What do you wish you hadn't done on your fitness journey?

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  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    I tried measuring my progress by taking body measurements instead of stepping on the bathroom scale. What a disappointment it was after several weeks of that when I stepped on the scale and I hadn't lost any weight at all.
  • MostlyWater
    MostlyWater Posts: 4,294 Member
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    Good thread! Enjoying all the comments !
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,771 Member
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    barbecuesauce wrote: »
    -I wish I had done it the MFP way earlier
    -I wish I hadn't used MFP like some pro-ana teenager for the first few months--I mourn my lost LBM (and hair). Active to highly active and 1000 calories do not mix.

    And by the MFP way, I mean eating a balanced diet, counting calories, and not restricting or turning to Slim Fast or anything else.
  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
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    I would not have tried so hard to eat "clean" and have the perfect workout. I knew better, but I got caught up in the hype. If I had kept it this simple from the beginning-my progress would be much further.
  • R_Turnz
    R_Turnz Posts: 36 Member
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    Wish I never had a 3 year break!!!
  • Cait1122
    Cait1122 Posts: 13 Member
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    I wish I ate more iron rich foods... I became anemic. I wish I would've done strength training with the loads of cardio I did. I lost weight, but I have loose skin.. My arms are the worst.
  • cmcdonald525
    cmcdonald525 Posts: 140 Member
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    A) I wish I had spent more time in the forums during my first weight loss attempt. I would have realized I was eating too few calories and restricting myself too much. Then I wouldn't have to lose those 30 lbs again.
    B) I wish I would have switched trainers much sooner. My first pt was a wonderful person and fun to work with, but he did not bother correcting my form at all. I could have made so much more progress if I was actually doing the workouts correctly! Not to mention saved myself unnecessary pain.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
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    i just wish i hadnt waited so long.

    ive never done fad diets or pills or anything so no regrets there ;) LOL
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I wish I'd gotten consistent with a progressive weight routine right away instead of screwing around and always chasing some new shiny program.

    But not entirely, since I actually think I managed to learn some stuff while spinning my wheels.

    I also think experimenting with different levels of carbs and even paleo were learning experiences for me. I guess at the moment I'm thinking of everything as a learning experience.

    I DO wish I'd started sooner.
  • Qskim
    Qskim Posts: 1,145 Member
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    I wish I'd never found a calorie counting app.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    Wait to start with the food measuring. I started by just getting into a exercise routine and figuring that I'd "just eat less." I was eating more than I thought, so I lost weeks where I could have been losing weight instead of maintaining. Obviously, this wish is in hindsight knowing what I know now about my successes, I'm not sure that doing it differently back then would have been the right decision for where I was mentally.
  • rachelbouc
    rachelbouc Posts: 65 Member
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    I kind of want to say doing Weight Watchers, but that was true during the time after the initial year or so. I got too use to it and was able to play with the numbers. Dr Ian Smith's diet was pretty awful. The principal was there, but the execution was poor. I cringe whenever I see him on TV. It has 'extreme' in the title. I should have known better. It lasted 5 days and I caved in for Chick-fil-a.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    I wish I took proper precautions like not doing too much too fast and not exercising through an injury. Now I'm stuck with an achilles tendonitis that keeps coming back every time I walk for more than 20 minutes.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
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    I wish I would have never tried racing cyclocross while at the same time trying to train for a triathlon while at the same time continuing a heavy strength training program...it's taken me about 1.5 years to get things back to normal from my over-train injuries.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    professionalHobbyist wrote: »
    Don't waste time arguing here. That is the main thing I took from MFP.

    I am starting to get that. LOL
  • tannibal_lecter
    tannibal_lecter Posts: 83 Member
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    I wish I would have talked to my doctor sooner. He was a big help with his simple advice.

    I also wished I would have realized sooner that there isn't one be all end all way to get healthy that works for everyone. Everybody is different and requires different diet/exercise.

    Also, I wish I would have quit bread sooner.
  • shezza4mobee
    shezza4mobee Posts: 250 Member
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    I wish I'd been honest with myself sooner.
    Every inch and lb. added, I'd still be like "oh I'm OK, there's people bigger than me" and I also wish the outside world as in friends, family would be more brutally honest too. The whole "you're pretty, you've got such a pretty face and you're such an awesome person" ugh..... I far more appreciate when my 18-year old son being like "yeah, you look a lot better now, and going to the gym's made you less bitchy" or my 8-year old daughter saying "Mommy's got a big belly and booty" because you know what, THAT got my butt moving!
  • carriecarrot
    carriecarrot Posts: 70 Member
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    I look back at my weight loss logging records and see that I originally started MFP in 2011 at 200 lbs. It was the fact that I reached 200 that I decided to do something. Anyway, I could see by my records that I started and stopped many times in the past few years, and each time I lost about 15-20 lbs. SO... I wish I had just never quit back in 2011 as I would have reached my weight goal a long, long time ago if I hadn't. I wouldn't be nearing 30 and still overweight. I really wanted to live a couple years of my 20s knowing what it feels like to not be overweight. That's too late now. In Sept I will be 29 years old. So now my goal is to try to get to my goal weight by 30 years old.

    There is a silver lining though. It seems that I got better and better over time. In 2011, 2012, and 2013 I always dropped from about 195-200 to 180. In 2014 I got down to 169... so, at least my last attempt was more successful than my attempts before that. And, yeah, I have only just begun to start again but at least I started at 185 instead of 200 this time. Anyway, hopefully this will be my successful attempt and I will be far slimmer than I am now on my 30th birthday.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    I wish I had learned about diet breaks sooner.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    I wish I'd taken the time to really learn about running YEARS ago. I've longed to be a runner since high school but was repeatedly told that I wasn't right for it (and/or it wasn't right for me) and to not bother. It would wreck my back (I have a chronic back injury, you see), it would destroy my knees, etc... and I bought the lie that I "couldn't" run because of it. I know better now.

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