Need Some Intell

samikingsley

Hey Guys,

Wonder if anyone could give me some intell on how this works, how you see progress and what you do to lose the weight.
- Do you just focus on the food?
- Do you excerise?
- See a difference on the scale after a week, as most times it says you'd lose 1.2 lbs a week?
- Does drinking water help?

- What do people find work the best?

- How does the site work or help you be successful (honestly)????

HELP ME!!

Tangerine302

I would say to read and read on the boards. There is so much information. I think you need to focus on a little bit of everything to see progress. Drink water, eat good food, and exercise.

schillewis

I focus on my calories while trying to make better food choice. I don't deprive myself and I write everything down.

I try to exercise every day but typically get in 4 days a week of a brisk walk or DVD.

I don't always see the scale move every week but it hasn't gone up at all either It's as though my weight will hold steady for a bit, then drop 2+ pounds.

This is my first time focusing more on the journey than the destination (how cliche, LOL but it's true). I'm not in a race against time. I'm just finally tired of overeating and hating myself.

So now I don't do that anymore. I make sure I eat enough calories and get exercise. And the weight is coming off. I'll get to goal eventually but so long as I'm doing everything right and the scale continues to creep down...it's all good!

oceanamy2287

I think the two most important things are:
1. Journal
2. Exercise

The journaling is so important, because when you write it down, you realize that it either wasn't as bad as you thought (and you were beating yourself up for nothing) or it was worse than you thought and you need to make some changes.

Exercise, for me, just kind of brings it all full circle. But if you had to choose only one thing to focus on I would recommend to start with just writing down EVERYTHING that goes through your lips.

Amy

NatsukoG

This is the first time I've focussed on diet AND exercise together and it's also the first time I've had any real success in losing weight.

In terms of exercise, a mix of cardio and strength is good and I try to do something at least 6 times per week, even if it is just going for a walk after dinner.

If I don't drink water, I don't lose weight and if my sodium is too high I don't lose weight.

I'd recommend measuring yourself as well as weighing yourself as some weeks I don't lose any weight but I can tell from my clothes that I'm losing inches.

Stick with it and log every morsel you consume - that way you can look back to good and bad weeks and learn from them.

Best of luck :-)

RenVan

Hey Guys,

Wonder if anyone could give me some intell on how this works, how you see progress and what you do to lose the weight.
- Do you just focus on the food?
- Do you excerise?
- See a difference on the scale after a week, as most times it says you'd lose 1.2 lbs a week?
- Does drinking water help?

- What do people find work the best?

- How does the site work or help you be successful (honestly)????

HELP ME!!

Good morning Sami,
You can't just focus on one thing. It's a lifestyle and you need to be committed to every aspect of it in order for it to work.
- Yes, food is a major part of it when you are trying to lose weight. Stay withing your calorie range and you'll do great. A lot of people say they have a hard time with this but if you eat clean, it's really easy.
- And yes, you can't lose weight, tone up and strengthen without exercise. Do what you like to do and you'll succeed, 20-30 min a day is all it takes!
- I recently started focussing on me and my health and in one week, I lost 4 pounds. I does work!
- Yes, water is essential. It keeps you hydrated, prevents muscle cramps and flushes toxins from your body.
- Again, it's a lifestyle change and it's easier than people think.
- If you friend people who are as committed to this site as you are, you will succeed. There are alot of wonderfully supportive people on this site who all have the same goal...a healthy life!

Good luck to you and feel free to friend me.
Renée

frootcat

The scale goes up, the scale goes down. My clothes continue to fit better and better though (or worse and worse, as they grow too large).

This site helps me because it's not just people focused on losing weight-- it's people focused on losing weight, getting fit, and living a more healthy lifestyle. Some people are way ahead of me, and I can use their experience (and pictures! Love the pictures!) for encouragement and inspiration. There are always interesting things to read in the forums, different ideas with their own pros and cons, lots of stuff to think about and research more thoroughly yourself. Take what you can use, leave the rest.

All of it works together-- watching your food (from portion size to eating more healthfully--but not depriving yourself!), exercising, strength training, drinking water. Making sure you're eating ENOUGH! It's great to get some buddies with similar goals and situations to help encourage one another. Sometimes it helps just knowing that someone could peek in at you any time.

If you utilize the site, it will absolutely help you. Merely logging food--or not logging it because you're 'embarrassed'--is not enough--you've got to make some actual changes. But it does get easier, and the tools here make it pretty painless overall.

Good luck.

poshcouture

Hey Guys,

Wonder if anyone could give me some intell on how this works, how you see progress and what you do to lose the weight.
- Do you just focus on the food?
- Do you excerise?
- See a difference on the scale after a week, as most times it says you'd lose 1.2 lbs a week?
- Does drinking water help?

- What do people find work the best?

- How does the site work or help you be successful (honestly)????

HELP ME!!

Yes, food, nutrition rather, is important. In order for you to see the results you want it's gotta be 80% nutrition and 20% excercise. As my coach would say, "You can't exercise away a bad diet." Focus on getting in the right types of food - veggies, protein such as fish, chicken, lean meats; complex carbs like quinoa, lentils, steel cut oats, fruit.

Needless to say, I work out and hard. You can lose weight without workout out but you will need to eat less and your success will be much slower. However, cardio along with strength training is truly the body changer. You'll see results much faster than just dieting alone. Besides! Who wants to just diet?! This is a lifestyle!

To answer your question in regards to the scale. I didn't even get on the scale until after my first 30 days on Turbo Fire. I wanted to "feel" the difference first! After 30 days, yes I lost 15 pounds, but the true motivation was how I was starting to look in my clothes. The scale is eeeeeee-vil - your body is ever changing so you "gain" 2-3 pounds here and there even when you're doing everything right. It's just your body recouping from your strength training and your cardio.

As for water? Two words: DRINK IT! Drink about half of your weight in water. For example - someone who is 200 lbs should drink at least a 100 fluid oz per day.

Motivation is key and MFP as well as the best coaches on FB have helped me stay focused even when I'm thinking I should give up. They motivate me everyday and hold me accountable. The information I have received has helped me adjust and re-adjust my diet and exercise in order to make sure I'm getting the fuel I need to make it through my workouts.

I hope this helps!

robert65ferguson

The most encouraging and important thing to know is that the programme ,if properly followed does work. This programme involves a change of lifestyle. IT IS NOT A DIET. Choosing healthy foods, getting exercise and drinking enough water all play their part. It is a gradual process and NOT A QUICK FIX. Adopting this programme will help you to lose weight and more importantly keep it off. The most important thing to learn is that it demands self discipline and honesty. It is advisable to get medical advice in setting your targets ie from properly qualified people.
After getting a wake up call when diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes I started on the programme and to date have managed to lose more than 35 lbs in 14 months. There have been times when my weight loss seemed to stall. This is to be expected and needs patience until your body readjusts. It is important not to become fixated on what the scales say but to simply stick with the programme. Each one of us has responsibility for what we eat.
There are people on MFP who will help and encourage but you need to exercise discernment. Take time to look at the various topic boards. If weight loss is your priority I suggest you take a look at Azdaks blog where he has an excellent article on weight loss for beginners. If you're serious about taking control then this is the place for you but it does need stickability I wish you well on your journey to better health.

deb62pink

I focus on my calories while trying to make better food choice. I don't deprive myself and I write everything down.

I try to exercise every day but typically get in 4 days a week of a brisk walk or DVD.

I don't always see the scale move every week but it hasn't gone up at all either It's as though my weight will hold steady for a bit, then drop 2+ pounds.

This is my first time focusing more on the journey than the destination (how cliche, LOL but it's true). I'm not in a race against time. I'm just finally tired of overeating and hating myself.

So now I don't do that anymore. I make sure I eat enough calories and get exercise. And the weight is coming off. I'll get to goal eventually but so long as I'm doing everything right and the scale continues to creep down...it's all good!

That is the secret!! I've done the same as you and it's working., I think we wake up one day and realise it's a lifestyle change NOT a diet, that way it's more sustainable and "should" mean that we can finally keep off the weight...

guardian419

I've already thrown out my scale at home. Beating a dead horse I will say focus on everything. Don't look at eating healthy or working out as a 'chore', look at it as an opportunity, and (this is where I messed up before) don't look at logging your food and exercise as an opportunity to beat yourself up, but rather as a learning opportunity at first (as you're adjusting to a diet), and then as a way to show off to everyone how well you're doing.

BuckeyeLife

Hey Guys,

Wonder if anyone could give me some intell on how this works, how you see progress and what you do to lose the weight.
- Do you just focus on the food?
- Do you excerise?
- See a difference on the scale after a week, as most times it says you'd lose 1.2 lbs a week?
- Does drinking water help?

- What do people find work the best?

- How does the site work or help you be successful (honestly)????

HELP ME!!

BEFORE READING ALL THE CRAP BELOW, remember to start out small. Being fit and healthy is a life long mission.It is not a shallow kiddie pool, but it really isn't super deep either. It just is what you make it to be.

Just focus on food? No.
Exercise? Yes
Weekly change on scale? Yes
Water? More than I think you'd believe!
Works best? This is VERY individualized.
Site? It was a key piece of the sparking for me to get back into shape after a few years of being a lazy depressed slob.

I watch what I eat, I am working towards a paleo diet(summary: -garbage processed crap, stick to natural food sources, grains suck). The more I go this way, the more energetic I feel, and my food is just delicious. I don't go hungry, I don't sweat the numbers that much, I eat a lot(3100 cal yesterday, but I worked out hard and still needed to eat another 225 cal to get above my NET total for my BMR, whoops). I do 3xCardio and 2-3xStrength work outs now, I used to do all cardio. You can cardio yourself small, but you will not really develop muscle and you will have to work hard to maintain weight, muscle burns a lot more calories just existing, so if you build muscle it is somewhat easier to maintain. Ultimately, what you eat will effect your body, How you work out and how often will effect it as well.

Drink water. I drink around 1 gallon a day(so much so I don't even record all of it in my MFP journal because I can't recall how many glasses I drank since last log). As you're losing weight, this helps filter out toxins from fat storage. It also is just valuable to your body. If you don't drink water now, you will be surprised at how much water your body will really want. My girlfriend is just now starting to push her water consumption, and she is going through the same thing I did. She cannot seem to feel hydrated enough. I took a few weeks before I got to a point that now I feel hydrated really easy compared to that stage, I took this as a sign that my body really needed the water. I love water.

The number this site gives you for weekly loss is irrelevant. Scale numbers are not important, they are only a measure of a weight loss. You can lose weight through fat or through muscle, or both. I haven't seen much change in my weight over last 2-3 weeks, but I am doing strength training which means retaining a bit more water and I should be burning fat and building muscle. I will be able to tell by my measurements, not so much by my scale. I also FEEL amazing, cardio felt good, but strength training has given me a new "explosive" option in my tennis game.

This is only scratching the surface of this stuff for me. Diet is complex. Working hard is working hard. Water is valuable. The scale isn't as important as lean mass/actual size. Check this out: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

That is a site to paleo, but it still illustrates the point that scales aren't as important as fitness.