What are the main pitfalls for a beginner?

dennis_n

In the past I started doing exercise without changing my diet much. I saw no results and I got discouraged and stopped.
Now that I found MFP I hope I can change that, by closely monitoring my intake on top of some everyday exercise .
I'm setting a goal of losing 1.5lbs a week and I'm wondering if I'm aiming too high for a beginner.
I'm afraid that my body will fight me with super low metabolism and I'll get discouraged again by seeing no results.
I don't want to stop this time. I want to take this all the way. I guess my biggest fear is getting discouraged, and not developing a good habit.
So I'm asking the more experienced losers in this forum, if there is anything I should watch for as a beginner.
I'm 5.5' 195lbs, currently set on 1430cal intake a day, (after deducting 300cal by exercise). Not feeling starving yet, but not feeling full either.
Any comments are appreciated.

kmalacho

One of the biggest mistakes newbies make is overestimating exercise and underestimating calories eaten. MFP tends to overestimate calories burned during exercise, and we often overestimate our exertion level. Weighing and measuring and logging all of your food is the key to getting the fullest benefit from MFP. Many people, including myself, find that they can't eat back all of their exercise calories and lose weight effectively, probably due to inaccuracies in food and exercise estimation.

A food scale and a heart rate monitor are some of the best early purchases you can make.

rsclause

Log log log - you really need good numbers to see what is working. Step back after a week or so and start looking at the trends. Don't get all caught up in fluctuation in weight each day. When you cheat you only cheat yourself. It isn't required but exercise makes this work a lot better for me. Good luck. It work well for me and I am maintaining now for two months and have quit logging to see if I have this whipped.

rsclause

One of the biggest mistakes newbies make is overestimating exercise and underestimating calories eaten. MFP tends to overestimate calories burned during exercise, and we often overestimate our exertion level. Weighing and measuring and logging all of your food is the key to getting the fullest benefit from MFP. Many people, including myself, find that they can't eat back all of their exercise calories and lose weight effectively, probably due to inaccuracies in food and exercise estimation.

A food scale and a heart rate monitor are some of the best early purchases you can make.

A logging Wi-Fi scale is one of my must haves too, love watching that graph go down each month or week.

StaciMarie1974

I started (this time!) at 178.5 just over 7 months ago. I'm 5'5.5", 39 years old, female. Just for comparison. I can share my 'story'. Since our stats are similar, it might help you. I've tried this many times before. Get started, do well, then fall by the wayside. Maybe I didn't want it enough before, I don't know. This time is 'different' somehow though.

Starting in late December I ate in the 1400-1600 range, and made efforts to increase my activity as well. Overall this worked out to be about a 500-700/day deficit. I focused on getting plenty of protein & a variety of fruits & veggies & more water. These are pitfall areas for me. Identify your weaknesses and work on them.

I didn't concentrate on 'exercise' as I'd had issues with that in the past. Instead I focused on just doing more things overall that were active. I use an activity tracker and made sure to get 10k steps per day - sometimes higher but always at least 10k. I set goals and shared them with others. To get my steps sometimes I'd walk in the neighborhood, sometime on my treadmill, and sometimes just running in place watching Netflix on my computer during the lunch hour at work.

As for food, I weighed everything solid. Food scale at home and work. It doesn't take much time, and once you get into a rhythm its very simple. Most people probably eat 80% of the same food on a regular basis and the MFP app is great for that as it brings up your recent entries. I do tend to plan out my day in the morning then edit as needed. That keeps me from getting to 4:00pm and having an 'oh my gosh what can I eat with only 200 calories left?' And by starting with lean meat & veggies & fruit it made it easier, I think, to stay in a reduced calorie range. Fruits get a bad rap, but they're not all high calorie. At least not for a 'serving'. We tend to overthink serving sizes, so the food scale helps there also.

As of this morning I'm down 39.5 pounds. A few weeks ago I scaled back my deficit, now aiming for 250 a day so I'm eating more.

As you lose weight your body will burn less. Ways to address this include increasing activity/intensity or scaling back your deficit. What's right just depends on you & your life.

rileyleigh

By far the biggest mistake people make are overestimating their exercise calorie burns, and underestimating the food calories they eat. So to avoid those pitfalls you should:

1 - Not trust the number of calories that MFP says you burn during a workout. I would trust about 50% of whatever it says, meaning that if it says you burn 400 calories, feel free to eat about 200 of those safely.

2- Make sure you use a food scale to accurately weigh all of your food. Do not guess on your portion sizes, especially not when first starting. Then use the right database entries from MFP. Avoid entries that have 0 confirmations, or that say generic or homemade in the title. Always input your food in grams or oz.

Then just stick with it. You won't lose weight in 1 day, or even 1 week, or maybe even 1 month, but you will lose it eventually.

Branstin

My advice is to take some time and read this link and all of the links within it. It is long but well worth the time investment:


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

scrittrice

One of the biggest mistakes newbies make is overestimating exercise and underestimating calories eaten.

I agree, but I also think people make kind of the opposite mistake: They go all out and exhaust themselves and feel like crap, so it doesn't seem worth the effort and they quit. Slow and steady is the only way to go.

cajuntank

Thinking that everything has to be perfect (you have to eat perfect, exercise perfect, etc...) to accomplish anything. Guess what, we're not perfect. Shoot for the best you can do and don't freak if you have the occasional "hiccup".

farway

By far the biggest mistake people make are overestimating their exercise calorie burns, and underestimating the food calories they eat. So to avoid those pitfalls you should:

1 - Not trust the number of calories that MFP says you burn during a workout. I would trust about 50% of whatever it says, meaning that if it says you burn 400 calories, feel free to eat about 200 of those safely.

2- Make sure you use a food scale to accurately weigh all of your food. Do not guess on your portion sizes, especially not when first starting. Then use the right database entries from MFP. Avoid entries that have 0 confirmations, or that say generic or homemade in the title. Always input your food in grams or oz.

Then just stick with it. You won't lose weight in 1 day, or even 1 week, or maybe even 1 month, but you will lose it eventually.

As above, weigh your food, ignore the volume entries such as one cup, large apple etc, and halve the MFP exercise calories

Kalikel

Not really wanting to do it.

Every fat person wants to be thin. Not all want to do the work required to lose the weight.

You cannot have your cake and eat it, too. You can be fat or you can do the long, long, long, hard work of getting rid of your fat.

You need to decide if you really want to go through the process of losing weight. If you do, if you are actually determined to do it, nothing will be able to stop you. You'll be happier losing because you want to do that. If you don't really WANT to do all that work, just don't. Eat whatever you want, all the time and be happy with that. Don't make yourself miserable feeling like you should be losing when you don't want to lose.

Once you make a decision and decide to just be whatever you choose, you'll be much happier.

seltzermint555

Don't go nuts with exercise UNTIL you have a handle on your calories. I'd say just do some light walking, jogging, and/or any other activities you're already used to -- if you run or lift weights normally, great, but if you don't then I just think your first few weeks on MFP is the ideal time to start. I have seen a lot of people go 100% on their diet and exercise at the same time and self-sabotage by being hungrier than usual (due to the exercise) but eating drastically less...so they fail. Work it in gradually.

Don't get discouraged by a loss of 1 lb in a week. It may be that you need to adjust your activity level or you may just lose slowly. 1 lb a week is still 52 lb in a year! I see a lot of posts by people who are comparing themselves to contestants on Biggest Loser, or people they know who are on fad diets seeing 8 lb/week losses. It's very important to remember that many of us who have had success with this method have lost slowly. I started morbidly obese and still have never lost more than 6.5 lb in one month, even in the beginning. I consider 88 lb in 16 months to be excellent, even though my loss has slowed dramatically as I approach/enter a healthy weight range...but judging by a lot of threads here, people are very disappointed by that rate of success.

This may not be a popular opinion here but I think a lot of people choose lightly active when they are more sedentary. Some people say "sedentary = bedridden...I have a 2 yr old to chase, so I'm active" I think that it is better to choose a less active setting and then add in exercise, but that is my personal opinion. I will add that I have 2 friends who joined this site, chose active setting, and did not lose weight...then switched it to sedentary, still entered their exercise, and have lost at almost the textbook rate they are hoping to (i.e., 1.5 or 1 lb per week) since then.

I wish you the best!!

jkal1979

The best advice I can think of is don't view it as an all or nothing deal. If you slip up, have a bad day, or go over your calories just move on and keep going. And don't wait till the next day, get back on track with the next meal or snack.

nxd10

Not logging accurately.

Measuring and weighing are pretty critical when you first start to get a good sense of portion size. You can get visual portion size guides online by googling 'portion size' and looking at images.

It is also critical to log EVERYTHING, not just the big stuff. When I add in the dot of mayo or swig of olive oil or tablespoon of chopped nuts or slice of cheese it adds 300-500 calories to my day. That will wipe out your deficit.

FINALLY . . . giving up. Losing weight doesn't happen over night. Our weight fluctuates every day. We're typically set to lose a pound a day. It can get discouraging to go a week or two and see no change. But over weeks and months the weight goes away if you just keep at it. Around every 8 weeks I'd want to snap my fingers and just have all the weight be gone. But it doesn't work that way. It does, however, work. It's not hard. It just takes persistence.

taunto

the absolutely MOST important thing is persistence. You will have bad days where you will eat too much or binge etc. Shake it off and start again tomorrow. You will find yourself at an all you can eat buffet. Shake it off and start again tomorrow. You may go outside for a run, get too tired after 1 block of running. Shake it off and start again tomorrow and run a little further.

The main thing is, never give up. Because the day you give up, you will find yourself, a year or so later, wondering why you didn't continued. You could have been done by now and had been at your goal weight.

Try new things. Try different workouts. Nobody would and should like the same workout. Eat different things in variety. Just log your food diary religiously. Be smart about your goals. Don't try to have too high expectations, be reasonable with yourself and your body. And most importantly, have fun. This entire process of getting fit is an experience. Enjoy the learning process and enjoy the new body you are developing

nxd10

Just for the record, I disagree about the exercise accuracy. It worked fine for me, though I mostly just walk, bicycle, and garden. I feel completely comfortable eating any exercise calories back I want.

I did buy a fitbit when I hit maintenance. It also worked just fine for calorie estimates.

sheedy17

keep at it and dont give up, it gets easier

seltzermint555

Just for the record, I disagree about the exercise accuracy. It worked fine for me, though I mostly just walk, bicycle, and garden. I feel completely comfortable eating any exercise calories back I want.

I did buy a fitbit when I hit maintenance. It also worked just fine for calorie estimates.

I tend to agree with you, although I haven't tried a fitbit or anything like that.

I've heard some stories on these forums though about people who log "2 hours hiking carrying 20 lb pack" for leisurely carrying their baby around the mall for 2 hours with a 20 minute food court break in the middle. Makes sense that they would not have a very accurate calorie burn.

reachingforarainbow

Don't go nuts with exercise UNTIL you have a handle on your calories. I'd say just do some light walking, jogging, and/or any other activities you're already used to -- if you run or lift weights normally, great, but if you don't then I just think your first few weeks on MFP is the ideal time to start. I have seen a lot of people go 100% on their diet and exercise at the same time and self-sabotage by being hungrier than usual (due to the exercise) but eating drastically less...so they fail. Work it in gradually.

Don't get discouraged by a loss of 1 lb in a week. It may be that you need to adjust your activity level or you may just lose slowly. 1 lb a week is still 52 lb in a year! I see a lot of posts by people who are comparing themselves to contestants on Biggest Loser, or people they know who are on fad diets seeing 8 lb/week losses. It's very important to remember that many of us who have had success with this method have lost slowly. I started morbidly obese and still have never lost more than 6.5 lb in one month, even in the beginning. I consider 88 lb in 16 months to be excellent, even though my loss has slowed dramatically as I approach/enter a healthy weight range...but judging by a lot of threads here, people are very disappointed by that rate of success.

This may not be a popular opinion here but I think a lot of people choose lightly active when they are more sedentary. Some people say "sedentary = bedridden...I have a 2 yr old to chase, so I'm active" I think that it is better to choose a less active setting and then add in exercise, but that is my personal opinion. I will add that I have 2 friends who joined this site, chose active setting, and did not lose weight...then switched it to sedentary, still entered their exercise, and have lost at almost the textbook rate they are hoping to (i.e., 1.5 or 1 lb per week) since then.

I wish you the best!!

That is my theory too, plus I know my physical activity varies so much from day to day that I would rather log my excercise than have it added in for me.

777Gemma888

In the past I started doing exercise without changing my diet much. I saw no results and I got discouraged and stopped.
Now that I found MFP I hope I can change that, by closely monitoring my intake on top of some everyday exercise .
I'm setting a goal of losing 1.5lbs a week and I'm wondering if I'm aiming too high for a beginner.
I'm afraid that my body will fight me with super low metabolism and I'll get discouraged again by seeing no results.
I don't want to stop this time. I want to take this all the way. I guess my biggest fear is getting discouraged, and not developing a good habit.
So I'm asking the more experienced losers in this forum, if there is anything I should watch for as a beginner.
I'm 5.5' 195lbs, currently set on 1430cal intake a day, (after deducting 300cal by exercise). Not feeling starving yet, but not feeling full either.
Any comments are appreciated.

I am fairly certain other members will chime in on your provided stats, so I will simply suggest to start slow. Do not be tempted to do too much, thinking to speed up your losses.

When my sister and I initially started, there were neighbours who'd thought to run by us. They were in the 180lbs category, obviously feeling comparatively trimmer than our 280+ lbs selves. Granted, before we'd started logging here on MFP, I had lost 88lbs and my sister 91 lbs. We were huge and chose to walk. First for 1 hour and then walking became therapeutic > our walks got understandably longer [ very early in the morning and after dinner]. Our fellow morning and evening workout neighbours injured themselves and lost momentum. Being as large as we were, we'd lost a lot of weight between November 2012 and January 2013, and they were still at their starting weights.

My point > Do you. Choose a plan and stick to it. Postponing your scheduled workout or being too flexible with your diet today is you yesterday. You do not want to be in the shell you're in now, so why put that body on a pedestal. BE selfish.


PLEASE READ and APPLY the advise given via this link to your regimen as best you can: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

** To those of you who despise seeing the "Sexypants" link ~ tough. It works!

dennis_n

Thank you for the advice everyone. Its very helpful! As far as not depending on the full calories spend on exercise, I totally understand and I won't. At this point I'm using about half those calories at most.
Right now I have a wall to get over, that is low energy, and craving for sweets! My body is fighting back! But hey, I'm having an average 0.2lb drop per day so far, so I'm happy.