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    What was some mistakes you made when first dieting?

    Posts: 63 Member
    edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
    I've been going on and off the horse a lot but so far lost 7 pounds, hoping to lose another 26 though and I hopped back on it again the past two months. Recently I realized I haven't been losing weight despite logging what I eat.

    Until I realized I forgot to log simple things like butter/cheese/tomato sauce (when using it in spaghetti). I feel a "Duh" moment coming on and I'm resisting to slap my forehead. I've been so focus on the bread/meat/veggies/fruit/juices that I forgot to measure and scale the simple things I'm supposed to (like if I'm adding butter to toast or some cheese on my spaghetti).

    Probably why it's extremely slow going process in losing weight.

    Just duh.

    What were some mistakes you made and didn't realize it?

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    Replies

    • Posts: 2,991 Member
      Eating only 1200 calories
      Not using a food scale to measure my food
      Not logging correctly
      Becoming defeated too soon
      Not drinking enough water
      Drinking too much wine (maybe)
      Not packing my lunch daily
      Making too many excuses

      Just a few I could come up with. I've been where you are and know it is frustrating. Will add for support and let me know if you need any advice!
    • Posts: 3,502 Member
      Didn't focus on retaining muscle. I cut aggressively, didn't get enough protein, and didn't start lifting. I lost weight but was pretty weak. It's taken me years to gain my "fat guy" strength back.
    • Posts: 63 Member
      cathipa wrote: »
      Eating only 1200 calories
      Not using a food scale to measure my food
      Not logging correctly
      Becoming defeated too soon
      Not drinking enough water
      Drinking too much wine (maybe)
      Not packing my lunch daily
      Making too many excuses

      Just a few I could come up with. I've been where you are and know it is frustrating. Will add for support and let me know if you need any advice!

      Is it wrong to eat only 1200 calories? MFP had me on that originally so I gave myself some wiggle room to eat about 1350. Also, I have no friends on this website (despite being here forever) so yeah, I'll be sure to add you too! (I get the feel on the defeated/making too many excuses though, trying hard to stop doing that as well).
    • Posts: 122 Member
      Doing too much cardio and burning off a lot of my muscle mass. Made it impossible to lose any fat!
    • Posts: 119 Member
      cathipa wrote: »
      Eating only 1200 calories
      Not using a food scale to measure my food
      Not logging correctly
      Becoming defeated too soon
      Not drinking enough water
      Drinking too much wine (maybe)
      Not packing my lunch daily
      Making too many excuses

      Just a few I could come up with. I've been where you are and know it is frustrating. Will add for support and let me know if you need any advice!

      Was pretty much exactly what I was going to say minus the wine lol
      That and I started by removing over half of the foods I love from my diet because they weren't "right" or "healthy". I lost 40 pounds in a little under a year and it took around the same time to gain it all back because I was being unrealistic with my food. Now, if it fits in my macros I eat it. I don't care if someone else doesn't think it's "right" or "healthy". I want this time around to be for keeps and that means being able to enjoy foods I love in moderation.
    • Posts: 2,991 Member
      It is for most people. Unless you are very short and inactive 1200 calories is not enough. This is what most people get from MFP since they opt for 2 pound weight loss a week and from what your goals are you should chose 0.5 to 1 pound loss per week. I have learned not to trust what MFP gives for advice ("if every day were like today you would weigh this much in 5 weeks").
      Are you weighing your food? If you are not losing current goals chances are you are eating more than 1200 or even 1350 cal a day.
    • Posts: 2,991 Member
      xXxWhitneyxXx wrote: »
      show previous quotes

      Was pretty much exactly what I was going to say minus the wine lol
      That and I started by removing over half of the foods I love from my diet because they weren't "right" or "healthy". I lost 40 pounds in a little under a year and it took around the same time to gain it all back because I was being unrealistic with my food. Now, if it fits in my macros I eat it. I don't care if someone else doesn't think it's "right" or "healthy". I want this time around to be for keeps and that means being able to enjoy foods I love in moderation.

      THIS!!! IIFYM for the win!!
    • Posts: 558 Member
      Yep yep & yep.
      Goal was too aggressive. No real strength training. Didn't (know to) pay attention to my macros.
    • Posts: 2,018 Member
      cathipa wrote: »
      Eating only 1200 calories
      Not using a food scale to measure my food
      Not logging correctly
      Becoming defeated too soon
      Not drinking enough water
      Drinking too much wine (maybe)
      Not packing my lunch daily
      Making too many excuses

      Just a few I could come up with. I've been where you are and know it is frustrating. Will add for support and let me know if you need any advice!

      no such thing as too much wine :smiley:
    • Posts: 1,122 Member
      Definitely trying to do too much too fast, and not being pleased with results because they seemed to be too slow.

      It's a process. It takes time. Be patient.
    • Posts: 770 Member
      Comparing myself to others...BIG No No!
    • Posts: 3,574 Member
      Giving up when I had a bad day
    • Posts: 1,787 Member
      Not planning an orderly transition to maintenance, and following it. Losing weight's relatively easy (at least for me), making permanent lifestyle changes isn't.
    • Posts: 3,574 Member
      Also trying to restrict myself by giving up certain things like candy because I felt like I HAD to in order to succeed. Then I'd go nuts and eat two boxes of girl scout cookies in one sitting. Now I allow myself a treat when I can fit it in
    • Posts: 1,411 Member
      The two mistakes I made were thinking that I had to cut out certain things and only eat salads and rice cakes, and then completely giving up because I ruined everything when I would eat "junk" one day because eating nothing but salads and rice cakes is horribly boring.

      So now I just eat what I want, keeping my calorie deficit. If I have a day where I eat too much of what I want, I just get up the next day and get back to it, realizing one day (or even a weekend or week) won't ruin anything.
    • Posts: 698 Member
      Not using a food scale.
      Not weighing bread or whole fruit once I got a food scale (I logged things as 1 slice of bread/bun/apple/etc.).
      Not using the correct food entry in the database (I still struggle with this sometimes).
      Overestimating exercise burns.
      Logging regular non-exercise activity (like cleaning) as a burn.
      Not logging on the weekends or a cheat day.
    • Posts: 297 Member
      I spent way too much time focusing on the time it would take to lose so much weight. It was depressing and self defeating. Now I try to look at each day of staying on task as a victory and every 1/4 pound lost as a reason to celebrate.
    • Posts: 4,374 Member
      My biggest mistake was not doing any real research on how to actually lose weight. I just used "common sense"
    • Posts: 13,575 Member
      My first diet would have been when I was still in high school and my BMI was 19. I guess that might have been mistake #1. Diets back then pretty much consisted of eating nothing but a Snickers bar and a slice of pizza or taco each day for a few days.
    • Posts: 1,547 Member
      Thinking that enough exercise would allow me to eat without portion control. Wrong! I recommend the book "Always Hungry?" by Dr. Ludwig...solid science.
    • Posts: 294 Member
      MommyL2015 wrote: »
      The two mistakes I made were thinking that I had to cut out certain things and only eat salads and rice cakes, and then completely giving up because I ruined everything when I would eat "junk" one day because eating nothing but salads and rice cakes is horribly boring.

      So now I just eat what I want, keeping my calorie deficit. If I have a day where I eat too much of what I want, I just get up the next day and get back to it, realizing one day (or even a weekend or week) won't ruin anything.

      This was me too and me now :) I wasn't successful until I stopped trying to cut stuff out of my diet. I've abandoned some of my old favourites along the way but just because they're not worth the calories to me right now, not because they're 'bad.'
    • Posts: 302 Member
      too low of calories, too restrictive........expecting huge loss every week
    • Posts: 40 Member
      I don't even log my food anymore. I just go portion wise and lift heavy. I just listen to what my body tells me. And as I do strength training, my fitness pal doesn't have any way of tracking it,only cardio which is not an effective way to lose weight. So strength training 5 times a week is my motto. 4 times lifting heavy weight, one day doing pole. And I lose fat and build muscles.
    • Posts: 9,151 Member
      Listening to people who said the only way to lose weight is to stop eating "bad" carbs/junk food/white food.
    • Posts: 71 Member
      Following someone else's plan. I think it's best to do what you're comfortable with and enjoy it. I hate the word 'diet' because it sounds brutal, tedious and short-lived. Actively changing your lifestyle and doing what's right for your body are key.
    • Posts: 69 Member
      Blowing an entire week all because I had 1 bad meal.
      Quitting when I didn't lose 1 week.
    • Posts: 70 Member
      Giving up foods, extreme calorie deficit, and working out to the point I hated it. That's probably why I always gained my weight back afterwards. I've figured out how to balance my diet and do exercises I enjoy.
    • Posts: 680 Member
      DEFINITELY not using a food scale, and not correctly estimating how much wine I was drink. I was drinking 4000!!! calories per week in wine. Egads! Now I have one small 3z vodka drink every other day and gosh, the weight is coming off so much more quickly :)
    • Posts: 10,179 Member
      Mistakes when first dieting? That was decades ago and the mistake was in having a severely calorie and nutrient deficient diet. I lost weight. I lost immune resistance to disease. I almost died. I didn't die. I gained it all back and much more besides. I really don't think I've made any egregious mistakes in the 8 weeks I've been using MFP. The food database is accurate enough to serve as a meal planner. The nutrition labels on food are accurate enough to know what's going on with my macros. The Reports are comprehensive enough to show where I need to work on making improvement. Have I changed my eating habits? Of course. Before MFP I was consuming a pound of bologna, a pound of cheese, and a loaf of (wheat) bread every week. I still have remnants of the pound of bologna and the pound of cheese I purchased the day before starting MFP. I've bought and consumed more almonds. I've added more vegetables to my daily eating. I've added moderate amounts of cardio and limited amounts of strength work. The weight is falling off and I feel fine.
    • Posts: 290 Member
      Deficit was dangerous. It worked because I was doing replacement shakes which gave me the nutrients I needed but was stupid nonetheless.
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