Return to MFP....

mccreghanangela
mccreghanangela Posts: 2 Member
in Getting Started
Hoping to make committed change, I've tried so many times without success, each time I start again I've gained 10kg on average from the last attempt
...really need to prove to myself and make the time. Kids are older, less dependent. Desk job hasn't helped me, slowly but surely, regaining my fitness. Turning 50 next year, where did that go....

Replies

  • totameafox
    totameafox Posts: 460 Member
    Welcome back to MFP and welcome to 50. If you need a community that can empathize feel free to join mine :D

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1772-type-2-diabetes-support-group
  • SheBell4DaWin
    SheBell4DaWin Posts: 6 Member
    Welcome back!!! I'm in the same boat. At 51 years, time is racing by so fast. I'm feeling more committed now then ever. I want a really good quality of life for myself, my husband, children and now especially my little grandbaby. He's going to be walking soon, and I need to get in shape to keep up with energy. I would love to join the group to to stay motivated. Thank you so much <3
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,204 Member
    Since you've tried before, and it didn't work, can I suggest that you give some good hard thought to why it didn't work? Personalizing the tactics is really important IME, and learning from things that don't work is part of doing that.

    I don't know whether this is you, but quite a few people arrive here thinking the right way to lose weight is to adopt some rigid, restrictive eating rules, never eat treats . . . then they stack punitively intense, unpleasant daily exercise on top of that. It's unlikely that that's going to last, realistically. The number of "I'm back" posts here seems to reinforce that.

    None of that is essential.

    IMO, the important goal is finding new, sustainable habits that don't just get us to goal weight, but also make it easy to stay there long term. That implies dialing in an achievable calorie level that includes a sensibly moderate calorie deficit; choosing foods and timing of eating that balance appropriate calories, reasonable overall nutrition, practicality and general happiness; finding new ways of moving more - either exercise or daily life stuff - that ideally are fun, but that at least are practical and tolerable.

    That's a different mindset.

    In particular, slow weight loss can potentially get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than some extreme but theoretically ideal approach that causes bouts of deprivation-triggered over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.

    If one of the problems is the practicality of counting calories, two considerations:
    1. There's a learning curve. It feels like a lot at first, but most people find that as they get more familiar with MFP's features, it gets quicker and easier.

    2. Counting calories isn't essential, either. Eating the right number of calories is, yes. But I was adult before calorie counting apps even existed, and people lost weight by learning generally which foods were high in calories, and cutting back systematically on those without counting. If they gradually lost weight, they knew they were on the right track. My own father did that, and I'd done it in the past, too. It's still an option. Counting the calories just makes it more predicatable.

    I was overweight to obese for around 30 years, lost from obese to a healthy weight in just under a year, have been at a healthy weight and in the same jeans size for 9 years since. I still log food most of the time. It only takes me a bare few minutes a day, which seems like a small price to pay for the quality of life benefits of staying at a healthy weight. I was glad in the long run that I decided I wasn't going to do anything to lose weight that I wasn't willing to continue long term to stay at a reasonable weight, other than a sensibly moderate calorie deficit until I reached goal weight. IMO, that set me up for successful maintenance.

    You can make this work for you, whether most of the above applies to you, or not. Learn from what didn't work, try different tactics until you find some that do work for you. Stick with that, and you'll succeed.

    Best wishes!
  • sherrykliber
    sherrykliber Posts: 2 Member
    AnnPT77 has good advice! I have never been able to lose weight and then keep it off! I lost 80 pounds on MFP and regained it all over time. I have got to figure out why I can't sustain the loss. I am starting over and planning on staying with MFP for maintenance. I have never been part of the community before so I am going to plug in this time!

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