New Start!!

jes0704

Hello everyone!!,

Today was my first day on myfitnesspal and I am loving it already I was on weight watchers on and off for the past 4 years. The first time I lost 43lbs but then gained it all back. I need to try something else. I am not liking the new program and its just not working for me this time.

First question, I found it weird that after you worked out it gave you the calories you burned back into the calories you eat. Are you suppose to eat all those calories that was just added? I had 660 left and then I burned 550 and it gave me a total of 1200. That seems like a lot more to eat. I am willing to do anything at the point. I would like to lose 30lbs for my first goal but 50lbs for my overall goal.

Jesica

Bethany28

Hi and welcome!

You are supposed to eat those calories back, but make sure they are healthy choices. Such as extra veggies with dinner, or some almonds, or maybe a piece of fruit. Here are some helpful links....

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again

beckusjane

You may have already seen this message. I put it as a blog on my page. I truly think this helps when people feel like they are stuck and not sure what to do to continue. I dont want you to give up. I KNOW you can do this:) I also know there is strength in numbers so feel free to message me anytime if you are having issues throughout the day. I can check in daily with you if you would like:)

Just so you know, this may turn into a novel:) And dont go strictly by any of this. What works for one person may not work for someone else. We did a "Get Fit, Get Healthy" challenge at my work for 8 weeks. I lost about 22 lbs. and 5% of my body fat. We had to do certain things to get points for the challenge. These are the things we needed to do:

*64 oz. of water each day. This does not include coffee, juices or kool-aid. Now you can have 64 oz. + juices but you must drink 64 oz. When you do drink juices, they have to be 100% juice. Easy enough right? Grape juice, apple juice, orange juice. Tomato juice too but the sodium is ridiculous in it. I'm sure if you want some of that it would be ok for a change. Just dont make it your only juice.

*7 hours or more of sleep. This can be hard if you have small children or just a hectic schedule. If you are able to lie down for a nap during the day, you can count that, but it is much better if you can get 7 hrs straight.

*Eat breakfast within 2 hrs of waking up. This is a hard one. Some people just cant stand eating first thing in the morning. I usually grab something quick like an apple or a banana.

*5 servings of fruits/veggies a day. Pretty straight forward. Again this is where your juices come in. You can use 4 oz. of fruit juice as a serving of fruit. For the record, jelly beans are not a fruit even if they are fruit flavored.

* 210 minutes of cardio a week. Now you can get this walking, biking, swimming, yardwork (raking and push mowing count) snow shoveling is a BIG one but obviously it will be a few months til we can do that again and I dont mind a bit!! Now it doesnt matter how you break this down as long as you do a minimum of 10 minutes for any time you are counting it. You can do more than 210 minutes of course if your schedule allows.

*Toning with free weights or stretch bands 3 times a week for 10 minutes a piece. You can definitely do more than 3 times. That is only the minimum. Sometimes I will use my free weight and incorporate them into my aerobic routines.

That's it. Those are the simple rules I am following and the weight is coming off. You dont want it to fall off all at once. If it does, then you're doing something drastic and the chances of sticking with it are slim. Working it off slowly is the best ticket. Making small changes makes it easier to become lifestyle changes not temporary fixes.

Also, I tend to stay away from white flour. You can eat breads, potatoes and pasta in moderate amounts but it is much better for you if you eat whole wheat breads and pastas or sweet potatoes. Dont get worried about the fact that there are about as many carbs in whole wheat pasta as there is in the regular. It's better for you~trust me!!

Another trick that helps? If you have time, measure out a serving of your snacks. Use ziplock baggies and have them ready to grab and go. I usually have pretzels, animal crackers stuff like that ready so that I dont have to think about it. If I just try to sit with a bag of pretzels, pretty soon Ive eaten half the bag but if I have a true serving size packaged, I know when to stop.

If the idea of this process is overwhelming, dont try to change everything at once. Maybe work on 5 fruits/veggies and once you have that figured out, then try 64 oz of water. Keep adding a step to it til you are on your way to healthier choices.

Good luck. Hope this helps:)

Becca

_Virginia_

Hi Jes,

Welcome to the neighborhood!
You have an excelent question. I too would like to know the answer to that one. I'll keep looking in to see if someone can give us a good answer. Sorry I couldn't answer this one for you.:frown:

kylakesgal

The answer is yes....since mfp already creates the deficit for us, we just have to follow it. I've tried eating some of the exercise calories back because I was a bit scared of eating that much and now I eat nearly all of them back! Eating them back gives me the best weight loss. Eat to lose....now how much fun is that? Best of luck to you:) You can do it~