I use Nutracheck. You do pay for the app but I find it much more user friendly than MFP. You get 1 weeks trial but if you like it after a few days they usually offer it cheaper. I waited til the week was up and it was slightly more expensive for the yearly cost.
Use a TDEE calc dont just go on the 1200 /1400 calories that your tracker tells you.
Also with Nutracheck you can choose to allocate your calories differently for each day and it does it for you rather than manually. So if you know for example youl likely need more calories on a fri & sat then you can do that. Your calories can be spread throughout the week. You dont need to have the exact same amount every day.
Weigh your food and input it, its really as simple as that. It does seem tedious at first but most humans tend to eat v similar things so once youve tracked it once it becomes quicker to do it. I also track everything that I can. Even days where I know Ill be in a calorie surplus as when you look at the whole week its often for the week not a surplus.
The psychology behind weight / fat loss is the biggest thing imo. Learning that to actually gain 1lb or lose 1lb you need to have had a calorie surplus or deficit of 3500 cals. So yes standing on the scales daily (if you know you do that) your weight is gonna fluctuate up and down and just cause its went up or down doesnt automatically mean its fat gain or loss.
Learning to trust that actually being in a calorie deficit consistently will give results, you just have to stick with it. Will it give results every week, it might not especially if youre a woman. Tracking your weight and your menstrual cycle can be helpful as youl start to see patterns.
When you have been attending SW/WW for years and in that diet culture cycle you do expect to see a steady loss week on week but true fat loss isnt like that and the hardest part for me was getting my head around that and understanding I wasnt doing anything wrong.
It will take you time to find your feet if youve been used to SW or WW. Initially you may struggle with calories and be way under or way over your calorie target and thats ok. It took me a while to find my feet and find how many cals would suit me for each meal. When youre used to feeling like youre not allowed certain types of food you avoid them but with time you realise that you can have them.
Its taken me such a long time to get over the quirks shall we say of how I ate on SW. Its taken me just over 2 months to lose 1 stone but I can hand on heart say Im not disappointed with that. Ive enjoyed every meal Ive eaten, Ive not missed out. Ive had meals out with my kids since restaurants reopened. Weve had Mc Donalds, Ive made proper pancakes not made out of eggs and oats or eggs and bananas. I feel like this is my life now and I know that some days if I do go over my calories its fine. Ive not ruined anything. I dont need to start again tomorrow or the next week. I just carry on as normal.
I feel like Ive rambled on but feel free to DM at any time.
battenburg is ridiculous.
and all those skinny syrups and sugary shit makes my teeth itch just thinking about it
Thankfully SW have clamped down on most of these now but some folk still take the piss. The Insta lot is a whole new level of tweak!
