What does having friends do on MFP?

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ESPRESSO_OR_ELSE
ESPRESSO_OR_ELSE Posts: 16 Member
edited January 2019 in Getting Started
Hello! Please excuse my naivety in advance. I've never had a friend on here before. Most of the community forum posts are people wanting to add friends.

What exactly does it do and/or help you with? I guess you get to see their diary and maybe learn how to tweak your caloric intake?

Thanks for your reaponses. Happy New Year!
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Replies

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,017 Member
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    ESPRESSO_OR_ELSE wrote: »
    Hello! Please excuse my naivety in advance. I've never had a friend on here before. Most of the community forum posts are people wanting to add friends.

    What exactly does it do and/or help you with? I guess you get to see their diary and maybe learn how to tweak your caloric intake?

    Thanks for your reaponses. Happy New Year!

    If you go to other boards on the forum, such as "general health, fitness, and diet" or "food and nutrition" or "recipes," you will find questions and discussions about various issues, not just friend requests (which not surprisingly tend to dominate the "introduce yourself" and "getting started" boards).
  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,262 Member
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    Forums are great for information.
    Some even enjoy chit chat and fun posts
    You can find people who are having the same struggle as you are and egg eachother on
    Not everyone needs the interaction though. Its up to you
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    ESPRESSO_OR_ELSE wrote: »
    Hello! Please excuse my naivety in advance. I've never had a friend on here before. Most of the community forum posts are people wanting to add friends.

    What exactly does it do and/or help you with? I guess you get to see their diary and maybe learn how to tweak your caloric intake?

    Thanks for your reaponses. Happy New Year!

    i like having people who are interested in fitness & nutrition to talk to.
  • theowlbox
    theowlbox Posts: 912 Member
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    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    My "real life" friends don't understand how hard this is and don't encounter the same problems but the people on here know exactly what you're going through.

    depending on your goals, these can be long term projects (gaining, losing, changing nutrition/fitness). for some people, it can get repetitive and boring, and there can be lots of very specific issues. for me, i try to "spare" my irl family and friends, because it's not something they find interesting, and my friends on here do. so i have friends on here to act as a tiny community focused on a niche interest of mine (weight loss).

    it's also nice to give and get support. when you are up, you give, and when you are down you receive. it can be helpful to hear how other people navigate certain situations, and normalize difficulties.

    but some people just use it as a form of facebookish feed, and that's ok too.

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,071 Member
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    For myself it's nice to have other people to talk to about fitness and nutrition, I don't want to be THAT person in a group of friends who is constantly talking about weight loss and the gym when the others aren't interested. It offers me a little accountability and the opportunity to help those who were in a similar position to myself a couple of years ago thinking they have to starve and over-exercise to lose weight to realise it's nowhere near as complicated as the Diet & Fitness Industry would have you believe.
  • Jackie9003
    Jackie9003 Posts: 1,111 Member
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    theowlbox wrote: »
    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    My "real life" friends don't understand how hard this is and don't encounter the same problems but the people on here know exactly what you're going through.

    depending on your goals, these can be long term projects (gaining, losing, changing nutrition/fitness). for some people, it can get repetitive and boring, and there can be lots of very specific issues. for me, i try to "spare" my irl family and friends, because it's not something they find interesting, and my friends on here do. so i have friends on here to act as a tiny community focused on a niche interest of mine (weight loss).

    it's also nice to give and get support. when you are up, you give, and when you are down you receive. it can be helpful to hear how other people navigate certain situations, and normalize difficulties.

    but some people just use it as a form of facebookish feed, and that's ok too.

    I also find myself "preaching" to friends and colleagues who have decided to start the new latest fad diet and then moan it's not working so I prefer to avoid the subject altogether outside of mfp now.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited January 2019
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    When I first started using this app I found having friends was supportive and encouraging. I would have posted regular updates and enjoyed interacting with fellow friends on the same journey - it was helpful imo. Over time and having reached my goal back in 2013, most of those friends have fell away, new ones have come along but I probably enjoy the interaction on the forums just as much now. It depends on the individual, some people find support helps them, I think it did make the difference for me and helped me to stay on track when once upon a time I would have fallen back to old ways.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    theowlbox wrote: »
    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    My "real life" friends don't understand how hard this is and don't encounter the same problems but the people on here know exactly what you're going through.

    depending on your goals, these can be long term projects (gaining, losing, changing nutrition/fitness). for some people, it can get repetitive and boring, and there can be lots of very specific issues. for me, i try to "spare" my irl family and friends, because it's not something they find interesting, and my friends on here do. so i have friends on here to act as a tiny community focused on a niche interest of mine (weight loss).

    it's also nice to give and get support. when you are up, you give, and when you are down you receive. it can be helpful to hear how other people navigate certain situations, and normalize difficulties.

    but some people just use it as a form of facebookish feed, and that's ok too.

    I also find myself "preaching" to friends and colleagues who have decided to start the new latest fad diet and then moan it's not working so I prefer to avoid the subject altogether outside of mfp now.

    i talk very little about diet IRL for the same reason... but i can talk about it all day on here!!!

    fitness i will only talk about if asked as most of my IRL friends do little exercise so they think a few hours a week of running is a massive big deal

    ^^ same here :smile:
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    theowlbox wrote: »
    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    My "real life" friends don't understand how hard this is and don't encounter the same problems but the people on here know exactly what you're going through.

    depending on your goals, these can be long term projects (gaining, losing, changing nutrition/fitness). for some people, it can get repetitive and boring, and there can be lots of very specific issues. for me, i try to "spare" my irl family and friends, because it's not something they find interesting, and my friends on here do. so i have friends on here to act as a tiny community focused on a niche interest of mine (weight loss).

    it's also nice to give and get support. when you are up, you give, and when you are down you receive. it can be helpful to hear how other people navigate certain situations, and normalize difficulties.

    but some people just use it as a form of facebookish feed, and that's ok too.

    I also find myself "preaching" to friends and colleagues who have decided to start the new latest fad diet and then moan it's not working so I prefer to avoid the subject altogether outside of mfp now.

    i talk very little about diet IRL for the same reason... but i can talk about it all day on here!!!

    fitness i will only talk about if asked as most of my IRL friends do little exercise so they think a few hours a week of running is a massive big deal

    ^^ same here :smile:

    we should be friends :laugh:
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    LOL funnily enough I was thinking same thing! I'll send you a FR :smiley:
  • Anna022119
    Anna022119 Posts: 547 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Depends on what your friends are like, and how you use your friend-feed.

    You can ask questions on your page, and get suggestions or strategy ideas from your friends. Sometimes they may ask you about a food you eat (how do you cook that?) or how/where you do some particular exercise you've logged. If you have helpful, knowledgeable friends, you can get good feedback and ideas. Sometimes people will cheer you on when you report a loss or a particular hard workout achieved.

    Some people will read your diary, and have good, useful questions or observations. (I see you ate X, have you tried Y - you might like it). Some people will read your diary and go all crazy if you eat a mini Hershey bar within your calorie allowance, because Evil SugarrrzzzZZ! (So you unfriend them.)

    If you're female, some major idiot men will send you PMs that (at best) say "wanna chat" or at worst . . . other stuff. (So you report them.)

    So, it varies. There have been times when I interacted with my friends a lot; nowadays it's only a little.

    Ann you are amazing!
    Pleased to have you as my mfp friend. 😊
  • musicfan68
    musicfan68 Posts: 1,137 Member
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    I will be the dissenting voice in this conversation. I dont find having "friends " on here helpful. I motivate myself and frankly dont care what other people do.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
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    musicfan68 wrote: »
    I will be the dissenting voice in this conversation. I dont find having "friends " on here helpful. I motivate myself and frankly dont care what other people do.

    And....that's just fine too. :)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    ESPRESSO_OR_ELSE wrote: »
    Hello! Please excuse my naivety in advance. I've never had a friend on here before. Most of the community forum posts are people wanting to add friends.

    What exactly does it do and/or help you with? I guess you get to see their diary and maybe learn how to tweak your caloric intake?

    Thanks for your reaponses. Happy New Year!

    Depends...I used to be more active with my friends and my home feed...not so much anymore. I suppose in the beginning it was just nice to have to have other people to chat with who were doing the same thing and ultimately friends with similar interests in fitness, etc.

    In regards to most of the community forum posts are people wanting to add friends...i'd say that really only pertains to the introduce yourself and getting started boards...if you look elsewhere you will find all sorts of different conversations related to health, nutrition, fitness, etc.

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