Top tips! Help a new MFPer today!
Kargicq
Posts: 72 Member
What ONE thing would have been most useful to hear when you decided to lose weight, and what ONE thing helps most when using MFP? Maybe we can put together yet another useful thread! 
For me --
General advice: When you start or change an exercise routine, weight tends to rise and stay high for a week or two. (Not 'extra muscle' but extra water to help fix your existing muscles.) This is perfectly normal and no cause for alarm. Stick with it.
MFP advice: use the 'search' function on the forums. Nearly everything you might want to ask has already been discussed.
For me --
General advice: When you start or change an exercise routine, weight tends to rise and stay high for a week or two. (Not 'extra muscle' but extra water to help fix your existing muscles.) This is perfectly normal and no cause for alarm. Stick with it.
MFP advice: use the 'search' function on the forums. Nearly everything you might want to ask has already been discussed.
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My general advice is just that being patient is really important! For a lot of people, particularly the ones who only need to lose a few stones, is to make small changes that you're going to be able to keep up with for the rest of your life rather than shedding weight really quickly and then putting weight back on when you're off the diet!
MFP advice would be to get plenty of friends who can help motivate you and will look at your food diary and stuff.0 -
If you are not logging accurately then you don't have accurate expectations so don't complain if they are not met.0
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General Advice: Just because you do well during the week with eating and working out, don't think that you can spend the whole weekend eating everything. 5 days of a solid routine with 2 days of not monitoring = staying the same. I did this.
MFP Advice: I love the success threads. It motivatedsme to post there once I reach my goal to share with everyone.0 -
General advice: Make small changes. Don't overwhelm yourself trying to make huge changes all at once.
MFP advice: If you have a question, read the answers with an open mind. Most of the posters are not trying to be meanie-heads; they're just trying to share their experience to save you some time, money, and frustration.0 -
General Advice: Get a food scale, learn how to log accurately and be honest with yourself. And don't cut out any food groups.
MFP advice: If you create a thread asking for advice, actually listen to the advice. If you are just looking for people to tell you what you are doing is great even if it's unsafe, stupid and a waste of time... don't bother0 -
Like what another said, measure all your food. I still scoop frozen yogurt into a cup (8 oz) to make sure its accurate. Also, get a food scale. What you think is 1 oz. may be a lot more/less.
Weigh yourself once a week. Some weigh more/less but I find this works the best for most people. I do this in the morning after using the bathroom and before eating for the most accurate weigh in possible. And make sure you measure yourself, lbs may lie.
Don't get discouraged if you cheat one day, or don't lose any lbs that week. It doesn't mean you're a failure, we all have had it happen. Just get back on the horse and keep going.0 -
General Tip: PATIENCE!!! It's not going to all come off in two weeks.
MFP Tip: Eat enough food. PLEASE!!! Also, weigh your food if a food scale is available!!0 -
General advice: Be honest with yourself. Don't get discouraged, just be persistent and patient!
MFP-specific advice: Log everything-- all food and exercise-- as accurately and *honestly* as you are capable of doing. That is the only way you'll accumulate the information (data) you need to figure out what works and what doesn't work for your own body, since the numbers MFP gives for calorie intake and expenditure are averages (very useful ones, but still averages!) and your own needs/metabolism may be slightly different than what it predicts. You need to know how much you've eaten and exercised for the past week or month, for example, to figure out how to change or maintain your weight the way you want. Having accurate information to base your decisions on is essential! (says the scientist trained to record and analyze data as accurately as possible.)
For example, I am learning to maintain my weight. I am pretty sure my maintenance calories are closer to 1800 than the 1600 MFP gave me. So I need my honest logging and weight tracking over a period of time to be able to tell if this is right!0 -
Food is not Evil0
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My tip: Slow down. We all want to lose weight, gain weight, or have the body we want right now. But it's going to take some time. Don't get so wrapped up in weight loss (or gain, or recomp) that you're not also living your life.
And if you haven't come across them yet, I always recommend starting with these links:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1296011-calorie-counting-101
And then read these when you're ready to take your logging accuracy to the next step:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1290491-how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale0 -
Take pictures and measurements. The scale is not the only indicator in showing your success.0
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General Advice: keep moving. Cutting calories works, but you (or at least, I do) stay more motivated when you can see weight progress and physical prowess progress happen at the same time. And if you have a stinky desk job like me, there's an endorphin feedback loop that makes everything a little brighter.
MFP Advice: Treat it like a science project. Get as accurate a measurement as possible, log everything, look at results clinically. When you make it about the measurements and not about your person, it's easier to stay realistic.
MFP Advice 2: Lurk before speaking on the forums. The same 10 questions get asked pretty much daily, and you can learn a lot by reading before typing.0 -
Drink your water. Drink your water. Drink your water. <
In case you missed that, drink your water!!
Don't stress over the scale. They are evil creatures and live to destroy you.
Log everything. Weigh everything on a food scale. What you think is 2 tbsp is probably NOT 2 tbsp!!!
Measurements are good. Do it.0 -
General advice:eating 1200 calories is not enough food if you have a 700+ calorie burn from exercise.myou will be tired, sore and cranky and eventually the scale will no longer move.0
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Google is your friend. You'll get a lot of contradictory advice on MFP. If you decide to follow someone's suggestion, see if you can find any medical or university research that will back it up. Just because someone is passionate about something doesn't mean it's right.
Realize there is no "one size fits all" approach to losing weight and/or improving fitness or nutrition. Just because something worked well for someone else doesn't mean you'll get the same results if you do the exact same thing. Part of the journey is figuring out what works for you. That means trying different things and constantly mixing it up until you find your personal sweet spot. Could take months or years.
Build your own private tribe of people you can support and who will support you. Start by connecting folks whose blog or forum postings you like. You're more likely to have something in common with them than randomly asking for people to connect to you.
Regularly read the Success Stories and NSV (non scale victory) forum threads. Real stories of other people overcoming challenges is very motivating and uplifting. There're a lot of good tips and ideas you can use.0 -
General advice: be patient. You didn't hit your current weight overnight, and you're not going to hit your goal weight overnight.
MFP advice: be willing to learn. There's a lot of knowledge on the MFP forums. Listen to what works and what doesn't work, and adjust your plans/goals accordingly.0 -
Know that when you lose fat out of a cell, water moves in at first and stays there until it decides to get out. Be patient! eventually it will flush and you will see a big drop on the scale.0
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Weight loss is 95% mental.
Make yourself mental happy: pride in exercise, confidence in knowing you don't HAVE to or WANT to eat a whole heaping plate of crap, smirking every time you pull up your now-too big pants. Don't think about how you "can't eat that". You can, you just have to work for it!
The other 5% is just gallons and gallons of sweat.0 -
MFP Advice: Treat it like a science project. Get as accurate a measurement as possible, log everything, look at results clinically. When you make it about the measurements and not about your person, it's easier to stay realistic.
Yes!0 -
Fantastic tips, everyone -- keep 'em coming!0
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Fantastic tips, everyone -- keep 'em coming!
I'll add an MFP Tip: If you need help and ask for it in the forums, come back and answer the questions people ask. It will help to get you more specific advice and save you time so you don't have to try out all of the conflicting ideas that you're going to receive when people don't have all the details.0 -
get a scale and weigh your food, this helped me a ton0
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Great advice!0
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Mix it up. If you get bored you will stop, even if you are noticing amazing progress. So, try new things and make big changes... Even if it's just the music on your iPod.0
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Non-MFP tip -- Put your exercise gear on the floor where you feet will land on it in the morning. Then put it on and exercise in it.
MFP tip -- Log everything and review your log regularly. If you aren't losing weight, the answer is in there.0 -
general advice : buy smaller dinner plates, automatically means smaller portions and the image of a full plate before you eat, makes your brain think "thats a lot of food"
mfp advice: check your entries are correct against any packaged food you are scanning/logging, there are a lot of innacurate entries on mfp.0 -
Buy a heart rate monitor and take your measurements0
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My biggest one is get a good digital scale.
Get a fitbit and learn to sync with mfp.
Log every single days...even on days where you eat a lot for a special occasion..the habit is crucial.0 -
General advice: take pictures and measurements at the start and then periodically. The scale is evil and is NOT the best measure of progress. Also get a HRM with a chest strap to get a more accurate (not 100%-they are all estimates) of your calorie burns during exercise. MFP and the machines in the gym can be greatly inflated.
MFP advice: Utilize the recipe function for food you cook at home and create your own meals in your food diary. Makes logging much easier. Also, get friends who have similar goals, interests, weight to lose, lifestyles, etc. Makes the experience much more pleasant and you will stop annoying your RL family and friends.0 -
General Advice: When you decide to start making changes, begin with the things you need to ADD to your diet first. You may find that if you focus on drinking more water and adding more fruits and veggies, some of the things you need to eliminate may take care of themselves.
MFP advice: Do not cut yourself any slack when you log. Err on the side of putting yourself down too much.0
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