Finding away to get fit

Aborelesttie2014
Aborelesttie2014 Posts: 1 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hey! Everyone I’m new to my fitness pal and I’m here to say that I’m completely lost on my fitness journey I’ve been trying to figure out was I can shed pounds and also ways to gain muscles if there’s anyone that could shed some light on this it would greatly appreciate it

Replies

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 12,735 Member
    Welcome!

    There are some great threads created by our members, bookmarked to the top of each category that may be helpful. Just look for "Most Helpful Posts - whatever the category name is”.

    For example:
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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,123 Member
    Hello, and welcome!

    For those goals specifically, "shed pounds and gain muscles", there are two general things that are probably the most efficient routes: Eat at a calorie level to lose weight at a sensible pace for your current size, and lift weights or do similar strength exercise to gain strength/muscles.

    To lose weight, the standard route around here is to put your demographic data into your MFP profile, get a calorie goal, and stick pretty close to that goal for 4-6 weeks, whole menstrual cycle(s) for women who have those. "Pretty close" means maybe +/- 50 calories on average daily. A sensible weight loss rate would be 0.5-1% of current weight per week, with a bias toward the lower end of that unless severely obese and under close medical supervision for deficiencies or health complications. After that initial 4-6 weeks, you'll have enough personal results data to adjust your calorie goal if needed based on your average loss rate.

    Either sync a fitness tracker to MFP (with negative adjustments turned on); include your intentional exercise in your "activity level" setting; or set your activity level based on pre-exercise life, then log exercise when you do some and eat those calories (or a big chunk of them), too. The first and last of those options is what MFP is designed for, but any of the 3 can work.

    With muscle mass gain, realistically, expect the process to be gradual. When trying to lose fat, eating fewer calories, we're trying to lose one kind of body tissue, but increase another to add muscle mass. That's a difficult balancing act. Still, starting down the right road to gain muscle can at minimum preserve existing muscle while losing weight, and strength increases faster than muscle mass for people new-ish to strength training. Slower weight loss makes muscle gain during loss somewhat more realistic.

    For muscle/strength gain or preservation, the main needs are a good progressive strength training program faithfully performed, and good overall nutrition, especially adequate protein.

    Other MFP-ers share strength training programs that have worked for them here:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    Another good thread on that subject is this one:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10920257/how-to-set-up-a-weightlifting-routine#latest

    The MFP nutrition goals are a reasonable starting point for improving nutrition, but you may want to modify them as you learn more and gain experience, which is fine.

    Best wishes!

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