Tips for Newbies

I've been here on MFP since December of 2010. My weight loss journey has been a lot of up and down (two major weight slipups), but I wanted to post a few tips for the new people to MFP on how to make the best of this journey.

1. If you eat less than you burn, you will lose weight. Pure weight loss is all about creating a caloric deficit, meaning that your intake must be less than what your body burns by just existing and by exercise. You do not need diet pills, quick fixes, cleanses, or anything of the sort to lose weight.

2. There is more to being healthy than pure weight loss. While for most of us, this is how we measure our success, remember that regular exercise, becoming more active, and eating nutritious food that provides your body with vitamins, nutrients, and fuel is really important also. This doesn't always equate to pounds lost on the scale. Remember to give yourself credit for more than the numbers on the scale.

3. The scale is not your friend. While we measure our success by the scale, your weight will fluctuate up to 8-10 lbs depending on your salt intake, hormonal cycle, and gender. Men will typically fluctuate a few pounds while women can fluctuate 5-10 lbs simply from water retention. If you are sticking to your plan and working hard, do not sweat it if you gain a few pounds on the scale. DO NOT LET THE SCALE TAKE YOUR MOTIVATION AWAY!

4. Measure your body! Take your measurements when you start this journey and keep doing this on a monthly basis (more often if you wish). MFP allows you to keep track of them via the "Check-in" button on your home page. If you are doing a lot of resistence training, you may be retaining water in your muscles but losing fat resulting in no loss on the scale but a loss in inches instead.

5. Do not be afraid to eat your exercise calories back. This is hard to explain, but essentially, your body needs calories to get by. You need to eat to fuel yourself. Starvation does not do you any good. MFP already calculates a deficit for you based on your BMR combined with your lifestyle (Sedentary. LIghtly Active, Active) that includes eating all of your exercise calories back. This means that you will still lose weight if you eat them all back. Some of you may find that not eating them back or eating only part of them back works better for you, which is fine, but for those of you who need to eat more, do not be afraid to do so.

6. Do not eliminate foods you enjoy. You have to learn to take responsibility for your eating and to control it. Eat what you like within moderation.

7. Measure your food. Count out the chips in a serving if you want them. Measure absolutely everything you eat. Yes, this will take some getting used to, but accuracy in your food intake is critical to making this work. Get a digital food scale. They can be found for under $30 and are worth every penny.

8. Do not ever give up. You will make mistakes. You will have days that you go way over your calories. You will have days when you give into eating poorly and not exercising. DO NOT GIVE UP. Do not let a mistake end your journey.

9. If you have medical issues (thyroid, diabetes, cardiac, lung, etc. issues), please talk to your doctor about this before you do anything especially exercise related. If you have a disability, you can STILL lose weight, but you may have to modify what you do. Take your doctor's advice over everyone else's.

10. Set realistic goals for yourself. You should expect to lose no more than 1-2 lbs per week. If you lose more, that is okay, but do not let yourself get down if you don't lose anything in a week. (see above points). Use BMI calculator for a ROUGH estimate of what a healthy weight range is for your height. Remember, however, that every body is different, so set your goal according to what you see as your ideal size.

11. My #1 rule for newbies is this: Forgive yourself. You HAVE to forgive yourself for letting your body go. Do not beat yourself up over it. Just use it to fuel your new goals. Always keep your eye on the prize and just keep moving towards it.

I'm sure there are things others can add, but this worked very well for me. Anyone can do this even if you don't have a lot of money. It takes a lot of work, dedication, and patience, but it's worth every single moment.