Overwhelmed!

MidwestIntegrity
MidwestIntegrity Posts: 1
edited October 6 in Introduce Yourself
Hi. My name is Miranda. I'm a married 32 year old and mother of an 8 year old son. I joined myfitness pal yesterday and began my food diary. I didn't do as well as I thought, but I know this is a learning process and I see where I need to cut back. Although I understand the food diary, I'm overwhelmed by all the various posts and topics, tools, reports..... I know they're there to use and I want to be as successful as I possibly can, but I feel like my brain is on overload. I am also, like so many in the respect that if I feel like I can't do something the right way, after awhile, I give up. I need to make sure this doesn't happen and I need the sense of accomplishment that comes with me knowing I am doing everything I can to make my weight loss goals.
My exercise so far is little to none the past 4 years. I am a college student in my last year, and I'm a server at a Greek restaurant. I also do the housework here at home, but split the duties with my 8 year old son. I say it's because I don't have enough energy, but if I started eating right, I know that would change. I also started taking B Complex and Vitamin C everyday. Any suggestions out there would be appreciated. I just feel like the odd man out & I'm afraid this is just going to be another thing I fail at.

Replies

  • dlaplume2
    dlaplume2 Posts: 1,658 Member
    Welcome aboard.
    You can add me as a friend if you like.

    First I would like to suggest you take things here in stride. For every opinion you will find here, you will find many with the opposite. You have to treat this like raising a child. It is all the time, it takes commitment, everyone gives advice, and you will have days you want to run away and hide for an hour. But like being a mom you do what works for you and not everyone else.

    If you follow the calories that MFP gives you and you track everything you eat " you bite it you write it" it will work. When you get to adding exercise, it works faster.

    Take it day by day, you can do it.
  • Poohsta0
    Poohsta0 Posts: 147 Member
    Welcome. I would say to take your time. I used the diary over the last two weeks to get a feel for where I need to make changes, both in diet and exercise. Use the forums as you have time. They can be good for motivation when you see someone who is going in the direction you want to go. Grab some friends who are regulars and will give you support when you achieve the small (and later large) steps. Add me if you like, I have been here a couple of week and am seeing patterns in my behaviors and (small but good) changes in my weight.
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
    Hi

    Congratulations on joining MFP - You've taken a really important step towards meeting your goals.

    If you find the site overwhelming, just focus on logging what you food and exercise to start with. It can be a bit of a chore initially but you soon build up a list of food you eat every day and it will rapidly become an easy habit.

    Forums are great but everyone has their own view on the best way to do things: Read it all and then try out the ones which seem like they could work for you. Try it out for a few weeks, and if it doesn't work change something. This is especially true for setting your calorie goals - get a good balance between loosing weight and keeping your energy up - set the target too low and you cant maintain it physically or mentally. Too high and you wont see results.

    Weight fluctuates - I change by up to 4lb day by day - so review your progress over time.

    Finally, make sure you select friends who have similar goals to yourself and/or who inspire you.

    Good luck.
    Mike
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
    opps - double post - cleaned up :)
  • lagcrg
    lagcrg Posts: 38 Member
    I started here in September. When I started I just focused on logging my food and trying to stay close but not under the calories the site recommended. After a couple weeks I was able to motivate myself to start exercising as before that I didn't move much except for daily life things, dishes, laundry etc. I would say to set your goals through the "recommended" level and set your activity on low, but also, you say your a server/worker at a restaurant, so you must be moving around while there so try to keep track of how long your moving around and log that as exercise..ex: walking-slow/leisure 30 min. and the site will calculate your cal's burned. Some start up tips...get your starting weight even if you "hate" the number and enter it in the site, for the next few weeks work on some small goals in changing your food choices, and small goals of adding exercise to your day, after about one month of putting these small goals to work, weigh yourself again and you should see a difference. Recommend not weighing everyday or every week yet, as you may not see number changes for a couple weeks, but what you will see is your energy levels change and maybe even better sleep. Good luck and keep logging it will help.
  • NotGoddess
    NotGoddess Posts: 1,198 Member
    If you are feeling overwhelmed, just do food logging until you feel comfortable. Don't worry about the calorie goal and whether you are over/under it or if you are getting enough potassium (or whatever). There is time for that later. Just establish the habit of logging everything (for good and ill).
  • SusanRN2b
    SusanRN2b Posts: 106 Member
    If you are feeling overwhelmed, just do food logging until you feel comfortable. Don't worry about the calorie goal and whether you are over/under it or if you are getting enough potassium (or whatever). There is time for that later. Just establish the habit of logging everything (for good and ill).

    I agree with this. Baby steps! Also get plenty of rest and if you're not already doing so, drink PLENTY water!
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