anyone recommend MFP to a friend trying to lose weight?

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Replies

  • ChasingSweatandTears
    ChasingSweatandTears Posts: 504 Member
    What tickles me is when people say they don't eat a lot or they eat "healthy," but have never even tracked their normal diet for a day.

    Ummm.. That used to be me! Lol. I really did eat healthy food, but once I started tracking I was in shock at how much if what I was getting. My macros were all over the place. Lesson learned once I discovered this site...the second time :)
  • cardbucfan
    cardbucfan Posts: 10,396 Member
    Yep, I've told most people about the app when they ask "how did you lose the weight" hoping for my deep dark secret. The few who actually signed up lapsed after about 3 days because "it's too much work". They all said they'd just rather not eat! Oh well, their loss (well, not).
  • SteffieMark
    SteffieMark Posts: 1,723 Member
    I have been asked by family and friends about how to lose weight. I tell them not to go buy some miracle shake or diet pills. I suggest they come here, eat healthy and track it and exercise with the tools on MFP. Not one has done it. They do say it is too much trouble to have to keep up with. I just think it is too much trouble for me to stay fat. I love the accountability and motivation this gives me.
  • Testosterone
    Testosterone Posts: 236 Member
    Biggest issue with a person with mn is my own mother...she weighs at least at much as me, and her diet is almost entirely bread and pasta. One time at her house, my wife and I counted 14 loaves of bread, in on shopping trip! We tried explaining that to lose weight she needs to cut out all the sugars and refined grains, but she goes "those are healthy! I then explain that if they were healthy she would have lost weight just from the nutrition benefits alone. but when something has no nutrition benefits, there is no loss. Just gain. It's to the point where my wife and I have to do our own shopping when we go there, because we refuse to eat like that, even for a day, even for 6 hours.
  • 75Juniper
    75Juniper Posts: 376
    I'm sorry, but tracking calories is so much easier than sitting there all day feeling bad because you dont know if you ate too much, or looking up every food you ate on the internet and adding it up yourself.

    I agree! I used to try to do all the math myself before I found this site, and it was exhausting - and that was only tracking calories! Now, I plug my food in, see how everything lines up, and go on about my day. I love this site!
  • ChasingSweatandTears
    ChasingSweatandTears Posts: 504 Member
    I've been told it's "obsessive"...
    ive been told thats a term lazy people use to describe the dedicated.

    Haha! I love this! And going to use it the next time that words get thrown my way! Lol
  • Gosser
    Gosser Posts: 178 Member
    20 seconds i will never get back and reap the benefits of by losing fat. horrible.

    So true!

    Never tracked calories before but MFP is easy and I've been losing 0.5lb a week steadily. Loving it.

    I keep trying to explain to those that want to know how I've lost weight just how simple it is, but they can't bring themselves to try it. They aren't losing any weight, unsurprisingly
  • Testosterone
    Testosterone Posts: 236 Member
    Yeah, the Mrs. was not into it at all.
    i used livestrong before the mrs showed me mfp. I loved how i could customize my calorie needs and everything else it had as a feature, and livestrong, the app i paid for, has been deleted for almost half a year now.
  • Testosterone
    Testosterone Posts: 236 Member
    20 seconds i will never get back and reap the benefits of by losing fat. horrible.

    So true!

    Never tracked calories before but MFP is easy and I've been losing 0.5lb a week steadily. Loving it.

    I keep trying to explain to those that want to know how I've lost weight just how simple it is, but they can't bring themselves to try it. They aren't losing any weight, unsurprisingly

    if losing .5 has been easy enough for you, set yourself up to lose a whole lb. ive been running at 2 lb loss per week for almost 6 months. its been difficult on some days, but its its own reward. if i overeat, i make sure i burn it off.
  • Testosterone
    Testosterone Posts: 236 Member
    I actually have an aunt worried that I have an eating disorder because of how much I post on FB about fitness and my diet.
  • Testosterone
    Testosterone Posts: 236 Member
    I have told only 2 people that I am on this site.(and only when I knew they wouldn't join) I like it that I am not friends with any of my "real life" friends on here. I don't know if anyone else feels that way, but that's me!

    I kinda do :) I mean, you're sharing a pretty private part of your life. People see when hiure working out, how often youre logging, exactly what youre eating... It can all be a little tmi lol. If someone truly want s to know what I'm doing because they think it might help them, I will tell them. And in the beginning I Really recommended this site to a couple of people trying to lose weight, but I also got the response that they didn't have the time. I really hope they have luck with their efforts I do. I honestly think though this is the best way. I see myself using this site for many years to come AFTER I've reached my goal weight because I LOVE tracking my nutrition and activity!

    my wife and I will never stop tracking, and one day our son will be using this too.
  • awwwshux25
    awwwshux25 Posts: 96 Member
    I offer and I have a lot of ppl say that...but hell if they really get serious they will then do what it takes...a lot of ppl jump on the wagon because they see the progress you have made but it is not easy...What was easy was putting this weight on but getting it off is not. So let them say what they want and make their excuse and when they are ready they will do what they need to do.
  • rammsteinsoldier
    rammsteinsoldier Posts: 1,557 Member
    My daughter won't join for because it stresses her out to count calories and she tends to gain. MFP isn't for everyone I guess.
  • eriemer
    eriemer Posts: 197
    At least 5 ppl and none are even interested. I was a WW member many times and yes MFP is faster! The database is bigger and you can see what is in your food.

    Everyone thinks counting calories is too hard, well it's not! And there are many quick tools to use. Everyone has a Smartphone, ipad, or computer and are on them all day long! MFP only takes me about 2 minutes a meal and 1 minute for exercise. So if I chose not to do anything else on this site, it is less then 10 minutes of my whole day. Of course, I like all the added "facebook" type perks.
  • Testosterone
    Testosterone Posts: 236 Member
    My daughter won't join for because it stresses her out to count calories and she tends to gain. MFP isn't for everyone I guess.

    it stresses her out because she over eats and sees that shes doing it, and lacks the control to stop it. its easier for her to pretend she eats normally without having to look at her diet.
  • karenwill2
    karenwill2 Posts: 604 Member
    instead they are trying to lose enough weight to get lap band surgery. I am sure they are not doing it the healthy way either. either way, I support them in all they do. My way is definitely cheaper though.
  • nekoxvampyx
    nekoxvampyx Posts: 163
    I have a friend who was very thin and beautiful, and then she got married and gained over 30 pounds and then she asked me for help since she saw how much weight i lost, so i recommended this site to her and she said she was too tired and to lazy to count her calories... i was like wow..really? -.-
  • Blessedmommy_2x
    Blessedmommy_2x Posts: 419 Member
    The minute you mention that you are tracking your cals or entering them into a database, the first answer almost always is "I couldn't do that, that takes too much time." Or I may even be referred to be "obsessed", whatever... what others call obsession, I call DEDICATION. And it pays off! 110 days on MFP today and I am 59 lbs down... so, its worth it to me!

    Its all about accountability. If its too hard or difficult for me to input what I am eating on a daily basis that makes me wonder if I am eating too much or too often. If I don't have time to write it down then maybe I shouldn't be eating it.

    I have heard SOOOO MANY excuses these past few months... I could write a book. Honestly.
  • padraigin67
    padraigin67 Posts: 78 Member
    I have been asked "what have you been doing to lose the weight?" I start in with MFP and how easy it is and how much better I feel. Standard comeback " I can't afford diet food, that would be to expensive." Seriously I lose it when they say that. How is eating what you eat everyday but less cost you any more? Usually the ones that really want to lose weight will do it. Others will just keep finding execues not to. :flowerforyou:
  • missyfarr
    missyfarr Posts: 22 Member
    I've told a lot of people about it (and was referred by a friend who no longer has an active account). No one I've told has tried it. I think it's like anything, if you're ready, you're ready and you will take the initiative. I keep in mind I should keep sharing the info about MFP so that if the light bulb goes on for someone and they become ready, they can check it out because they have the knowledge. That was kind of a rambling answer but you all probably know what I mean!! :smile: