Some MFP Basics

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  • danielleeeee
    danielleeeee Posts: 59
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    Great post! I think a lot of people could benefit from reading it as it answers many common questions.
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    Thanks! :flowerforyou:
  • katschi
    katschi Posts: 689 Member
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    ladyhawk, you are such an asset to this site. I love reading your thoughtful and caring posts.
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    You're far too kind, Katschi. Thank you. :blushing:
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    Bump me? Pretty please? :tongue:
  • jacolyncoker123
    jacolyncoker123 Posts: 55
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    I have less than 10lbs to lose, is it okay for my goal to be a lb a week? Or am I going to, pardon my french, screw myself over in the long run?
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    I have less than 10lbs to lose, is it okay for my goal to be a lb a week? Or am I going to, pardon my french, screw myself over in the long run?

    Without knowing much about you or your habits, it's hard to say, but yes, I would say that's too aggressive IMO. Two things will likely occur - you won't lose that quickly, and get discouraged. And you may end up losing muscle, rather than fat. The body (especially for women) prefers to have a cushion. So it's especially important to "coax" those last 10 lbs off, by going slow and focusing on strengthening and increasing muscle tone.

    Don't get too focused on the number on the scale - make sure you're measuring. I would recommend at least dropping down to 1/2 lb and see how that goes. And make sure you're eating most/all of your exercise cals. When you are relatively lean, the only way to get the body to be comfortable burning fat is to let it KNOW it will have enough fuel. So you need a very small deficit, and lots of strength training. Good luck to you!
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    *sigh* I really wish more of the "I'm not hungry" folks would read this - and heed. Why is it easy to understand that "listening to your body" when it tells you to eat 5 donuts is foolish... But NOT understand that listening when it tells you to eat 500 cals in a day is JUST as foolish?

    :sad:
  • runningneo122
    runningneo122 Posts: 6,962 Member
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    *sigh* I really wish more of the "I'm not hungry" folks would read this - and heed. Why is it easy to understand that "listening to your body" when it tells you to eat 5 donuts is foolish... But NOT understand that listening when it tells you to eat 500 cals in a day is JUST as foolish?

    :sad:

    I agree 100%. I eat on schedule (every 3 hours) and don't "wait" until I "feel" hungry. Funny how I don't have trouble cleaning my plate. Weird.
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    *sigh* I really wish more of the "I'm not hungry" folks would read this - and heed. Why is it easy to understand that "listening to your body" when it tells you to eat 5 donuts is foolish... But NOT understand that listening when it tells you to eat 500 cals in a day is JUST as foolish?

    :sad:

    I agree 100%. I eat on schedule (every 3 hours) and don't "wait" until I "feel" hungry. Funny how I don't have trouble cleaning my plate. Weird.

    You're a peach, Neo :bigsmile:
  • KatyG0409
    KatyG0409 Posts: 74 Member
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    Great post! I have a hard time meeting my calories but I have tried much harder lately. Today was much better than the past few, and my exercise was up pretty high as well. I have made sure to eat several snack and my "6 small meals" so to speak. I eat as much as I can at one time. I add in extra walnuts or pecans here and there. I even had two protein shakes today! I am meeting my protein, which is what a dear friend of mine who is a personal trainer and nutritionist said is most important, so long as I am eating at least 1400 calories a day period. I know this is to aid in my body's processes post workout. I hate feeling guilty for not eating those extra cals though! I do have 108 lbs left to lose though so perhaps this deficit is okay right now? I mean I cannot make myself eat anymore and I am increasing my intake as it is. I also drink tons of water. I guess I am really just looking for an opinion, because I definitely want to lose the weight and lose it right.
  • Celo24
    Celo24 Posts: 566 Member
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    *sigh* I really wish more of the "I'm not hungry" folks would read this - and heed. Why is it easy to understand that "listening to your body" when it tells you to eat 5 donuts is foolish... But NOT understand that listening when it tells you to eat 500 cals in a day is JUST as foolish?

    :sad:

    Amen!! Great post!!
  • tgh1914
    tgh1914 Posts: 1,036 Member
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    *sigh* I really wish more of the "I'm not hungry" folks would read this - and heed. Why is it easy to understand that "listening to your body" when it tells you to eat 5 donuts is foolish... But NOT understand that listening when it tells you to eat 500 cals in a day is JUST as foolish?

    :sad:

    I agree 100%. I eat on schedule (every 3 hours) and don't "wait" until I "feel" hungry. Funny how I don't have trouble cleaning my plate. Weird.

    You know what would be cool is, not only to make this a sticky post, but have Mike create something where if you're cals are consistently low then it forwards you links like this one - force feed the education. HA, we can dream right? :laugh:
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    Great post! I have a hard time meeting my calories but I have tried much harder lately. Today was much better than the past few, and my exercise was up pretty high as well. I have made sure to eat several snack and my "6 small meals" so to speak. I eat as much as I can at one time. I add in extra walnuts or pecans here and there. I even had two protein shakes today! I am meeting my protein, which is what a dear friend of mine who is a personal trainer and nutritionist said is most important, so long as I am eating at least 1400 calories a day period. I know this is to aid in my body's processes post workout. I hate feeling guilty for not eating those extra cals though! I do have 108 lbs left to lose though so perhaps this deficit is okay right now? I mean I cannot make myself eat anymore and I am increasing my intake as it is. I also drink tons of water. I guess I am really just looking for an opinion, because I definitely want to lose the weight and lose it right.

    Protein is definitely important (as are carbs and fats). That is critical to maintaining muscle.

    I don't know your stats, but if you have that much still to lose, you can likely withstand a SLIGHTLY greater deficit. There are two things you want to aim for - quality and a minimum. The minimum is probably around that 1400 - but we're talking 1400 NET. That means if you burn 500 in exercise, you want to eat 1900 to get to a net of 1400 (1900 - 500 = 1400). That is pretty low, but again you can probably handle that. The key is to stay within the range that your body feels comfortable burning fat, AND ensuring that you're feeding the muscle and maintaining energy levels so that you can put your all into your workouts.

    As for quality, if you are well under some days, those days you need to make absolutely sure you are getting high quality, nutrient dense foods. Not processed, empty cals. This will help ensure that you are getting quality nutrition - as one of the key problems with eating too little cals is that your nutrition suffers and you're not providing all of the macros (protein/fat/carbs) and micros (vitamins/minerals) your body needs.

    Nuts are great for boosting cals. Some other things - more protein, milk, cheese, natural oils (olive/canola), fruit.

    And lastly, remember that as you lose weight, your cal goals will decrease a bit. But also remember that you will not be able to maintain a high deficit. So it becomes more important to keep nutrition in line. Good luck to you! :flowerforyou:
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    *sigh* I really wish more of the "I'm not hungry" folks would read this - and heed. Why is it easy to understand that "listening to your body" when it tells you to eat 5 donuts is foolish... But NOT understand that listening when it tells you to eat 500 cals in a day is JUST as foolish?

    :sad:

    I agree 100%. I eat on schedule (every 3 hours) and don't "wait" until I "feel" hungry. Funny how I don't have trouble cleaning my plate. Weird.

    You know what would be cool is, not only to make this a sticky post, but have Mike create something where if you're cals are consistently low then it forwards you links like this one - force feed the education. HA, we can dream right? :laugh:

    :laugh: If only
  • emtgirl14
    emtgirl14 Posts: 87 Member
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    Bump:)
  • KatyG0409
    KatyG0409 Posts: 74 Member
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    Thank you so much! I will keep working towards eating at least most of my exercise cals. It may take me a while, but I will get there. I am currently burning between 500 and 900 ish a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
    Great post! I have a hard time meeting my calories but I have tried much harder lately. Today was much better than the past few, and my exercise was up pretty high as well. I have made sure to eat several snack and my "6 small meals" so to speak. I eat as much as I can at one time. I add in extra walnuts or pecans here and there. I even had two protein shakes today! I am meeting my protein, which is what a dear friend of mine who is a personal trainer and nutritionist said is most important, so long as I am eating at least 1400 calories a day period. I know this is to aid in my body's processes post workout. I hate feeling guilty for not eating those extra cals though! I do have 108 lbs left to lose though so perhaps this deficit is okay right now? I mean I cannot make myself eat anymore and I am increasing my intake as it is. I also drink tons of water. I guess I am really just looking for an opinion, because I definitely want to lose the weight and lose it right.

    Protein is definitely important (as are carbs and fats). That is critical to maintaining muscle.

    I don't know your stats, but if you have that much still to lose, you can likely withstand a SLIGHTLY greater deficit. There are two things you want to aim for - quality and a minimum. The minimum is probably around that 1400 - but we're talking 1400 NET. That means if you burn 500 in exercise, you want to eat 1900 to get to a net of 1400 (1900 - 500 = 1400). That is pretty low, but again you can probably handle that. The key is to stay within the range that your body feels comfortable burning fat, AND ensuring that you're feeding the muscle and maintaining energy levels so that you can put your all into your workouts.

    As for quality, if you are well under some days, those days you need to make absolutely sure you are getting high quality, nutrient dense foods. Not processed, empty cals. This will help ensure that you are getting quality nutrition - as one of the key problems with eating too little cals is that your nutrition suffers and you're not providing all of the macros (protein/fat/carbs) and micros (vitamins/minerals) your body needs.

    Nuts are great for boosting cals. Some other things - more protein, milk, cheese, natural oils (olive/canola), fruit.

    And lastly, remember that as you lose weight, your cal goals will decrease a bit. But also remember that you will not be able to maintain a high deficit. So it becomes more important to keep nutrition in line. Good luck to you! :flowerforyou:
  • runningneo122
    runningneo122 Posts: 6,962 Member
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    Big bump for the weekend newbies!! Good job, ladyhawk!!
  • yoghurtand
    yoghurtand Posts: 119
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    MFP does not allow for a daily cal goal below 1200. This number was provided by WHO as the lower limit for the average woman to receive adequate nutrition each day. The lower limit for men is 1500 calories. Unless you are much smaller than average, or are under the care of a professional who has provided a specific diet, attempting a regular intake lower than this is asking for trouble.

    Just so you know, MFP does allow you to do this, but you have to set it yourself.
  • jane77
    jane77 Posts: 489
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    Bump thans great post I'll be sending the link around for sure very readable easy and right on :smile:

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