What's your best diet/fitness advice?

SophieW1988
SophieW1988 Posts: 82
in Health and Weight Loss
If you could offer your #1 piece of diet and fitness advice, what would it be?

My #1 piece of diet advice is to make one meal a salad everyday.

My #1 piece of fitness advice is to switch up your cardio during every session. For example, 15 minutes bike, 15 minutes elliptical, 15 minutes jogging.
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Replies

  • mad14vic
    mad14vic Posts: 20 Member
    diet advice would be to drink a LOT of water
    fitness advice....mmmmm..... workout in the morning before your mind can tell you not to. :)
  • alex88carolina
    alex88carolina Posts: 108
    I agree drink lots of water and start taking vitamins. Also try to eat at least 3 meals a day, try not to skip breakfast!
  • Savemyshannon
    Savemyshannon Posts: 334 Member
    Take it slow. :) It's a marathon, not a sprint. I wish I had listened to this advice myself! Years I wasted by starting, losing 2 lbs, and giving up because the loss wasn't fast enough.
  • bettertracie
    bettertracie Posts: 196 Member
    #1 diet advice: don't hate yourself for having an off food day, just wake up tomorrow and start over!
    #1 fitness advice: get up and get your workout in even if you can barely move... you'll feel better when it's over and it helps with the stiffness!
  • breskittle
    breskittle Posts: 75 Member
    Best overall advice would be to STICK TO IT. We all have bad days and make bad choices, even after being on here for a year. We all have weaknesses and want to give up.

    BUT what seperates the winners from losers is dedication, putting your failures behind you but never forgetting them, and moving forward. Don't give up.

    KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Take from this what you want:
    I do not have before and after pictures.

    But.

    I've been training a young lady at the gym for the last month. I met her on MFP about three months ago, maybe a little more. She PM'd me, asking about heavy lifting and what kind of lifts she should be doing, etc. She was a member of another gym, and had her own personal trainer, but her results weren't what she wanted. She is a floor nurse, working 3x a week for 14hr shifts. She'd been exercising since the middle of March (lots of cardio, bodyweight at a park, gym 1x a week, and lots of hiking) and had lost some weight...but she said her clothes still fit her poorly, and she didn't really have a 'good' feeling about her weight loss. I told her what to tell her trainer...who basically refused. She'd tell him 'I want to lift heavy!', he'd say 'Ok...but we need to work on your form first'...then put her on machines with stupid light weight and hundreds of reps.

    Machines don't teach form, first...and low weight/high reps do not make for an effective workout.

    Anyhow, she messaged me back a bit later, told me what he was doing. I told her to get another trainer...she went to the management at her gym, and complained. There was a huge mess, in which the MANAGER stated to her that the freeweight area where she wanted to lift really wasn't for women, unless they wanted to bulk up (understand, this is an LA Fitness in Phoenix spouting this crap). After enough fight though, they gave her another trainer. He was no better. She was lifting with him one day a week. He would have her do cardio for an hour, then ask her what she did for exercise during the week...at which point he would throw random exercises at one body part or another. One week it might be legs, the next chest...etc. He would KILL whatever body part he was working...flooding her with reps on ten different machines for her hour of training.

    She messaged me again. I told her the trainers she was working with were idiots, and she needed to be on a SOLID, FORMATTED PROGRAM, that would have her lifting heavy weights, with a progressive upload scale, and set parameters. She sarcastically (in a friendly way) asked me if I could do better. I told her to quit her trainer and come lift with me for just a couple weeks, and I would show her results.

    This is the time line of her progression since she started exercising:

    3/15 - 186lbs size 18+ - Started calorie counting and being active with walking outside of her work.
    4/9 - 174lbs - Started hiking in addition to work and walking.
    4/21 - 171lbs - Lifting 1 day a week (high reps, low weight) with a trainer, 1hr of cardio with trainer, working (floor nurse), hiking 2x a week, bodyweight 1x a week.
    5/26 - 165lbs - Started intermittent fasting at my suggestion. Her trainer was VERY unhappy about it. Her food intake regulated (she was eating at a consistent deficit previously, but the amount was ALL OVER the place), and her total caloric intake increased on average.
    6/1 - 161lbs - Lifting 1 day a week (high reps, low weight) with a trainer, 1hr of cardio with trainer, working (floor nurse), hiking 2x a week, bodyweight 1x a week.
    6/25 - 159lbs tight size 12 - This is where we got rid of her trainer and she came to lift with me. I put her on a program based on HEAVY dumbbells/compound movements/some machines, and hitting every body part 3x a week. I cut her hiking to preferably only 1x a week, and her ONLY cardio is 10 minutes of warmup for lifting. We cut off the bodyweight as well, as I wanted her time for lifting. Overall, her activity DEACREASED.

    7/27 - 154lbs size 6, she posted this on my wall this morning:
    Been a little over a month since I started lifting heavy. When I started I was in a tight (very tight) size 12. Last nite got into a pair of my old size 6 jeans. Scale has been bouncing around the same 6 lbs. Measurements havent changed much. THANK YOU. I havent worn those jeans in years. This **** works even if the scale doesnt change.

    10992338_7877.jpg

    ETA - About two weeks ago, we ditched a lot of the dumbbell work. Lori's balance with dumbbells was poor at best, and her form was impacted badly. We integrated barbell squats and deadlifting (I know, you would think this would make balance worse...so not the case with her)...and her gains have literally skyrocketed since.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    I agree drink lots of water and start taking vitamins. Also try to eat at least 3 meals a day, try not to skip breakfast!

    LOL.

    Skipping breakfast and eating my calories after 1pm helped me lose 40lbs of bodyfat in 3mos.
  • monyango
    monyango Posts: 166
    Diet advice: Watch your portions...finishing your plate isn't necessary. You don't have to be stuffed!

    Fitness advice: Find something that you love to do and do it as often as possible. Lots of people hate going to the gym so it becomes a willpower thing. If you love something you'll do it and get exercise as a bonus.
  • Agean42
    Agean42 Posts: 58
    Do strength training at least twice per week and keep your daily protein intake HIGH........... Nothing strips away bodyfat better than adding LEAN MUSCLE !!!!
  • BaileyBoo13524
    BaileyBoo13524 Posts: 593 Member
    #1 diet advice: EAT 1200 calories a day IS NOT the magic number. You can eat more, be satisfied, and weigh less.
    #2 fitness advice: You may need to start slow, but whatever you do keep pushing yourself and your body to be better/stronger and most of all STAY CONSISTENT!
  • Spartan_Maker
    Spartan_Maker Posts: 683 Member
    Diet: maintain a reasonable calorie deficit and get between 25-30% of calories from protein.

    Fitness: Lift weights and walk for an hour a day, 5 times a week.

    It's a very simple recipe (no pun intended) for success: fat loss while preserving muscle.
  • Lady_Bane
    Lady_Bane Posts: 720 Member
    Mine would be:

    If you want to look/be a certain way...JUST DO IT...stop making excuses.
  • gvheintz
    gvheintz Posts: 138 Member
    Get a dog that needs a walk every day - as long as you are the type of person who will make sure he gets his walk.
  • WifeNMama
    WifeNMama Posts: 2,876 Member
    Try everything your friends are doing. I have done heavy weights, tabatas, Zumba, and started running all because I see my friends doing stuff on here, and I think "I could do that."

    Diet? Get your protein, watch the sugar and sodium. Eat food that looks like food, not something from a box with an ingredient list that's a mile long, with more chemical names than food items.
  • 2BeHealthy4Life
    2BeHealthy4Life Posts: 150
    Bump....read later
  • Bonny619
    Bonny619 Posts: 311 Member
    Keep trigger foods OUT of the house. If you can't control yourself with it in the house, you just can't have it. This has helped me tremendously. Yes, you have to be able to get past actually BUYING those trigger foods...but once you do it gets easier.
  • LovelyNFit
    LovelyNFit Posts: 92 Member
    Always keep searching to replace / add or edit for the furtherance of your goal.

    WORKOUT: Find 2-3 things you enjoy doing and do them 4, 5, 6 times a week for 2-3 months. Then add or replace some or all.
    Goal: NOT to get bord and stop.

    FOOD: cook 98% of your meals, Don't schedule a cheat day b/c you never know when you are hungry and have to eat out. Leave the 2% to happen when you have no control of the situation. That way you don't have to beat yourself for eating process food.
  • underthecherrytree
    underthecherrytree Posts: 532 Member
    Food: Cook all your meals and if you were addicted to sweets like I was, don't be afraid to try sugar-free desserts, they taste just as good, especially Jell-o chocolate pudding:)

    Exercise: Start slowly, do a workout dvd and build your way up
  • gogojodee
    gogojodee Posts: 1,243 Member
    Bump!
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    Diet - measure and weigh your food
    Fitness - alternate intensity during your workouts
  • Marmitegeoff
    Marmitegeoff Posts: 373 Member
    What helped me was learning to enjoy food with a lot less sweetener/ suger.

    FFind an exercise that you enjoy then you will keep doing it
  • vfnmoody
    vfnmoody Posts: 271 Member
    Never stop.
  • brooshie
    brooshie Posts: 141 Member
    always put a gallon of water in front of your juice/milk in the fridge

    lol :)
  • phlower
    phlower Posts: 103
    Diet: Track everything you eat or drink, and be honest with yourself. If you cheat your diary, you're only cheating yourself.

    Fitness: The best exercise is the one you'll stick to. The best TIME to exercise is the time you'll do it!
  • Anyaaaa11
    Anyaaaa11 Posts: 242 Member
    Diet: eat food with a bunch of nutrients! Get all your vitamins in. Whenever I don't et enough "nutrients" I've noticed that I'm more likely to binge.

    Exercise: don't overwork yourself. Don't want to get burnt out too quick. Most people set high expectations (working out everyday, twice a day) and then find themselves quitting 3-4 weeks later. Find something sustainable. If you don't like a certain activity don't force yourself to do it.
  • themommie
    themommie Posts: 5,033 Member
    break it up into small goals, ex I just concentrated on 10 lbs at a time when I started 100+ seemed overwhelming

    If you go over cals, or eat something you shouldnt get back ontrack immediately not monday , not next week, but the very next time you eat
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    Be CONSISTENT.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ohmyshysamantha
    ohmyshysamantha Posts: 138 Member
    Food: Cook your meals, with lots of color
    Fitness: Get off the couch :)
  • Hannah645
    Hannah645 Posts: 75 Member
    Diet: Don't lie to yourself. "Oh, I really only had 1/2 cup of that ice cream."

    Fitness: Again, don't lie to yourself. "I really gave it my all this week during my workouts."

    Losing weight is a simple process, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Quit debating over your options and just choose the right one.
  • gramacanada
    gramacanada Posts: 557 Member
    Don't drink your calories. Use them for food.

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