Acronyms and Terms for New MFP Members

Original topic: 08/16/2012, updated 7/2022. This is the THIRTEENTH (eek!) update, with modifications to the existing list. If anything is not clear, feel free to ask or use your Google-fu. If anything is incorrect, please let me know and it will be updated in the next re-post.

This list is mostly focused on health, fitness, and MyFitnessPal-specific acronyms and terms.  There are also some generic internet acronyms, but for more generic internet acronyms, such as SMH, WTG, TTYL, etc., you can go to one of many internet acronym list sites, such as https://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php
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30DS: 30 Day Shred: A cardiovascular and plyometric exercise program. Developed by Jillian Michaels.

%BF: percent body fat

BMF: BodyMedia Fit. An exercise calorie and metrics tracking system.

BMI: Body Mass Index: The ratio between a person’s height and weight. Used as a screening indicator of a person’s overall body mass composition.

BMR: Base or Basal Metabolic Rate For TDEE and BMR, please read this awesome post here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Bookmark: A way to save a discussion you want to follow is to use the bookmark icon on a discussion, which will be saved in "My Bookmarks."

BP: Bench Press

Bump: A message of BUMP is placed in a thread for a user to come back and read later. Making a post of "Bump" causes it to appear in the user's replies. Another way to save a discussion you want to follow is to use the bookmark icon on a discussion, which will be saved in "My Bookmarks."

BW: Can stand for either:
Beginning weight (for those tracking weight loss or weight gain regimens)
Bodyweight, as in bodyweight exercises, such as pushups, plyometrics).

C25K: Couch to 5 K: A running program designed for beginner and non-runners to get them from the couch to running a 5K. Some are 8 weeks, others are slightly longer.

CICO: Calories in / Calories out

DL: Deadlift

DOMS: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness: From Wikipedia: Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), also called muscle fever, is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise. The soreness is felt most strongly 24 to 72 hours after the exercise.

DYEC: Do you even cardio?

DYEL: Do you even lift?

ED: Eating Disorder. There are several kinds. Go to National Eating Disorders for more information.

EBF: Exclusively Breast Fed/Feeding

EMTLW/EMTWL: Eat More to Lose Weight/Eat More to Weigh Less

ESE: Eat Stop Eat. A type of Intermittent Fasting diet plan.

ETA: Edited to Add - Used to show an edit to a previous post so you know what was added or modified since it was originally posted.

Exercise Abbreviations:

• BW: body weight (as in bodyweight exercises, like push-ups and other forms of isometric exercise)
• DL: deadlift
• OHP: overhead press
• BP: bench press
• LP: leg press
• WOD: workout of the day

Fitbit: A small electronic device attached to clothing to monitor steps taken and movement throughout the day. http://www.fitbit.com

FF: Formula-fed/feeding

FFM: Fat-free mass - body weight without fat, same as LBM

GW: Goal Weight- Related to the following:

CW: Current Weight

SW: Starting Weight

UGW: Ultimate goal weight- The final weight goal a person wishes to attain

HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

HR: Heart Rate

HRM: Heart Rate Monitor

IF: Intermittent Fasting is a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting (usually meaning consumption of water only) and non-fasting. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting)

• IF Patterns are known as "shorties", and are stated as numerical values, separated by a colon:
• 16:8 fast for 16 hours and eat within an 8-hour window every day (16 + 8 = 24hrs). So you might decide to have all your calories between 10 am and 6 pm or in my case 12:00 noon and 8 pm.
• 5:2 is eat at TDEE for 5 days and fast for 2. Your fast days should not be consecutive.
• 4:3 is like 5:2 but you eat TDEE for 4 days and fast for 3. Your fast days should not be consecutive.

IIFYM: If It Fits Your Macros - See Macronutrients.

IMHO: In My Humble Opinion 

IPOARM: In Place of a Road Map: From the MFP page: "In Place of a Road Map is simply a way to get your metabolism functioning at max capacity while eating as much as you can and getting the results that you need. This is also a Fat Loss program. Never confuse Fat Loss with Weight Loss." The IPOARM topic can be found at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937709-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0. The
IPOARM MFP group can be found at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map

Isometric exercise: The use of one's own body to exercise without the use of weights or specialized equipment. The body = gravity = your gym. Resources: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/isometric+exercise http://www.mayoclinic.org/isometric-exercises/expert-answers/faq-20058186

*Kitten*: If you see *kitten* in a forum post, it indicates the poster has included profanity in their post that has been auto-detected and replaced with an adorable, non-offensive word, aka *kitten*

LBM: Lean body mass - same as FFM

LP: Leg Press

Macronutrients/Macros: The large categories of nutritional ratios of Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat.

MFP: MyFitnessPal

NEAT: "Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis" To tie in NEAT to other concepts here, your TDEE is the sum of your BMR and your NEAT.

Net Calories: number of calories eaten minus number of calories burned in exercise and baseline metabolism.

Noob/Newb/Newbie:  A new member to the site or forums.

NROL4W: New Rules of Lifting for Women- information at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/119-new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-nrol4w-

NSV: Non-Scale Victory, a dieting and weight loss term for noticing your weight loss success off the scale. This includes smaller clothing sizes, measurements, compliments, etc.

Onederland/Onderland: Reaching a weight under 200 pounds.

OP: Means "original post" or "original poster" of a forum topic. Example: "The OP was clearly talking about carbs instead of fat."

P90X: A high intensity, 90 day cardiovascular/plyometric fitness routine. Created by Tony Horton.

Paleo: From Wikipedia: "The paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed..."

PCOS: Polycystic ovary syndrome- Polycystic ovary syndrome is a condition in which a woman has an imbalance of a female sex hormones. This may lead to menstrual cycle changes, cysts in the ovaries, trouble getting pregnant, and other health changes. Weight gain and obesity is common in women with PCOS. Losing weight can help treat the hormone changes and health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. Read more at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459251/

Primal: From Wikipedia: "The Primal Diet is a carnivorous, low carbohydrate raw foods diet, pioneered by Aajonus Vonderplanitz. It can also be considered as a Paleolithic diet with the addition of raw milk products."

Pronouns:

• they/them/theirs
• ze/hir/hirs
• she/her/hers
• he/him/his

QFT: Quote(d) for Truth- QFT is used when a previous or quoted post is so on point and correct, you "QFT it" for emphasis and agreement. (Author's note: This is a very generic web acronym, but because it is used so frequently here, I have decided to include it, especially after being asked to do so on the last several iterations of this list.)

Relationship Acronyms:

• BF: Biological Father/Boyfriend
• BIL: Brother In Law
• BM: Biological Mother
• DD: Darling Daughter
• DH: Darling/Dear Husband
• DS: Darling Son
• DW: Darling/Dear Wife
• FIL: Father In Law
• GF: Girlfriend
• GP: Grand Parent(s)
• H: Husband
• MIL: Mother In Law
• S: Spouse
• SD: Step Daughter
• SF: Step Father
• SIL: Sister In Law
• SM: Step Mother
• SO: Significant Other
• SS: Step Son
• STBX: Soon To Be Ex
• W: Wife

RMR: Resting Metabolic Rate, sometimes incorrectly used interchangeably with BMR

RNY: Roux-en-Y (RNY) gastric bypass surgery is the most common weight loss operation for morbid obesity in USA. Lap-band has gained popularity in the last few years and has become the second most common weight loss operation.

SL5x5 (or plain SL): StrongLifts 5x5 - a strength training problem stressing compound lifts - squat, deadlift, bench press, barbell row and overhead press.

T25: Officially 'Focus T25", an exercise program by BeachBody. http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/focus-t25-workout.do

TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure

TIL: Today l Learned

TLDR/TL;DR: Too Long Didn't Read.

TMI: Too Much Information

TOM: For women- "Time Of the Month"- The monthly menstrual cycle. Important in terms of fitness because of the uncontrolled body changes and water retention that can affect weight loss and fitness goals and plans.

Vegetarian/Vegan/Pescatarian/Flexitarian: More information can be found about each eating style here.  Below is a brief summary from the website above.

• Flexitarian:  “Flexitarian” is a term recently coined to describe those who eat a mostly vegetarian diet, but occasionally eat meat.
• Pescatarian:   The word “pescatarian” is occasionally used to describe those who abstain from eating all meat and animal flesh with the exception of fish.
• Vegetarian:   People who do not eat beef, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish or animal flesh of any kind, but do eat eggs and dairy products.
• Vegan:  Vegans do not eat meat of any kind and also do not eat eggs, dairy products, or processed foods containing these or other animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin.

VLCD: Very Low Calorie Diet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very-low-calorie_diet)

Weight: 

• GW: Goal Weight
• CW: Current Weight
• SW:[/b} Starting Weight
  
• UGW: Ultimate goal weight - The final weight goal a person wishes to attain

WOD: Workout of the Day

WOE: Way Of Eating

WOO: Woo is a term for pseudoscientific explanations that share certain common characteristics, often being too good to be true (aside from being unscientific). Woo is understood specifically as dressing itself in the trappings of science (but not the substance) while involving unscientific concepts, such as anecdotal evidence and sciencey-sounding words.

YMMV: Your mileage may vary. Basically means that if you try what the poster recommended, it may not produce exactly the same results.
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*Here's why I do not reference BUMP as the acronym "Bring Up My Post":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_(Internet)
"To bump a thread on an internet forum is to post a reply to it purely in order to raise the thread's profile. This will typically return it to the top of the list of active threads. It has been suggested that "bump" is an acronym of "bring up my post";[1] however, this is almost certainly[original research?] a backronym and the usage is entirely consistent with the verb "bump" which means "to knock to a new position".[2]" and a "backronym" means (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym):

A bacronym or backronym is a phrase specially constructed so that an acronym fits an existing word... (bolded and underlined emphasis mine.)

The word is a combination of the two words 'backward' and 'acronym', and has been defined as a "reverse acronym".[1] Its earliest known citation in print is as "bacronym" in the November 1983 edition of the Washington Post monthly neologism contest. The newspaper quoted winning reader "Meredith G. Williams of Potomac" defining it as the "same as an acronym, except that the words were chosen to fit the letters".[1]