You can't optimize what you can't measure

MFP - tangible goals. Solid methodology

I've been training and dieting since age 14. Back then I was an obese kid. After lots of hard work I spent 12 or so years of my life at an ave of 85k at 10% body fat. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet... then had a back injury, and eventually surgery in 2010.

That took me into depression and I ended up gaining 30k of fat over a few years. By July 2014 I weighed 115k at around 40% body fat. It got worse and worse...mentally and physically, and the extra weight affected my back negatively.

I started dieting and training again Nov 2014, and had managed to drop to 100k by Nov 2015 then I plateaued, then yoyo-ed..up a few kilos on a binge..down a few kilos on a crash diet. I was stuck at 100k and around 20% body fat till March of 2016...I am now 40 btw :-)

Then I started using MFP and (not to jinx it) but losing fat has never been easier. Logging meals and exercise allows me to plan everything...And it prevents me from trying to justify snacking... "just a bit of this, just a bite of that"... with 1s and 0s it all adds up and you can't hide the extra calories under a loose tshirt!

I learned that figuring out your body type (endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph) and managing your macros to reach your goals is just as important as counting calories. Calorie and carb cycling at my age are also necessary to shock the body into using that fat storage.

So, now I average out at around 2000 kcal and alternate 30-20-50 with 20-30-50...every other week I'll shoot for a 15-15-60 day followed by a 40-15-35 day.

I've been on the app for 33 days and I'm down from 100k at 20% bodyfat to 94.5k at 15% body fat. :-) I've also gained 3k of muscle.

My only qualm with MFP would be it doesn't account for muscle gain/loss. That is very important!