My top 4 tips for newbies

GuybrushThreepw00d
GuybrushThreepw00d Posts: 784 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For no reason whatsoever, I found myself writing this. Hope it's useful to someone :laugh:

1. Keep doing what you're doing. You may not be seeing any weight loss this week, but weight loss is not linear. This means that it's not predictable. Just because you lost 6lb in week one, does not mean that week 2 will show you the same progress.
This is also true for plateau's. You could spent weeks at the same weight, just keep doing what you're doing and keep your head down.

2. Know what you want to lose. Is it weight, or is it fat? Do you just expect that it'll be fat you lose, or do you think that spending an hour on the treadmill won't result in your body grabbing some muscle to use as fuel. It's time to start learning about nutrition and exercise.

3. Don't lie to yourself. It's easy to browse the MyFitnessPal database, find that lasanga you had for dinner and just add the first one you see. Do you actually think that their lasanaga is the same as yours? You need to be weighing your food, and knowing what your eating. You may have used more cheese than them, are you just going to fool yourself into just adding inaccurate information? Don't, it's a waste of time.

4. Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. In other words, you're going to have to want this change. If you'd rather be eating chocolate cake, then you may not be ready for what you're going to have to invest right now. I know it took several half assed attempts before I took it seriously.


EDIT: Added a #5

5. Create a sustainable diet. Avoid making drastic changes to your diet that you won't be able to keep up in the long term. Don't deprive yourself of something, only to go mad on it one day. Know that if you love the cake, you can have a little now and then. Eat it and enjoy it. Just exercise some self control. Also, Atkins people, sure eating as much high fat foods as you like and getting your body into Ketosis sounds fantastic to you (to the rest of us it sounds like black magic), but it's not sustainable and you're going to regain all that weight (probably ;) )

Replies

  • llWishfulShrinkingll
    llWishfulShrinkingll Posts: 49 Member
    Great advice! I really liked the last one :]
  • VickyO1977
    VickyO1977 Posts: 156 Member
    Fantastic advice thank you from someone who needs a kick up the *kitten*.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,148 Member
    Guess I'll remain fat because I like chocolate cake.
  • pingalls
    pingalls Posts: 11 Member
    I think I should copy that, and hang it above my treadmill!:smile:
  • marekdds
    marekdds Posts: 2,232 Member
    Me, too. I love chocolate. #5 Don't do anything that you can't sustain forever.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
    PAY ATTENTION TO #3!!!!!! :smile:
  • GuybrushThreepw00d
    GuybrushThreepw00d Posts: 784 Member
    Me, too. I love chocolate. #5 Don't do anything that you can't sustain forever.

    With the exception being - a calorie deficit :wink:
  • GADavies
    GADavies Posts: 62 Member
    Number one tip: JFDI.
  • tsikkz
    tsikkz Posts: 404 Member
    Number 4 a thousand times over
  • pspetralia
    pspetralia Posts: 963 Member
    Agree with number three, but if you are too strict and never fit fun foods into your daily life there is very little chance you will be able to sustain it. The changes I am trying to make are those that I can do forever.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Agree with everything but #4. Everything tastes better than skinny feels.

    But the good news is... everything you eat can still taste amazing. Just make sure it fits your goals. Planning is key. Use your diary to plan your meals, not just record them.

    But I really want to emphasize #3. Take the few extra minutes to add all your ingredients (and/or create a recipe, but please don't add your recipe to the database!) for your own foods. I know when I started, I was so happy to see a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was only 200 calories. Woodoggy! I'm having PBJs every day! Then I realized that two slices of bread alone was at least 150 calories, then another 100 or for just one tablespoon of PB and I use more than that, then more for the jelly, and... oh, crap. My sandwich is twice that.

    Same goes for lasagna and ravioli and soup and Sandra's Homemade Scrumptious Bars. Don't rely on generic information.
  • MrsFlotron
    MrsFlotron Posts: 39 Member
    NUMBER 5!! (:
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Agree with everything but #4. Everything tastes better than skinny feels.

    But the good news is... everything you eat can still taste amazing. Just make sure it fits your goals. Planning is key. Use your diary to plan your meals, not just record them.

    But I really want to emphasize #3. Take the few extra minutes to add all your ingredients (and/or create a recipe, but please don't add your recipe to the database!) for your own foods. I know when I started, I was so happy to see a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was only 200 calories. Woodoggy! I'm having PBJs every day! Then I realized that two slices of bread alone was at least 150 calories, then another 100 or for just one tablespoon of PB and I use more than that, then more for the jelly, and... oh, crap. My sandwich is twice that.

    Same goes for lasagna and ravioli and soup and Sandra's Homemade Scrumptious Bars. Don't rely on generic information.

    Agree with this. I was with you completely except for #4. I really hate that phrase because it makes it sound like you have to choose between food or being skinny.
  • tsikkz
    tsikkz Posts: 404 Member
    A moment on your lips,

    A lifetime on your hips

    to me, number 4 isn't saying don't ever enjoy bad food, but to have it in moderation and maybe that second slice of chocolate cake isn't worth it. What honestly helped me reach my goal weight more than anything else, was simply asking myself if it was worth it.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    A moment on your lips,

    A lifetime on your hips

    to me, number 4 isn't saying don't ever enjoy bad food, but to have it in moderation and maybe that second slice of chocolate cake isn't worth it. What honestly helped me reach my goal weight more than anything else, was simply asking myself if it was worth it.

    I don't think you're committed to "lifetime" on the hips. I lost a good 60 pounds off mine. Everything else I agree with.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    A moment on your lips,

    A lifetime on your hips

    to me, number 4 isn't saying don't ever enjoy bad food, but to have it in moderation and maybe that second slice of chocolate cake isn't worth it. What honestly helped me reach my goal weight more than anything else, was simply asking myself if it was worth it.

    I don't like that one either. :laugh: Guess I'm just contrary.
  • aimforhealthy
    aimforhealthy Posts: 449 Member
    It's all about the portion control and calorie deficits. For example: I love soda. I cut it out for three weeks but missed it like crazy. I now have it once a week in a small portion and count it toward my calorie intake and I haven't lost any less weight those weeks. I love cheesecake, so I bought a couple of mini cheesecakes from Whole Foods that take a few bites to finish and are only 130 calories and fairly low fat, instead of having a whole 1000+ calorie slice from the Cheesecake Factory. On the other hand, I do believe that making my diet 80% vegan and about 60% raw has helped tremendously. More of the good stuff, less of the bad stuff, track it all and aim for the long run and you'll get there.
  • NotBonJovi
    NotBonJovi Posts: 187 Member
    Bump.

    Good tips. Especially about generic food from the database.
  • Ed98043
    Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
    As a newbie, I think the biggest thing I've had to accept is that the weight will come off in its own sweet time and never as fast as I'd like it to. It's so tempting to set goals like "By X date I'll weigh X pounds", but it just leads to disappointment and frustration and in the past my impatience has caused me to abandon the effort. Now when I'm asked, or ask myself, how long it will take me to lose 84 lbs (now 74 - yay) the answer is "As long as it takes".
  • april1445
    april1445 Posts: 334
    I like it.
  • babydiego87
    babydiego87 Posts: 905 Member
    Number 4 is not a message you should be sending out because actually being skinny isn't the be all and end all of life and you can eat tasty food that is good for you as well.
  • JVCB
    JVCB Posts: 72 Member
    Tip #6... don't eat anything from a can, especially soup or tomatoes, without realizing that you probably just consumed your entire day's allowance for sodium... My first week, I was really grooving to all the yummy 100-calorie 2-point soup choices, until I checked out my sodium intake at the end of the day. Oops! :sad:
  • lrbassmom
    lrbassmom Posts: 123
    I would possibly add:

    Losing weight is difficult. If it were easy, there wouldn't be an obesity problem in the United States. It will take committment.
  • vjohn04
    vjohn04 Posts: 2,276 Member
    Agree with everything but #4. Everything tastes better than skinny feels.


    ^^This! There is no reason you can't enjoy the foods you love.
  • allshebe
    allshebe Posts: 423 Member
    So far, I'm actually finding losing weight is easy, though I'm pretty new at it and expect to hit a plateau at some point. The only real change I had to make was to be mindful of what I'm eating. It's amazing how many calories you can consume noshing out of that big bag of chips while you drive home. I've always tended to eat fairly healthy when I think about what I'm eating - it's the "non-thinking" eating that was packing the pounds on. The other thing that helps me is I've found I feel better if I avoid gluten, so that makes it easier for me to resist all the treats people bring into work (knowing that if I eat the cake and cookies I'll feel bloated and yucky)

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