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trufaith51
trufaith51 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm Jo. I don't know how to get started.

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  • blobby2021
    blobby2021 Posts: 6 Member
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    Same here 🤣
  • FireMonkey
    FireMonkey Posts: 500 Member
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    Here's what works for me: enter everything I eat or drink in the food diary, and enter every exercise I do in the exercise diary. Once you start doing that, you can see where the problem areas are. For example I have a terrible sweet tooth, but when I add every sweet I eat and see how much there is, I can see where I have to cut down. Don't get me wrong, I still love sweets, but if I can replace one treat a day with an apple or a banana, I'm on my way to healthier eating. Hope this helps; let me know if you want more specific answers.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
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    I'm with @FireMonkey. Even right down to the sweet tooth. :(
    Logging everything has helped me immensely and without it, I'm lost and unmotivated. I've pulled away from counting calories and exercising every day and it shows. My commitment has gone out the window.

    Do you have specific questions, are you finding more information on this site, have you entered your statistics/goals, etc? Are you having issues coming up with healthy foods you like, exercises you want to do.....?

    We really need to know more to help you more. There are some highly experienced, wise, wonderful MFP'ers who share their knowledge freely here. So continue reaching out!!
  • threewins
    threewins Posts: 1,455 Member
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    Hello Jo, welcome. If there was one piece of advice I'd give to someone starting their weight loss, it's to start off slowly. There's a lot to learn, mostly about how you respond to the world around you, what causes you to eat too much, what doesn't. There's a lot of conflicting information out there in what is best for weight loss, but the simplest advice is usually the best. Eat a little bit less than you have been doing, and if you choose to exercise, start off gently.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,882 Member
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    Some of the experienced folks have already given you some great tips about taking some steps to start using MFP in a simple, gradual way.

    If you have specific questions, post them, and you can get more specific answers.

    As you get a little more comfortable - or maybe even if you don't? - my tip would be to read the things in the "Most Helpful Posts" part of the Community topic areas (as you have time), starting with the ones in "Getting Started" and "Health and Weight Loss". Here are direct links to those two areas:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-health-and-weight-loss-must-reads#latest

    There are lots of good guidance and tips in there!
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    Hi, Jo!

    The best piece of advice I can offer is to start small and take small steps. Don't plan to overhaul your diet all in one day and be successful. You'll just end up overwhelmed instead.

    So, set up MFP with your goals and current stats. Then get used to entering everything you eat and drink into the diary and I do mean everything.

    Buy a kitchen scale if you don't already own one. Learn to weigh your food so you can enter in accurate amounts and get accurate calorie counts. There's nothing more frustrating than to have it look like you're meeting your calorie goals when you're really still overeating.

    Do all of that for a few days until it becomes easy. Then take a hard look at your diary entries and see how you're doing. Are you meeting your calorie goal every day? If not, what's the stumbling block? Food that is too high in calories? Late night snacking? Something else?

    Make tweaks to what you're eating and keep trying to stay close to that calorie goal. Once you have that down, take a look at what you're eating. Can you swap out some high calorie foods for lower calorie ones? Riced cauliflower for rice? Leaner cuts of meat? Less fast food?

    As you get one thing under your belt, keep trying to improve and step by step you'll be at your goal.
  • unluckyluciano
    unluckyluciano Posts: 5 Member
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    As always, great advice on here. One thing I would add, as you incorporate the suggestions that will work for you, is be cognizant of your trigger foods and don't bring them into your house, especially if you know that one cookie leads to a bag, a scoop of ice cream leads to the container, etc. If you feel like indulging in limited quantities of these, and it fits your caloric "budget," have a treat when you go out and enjoy it, but don't create the opportunity to go overboard in your house, especially late at night, when the problem seems to get acute for many people. This has been a big one for me. It's all about being realistic and knowing yourself. I admire the first two posters for clearly stating where they stand...it will get better.

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