Thanks for the info RE Nutracheck. I'd also given up on MyPaymentPal for both cost and a seemingly worsening food and nutrition database. I'll give that one a go and see if it works for me.
I need to take my attempts at weight loss seriously, encouraged by others efforts on here and writing it on a public forum adds a little light accountability also as motivation. I am 18 stone 1lbs as of this morning and I am 6ft tall, so nowhere near what I need to be. I used MyFitnessPal about 8 years ago and got down to 15 stone which is my target once more. like Gareth above have an overpriced fitness watch to track most things. I am not 'not active'. I ride my hybrid bike for around 30-40 miles a week (two rides usually) and walk my dog 2.2 miles at a decent pace every evening. I also recently completed C25K ending in a 33 minute Parkrun in August. I continued jogging but a hamstring injury stopped me in my tracks six weeks ago, so been focusing on the cycling. I gave up alcohol 13 months ago, so that isn't an issue but my food intake is pretty horrendous. My sugar intake is way too high and I love a Red Bull or 4 a week. I think I have been addicted to sugar since I was a kid, so I think this is my main challenge, to cut down on crap.
Would of thought physical demanding work and 32k steps a day / 4 days a week for 8 weeks would have done wonders for the weight but apparently not, back up to 96.85kg tbf my diet has been pretty rubbish. Here we go again!
This is why I don't account for exercise calories. I stick to 1500-1600 calories food delivery pending. Also one for the holiday season. It's what you eat between new year and christmas that counts, not christmas and new year.
If you go from a sedentary lifestyle to a physical one quickly, do remember you'll build muscle before you burn fat - and muscle weighs more than fat, inch for inch.. so I'd advocate measuring yourself, rather than weighing yourself. Waist and collar will be a good indication of trading fat for muscle if your weight doesn't drop. They should shrink regardless of muscle mass gain.
Stepped on the scales this morning, then off again 'cos I realised I hadn't had my morning micturition. Performed the voiding, stepped back on... apparently my wee-wee weighed 1.6kg, which seems unlikely. Then, from the mists of time, a memory of getting into the habit of stepping on the scales to wake them up, off again, waiting for them to zero, then back on. Turns out it always reads high from cold and I'd just forgotten. On the plus side, that means I'm magically 1.6kg closer to my goal! ...at the cost of a suspicious cliff on the weight-loss chart.
Ta! These are the readings so far, measured by the scale, synced to MedM, then typed manually LIKE A CAVEMAN into Garmin Connect: That big drop off today is where I remembered the bug in the scales and it shaved off 1.6 phantom kilogrammes. I think the graph to be happier about is this one, though: The first reading is at the pharmacy, when I was told I had hypertension. The next lot are averages of (usually) three readings at home after starting the diet and exercise regime, then I missed reading a few days, then switched to just reading once in the morning. That's from high Grade 2 and even a couple of low Grade 3 readings to low Grade 1 - today's was on the very corner of High Normal, which considering I'm still a lardarse is something to celebrate I reckon. Shift the spare tyre and I might get away without long-term medication!
BP coming down nicely! Is your daily water intake where it needs to be? I used to think I was good with my fluids, until I bought a bottle which held 2 litres and has am/pm markers on the side to remind me what I should have consumed throughout the day. That had a very positive impact for me.
Yeah, I drink a load of water - I'm using a 470ml travel mug at the moment, and I reckon I fill it a minimum of eight times a day which gets me to the recommended level. I was tracking hydration in Nutricheck, but when I added a salt tracker to the dashboard there wasn't room for both that and the automatic five-a-day tracker.
Doing the same as I was last time I was dieting: these cheap-arse multivitamins and minerals and these fish oil capsules - unless it's a day when I've had a tin of sardines or the like, in which case I skip the fish oil. I've also added these beetroot tablets, 'cos that's supposed to be good for blood pressure and they were only cheap - three of 'em with breakfast. I've *also* got these magnesium, potassium, and calcium tablets on order for the same reason. And then I figured what the hell, I'm already taking enough pills that I rattle when I walk, so I picked up some probiotics as well. I've always had dodgy guts, maybe they'll do some good! Oh, and I'm taking 4g of creatine supplement in a glass of no-added-sugar (but a pile of sweeteners) cranberry juice of a morning - not because I'm trying to get swole, but because I read a study which suggested it may help to dodge or reduce the symptoms of long COVID, so I spent a tenner on a bag of the stuff after I caught the damn thing again. Worst case, I've wasted a tenner!
Sounds like you're doing the right things. I've always just stuck with Centrum Mens for the multivit (not the cheapest but one of the most complete), but recently added a B12 supplement. Being a 45yr old dad to a 2 year old tornado who never sits still, has shown me how tired I was getting. The B12 has massively increased my energy levels, and allowed me the oomph to be more active for longer, which also helps with the exercise regime.
Those Horbaach blood pressure pills include 6µg (240% daily intake) of B12, on top of 2.5µg (100%) in the multivitamins - it'll be interesting to see if I get a boost too!
Well, I hope you get the results I did. It's been a game changer for me! I've never liked traditional dieting. I've always eat and drank what I wanted, within reason and with moderation, but I try not to deprive myself of the things I like. I still eat bread a few times a week and don't deny myself alcohol or the odd takeout - so the change hasn't been rapid for me. Gradual but noticeable, both physically but more importantly, internally.
For the Garmin officianados in here, they also do a set of scales that syncs with Garmin connect. https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/679362
