Welcome New Members: Please Read
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themedalist
Posts: 3,212 Member
Welcome to the Building Healthy Habits group! As the group leaders for this group, we hope you’ll take a few minutes now to read through this overview as it will help you decide if this group is a good fit for you.
As one of the largest groups on My Fitness Pal, you likely found us and perhaps thought, “Hmm…. maybe this group will help me reach my goals. I need someone to hold me accountable. Maybe habits are the key? I know I’ve got some bad habits that I need to change.”
Yes and no. Yes, changing your habits is the key to losing weight, maintaining your weight loss, becoming a daily exerciser, and achieving any other goal that you’ve set for yourself. Habits are nothing more than the collection of actions and behaviors that we do every day, often done without our awareness that we are even doing them. Who you are today reflects your current habits. If you want to be a different person, you’ll need different habits.
But no, we can’t hold you accountable. Only you can do that. You and you alone are responsible for your success. Many of us come to My Fitness Pal with a house full of exercise equipment that gathers dust, gym memberships we don’t use, an impressive knowledge of diets that might have worked had we only stuck with them, and other remnants of our past attempts to “get heathy”. The weight loss and fitness industries are billion dollar enterprises and their profits depend on our relentless search for the missing thing that will change everything for us. That missing cog that will make everything fall into place for us.
We’ve found that missing “thing” and it’s us and our ability to form new habits. We can’t hold anything or anyone else responsible for our success or failures. If you want to be a healthier person, it’s up to you to do the work that is personal change. There are no shortcuts here.
It’s not easy and it won’t happen overnight, but building healthier habits does work and we can help you understand the process and get you started. And cheer you on! If this sounds too hard and too time consuming, we are probably not the right group for you.
But if you’re ready to invest the time and energy into building a better life for yourself, we can help and welcome to our group! Here’s how you should start:
- Go to the "Discussions" section of our webpage and locate this month’s challenge (This month I Will…”) Read the challenge and select one small action you will take this month and build into a new habit. Start small by choosing only one thing to focus on this month. If you joined later in the month, simply roll over the habit you’re working on into the new month.
- Make a 30 day commitment to yourself. For the next 30 days, make your budding habit your focus every day. Repetition is the key to creating new habits. If you don’t make it a daily priority, it will not happen. What gets prioritized, gets done.
- Decide how you will track your daily progress. There are lots of habit trackers and you will see them used throughout our monthly challenges. Check them out. A daily tracker will give you visible evidence of your progress and that’s a very motivating thing to see.
- Set a reminder on your phone, or a post-it note, or some other alert that will remind you daily to take the action you want to build into a habit. You’ll be hearing a lot about triggers and cues and how essential they are to building new habits in our monthly challenges. Please don’t assume you will just remember. Most of us won’t and we’ve learned that reminders are key. They’ll also help you remember to check back with our group regularly.
- Post your progress, frustrations, questions etc on the monthly challenge thread. We want to hear how it’s going for you and we want to cheer you on. If you don’t post, we don’t know that you’re out there and could use our support. Plus, posting your progress is a great way to hold yourself accountable.
- Give your new habit a full 30 day test drive. That’s typically enough time to see if your new action a good fit for you and something you can continue doing. Within a month, many new small habits catch on and start to run on autopilot. And that’s a great place to be! No motivation, no willpower is required. You’ll do your new habit because it helps you, it makes you feel better, and it moves you closer to your goals. And it’s become something that you just do every day.
We hope you’ll decide that habit building is worth your time and attention. We hope that you’ll choose to join us in the Building Healthy Habits group.
To your health and happiness,
Denise and Maddie
@themedalist & @MadisonMolly2017
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Please introduce yourself in our monthly challenge thread and don’t create a new discussion thread for your introduction. Discussion threads by any members are welcome provided they are relevant to habit building and do not compete with or circumvent our monthly challenge threads. The group leaders, Denise & Maddie, reserve the right to delete any threads.
The monthly challenge threads (“This month I Will…”) are located in the “Discussions” section of our webpage.
We are glad you are here!5 -
Hi. Brand new!!! Please include me. How do i get started. I’m still learning hours to use the app0
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This group sounds exactly what I was looking for, yay! 😊1
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themedalist wrote: »Please introduce yourself in our monthly challenge thread and don’t create a new discussion thread for your introduction. Discussion threads not authored by the co-leaders, Denise or Maddie, will be deleted.
The monthly challenge threads (“This month I Will…”) are located in the “Discussions” section of our webpage.
We are glad you are here!
Not much of a group if only two people are allowed to start a conversation!!!!0 -
Hello @orangequilt, I've been the leader or co-leader of this group for over 5 years now. As one of the largest groups on MFP we get spam posts quite often, and they are annoying to remove. We have a dedicated group of habit builders and some have been with us for years. We have great discussions through our monthly habit threads and we would love to have you join us!
I have updated the text.2 -
Mornin!! Just started this morning and looking for a general group. I was a member years ago but it’s time to try again. I would appreciate and advise!! Thanks. Lori1
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Good morning my name is Jackie I just joined. Well technically I joined years ago and I just didn't follow the app or eat right. I lost 17 pounds on noom. It was great, but I have gotten all I can from them and I don't want to keep paying. I still need to lose 20 pounds. I am hoping that now that I have more knowledge behind me I can continue to lose weight with MFP
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HI, I'm Cathy and have been using MFP for many years. Started training with a personal trainer in Sept 2021 and I'm still struggling with dropping fat points! My habits are the problem, so this month I'm focusing on getting 8K steps each day.0
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Howdy, my name is Cheryl. I started MFP as part of the Worcester Wellness Program. It has been 6 months on my own. Now I am ready to be social and find support. So my goal is to become acquainted with MFP.... better late than never.0
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jackie19691342 wrote: »Good morning my name is Jackie I just joined. Well technically I joined years ago and I just didn't follow the app or eat right. I lost 17 pounds on noom. It was great, but I have gotten all I can from them and I don't want to keep paying. I still need to lose 20 pounds. I am hoping that now that I have more knowledge behind me I can continue to lose weight with MFP
Welcome to you @jackie19691342!
We are glad you are here!
What approach are you currently pursuing?england515 wrote: »HI, I'm Cathy and have been using MFP for many years. Started training with a personal trainer in Sept 2021 and I'm still struggling with dropping fat points! My habits are the problem, so this month I'm focusing on getting 8K steps each day.
@england515
Hi Cathy!
What a great focus! 8K steps a day really does help! I vary my route quite a lot to keep it fresh!
We’re glad you are here!Howdy, my name is Cheryl. I started MFP as part of the Worcester Wellness Program. It has been 6 months on my own. Now I am ready to be social and find support. So my goal is to become acquainted with MFP.... better
late than never.
Hi Cheryl @CheGraz63
We’re glad you found us!
MFP is a remarkable resource!
This is a good group of you want to make habit changes (so you can be successful with less willpower)!
Welcome aboard!
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Hello. My name is Tammy. I have been a member of MFP forever (it seems). I am a yo-yo dieter and am now the heaviest I have ever been. I try to do everything all at once (complete overhaul of life), lose some weight but never quite hit my goal, then go back to the old lifestyle and gain it all back plus more. I have finally decided to change for the rest of my life and that starts with my habits, one at a time to make it stick. But I don't know where to start. This group sounds like the perfect place to help me get started.0
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Hi I am Emily I used this app 5 years ago and have come back I want to make my life healthier with healthy habits and eat healthier food I am getting married next year.0
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Hello! My name is Kerri and I am a yo-yo dieter as well as dealing with menopause and all the things that come with that. I'm hoping this group can assist me in building new habits that will change my yo-yo dieting into consistent exercise habits and healthy eating. I'm not great in maneuvering on the MFP site so if I post something in the wrong spot I definitely apologize.3
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Howdy 🤠 Everyone! Just started MFP on 11/15/23. Still learning my way around the app. Looking forward to being a part of this group. Friend Me!!!!0
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Hi this is Naz. I have been on MFP before. but now slowly trying to get back again starting with forming good habit. my challenge is to sort my sleep first. having a toodler with sleep issues wrecked my own sleep. as she is sleeping through the night now I want to start repairing my own sleep and health. that's all for now. thanks1
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Hello. I've been on mfp for a while. I need to set attainable goals to lose this weight and get healthy. I have a major surgery coming up and want to be prepared for it. So practicing new habits before that can help while I recover would be great!!0
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Ive been on my mfp journey over 6 yrs now. Lots of ups and downs. But not giving up, though I never thought a shift would happen, while struggling through.
The past 18 months has been life changing and major shifts in health improvement!🔥
Looking to join supportive friends and community.
We help each other achieve our goals together 🚀🎯
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Hello, I am not new to the group but newly active. @RinsenRepeat I also look at my for all time weight progress in the app, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I wish line looked as successful as yours! Last time is the charm right? The screen shot is 12 years of on and off monitoring in myfitnesspal.
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Hi all, I’m excited to be joining this group and ready to make changes. I’m committed to be active and engaged in this journey with you all. I wish us all courage and success. Let’s do it!1
