Advice needed for first time calorie counter

[~Jen~]

Hi everyone. I am new to this forum but hope to become a regular poster now that I have started a new journey.

A bit of background history...

I have been overweight since I was 10 years old (24 now) and my weight didn't really bother me until a year and a half ago. I joined Weightwatchers in November 2010 and by July 2011, I had lost 50lb. I got married in August and it all went down hill from there. I gained 16lb in 6 months and then went back to Weightwatchers in January 2012. Since then I have only lost 4lb. I would have lost more but had a few gains along the way which counteracted my losses. I don't think Weightwatchers is working for me anymore. I have got too complacent with treats and exercise and I feel calorie counting would be a better way for me to shed the pounds. I am 15 stone 5.5lb and I would love to get down to 10 stone. Also, I am a huge emotional eater and also boredom eater and I tend to binge every now and again.

I am using MyFitnessPal to count calories as of yesterday... but I had a major binge today so I am counting tomorrow as day 1 of my calorie counting journey.

I am just wondering do you all think this would be the best method for me to use and also is MyFitnessPal a good way of counting calories? Also, would any of you have any tips for me please? I am so depressed with my weight and I really want use the best method to try and lose the weight.

 

[Babana]

Welcome to calorie counting Jen. I know all about emotional and boredom eating as that is me exactly. My fitness pal is great and I use it to count all my calories. I also try to plan a dy ahead so I know roughly what I'm eating. A tip I would give you is not to deprive yourself as you will just crave it. For example I do love takeaways and I tend to have one takeaway a week. I plan my eating so I can fit it into my calories . I used to sit onfront of the tv at night and easily polish off a packet of biscuits through boredom and habit. I think I have basically had to keep myself busy and keep telling myself that I do not need it. I ALWAYS have a snack in the evening though be it a packet of frenchfries, or meringue nests and fruit with squirty cream.

I would also recommend giving yourself something to work towards. For example I'm going to a fancy dress party in June and I so didn't want to be the only fatty there so I always have this in my mind when I'm tempted to go off the rails.

Most importantly, we all have bad days when we eat far too much. The trick is not to dwell on it and continue calorie counting the next day.

Good luck x

 

[~Jen~]

Thanks Babana. I look forward to regularly post in this forum for support and hopefully to give some support to people to when I become more knowledgeable. There was a thread on boards.ie for WWers which I found a great help when I was doing WW.

Just wondering would you know the answer to my question. If you have something planned at the weekend, say a night out that is going to involve food and plenty of drinks, I know you can work up some extra calories to consume by doing some exercise. But lets say you only build up 300 extra calories and you need an extra 600 (for example) on top of your daily allowance, what would you do in this instance? Would you let your calorie counter go into the red or would you work up extra exercise the following day and add that exercise onto the previous day?

 

[~Jen~]

I thought I posted a reply to this thread Thanks Babana

 

[busybee_mummy]

I second everything babana said!

I've being struggling to get my weight of second time round (but with slimming world). I restarted 2 weeks ago and think/hope calorie and low fat is working for me. As I can have everything in moderation really and keep a good check in it.

I'm a binge eater but like the control mfp is giving me to monitor my intake.

Feel free to add me busybee_mummy.

And good luck!

 

[Venus_Blue]

When I first started calorie counting I took a notebook and a pen around with me everywhere (still do in fact!) and that really helped me, write down everything you eat and drink - even if you don't have time to work out the calories there and then it's really helpful to be able to look back at what you've eaten that day (I suppose that MFP does the same thing but I'm a young technophobe! ) before reaching for that snack that you might be able to squeeze into your allowance.

Another thing thats really helped me change the way I look at food and help with my portion sizes is making everything from scratch, baked goods, sweets and desserts, dinners, breakfasts etc, when I started calorie counting I really discovered cooking. It's easy to weigh out your ingredients and get the caloric value of your meal, and if you make extras you can freeze leftovers and have instant, guilt-free dinners.

In regards to what you mentioned about needing to burn off a certain amount of calories to 'make room' as it were, if you can't squeeze in 600 calories on the same day then yeah definitely do the other 300 the next day . I used to be a big binge eater (I developed comfort eating in my childhood) and what helped me break the habit was to force myself either the day I binged, or the day after to count the calories of everything I ate. The first few times this happened it really shocked me how much I would put away! And I wondered why I was getting bigger and bigger! And honestly, as I've lost the weight and become more confident and happy in myself the need to binge comes much less often (except for PMS, but that's allowed right? haha).

Calorie counting really worked for me, I'd recommend it to everyone - it also does wonders for brushing up on your maths skills haha! It gets easier as it becomes routine, as you'll start to remember how many calories are in this and that, some days I don't write down everything and I just have a fairly accurate total in my head, I know what too much food looks like when I see it now!

Good luck

 

[~Jen~]

I second everything babana said!

I've being struggling to get my weight of second time round (but with slimming world). I restarted 2 weeks ago and think/hope calorie and low fat is working for me. As I can have everything in moderation really and keep a good check in it.

I'm a binge eater but like the control mfp is giving me to monitor my intake.

Feel free to add me busybee_mummy.

And good luck!

Thanks for the advice Venus_Blue and busybee_mummy

Busybee, already added you on MFP (from the MFP thread), i'm Monife on MFP for anyone else that wants to add me It's great to see how others are doing and really motivates you