anyone else knew what they were doing before joining MFP?

betuel75
betuel75 Posts: 776 Member
edited November 15 in Health and Weight Loss
So I had already figured out that counting calories, weighing food and (for me) eating at BMR I could lean out to the level I wanted and I had. I accidentally stumbled upon this app and after installing it loved how easy, convenient and helpful it was to find foods to log and keep track of where I was at throughout the day with calories. Before the app I would research calorie/nutrition on the net, weigh my food and manually write it down on paper and do the math myself for daily calorie totals. Did anyone else know and practice calorie deficit and weighing before using MFP? Did you find it that much more helpful than doing it alone?
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Replies

  • kitchensolo
    kitchensolo Posts: 38 Member
    Yep. I'm very familiar with all of this stuff - let myself get lazy for the most part. What I find is great about this app, though, is the vast database of food, and the supportive crowd. All those "likes" and thoughts of encouragement (and friendly competition) is what makes this a win for me. ;-)
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
    My old training partner was same situation as you. Made his own excel spreadsheet to count up macros and calories, dropped from >17 stone to <12 stone!
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Before mfp, I was logging all of my food but not counting calories. I lost around 30 lbs. doing that but eventually got stuck. Using the app/site helped me tighten up my diet. I find it very easy and fast to use, epecially the app since it searches my recently eaten foods list first.
  • AmazonMayan
    AmazonMayan Posts: 1,168 Member
    I knew I needed to count calories and have a notebook somewhere with various calorie counts/nutrition info of things I ate printed out. I knew I needed around 1800 calories to lose. I didn't weigh anything, but did try to be otherwise accurate (I know I know). I failed because I was too lazy to write out the journal. I wasn't ready, etc. < insert any and every excuse here >

    I still had a couple starts and stops with MFP before finally getting it right and actually doing it this time. This does definitely make it easier. So much easier.
  • suruda
    suruda Posts: 1,233 Member
    The app makes it all easier for sure! I think most of us as overweight individuals know what the problem is... :wink:
  • sad_kitty
    sad_kitty Posts: 84 Member
    edited March 2015
    I mostly knew what I was doing. I have a background in nursing and had a period a few years back where I had to try an elimination diet (and logging foods, but not weighing or counting cals) to find my "trigger foods" (inflammation), as I have a chronic pain disorder with GI symptoms. This taught me so much about how to eat balanced, especially when cutting out my old dietary staples. I came to MFP more recently to learn to be accountable to myself as my physical activity is limited at times, and whittle my weight back down. I've always eaten pretty healthy, but without exercise/moving, my weight crept up over the last few years. I'd never counted calories before MFP, but it's working, and I am slowly and surely getting to where I need to be.
  • TCO76
    TCO76 Posts: 242 Member
    Yup. Not much that I read in these forums is new either. I weighed and tracked long before I knew about this app. But it has definitely helped make my life less obsessive about it.

  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
    I was using Excel for years, then added Sparkpeople 7 or 8 years ago, then switched to MFP this year specifically for a script I can use here that I can't on SP.

    I'd say any tracker that does most of the work for you is more helpful than doing it alone, but I still have the excel sheet, because there's so much that's just not possible here that is when you customize your own formulas and tracking. Even switching from SP to MFP meant losing a lot of data if I wasn't still entering it on my own sheet.
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
    I used a notebook and Fatsecret, which had the neat little ability to add more than one type of serving size and notes to database entries, prior to joining MFP.

    MFP did teach me to eat more to weigh less.
  • DoneWorking
    DoneWorking Posts: 247 Member
    edited March 2015
    Before MFP, I was using caloriecount.com
    It has a pretty good newsletter that has lots of good info.
    I switched to MFP, because it had a bigger food database. I just felt comfortable here and wound up staying.
  • levitateme
    levitateme Posts: 999 Member
    I lost about 80 lbs in 2004 using a notebook and a calorie count book. MFP Is definitely easier and more convenient. Thanks technology!
  • Coachconni
    Coachconni Posts: 42 Member
    I love mfp. Signed up a long time ago but never officially used it till last week even though i was recommending it to everyone. There is so much about this app that helps me and I knew enough about dieting before joining.. it helps me organize my strategy, but most importantly, I love the message boards. Full time fitness, that is what mfp did for me.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    This app keeps you from having to tracking on paper.
  • jenniferinfl
    jenniferinfl Posts: 456 Member
    Yeah, I lost all the weight before, probably 15 years ago all on my own. I had a little notebook and a pencil and each page was a day of logging. But, I didn't have access to how many calories were in what, so, I pretty much just ate food that had some kind of labeling. Kind of gross when I think about it now. Lot's of canned food, lot's of yogurt. No meat really since I wasn't sure how many calories. That was before we had the internet at home.. lol
  • hhnkhl
    hhnkhl Posts: 231 Member
    Yes. Already knew
  • mz_getskinny
    mz_getskinny Posts: 258 Member
    I knew nothing until I joined mfp....for the 2nd time ;)
  • krissyreminisce
    krissyreminisce Posts: 284 Member
    I actually had no idea what I was doing and my only real guidance came from watching The Biggest Loser. And even then, I spent a year stuck in a fitness rut where I would just go to the gym, do the elliptical for an hour, and go home. I wasn't logging food or counting calories. I spent nearly all of last year stuck at the same weight and was starting to gain right before this app was suggested to me.

    I'm learning a lot and am way more conscious of my foods. I'm also out of my fitness rut. I've started running and strength training. :)
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,246 Member
    I knew what worked for me a decade ago and was successful at losing with a calorie deficit and daily exercise. I used an old book that had calorie counts in it and wrote my food in a notebook. After two non-fitness related injuries I got lazy during recovery time and gained some of it back. A few years back I tried again using FitDay, which was fine for calorie counting but without the community. I like MFP for the support and accountability.
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  • crosbylee
    crosbylee Posts: 3,455 Member
    I was probaby following whatever fad diet was popular at the time. Weight Watchers was as close to MFP as I got before I finally joined and started to lurk around here. After several starts and stops, I feel like I might finally be able to get rid of the weight and get myself in shape.
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
    Well, I had previously lost about 50 lbs through generally healthy/"clean" eating/following the food plate, and I specialize in eating disorder and obesity treatment, so I had a pretty good amount of knowledge about the factors that make up a healthy, balanced diet and weight loss. However, I had a real prejudice against calorie counting, and it was very illuminating to see that rather than a source of obsessionality and disorder (which of course I would see in ED patients), for me it was actually very freeing and allowed me to lose weight more effectively and with more flexible eating.
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  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    Back in 1998 I had lost 50 pounds but I never wrote down what I ate or how much. I just started eating less and moving more. When I joined MFP in 2011 after the weight came back I had an idea about what I needed to do but I made the mistake of trying to out exercise a bad diet (noun). I think I lasted about two weeks and quit. I know better and understand things a lot better now after reading the forums when I came back.
  • littled1986
    littled1986 Posts: 101 Member
    I had no idea what I was doing before mfp. I had heard of counting calories but thought it sounded incredibly tedious and difficult. I tried all kinds of fads and gimmicks with no luck and even started to believe that I'm meant to be fat forever. Now I feel like an idiot because it's not hard, and it works! I've been at this for a month now and have lost 12 pounds!
  • pander101
    pander101 Posts: 677 Member
    I half knew. I was just looking for a place to log it all and not pay for for it. Found MFP and it happened to have a better atmosphere then sparkpeople and better user-interface and database for food logging. I've actually learned a lot more then I thought I would ever know since joining.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
    Similar! I had a tiny little notebook I carried around with me and wrote down what I ate and the calories (which were googled). Different page each day. I didn't think to weigh out anything so I'm sure my estimates were way off. My goal was 1200 because that's what I "heard" you should eat when "on a diet". If I would eat over 1200 I would draw a sad face at the top of the page. So yeah, my weight was going up and down forever until I learned (when I found MFP) that I can eat enough to not feel like I can't do this for more than a month and still lose weight.
  • deniztuzu2
    deniztuzu2 Posts: 77 Member
    I had no idea about counting calories. I started dieting, eating veg and chicken and such and I was looking for an app to track my weight and stumbled luckily upon MFP.
  • NikonPal
    NikonPal Posts: 1,346 Member
    NOTHING ever worked for me - except MFP;

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  • katherine_startrek_fan
    katherine_startrek_fan Posts: 425 Member
    Honestly I didn't think it was possible for me to lose weight before MFP. I had always been overweight/obese and didn't think it would ever change. Then I started wanting to have kids, and realized that I would have to do something if I wanted to have healthy pregnancies and not let my weight get totally out of control.

    My first step was exercise and then finding/using MFP. I quickly realized that for my whole life, I had completely underestimated how many calories are in restaurant meals. From there, I've made some pretty significant progress.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,716 Member
    edited March 2015
    Yep, I knew what I was doing. I was raised by a nurse and I've taken health, fitness, and nutrition classes.

    I've also done "this" a few times before with other programs and on my own. First time with another program was with Fit Day back in 2006 or so. I tracked everything for 3 weeks, then stopped tracking because it was such a pain, however, the 3 weeks was enough to readjust my eating. And I lost 5 or 10 lbs ... just enough to get me back into the middle of the "normal" range again.

    Around about that time I was taking a kinesiology class and they gave us another program to track things. It focused more on nutrients than Fit Day did.

    I tracked for a little while in 2008 ... just before my wedding, and dropped a bit, again, enough to get me into the middle of the "normal" range again.

    Then in about 2011, I tracked things with both Fit Day and Daily Plate ... didn't really find either of them very convenient and had to keep checking with Nutrition Data to be sure. I tracked for 3 weeks again, but again the 3 weeks was enough to readjust my eating. I lost 13 lb in 13 weeks ... back into the "normal" range.

    On and off periodically, I have used Nutrition Data to get an idea of what I'm eating. Back when I started using that, it was to track my electrolyte consumption for long distance cycling and to find calorie rich foods. Now it is to look for lower calorie foods.

    And now, I've been with MFP for 38 days ... and I've lost about 13 lbs. :) I'm really close to the "normal" range again.
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