What do you wish you had known..

asflatasapancake wrote: »

... Lastly, eat back your exercise calories and you'll pay the price.

Oh, man. So much this. When I eat my exercise cals back I gain instantly.

1. Carbs aren't the enemy. Your muscle gains are really going to suffer without them.
2. Jumping from one workout routine to another (fitness ADD) isn't going to help. Pick one, and just stick with it. Focus on making it YOUR routine, and concern yourself with the fundamentals, such as progressive overload, good form, and really making the most of EVERY workout.
3. Losing 100lbs in a year and a bit is going to result in a lot of money wastefully spent on nice clothes that you only get to wear for 1-2 months. Buy your "transitional" clothes at Walmart, 'cause you (hopefully) ain't keeping them for long.
4. Sometimes, the pursuit to improve yourself comes at a trade-off with other things. It's not all a bed of roses. You'll lose friends along the way because your interests have changed, and that'll be okay - in time, you'll come to grips with it. It'll turn out that they didn't have much interest in being your friend beyond the unhealthy interests that you had before (mostly going from being a near-barfly to having less than one drink a month).
5. Don't overthink things. Those miserable 2-3 months of near-neurotic nutrient/macro-timing, anabolic window-adhering, late-night carb-depriving resulted in a negligible difference in your weight loss and fitness transformation. Just a lot of unneeded misery.
6. You'll start this journey for what were, in hindsight, all the wrong reasons - but they'll change along the way. You started as a relatively insecure 300-pound male with an aesthetic-driven attitude; this will change into a centred and balanced 190-pound male who is in it more for self-improvement, and most importantly, self-edification. Embrace it.

1. you dont have to cut out anything- no such thing as good or bad food
2. weight watchers / slimming world is not necessary
3. simple but effective exercises can be done at home

I figured this one out pretty quickly into my weight loss, but making excuses/reasons for one's weight problem does not preserve one's moral character in the slightest, just own that you put on weight because food is good and you ate more of it than you should have. Everything will go a lot more smoothly the minute you stop wasting your time on trying to save face.

I wish I would have realized how unhealthy my relationship with food was, and I was eating for every emotion. I actually don't like feeling full anymore. I could eat enough food for 2 or three days in one meal, I wish I would have known what the right portions were for me, it would have opened my eyes a lot sooner. I wish I would have known that my, "I've gained 10 pounds, it's just 10 pounds," mentality leads to its just 10 more, and just 10 more.

1) someone elses journey isn't yours, so stop comparing

Lift weights!
Eat clean
Buy the fancy running shoes, your shins will thank you

Diets and workout plans are not one-size-fits-all, and there's more than one way to get to a fit, healthy weight. I have a friend who has had incredible success eating mostly raw, with lots of smoothies and salads. I would love to eat that way, but my body needs more protein and fat to be satisfied. Starting the day with a calorie-dense breakfast helps me ward off cravings and unhealthy eating the rest of the day. A previous poster, however, found that she does best when skipping breakfast.
You have to figure out what works for YOU.

asflatasapancake wrote: »

IndiaGuerita1983 wrote: »

asflatasapancake wrote: »

... Lastly, eat back your exercise calories OR you'll pay the price.

Oh, man. So much this. When I eat my exercise cals back I gain instantly.

Whoops. I actually meant to post "or" instead of "and". You should at least eat back some of your exercise calories. Of course, since a lot of times calculating calories burned can be a crap shoot, it may not be beneficial to eat all of your exercise calories back. I do actually eat most of mine. When I wasn't, I found my body to be very angry with me.

Ahhh...okay. Gotcha. See, I'm the opposite. When I eat mine back I start gaining.

That I'm worth it. It won't be easy, but each day I make progress is a step towards a happy future

It's ok to feel hungry.

Lifting weights does awesome things for your body. (I wish I would have started lifting sooner.)

LIFT LIFT LIFT!!!

I wish I started a heavy lifting program from day one! I've been doing cardio and aerobics for too long with no noticeable results. Weight loss comes from a calorie deficit. Lifting + eating enough protein helps improve body composition. Keeping as much muscle mass is important because it's so hard to build.

joeboland wrote: »

1. Carbs aren't the enemy. Your muscle gains are really going to suffer without them.
2. Jumping from one workout routine to another (fitness ADD) isn't going to help. Pick one, and just stick with it. Focus on making it YOUR routine, and concern yourself with the fundamentals, such as progressive overload, good form, and really making the most of EVERY workout.
3. Losing 100lbs in a year and a bit is going to result in a lot of money wastefully spent on nice clothes that you only get to wear for 1-2 months. Buy your "transitional" clothes at Walmart, 'cause you (hopefully) ain't keeping them for long.
4. Sometimes, the pursuit to improve yourself comes at a trade-off with other things. It's not all a bed of roses. You'll lose friends along the way because your interests have changed, and that'll be okay - in time, you'll come to grips with it. It'll turn out that they didn't have much interest in being your friend beyond the unhealthy interests that you had before (mostly going from being a near-barfly to having less than one drink a month).
5. Don't overthink things. Those miserable 2-3 months of near-neurotic nutrient/macro-timing, anabolic window-adhering, late-night carb-depriving resulted in a negligible difference in your weight loss and fitness transformation. Just a lot of unneeded misery.
6. You'll start this journey for what were, in hindsight, all the wrong reasons - but they'll change along the way. You started as a relatively insecure 300-pound male with an aesthetic-driven attitude; this will change into a centred and balanced 190-pound male who is in it more for self-improvement, and most importantly, self-edification. Embrace it.

This is EXCELLENT advice!!!

Lookingformyself wrote: »

Boy! Where do I start??!! If I could go back in time, here's what I would tell former me:

- Scale lies. You can have two completely different figures while seeing the same number on that damn machine (Hello, strength training)
- Limitations are in your mind not in your body (The "I can't" is not coming from your abs!)
- Healthy food can be tasty
- Don't compare yourself to others. It's a lost, useless battle .
- No exercise will ever be harder than being highly overweight for 15 years
- Jillian Michaels knows everything.
- Getting back on the wagon is way harder than staying on it. If you have to slip, first, ask yourself a 100 times if it's worth it
- Kitchen scale for solid food and cups for anything liquid. Every time. No choice there
- You don't want to lose weight. You want to lose FAT
- Food is the answer to hunger. And only hunger. Do not feed your emotions
- You don't need a gym or fancy equipment to move your a**
- Jillian Michaels knows everything. About everything. I mean it.

AND SO MUCH MORE!!

Appreciate the sound thoughts and advice. There is a ton here and all of it is so apprecaited. Just starting my journey to FIT. It's going to be along one, but it's long ovedue.