Things You Want To Tell MFP Newbies
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All good stuff!
Mine would be:
Stop looking for big (insert complaint here, weight loss, muscle growth, body shape) improvements after a week or 2. It took time to get in the condition you are in. It's not going to change overnight.
No, 2lbs per week/ 1200 calories is not not best just because you are impatient. You can do this right or fast. Pick one.4 -
All good stuff!
Mine would be:
Stop looking for big (insert complaint here, weight loss, muscle growth, body shape) improvements after a week or 2. It took time to get in the condition you are in. It's not going to change overnight.
No, 2lbs per week/ 1200 calories is not not best just because you are impatient. You can do this right or fast. Pick one.
Which brings one of my favourite truisms into play:
"It's a marathon, not a sprint."
Also,
"Losing weight is hard. Being overweight is hard. Choose your hard."6 -
robertw486 wrote: »They should read the below thread by @diannethegeek , simply because she compiled a thread with a bunch of great links from all the common questions that we see over and over in the forums. Advanced forum users might request the list of how many different variations she compiled as to what forum members consider "clean eating".
I like old posts and I cannot lie
Thank you for posting this. I am somewhat new and am finding the links and information really helpful!
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It's hard work. Don't ever be fooled that it's anything other than hard work. However, it is only temporarily hard. The longer you keep at it, the easier it becomes. It will become part of your new, healthier lifestyle.
Don't ever starve yourself. It will result in muscle loss and you'll just end up skinny fat.
Don't ever eliminate anything from your diet unless it's for medical reasons.
Educate yourself. Read about nutrition. Learn about macros, TDEE and fibre.
Avoid any marketed that claims to aid weight loss: Meal replacement shakes, pills, tea, coffee, body wraps, etc.
You lose weight by eating less. You tone up and build muscle through exercise. Doing 100 sit ups every day will not burn belly fat.
Muscle is denser than fat. Google '1lb of fat vs 1lb of muscle'. See & understand the difference. Then realise that if you're hitting the weights at the gym like a Duracell bunny on acid and eating at a deficit, the scales are not going to change as much as you'd hope, but that is totally normal.
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There's no need to demonize "junk" foods. Cut down on how much you eat, sure, but it isn't the devil.
"You need breakfast to kickstart your metabolism." So what, now you're a zombie? Your metabolism runs 24/7/365.
Herbalife/Shakeology/ItWorks/Thrive/etc. is just a marketing ploy.
Spot reduction is impossible outside of a surgical setting.3 -
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There is a search button.
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Stay away from APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
and Facebook MLM scams.SuperCarLori wrote: »You want to L-O-S-E weight. Not loose it.
Sorry, but this too.
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If your doctor has prescribed medications for you, KEEP TAKING THEM UNTIL YOUR DOCTOR CHANGES THE PRESCRIPTION. Lots of physical conditions are caused or exacerbated by being overweight, but not all of them. Changing your dosage or stopping altogether may cause very serious problems.8
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Dos:
Have patience, be consistent, and be persistent. Throw away everything you think you know about dieting and weight loss, because there is way too much misinformation out there. You can do it, you are not helpless, even though you may feel that way in the moment. Run the long game. You need to consider maintaining the loss once you get there, so focusing strictly on the weight loss without thinking about how you will maintain it, is just going to cause problems in the end. Let lose once in a while, and go out with friends to restaurants. If you plan on doing these things when you have finished losing weight, learn how to work it in now while you are losing.
Don'ts:
Not every one who disagrees with you is a jealous hater (I feel dirty just using the word "hater"), and not everyone who offers you a cookie is trying to sabotage you. And for Pete's sake not everyone in your life needs to be hearing/reading about every aspect of your newest diet. Share your successes and failures here, because it's a network of people with similar interests, but when you are constantly going on about your diet to your coworkers, they are going to get sick of hearing it. Don't give up the things you love, because you think being thinner will somehow make you happy enough that it will compensate for the things you are missing (if it is something highly calorific, work it in, but less frequently).5 -
Newbie here. I am on anti-depressants which it is a proven fact they can pack the weight on. I got fat one other time (not quite as big as I am now), but went off the meds and the weight just kind of fell off. I had to make a choice-fat and happy or skinny and depressed. As bad as I hate being fat, I hate the depression worse. After trying dieting a few times and failing telling myself I didn't care, I recently found my motivation. My sister whom I just recently started speaking to again, had lost 30 lbs. since I last saw her which I think was around Christmas. I said to myself, if she can do it, so can I. Fast forward 5 weeks and I've lost 14.2 lbs. I am a VERY picky eater and it's hard to diet when I don't eat the normal diet foods other people eat (nothing green). I eat 1200 or less calories a day and I try to do 10 miles a day on the recumbent bike and I have some 5 lb weights I lift overhead about 50 per arm a day and sometimes a few sit ups (HATE sit ups lol). I started at 203 and would like to get to 140-150, so still a long way to go. I have a co-worker that is also fat (but she's short too-I'm 5'7") that is purposely trying to sabotage my diet. She brought in sweets THREE times in a week and repeatedly asked me if I wanted some. Then she tells me she's lost more weight than I have, but she's eating sweets and doesn't work out. Really???? Any advice would be helpful.0
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katydougherty wrote: »Newbie here. I am on anti-depressants which it is a proven fact they can pack the weight on. I got fat one other time (not quite as big as I am now), but went off the meds and the weight just kind of fell off. I had to make a choice-fat and happy or skinny and depressed. As bad as I hate being fat, I hate the depression worse. After trying dieting a few times and failing telling myself I didn't care, I recently found my motivation. My sister whom I just recently started speaking to again, had lost 30 lbs. since I last saw her which I think was around Christmas. I said to myself, if she can do it, so can I. Fast forward 5 weeks and I've lost 14.2 lbs. I am a VERY picky eater and it's hard to diet when I don't eat the normal diet foods other people eat (nothing green). I eat 1200 or less calories a day and I try to do 10 miles a day on the recumbent bike and I have some 5 lb weights I lift overhead about 50 per arm a day and sometimes a few sit ups (HATE sit ups lol). I started at 203 and would like to get to 140-150, so still a long way to go. I have a co-worker that is also fat (but she's short too-I'm 5'7") that is purposely trying to sabotage my diet. She brought in sweets THREE times in a week and repeatedly asked me if I wanted some. Then she tells me she's lost more weight than I have, but she's eating sweets and doesn't work out. Really???? Any advice would be helpful.
Congratulations on the weight loss, but I think you missed the idea of the thread. The whole thing has been providing the advice & links that, as experienced members, we see that people need. However, if you desire more personal advice and input, you should copy this post on a thread of your own so it will be visible to more people. Wish you the best 2 -
Yes, I realized after the fact that I wasn't really posting to the appropriate category, but I am a newbie so I went with it. LOL I also posted mine after nutmegoreo wrote something, but I hadn't read it yet and it makes me feel bad for saying my co-worker was trying to sabotage me, but I KNOW she is. Multiple things she's done and said, but I just needed to vent a bit.1
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katydougherty wrote: »Yes, I realized after the fact that I wasn't really posting to the appropriate category, but I am a newbie so I went with it. LOL I also posted mine after nutmegoreo wrote something, but I hadn't read it yet and it makes me feel bad for saying my co-worker was trying to sabotage me, but I KNOW she is. Multiple things she's done and said, but I just needed to vent a bit.
Don't feel bad. Each case is individual. I see a few different things going on in your post.
ETA: I see you started your own thread. I'll respond over there.1 -
Don't listen to people who have 1,000s or 10,000s (!) of posts and have not lost weight and / or maintained a loss.
People who are succeeding or have succeeded have figured out what works for them, and when they share that, it can be quite valuable. From the "right" people, you can get very helpful ideas about how to make this process and change work for you. In some ways, weight loss is easy, child-level arithmetic. But living it day in and day out, over time, is a whole other conversation, and I'd say it's worth taking a second to double-check who is speaking to you.
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tiptoethruthetulips wrote: »SuperCarLori wrote: »You want to L-O-S-E weight. Not loose it.
Dear MFP newbie, I don't care if you use lose or loose as I know exactly what you meant. I appreciate the fact that it took a lot of courage to write your first or second post (or even your 50th), shared your backstory and am amazed by your determination and efforts to improve your weight and/or health.
Oh for heaven's SAKE and crying out loud!!!! We ALL understand what they mean. If a person can't be bothered to be educated on a misspelling, then they may just be doomed when it comes to say...being educated regarding myths, activity levels, plateaus or accurate logging.7 -
So a person with dyslexia can't learn to sift the real from the woo? How about a person for whom English is their second (or third or fourth) language? And typos are a thing.3
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Be PATIENT ...If you haven't lost weight or gained muscle in 1 week or 2 calm down. It's not the end of the world.
Be CONSISTENT ...in logging every meal you eat!
Be ACCURATE ...about the number of calories you've eaten. Invest in a food scale! You can get them for $10 online. It doesn't have to be expensive or fancy.
Be COMMITTED ...no amount of outside motivation will help if you can't be committed to your weight loss/gain/or maintenance plan.
Be CONSIDERATE ...to other MFP members. We are all on our own journey here whether it be to lose, gain or maintain.
Be RESPECTFUL ...we come from different religions, cultures, countries. English may not be everyone's 1st language. But I'm sure we can still get along and communicate
Be OPEN-MINDED ...we are not all on the same diet. And we all have our own opinions on food, exercise, etc. We all come from different cultural backgrounds. And we all live different lifestyles.
And most importantly... DON'T VILIFY FOOD... coz I love my Rice, Soy, and Nutella
lol
And don't be shy to ask for help and post in the forum. Even if English isn't your 1st language. I'm sure the language you speak is cool anyway and we all wish we could speak a language other than English so we can become culturally rich and educated in the world... This is a Health&Fitness place anyway, not an ESL online school
...And remember we are all here because we all need help. So let's help each other instead of bringing each other down PEACE!
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Yep. Okay. Instead of ignoring the point I was attempting to make, let's just go along with miseducation then, in order to fully disservice anyone attempting to learn.
Over and out.1
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