What's different about myfitnesspal.com
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peterdt
Posts: 820 Member
This post is what I love about myfitnesspal.com so far. I was inspired by the list Qatsi made and thought to make my own similar list. Thank you Qatsi!
I realize I’ve only been on it for 5.5 days and lost 5 pounds. It easy to be excited to begin with. But its different this time. Never has been going on a “diet” ever been so effortless for me. I dare say it is even fun entering the foods. On all other diets I’ve ever went on even after 5 days I would find myself really struggling to keep going. So far, I have not had that feeling at all using myfitnesspal.com. Why? The details are below…
1. Meditate for 5-20 minutes as soon as I get up. This helps me to be more aware of the day and it’s moments. The problem is that often I don’t do this and jump right into the day. Part of good meditation practice is to not get down on yourself about not meditating enough, just be aware and try to do it the next day as you have planned or just do it at anytime as a few moments allow. Something is better than nothing.
2. Exercise early in the day. 45 minutes or more. Going to the gym even though it takes time to drive back and forth seems better than hitting the treadmill at home. Bottom line is that somehow I love exercise. I watch videos on my laptop, listen to books on Kindle to help pass the time, and sometimes meditate (it can be done).
3. Recording all the food on myfitnesspal. This give me a daily goal. Nice that it does not tell me what to eat, just calories to stay within considering my goals. My goal is 2 pounds per week. The daily goal helps me keep in check what I eat. Always, thinking how many calories this food item is when in the moment of decision and how and how many I have left for the day helps me make a good decision. At the very least is makes me just take a very small portion of something I want cutting my usual old calorie intake significantly.
4. Exercise allows me to cheat on some bad foods when I want. Especially when exercising it gives me some leeway in having a couple “bad foods” per day in small portions. So far it has created a nice balance for me in that I can still eat pizza, chips and cheese, etc., but in smaller portions. I can “use” the extra calories I’ve saved especially from exercising. At night even after dinner I’ll over have 300-400 calories left over. That gives me a chance to have a snack that I really enjoy. I feel very satisfied doing that and don’t feel that I am depriving myself.
5. myfitnesspal.com is FREE. Why is this important. Even if I fail on it I won’t feel as bad as when I am on a paid program. When you go off your diet when on a paid program you feel that you are just throwing your money away. With myfitnesspal.com I feel that I can get back on track much easier. There is much less pressure and easier to recover after a failure.
6. Seeking alternatives to food for stress relief. I go to a local cigar club when I want to get away sometimes. I work from my house which is why I love going to the gym to workout to just get out for awhile. While smoking cigars can also create unhealthy addiction I just smoke one and enjoy chatting with the people down at the posh club for an hour. Looking for some other healthier stress relief outlets like golfing, poker night, others. I just moved to the area so don’t know many people here yet. Anyway, doing these things somehow this relaxes me.
7. Dealing with restlessness and boredom. Sometime I just feel this hole inside that needs to be filled. This is kind of a personal thing but I’ve had it since I was a kid. In the last few years meditation (non-religious based from Jon Kabat-Zinn) has helped tremendously with this. I was always trying “figure out” this feeling but realized trying to “figure it out” was not productive or effective after listening to Jon Kabat-Zinn. I suspect that other tyring to lose weight have a similar problem. Many are probably not even aware of it or if they are aware of it hesitate to talk about it since it is likely so personal. They just turn to food to deal with any kind of negative feeling automatically. But to lose weight and keep it off I think restlessness and feeling of boredom must be addressed.
Conclusion
Right now I have a lot of excitement just starting this myfitnesspal and also gotten good results so far. I know this feeling will wear off with time. But for now those are some of my initial thoughts just starting out. I will add to this list and make modifications as I go.
I realize I’ve only been on it for 5.5 days and lost 5 pounds. It easy to be excited to begin with. But its different this time. Never has been going on a “diet” ever been so effortless for me. I dare say it is even fun entering the foods. On all other diets I’ve ever went on even after 5 days I would find myself really struggling to keep going. So far, I have not had that feeling at all using myfitnesspal.com. Why? The details are below…
1. Meditate for 5-20 minutes as soon as I get up. This helps me to be more aware of the day and it’s moments. The problem is that often I don’t do this and jump right into the day. Part of good meditation practice is to not get down on yourself about not meditating enough, just be aware and try to do it the next day as you have planned or just do it at anytime as a few moments allow. Something is better than nothing.
2. Exercise early in the day. 45 minutes or more. Going to the gym even though it takes time to drive back and forth seems better than hitting the treadmill at home. Bottom line is that somehow I love exercise. I watch videos on my laptop, listen to books on Kindle to help pass the time, and sometimes meditate (it can be done).
3. Recording all the food on myfitnesspal. This give me a daily goal. Nice that it does not tell me what to eat, just calories to stay within considering my goals. My goal is 2 pounds per week. The daily goal helps me keep in check what I eat. Always, thinking how many calories this food item is when in the moment of decision and how and how many I have left for the day helps me make a good decision. At the very least is makes me just take a very small portion of something I want cutting my usual old calorie intake significantly.
4. Exercise allows me to cheat on some bad foods when I want. Especially when exercising it gives me some leeway in having a couple “bad foods” per day in small portions. So far it has created a nice balance for me in that I can still eat pizza, chips and cheese, etc., but in smaller portions. I can “use” the extra calories I’ve saved especially from exercising. At night even after dinner I’ll over have 300-400 calories left over. That gives me a chance to have a snack that I really enjoy. I feel very satisfied doing that and don’t feel that I am depriving myself.
5. myfitnesspal.com is FREE. Why is this important. Even if I fail on it I won’t feel as bad as when I am on a paid program. When you go off your diet when on a paid program you feel that you are just throwing your money away. With myfitnesspal.com I feel that I can get back on track much easier. There is much less pressure and easier to recover after a failure.
6. Seeking alternatives to food for stress relief. I go to a local cigar club when I want to get away sometimes. I work from my house which is why I love going to the gym to workout to just get out for awhile. While smoking cigars can also create unhealthy addiction I just smoke one and enjoy chatting with the people down at the posh club for an hour. Looking for some other healthier stress relief outlets like golfing, poker night, others. I just moved to the area so don’t know many people here yet. Anyway, doing these things somehow this relaxes me.
7. Dealing with restlessness and boredom. Sometime I just feel this hole inside that needs to be filled. This is kind of a personal thing but I’ve had it since I was a kid. In the last few years meditation (non-religious based from Jon Kabat-Zinn) has helped tremendously with this. I was always trying “figure out” this feeling but realized trying to “figure it out” was not productive or effective after listening to Jon Kabat-Zinn. I suspect that other tyring to lose weight have a similar problem. Many are probably not even aware of it or if they are aware of it hesitate to talk about it since it is likely so personal. They just turn to food to deal with any kind of negative feeling automatically. But to lose weight and keep it off I think restlessness and feeling of boredom must be addressed.
Conclusion
Right now I have a lot of excitement just starting this myfitnesspal and also gotten good results so far. I know this feeling will wear off with time. But for now those are some of my initial thoughts just starting out. I will add to this list and make modifications as I go.
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Replies
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Excellent list! You are going into this with a great mental attitude - and that is as important as watching the calories and exercising.
You are right in that a big challenge is to be able to stay excited about this journey once the novelty has worn off and it becomes routine. But I can tell you - once you've been doing this for a while, and you start to see real results (and OTHER people start to notice those results), the momentum will feed your motivation. Even though I know i still have a long way to go, I'm more excited now than I was when I started here back in November.
Welcome to MFP, and congratulations on the first of what's going to be many victories for you in the weeks and months ahead!0
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