FOR NEW MEMBERS.. TIPS FOR MFP!

okay here are some things to consider when working out and keeping track of things on here... i figured some of these things along the weigh and they helped me off to a great start. Last year i join MFP and i lost 30 pounds last summer! This summer im ready to head back omw to my goal! So here are some tips for everyone!

1. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! how much you eat, exercise etc. If there is a certain exercise that is no in the database, you can research exercise through several sites online. Usually if you ask on the message board for different ones, you will get a few dozen to help you out

2. DRINK 32 ounces of water a day! you will pee a lot but it helps a lot with water weight !

3. PERIODS - okay usually you gain water weight - which can be up to 5 pounds few days before/during your period. Do not freak out about it! if it helps, don't weight yourself til 2 days after your period is over.

4. FLUCTUATIONS - for girls sometimes if you change up your diet a lil and your exercise routine..your body will start to fluctuate between 1-5 pounds during the week. Usually this is normal but in means of losing weight you gotta step up your workouts and get more intense to avoid plateaus - which is when you workout and eat right or mess up and you don't lose anything for a long time. Increase the intensity of your workouts and maybe add 5-10 more minutes of activity of exercise.

5. WEIGH INS - best time to weigh yourself is in the morning after you wake up and go pee. GO for weighing yourself naked if you feel like your jammies will effect the numbers. When you start out and are figuring out foods i find it help to weigh yourself everyday and then look at your food diary from the past day to see how your body reacts. Like if you gained 2 pounds in one day (other than your period and lack of hydration..it could be that extra slice of reduced fat cake or how you went over in calories)

6. Food Diary and Calories: Document everything! If you cant find the calories for a certain food item, google it or ask the message boards or me.. i can usually find anything on the planet on the internet.

When Exercising - document your exercises - and when you get extra calories to your food diary, its okay to use them all up but it is best if you eat HALF of the calories you have burned. So if i burned 800 calories for my workout today, i can eat what ever is left on my diary plus half of my workout calories - which would be 400.

If you go over your calories for the day its okay sometimes.. If you go over by 200 calories you are still good. 300 or more calories over and you just gotta work harder the next day!

7. STRETCH - i make this mistake a lot after working out and i end up really sore (which feels good sometimes) but if your so sore you cant workout, you may miss exercising for 2-3 days.

hope this helps!!! good luck to everyone!!!