The foundation for building myself

priscillascarbrough
priscillascarbrough Posts: 1 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hello, I'm Priscilla. Breaking the foundation to build myself. It's the not knowing where to begin. Will I have enough materials to start, which meaning, meals and knowledge of the portions, since I've never really had to worry about portions. That'll be an adjustment.

Replies

  • megd44
    megd44 Posts: 152 Member
    Welcome!! When I started, I chose to tackle one thing at a time, let that become a solid new habit then add something else. So, maybe just logging your food for a week or so to see where you are now and then start making adjustments. Smaller portions, less calorie dense foods, whatever it might be for you. If you dont have a food scale, get one. This was a game changer for me.

    Not sure how much you have to lose, but makes sure you are setting reasonable goals (like lose .5 to 1 pounds a week) to make this sustainable for you. MFPs guided set up works well for most. As you learn more, you can tweak it to fit your needs.

    Best wishes for you!!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    Hello and welcome, Priscilla!

    Don't worry, you don't need to be perfect from day 1. As Meg above said, it's fine to take things one step at a time, and proceed gradually in a positive direction, learning as you go along. That can even be more helpful than trying to revolutionize everything all at once.

    "Revolutionizing" can feel overwhelming and difficult, while gradually going in positive directions can be more helpful for finding and practicing ideally enjoyable - but at least tolerable and practical - new routine habits that not only get us to goal weight, but keep us at a healthy weight long term. Long term success is the real golden prize, if you ask me!

    I joined MFP over 9 years ago, class 1 obese, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, severely hypothyroid (medicated), and already pretty old (59 then, 69 now). Within a year, I reached a healthy weight (around 50 pounds down), had great health markers, and I've been at a healthy weight for 8+ years since. That, after around 30 previous years of overweight/obesity. This can work, if a person commits to the process, and keeps chipping away at it.

    Quite a few people here start just by logging their food the way they eat now. For me, like many others, once I logged and looked at my logs, some things jumped out that weren't worth the number of calories they cost. Those were quick and easy cuts, either reducing the portion sizes, eating them less often, or even dropping some altogether as not important enough to me.

    No matter how you decide to proceed, I encourage you to commit to it, and give it a fair try. If some tactic doesn't work out, that's not a personal failure, it's just learning something to cross off the list of tactics, and try something different. If a person keeps going in that way with some persistence and patience, they will succeed. Only giving up altogether results in failing to progress toward goals.

    I'm cheering for you to succeed: In my experience, the rewards (in quality of life improvement) are more than worth the effort!


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