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

kgeyser

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wish I had learned about diet breaks sooner.

Phrick

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.

lemmie177

I wish I hadn't overdone the move more eat less. In the beginning, I read what everyone was saying about CICO, and went overboard. I aimed for -2lb/week, weighed my food compulsively, ate 1200 cals (I'm 5'3"), and ran most days. I continued for 12 weeks without losing more than 2lbs, lost my period, and some of my hair even fell out! At the end of 12 weeks, I was only 2lbs lighter and even impossibly seemed to have worse body composition. (Cardiovascular endurance improved, though, from all the running.) I was so discouraged, tired, and miserable, that I gave up for a very long while after that. I learned to respect the influence that stress and cortisol have on our bodies.

KBmoments

slaite1 wrote: »

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.

Same for me.

Kexessa

I wish I hadn't bought into the "fat is bad for you". That started back in the 80's as I was coming of age and it dominated my 20's and 30's. My only concern was how much fat something had. Not sugar, not protein, not well rounded nutrition, just fat. And not eating fat made me fatter. Imagine that.

Back then nothing was clear enough. All fat was bad. There was no "good fat". It was a hard habit to break. When I get fat free products now, like yogurt, it's because I'm hoarding calories for ice cream, not because of the fat.

Blondiez73

NinaSharp wrote: »

MFP is filled with stories of success as well sometimes people looking for 'shortcuts' other than CI/CO. What is one fad or "diet" you tried on your fitness journey that you wish you hadn't tried?

For me it was paleo. I probably did it wrong admittedly, but I wish I'd never even tried it. Granted I did get to a low weight while doing it, but I missed carbs so much, once I reintroduced it (because there is nothing wrong with me or carbs) all I wanted was more bread...and pasta....

Anyone else? What fad do you wish you hadn't done?

I regret not becoming Vegan sooner. It would have saved me a lot of pain and suffering from past illnesses, as well as trying to lose weight and get healthy too.

47Jacqueline

nvsmomketo wrote: »

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Don't waste time arguing here. That is the main thing I took from MFP.

I am starting to get that. LOL

Also, an interesting study showed that the main reason that people don't work out is they say they don't have any time. But the same study showed that people who worked out regularly, never said, "Oh, I have plenty of time for this." It's one of the things I learned about the above quote. Not to engage when someone says they don't have time to do whatever.

msfoxy_25

Started dieting so young.....started dieting at all.

DeterminedFee201426

Hmm I wish i would of know of lifting sooner.. I would of did it .. in the begining of my weightloss

115Everest

TiberiusClaudis wrote: »

Actually, for me, it's what I didn't do. As I began to lose weight, I focused on diet and only cardio. I should have begun weightlifting at the beginning. I lost 60lbs in 3 months via cardio, but then I looked skinny fat. It's only then that I took up WL. Took me about 6 more month till I looked healthy and fit. I know now how important building muscle is during this crucial time.

Holy ditto!

Merkavar

Pills that make you not absorb fat.

catt952

NinaSharp wrote: »

MFP is filled with stories of success as well sometimes people looking for 'shortcuts' other than CI/CO. What is one fad or "diet" you tried on your fitness journey that you wish you hadn't tried?

For me it was paleo. I probably did it wrong admittedly, but I wish I'd never even tried it. Granted I did get to a low weight while doing it, but I missed carbs so much, once I reintroduced it (because there is nothing wrong with me or carbs) all I wanted was more bread...and pasta....

Anyone else? What fad do you wish you hadn't done?

did you count calories on paleo?
I wish i had just known to do CI/CO. I spent so long wanting to lose weight, thinking i had a hormonal imbalance and should be trying supplements to fix it in order to lose weight. i focused on exercise more than eating and just put out more effort than needed and ended up gaining weight in the process.

catt952

mrsbaldee wrote: »

I wish I'd never found a calorie counting app.

how come?

gothchiq

I wish I hadn't waited so long to see a nutritionist. I should have done it like ten years ago lol. Furthermore I wish I had not tried Weight Watchers. What a miserable waste of my time and money. The nutritionist was the right answer. WW was CRAP.

lauraesh0384

Honestly? I wish I would had not put so much time and energy into eating low carb thinking it was the only way I could lose weight. I would probably had been at my goal weight a while ago had it not been for the on and off binging of carbs, gaining 10-15 lbs and then spending a good month or two losing that weight when I decided I was ready to go back to low carb. I did this probably a good 7 or 8 times. I spent so long depriving myself of carbs that it was actually stressing me out more, I think. Now that I'm eating the good carbs I realize this is a way I can eat for life and not depriving myself of certain foods. I think I was miserable restricting my carbs as much as I did, even though I didn't want to admit it to myself at the time.

muziique

I was just thinking today that I wished I started earlier versus later. Oh well! I'm on it now!

thereshegoesagain

I wish I hadn't listened to Dr. Oz or believed a word he said when it comes to weight loss.

cbelc2

I wish I hadn't given up. But I learned that lesson and this time there is no giving up!

happysquidmuffin

I wish I hadn't quit MFP the first time, when I had gone from 161 to 152, and then all the way back up (and then some) to 168. Well now I'm 164, so I'm almost back to where I had started from...

Mini_Medic

I wish I hadn't stopped exercising. I lost 40lbs and was at goal weight and very fit and happy. I can pinpoint the exact day, because I went on vacation after hitting my goal and didn't exercise on my cruise (which you can!) and never went back to exercising. That precipitated me going back to other old habits and here I am losing all the weight I gained back. Best advice I can give anyone, don't be me and regain, learn to do maintenance right!

Qskim

catwils1 wrote: »

mrsbaldee wrote: »

I wish I'd never found a calorie counting app.

how come?

It's complicated and varied as to the reasons for myself personally. This is very simplified. I've lost what I've lost doing both not counting and counting (80lbs). My reasons for preferring not to are becoming more evident as I go along - I've been on here 4yrs and backslid over the last year. A preparedness for life challenges had left me. In very short, calorie counting can seduce you away from an investment in behavioural management and better life choices which I feel should be the greater goal beyond calorie counting and for maintenance. Now, I'm past the blame game BTW. It all falls on me. I feel I've learnt a lot from it.

For me personally, in the very beginning, weight loss was just the by product of making better choices with a wholistic view that included my family. I lost sight of that (to some degree) in the name of a deficit and that weight loss ticker. (There's more I could add but I hate monologuing lol). You can actually know too much sometimes? Loopholes lol.

I didn't start out ever wanting to have calorie counting as a focus per se...even though there's no denying that CICO with the right deficit is the mechanism that prompts weight loss. Calorie counting is not the end all be all of driving that mechanism though - it's a very individual choice. I'm working my way back there. Unfortunately it looks like I need to get off here to do it.

Sidesteel covers it better than I do..

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/SideSteel/view/think-in-terms-of-behaviors-an-alternative-viewpoint-752560

rybo

I can't really say there's anything I wish I didn't do. I never chased any fads. I could have probably lifted more efficiently back in the day, but that can be looked at as all part of the learning curve.