emott84

That happens all the time. If the machine asks you your weight and age before you start and keeps track of your heart rate, it's probably closer to the actual amount of calories burned. The machine knows the intensity, etc that you were working out at, MFP doesn't. The only way to really know though is to use a Heart Rate…

You could always see if a doctor could do a body fat test, or someone else who is trained to do it but doesn't have any sort of sales quota to meet :P Gyms try to sell their personal training packages at fitness consultations, so many of the consultants may be pushy or fudge the numbers a bit. I would hope that a reputable…

I'm not gonna lie, I'm not worrying too much about it until the 1st. I was really good with logging and exercise up until the 24th but I just don't want to have to think about it until after the holiday madness has calmed down. Reboot in the New Year!

Drinking tea helps for me! It gives my hands "something to do" when I'm watching TV or reading, when I used to grab snack foods - even though I wasn't really hungry. Plus, I choose herbally type teas at night, which means that there's no caffeine and very little calories and I count it towards a cup of water :P

I was told when I had my fitness assessment last week that the BMI calculator won't mean too much for me because I too have a dense bone structure/and am muscular. From what I understand the body fat % is a more accurate reflection of what your "ideal weight" should be. The BMI calculator tells me that I need to be at the…

I only count gym stuff unless I've been extremely busy at work with running around/lifting boxes/carrying loads of books. And then I will count it (moderately, just so I'm not over-estimating, lol)

Haha, I had to do that when I had lost 5 pounds. I felt like it wasn't a lot and that "anybody could lose 5 pounds", so I went and picked up a five pound hand weight and was like "Wait . . this is kinda heavy and it used to be on my body!" I need motivation too - I've been stuck at the same weight for weeks now :(

I'm so meeting the "Maintain" aspect of this challenge. There has been NO movement for me in pretty much two weeks. And I don't even have Thanksgiving. Lame!

I've been on the healthy track for about 3 months now, and I haven't had McDonalds yet. Yay! I did have A&W though :( And it was nicht-so-gut. A complete waste of nearly a days worth of calories.

I take Sundays "off" from logging (sometimes, I'll log but not stress about what I'm eating). I find that I'm not off-the-rails that day though. I'll allow myself a weekly treat, like a bowl of chips, but it's not like I'm consuming double the amount of calories. It's just a day to be normal and not think about it. It's…

Hah, funny! I had a cookie yesterday at school because I thought it would be more sensible than eating a donut. Turns out the cookie had 250 calories and that I should've had a donut. Sad!

Depends on where you live, I suppose. Most bigger urban areas probably have stores that are dedicated to the larger calves, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Big department stores probably carry brands that are designed larger as well (JC Penny, Sears, etc). You may have to order online in case they don't…

Yeah, lots of Canadian stores are doing Black Friday this year, particularly in my town. We live near the border and many people drive for hours to Duluth or Minneapolis to get good deals, and I guess they're trying to keep business in town. Makes sense, I suppose, but I'm a little annoyed that it's come to Canada, lol.

I was shocked by the pickles too. I love pickles, and I thought they'd be a low-cal crunchy treat. They ARE low-calorie, but the sodium is ridiculous! I guess it makes sense, as they sit in brine, but still . . . it was a sad day :(

I think it's all about mindsets. We have been conditioned to think that "Skinny" = Healthy/Desirable/Attractive. But I think there's are better words to use. Slender, slim, toned, athletic. All those words carry much more positive connotations to me in comparison to "skinny". If you asked me this question 5 or 10 years…

Can I still do this? I'm Canadian, so don't have to contend with Thanksgiving this weekend, but the Christmas season is concerning me a bit . . . emott84 CW: 180.0

I haven't experienced this personally yet, but many people say that their boobs shrink when they start losing more weight. It makes sense, as breasts are primarily fatty tissue and that's kind of the ultimate goal of weight loss, eh? I've also heard a lot of people complain that they aren't as, um, upright(??) though after…

That's weird. Is either scale located on carpet? I know that a soft surface can impact on scale readings. Are they both digital as well? I'm not a scale expert, but to test, I guess you could always put a hand weight on either scale to see what it comes up as. If you put a five pound weight on the scale, and it comes up as…

OMG YES. I was off schedule by about 2-3 weeks, it was a MAJOR delay. I'm usually like clockwork so that was a little startling. Even though it was absolutely NOT possible, I'm not gonna lie and say that I didn't have paranoid thoughts, lol.

US: Michigan (Drove through the top bit) Minnesota (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Duluth) Wisconsin (Superior) Indiana (West Lafayette & Indianapolis) North Dakota (Drove through, Devil's Lake) Montana (Drove through - Havre and Libby) Idaho (Drove through) Canada: Ontario (live in Thunder Bay! Been loads of cities) Quebec…

Started using MFP a month ago and as of last week, had lost 6 pounds. Before joining, I had lost about 2-3. Am hoping for another pound or two off when I have tomorrow's weigh-in, but lady-biology could affect that. We'll see! :)

I've been slowly cutting back on my sugar in my coffee - today was the first day that I've put NO sugar in! Very exciting. Realized that the majority of fast food isn't worth it, but I work at a bookstore in a mall so on dinner breaks it's harder to make good choices on what to eat!

Like many people, I try to stay a bit under just for miscalculations and stuff like that. If I exercise that day, I eat back some of the calories, but most of the time, not all of them. I try to make sure that I'm eating at least 1200 calories a day so I know I'm operating on a full tank! :)

Potato chips. Luckily, I know well enough to portion out a bowlful instead of just eating out of the bag. If it's just me and the bag, those chips could very easily be gone in 10 minutes.

I had already started the process of getting healthier a few weeks before I came to MFP, had re-joined the gym and had gone for fitness assessments, etc. A friend of mine who is also on here has her MFP updates to come up on her Facebook, so I commented on one of them there. She told me about the site, I checked it out and…

I use Sundays as my "rest day". I don't think about calories, won't look at the back of food packaging, don't record anything into MFP (though I still like to log on and browse the boards sometimes!). I'm even more lenient with Saturdays. If I know I'm going out to dinner or to a party or something, I'll be conscious about…

Welcome!! :) MFP has really helped me in the month that I've been on the site. People are super helpful and if you take the time to browse the message boards, you can learn so much. I didn't even know what a Heart Rate Monitor was before I joined! It's a good tool to keep your brain on track with the diet and exercise!

I almost had a heart attack last week when I ate some A&W (my first 'greasy' fast food) at the mall and realized that it was a total of 1200 calories. I was so horrified because it wasn't like I'd had the worst burger on the menu, but one of the smallest, least "done-up" instead. I said to my mom right then that it was…

I tend to wear basic lightweight cotton pants or capris when at the gym, I haven't really invested too heavily in workout wear just because I like to be able to have something versatile for when I change up my routine a bit. I wear a basic teeshirt, usually nothing too baggy if I'm doing stretching or yoga. I'm guessing…

I usually weigh in only once a week - Wednesday mornings! (I think I choose Wednesdays because I feel like it's far enough away from the indulgences of the weekend, lol) I do only check-in at a loss though! Luckily, every time I've weighed myself, there's been a loss (so far, it's still kinda early-ish days for me and this…