Maybe the plateaus are vital for recovery?

hmaddpear

Sainsbury's have coconut oil, usually in the 'ethnic foods' section (I think it's a Jamaican brand - KTC). It's solid, so look for a clear plastic jar full of wax. It's lovely.

Good luck - and I second the strength training.

snowflake954

When I have a day that I'll be eating out, I eat light the rest of the day. For breakfast I will have 2 Wasa crackers with Philidelphia (a thin veil, 28g per cracker). I use the light version, but the classic is so good, if you can afford the calories. For lunch I make my low-cal veg soup. I buy 2 carrots, 1 onion, several stalks of celery, and a big fistful of parsley. Wash then up, peel the celery, grate the carrots and throw all into a food processor until fine. I put this mixture in ice cube trays and freeze. When I want a quick, low-cal soup, I throw 2 cubes in a small pan of boiling water and add some broth. Simmer this for about 20 min and then put in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of grated parmesean cheese. You can add whatever you like, but the simple version is surprisingly filling for very few calories. I have 2 light snacks that day, and then enjoy when going out--but always watch what I order, and split a dessert. I also think you're doing great. Keep going and you'll get there. Best of luck.

clambert1273

mymodernbabylon wrote: »

Are you weight lifting? I'm thinking that this will help a lot with changing your body even more. Along with a small deficit, you won't be hungry but you'll still see changes. I'm at the last bit of my weight loss and it's going to move very slowly - I'm giving it a year to really lift a lot, have a 10% deficit and keep going. While the changes will also be slow, I can handle this sort of 'diet'.

this... you want to recomp not lose it is actually my preference to losing lol

girlviernes

Ooci wrote: »

Thanks guys. I think this thread is a good wake up call for me. I need to make a lot more effort with veg. And take the weigh ins more slowly - I weigh several times a day and tear my hair out needlessly.

I did Slimming World to begin with and lost around 25 pounds on that and then it stopped working. For those unfamiliar with the plan it's unlimited Free Food that must be cooked from scratch without fat. Fruit, veg, lean meat, pasta rice potatoes and pulses are all free food. The naughties are counted as "Syns" and you can have 15 points worth of those per day - a chocolate bar, or a couple of glasses of wine, for example. It seems to work brilliantly for high BMIS and for people who've been having a terrible diet.

But it isn't very good for ladies on the smaller side in my opinion. I can easily eat 2200 cals on a Slimming World day. So, I switched to My Fitness Pal, and the absolute freedom of it has led me back to old habits- a little cereal at brek, fruit, perhaps a sandwich at lunch, a 100 cal treat, a calorie counted normal dinner.

It isn't as good as having a big cooked breakfast with mushrooms and tomatoes and beans and then a huge bowl of soup at lunch. I know that, I need to put the work in to avoid the hunger. My day is often physically hard ( for example I've 5 solid hours of tennis today) and it's no good not having proper fuel at breakfast and lunch.

Do you mean you played tennis for 5 hours? Wow. With days like that you're going to need substantial fuel or else I'm not surprised you feel terrible. In some ways that actually makes this even more tricky because you need to eat more but how much more isn't super clear since it is hard to calculate calories burned accurately.

It sounds like Slimming World gave you a great background that will make you much more likely to be successful with MFP. I found that my experience not tracking but eating all unprocessed a few years ago set me up well for MFP this time around because I had figured out lots of combinations of foods that work well for me, but with the precision of MFP I'm able to be more flexible with my food choices and more consistent with weight loss.

Finally, weighing multiple times per day would drive anybody crazy. Doing checking behaviors so frequently actually can create a sense of obsession in people. Something that could help would be to put your scale away today and get it back out for your weigh-in in a week or even two weeks. I do weigh every day but I don't let myself weigh more than once and it's hard for me to get obsessive about things

SergeantSausage

Ooci wrote: »

For those unfamiliar with the plan it's unlimited Free Food that must be cooked from scratch without fat. Fruit, veg, lean meat, pasta rice potatoes and pulses are all free food. The naughties are counted as "Syns" and you can have 15 points worth of those per day - a chocolate bar, or a couple of glasses of wine, for example.

That's as clear a recipe for weight loss disaster as I've ever heard.

"unlimited" "free food" ... those don't usually work well with folks who can't control what they eat in the first place.

Why do folks have to make things so difficult?

Ooci

SergeantSausage wrote: »

That's as clear a recipe for weight loss disaster as I've ever heard.

I'm inclined to agree Sergeant Sausage but SW is an extremely successful organisation in the UK. I've watched a lot of ladies (it attracts far fewer men) go from around 18-20 stones to around 11. A lot of them have really no idea how to cook and what to eat. The recipes are extremely simple, quick, and very nice mostly, and if you stick to the recipes from the website, portion control is built in in the ingredients list. On top of that they make a big fuss about drawing a line under your slip-up, forgiving yourself, and moving on, so people (like me) who had a habit of feeling disgusted with themselves after a lapse and giving up go back and start again.

However there's no wiggle room when you're lighter. They say don't boredom eat but eat your fill of what you like from the Free Foods, trying to focus on SuperFree ( veg) filling half the plate, with a quarter taken up by the potato/rice/pasta and a quarter taken up by lean meat or fish. That's maybe fine if you use a small plate but they don't stipulate plate size.

I'm a real eater and it doesn't work for me - but I love the slimming buddies I made there and so I go every Thursday!! Actually it's worth a fiver just to get a clap and genuine celebration when you lose weight.

Ooci

girlviernes wrote: »

Do you mean you played tennis for 5 hours? Wow. With days like that you're going to need substantial fuel or else I'm not surprised you feel terrible. In some ways that actually makes this even more tricky because you need to eat more but how much more isn't super clear since it is hard to calculate calories burned accurately.


Finally, weighing multiple times per day would drive anybody crazy. Doing checking behaviors so frequently actually can create a sense of obsession in people. Something that could help would be to put your scale away today and get it back out for your weigh-in in a week or even two weeks. I do weigh every day but I don't let myself weigh more than once and it's hard for me to get obsessive about things

Thanks for that. Yes, obsessed, guilty as charged mi'lord. I'll try to stop!

Yes, a whole day of tennis today pretty much. I'm a bit of an obsessive person I suppose - all or nothing. I sat down on the court feeling very faint and shaky again today - that was after what I'd call a pretty hefty breakfast of two pieces toast, peanut butter, 150g low fat yog, teaspoon honey, 50 g grapes. But the cardio tennis is almost more than I can do - it pushes me to the very limit of my power and speed as you're basically sprinting all over the court reaching balls that are fired very fast by the coach. Maybe I should stop doing this and do the weights that are so highly recommended by everyone.

Ooci

clambert1273 wrote: »

mymodernbabylon wrote: »

Are you weight lifting? I'm thinking that this will help a lot with changing your body even more. Along with a small deficit, you won't be hungry but you'll still see changes. I'm at the last bit of my weight loss and it's going to move very slowly - I'm giving it a year to really lift a lot, have a 10% deficit and keep going. While the changes will also be slow, I can handle this sort of 'diet'.

this... you want to recomp not lose it is actually my preference to losing lol

I agree I need to lift weight, but surely the benefits will only be seen if I'm slim in the tummy area? I used to be very slight when I was in my twenties - here's me aged 22, at 101 lb



It maybe was a bit thin. Not technically underweight though.

This is probably my ideal - me aged 31 at 116lb. It was a period of obsessive salsa dancing and a bit of weight training. It's very motivating to have the old pics, though whether I can get back to that is dubious.