New member from the corrupt state of Illinois

mpizzle421

Been using mfp for about 40 days... I've found it to be an invaluable tool for keeping myself organized and accountable.

I honestly think that the green = good, red = bad part of the app (calories) helps keep my diet in line. It's probably simple (yet effective) training psychology, but I go out of my way to avoid bringing my calories into "the red zone". The net calories concept does a good job of tying exercise into the equation. I find myself going out of my way to exercise during the day in order to avoid finding myself calorie limited at night.

I tend to be a yo-yo dieting fool. Gain and lose, gain and lose. The gaining part, unfortunately, tends to be more predominant for me than the losing part. Tends to be 6 months to multiple years of eat'n and livin stupid, supplemented by about 3 months or so of weight loss. Atkins, low cal, whole foods only (which I would say is the healthiest lifestyle choice by far for me) has been applied. Inevitably my fast food lifestyle comes back and I get lazy.

I read a pretty good book (even if the name is slightly bro-tastic and silly) called burn the fat/feed the muscle that did a pretty good job of educating me on the benefits of protein and strength training (especially while losing weight), plus I'm a mutant and actually enjoy lifting weights. That being said, I've been incorporating weight training the entire time along with the cardio (which I find to be much more difficult personally). I should also note that when I said I enjoy weight training, the exception is leg day. Squats = heart goes thump,thump,thump,thump. Being > 30, I've also learned the hard way that trying to be a viking in the gym and "lift to failure" every set just doesn't work for me. My muscles seem up for the challenge, but my joints/ligaments/tendons seem a less gung-ho.

Anyhow, just thought I would see what the community is all about. Thanks for reading!