I just posted in the introduction forum but I figured I would poke my head in here and say hello to everyone since you'll probably be seeing a lot of me from now on.

I am not going to be focusing on diet as much as exercise right now. Walking is going to be my "drug of choice" rather than food. I want to get as addicted to it as I am to cheesy goodness in all it's solid and liquid forms.

Do you mind sharing how much you'd like to lose? Or current weight and goal weight?

About how many calories are you eating a day? I asked because it's very hard to lose weight with exercise alone if you are not eating well already. Someone once told me it takes a walk as long as a football field to burn off a single M&M. I just don't want you to see no progress from your efforts.

I hope you have a great week!

Hi Underwater.

I need to lose about 150lbs.

As far as calories go, I am trying to stay under 1,200 but that was before I decided to start exercising.

I am planning on going up to 2,000 and eating BETTER, as in more protein, whole grains, fruit, and veggies.

I don't have a definite battle plan as of yet. My walking starts tomorrow and I plan to do that every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I won't be eating 2,000 calories of M&Ms and walking it off, as tempting as that sounds. LoL

I definitely agree with your plan to start off at a higher amount for calories. The lower you set your calorie goal the harder eating at that level will be at first, and increase your chances of giving up.

Really, 1200 is the lowest amount that is recommended by many to not go below, so if you can find a maintainable area between 2000 and 1200, you'll be good to go!

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1,200 calories is easy as pie but I don't exercise. I know I am going to be STARVING when I get off my butt and start walking.

The only thing that worries me about eating more veggies is that I like to garnish them too much. BAD habit. I LOVE green beans and spinach but only with butter. I LOVE tomatoes but only with Italian dressing. I LOVE salads... with bacon bits, croutons, cheese, and dressing.

This is going to be hard. LoL

Welcome, it may take some trial and error to figure out the number of calories that you will need to eat. Since you will be doing this long term, don't make it too hard.