Biggest blunders you've done?

StealthHealth wrote: »

I thought the calories for pop tarts were for the contents of a foil packet - but they were per slice.

This,

Blew my mind when I saw it!!

Not using my food scale to keep portions in check....

Losing weight by crash dieting or starving myself... great way to become skinny fat and crash the metabolism!!

Also following the advice "just eat clean and exercise"... yeah I did that for 9 months with no weight loss...

Also not eating enough protein. I tried to go vegan and in general don't like meat anyways... something was off though I was exercising and in a calorie deficit & losing weight but the body composition scale showed I was losing muscle and GAINING fat! Checked my macros and turned out I was consuming only half the daily protein required for a sedentary woman, and eating about twice the amount of carbs that I should be. Doh!!

As far as MFP specific blunders I'd just say don't log exercise & eat back the calories (good way to not actually be in a deficit), and check the foods to make sure it's not a wacky entry - like there's one for parsley that says 1 teaspoon is 150 calories!

daniip_la wrote: »

Believing that carbs/sugar caused extra weight gain. Doing keto for 6 months and hating every second of it.

More recently (a few months ago), not eating back exercise calories. I already have a 1,000kcal/day deficit. Adding another 500kcal deficit to that made me sick and exhausted.

You should never be in a deficit more than a 500 calories below your TDEE, unless maybe you are hundreds of pounds overweight?

Forgetting to eat fresh produce, or avoiding it due to cost (i.e., organic fruit). Once I add back in fresh vegetables and fruit, I find myself filling up more quickly with fewer calories.

oliverneedsyou wrote: »

rcktgirl05 wrote: »

oliverneedsyou wrote: »

DebSozo wrote: »

jennifer_417 wrote: »

For me, trying to eat 1200 calories/day. It works for some, but I never made it for more than a week.

I stuck with 1200 for waaay to long.

That's what MFP has me down to now. I'm 5'3, 228 pounds and starting to feel quite hungry. I think I'm switching to 1.5 a week loss at 205 pounds.

I'm 5'4" and started at 220. MFP also had me around 1200 but it wasn't enough for me initially. I'm active (increased a lot since the beginning) and I set my own to 1380 which seems to be my magic number. I'm rarely over that even when I earn calories through exercise but it all does even out when I stick close. If I go slightly over I don't sweat it because I'm usually under on the other days. This way, I'm not hungry all the time and I have treats occasionally to keep me from feeling deprived. I've lost 42 pounds overall, 35 since mid June when I started tracking. Once you find your magic formula for what works, it's like turning around and floating downstream when previously you had been struggling to swim upstream. My two cents!

Thank you! I'm going to keep this in mind. I would rather have a bit slower of a loss than get frustrated and blow it for awhile.

Because I'm more mindful about what I eat and I try to make my calories count, sometimes I find it difficult to eat enough. That's when I have my chocolate toffee or take a trip to Rubios for my favorite ancho citrus shrimp burrito! People ask what's my secret, but CICO is so simple it's almost revolutionary. I occasionally get my In n Out burger fix too, just lettuce wrapped instead of a bun. Turns out that tastes better to me anyway, who knew? Amazing how well it works when you are not constantly focused on what you CAN'T have!