21 Day Fix and MFP

HappyBride917
HappyBride917 Posts: 27 Member
edited November 15 in Health and Weight Loss
Coming from weight watchers, it's been hard for me to make healthy choices and count calories. I had a different mindset there and ate processed foods. I started the 21 Day Fix yesterday hoping that it can get me into some great habits and teach me more about healthy eating and portions. I am still tracking on MFP, and I hope that after 21 days I can stick to MFP and make great choices!

Has anyone tried or had success with the 21 Day Fix? I'd love to hear how it went for you! Thanks!

Replies

  • tahxirez
    tahxirez Posts: 270 Member
    I did some of the workouts that I borrowed from a friend. They were ok. I've never bothered with the food program because I find it weirdly restrictive and I can stuff a whole lot of food in a little box if it means I get to eat more. I prefer to weigh and log my meals here. Most of the people I know doing 21 day fix haven't lost much but if it works for you great!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    21 Day Fix is basically a rip-off of the old Weight Watchers exchanges system (Richard Simmons Deal a Meal was another copycat years ago). All the old school stuff keeps coming back "re-invented."

    You can eat processed foods and lose weight because weight loss is all about calories.

    But you should choose to eat during weight loss using a method that helps you transition to maintenance. Learning good habits and continuing them will help us keep the weight off. If you plan on cutting out processed foods forever....21 Day Fix is a good plan. It wouldn't help me though because I agree with @tahxirez it's very inflexible. All things in moderation for me.

    Here's a link to a group here:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/103806-21-day-fixers
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
    HappyBride917 wrote: »
    Coming from weight watchers, it's been hard for me to make healthy choices and count calories. I had a different mindset there and ate processed foods. I started the 21 Day Fix yesterday hoping that it can get me into some great habits and teach me more about healthy eating and portions. I am still tracking on MFP, and I hope that after 21 days I can stick to MFP and make great choices!

    Has anyone tried or had success with the 21 Day Fix? I'd love to hear how it went for you! Thanks!

    It's not impossible to count calories while eating processed foods... I'm not entirely sure what it is you're having trouble with? :) (Although from what I've heard about WW, they have "free" foods that you need to get used to including in your daily calories using MFP's method.)

    Maybe start by concentrating on getting the hang of weighing and logging your food with MFP regardless of what you actually eat, and once you have that skill down you can start thinking about what "healthy choices" you might like to make.

    If you want to lose weight it's all down to your calorie deficit - how you achieve that is up to you and what works best for your own appetite and hunger cues, but you don't have to cut out any foods unless you want to. Learning proper portion sizes is important, and weighing your food will help with that.

    For me personally, labelling food as "good/bad" or "healthy/unhealthy" can cause guilt when consuming something I want to eat that might not be the "best" choice even if it does fit within my calories, so I find it more beneficial to just include things I love like chocolate and pizza rather than try to avoid them. I'm not saying this approach works for everyone, but I want to be able to maintain my goal weight when I get there so eating now how I plan to continue eating in the future is important to me. :)

    If using this 21-day method works for you then that's great, but if you can learn to manage your calories and portions without it then that might be more beneficial to you in the longer term. I wish you all the best with it, regardless!
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    Everyone has given you useful points but let me share my experience. When I first started losing weight years ago, I chose to do 21 Day Fix because it had a variety of workouts and I didn't want to get bored/quit. Even though I used the containers, I still weighed my food on a scale and I'm glad I did because I would have only been eating 900 calories per day as I wasn't the type to pack the containers full of food. I went from 139 to 121 pounds in two months.

    Since then I've moved on to harder, more intense workouts and flexible eating but I don't regret using 21 Day Fix as a starting point. The workouts are great for a beginner and the containers work for many people. There are free sites for streaming workouts though and I still feel a food scale is the most useful tool one can have when losing, maintaining, or even gaining weight.
  • ccyph
    ccyph Posts: 2 Member
    For someone who needs to workout at home and is more of a beginner, like myself 21 day fix is great. I have owned it for several years and just this year have finally stuck to it longer than 2 weeks as I hit my breaking point and was sick of quitting. I have lost many inches (wish I would have measured before I started!) and 3-5 lbs which isn't a ton but I know I am building muscle and was already drinking lots of water/no pop ect so didn't have a quick drop of water weight. People don't like the title 21 day fix because they think we all think its a 21 day miracle program which its not. If you workout consistently you will see results. I tent to do my own food plan/tracking on fitbit rather than the containers but I do find them helpful for dressings and fruit portions. Again, for something you can do at home and not have to go to a gym I think it works the entire body and have recommended the workouts to many of my friends who like me aren't gym people.

    I think you will like it - just keep moving :)
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Maxematics wrote: »
    Everyone has given you useful points but let me share my experience. When I first started losing weight years ago, I chose to do 21 Day Fix because it had a variety of workouts and I didn't want to get bored/quit. Even though I used the containers, I still weighed my food on a scale and I'm glad I did because I would have only been eating 900 calories per day as I wasn't the type to pack the containers full of food. I went from 139 to 121 pounds in two months.

    Since then I've moved on to harder, more intense workouts and flexible eating but I don't regret using 21 Day Fix as a starting point. The workouts are great for a beginner and the containers work for many people. There are free sites for streaming workouts though and I still feel a food scale is the most useful tool one can have when losing, maintaining, or even gaining weight.

    900 calories would be considered too low...

    I refuse to pay for color coded tupperware when I can spend 12.50 on a food scale and eat what I want when I want and still lose weight.
  • AmberTake2
    AmberTake2 Posts: 9 Member
    Hello HappyBride917:

    I've had really good success using 21DF and just counting my calories on MFP - I feel like it's much simpler and less restrictive than using those little containers. I love that workout series, and feel they helped me to tone all over and increased my cardio performance <3. Need an accountabilibudy? You can add me :).
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
    It's gimmicky. Want recipes? Buy a book. Want a quick shake? Buy meal replacements. Buybuybuy. It's also a time limit, what do you do after the time limit? Hopefully you've learned better eating habits, and have learned how to count your calories and learned some new exercises. These are things that you can learn with MFP by counting your calories, and looking into healthy recipes, or even other peoples food logs, and going online for fitness videos on places like YouTube. For the motivation side, join a challenge group. If it works for you, then great. There are alternatives too.
  • lady_ghost
    lady_ghost Posts: 175 Member
    edited February 2017
    I did 21 day fix but the meal plan is b.s. you can easily over eat or undereat on that diet. I just calculate how much calories i need and use MFP. The macros for 21 day fix is 30 pro 40 carb 30 fat.
  • lady_ghost
    lady_ghost Posts: 175 Member
    lady_ghost wrote: »
    I did 21 day fix but the meal plan is b.s. you can easily over eat or undereat on that diet. I just calculate how much calories i need and use MFP. The macros for 21 day fix is 30 pro 40 carb 30 fat.

  • Jillybean28mfp
    Jillybean28mfp Posts: 1 Member
    I have done 21 day fix and WW. 21 day fixed worked if you follow it but I agree it is restrictive. I only lost maybe 10 lbs before giving up the meal plan..but love the videos and use them. WW my company paid most of it so I used it but didn't have much success. They don't add fruits and veggies into points and you can overeat them. After ditching the points I created my mop account a week ago and down 8 lbs with calorie counting and walking dogs twice a day total of 40 minutes. As long as you count accurately and measure mfp is definitely the winner in my eyes.
  • megot78
    megot78 Posts: 31 Member
    I've done 21DF eating in the past...I didn't buy the system, just some generic cups and used them to measure my meals. I actually really liked it. It helped me adjust to what actual portion sizes should be and to eat less processed foods. In the past I did it and lost 9 pounds in the 21 days. I am currently getting back on the wagon of tracking my food w/ portion control cups, but out of curiosity, I'm also tracking what I eat in MFP to see if there is much difference. And after one week, I'm not seeing much of one.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    Maxematics wrote: »
    Everyone has given you useful points but let me share my experience. When I first started losing weight years ago, I chose to do 21 Day Fix because it had a variety of workouts and I didn't want to get bored/quit. Even though I used the containers, I still weighed my food on a scale and I'm glad I did because I would have only been eating 900 calories per day as I wasn't the type to pack the containers full of food. I went from 139 to 121 pounds in two months.

    Since then I've moved on to harder, more intense workouts and flexible eating but I don't regret using 21 Day Fix as a starting point. The workouts are great for a beginner and the containers work for many people. There are free sites for streaming workouts though and I still feel a food scale is the most useful tool one can have when losing, maintaining, or even gaining weight.

    900 calories would be considered too low...

    I refuse to pay for color coded tupperware when I can spend 12.50 on a food scale and eat what I want when I want and still lose weight.

    Which is exactly why I wrote I'm glad I was using a food scale at the same time as I would have been underfed with the containers. I'm only 111 pounds now and I still lose weight on 2000 calories per day, I couldn't imagine eating 900. However most people try to cram as much into those containers as possible which is why I think a food scale is paramount. The most those containers could teach anyone, if anything, is about portion sizing.
  • FreyasRebirth
    FreyasRebirth Posts: 514 Member
    I tried it. The workouts were too much for someone with zero experience and the container guide didn't actually get me to the number of calories I was supposed to be eating. After the exercise and nursing (which should have been covered by my increased container goal), I was probably only netting ~600 calories. My coach blamed me for not choosing the most calorie dense foods I could manage to cram into the containers.
  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
    HappyBride917 wrote: »
    Coming from weight watchers, it's been hard for me to make healthy choices and count calories. I had a different mindset there and ate processed foods. I started the 21 Day Fix yesterday hoping that it can get me into some great habits and teach me more about healthy eating and portions. I am still tracking on MFP, and I hope that after 21 days I can stick to MFP and make great choices!

    Has anyone tried or had success with the 21 Day Fix? I'd love to hear how it went for you! Thanks!

    Just chiming in. Do you know what you're going to do on day 22? That's what you should be thinking about. You're probably better off doing some research on your own and figuring what works for you. :)
  • kpingry84
    kpingry84 Posts: 11 Member
    I've done both. I had more success with WW a long time ago. I agree with everyone else about the 21DF restrictions. I didn't last long on the diet because my calorie counts were too low for what I was allowed to have. I just did my first workout though. Omg. It kicked my *kitten* but I know it'll be worth it. I'm back using MFP and my food scale regularly to track food and I like the flexibility and better portion control. I follow the 40-30-30 macros. Carb, protein, fat, respectively. So far I'm doing ok with it. If you'd like, add me as a friend and we can do this together! :) good luck!
  • ccyph
    ccyph Posts: 2 Member
    Rusty740 wrote: »
    HappyBride917 wrote: »
    Coming from weight watchers, it's been hard for me to make healthy choices and count calories. I had a different mindset there and ate processed foods. I started the 21 Day Fix yesterday hoping that it can get me into some great habits and teach me more about healthy eating and portions. I am still tracking on MFP, and I hope that after 21 days I can stick to MFP and make great choices!

    Has anyone tried or had success with the 21 Day Fix? I'd love to hear how it went for you! Thanks!

    Just chiming in. Do you know what you're going to do on day 22? That's what you should be thinking about. You're probably better off doing some research on your own and figuring what works for you. :)

    Those of us who use the program know you don't stop on day 22 though. They say that it takes 21 days to develop a habit (good eating for example)... you repeat "rounds" if you want to or like me just use the DVDs if you like the workouts, which would lead one to figuring out what works for them :)
  • LoeyJones
    LoeyJones Posts: 28 Member
    I've done 21DF and 21DF Extreme and had good success with them in the past, however I did find that the restrictive nature of the program triggered eating disordered behavior that I had engaged in when I was in high school. Now I'm training for a half marathon and I use the 21DF upper & lower fix videos for my strength training day, but I don't use the container system. I find it much easier to be attentive to my calories. Overall I think it's much healthier behavior instead of teaching you that certain foods are "good" or "clean" vs. bad/restricted foods. I do really like Shakeology and still have it 4-5 times a week as my breakfast. I feel like I never get sick when I drink it (only 1 sick day in the last year!) and it makes my hair grow like crazy.
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