What are some mistake you made...

TracyAnn90

What are some mistakes you made in the beginning or just things you did not do that you wish you would have? I am still pretty new to this but my biggest regret was not taking measurements when I started my new lifestyle.

myfitnessnmhoy

- Not starting with more weights and less cardio. When I started out, I wanted to do exercises that burned the most calories NOW. I lost the weight, and since a lot of my exercise is cycling in hilly terrain, my body fat percentage is actually pretty good, but I'm finding it a real struggle getting my core up to strength, probably because I haven't been maintaining it and I've lost a good bit of muscle upstairs along with the fat.

- Not balancing my diet sooner. I spent a long time being hungry all the time. Too many carbs, not enough protein was the culprit. Getting my macros balanced out was like an overnight revelation - suddenly my calorie goal was a lot easier to stay under in fact, sometimes hard to even meet), and I was less hungry and more energetic.

- Not getting baseline measurements (like you) or taking pictures of the "before me" to compare to. Measurements includes the body fat percentage measurement I should have done so I could measure progress in that area as well.

DrMAvDPhD

Blindly accepting the 1200/day calorie plan. I hope I didn't do too much damage by sticking with that for over a month! I lost just as much weight when I upped my calories to 1500+, don't know what I starved myself for so long.

DawnEH612

Not being aware of the need to eat atleast my basal metabolic rate (BMR) in net calories each day. I went with the standard 1200/day and was always hungry. Now that I eat about 1900 calories/day (my BMR net calories of 1430 + whatever calories i burn from exercising each day) I find myself rarely hungry or wanting for anything, to include a bowl of ice cream if I want it! but, I now notice I don't really want the ice cream anyway. Like a few posts above mentioned, I have focused on my macro nutrients and I find focusing on them, especially my protein goal, as that's the hardest for me to meet, drives my food choices.

I also learned how to become in tune with my poor eating habits such as eating directly out of containers, multi tasking while eating, etc. the more in tune I got with the food actually going INTO my mouth, being chewed, tasted and swallowed the less likely I was to speed eat and not realize how much I consumed.

I also find lifting heavy weights is the key to loosing FAT and speeding up the metabolism. For every pound of muscle gained, it will burn an extra 50 calories/day.... While the big number burn for cardio is impressive LOOKING, it is not as long lasting. The reasons I do cardio are so I can eat more each day and for my health. I noticed cardio does not help me actually lose weight...
Never give up even if you give in once in a while...

TracyAnn90

- Not starting with more weights and less cardio. When I started out, I wanted to do exercises that burned the most calories NOW. I lost the weight, and since a lot of my exercise is cycling in hilly terrain, my body fat percentage is actually pretty good, but I'm finding it a real struggle getting my core up to strength, probably because I haven't been maintaining it and I've lost a good bit of muscle upstairs along with the fat.

- Not balancing my diet sooner. I spent a long time being hungry all the time. Too many carbs, not enough protein was the culprit. Getting my macros balanced out was like an overnight revelation - suddenly my calorie goal was a lot easier to stay under in fact, sometimes hard to even meet), and I was less hungry and more energetic.

- Not getting baseline measurements (like you) or taking pictures of the "before me" to compare to. Measurements includes the body fat percentage measurement I should have done so I could measure progress in that area as well.

It was a picture of myself that started me on my diet and lifestyle changes. Maybe I should put that horrible thing on the fridge? LOL

GrandmaCarole

I don't record measurements but I do record sizes. Sometimes when I am not dropping pounds I have gone down a size in my shirt or pants, whech can even be more rewarding than dropping pounds.
Something that I wish I had started doing? In another life (diet) I tried to add a new food that I wasn't in the habit of eating, like Jicima (sp?) or try a new recipe. It keeps diets from getting boring and helps to prevent splurging. I also used to modify old recipes to be lower in salt, lower in fat and higher in fiber. That was fun to be creative in my cooking. I figured out the nutrition by counting totals and dividing by portions, which I would freeze. :happy:

TracyAnn90

I don't record measurements but I do record sizes. Sometimes when I am not dropping pounds I have gone down a size in my shirt or pants, whech can even be more rewarding than dropping pounds.
Something that I wish I had started doing? In another life (diet) I tried to add a new food that I wasn't in the habit of eating, like Jicima (sp?) or try a new recipe. It keeps diets from getting boring and helps to prevent splurging. I also used to modify old recipes to be lower in salt, lower in fat and higher in fiber. That was fun to be creative in my cooking. I figured out the nutrition by counting totals and dividing by portions, which I would freeze. :happy:

I like the new food idea. I have done that in the past with my kids, I should start that up again.

Hoakiebs

Getting FAT in the first place!

saustin201

Not being aware of the need to eat atleast my basal metabolic rate (BMR) in net calories each day. I went with the standard 1200/day and was always hungry.

^^^This. Me too. I upped it to 1590 which is my BMR.

ctooch99

Not learning to cook and prepare and plan healthier meals sooner - when I first started I was just newly split from my Ex and I was still living like the college-guy-food prep thing (turkey sandwiches, processed food, frozen meals) - I thought eating Lean Cuisines was eating healthy!

Been a slow learning process, but in small steps I have taught myself how to eat more healthy foods, shop the perimeter of the super market, cook and prepare my meals in advance and freeze them, eat healthy snacks, dissect food labels etc. I think if I had come out of the gate eating healthier to start, I might have gotten fit a bit faster, but it has been a cool evolution.

MFP definitely was an eye opener as to what I was ingesting and it has kept me honest and on track.

marpalde

My biggest regret is losing 54 pounds and thinking that it would stay off when I went back to my old habits.

wftiger

- Not starting with more weights and less cardio. When I started out, I wanted to do exercises that burned the most calories NOW. I lost the weight, and since a lot of my exercise is cycling in hilly terrain, my body fat percentage is actually pretty good, but I'm finding it a real struggle getting my core up to strength, probably because I haven't been maintaining it and I've lost a good bit of muscle upstairs along with the fat.

^This

I have lost more lean muscle than I wanted to. Now I have to work harder to get it back up to where it was. Mine was really high to begin with and is still above normal for someone my height but the higher it is the more maintenance calories I get so I need to PUMP it up with more weights.