frannyupnorth Member

I have 125g of full fat greek yoghurt most days for breakfast and I add 30g of a different dried fruit each day like mango, pineapple, raisins, sultanas, dates, apricot, prunes, cranberry and figs. If you leave it a little while the fruit rehydrates itself a bit. I like having the choice of a different "flavour" and the…

I weigh daily but then use the weekly average to track the loss week to week. This helps smooth out any high or low weights that are usually due to water retention or dehydration. Do what works for you.

Did you try resetting your goal based on your current weight? As you get lighter you need to eat less to achieve the same loss. Also a bit of dieting fatigue can set in, sometimes it's helpful to do a week to just maintain current weight then restart afresh the following week.

Regular recalculation of the MFP Goals/Weekly Goals for my current weight. I lost a reasonable ammount of weight and then my weight loss had slowed down. I was still weighing and logging, but seemed to be approaching a plateau. Turns out I hadn't recalcuted the MFP Goals/Weekly Goals and at my lower weight I needed nearly…

The British Heart Foundation Eating Well booklet (free download) gives some eyeballing ideas about portion sizes https://bhf.org.uk/publications/healthy-eating-and-drinking/eating-well Sadly a portion of cheese is small box of matches size, not the size of your palm :-( I suggest trying weighing your portions out for a few…

I've set my MFP activity level to the lowest but allow my UP (similar to Fitbit) to give calorie adjustment. I also log my swimming in UP. If you link MFP & Fitbit you won't need to add your walking as exercise to MFP as it will be done automatically.

UK Guidance is to eat at maintenance in 1st & 2nd trimester then add 200cal/day during 3rd trimester

there is no recommended limit on how many eggs people should eat - see nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/eggs-nutrition.aspx

I haven't tried Atkins but I do try to be mindful of carbs, generally sticking to <50g carb for a main meal. Tins of butter beans can be warmed & mashed up and used as a substitute for potato mash. Seasonal example is here; https://bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1890/peppered-lamb-and-minty-butter-bean-mash- I also like to make a…

Set yourself to the lowest activity level and link your fit bit, allowing negative calories. Only log your activity in Fitbit... don't double log the activities in MyFitnessPal as well. For me, it's much better to have gained an extra 200 cals by the end of the day just for some walking around rather than have been overly…

If you've not been having regular periods then being overweight could be affecting your hormones and therefore your ovulation & periods, or it may be something else. Unfortunately as this is the most likely reason people with BMI>35 have trouble conceiving I think that doctors immediately leap to that conclusion without…

Nice post. A little nit-pick; I think you mean "manner" not "manor" Although that did make me imagine only ever dining with Penelope Keith, a British actress from early 80's TV series "To the Manor Born" to meet my nutritional requirements - possibly showing my age a bit there

Have you tried using the recipe builder? My husband and I have relatively small repertoire of foods that we both cook regularly, maybe only 25 dishes. On the whole they typically have the same quantities of foods in them. When my husband is making something I pre-write the ingredients list and ask him to weigh stuff as he…

Unless you always have dark-coloured urine then you're probably getting enough water, but you can check on this infographic https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2013/10/what-the-color-of-your-urine-says-about-you-infographic/ If you do need to get more fluids you might find it easier to eat foods with a high water content…

Salter Ultra Slim Analyser Bathroom Scales on Amazon, currently on sale at £9.99 You probably can't go too wrong with brands like Salter and Tanita Also make sure that you put your scales on a hard flat surface, lino and carpet are not good

I had a quick look at your diary and you really don't like cooking! One way around some of the preparation is to buy frozen veg to put in your food, as it's usually chopped up ready to go and can be cheaper than fresh. The veg bulks out the meal, which personally makes me feel more satisfied than small amounts of calorie…

Actually the correct information is that that pregnant women should avoid dieting and only need to have an extra 200 calories a day in the last three months of their pregnancy. So you should be eating at maintenance for the first two trimesters. For the average woman of average height, that is typically around 2000cals.…

leave space in your calorie allotment for an evening treat - I quite regularly have those treat/fun size chocolates, only 99cals for 28g of malteasers

Go up to maintenance for the first two trimesters. UK guidelines are that that pregnant women should avoid dieting and only need to have an extra 200 calories a day in the last three months of their pregnancy. http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/July07/Pages/new-nice-guidelines-weight-pregnancy.aspx

I have lost back fat and my boobs stayed more or less the same, which meant I went down from 40" to 36" back and up two cup sizes

A while ago I compared mine and my husband's BMR (basal metabolic rate or how many calories you need to keep you alive in a coma), his is ~800cals more a day than me, basically an extra dinner a day! I hate to feel like I'm missing out when eating with him in the evenings so I have a couple of strategies that I use; -eat a…

Hot chocolate is another one I'll try, wish there were low cal marshmallows to go in those too

Ah yes, when you said stock I thought of bovril - that probably even helps with the protein target as well, thanks

I think it's just unnerving for people to see change. I think it takes around a year for people to see the new you as normal. Since dedicated weight loss is probably slightly faster than weight gain, unless you're only doing a 200cal deficit or something the change is more noticeable. Although it seems to be about 10kg…

The stuff in bottles is just pasteurised. Pasteurisation is a process of heating, holding and cooling the juice to destroy the bacteria and make the juice safe to drink. It shouldn't affect the flavour or calorific value of the juice. The only thing that I can think of is partial loss of vitamin C during pasteurisation.…

I think there more you do something, especially if you're getting some sort of coaching, then the more efficient your become at it. Even though you may be going faster or longer it doesn't require as much effort. That's why I like to have a go a new activities, plus you might find something you really enjoy that doesn't…

I think it all depends on how your body likes to distribute fat, as teenager my thighs chubbed up and then my boobs grew, not so much my hips. As I gained weight later in life it went on all over but probably tummy & back last. My hips and waist are slimming down nicely but the back & tummy fat were the first to go. I've…

Walking is a great way to boost your deficit. I try to get at least 10000 steps a day and then do more on my inactive/ no exercise days. Personally, I set my MFP activity level to sedentary and then use an activity tracker (UP) linked to MFP. It's great to see those extra calories, which are often used towards a biscuit…

Have you updated your weight in your HR monitor? If you haven't, then it will be calculating a higher burn based on your old higher weight. That could easily be taking out your deficit.

Do you walk much beyond 10,000 steps/day? When I've stalled in the past I've found that adding more walking, aiming for a higher step count, but not eating those calories back has given me the boost I need. The advantage is that you can do it for a reasonably long amount of time and it won't make you excessively tired or…