ailbheoconnell Member

I can only speak for what I have experienced, so bear with me. I have found that the online calculators for calories burned through exercise are often way overestimated, but found my heartrate monitor to be a reasonable number of cals. For example, I did the 60-day Insanity programme, and was not particularly fit before…

totally this. i love nothing more than eating in the evening, watching a good movie or whatever. So i skip breakfast (i do intermittent fasting, leangains style), have a good lunch with lots of protein, then a protein snack around four while still in work. that see me through til dinner, which is around seven. I have as…

I would go by how they fit rather than the number. PS A UK 16 is a US 12, there is a difference of 4 between them.

this!!^^ i have meals that break my cal limit for the day but they are not planned 'cheat' days or 'cheat' meals. I have on occasion gone over my daily cals by up to 1000, but that's been about twice in 2 months. I don't think you should plan to 'cheat'. Who are you really cheating, only yourself. If you go over your cals…

you might want to check a different brand of chicken, cos chicken should not have any added salt. maybe if he went to the butchers for a couple of chicken breasts, or bought a whole chicken and roasted it without adding anything to it? Then he could keep it in the fridge and cut pieces off each day. This might be healthier…

Agree with this ^^. I had a look through your diary, and there are an awful lot of days with nothing logged, I only went back as far as July 28. Also an awful lot of quick add calories. A digital food scale is cheap and essential. Without it you don't know what you are eating. Guessing and eyeballing is a waste of time to…

I was wondering what your progress was, well done you!! I did Atkins myself years ago and found it great for surpressing the appetite. I find the more carbs I eat the more out of control I am with carbs and it becomes a battle with myself. I regained the stone that I had lost in a month on Atkins in about the same time,…

your TOM will make a difference, but for me it is only half a pound or so. It is more usual that I will maintain my weight that week, but I am eating at a deficit for weight loss. Weigh yourself once a week only and WEIGH and log EVERY single thing that you eat and drink. Using measuring cups will not be accurate enough.…

wow!! I see what you mean, your neck is half the width!! well done, excellent work. and your stomach is GONE

yeah, starches are surprising when you weigh them. I eat a lot of potatoes and would have consider two fist sized potatoes a normal portion (with butter of course). Now I have one very small potato, about 150 cals worth. but still with real butter, cos its just not worth it without butter. and peanut butter, i used to…

sunglasses and a hat??

Just seeing your chicken apple hot pot reminded me of a pork recipe I used before, it is AMAZING!! Has full fat cream in it but you could probably substitute creme fraiche or something else creamy, so long as it didn't split. Maybe light Philadelphia?? anyway, here it is. I would say to leave out the apple juice and add in…

i totally agree with this post (except for the statement that your brain is largely comprised of fat. brains are about 10% fat. my gran used to eat them when you could still get them in the butchers. also tongue. disgusting) Dietary fat contains EFAs, Essential Fatty Acids. Essential, not Optional. You need them for…

sorry my previous post was meant as a reply to a topic about chewing your food and spitting it out instead of swallowing, to save calories. apologies

i've made them and they can be a dry and rubbery if you cook them all the way through. I just used egg white and whey protein powder I think. then i made one by heating it in the micro until it just started to swell up, a matter of seconds. that way the edges were cooked but the inside was gooey like a chocolate fondant.…

i say stick up the photos but crop out your head!! nobody will know its you and you can bask in all the admiration! photoshop away

i LOVE that show, it's always the same but never ceases to amuse me!! There was a great episode with a woman who swore she just ate salads all the time, but omitted to say she had mayonnaise on every one of them. She quit the show but her husband carried through and lost lots of weight. She wouldn't even sit in on the…

I currently am doing insanity programme at 6am cos that suits my schedule. 6 days a week and am on month 2 so that's 1 hour of HIIT at six am. I do intermittent fasting leangains.com style so only eat from 1pm to 9pm, staying within my cals of course. if you had told me a few months ago that i would be working out on an…

check out proteinpow's website, I have used lots of the brownie recipes on there. Also protein fluff is amazing. If you haven't made it you haven't lived, and it is incredibly filling. I find it hard to eat one portion and i am a greedy guts so that is saying something. takes only a few mins to make, just need a blender or…

relllaaaaaaaaaaaxxx. take a breath! everything in moderation. and that includes coke.

I also miss hard cheese, like peanut butter it is rarely worth spending your calories on. I just don't have it.

I have discovered that drinking your calories is pretty foolish if you are on a diet. juices, smoothies, regular sodas, sugary teas and coffee are a waste of calories. I have water, black tea and coffee and diet sodas, and now I get to eat more!! also, there is not a huge difference in cals between some diet foods and the…

well done for sticking it out!! I am nearly finished week 2 of month 2 and love insanity!! i think it is worth the hard work, the results are great - combined with calorie counting obviously!! i am five pounds down, only 7 left to go! am going to do chalean extreme dvds next cos i prefer the weight bearing exercises to the…

apple crumble. peel apples and cut into chunks into a greased dish. add brown sugar (100g per 800g of fruit) or sweetener, or honey or that half empty pot of any flavoured jam you forgot about. mix them about. the fruit should be just covered in something sweet, not drowned. in a food processor blitz some cold butter with…

if you are looking to gain muscle without as much effort as you would think, go to leangains.com and read the bio and the leangains guide. If it interests you there is a website called rippedbody.jp i think, that has a more simple explanation. I was a bit knocked back with the technical jargon on the first one, but it is…

Hi Julia, you have to get yourself back on the wagon.

this^^. I ate really well for about 6 weeks so it was a habit before I started logging and exercising. Too much all at once is very hard to stick to. Also, if you are eating better, with a focus on protein and lots of veg you will have way more energy and will be leaping out of the bed in the morning. I am most definitely…

Each to their own. Glad to be of help to those who are like me. I have a sweet tooth and love crisps, so I am miserable if I cut them out or have low cal versions. I am also a glutton and like to feel FULL after meals, so 5 small meals of 300 cals doesn't work for me. That makes me feel like I never get to eat a proper…

Firstly you need to think about your macros. If you log everything on MFP you will be able to see what percentage of macronutrients you are eating. You should be aiming for 30-40% of your calories to come from protein, in my opinion. This helps keep you full, satisfied, and not craving the next bit of food. I'm guessing…

toast two slices of granary bread, slice a ripe avocado ( the green skin pear-shaped kind, not the knobbly dark egg-shaped one - yuck) and press the avocado onto the toast. I think if you mash the avocado you lose that lovely texture. some salt and a grind of black pepper on top and scoff immediately. a tiny dribble of…