EmmaFitzwilliam Member

My guess would be that others chafed at the judgmental nature of the comment. I don't consider butter "unhealthy". It's energy dense, and it's nutrient trade-off is negligible, but "nutrient dense" is not the only metric for personal assessments about food choices. Butter, sugar, white flour, and chocolate chips may not…

Find a friend who knows how to buy produce, and have them guide you in making some selections. Many of us are not actually familiar with the produce section of the grocery store and don't know how to select or store produce. (Depending on where you live, most produce should not go in the refrigerator. Cucumbers, tomatoes,…

I don't drink very often for a variety of reasons, but when I do, I count the calories. Liquid calories add up fast; liquid calories which are also alcohol calories not only add up fast but can also impair your judgment and decision making (sure! I'll have the nachos!" "Hey! Dessert sounds great!"). I may go over my goal…

Umm... actually got up and did my 2 minute plank and most of my stretches this morning, despite getting up a little later than I intended, and even though various electronic gadgets did not work the way they are supposed to.

I use a Toddy to make coffee concentrate. You can also buy coffee concentrate at Trader Joe's. Mix 1 part coffee to 3 parts boiling water. I love it, but the results are in the brewing method, not in the grounds. I'm not enough of a connoisseur to care that much about the beans/grounds. I get a medium roast, sometimes…

You tell MFP how old you are, how much you weigh, how active you are, and how fast you want to lose how much weight. MFP calculates the number of calories you need each day. MFP then subtracts a certain number of calories (as an example, 500 calories/day if you want to lose 1 pound/week). MFP then sets your daily calorie…

Emphasis added With the caveat that my experience applies to the US only, all it takes is a little basic research. http://www.noahs.com/nutrition/classic-bagels-plain https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/menu-categories/bagels-and-spreads.html…

(Emphasis added) The bolded is part of why the axiom "You can't out-exercise your calorie intake" holds so true. How many of us have time (or energy! or inclination!) to run 7+ miles to burn off a piece of cheesecake, or two bagels with cream cheese, or .... Wow. On a separate note, I just realized that a bagel with cream…

One of my mantras became "Knowledge is Power". I can make knowledgeable, informed choices. I'm pretty much reconciled to needing to log as long as I am in charge of my food choices; if I don't weigh and log what I eat, I over-portion without realizing it. I still make energy-dense choices, and my choices are my no means an…

Most of the bagels from Noah's or Panera (and even a Sara Lee bagel) run on the order of 300 calories; I'm not willing to spend that many calories on just a piece of bread. But nobody's preferences are inherently "right" or "wrong". It depends on how many calories you have to allocate each day, how you want to allocate…

Congratulations, and ::Hugs:: . This mindset is one of the hardest to overcome. :( I tell myself now "Waste or Waist" to let myself *not* clear my plate.

I've gone from 220 to 145 in 14 months (though I still have 20 pounds to go). I have Fancy Tea every month. There are no forbidden foods. I just had a tall whole milk raspberry latte for my late afternoon dessert/snack. You can do it, even if they seem like competing goals. I did it by starting slowly. My first step was…

I got rid of virtually all of mine. I found I didn't like some of them, some I was able to pass on to a friend, others were already getting worn and shabby. A few things I really liked I continue to wear, but they are not as comfortable and I know they don't flatter me. I am not on a diet; I made a lifestyle change. I know…

It is possible to make amazing progress with little more than portion control and content awareness. I've lost 75 pounds in 14 months with minimal light to moderate exercise. It doesn't take a lot of time. It does take knowledge and care.

My instinct would be to say, "no". You might switch up your macros and your choices to add more lean protein - building muscle takes fuel. I don't know the truth of it, but there is an adage to the effect that you can't build muscle at a calorie deficit. Your mileage may vary.

dria.chamberlin(at)gmail.com

More like shredded wheat, but on steroids. :)

@glassyo :) Love it.

If you only have 8 pounds to lose, and are out of breath after a five minute walk (even terrain? varied? incline?) you may want to consider seeing a doctor. Other than that, just walk a little each day, and a little longer/farther/faster by degrees. Edited to add: Your profile says you want to lose 49 pounds (and actual…

Congratulations!

Does that even sound credible to you? What was the source? The Onion? TMZ? For the sake of convenience, assuming burning 3500 calories will result in a one pound weight loss, one would need to burn 4444 calories more than one consumed each day for 63 days. (3500*80)/63 It might be possible for someone *very* obese, and…

As to 6) how old are you, how tall are you, how active are you, and how much do you weigh? I'm 48, sedentary, short, and I want to lose another 20 pounds. My calorie goal is 1200 (with an upward offset if I exercise). Yes, 1200 is -for me - healthy and sustainable. Especially with the offset for even s moderate amount of…

I log my meals because the app has the database and does the math behind the scenes so I don't have to fuss with it. My Up24 is linked to the app, so my recommended number of calories based on my generally sedentary lifestyle is augmented by compensation for the additional calories burned during even light exercise…

Make it easy, and make it fit what works for you. For me, a pretty Tervis cup with a straw seems to have worked pretty well, but over the past few years I've tried nearly a dozen water bottles trying to find a style that actually worked. For me, a straw works, and the Tervis cups have lids which is useful on my crowded…

*shrugs*. I tend to discount absolute didactic advice. I love my scale. I weigh myself daily. I am reconciled to the reality that hydration, stress, sodium intake, amount of sleep, and biochemical factors (including menses) will affect the number on any given day. Weighing daily can give you data to work with, including…

I'm a big fan of advance prep. I choose to use simmer sauces, but bake chicken breasts in advance. I also have a salad I prepare - cucumbers, tomators, red bell pepper, and red onion. The key is to seed the tomatoes. It makes a huge difference and my salad mix stays crisp for a week.

Absent any health issues: get enough sleep, drink enough water, and be honest with yourself about calories in and calories out. And the closer you are to your goal weight, the smaller margin of error you have in terms of calories in:calories out, so accuracy is more important.

Having been at the receiving end of my ex's attempts to "food cop" me for 10 years, I have to say that it's really hard to have success with trying to manage somebody else's choices (and the attempt to do so may (and often does) backfire). I acknowledge that you have a stake in his health, but all you can do is tell him…

^^^ This. All of this.

I agree. Even my low calorie foods are foods I enjoy. One of the happiest surprises was realizing that most snack foods were really pretty "meh" compared against to some of my favorite healthy foods. "Oh, no, I must forego 140 calories/ounce of "sugar, fat and salt" in favor of 89 calories/cup of fresh, ripe raspberries!…