New to MFP and confused...

Bloomboom

Hello,
I am new to the MFP boards. I have been a lurker here for several weeks. I know that I am new to this site but a lot of the information I read on here is currently "over my head", adds to my confusion and I get more confused each day, this will become clear in a minute or so.....

Here is my story:
I am almost 47 yrs. old, married with two kids, one dog and a cat. My life is rewarding, challenging and a lot of the time out right fun.

I am on this forum to learn and understand how I can make informed decisions on things that impact the way I live my life. I am not a person who does anything in moderation, food included...."If one girl scout cookie is good then a sleeve of them is better".

My wife and I started on the Medifast program Oct 23, 2013. I have lost about 26 lbs. and a few inches off of my waist. Weight has been my main goal and I am within 5 lbs. of my weight goal. I travel a lot but when I work from my home office, I walk (slow speed of about 2 mph) on a work treadmill in my office answering emails, taking calls, internet surfing, etc. A good representation of numbers would be this; time :45 min - 2 hrs.; distance of 1.5 - 4 mi.; calories burned 150-400; speed of 2 - 2.5 mph.; steps taken 4000-12500.

On the Medifast program we eat around 900-1000 calories per day. We are not supposed to exercise. I do not call the walking I do exercise. I call it "keeping my butt out of a chair" for a period of my day. On the Medifast program, I never deviated from the plan until Christmas. I have become accustomed to this plan, mainly because of the prepackaged meals. I have never really tried "diet programs" but figured that if I did, it had to be easy and offer "almost instant" rewards for me to continue. This program did that for me but I know that this type of program won't be sustainable for me.

I received a fitbit for Christmas that I have synced to MFP. I don't recall making New Years resolutions about losing weight; however, I'm really glad that I do not have to make one of losing a lot of weight. The one I will make will be to make better decisions about my lifestyle. Hopefully this fitbit will give me the instant gratifications I need to continue.

My confusions are many. Here a just a few:
Medifast plan or MFP. Don't think I can do both, or can I?
Eating back calories: Not on Medifast but you are supposed to on MFP. How do I decide which plan(s) to follow?
Exercising: Generally not acceptable on Medifast but encouraged on MFP
Weight loss: Medifast has worked for me (so far). MFP worked for my wife about a year ago. She still wants to lose more, tone up but I think she joined Medifast as support for me.
Weight lifting: I don't want to gain size only definition. Should not do this on Medifast and opinions vary here..

I think and hope that I am now to the point of being able to transition to a "sustainable lifestyle". For me, I want to continue to improve the way I look and feel. As I said, most of my weight loss is complete. Now it's time to tone and define.

Here's to believing that this site will offer me education, support and encouragement, useful information to make better decisions for me, and that one day I will be able to provide something back to it.

Livin4me1969

My thoughts on the subject are that MFP is a better choice for you at this point. Unless you plan on staying on that plan for the rest of your life then I would go to MFP. Exercise is one of the best things that you can do for your body and to get healthy and stay that way according to most doctors so that is usually the best idea. The decision on which plan you should follow comes down to which one you can live with for the rest of your life. Just my opinion but I hope it helps

zodiac58

I don't know anything about Medifast, but any lifestyle plan where you're not supposed to exercise seems odd to me. What's the provided rationale for that? The only reason I can imagine is that the provided meals have a certain caloric content, and increasing your exercise would require adjustments to that. Or else it's a selling point for customers who might not want to exercise anyway

Ed98043

The reason Medifast doesn't want you to exercise is because they're not providing you with enough calories to exercise. 900-1,000 calories a day for an adult male is a starvation diet. I know you said you didn't want to gain size/muscles, but I guarantee you need to replace some of the lean body mass you've lost through the diet. That's going to involve lifting and eating more.

Bloomboom

The reason Medifast doesn't want you to exercise is because they're not providing you with enough calories to exercise. 900-1,000 calories a day for an adult male is a starvation diet. I know you said you didn't want to gain size/muscles, but I guarantee you need to replace some of the lean body mass you've lost through the diet. That's going to involve lifting and eating more.

I have a feeling that you are correct about body mass that I have lost. Even though I have been measured several times with their machines and they say the loss of body mass for me is minimal, I am not convinced of that. I do not know what to ask. Even if I knew what to ask, how to correctly interpret their findings may be difficult for me at this stage of the process. Lifting hopefully won't be a problem for me. Again, this will be another learning curve for me. I wish I wasn't so uninformed about this stuff....I guess it's my own fault and that's why I am here.

Ed98043

The great thing about this forum is that there are always people who have been exactly where you are now, i.e. transitioned off of a VLCD (very low calorie diet) into a sustainable way of life, and/or have reached their desired scale weight but are not satisfied with their body composition. I would post in the maintenance and fitness forums for answers to your individual questions.

QuietBloom

You don't need to log exercise on MFP if you are using a FitBit and the two accounts are linked. The FitBit will adjust your calorie goal based on your daily activities. You should log your food here though, and not on the the FitBit site if you decide to stay with MFP. To link your account, go under APPS and chose FitBit.

Welcome to MFP.

sbbhbm

I think a very important thing to keep in mind is that MFP isn't a plan. It's a tool and a community. We all do different things here. There are different groups that people in the community have created to keep motivated by people with similar goals- like the low carb groups for instance. We are here to support each other, exchange ideas and information, and sometimes just have fun.

That being said, most people on here who have achieved large amounts of weight loss (such as myself) generally have been successful at loss and maintenance by incorporating exercise into their life. You are definitely not consuming enough calories to do that.

Bloomboom

I think a very important thing to keep in mind is that MFP isn't a plan. It's a tool and a community. We all do different things here. There are different groups that people in the community have created to keep motivated by people with similar goals- like the low carb groups for instance. We are here to support each other, exchange ideas and information, and sometimes just have fun.

That being said, most people on here who have achieved large amounts of weight loss (such as myself) generally have been successful at loss and maintenance by incorporating exercise into their life. You are definitely not consuming enough calories to do that.

This is very helpful. Thanks for the information.

cwolfman13

With medifast you didn't work out...so there were no calories to "eat back". With MFP, your calorie goal is a deficit from your theoretical maintenance calories without exercise...your activity level when you set your profile does NOT include any estimate of exercise...thus you are credited for exercise when you do it and get calories to eat back. You just have to be very conservative in your burn estimates...a lot of people overestimate. Other calculators include some estimate of your exercise up front in the equation and thus that estimate is included in your total number from which the deficit is taken...with MFP, exercise is accounted for after the fact. If you are using a Fitbit, that also changes the formula of which I'm sure others are more informed than I since I've never used one.

I personally wouldn't follow any plan that didn't encourage exercise. You don't need exercise to lose weight...you do need exercise to optimize your health and overall well being. It is also crucial to maintaining your weight. Your fitness regimen should be balanced and incorporate cardio work for you heart and cardiovascular system as well as strength training. You don't gain size when you diet...it is impossible to build muscle in a catabolic state...you have to be anabolic to build muscle or to put on fat...meaning you have to have a calorie surplus.

Strength training is crucial to maintaining the muscle mass that you already have...you lose muscle along with fat when you diet...it is inevitable but you can minimize this with strength training and adequate protein intake. Again, don't worry about bulking...you won't at a deficit and really, building muscle doesn't just happen by accident and doing a little resistance work. Bulking muscle requires a surplus and a pretty spot on body building diet and years and years of dedication to the weight room. Just get in there and lift with a good program.

Cyclingbonnie

I think a very important thing to keep in mind is that MFP isn't a plan. It's a tool and a community. We all do different things here. There are different groups that people in the community have created to keep motivated by people with similar goals- like the low carb groups for instance. We are here to support each other, exchange ideas and information, and sometimes just have fun.

That being said, most people on here who have achieved large amounts of weight loss (such as myself) generally have been successful at loss and maintenance by incorporating exercise into their life. You are definitely not consuming enough calories to do that.

I so agree with this. The other benefit (other than obvious physical health benefits) of exercise is it just makes you feel good. Once you are fit enough to really workout the endorphins just make you happy. Even when you really don't want to workout, and you have to push yourself to just do the minimal. When you are done … you feel good. Many people who suffer from depression are able to combat depression with exercise … those who have been medicated are often able to come off medication (doctor's supervision recommended). So … eat a little more, workout, and get happy.