Greetings!

MKSDC

Hi! I...think this is a great idea, but have such complicated feelings about even /needing/ to lose weight that I don't want to share my username yet. But it's nice to see you all.

I am also having a hard time getting inspired. The gulf between what I look like and what I want to look like feel both really huge, and also not far enough for a wake up call or what have you.

My highest weight has been 240, I'm currently around 225, my "normal" weight is around 170, and the lowest I've ever been as an adult is 140.

I think at least part of my problem is I don't know how to eat like a responsible person and not a crash dieter. When I was younger I ran every day and could eat a horse without putting on too much weight. Now it just sneaks up on me - especially because we go out to eat a lot at restaurants. The other part is that I feel like I have no time to work out.

jessamynwest

One of the things I like about the MFP thing is that it encourages fitness and healthy eating. That is, you can make incremental changes and it will work but just take longer. Then, by the end of it, you've changed your patterns somewhat. I also had to decide, for me, that this had to be a priority, above traveling for work and above sort of hoarding my free time. This is not to say that people who don't have time could find it somewhere, just that something will have to give. I also like to eat, so for me my adjustments were more about carving out time to get exercise and less about learning to love sprouts. But small changes (maybe take half of your restaurant meal to go and save it for another meal) is a way to ease into it without feeling like you're in some crappy diet cycle.

bwogilvie

My experience so far with MFP (4 months and a week) resembles Jessamyn's. MFP is a great tool for comparing calories in with calories out, and for tracking macronutrient balance. But it's agnostic about exactly what you eat. It shows you the effect of the changes you make, but it encourages you to develop a diet in the broad sense (a general pattern of eating, such as a vegetarian or Mediterranean-type diet), rather than follow a diet in the narrow sense (a restricted range of eating, à la Atkins or the Grapefruit Diet).

As for exercise, I decided last fall I simply had to prioritize it: to *make* time for it, not *find* time for it. Something else had to go. I'm trying to cut back on online time, except of course for Metafilter.

trail_seeker

Glad to see folks talking on here recently. I know that motivation can be difficult to find. I've made strides after connecting and following with others on MFP. Now I see all the activity from my MFP friends and that motivates me to continue tracking and posting. I'm just hit 150 days of tracking and that really is making a big difference. Also, I know it's a personal choice but some people share their food diaries. It's interesting to look at others daily food intake even though everyone is on their own path and have different daily calorie goals.

So if you haven't already, start friending each other! The support really helps.

Syanna23

Hello all, I'm syanna over on MeFi. I got a Fitbit in 2011, lost 20 lbs over 10 months and got within 5 lbs of my goal weight. Then I slacked off and most of it has crept back on. I've been making half-hearted efforts to get back on track for a while now. Then I came back from vacation, and yikes! And within a few days of that, I got engaged. So now it's time to crack down for real and stick to it. Calorie counting is what made the difference the first time around, and the comments I've seen on the green about MFP in that regard have me feeling pretty good about my future here.

bwogilvie

Hello all, I'm syanna over on MeFi. I got a Fitbit in 2011, lost 20 lbs over 10 months and got within 5 lbs of my goal weight. Then I slacked off and most of it has crept back on. I've been making half-hearted efforts to get back on track for a while now. Then I came back from vacation, and yikes! And within a few days of that, I got engaged. So now it's time to crack down for real and stick to it. Calorie counting is what made the difference the first time around, and the comments I've seen on the green about MFP in that regard have me feeling pretty good about my future here.

Welcome! MFP is certainly working well for me - after 5 months, I'm nearly halfway to my goal. You've got to be honest with yourself for it to work; record every calorie.

A couple problems some people seem to have, based on the MFP forums:

- Setting activity level. MFP asks for your activity level _excluding_ exercise, which you account for separately. For many of us, that means "sedentary." I'm cycling over 100 miles a week this summer, but my job is reading and writing, which is done mostly at a desk or on the sofa, so I set my activity level to sedentary. During the semester, when I was teaching, I had it set to "lightly active," but I think that was probably too high.

Whatever activity level you choose, you may need to change it if your results don't meet your expectations. People vary in their basal metabolic rates, and MFP's assumptions are based on averages.

- Counting exercise calories. The databases in MFP, and many heart rate monitors, often inflate the number of calories an activity requires. I use a bike computer that combines HRM data with my weight, equipment weight, speed, and elevation change to estimate calories; it seems pretty accurate (based on my weight loss) and its numbers are 25-40% lower than what MFP tells me I am burning. (For cycling 10-12 mph, MFP exaggerates by 40%; for 16-20 MPH, by 25%.) One study found that a Polar HRM overestimated calories consumed by women doing step aerobics by 27-28% (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21178923), and other studies suggest that HRMs are less accurate for women than for men (e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15292754).

Again, if you are honest about calories eaten, and you've set your activity level accurately, and you're still not losing (or not losing at the rate you want), you should look at what you're entering as exercise calories, and possibly "discount" them by 20-25%.

MeFites are probably less likely than the average MFP user to be unaware of those problems, but I thought I'd bring them up, since MFP is more useful as a tool if you're aware of its design and limitations.

editorgrrl

MeFites are probably less likely than the average MFP user to be unaware of those problems, but I thought I'd bring them up, since MFP is more useful as a tool if you're aware of its design and limitations.

And the average MFP poster is way less likely than a MeFite to cite the NIH. Broscience abounds on the main boards.

bwogilvie

And the average MFP poster is way less likely than a MeFite to cite the NIH. Broscience abounds on the main boards.

Yes, especially that tired "Eat more to weigh less" canard.

heartguts

Hi all.
I know no one has updated this group in months, but I figured I could use a cheering squad and MeFi is my favorite community, even if I mostly lurk there.

I'm shesdeadimalive on the Blue.

Over the last year or so I've put on 30-ish pounds due to a variety of factors (desk job, new thyroid medication, general malaise) and I'd really like to un-do that.

I have a FitBit flex and am joining a recreational roller derby league and doing C25K all at the same time. We'll see how this goes.

Celeigh12

Hi, Heartguts! Welcome! Good luck with your goals and feel free to add me if you are in the market for MFP friends. Roller derby sounds like an awesome way to get in shape...

editorgrrl

I've put on 30-ish pounds due to a variety of factors (desk job, new thyroid medication, general malaise) and I'd really like to un-do that.

I take Synthroid (Hashimoto's). There's an MFP thyroid group at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/770-hypothyroidism-and-hyperthyroidism

pych

undue influence on mefi. I am pretty sure I had an account here before this, under another email account that has probably now been colonised by spam. I'm starting again, and feel free to add me as a friend.

tbot2fat

Hi all!

Here, I'm the awful nickname: tbot2fat (as in 'tbot is too fat'). On MeFi, I'm LOLAttorney2009.

After I moved from Newark, NJ, where I had a fourth floor walkup apartment and about a one mile walking commute in NYC, to Nashville, TN, I gained about 45#. Not surprising, really, good southern food, more travel by car than by foot. Yeah....

Last year (2013), I walked a half marathon and a few 5ks plus did the Couch to 5k program. At the end of the year, I had foot surgery, so I'm just now getting back to walking. I'll do a 5k in April and, hopefully, a half-marathon in November.

Nice to see a MeFite group on here!

tBot

ocherdraco

Oh hey! Somehow I never added to this thread when I joined the group. I'm ocherdraco in both places. Feel free to friend me--I'm always up for more friends on MFP.

homelystar

Hey there, everyone! I'm homelystar on MeFi also. tBot, I recently moved to Nashville (or technically, Franklin, 16 miles south) and am sorry to hear there aren't more walking opportunities. It's definitely car-centric out here in the suburbs. There are quite a few cyclists, but they have to ride on the shoulder super-close to passing vehicles.

I hope spring is bringing good health results to everyone here.

drysdaled

Hi everyone. I'm synecdoche on MeFi. I've had a MFP account for a long time but have used it only sporadically. I'm looking to make some changes, though. I'm going to see a dietician at the end of next week to get some professional support but it'll be nice to have some friendly people on here, too.

bwogilvie

Hi everyone. I'm synecdoche on MeFi. I've had a MFP account for a long time but have used it only sporadically. I'm looking to make some changes, though. I'm going to see a dietician at the end of next week to get some professional support but it'll be nice to have some friendly people on here, too.

Welcome! Friend request sent.

travellingcari

Hi! I'm travellingcari here & there (mostly green). FOund some of the old MFP posts including one in which this was linked & meandered over. I've used various sites on my 6+ year (mostly successful) WLJ and MFP & WW Online are my two favorites. Look forward to cheering you all on

aplumblarrick

Hi! Apparently I am already a member but have never posted? I'm chesty_a_arthur (Abigail IRL) and I'm in perpetual active weight maintenance. I powerlift (not competitively) and run; struggle with adult ADHD and anxiety, which mean that I am even more prone to mindless eating and/or comfort eating than I would be otherwise (I guess). I would love not to have to think about food.