My target is 2200 for a 0.75kg a week loss, but the most interesting info I have got so far is that I only get 10% of my iron and calcium GDAs a day according to MFP.

Just checked out the reports, and I’d take that information with a grain of salt… apparently I had almost 0% of my iron intake yesterday, despite having steak for lunch. Checking up the database whoever had entered the food details just left the vitamins, calcium and iron data empty.

There seems to be a huge variation in what works (no surprise there!)

For example, looking at nickc’s post above, I do pretty well the opposite
Not a veggie, I eat lots of bread, spuds and rich. there’s lots of crisps, biscuits and chocolate in the house which I eat. Every day I have breakfast, consisting of cereal, toast and orange juice. Apart from spuds I rarely eat vegs.
I’ve been 72kg for the last 30 years.

Who can say what works?

Checking up the database whoever had entered the food details just left the vitamins, calcium and iron data empty.

I haven’t played with it enough to work it out but I’m guessing some/all users get to add food to the database, with varying levels of reliability. I’ve found multiple versions of the same food stuff (down to multiple versions sold by the same store). Annoyingly some versions have very limited quantity options (like only being able to add mushrooms by the cup not by weight) so you seem to have to hunt around a bit to find the version that looks accurate and uses units of measurement that are useful to you.

We cook 95% plus of all our food from scratch but have a limited number of meals we cook often (a two week menu rota) so I’m going through the painful process of using the recipe maker function to make every evening meal and then hopefully it will be fast to use after that. I don’t think I’ll bother weighing everything more than the first time but trust myself to make the meal to similar quantities by eye each time.

Check out the recipe function where you paste in the webpage and it ‘finds’ the recipe on the page and pastes in the details, pretty accurately back into mfp. It’s like voodoo magic! Granted a little bit of adjusting is required but it is never far off the mark.

There seems to be a huge variation in what works (no surprise there!)

For example, looking at nickc’s post above, I do pretty well the opposite

Agreed – but I sure as hell know what I’ve been doing for the last few years hasn’t. Got to about 36, had stopped racing and doing daft miles and it all went horribly wrong!

But in contrast to nickc’s post above I know a few folk who have had a lot of success with weightwatchers where pasta and rice are ‘syn free’ (i.e. you can eat as much as you like). I think the WW seems to work for some as it gives control back to folk who have lost it and gets you thinking about what you eat – I think that is half the battle for most (for 35 years I scoffed at this as a permanent skinny git – now the boot is on the other foot) and what your calories are actually made of is less important.Veggies for the most part care about what they eat so by default are less likely to stray.

Cauliflower rice/couscous is a brilliant alternative to rice. It gives the appearance of carbs on the plate which is something many people struggle to get past. I tend to quickly stir-fry mine in a little chilli oil to give it a little “bite”.

Would like to keep off the carbs and on the protein but being a veggie with a busy lifestyle for me means lots of bread, lots of pasta and lots of potatoes.

The problem (as you have found) is all those foods are high-calorie but contain little micro-nutrients. Pasta and bread especially I personally would class as junk foods as they are also normally so heavily processed.

Replacements:

Sweet potatoes. I eat loads of these, sometimes have a baked one on the side of a chili/curry in place of rice. I make mashed potatoes with half sweet potatoes half parsnip (prefer this to “proper” mash now). They are also really good roasted or cubed and shallow fried.

Veg. Eat as much of this as you can, especially dark veg like brocolli/spinach/sprouts. Being generous with butter and/or salt makes them genuinely very tasty. Salad veg is good too.

Lentils, chickpeas, beans, etc are very versatile (especially red lentils which will mush down so are great for bulking out/thickening sauces). You can also mash or fry them if you want to get fancy (so proper onion bhajis cooked in good oil are actually a health food!!)

Pseudo-grains like quinoa and to a lesser extent buckwheat or amaranth. I use these although not regularly. Personally I would not use couscous.

The cauliflower rice is a good shout. I fry mine with caraway seeds. I don’t eat it often though as personally I don’t really bother with lookalike foods as they are never quite as satisfying – I prefer to eat the real thing, whatever it is, as a treat (ideally after a hard workout).

Cauliflower rice is great with curry or chilli, where you need something to carry the sauce without particularly adding anything flavour.

Curry without ‘rice’ (or bread, but that’s also off) is just wrong to me.

Would like to keep off the carbs and on the protein but being a veggie with a busy lifestyle for me means lots of bread, lots of pasta and lots of potatoes.. Anyone have any easy substitutes for such things? Bought some massive mushrooms to use as rolls for todays lunch but that looks like it might get expensive!

I’d just go for something better rather than drop them completely. Brown rice, wholewheat pasta, quinoa, wholewheat pitta, bulgar wheat. Go easy on spuds, I don’t really like sweet potatoes but will tolerate them and they seem to be the fave substitute. Celeriac chips (olive oil smear and pop in the oven)aren’t too bad, though I’m not convinced they are much better for you.

I’m veggie, don’t really drink (once a month if that), as reasonably active but still weigh too much. Bread and too much tea with sugar are my problems, tackling the bread issue with home made or Vogel and restricting intake to 2 slices a day (boiled eggs NEED toast), sugar .. hmm proving harder than nicotine that.

Well after doing in two Jammy Rings(77k each!) in a moment of weakness, I now have 1000k left for the day or 700 if I succumb to the pressure of describing my lifestyle as sedentary.

I’m not convinced on that yet, I walk to the park n ride or cycle to work each day when in the office, both take about 60 mins return and that doesn’t get logged as exercise, so may lift me from sedentary to lightly active?

Either way on c.2000 calories I’m feeling empty and a little hungry on an evening which suggests I’m reducing intake, the next few days weigh ins will show if thats less than I’m burning.

I like some of the suggestions above, the problem for me and probably lots of other people is I share a fridge with a family who aren’t quite so obsessed with weight loss, so on days like today when I’m working from home temptation is everywhere!

Curry without ‘rice’ (or bread, but that’s also off) is just wrong to me.

I used to think that, but then I realised it’s basically an Indian stew, and I wouldn’t have any particular problem eating a bowl of stew without anything accompanying it. (Although I agree both stew and curry are better with something else, crusty bread or naan or whatever…)

Vegetarian curries are usually best for this, though, as they generally have more ingredients. Or at least the ones I cook do 🙂

Im not convinced on that yet, I walk to the park n ride or cycle to work each day when in the office, both take about 60 mins return and that doesn’t get logged as exercise, so may lift me from sedentary to lightly active?

I think the idea is that you’d log these accurately as “Exercise” using a HRM + Strava or whatever, and log your life as sedentary. Might be worth seeing just how many calories you actually burn on your commute, see if it’s more or less than the difference between “Active” and “Sedentary” on MFP.

Cauliflower rice/couscous is a brilliant alternative to rice. It gives the appearance of carbs on the plate

Couscous is pasta, so there’s a reason it gives the ‘appearance’ of carbs on the plate… 🙂

1. I’m a veggie.
3. breakfast (eggs most days or nothing)

what do you have just scrambled eggs? i have bacon eggs most days but would like to cut back on bacon?

Would like to keep off the carbs and on the protein but being a veggie with a busy lifestyle for me means lots of bread, lots of pasta and lots of potatoes.. Anyone have any easy substitutes for such things?

Personally i think substitutes can be the wrong way to think – it always feels like missing out. Eat a salad for lunch, instead of a sandwhich, and make it a good one.

Spaghetti can be substituted for courgette noodles – i think i actually prefer them.

Spaghetti can be substituted for courgette noodles – i think i actually prefer them.

I got one of those vegetable spiralisers (as recommended on here ages ago) and sometimes we do courgette/carrot/aubergine noodles which are good although not as filling as wheat noodles.

We also fry (you might be able to do them in the oven but I haven’t tried yet) courgette fries which are AWESOME. Admittedly it is much more of a ball ache than just opening a bag of oven chips, but then you would expect that!

Yes, just scrambled eggs. If I’m on the bike for a long-ish ride I’ll have porridge

I’m not a fan of substituting foods either. I like courgette spirals in a salad of red cabbage, toasted fennel seeds, courgette spirals and red wine vinegar.

My ride this morning was horrible, I felt weak as a kitten which I assume was due to my body not being used to having less carbs. Am I right in thinking that my body will adjust in to running on fat (with some carbs).

My ride this morning was horrible, I felt weak as a kitten which I assume was due to my body not being used to having less carbs. Am I right in thinking that my body will adjust in to running on fat (with some carbs).

This could be an issue with low-carb options. If you’re doing any high intensity cardio you’re always going to need glycogen from a carbohydrate source. You can train your body to burn more fat, but this only occurs beyond a certain exercise duration threshold.

Having carbs (within reason) before and after (with protein) cardio exercise will actually help you lose weight and recover better.

Tip for all dieters: cut out sugars of all forms (inc white carbs, in alcohol, in sweets, etc), exercise frequently, avoid hunger and overeating, and you will lose weight.

Tip for all dieters: cut out sugars of all forms (inc white carbs, in alcohol, in sweets, etc), exercise frequently, avoid hunger and overeating, and you will lose weight.

But it’s still possible to lose weight and eat some sugars, drink alcohol and eat ‘sweets’. I eat brown bread, drink the odd glass of port and can seriously tuck away a pud of an evening – I’m still losing weight. The main difference is reduction in portion size and an increase in exercise. I also think you have to expect to be hungry for a short time while the stomach shrinks, especially if you’ve been used to mountains of pasta and the like.

Yes, those tips work as general guidelines to live by, but as you can see with my comment about fueling exercise, there’s a time and a place for everything, including the occasional indulgence.

Definitely. I’m a huge fan of hedonism, though paraphrasing someone on this very forum…

We still treat ourselves on special occasions. The weekend is not a special occasion.

Power is nothing without control…or something like that.

well i m 110kg and 53 nextweek.. for my 5/10 height my bmi says i should be 11 stone.. now i weighed half a stone more than that when i was seriously racing and my parents sent me to the doctor as they said i looked like i was dead.

so i ve started and stuck to since xmas day.. eat a lot less and dont eat between meals or after 8 at night.

breakfast is berries 2 satsumas and half a banana, lunch i had the otherhalf of banana and a pint of home made veg broth and for tea i had a slice of roast pork with a dollop of cauliflower and another of peas and cabbage..

not exciting but as i ve often read on here the best way to lose weight is stop eating so much..

Couscous is pasta, so there’s a reason it gives the ‘appearance’ of carbs on the plate… [/quote]Ah – perhaps you misunderstood me. Some folk call it cauliflower rice, some call it cauliflower couscous.

This is going to sound daft but how do I get my rides from strava to show up on MFP? I’ve connected the 2 accounts but it doesn’t seem to do it automatically like I expected it to.

This is going to sound daft but how do I get my rides from strava to show up on MFP? I’ve connected the 2 accounts but it doesn’t seem to do it automatically like I expected it to.

http://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1815287-garmin-issues-syncing-duplicates-linking—january-5-2015

Might be linked to an issue they also seem to have with Garmin at the moment.

Cheers all for the substitution suggestions there, I think I need to get busy tomorrow trying it all out!

Once linked up Strava and MFP take a while to communicate but it does work.

Just made a sweet potato, broccoli and chick pea curry with cauliflower rice, ruddy nice it is too!

Installed MFP 3 days before my birthday – tonight is going to blow my stats for the week I suspect. But it’ll also probably encourage me to do something extra this weekend to use up the additional calories.

Last 2 days have been about 300kcals under the target based on my ‘vigorous’ commute and lunchtime gym trips so it’s not all bad news.

My love of fruit and the sugars within does seem to be a problem though.

Also, the brownies I baked for the office last night were pretty much sugar and fat, but boy did they taste good.

Installed MFP 3 days before my birthday – tonight is going to blow my stats for the week I suspect. But it’ll also probably encourage me to do something extra this weekend to use up the additional calories.

Birthday calories don’t count, ’tis the law.

Steak and eggs for me tonight

Just made a sweet potato, broccoli and chick pea curry with cauliflower rice, ruddy nice it is too!

I’m sure it’s passable, in an austere dietary sense but ‘ruddy nice’ is reserved for proper food 🙂

Ah – perhaps you misunderstood me. Some folk call it cauliflower rice, some call it cauliflower couscous.

That makes more sense 🙂

Here we are then day three, 5pm not all that hungry but with 1500k left to “spend”. I may blow it on a bottle of red and some somerset brie. 🙂

well i m 110kg and 53 nextweek.. for my 5/10 height my bmi says i should be 11 stone.. now i weighed half a stone more than that when i was seriously racing and my parents sent me to the doctor as they said i looked like i was dead.

You could be up to 12.5 stone and still be within the correct range on BMI.

OP I went from 110kg (and 5ft 11″) to 100kg between Jan13 and Apr13, then down to 89kg by Aug13 and then from there to 81kg around July last year where I’ve pretty much stayed give or take a few kg.

Week Two update:

Well I was weighing c.high 95kg and I’m now c high 94kg over the last few days so I’m claiming a 1kg loss over two weeks which is on plan.

I did have to reduce the calories allowance on MFP down to 1770(as per molgrips) by applying the sedentary lifestyle setting. Strava linked well with the one or two rides i have recorded and bumps up the allowance considerably.

Sticking to 1770 is usually pretty easy and once your into the groove feels normal. I’m also doing the late breakfast thing which helps by avoiding using your quota early in the day, so porridge around 10.30 lunch of some soup or something light around 14.00 and an evening meal of anything I like but not too big a portion. at around 18.00.

Couple of weekend blow outs on booze (as evidenced by my contribution to other threads!) sent me over allowance on those days but not so far as to put the week average out.

So far so good!

Well I have now broken the 70kg barrier – 69.8kg after my 1 hour spinning on Saturday.

Whoo

I managed a weigh in of 73.9kg a few days ago, realistically I’m 75kg ish. So roughly 2kgs lost in 2 months, definitely a smaller belly.

Started this around 3 weeks ago at 87kg, just weighed myself at 80, result!

Complete diet change and lots of riding!