Does anyone actually want help?

Or do you more-so want to vent on these boards? Talk about fads that you cycle through, ask very specific impossible questions to answer in a paragraph, defend the protocol you follow although you may not be seeing ANY results..

As a fitness professional, i use MFP to help my clients stay accountable and to track my own macros. I occasionally visit the boards to help out, maybe clear up some confusion, answer questions etc...

Most of the time it seems like people dont really want to hear it? they dont want truths or accuracy. They want...sympathy.

Can anyone shed some light? or am i just being cynical

Some people want unvarnished truth. Some people want sympathy or empathy. Some people want to vent. Some people want to proselytize. Some people want to argue. Some people want to post funny gifs.

And sometimes, that "some people" is the same person - just experiencing different moods or needs. Don't sweat it. :smokin:

Great question. If your referring to my mentioning of "macros" in my first post I don't want to mislead. I follow a certain split for my sport. I do not agree with or follow the "iifym" theory that everyone believes is the new hotness.
My quick response to those looking to lose body fat is keeping stable blood sugar while eating frequent small meals is a great place to start. Avoiding even fruit sugars will help decrease random insulin spikes throughout the day.
You would be surprised to know how much you can eat calorically when you are eating the right things

Well here's a question that plagues me. I hear about macros and I am curious what is most important; trying to reach goal weight; keeping calories under or reaching your maximum macros? I did just start lifting weights again and I am trying to eat as much protein as possible. I also try to keep my carbs lower than what I am allowed. I have been losing steadily but want to make sure this trend continues. Am I worrying too much about keeping calories low? I'll open my diary of you want to look at my last few days. Thanks

Great reply

We want OUR LEVEL of truth meaning if a beginner like me is reading the boards we are discerning whether or not the advice is practical for us. I know my strengths and weaknesses and if I see advice that fits me then yeah I will adhere. But if I see someone saying lift weights 3 days a week ... P90X 2 days...log calories and weigh your food!!!....Then of course you just lost me. Now everything they said is TRUTH and will work but hey that plan personally does not work for me. Just me 2 cents.

I hear what you are saying. However, if you want this to work, you need to be able to take the nuggets of what they are saying and MAKE it work for you.

-You've got to get active - 30 minutes a day 5X a week, and some of that should be resistance exercises (body weight or weight lifting) to protect your muscle mass while losing fat.
- You've got to log all your calories.
- You've got to figure out some way of portion control. I never had to weigh my food, but I knew that if I wasn't able to lose weight, that was the first place I'd need to make a change.
- You've got to get the nutrition (including calories) to support yourself physically. Small changes trump big losses.

If you're not meeting these minimum requirements, nobody's advice is going to do anything for you.

I started using MFP in December but only really started using recently. I do see where all of the veterans of MFP get aggravated because there are a lot of people looking for sympathy. I have been sincerely asking questions that may seem stupid but I'm so new so I'm sorry but I really do take the responses and put them to use. It's only been maybe a week but I already feel better with the way I've changed my eating habits and working out every day. A lot of people on here have been motivating and supportive and have really helped me feel better about starting my new lifestyle. Just as well as there are new people on here fishing for sympathy and not really looking for advice, there are also veterans to the site who are snarky not even regarding the "truth of the matter" but simply being rude. You will find all of that everywhere but Im personally grateful for the site because it's helping me a lot.

In order to lose the weight you have to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally. This means having thick skin. If you run screaming from the room the first time some is brutally honest chances are you will fail.

I think there's a ton of people here that aren't mentally ready to lose weight. This spawns the never ending "people are mean" threads.

lol I knew there would be at least one of you. No i don't need to vent. My goal is to attract others who feel the same and decide if the few moments of spare time I have are worth trying to help. It's what I love to do: figured this would be a cool place to do it. But with this account and my former one, it never seemed anyone wanted "help". And of course I "want" to know. Why else would I post?

It's a learning curve. People have preconceived ideas about health, fitness and diet. I did too when I started. Sometimes we all just think we know better. Eventually people give up or realize that some of the things they probably did not want to hear were and are the things that will work

^^^^ This. ^^^

So, this is going to be really ugly, but OP, what are YOU hoping will happen with this post?

Do you actually WANT to know why we come here?

Are you just venting?

Do you think that somehow complaining about newbies is going to change these forums?

Everyone starts somewhere. Either choose to be patient or don't visit the forums. You're not going to change them.