you start using MyFitnessPal and it will teach you how to eat. tracoleman99 is my username if you want to friend me. I keep my diary open so people can see what I eat. I have NOT been that good lately, but today is a new day. Hang in there, it’s going to work out.
Awesome, I’ll come and find you ?
Good luck to you! Counting calories sucks!!! I do not envy you! However I would not stress if you went over you calories because you ate to many cucumbers or celery or something.
I know, and I’d agree with you…until I’ve done it!!
Every time you start something new, it’s like the universe asks, “Do you really mean it?” and throws you a curve. You have to get past the curve and show you do mean it.
Okaaaay….I definitely mean it ?
I really enjoy your writing style! Keep on clinging to this lifeline and I am sure you will make it.
Thank you so much Anne, I appreciate the encouragement! 🙂
I have an account with MFP. Haven’t used it in a while though. When I did, I would plan out EVERYTHING for the entire day ahead of time so I knew where my counts were. that way I could add or subtract. Good luck to you! I’m looking forward to watching your journey.
Thanks Christine, that’s what I did too! ?
Tomatoes are actually a fruit. So pretty much everything you have mentioned is a fruit (sugar/carbs).
I looked up the negative food list, which was new to me and signed a little. I sigh over the free foods list too. Some things on there I can understand, a lot of things on there would get people into severe trouble.
People who are trying to sell things, make $$$, have to have a gimmic. Be wary.
Some of your friends are green beans, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, spinach. I keep lots of these in the freezer. I buy the plain packages (no sauce, ingredient list on package says one thing). I barely cook them so they are not mushy. I add them to a lot of dishes. They are instantly available. Helps a lot. I personally put lemon on broccoli and spinach if I am eating it by itself, not mixed in with other things. (Lemon is a very, very low count fruit. But do not start adding it to your water.)
Curious where you set your calorie level and your percentages.
You may have to adjust several times before you find the right fit. This might take several weeks.
It is important to set calories as high as possible while still being able to lose. Usually this is in the 1400-1600 range. Really active sometimes 1800.
So there are two parts. Calorie level. Macros (which you will find under nutrients tab).
And as you learn to make whole food choices, with lean protein and lots of veggies, and healthy fats, it is actually a lot of food.
If you are trying to eat processed, it will not be much food.
Make sure you do not fall into trap of adding things to your water. (If you add things then all the water you drink is causing insulin production. There is a reason we eat at meal time and not 24/7.)
Egg whites are also your friend. I buy in carton. Easy way to increase protein.
I batch cook protein as soon as I walk in from the store. Helps hugely. So I bake a pan of boneless skinless chicken breasts and then divide it into serving sizes to store.
I keep white/chunk, water packed, canned tuna in stock also and eat once a week.
Plain, Greek yogurt is also a good go to. (I can’t do dairy, if you can this is a good protein source)
Yes, this is all a learning curve and it might take a while.
Do not base too much on scale next week. Your body might have to settle down before it releases.
What is important is you are learning. And you are figuring out how to adjust.
And all that has to happen for maintenance. When you find your point where you can eat the healthiest and the most, while losing, THEN you can figure out the bit to add back to maintain (later).
And this will not be much. It is usually about 1 serving or 100 calories difference (between losing and maintaining). So you can see why it is important to learn and to look at all the data (no free list).
Wow so much info, thank you Vickie! I’ve set my calorie level at 1250 Monday to Friday and 1775 Saturday and Sunday so it’s there or there abouts and I’m happy with that. Well, as much as I’ll ever be happy living outside nirvana which would be a world made of cheese balls and Daim cake with no calories in any of it ?
I went for the non-advertisement version of mfp because ads drive me batshit crazy…that’s why you won’t find any on my website! So I’m not likely to be seduced by the snake oil salesmen ?
I can’t put low sugar dilute in my water? Oh good lord that’s a blow, not sure how I’ll get through 2L per day without, I don’t like the taste of plain water and I figured diet stuff would be ok. Hmm. Need to look into that and maybe find a plan B ? I’m thinking gin…
It’s a lot to take in and the gin might help!
Try different temperatures of water. Room temp, ice or hot. 9mos of the year I drink hot water. During the summer I drink room temp. And you might find a difference between bottled and tap. We get 5 gallon bottles here and that is what we drink. So we have a water dispenser in the kitchen and another one on the landing upstairs.
To be honest, I always think the “but I don’t like the taste of water” is a taste bud learning curve. If all you have ever had to drink is sugar water, then yeah, there is going to be a difference. . .
With all due respect: 1250 calories/day is way, way too low! You won’t starve to death on it but you will be pretty miserable, and you want to set yourself up for longterm success. If I were to guess, I’d say that you should probably start at 2000 calories/day and take some calories out if you don’t lose in the first 1-2 weeks. You want to eat as much food as you can while losing weight. Two reasons:
1. To make the calorie limit easier to stick to and minimise moments of weakness where the Asshole voice can start whispering in your ear.
2. You still have a fair bit of weight to lose, and if you stall you’re going to want to be able to cut calories to kickstart things. Hard to do if you’re already at rock bottom!
This is the absolute best calorie calculator I’ve ever found: https://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
You can have low-calorie flavourings for water, as long as you log it. It’s more important to get the calories right rather than worrying too much about nutrient timing. KISS: keep it simple, stupid. 😉
I hear what you’re saying about 1250 being too low, but I’m actually nearer 1500 daily but just arranged so I get more at the weekend. That’s what I settled on after mfp said I should lose 1.5lbs per week. That sounds manageable and it’s about half a stone every month which would be awesome.
God of pain said I should eat my exercise calories because I’m working out and risk injury if I’m not fuelling my body properly so actually I’m probably eating 3-400 calories above the 1250. That feels okay…let’s see what shitbird says on Sunday, eh!
You really think it’s okay to use dilute juice? I’ve drunk plain water today but seriously I could’ve yakked with every swig ?
Okay, you’re probably eating a more reasonable number of calories if you’re eating back exercise calories. I eat the same number of calories regardless of whether I exercised or not (unless I do a lot of exercise, like going hiking all day, which is not common but not totally unheard of) and it averages out across the week, so when I see numbers like 1250/day I’m like, yikes!
As for whether it’s okay to drink dilute juice … was drinking low-sugar/low-calorie squash the reason you got fat? If not, it’s probably okay, especially if you log the five calories or however many per serving.
… Particularly if you really dislike drinking straight water that much. Like, you don’t want the reason you went off the rails to be because you got really stressed out over denying yourself 50 calories/day of flavoured water. That’s counterproductive and something I see a lot. People get so obsessed with fine-tuning everything that they ignore the basics. If you’re counting calories and you’re losing weight and you feel like you can keep your diet up you’re a-okay. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it etc. 85% of weight loss and maintenance is eating the correct number of calories. Another 5% would be the macronutrient balance of your food (protein, fat, carbs). 4% would be keeping stress levels down and getting enough sleep. The other 1% is literally everything else, including the type of food you eat and nutrient timing, supplements, etc. So many people get trapped in trying to get that 1% right while failing to adhere to the 85-99% of the rest of their plan because they’re so stressed out from trying to be 100% perfect that the whole house of cards falls down.
Yes I agree with all the above! I have managed naked water for the last two days but it was a case of chugging a pint of it four times straight down, I just can’t sip it!
You always talk sense and I really value your support, thanks hun ?
I love MFP!!!!!!!! and while I think WW is a great program, ‘free’ food doesn’t work for many. Calories do count, and it’s shocking (like you said) to see just how many you’re allowed and how quickly you spend them. Best of luck with this new project!!!!!!!!
Thanks Tib, I think it’s going to work for me and more than anything else it’s really rebooted my resolve! ?
Dee – a word to the wise – don’t quit WW just yet- it’s a real pain to get it back and all your favorites you’ve got marked you’ll lose and have to start over at ground zero. Make sure you’re really sure!
Good for you for experimenting- I hope it goes well for you
Thanks Beth! I’m hoping this is my silver bullet!
I sent you a friend request on myfitnesspal.com just now.Love your profile picture!
Hang in there with the learning curve it gets easier. Also when I know what I am going to eat for the day I will sometimes go ahead and log it in before I eat it that helps to keep me on track and from going way over the calorie limit for the day.
You are surrounded with support! You got this!
Thanks Susan! I love the fact that there’s so many ways to connect!