Help! Hit a brick wall!
PotterMrs
Posts: 22 Member
Iv been 'dieting' for the past 4yrs with Slimming World and for the past year I have been up and down around the same figure, so I'm considering leaving and going alone - but I still need help! Going alone is so scary, and I have all these doubts in my mind, that devil on my shoulder telling me I can't, them thoughts in my head telling me that I'm always going to need someone to tell me I'm doing great or I'm doing something wrong. I think that's why Iv stuck with SW for so long! It's done nothing for me but it was just having people there, like me, who needed telling! Last year, I hit my weight loss target but have since put a lot back in again (yep all whilst still being a SW member!) So, with your help, I really want this now! Can you please add me and help me through this! I feel like crap and I just want to get to where I'm happy with myself again instead of feeling conscious of my reflection!
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I haven't been a member of SW but used weight watchers on and off for most of my 20's. I too dropped weight and then put it back on again - time and time again. After doing a bit of research into Weight Watchers, the calorie deficit set for me was actually INCREDIBLY low. I worked it out and I was only consuming 1040 calories per day on their 'points' plan (plus maybe 100 for fruit and veg) - Still a restrictive amount. Of COURSE I lost weight because the deficit was huge - but I put it on purely because of how utterly unsustainable this was in the long run. There's no way I can stick to that number long-term, even short term was stressful.
Like I said, I have no experience with SW so I'm not sure how they operate but in my honest opinion, stick with MFP. I am dropping weight at the same time as being educated on the logics of weight loss. There is no "Eat only carbs on this day" and "No food after 7:30" or any other nonsense that is spewed by these money-making diet plans. MFP really strips it back to basics - Eat a calorie deficit. With Weight Watchers, my state of mind was bordering on obsessive and depressed - with MFP, I enjoy learning how this is done, how the body can work and how ACTUALLY I can eat a good 1500 calories and still lose a solid pound per week.
Best of luck.
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I too lost a lot of weight with Weightwatchers and then put it all back on again. SW has its green and red days and syns etc etc. I like MFP because it puts ME in control. I know (because I weigh and log my food as accurately as possible) how many calories I am consuming every day. When I was with Weightwatchers I started by going to meetings but absolutely hated it, so did it online only after that. Weightwatchers had forums of course but a lot of them were absolute nonsense and did nothing to actually help me. On these discussion boards there are lots of people with a LOT of experience and good knowledge who will help if asked. The other good thing is that they may not always tell you what you want to hear - a platitude helps no one! Set yourself up on here - weigh and log your food meticulously and don't be too impatient for results. Good luck 0
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Thankyou PinkPixie - iv never done WW but SW works on a similar scale, it doesnt have points but it has 'syns'. My issue has always been that even tho i would eat a mound of a meal, i would still feel like there was something i still needed even if i wasnt hungry! Id get real bad cravings for junk, headaches from needing a sugar hit - yes id lose massively, i could lose 4-6lbs in a week - but its clear it wasnt to stay off! like you say, i want to follow a plan that suits both my needs and my health. With SW i found the second i stopped following the plan, i put on lbs in such a short space of time - i could easily gain 7lbs in a week!
For now tho, i need to get my head away from the SW side of things (measuring my dairy and fibre) and working more towards the calories side - something iv never really understood!0 -
Thankyou Suzie - I need somebody to slap me hard, tell me what i need to hear rather than what people think i should hear! At SW if you had a gain it would always be "put the past behind you, tomorrow is a new day, you can do this" when really i wanted someone to scream in my face "you fat greedy *kitten*, how on earth are you ever going to lose weight when you keep shoveling *kitten* throught that hole in your face!". I need the truth, nicey nicey doesnt work with me at all, it makes me think 'so what if iv eaten pizza, i can eat a bit more fruit tomorrow to even it out!'0
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Thankyou PinkPixie - iv never done WW but SW works on a similar scale, it doesnt have points but it has 'syns'. My issue has always been that even tho i would eat a mound of a meal, i would still feel like there was something i still needed even if i wasnt hungry! Id get real bad cravings for junk, headaches from needing a sugar hit - yes id lose massively, i could lose 4-6lbs in a week - but its clear it wasnt to stay off! like you say, i want to follow a plan that suits both my needs and my health. With SW i found the second i stopped following the plan, i put on lbs in such a short space of time - i could easily gain 7lbs in a week!
For now tho, i need to get my head away from the SW side of things (measuring my dairy and fibre) and working more towards the calories side - something iv never really understood!
Getting away from Weight Watchers was probably the biggest favour I did myself!
I'm not disputing it helps people lose weight - it most certainly does. But like you said, it just went straight back on and that was without me being overly 'greedy'. I think this forum promotes a really healthy and sustainable lifetyle. You do get some grumpy know-all's types that are very quick to point the finger and say "YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS RIGHT" but the majority of us are really supportive and understand the struggle! In my personal opinion, I'd say you'd be better belonging to a community like MFP instead of paying to be part of a very structured and highly restrictive "Diet". I know it sounds like a huge cliche - but I really don't see myself as being on a 'diet' anymore. I'm finally developing a "Normal" relationship with food 0 -
You can eat pizza Mrs Potter, its the AMOUNT of pizza you eat that matters. A slice of pizza could be say, 150 calories or 600 calories - when you weigh your pizza slice and log it you will know how many calories it is and you can build it into your day WITHOUT going over your calorie goal.0
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Thankyou both, you've been a huge help - hopefully with the help of the two of you and many others here I can get to my goal. One thing I don't understand tho, which I'm sure you can help me with, is after exercise, Iv burned calories - so it gives me more calories to eat. Yet it's something Iv never done, again it's maybe the SW part of my brain telling me this, Iv always been led to believe what is the point in burning 500 calls in the gym to then go and eat a 300 cal mars bar!? Or is that not how it is? Iv always been scared to eat back the calories and if I'm hungry I just starved!0
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Thankyou both, you've been a huge help - hopefully with the help of the two of you and many others here I can get to my goal. One thing I don't understand tho, which I'm sure you can help me with, is after exercise, Iv burned calories - so it gives me more calories to eat. Yet it's something Iv never done, again it's maybe the SW part of my brain telling me this, Iv always been led to believe what is the point in burning 500 calls in the gym to then go and eat a 300 cal mars bar!? Or is that not how it is? Iv always been scared to eat back the calories and if I'm hungry I just starved!
Have the mars bar.
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eat back half the earned calories - have a 'fun' sized mars bar
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Thankyou both, you've been a huge help - hopefully with the help of the two of you and many others here I can get to my goal. One thing I don't understand tho, which I'm sure you can help me with, is after exercise, Iv burned calories - so it gives me more calories to eat. Yet it's something Iv never done, again it's maybe the SW part of my brain telling me this, Iv always been led to believe what is the point in burning 500 calls in the gym to then go and eat a 300 cal mars bar!? Or is that not how it is? Iv always been scared to eat back the calories and if I'm hungry I just starved!
I've always found the 'eat your exercise calories' really, really confusing. There are posts on here and people suggest eating around 50% of your exercise calories. The trouble with that is, I STILL find that hugely confusing. My exercise calories vary from day-to-day and when I'm having a weight training session, I have no concept of what I'm burning off. Because of all this confusion, I don't eat my exercise calories.
I worked out my TDEE (total daily expenditure) and subtracted 250 calories from that to lose half a pound a week. I don't mess around with 'eating back exercise calories' because it is all included in the TDEE. I hope this isn't getting too complicated.
If you want me to work out your TDEE and calorie intake, I am more than happy to calculate it for you?
I'd need to know your height, current weight and how often you work out first of all - then how much you aim to lose per week!0 -
She can't it's too high in calories.IsaackGMOON wrote: »Thankyou both, you've been a huge help - hopefully with the help of the two of you and many others here I can get to my goal. One thing I don't understand tho, which I'm sure you can help me with, is after exercise, Iv burned calories - so it gives me more calories to eat. Yet it's something Iv never done, again it's maybe the SW part of my brain telling me this, Iv always been led to believe what is the point in burning 500 calls in the gym to then go and eat a 300 cal mars bar!? Or is that not how it is? Iv always been scared to eat back the calories and if I'm hungry I just starved!
Have the mars bar.
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dhimaanridoy wrote: »
She can't it's too high in calories.IsaackGMOON wrote: »Thankyou both, you've been a huge help - hopefully with the help of the two of you and many others here I can get to my goal. One thing I don't understand tho, which I'm sure you can help me with, is after exercise, Iv burned calories - so it gives me more calories to eat. Yet it's something Iv never done, again it's maybe the SW part of my brain telling me this, Iv always been led to believe what is the point in burning 500 calls in the gym to then go and eat a 300 cal mars bar!? Or is that not how it is? Iv always been scared to eat back the calories and if I'm hungry I just starved!
Have the mars bar.
Well she said if she burns 500 calories, she wants to have a mars bar.
Whats wrong with a mars bar lol.
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PinkPixiexox wrote: »Thankyou both, you've been a huge help - hopefully with the help of the two of you and many others here I can get to my goal. One thing I don't understand tho, which I'm sure you can help me with, is after exercise, Iv burned calories - so it gives me more calories to eat. Yet it's something Iv never done, again it's maybe the SW part of my brain telling me this, Iv always been led to believe what is the point in burning 500 calls in the gym to then go and eat a 300 cal mars bar!? Or is that not how it is? Iv always been scared to eat back the calories and if I'm hungry I just starved!
I've always found the 'eat your exercise calories' really, really confusing. There are posts on here and people suggest eating around 50% of your exercise calories. The trouble with that is, I STILL find that hugely confusing. My exercise calories vary from day-to-day and when I'm having a weight training session, I have no concept of what I'm burning off. Because of all this confusion, I don't eat my exercise calories.
I worked out my TDEE (total daily expenditure) and subtracted 250 calories from that to lose half a pound a week. I don't mess around with 'eating back exercise calories' because it is all included in the TDEE. I hope this isn't getting too complicated.
If you want me to work out your TDEE and calorie intake, I am more than happy to calculate it for you?
I'd need to know your height, current weight and how often you work out first of all - then how much you aim to lose per week!
You can't calculate the calories burnt in a resistance training session... there are too many variables and the burns are pretty small anyways.
The whole point of eating back 50-75% is to compensate for any inaccuracies as HRM's aren't 100% accurate and are instead, an estimation.
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IsaackGMOON wrote: »PinkPixiexox wrote: »Thankyou both, you've been a huge help - hopefully with the help of the two of you and many others here I can get to my goal. One thing I don't understand tho, which I'm sure you can help me with, is after exercise, Iv burned calories - so it gives me more calories to eat. Yet it's something Iv never done, again it's maybe the SW part of my brain telling me this, Iv always been led to believe what is the point in burning 500 calls in the gym to then go and eat a 300 cal mars bar!? Or is that not how it is? Iv always been scared to eat back the calories and if I'm hungry I just starved!
I've always found the 'eat your exercise calories' really, really confusing. There are posts on here and people suggest eating around 50% of your exercise calories. The trouble with that is, I STILL find that hugely confusing. My exercise calories vary from day-to-day and when I'm having a weight training session, I have no concept of what I'm burning off. Because of all this confusion, I don't eat my exercise calories.
I worked out my TDEE (total daily expenditure) and subtracted 250 calories from that to lose half a pound a week. I don't mess around with 'eating back exercise calories' because it is all included in the TDEE. I hope this isn't getting too complicated.
If you want me to work out your TDEE and calorie intake, I am more than happy to calculate it for you?
I'd need to know your height, current weight and how often you work out first of all - then how much you aim to lose per week!
You can't calculate the calories burnt in a resistance training session... there are too many variables and the burns are pretty small anyways.
The whole point of eating back 50-75% is to compensate for any inaccuracies as HRM's aren't 100% accurate and are instead, an estimation.
Yeah, I don't eat back any - keeping it simple.
I'm on a nice 1500 calorie per day (losing around 1lb per week - very close to goal too) and working out 4 times a week. That's all I worry about 0 -
It doesn't taste as good as a snickers bar or a twix bar.IsaackGMOON wrote: »dhimaanridoy wrote: »
She can't it's too high in calories.IsaackGMOON wrote: »Thankyou both, you've been a huge help - hopefully with the help of the two of you and many others here I can get to my goal. One thing I don't understand tho, which I'm sure you can help me with, is after exercise, Iv burned calories - so it gives me more calories to eat. Yet it's something Iv never done, again it's maybe the SW part of my brain telling me this, Iv always been led to believe what is the point in burning 500 calls in the gym to then go and eat a 300 cal mars bar!? Or is that not how it is? Iv always been scared to eat back the calories and if I'm hungry I just starved!
Have the mars bar.
Well she said if she burns 500 calories, she wants to have a mars bar.
Whats wrong with a mars bar lol.
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I don't eat my exercise calories, I look on them as my 'halo' for the day - mind you I'd need half a week's exercise calories for a mars bar lol0
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Pink-if you are eating based on your calculated TDEE, you are eating exercise calories, just estimated in a different way than the usual MFP method, unless you told the calculator you do zero exercise.0
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dhimaanridoy wrote: »
It doesn't taste as good as a snickers bar or a twix bar.IsaackGMOON wrote: »dhimaanridoy wrote: »
She can't it's too high in calories.IsaackGMOON wrote: »Thankyou both, you've been a huge help - hopefully with the help of the two of you and many others here I can get to my goal. One thing I don't understand tho, which I'm sure you can help me with, is after exercise, Iv burned calories - so it gives me more calories to eat. Yet it's something Iv never done, again it's maybe the SW part of my brain telling me this, Iv always been led to believe what is the point in burning 500 calls in the gym to then go and eat a 300 cal mars bar!? Or is that not how it is? Iv always been scared to eat back the calories and if I'm hungry I just starved!
Have the mars bar.
Well she said if she burns 500 calories, she wants to have a mars bar.
Whats wrong with a mars bar lol.
That's... questionable 0 -
sheldonklein wrote: »Pink-if you are eating based on your calculated TDEE, you are eating exercise calories, just estimated in a different way than the usual MFP method, unless you told the calculator you do zero exercise.
Yes that's what I meant to say hah 0 -
Im confused! i will just stick to not eating my exercise calories for now until i start to understand it all more0
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Im confused! i will just stick to not eating my exercise calories for now until i start to understand it all more
How many calories are you eating daily?
Are you doing the MFP method or the TDEE method?
If MFP; you should eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories to compensate for any inaccuracies.
If TDEE; you don't eat back exercise calories because TDEE accounts for that in activity levels.
It's pretty simple once you get your head around it.0 -
IsaackGMOON wrote: »Im confused! i will just stick to not eating my exercise calories for now until i start to understand it all more
How many calories are you eating daily?
Are you doing the MFP method or the TDEE method?
If MFP; you should eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories to compensate for any inaccuracies.
If TDEE; you don't eat back exercise calories because TDEE accounts for that in activity levels.
It's pretty simple once you get your head around it.
This is spot on.
I do the bolded.
Sorry for the confusion! Both ways are perfectly okay and both ways WORK! 0 -
I have no idea what I'm doing if I'm honest! I just set up my profile and log the food I eat, this does the rest! I have just noticed tho that there is a line counting my 'iPhone steps' is that like a step counter and is it accurate? I do a lot of walking, my job I'm constantly on my feet, I also recently rejoined the gym - do I just continue to log on here what I eat and do and it works it all out for me?0
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I joined mfp in January. I have done weight watchers, Atkins, nutra system. I really prefer this. I am 10 pounds from goal and have found support here getting through trouble spots. Ex. Vacation weight gain and how to get back on track. In the past, I would give up and then have to start all over. You are not 'alone' here.0
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titotito48 wrote: »I joined mfp in January. I have done weight watchers, Atkins, nutra system. I really prefer this. I am 10 pounds from goal and have found support here getting through trouble spots. Ex. Vacation weight gain and how to get back on track. In the past, I would give up and then have to start all over. You are not 'alone' here.
Thankyou, theres a few things im still trying to get my head around and in time i will do - iv had a pretty rough year this year and i think SW started to become more of a weekly routine than what it should of been! Hoping to find lots of friends on here to help and support me & hopefully in time i can return the favour when i become more familiar with how everything works.
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I have no idea what I'm doing if I'm honest! I just set up my profile and log the food I eat, this does the rest! I have just noticed tho that there is a line counting my 'iPhone steps' is that like a step counter and is it accurate? I do a lot of walking, my job I'm constantly on my feet, I also recently rejoined the gym - do I just continue to log on here what I eat and do and it works it all out for me?
Basically, yes. You told it your stats - weight, height, activity level. It told you how much you can eat based on that. So it's fine for now just to log and follow its calorie target.
But, if you're constantly on your feet make sure that you set your activity level in MFP to "lightly active." Not sedentary. MFP gives you more calories to eat that way, and if you're always on the move you need more calories to fuel your body.
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I have no idea what I'm doing if I'm honest! I just set up my profile and log the food I eat, this does the rest! I have just noticed tho that there is a line counting my 'iPhone steps' is that like a step counter and is it accurate? I do a lot of walking, my job I'm constantly on my feet, I also recently rejoined the gym - do I just continue to log on here what I eat and do and it works it all out for me?
In that case, it's best to simplify this to start out. Follow what MFP has told you to do - if you burn off a substantial amount of calories and want to eat some of those back, feel free to do so. All the TDEE and BMR referencing will come later. It took me a while to figure it out too but for now, do what MFP says and you will lose weight It can be very, very easy to complicate things here (lots of technical terms are used!).
As for the Iphone Steps - I had a similar one on my phone that recorded 250 steps from my front door to my car which couldnt have been more than 20 max. I'm not saying fitness trackers are inaccurate but I'm sceptical they are 100% spot on so personally I wouldn't let them add up my calorie-burn per day. There are a few people on here that do Fitbit and have quite a lot of success with them (My opinion remains the same) so it really is whatever you think works best! Any exercise is good, in my book!0 -
Hi, Ive have just cancelled my ww subscription. Being going for nearly a year. Lost 1.5 stone in 3 months then ever since yoyoing. No point paying out money! Im doing a marathon next spring so dont really expect to lose any weight whilst training for that.
Good luck with MFP, we CAN do it! x0
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