Hey everybody, been lurking for a while...

Guitarjon

Well I have to say, this is my first post on the community but you all sound like a knowledgeable bunch!

I had always been healthy and slim until I was about 16. Since then I have lost weight a couple of times, mainly through exercise and joining the gym. Also with some dieting but mainly just cutting out on the rubbish.

I have recently started back again with the intention of getting back to the weight I was at around 15/16. Which is around 13.5 stone. To be honest I'm not 100% sure what I was as I never had the need to weigh myself. I'd say a number of contributing factors lead to my weight loss. I'm not going to bore you with the excuses as I know thats what they are, things like eating less healthy, being introduced to alcohol, getting a car, less sports etc. I lost around 3 stone before through going to the gym then switched my goal from loosing weight to building muscle and things started moving very slowly in terms of fat % loss and I reached a plateau. Now I'm back to where I was the first time round.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. This time, I'm trying to focus more on my diet more than I am fitness. I know fitness is equally important and I am gradually building it in. Using MFP has being really good for the knowledge. The main things I am doing in my diet is that I have cut out white bread and reduced bread consumption in general (I was eating brown bread every dinner time). I have substituted it with a leafy salad. I have cut out pretty much all buns/cakes/ sweet stuff and all fizzy pop! I ate brown pasta and rice beforehand anyway but again I have tried to reduce my intake of these. I am now eating porridge oats made up with water every morning or eggs/beans etc. in some form.

My MFP ticker states I have lost 5kg but this is because I started it up months ago but didn't pursue it. Since I started months ago I continued to put on weight and reached a huge 131kg and 40% body fat. I'm only 5 foot 10 and I knew I was extremely over weight. Since I started I am now down to 122.5kg and 36% body fat, using the same scales in the same position at the same time. So I have actually lost a massive 4% body fat which seems to be going a little too quick if you ask me, in the past this has come down much more gradually. I have lost 7.5KG in total and pretty happy about it.

One downside is that I have drastically increased my water consumption which I know is great but I am constantly needing the toilet! I know its only 7.5 lost but I feel absolutely great in myself! I don't know whether this is due to the nutrients balance, less sugar spikes/dips in my diet or whether its the water? My face is already looking much slimmer and people at work have commented about my overall well being and appearance so I must be do something right!

The only concern I have is that I lost around 5.6KG in 2 weeks of starting MFP. I'm less worried now as it seems to have slowed down a little in the third week. I am now in week 4 and continuing doing what I am doing. In the last week I have been swimming, walking and have literally just come back in from a run. I have just confirmed to myself I don't like running. I don't think it can be doing my joints very good as I am still over weight and I can feel my knees so maybe stick to swimming and walking for the time being.

Well that first post was longer than I anticipated.

Would somebody be able to clear up something for me. I know the importance of eating and reaching the protein goals as protein is a good food for keeping you feel full and has muscle sustaining properties and all that jazz. I have ready many places that I should be eating it with every meal but my breakfast usually just consists of porridge oats made with water (through the week). When I first started with MFP I was feeling hungry at around 3 pm. I solved this by switching from regular cereals to the porridge oats, eating a piece of fruit at around 10.45 and started eating a couple of nairn oat cakes at around 2.30. I now no longer feel hungry at any point of the day but should I still be eating some protein first thing in the morning? A friend suggested buying whey protein powder and adding it to my oats but is it necessary? I wanted to do it as naturally as possibly as buying protein on top of weekly shopping becomes more expensive.