Using MyFitnessPal
Discussion
I'm 6 foot in my 50s and found that although I don't seem to eat too much and exercise a fair bit I still had a small paunch that wouldn't shift and my moobs seemed to be scarily growing. So prompted by recent threads on here I followed the suggestion to use MFP about 2 months ago.
My observations:
1. Easy to use and enter the data. Database has pretty much everything you can get, just portion size takes a bit of effort to get right (reading labels).
2. I have a sedentary lifestyle so set it to a low 1500cals/day to lose some weight. I found my normal eating could easily get under this without trying (as I thought). e.g. cereal for breakfast, mackerel on toast for lunch with an apple, meat and 3 veg for tea. Even a pudding after it.
3. By logging everything the 3 main culprits began to emerge. Obvious to the regulars on here I'm sure but quite an eye opener seeing the numbers. Bread and butter - I used to have a couple of slices with soup and often with a meal. Orange juice - I could regularly drink pints of the stuff. Peanuts - I thought grazing on nuts was good for you and would often finish off a bag when back from the pub and peckish. Huge calories.
4. I drink several times a week but it's not as bad as I thought (except if on a big session). Nevertheless, noticed that Coors Lite (and similar) is half the calories (110/pt)so switched to that. No change in behaviour needed.
5. It really helps the budget to do at least some exercise every day however small (e.g. a short brisk walk at lunchtime). Big events make a huge difference, e.g. it's golf season and a round is >1000 calories. Cycling too.
6. Pizzas are huge calories!
7. Staying in budget on screen is really motivating.
8. Went to an all day birthday bash so no exercise, food and puddings on tap all day plus constant drinking. Ouch. Over double the budget. Good fun though and no lasting effects.
So faced with that info the changes I made.
1. Massively cut down on the 3 baddies. Swapped water for the OJ 90% of the time. Only have bread in sandwiches (and not as often) or when having something on toast not as an extra. Stopped buying salted peanuts.
2. Eat stuff I like that is low calories much more often. Sardines, Soup (without bread).
3. Pile the plate high with nice veg whenever I get around to making it. Enjoyably fills you up for nowt.
4. Do at least some exercise every day. I live near countryside and work from home so as long as it's not raining, instead of a normal teabreak I will take the dogs out for a walk (2.5 mile loop). More enjoyable and a few extra calories to the budget.
5. Do an extra big activity a week. Signed up for the golf team plus say a cycle ride at the weekend. Can easily then stick a big food item in if you feel like it and stay under budget (Fish and Chips, beer and pizza).
6. Often switch to low calorie beer if available but not religiously.
Also, someone said on here as you get older it's especially important to do some strength stuff too as muscles wither away. So I found these on Youtube and if doing nothing else on a day I will do these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phiD9Q8j_dk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuDNewVmbHM
The upshot is I don't feel deprived or "on a diet" at all, MFP jut shows what's what calorie wise and I've adjusted things slightly. I still eat pretty much what I want and drink as much when I go out. It's also provided the motivation to get off my backside a bit more regularly which is a virtuous circle as I really enjoy it.
So far I've lost 10 pounds and I swear I almost saw some stomach muscles this morning. Moobs are in full retreat.
So thanks for the push to do this on here and if anyone else has thought about using MFP...go for it.
My observations:
1. Easy to use and enter the data. Database has pretty much everything you can get, just portion size takes a bit of effort to get right (reading labels).
2. I have a sedentary lifestyle so set it to a low 1500cals/day to lose some weight. I found my normal eating could easily get under this without trying (as I thought). e.g. cereal for breakfast, mackerel on toast for lunch with an apple, meat and 3 veg for tea. Even a pudding after it.
3. By logging everything the 3 main culprits began to emerge. Obvious to the regulars on here I'm sure but quite an eye opener seeing the numbers. Bread and butter - I used to have a couple of slices with soup and often with a meal. Orange juice - I could regularly drink pints of the stuff. Peanuts - I thought grazing on nuts was good for you and would often finish off a bag when back from the pub and peckish. Huge calories.
4. I drink several times a week but it's not as bad as I thought (except if on a big session). Nevertheless, noticed that Coors Lite (and similar) is half the calories (110/pt)so switched to that. No change in behaviour needed.
5. It really helps the budget to do at least some exercise every day however small (e.g. a short brisk walk at lunchtime). Big events make a huge difference, e.g. it's golf season and a round is >1000 calories. Cycling too.
6. Pizzas are huge calories!
7. Staying in budget on screen is really motivating.
8. Went to an all day birthday bash so no exercise, food and puddings on tap all day plus constant drinking. Ouch. Over double the budget. Good fun though and no lasting effects.
So faced with that info the changes I made.
1. Massively cut down on the 3 baddies. Swapped water for the OJ 90% of the time. Only have bread in sandwiches (and not as often) or when having something on toast not as an extra. Stopped buying salted peanuts.
2. Eat stuff I like that is low calories much more often. Sardines, Soup (without bread).
3. Pile the plate high with nice veg whenever I get around to making it. Enjoyably fills you up for nowt.
4. Do at least some exercise every day. I live near countryside and work from home so as long as it's not raining, instead of a normal teabreak I will take the dogs out for a walk (2.5 mile loop). More enjoyable and a few extra calories to the budget.
5. Do an extra big activity a week. Signed up for the golf team plus say a cycle ride at the weekend. Can easily then stick a big food item in if you feel like it and stay under budget (Fish and Chips, beer and pizza).
6. Often switch to low calorie beer if available but not religiously.
Also, someone said on here as you get older it's especially important to do some strength stuff too as muscles wither away. So I found these on Youtube and if doing nothing else on a day I will do these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phiD9Q8j_dk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuDNewVmbHM
The upshot is I don't feel deprived or "on a diet" at all, MFP jut shows what's what calorie wise and I've adjusted things slightly. I still eat pretty much what I want and drink as much when I go out. It's also provided the motivation to get off my backside a bit more regularly which is a virtuous circle as I really enjoy it.
So far I've lost 10 pounds and I swear I almost saw some stomach muscles this morning. Moobs are in full retreat.
So thanks for the push to do this on here and if anyone else has thought about using MFP...go for it.
I have even PAID for the premium version. It allows you set different macro goals for different days. So Mon-Thurs I have low cal, medium carbs. Friday is rest day so low car, low cal. Sat & Sun are break through training days so higher cal intake and high carbs.
I am on a 50 day login streak now. Great app.
I mentioned in another thread as well that it is good when you are starting out with it to measure / weigh your food.
I was adding what I thought was 1 portion (125g) of sweet potato chips when in fact I was eating more like double.
I am on a 50 day login streak now. Great app.
I mentioned in another thread as well that it is good when you are starting out with it to measure / weigh your food.
I was adding what I thought was 1 portion (125g) of sweet potato chips when in fact I was eating more like double.
944fan said:
I have even PAID for the premium version. It allows you set different macro goals for different days. So Mon-Thurs I have low cal, medium carbs. Friday is rest day so low car, low cal. Sat & Sun are break through training days so higher cal intake and high carbs.
I am on a 50 day login streak now. Great app.
I mentioned in another thread as well that it is good when you are starting out with it to measure / weigh your food.
I was adding what I thought was 1 portion (125g) of sweet potato chips when in fact I was eating more like double.
Cereal is my downfall. I love it.I am on a 50 day login streak now. Great app.
I mentioned in another thread as well that it is good when you are starting out with it to measure / weigh your food.
I was adding what I thought was 1 portion (125g) of sweet potato chips when in fact I was eating more like double.
But I have found that for every bowl I have, I need to put in about 4-5 'portions' as measured on the box
Yes, great post OP
I used MFP for the first 7-8 months of diet and weight training (two years this May!), and the fat soon disappeared (1200 cals per day at that time). It is very liberating!
I too cut out any kind of juice, bread and butter almost completely, and now always have a glass of water with my food. Also, I sometimes buy 'protein flakes' from musclefood.com for my breakfast cereal. Almost all mainstream cereal has way too much sugar content. In fact, I have learned that most supermarket crap has way too much sugar!
Anyway, very well done.
I used MFP for the first 7-8 months of diet and weight training (two years this May!), and the fat soon disappeared (1200 cals per day at that time). It is very liberating!
I too cut out any kind of juice, bread and butter almost completely, and now always have a glass of water with my food. Also, I sometimes buy 'protein flakes' from musclefood.com for my breakfast cereal. Almost all mainstream cereal has way too much sugar content. In fact, I have learned that most supermarket crap has way too much sugar!
Anyway, very well done.
I've sort of been using it since December. Realised I needed to change my lifestyle, when I weighed myself and was 21st 8lbs. I'm 47 and 6'2. 2 part time jobs, 1 doing computer stuff from home and a driving job at night. So spend most of my time sat down.
Bought a Fitbit One to actually see how much movement I did do during the day, The answer was not a lot.
In December I logged the majority of the food I ate and got rid of the majority of snacks that I was eating (crisps, bread before going to bed) and stopped having a sausage roll or pork pie with a sandwich for lunch. And reduced the portion sizes I was having for tea. I lost 1st in the first month.
I stopped logging the food around then, but continued with the same eating pattern. I still need to improve my eating, still eat takeaways (Indian, Chinese, Kebabs etc), so plan on logging food again starting Sunday.
I had a funny turn with my vision when out on the bike one day about 5 weeks ago. Mentioned it to my optician a couple of days later when I went for my eye test I already had an appointment for. She said that there were possible signs of high blood pressure, and filled in a form and told me to take it to my doctors for an appointment, and not to accept an appointment in a few weeks time, it needed to be ASAP. So gave the form to receptionist at the doctors. 15mins later I was sat with my Doctor. Blood pressure was high. Told to start changing my lifestyle. Appointment made to see the nurse the following week for another blood pressure test, blood tests and ECG.
So tidied up the back room at home so that the treadmill I've had for years could be used. Back at the Doctors the nurse did her tests, pressure was lower than when Doctor took it the week before, but the Diastolic pressure was still high. Was then back at the Doctors the following week for results. Blood test and ECG all ok. Weighed me again and I'd lost 6lbs in the couple of weeks since I'd first seen him. Blood pressure was lower than when he first took it but still high. I'm back to see the Nurse on Friday. I've been taking blood pressure readings daily (I'd bought a Omron M6 at Christmas after seeing people mention them on here). Average blood pressure since seeing her the first time is 129/90
Had my first 10,000 step days this week (Tuesday and Wednesday).
So since December I've lost just under 2st with really just cutting out the snacks and reducing portion sizes and doing some walking on the treadmill. Will see what the Nurse has to say about my blood pressure readings tomorrow.
So plan of action from Sunday is logging food again, stopping the takeaways and more walking.
Bought a Fitbit One to actually see how much movement I did do during the day, The answer was not a lot.
In December I logged the majority of the food I ate and got rid of the majority of snacks that I was eating (crisps, bread before going to bed) and stopped having a sausage roll or pork pie with a sandwich for lunch. And reduced the portion sizes I was having for tea. I lost 1st in the first month.
I stopped logging the food around then, but continued with the same eating pattern. I still need to improve my eating, still eat takeaways (Indian, Chinese, Kebabs etc), so plan on logging food again starting Sunday.
I had a funny turn with my vision when out on the bike one day about 5 weeks ago. Mentioned it to my optician a couple of days later when I went for my eye test I already had an appointment for. She said that there were possible signs of high blood pressure, and filled in a form and told me to take it to my doctors for an appointment, and not to accept an appointment in a few weeks time, it needed to be ASAP. So gave the form to receptionist at the doctors. 15mins later I was sat with my Doctor. Blood pressure was high. Told to start changing my lifestyle. Appointment made to see the nurse the following week for another blood pressure test, blood tests and ECG.
So tidied up the back room at home so that the treadmill I've had for years could be used. Back at the Doctors the nurse did her tests, pressure was lower than when Doctor took it the week before, but the Diastolic pressure was still high. Was then back at the Doctors the following week for results. Blood test and ECG all ok. Weighed me again and I'd lost 6lbs in the couple of weeks since I'd first seen him. Blood pressure was lower than when he first took it but still high. I'm back to see the Nurse on Friday. I've been taking blood pressure readings daily (I'd bought a Omron M6 at Christmas after seeing people mention them on here). Average blood pressure since seeing her the first time is 129/90
Had my first 10,000 step days this week (Tuesday and Wednesday).
So since December I've lost just under 2st with really just cutting out the snacks and reducing portion sizes and doing some walking on the treadmill. Will see what the Nurse has to say about my blood pressure readings tomorrow.
So plan of action from Sunday is logging food again, stopping the takeaways and more walking.
OP, great post, thanks for that.
I tried using MFP about 6 months ago, but had real difficulties entering what I consumed as I found the mobile app really hard to use. Other than porridge and fruit for breakfast, most of what we eat are different recipes, created using various ingredients and had real trouble entering all these separate ingredients. I found the app hard to use and took a long time.
How did you deal with this? Does it get easier over time or are there short cuts I have missed?
I tried using MFP about 6 months ago, but had real difficulties entering what I consumed as I found the mobile app really hard to use. Other than porridge and fruit for breakfast, most of what we eat are different recipes, created using various ingredients and had real trouble entering all these separate ingredients. I found the app hard to use and took a long time.
How did you deal with this? Does it get easier over time or are there short cuts I have missed?
warp9 said:
OP, great post, thanks for that.
I tried using MFP about 6 months ago, but had real difficulties entering what I consumed as I found the mobile app really hard to use. Other than porridge and fruit for breakfast, most of what we eat are different recipes, created using various ingredients and had real trouble entering all these separate ingredients. I found the app hard to use and took a long time.
How did you deal with this? Does it get easier over time or are there short cuts I have missed?
Its a lot easier with prepared stuff especially when you can scan a barcode. When I make something i geenrally just use a generic one already on there and overestimate as best I can so I dont go over by accident.I tried using MFP about 6 months ago, but had real difficulties entering what I consumed as I found the mobile app really hard to use. Other than porridge and fruit for breakfast, most of what we eat are different recipes, created using various ingredients and had real trouble entering all these separate ingredients. I found the app hard to use and took a long time.
How did you deal with this? Does it get easier over time or are there short cuts I have missed?
Thanks for the nice comments.
Re portions, others have said it better but personally I don't worry too much about being exact. I usually look at the tin or packet which all have the info on these days. So far I haven't weighed stuff but when say eating peanuts in 3 sittings I would make sure the total entered over the 3 entries matched the total on the packet. Same for most stuff. If no exact match I will just pick the nearest and move on.
I have it open in the background on my PC and just enter stuff as I eat it. Before I switch the PC off for the day I recky up to see where we are. Sometimes I know what I'm going to eat and exercise for the day so enter it beforehand. Difficult to skip the exercise then or eat say biscuits (not that I want to) to blow the budget! Haven't missed a day's entries since I started.
I suspect I am still underestimating slightly as although losing 10 pounds the MFP predictor suggested a bit more based on my entries. Proof of the pudding and all that.
Had a bike ride earlier today...so taking the kids out to a burger restaurant tonight! Hmm, better check how many calories things are before I choose what to have!
Some amazing achievements by others above too. Well done. I play badminton and there are a couple of err larger ladies play on the adjoining court. I always think "good on yer" for doing something about it.
Re portions, others have said it better but personally I don't worry too much about being exact. I usually look at the tin or packet which all have the info on these days. So far I haven't weighed stuff but when say eating peanuts in 3 sittings I would make sure the total entered over the 3 entries matched the total on the packet. Same for most stuff. If no exact match I will just pick the nearest and move on.
I have it open in the background on my PC and just enter stuff as I eat it. Before I switch the PC off for the day I recky up to see where we are. Sometimes I know what I'm going to eat and exercise for the day so enter it beforehand. Difficult to skip the exercise then or eat say biscuits (not that I want to) to blow the budget! Haven't missed a day's entries since I started.
I suspect I am still underestimating slightly as although losing 10 pounds the MFP predictor suggested a bit more based on my entries. Proof of the pudding and all that.
Had a bike ride earlier today...so taking the kids out to a burger restaurant tonight! Hmm, better check how many calories things are before I choose what to have!
Some amazing achievements by others above too. Well done. I play badminton and there are a couple of err larger ladies play on the adjoining court. I always think "good on yer" for doing something about it.
I agree with the OP. 
I've found MFP to be extremely effective in keeping my portion sizes under control and helping my weight loss. For me, my biggest calorie monster is the booze and it is very easy to have almost as many calories from drink as from food, and booze calories are 'empty calories' (ie. little or no nutritional benefit).
I've found MFP to be extremely effective in keeping my portion sizes under control and helping my weight loss. For me, my biggest calorie monster is the booze and it is very easy to have almost as many calories from drink as from food, and booze calories are 'empty calories' (ie. little or no nutritional benefit).
p1stonhead said:
944fan said:
I have even PAID for the premium version. It allows you set different macro goals for different days. So Mon-Thurs I have low cal, medium carbs. Friday is rest day so low car, low cal. Sat & Sun are break through training days so higher cal intake and high carbs.
I am on a 50 day login streak now. Great app.
I mentioned in another thread as well that it is good when you are starting out with it to measure / weigh your food.
I was adding what I thought was 1 portion (125g) of sweet potato chips when in fact I was eating more like double.
Cereal is my downfall. I love it.I am on a 50 day login streak now. Great app.
I mentioned in another thread as well that it is good when you are starting out with it to measure / weigh your food.
I was adding what I thought was 1 portion (125g) of sweet potato chips when in fact I was eating more like double.
But I have found that for every bowl I have, I need to put in about 4-5 'portions' as measured on the box
Over January I quite drinking for the month; I drank a lot, and used MFP to monitor my calorie intake, I was usually well under my set goal but generally I eat well anyway with no snacking, I don't have a sweet tooth, breakfast was either no added sugar muesli or 2-3 eggs scrambled and no toast, lunch was home made salad (mixed leaf, cherry toms, pepper, onion and a tablespoon of mayo) with chicken and a banana and an apple, dinner was mostly made from scratch with fresh ingredients etc. and I only drank water or black unsweetened coffee, I was eating about 1700 calories a day
I added two 5 mile running sessions a week to my usual twice weekly bootcamp sessions and I had my usual daily dogs walks and was easily hitting my 10,000 steps per day on my less active days.
I lost 2kg in that month; to say I was disappointed was a massive understatement.
I added two 5 mile running sessions a week to my usual twice weekly bootcamp sessions and I had my usual daily dogs walks and was easily hitting my 10,000 steps per day on my less active days.
I lost 2kg in that month; to say I was disappointed was a massive understatement.
I think that perhaps some use too short a time frame to see real results. A month is nothing. I usually have goals that are no shorter than 3-6-12 months intervals. 3 months is short term, 6 medium, and 12 medium-long term. The start all over again with new goals, assuming previous goals were reached.
There is now quick and easy fix, more so when you're older as I am (49)
There is now quick and easy fix, more so when you're older as I am (49)
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