What did you learn using MyFitnessPal that changed your habits?

I definitely had a lot of aha moments. Especially with the calories in avocado, nuts, and hummus. I was surprised at how they could easily send me soaring over my goal for the day just by a couple of handfuls here or there or scoops without measuring.

I’m also realizing that I’m not as “healthy” as I used to tell myself I was. I find I go for a lot of snacks over meals but that leaves me with a lot to be desired in my diet in terms of having variety.

At the moment I’m just focusing on a maintaining a quick cut after my vacation and then I’ll likely be focusing on habits for food selection and macro management. I just don’t want to do it all at once yah know? I’m letting myself lean into lifestyle changes.

Finally I think this app has made me recognize how much the people I surround myself with influence my success. My friends like to eat out and unfortunately that makes tracking near impossible. I don’t mind eating out every now and again but im definitely looking to build new relationships with active people to help me stick to my goals. Environment is everything after all!

Once I realized that my goal has no end date and is essentially for-life, something clicked and I was able to get past the mentality that I NEED to be a certain weight BY a certain date. I got serious about regaining my health and well-being. Now it's just the journey.

Years ago I lost 125 lbs on the eat less, exercise more diet. From 325 down to 195. I kept it off for about four years and then my back went out. I had two failed surgeries and I am fused from T2 to my pelvis. I could not exercise (well not as much), was in a lot of pain and I gained almost all of the weight back.

My doctors kept tell me to lose weight. I could not as I was not motivated enough. Then the last doctor strongly suggest bariatric surgery. I agreed and started the process. Then my "ah-ha" though hit me. In the end the purpose of the bariatric surgery is to limit the amount of food you eat. So why not order a bariatric food plan and religiously eat only the food supplied. So I am. The weight is falling off. I do cheat a bit. I eat a lot of vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, and the like. No butter, no oil, but some mustard. And once a week, I treat myself to a "nice" meal.

I don't know where this process will end. But if I can lose 10+ pounds a month by the time the surgery is scheduled I will not qualify as my BMI will be too low.

I had a choice. Spend a bundle on a new cycling jacket in a larger size or lose weight. Losing weight seemed the more economical way to go.

This app made me fall in love with strength training. Users here made me realise with their progress pics that lifting weights as a woman won't make me bulky. Now I look forward to it more than cardio

I learned that as a vegetarian I was not getting nearly enough protein. Started to drink protein shakes. It has made a big difference in how I feel.

When I was thirty-one I realized I had gained two pounds in the last year, and was inclined to congratulate myself on the limited gain. Then I realized if I gained two pounds a year for the next fifty years it would add up to a hundred extra pounds.

Weighing food in grams; learning than my body loves lentils. My gut seems to do better with dry lentils than even dry beans. I like beans but lentils don't make me feel gassy. Also fiber makes me feel full.

I initially lost 30 lbs gained back 20 over the last year but that's because I didn't walk as much and stopped eating mostly vegan. Since I lost my weight initially using MFP; I knew if I repeated what I did before I would lose weight again.

when I started using mfp, it really opened my eyes. I didn't think I could ever lose weight because: i didn't drink soda, very rarely ate fast food or eat out, rarely ate "junk food" or sweets at home, ate mostly chicken but also liked sausage, pork etc ate vegetables & rice, I loved potato chips & would get a bag every couple weeks, did eat pasta sometimes but it made me sleepy so not too often, I liked ramen noodles & also have been going to the gym for years because I really enjoyed it & am active in general so I thought what can I change? It was so frustrating so I accepted my overweight self ( I was 200lbs) and was okay with it. Then a friend lost weight through counting calories so I decided to try it but not expecting any results. Wow, I saw that rice I was eating most days was full of calories, the chips I ate occasionally too, ramen noodles, pork & beef sausages. I had no idea so I substituted turkey sausage, ate rice occasionally & weighed everything. I lost 50 lbs. The most change was adding foods I didn't eat before which was exciting to discover new foods.

How much sugar is in almost Everything now days. I avoided eating sweets like cakes and candies and drinking soda, but I didn't worry about checking for it in other regular foods and drinks. This app showed me what I was eating also had a lot of sugar in them.

Before I started MFP, I lost a significant amount of weight by guesstimating calories, resistance training 6 days a week and walking or jogging everyday for 3.5 miles. I regained almost all my weight back when I injured myself. Last March, I joined MFP and started calorie counting, weighing, logging and exercising. I lost 80 pounds. Since April, I have been injured and have to stay off my feet. I have been able to maintain my weight loss just by weighing my food and counting calories. Learning how to create a calorie deficit and maintain without exercise has been a real eye opener for me.

Months of diet plans and tiny losses or plateaus...and then I discovered my fruit intake was adding 600kcal per day....EEK!!!!!

MargaretYakoda wrote: »

Tracking my calories led to me realizing that on a regular basis I wasn’t eating enough. Which led to binges, and thus weight gain. Counterintuitive. But that’s my AhHa moment.

I had this too.

Fitness pal made me more aware of what I was eating especially carbs. It has helped me to stay on track of my goals. I have lost 12 pounds in 6 weeks and gave up sugar.

So many "aha" moments! Many revelations came when I started seriously tracking what I ate and realized how it would have been impossible to balance all those calories with physical activity. A more positive "aha" moment came when I realized that I really CAN lose weight and take charge of my own destiny, that it's not impossible! It's not even all that hard if you are consistent!