Give me your best tips on making mfp work for me!

Options
24

Replies

  • sistersam
    sistersam Posts: 4 Member
    Options
    I've gotten lazy lately because I've been busy with work. Trying to get motivated to walk again and when I do I listen to audio books. I've done it for many years and eventually joined an audio book club. It's really relaxing for me.
  • fldiver97
    fldiver97 Posts: 341 Member
    Options
    Do you log everything even when you go over your goals? These are great tips thank you for your support!

    log everything, the good, the bad - everything. Not logging if you go over is cheating....but you are the only one that is paying the price for it. Log, learn, see what works......you will 'discover' food that is more filling and satisfying once you start logging. Make small changes but try to learn from what you are doing......you will find that getting more calories/nutrition from healthy carbs, a good amount of protein and a reasonable amount of (hopefully) good fats are more satisfying than processed/refined calories. Does not mean you can not eat out, indulge in treats or eat processed food but in order to feel satisfied and full it helps to eat more fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean protein etc. The first 2 - 3 weeks may be the hardest as far as ffeling hungry goes but remember to eat at your calorie goal, get a little exercise in - even walking a bit every day helps a lot - and have the extra calories your exercise provides to help manage feeling less like 'dieting'. Maybe plan your meals and snacks for a week, maybe preplan and log your food for a day in advance so you know what you can have.......Don't skip breakfast or any meal, try to eat 3 meals and 2 - 3 snacks so you never reach the point where you are so hungry that you will just eat whatever is most available.
    Remember this is not a quick fix, it is OK not to be perfect but if you are not honest with yourself you can't find out what you could change to make this a long lasting lifestyle change. This is about more than a number on the scale......it is about your health, your relationship with food, your body and mind......Good luck, keep trying and you will make progress!
  • penguinlally
    penguinlally Posts: 331 Member
    Options
    log EVERYTHING

    establish your TDEE

    set SMALL goals

    stay persistent

    have patience

    YEP YEP YEP.... talk to people - make friends - encourage each other (big help for me) and pick and choose those calories......Don't fret over the TOTAL --- work on small steps.... if one day at a time is too much - go for one meal at a time -

    You can do this - MFP is changing my life!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Options
    Start small. First just work on meeting your calorie goal. Then start swapping the least healthy things in your diet for healthier alternatives. Don't make ANY changes that you aren't willing to stick with forever.
  • WinnerVictorious
    WinnerVictorious Posts: 4,735 Member
    Options
    I'm giving this another shot. I'm going to count my calories again and get serious with exercising. Tell me what you do to make things easier. Give me your best tips.

    here are my tips.

    1) determine your BMR/TDEE or whatever you want to call it so you know what amount of calories (on average) you should be eating to lose weight at a healthy pace. if you use the MFP tools, they'll compute this for you.
    2) log everything. don't eat it if you can't log it. take a multivitamin everyday with food.
    3) don't drink your calories. try to get to a point where all you drink is water.
    4) walk or jog or run. alot! then start strength training when you're up to it.

    forget the scale. don't obsess about daily changes in weight. they don't mean anything. what you're focusing on are long term changes to your lifestyle. the weight WILL come off. you CAN do it. the math works and it doesn't lie. it just takes time.

    this is not a diet and you don't have to deny yourself anything you crave, you just have to eat in moderation and be accountable for what you put in your mouth. if you go over on Monday by 300 calories, then go under on Tuesday and Wednesday by 150 calories each day. be honest with your log. be accurate. be accountable. you can lose the weight and it will happen faster than you realize when you make this a lifestyle change.
  • Christine1110
    Christine1110 Posts: 1,786 Member
    Options
    Not only count calories...you have to weigh foods & measure...No guessing if you really want to lose weight.
  • Leisalynn84
    Leisalynn84 Posts: 113 Member
    Options
    Get the app if you have a smart phone. Plan your day ahead of time. If I'm lying in bed and can't sleep I get on my phone and plan my meals for the next day. I see how many carbs, fat, sodium ahead of time before I eat it and can edit portion sizes to stay on track. For me it works better than eating something then logging it and seeing that I'm waaay over my sugar or sodium.

    I have a friend on here who has lost over 100lbs who has logged in for over 500 days. That inspires me to just login no matter what. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I log everything.

    Good luck!
  • ihad
    ihad Posts: 7,463 Member
    Options
    I put them in a blog a while back:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ihad/view/truth-justice-and-the-mfp-way-a-primer-for-beginners-422837
  • MichaelFunaro
    MichaelFunaro Posts: 66 Member
    Options
    As someone who has lost 130lbs here on MFP and 150 overall, I can tell you that you will have times when you stall for no reason, you have a bad eating day or stresses of life seem to be overwhelming. Just know that if you can nip any of those situations in the bud and not turn 1 day into 2 bad ones into 7 bad ones into failure, then you have made big strides. I have found it's how I handle the bad days that has made this time different for me. And when I do have a bad day I don't let it get me into a cycle I can't recover from.
  • ppatricia81
    ppatricia81 Posts: 23 Member
    Options
    Have patience, and mfp over calculates calories burned on exercises, and measure & weight ur food that makes a huge difference.
  • pwittek10
    pwittek10 Posts: 723 Member
    Options
    Log everything,
    Cheer yourself for small victories!
    They count,
  • akd4015
    akd4015 Posts: 3
    Options
    Lots of good tips on this thread already.

    Tomorrow is Day #13 for me. I think what has helped me so far is:
    1) logging in every time I eat a meal, so that I always am aware of how many calories I have left over.
    2) getting in some exercise as often as possible, which allows more calories to be eaten!
    3) skimming/reading a message board thread here and there - reminds me that others are on the same journey as me!
  • TheFinalThird
    TheFinalThird Posts: 315 Member
    Options
    My best tips are contained in a post called, "66 pounds lost in 101 days on MFP." You can search it by that phrase. I would be happy if they would help you.
  • JosephVitte
    JosephVitte Posts: 2,039
    Options
    I'd give you my opinion, but some (not staff or anyone affiliated with MFP) MFP professional nutritionist with there very own profile on this site will end up quoting me and saying, "You say your new to weight lose and counting calories but you act like a professional", when in the same quote there using to quote me, I say "Disclaimer, I am not a professional nutritionist, I am new to weight lose and counting calories, but this is my opinion"........

    I'm so sick of all these "professional MFP users" and how they belittle other peoples opinions. It almost seems to me that there jealous that the "OP" (something I learned last night), didn't just ask them directly what they should do, or not do. if the OP asked for feedback from ONLY professionals, it would be a different story.

    I am truly happy for those with extreme weight lose and have learned the good things to do, and the not so good things to do in eating foods and exercising. I will add though, you look really lame when full of yourself when the same advice/opinion you give matches everyones else in the thread, just worded differently.

    Can't we all just get along, and give our own unprofessional opinion, when someone is asking you for it?

    So sorry I used your thread to vent this, I just seem to see it a lot, and I'm not talking about constructive debating between two different views, I'm talking about all the belittling i see when your answer doesn't match theirs.


    Edit: I'm not saying at all that anything I described in this comment, is going on in this thread, I haven't even read it yet, to be perfectly honest with you.
  • TrishasTime
    TrishasTime Posts: 588 Member
    Options
    log everything and at the end of the day, select "complete today's diary" which then posts the comment that have you have tracked for the day.

    Make friends online, they are the ones that will get you back on track when you have been missing for a few days
  • FitnessPalWorks
    FitnessPalWorks Posts: 1,128 Member
    Options
    .
  • DaphneAtx
    DaphneAtx Posts: 153
    Options
    Get measuring cups & spoons and a food scale and measure EVERY BITE that goes into your mouth. Don't just guess! This is huge when counting calories. People can easily estimate their way into an additional 500 calories a day without realizing it. Take control of your intake.
  • Cranktastic
    Cranktastic Posts: 1,517 Member
    Options
    SQUAT.

    then do it again.
  • rsellersCST
    rsellersCST Posts: 333 Member
    Options
    Use a HRM, a tracking device of some sort... etc... something OTHER than MFP's estimated calorie burns as I tend to find it overestimates. There are times I've found it to underestimate... but really... that's something you want to be fairly accurate.

    Measure measure MEASURE you food etc... accuracy matters... and logging everything... who cares if you go over here and there... dealing with reality and facing it no matter what it is counts!

    You can do this... I tried once and it didn't "stick" but then I came back a few months later and I'm HOOKED!

    I also agree that there's lots of different "ideas" on here and you know you better than anyone else. Also... make some friends here... accountability can be a great motivator. Join a challenge or two... keep it interesting!
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    Options
    I follow what MFP tells me, and I don't follow the links or programs to other peoples' ideas and rules and calculators. I assume anything between goal calories and maintenance calories is a good place to be in. I lift weights anyway, but I try to ensure that I do on days I have a surplus. I'd much rather lift than do cardio, so that's the overall focus of my fitness-doing what I am most likely to do.

Categories