Ways to help you start...

Clobern80

So I have been a user of MFP for a long time, just did a lot of off-and-on. Hopefully this time it is more on than off. But I have learned a few things over the years and think that there are a few tips to help people out.

PLEASE NOTE: Just because it didn't work for you doesn't mean it won't work for someone else. These are my opinions and you are free to disagree.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE: I am not a doctor and this is my personal opinion so please consult one before doing any change in diet/exercise.

Diet v. Lifestyle change

Many people argue about this and I feel that it really depends on who you are. If you are able to do a diet (low carb, fasting diet, OMAD, etc.) and lose the weight and then keep it off with "normal" eating, more power to you. However, most people have to change the way they live, move and think about food in order to make it a permanent change. Diets can easily make you yo-yo so find what you can stick with for LIFE and you'll do better.

The best thing is to find what works for you and stick to it.

Speed of weight loss

I know that people (including myself) wish we could wake up in the morning and be at our goal weight. But it isn't ever going to happen. It took a long time for the weight to be added on, it takes even longer to lose it. Don't ever try to think that you should be shooting for losing 3 or 4 or 5 pounds per week. If you really want to lose it in a healthy manner, you should be shooting for no more than 2 pounds (if you are VERY overweight) and that goal should shrink as you get closer to your goal. If you only have 10 pounds to lose, you cannot safely lose 2 pounds per week to reach your goal weight. It will take time.

One caveat to that is when you first start. When you do, you can possibly see 5 or 7 or even 10 pounds of loss early on. This isn't fat melting away - however - it is water weight and the fact that you aren't stuffing pounds of food in your stomach. Eventually this will level out as you continue. So don't get discouraged when you go from losing 5 pounds to losing 1 pound.

Failure

Failure is going to happen. It happens in all aspects of life. No marriage is perfect, no parent is perfect, no athlete is perfect. Everyone fails. It just depends on if you let that failure drag you down or if you let it inspire you.

Don't think that eating that piece of cake is going to make you a failure. It will happen. And life HAS to happen. Birthdays, holidays, celebrations are all a part of life. If you try to avoid it completely, that is where you binge and hate yourself in the morning. Let life happen. If you slip little, get up and continue on.

Clean eating v. IIFYM v. Everything else

This goes along with the first statement. There are those that will tell you that you HAVE to eat clean in order to be healthy. You should only put organic food and meat in your body or you are doing it wrong.

That is some BS

There are many people who eat pancakes, pizza, hamburgers and everything else and they continue to be healthy. It all is about the moderation. Learn to eat things you enjoy in moderation. Have two slices of pizza for dinner instead of 3/4 of a pie. Have a piece of chocolate before bed instead of eating the whole bar. Eat that bowl of ice cream but not the carton.

Everything is good in moderation, even moderation.

Again, I am not saying clean eaters are wrong, I am just saying you don't HAVE to tie your hands behind your back and limit WHAT you eat so much as HOW MUCH you eat.

Don't do too much at once

This is one problem I have. When I really want to change, I decide that I want to stop drinking soda, stop eating carbs, stare working out 5 days per week, stop having sugar and stop adding cream to my coffee all on the same day. What always happens?

CRASH!

You have to pace yourself. For most people, changes need to come gradually. This time, I decided to start drinking more water early on. Later, I decided to incorporate smoothies for meals. Once I got used to that, I decided to cut out soda. In a week or two, I am going to try the One Meal A Day (OMAD) program that I have read about.

The point is, I am spreading out my changes over time so I am not overwhelming myself and my body and falling back into those habits.

Exercise is not required BUT...

It is HIGHLY recommended. Exercise isn't just a way to gain extra calories for you to consume, it helps you in so many ways. Stress relief, muscle building (more later), heart conditioning, lung conditioning, etc. The benefits go on and on.

That does not mean that you need to strain yourself with fitting in 60 minutes every day on top of work, family, etc. But you should try to find times you can workout. Even if it is a DVD or just walking or riding your back, find something you can do and do it.

Muscle does weigh more than fat BUT...

You do not gain muscle at an alarming rate of speed. In fact, unless you are new to it, you will almost never gain muscle AND lose weight at the same time. In order to gain mass, you have to eat MORE calories. In order to lose weight, you have to eat LESS. It is simple science.

However, the benefit of muscle building while losing weight is awesome. Not only does it give you something to help lose calories, it helps you tone the muscle you have and (more importantly) KEEP the muscle you have. If you eat at a deficit you will lose muscle! Heavy lifting, resistance training, etc. will help you out immensely.

The term "skinny-fat" is around for a reason.

But the point of this is that I see all the time where someone says "I gained 2 pounds this week but I ate so good!" and someone tells them that it is muscle.

WRONG!

You will never gain 2 pounds of muscle in a week. Someone who is a high responder and bodybuilds like crazy can maybe gain 4-5 pounds of lean body mass in 12 weeks. Low responders might gain 1 pound in the same 12 weeks. But nobody gains 2 pounds in a week.

Don't live in the week to week

Many people weigh every day which I find INSANE! You are going to give yourself a heart attack with doing this. Your body fluctuates so much that it will always say something different even if you are doing what you should be doing. Water gain, bloating, that "time of the month", eating salt, how much you ate the day before, your bowel movements, etc. all impact your weight.

The bare minimum I recommend (and many others) is to weigh yourself once per week. Choose the same day, the same time, the same scale each week and weigh. That limits the amount of fluctuation you will see. However, it may be better to only weigh every other week or even once per month. The less often you obsess over the scale, the better.

Also, just because you gained one week or maintained does not mean you are failing. Our bodies are going to fight against losing the weight and you may plateau. That doesn't mean you need to starve yourself. Keep trying for a few weeks and see what happens. If it is not working, you are either eating too much or not exercising enough. There are many who believe variety is the spice and you need to change up your routine. There are those that feel you should have cheat days.

Find what works for you to move off that plateau but don't give up.

Don't give up

How many times can this be said? If you mess up, get back up and try. If you gain weight, figure out what you're doing wrong and try. If you binge, forgive yourself and try. Nobody can stop you from reaching your goal except yourself.

I am currently a nearly 400 pound man so it may be hard to take advice from me, but I've lived the life of losing and gaining. I've researched. I've succeeded. I've failed. If you don't want to take my advice, you don't have to. I just hope everyone find what works for them and sticks to it.

May your life change to the image you wish it to be.