mlinci Member

I think it goes down to: are you on a short term diet after which you'll go back to your old habits, or have you gained new knowledge, skills and discipline that will help you maintain your newly acquired goal weight? If you go back to your old habits, your old weight will come back. I'm proud to say I've been maintaining…

I'm currently sick with shingles, which is really unpleasant. But I had a good (if painful) laugh yesterday - while looking at YouTube videos about shingles, I saw several titled "cure your shingles with ACV". I can't even read about my illness without some ACV woo!

To add another data point, I’m 5’5 and 137, and I maintain on about 2050 calories a day with an average of 12000 steps and no other exercise. 1700 sounds really low.

I got back from my Christmas break yesterday, and weighed myself this morning. I'm only up by 300g, which is negligible. This is great news. I also got shingles, unfortunately, which is not good news at all!

Losing weight really slowly is excellent preparation for maintenance. Don't underestimate the effort that goes into maintaining weight once you're at you're goal weight. I lost my weight slowly and I can assure you that losing 1/2 lb per week feels much more like what I am doing now (maintaining 137-138 lbs) than what I…

Mostly unsweetened, sometimes with a shot of sugar free syrup, or with a sachet of brown sugar. If I can I add semi skimmed milk; when ordering a coffee in a cafe I'll ask for milk on the side. When I'm visiting the States I suffer and moan because I hate the typical powdered coffee creamer you get in hotels.

I'm going to eat all I want, within reason - certainly not 5,000 calories, more like 2,500 calories a day - and I'm going to continue logging to my best ability. I am thinking I'll probably go up 2 lbs over the Christmas period, if that.

This bit of your post is much more critical for your success than how much water you drink. It’s impossible to get to 255lbs by eating 600-1000 calories a day; your perception of how much you eat, or your calorie counting, is way off. If whatever you were eating up to now made you maintain 255, then increasing the amount…

In oatmeal, absolutely. But I’m not going to sweeten my coffee with a banana! PS no need to shout.

I tried vanilla flavoured stevia drops and found them really disgusting! I threw most of the bottle away. I used to use Splenda in my coffee, or other artificial sweeteners, and I always found the taste just about acceptable, but not delicious. Since I've lost weight and gone into maintenance, all through calorie counting,…

As others have already said, going by weight is more precise. I learned early on that for sticky foods - like cream cheese or peanut butter - what a standard tablespoon should be, and how much I can fit on a tablespoon, are two entirely different things. I could probably carefully balance a whole jar of peanut butter on a…

Same here, and I couldn’t even get to the forum earlier. There must be issues with various part of the site.

You say that if you set it at 1/2 lbs a week, it would take you forever. Maybe, but it would also be excellent practice for maintenance. If you have 65 lbs to lose, once you've lost them, your calorie expenditure will go down by a couple of hundreds of calories (given same activity level) because you'd be smaller and a…

I can (and do) eat what I want. But I can't eat as much of it as I'd want.

Is the meal during the day or in the evening? If it's during the day, I'd probably eat quite a bit and then skip dinner - that always works for me.

No, my morning coffee isn't sabotaging anything. It's under 100 calories and it fits perfectly well into my daily goals. Here's an anecdote: most of my adult life I've been at least a bit overweight to downright obese. And most of my life I've used artificial sweeteners in my coffee and tried losing weight by going low…

I'm 5'5.5 and maintaining at about 137-139lbs, down from a starting weight of 185. I'm happy with that weight and wear UK size 10/ American size 6. My hips are still a bit wide for my liking (38.5 inches or so), but it's the way I'm built and I don't think I can spot reduce.

My starting BMI was just over 30, at 185 lbs and 5’5. At that weight, age 39, I had problems with my knees (couldn’t even think about doing a squat) and my hip joints would ache when I’d do a longer walk. Now at BMI under 23, I can do about 10 squats at a time (it still hurts though) and my hip joints are absolutely fine.…

Smoked salmon.

Just to add a different voice: no, I drink nowhere near that. I probably drink about a litre or so of liquid, mostly water and green tea. On top of that I'd have one or two coffees. Any other fluids come from fruit and other foods. I am not in any way dehydrated.

I lost 50 lbs never eating below 1600 calories per day, and I'm a relatively short middle aged woman. Why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why do people always think they have to only consume 1200 calories a day to lose weight?

I had a 1st generation flex for three years and was happy with it, then it stopped working and I got a flex 2. It provides all the functionality I need (I walk a lot and I really just need a step counter) and it has the additional advantage of being slimline and therefore easy to disguise as a piece of jewellery - I got a…

In my mind, eating higher than maintenance on some days is just life, and not cheating. However, not logging something I eat would kind of be cheating. It's not your logging of your calorie high days that mucks up your macros, it's your eating. If you are logging to have an accurate record of what you have eaten, what your…

You say you consume 2l of water per day, but how much other liquid do you also consume? Soda, tea, coffee, beer, milk, yogurt, soup, fruit? If you consume significant amounts of other liquids as well, it could add up to a lot of water altogether.

I don't particularly like plain green tea, but I love flavoured green teas, which I drink unsweetened. Asian style jasmine green tea is nice, and here in England, Twinings make all kinds of amazing flavoured green teas - like gingerbread, cherry bakewell, salted caramel, lychee and mango etc. If you are trying to lower…

I find it easier to eat small quantities of full flavoured sharp cheeses than trying to eat low fat cheese, which is often a disappointment. For example, I will sprinkle a tiny amount of Parmesan over my scrambled eggs - just like 2-3 grams is enough to give it flavour. Shavings of Parmesan in salad are also great - and a…

For a slightly different view: of course I eat (most of) my step calories back. I’m a 42 year old 5’5 woman now maintaining a weight of 137-139 lbs. My activity setting is set to sedentary, but I very consistently walk 11-12k steps a day on average. It’s my only exercise. MFP calculates my sedentary maintenance calories at…

I love pickles, particularly American style ones (rather than tiny pickled gherkins popular where I’m from). But drinking pickle juice sounds like a cruel punishment. But then, I’ve been known to snack on lemon slices and wedges, skin and all, when I get them in a drink or salad, so I guess to each their own!

I lost 45 at 40/41 by just eating a bit less. I continue to maintain at 42. Good luck!

Hi OP, You almost certainly did not gain 12 lbs, for all the reasons others already mentioned. From what you said you are not eating that much at all. But even if you did by some strange combination of circumstances gain 12 lbs, your priority should be to work on your hydration levels. I remember your other thread about…