Former WWer - how to get started on MFP?

samjoy

hello everyone! I have done several 'diets' in the past most recently being weight watchers. I have also logged my food on sparkpeople a few years ago.

I am finding the tasks of logging everything overwhelming. How do people get started? I feel like I invested so much time and effort on the sparkpeple and WW sites putting in my food, recipes, favorites etc. in the past. The thought of doing it once more on MFP is over whelming. It looks like there are so many choices for the store bought foods I eat - not sure which one to pick if they have been entered correctly, so I feel like I should enter on my own.

I am just feeling a bit lost in life - am currently at my highest weight (similar to when I was 9 months pregnant with my kids) and just feel like I dont even know where to take the first step. I read all the success stories on the site of people that have lost an amazing amount of weight and transformed their body completely - and its so inspirational and overwhelming at the same time that I am stunned into inaction.

Does anyone feel the same or did they feel like this when starting? How do you get past this feeling? I am not all the way there in my head but my body is telling me I cannot wait another day to get started on weightloss and getting fit ortherwise I am going to suffer from some chronic illness!

Live4theLift

When i started i got used to using the scanner on my iphone, I would just scan whatever it was, glance at the nutrition to make sure it was correct then add how much i was eating. Since then ive gotten into adding meals and recipes and i still use the scanner but once you get the hang of the app or the site it becomes second nature and you can make your entries in no time flat

AglaeaC

Hi! Patience is key. You won't master everything in one go, but will have to take it in steps. What do you feel is the most important to you; logging water, nutrition or exercise? Start from there and create momentum, learn to use the logging tools, get comfortable being accountable and be prepared to see sometimes unexpected numbers. Recommit every day. Good luck!

chlsyrhd

I logged my food in on both places for a few weeks before I completely made the switch to MFP. It showed me the differences in calorie counting verses PointsPlus counting and made the transition a lot easier. I still lost weight the week before I switched completely and that kind of "proved" that MFP works as well as WW.

Yeah, it's time consuming, but I found that it really helped a lot.

samjoy

thank you all for your suggestions. I did not even think of the scanner app as the WW scanner app is not that good.

For me, I think getting active again is the most important and feeling like I can keep up with my young kids. Hopefully weightloss should follow!

Rhea1124

Hi! Using the scanner makes things so much easier! I also eat a lot of the same meals for breakfast and lunch so it's easy for me to "remember a meal" on my phone and instead of having to enter everything in daily I just select it from my Meals list.

BattleTaxi

Take a DEEP breath and exhale SLOWLY!

One step at a time! Don't let yourself get frazzled! We were all in your shoes at one point, it took time and practice to get used to changing from other Apps and programs to My Fitness Pal.

My best advice is to grab a nice cup of coffee or tea (or wine for that matter!) and sit down with your phone app, and with the website on your computer. Take some time to navigate them and get familiar with everything. You'll find that if you enter in the brand and food product, there are already entrees in the database - if it has an asterisk beside it (*) that means it was entered by another person, otherwise it was already in the database. When you click on foods - you can view the pre-made/entered nutrition information, and compare it to what you have to make sure it is accurate.

Think about what is most important to you right now. Are you more concerned about Caloric intake? Sugar? Fiber? Protein? Those are some things people are generally more concerned about at first. For example, I am more concerned about my daily sugar consumption, because I know I can be mindful of the calories.

One of the most difficult things I found transitioning from WW to MFP was that WW had lots of foods that were very high in sugar and sodium. I felt bloated a lot because of it, my leader would advise me to drink more water (I drink 60-90 fl oz of water a day mind you). That was just not working for me. When ever I would start asking more specific questions about other things, like potassium, protein, fats, net carbs vs carbs, etc - my WW leader would shy away from the topic and tell me to seek professional help or see a doctor. At that point, that was when I realized that the only "support" I could get would be in a community like the one here at MFP.

MFP has every type of person doing every different possible way you could think of eating healthy, I LOVE that!!

Overall, I think you will find this to be the best fit for you in the long run. You will truly get to know your body better and understand what it needs and what it doesn't need based on its response, rather than a pre-made program that is too general.

If you have any questions or need support let me know! I'm always happy to help!

~BT

fpelletier

I've done WW in the past and while I did love it I didn't love the price! MFP is great because it's FREE! I love the scanner and use my phone almost religiously to enter my foods. Take it day by day, I thought I would never get the hang of this, so much to learn etc and I am still learning but I do love MFP and I've lost 20lbs so far