CUTTING MEAT

2czgnvzq79

Hi guys! I’m new here and I’m trying to built healthy habits and look and feel good. I would appreciate dietary advice, workout advice and lots of encouragement. Have an amazing day guys.💖

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome, @2czgnvzq79!

I'm curious about your title line: Are you trying to reduce meat, or trying to become vegetarian/vegan, or . . . ? For sure, if the only goals are health-related, eliminating meat is fine, but isn't essential. I'm not saying this as a shill for Big Meat, but as someone who's been vegetarian for over 48 years now. There are many good reasons to become vegetarian, entirely plant-based, or vegan . . . but doing so actually makes good nutrition a tiny bit more complicated. It's not an obstacle if someone wants the eating style for sound reasons, of course.

I'm asking because I do see people come to MFP thinking that eliminating meat will inherently make them lose weight, or be healthier, and there's no guarantee of that. It's kind of a tangent to those goals.

As far as dietary advice in general, no matter the eating pattern, IMO the key goal is good overall nutrition. For most people - without a disease or diagnosed deficiency in the picture - just getting to a healthy weight is the single biggest plus for health, if starting at an unhealthy weight. However you can get there most manageably is likely to be a good route.

If at a healthy weight, or once proper calories are dialed in (with good satiation most of the time), working toward the MFP default macronutrient goals is a pretty good step for the average person. Special circumstances might lead you to want to tweak those goals in the long run, but they're a good starting point (for anyone who hasn't cut calories dangerously low, since doing that is going to make adequate nutrition difficult to impossible, even if hitting the right macro percents).

Close, on average over a couple days to a week, should be fine. You don't need to be exactly exact every day. A little over on something one day, a little under the next, averaging out close to goal: Fine. If you're active or aging, more protein could be important, like 0.6-1g per pound of healthy goal weight minimum daily. (That'll be close to 0.8-1.2g per pound of lean body mass, for most but not all people.)

Protein and fats are essential nutrients, in the sense that our bodies can't manufacture those out of any other nutrients. Carbs can be more flexible, theoretically. Some people find that too few carbs will tank their energy level. Those people should eat more carbs. Some people find that too many carbs spike their appetite. Those people should eat fewer carbs. You'll figure it out.

Beyond that, once macronutrients are in solid shape, you can think about fiber and micronutrients. Here, I don't get super-technical, though you can learn more about that and delve into specifics. I find that if I make it a point to eat really lots of varied, colorful veggies and fruits, my micronutrients fall into place nicely without micromanagement. I shoot for 800g of veggies/fruits daily, usually get there, but am OK with anything over 400g.

Workout wise, the standard advice is to work up to a minimum of 150 minutes a week of moderate cardiovascular exercise, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, per week - ideally spread over at least 5 days; plus at least two days of some activity that challenges strength. More than those minimums is fine, if time budget and fitness level permit.

IMO, finding activities you personally enjoy is where the magic is. Why? If we enjoy something, we're more likely to actually do it routinely. Exercise we do is 100% more beneficial than theoretically better exercise that we procrastinate, skip, maybe drop altogether. Enjoyment is very, very individual. Experimenting to find your favorite thing(s) can be fun in itself, though.

A caveat: Misery is optional. Way too many people seem to think that if exercise isn't miserable, exhausting, extremely intense, even punitive, that it won't be beneficial. That's a total myth. In reality, a too-intense exercise regimen can be counterproductive, bleed activity (so calorie burn) out of daily life via fatigue, increase risk of injury, and more. The sweet spot is something(s) that's just a moderate, manageable challenge to current fitness/strength level. As you get fitter, it will require more (duration, intensity, frequency or exercise type) to feel that manageable challenge. When that happens, adjust, keep challenging yourself. That's the formula for fitness improvement, IMO.

Best wishes!