mjglantz Member

Welcome to all the newcomers! Have been on MFP since 2013 and find this a great site for tracking food and fitness. Have lost 80+ lbs AND kept it off...tracking works. As for adding friends, that feature has been restored. Because of all the trolls I will only add friends who send me a note briefly letting me know how they…

I like the Oikos zero which has little added sugar. And if you go with plain @rheddmobile has great advice about adding vanilla extract or other extracts. That with some cinnamon and fruit is delicious.

Absolutely as @BZAH10 writes. Even some foods that are labeled low sodium may have more than you think. If you go with non processed foods you go a long way to cutting out the sodium. And sometimes the low or no salt added have more sodium than regular; e.g., some canned tomatoes. I cook a lot and if I have a processed…

Welcome! You are smart to think about near term goals and to reward yourself when you reach those goals. Losing 200 lbs could seem daunting so thinking more short term is a good way to go. If you haven't already checked out the message board for "getting started" I'd do that. Here is a link to many tips:…

What works for me every day is my exercise routine. Just back from walking our dog and will head to the gym soon. Getting in the exercise sets up my day for success.

First please stop the negative talk...bet you wouldn't talk to your best friend this way. Be your own best friend and be kind to yourself. As many are saying just pick one thing you want to do differently. Maybe commit to tracking your food every day and then in a couple of weeks see the trends. See what one thing you can…

Good going! Thanks for sharing.

Great accomplishment! Looking forward to more progress pics and posts. You are doing this!

I work out with a personal trainer once/week and replicate that workout (sort of) one more time. If you're asking about exercise I do something EVERY day getting on average 20,000 steps/day. Mix walking with cardio machines at the gym, yoga, stretching. As for diet, I pretty much follow Michael Pollan's advice to eat "real…

It's hard to restart and kudos to you for doing it. You can do it!

@mylittlerainbowmy writes: "On the positive side, of course, I caught myself and did not blow up again (overall loss was more than 45 lbs) and am taking appropriate steps, but on the negative side, there's the destructive self-talk and the depression over going through this all over again when I'd already spent 15 months…

I had good luck with Chicos although there clothes have a lot of stretch in them and can easily get stretched out. I'll second what @springlering62 wrote about not going "hog wild." This last time I lost weight (and it is the last time!). I bought too much; e.g., in spring of 2013 I bought a lot of size 14's & by the time…

Wishing you good luck! I didn't have that kind of surgery but did break my ankle and had to be off it for several weeks. I rented a scooter where I could rest my leg and wheel around. I was able to cook that way. When that happened I was in the midst of losing weight and was worried about being still and getting bored and…

Agree 100% with what @Lietchi writes. This isn't a race and it is for life. Accepting that was probably the most important thing that got me to lose the weight AND keep it off for over 8 years.

I do count calories here and have for years and that works. I found that initially I was focused more on calories and not as much on nutrition and quality (e.g., ate more processed food initially). Over time I've moved to a plant-based diet with an emphasis on eating "read food, more plants, not so much" as Michael Pollan…

I think a few things helped me that might help you. One was to realize that this was for life so nothing was really off limits (except a few for animal rights issues and health) although my focus was on choosing to eat healthy foods most of the time. As I hit plateaus which I did, I considered those practice for…

That is fantastic! And the longer you stay at your goal weigh the more likely you'll stay there. Congratulations!!!

Tracking my food, getting my exercise & choosing healthy food.

I haven't had that problem. If you go to "Help" you can submit a request. I've found em very helpful although it takes a little time. Unfortunately MFP doesn't have phone help.

As I was losing someone told me a plateau was practice for maintenance! If you want to still lose some weight shake it up a bit....try a new cardio routine, up the intensity, change your diet a little....sometimes just making a change will jog some loss.

IMHO it comes down to calories. Personally I saw better results when I kept my calories within range AND stuck to higher quality foods; e.g., a big salad full of veggies and lean protein w/good carbs & some fat seemed to be better for me than the same number of calories in something like a sandwich and chips. I look at the…

As others have said, check with your doctor. If you are healthy then maybe running isn't the exercise for you right now. Fast walking is just fine and you can do several fast walks each day of 10 - 15 minutes each to improve your stamina.

Have used the free version since 2013 and never saw the need to upgrade to premium.

You can make this work. If you think of this as a lifestyle and commit to habits that will improve your health, it WILL work! Tracking works, moving more works, choosing to eat healthy most of the time works. If you haven't already, check out The Getting Started topic in the Message Boards. The first one is Most Helpful…

Welcome back and kudos to you for coming back!

Thanks for the reminder that we CAN lose the weight and keep it off!!!

Staying right at 142 which is my goal. Successes: Getting back to Zumba and loving it Struggles: lots of eating out this past week or so

I joined MFP in 2013 after tracking on Livestrong for a few years. I was able to go back an enter a weight from 2010 that was my starting weight and actually added a few benchmark weights from Livestrong. Hope that works and if not, check with Betty who is one of the admins (her name is in the Message Boards Introduce…

Yes I get them frequently. I decline the men and I've accepted female and then check out their page. If they look legit I keep them otherwise I remove immediately. I never used to post that much and now that I am, getting a lot more of these.

You can do all that has been suggested and that may work. For me it was trial and error. I used the calculators when I hit goal and started to gradually add back calories. I was doing more exercise and factored that in and still kept losing. Since my goal was at the higher end of the BMI & my doctor was happy with my…