Tell us more about what is happening. OK, you are counting your calories. Are you limiting the amount of calories you eat, or just counting how many you consume? What can't you get going? If you are limiting your calories, you have gotten weight loss going. Your ticker says that you have lost 2 pounds.
Be more specific about the areas giving you trouble so people can help.
Before you succeed at the healthy lifestyle thing, you have to decide to make changes and jump into the process wheel in the middle. Then you may go round the wheel a few times as you learn what needs doing and exactly how to do it before you exit the wheel and move to the place where you did what you set out to do.
If you are at least counting calories, you are at least in the "thinking" stage. Do you need help making your plan of attack?
Is it exercise? What about it? Picking something? Finding an activity? Workout clothes?
Is it managing emotions? Social eating?
I'm sure people are willing to help, but you have to give some more info.
Wow, 2 full time jobs. Cutting back on you calories will still help you lose some weight, even if you don't have time to work out. I felt like I needed to be on top of my food journal/workout scheduled 24/7 at first but you just kind of have to learn to make it part of your life, not your whole life.
Thanks ladies...........I guess it's MOVING..........I just can't get out there, I am making too many excuses.
I am currently working nearly 2 fulltime jobs - the kicker is that it's 100% stationary in front of a computer, ugh.
I have lost 2 lbs by counting calories and limiting my intake (a significant reduction from what I was doing).
I feel like in order to loose the weight, I need to think about it 24/7 and be so vigilant - is that the case for you too?
Yikes, that's a lot of working hours! No wonder you find it tough to add something else to your life when you're already quite busy. Sometimes excuses aren't excuses, but reasons. Even good reasons for putting stuff off eventually need to be overcome, though. It is so hard to find energy when you're already expending so much just to get through the day, but you will have so much more energy to spend once you make the necessary changes for your health that it's worth it to make that first push up the hill.
Once you get into the routine of weight loss, it actually becomes pretty easy. Streamline the process and you'll find that it'll actually take you more effort to stray from your plan than to stay on it. Here's some of what I've learned from 3FC and from experience so far:
- Cook a LOT at once. If you can easily feed yourself from your own fridge and freezer, you're way less likely to get in the car and schlep over to a fast-food joint.
- Keep your staples on hand constantly. I eat a lot of variety for dinner, but my breakfasts and lunches are pretty much the same five or six items/dishes in rotation. Shopping is easier, counting calories is easier, mornings are easier.
- Everything counts as movement. You work a desk job, but maybe you can stand up and pace while you're on a phone call. Maybe you can make more trips to the filing cabinet. Maybe you can take the stairs to your office instead of the elevator. Stand up and almost-sit in your office chair a dozen times and you've basically done a dozen squats. Do wall push-ups when you're bored or thinking of the next project you have lined up. Do these things a few times a day and you'll start noticing increased fitness. "A body in motion tends to stay in motion" holds true for people as well as planets.
Good luck, and stick around--this place is wonderful for inspiration.
There are times that I have been obsessed and think about it 24/7 but that is really not necessary. I sit in front of a computer too so I can see where you are coming from.
Exercise helps but the food you eat is more important. I do have to be vigilant about the food or I eat too many calories. I know that it is hard, but I think that you should relax. Stressing over weight loss makes it harder.
Continue to count your calories. Move when you can. You don't have to have a trainer and/or exercise 90 minutes a day. Fit in 10 minute segments of exercise when you can. I often do 3 10-minute segments a day, before work, during a break and lunch. Some people on the forum stand while working on their computer. That burns calories. Exercise on the weekends. Dance or walk in place when you can. Any movements helps.
You do what you can to work this into your life. I hope this helps.
I feel like in order to loose the weight, I need to think about it 24/7 and be so vigilant - is that the case for you too?
Yes, at first it was a 24/7 thing, because it was all new. I completely changed how I ate. I had to plan every meal, every snack, consider options for eating out or dealing with social gatherings.
But after you have a handful of "go-to" breakfasts and healthy, on-plan lunches in your rotation, it becomes a lot easier.
I don't have to wonder what I'm going to have for breakfast. I have three options that I love that I can mix up with enough variety to satisfy me. The only meal I really think much about any more is dinner, and even there it's pretty simple.
Don't stress out too much about exercise, especially at first. I did NOTHING special for the first 50 pounds. Weight comes off primarily because of what you do (or don't) put in your mouth. Exercise is more for fitness: strength, stamina, and flexibility. Do what you can when you can, but don't stress out if you can't.
Little changes make a BIG difference over time. You CAN do this!!
Thanks!
Yes the 2 fulltime jobs I have been doing since end of October and it's getting exhausting (but the money is AMAZING)...it will eventually end.
I have 4 full months to try and loose some weight. June 2nd my oldest child graduates from High School........then we go on a Cruise!
So I have some pretty big motivation!
Thanks for all of your kind words and I am going to walk this afternoon, even if it's just around the block.
I think if you are as discplined as possible about not only your calorie count but also WHERE the calories come from you can have lots of success. I do feel I have to watch what I eat pretty much 24/7 but to be honest it's not something I dread or feel is a punishment. It makes me feel in control and powerful over what goes in my body instead of how I was before where I really didn't care what I ate or how much of it I ate.
One suggestion I have that may or may not work for you is since you are at a desk/computer all the time, do you have 5-10 min pockets of time where you could do some kind of movement AT your desk? There are lots of videos out there with short workouts and while you may not feel that doing 5-10 mins here and there is enough, it does add up and does make a difference.
I feel like in order to loose the weight, I need to think about it 24/7 and be so vigilant - is that the case for you too?
Yeah, i had that mindset for 5 months, and regained 25lbs because it was too hard to be consistently aware of dieting.
So, for me, I'm sticking with diet right now. I try to eat as healthy as I can, buying healthy foods to keep at my house. I try not to eat out but I make good choices when i do. And I forgive myself because right now, that is the best I can do
I started out with way too many bad habits to change everything at once. First I started JUST calorie counting/monitoring/reduction. I wasn't even THINKING exercise at first. I lost quite a bit of weight and got my new eating under control for a good few months before I even thought about a regular exercise program. Once I was really comfortable with my eating changes it was much easier to even WANT to exercise, so then I started small there and am working my way up. Recently I've been able to get in the mindset of tackling the extra sodium in my diet, and I have more changes in mind once that really gets ingrained.
In the past when I've attempted weight loss, I've been completely gung-ho about over-reducing what I eat, exercising like a mad woman, doing everything perfectly right off the bat. Yeah, that didn't last long. Doing it this way has helped me ease into a lifestyle that, if I keep it up, I will be REALLY proud of.
I have JUST started exercising. I've been at this for 7 months, and lost weight just monitoring intake. I thought about it A LOT in the first while, but it's mostly automatic now...as synger mentioend eventually (and it doesn't take very long) you have some "go-to" meals that you rotate through. And I love it! I still count and plan, but it's just second nature now. Anyhow I don't envy you the 2 full-time jobs, but I do the cruise!! That's definitely a great motivator!
UGh..........why can't I get this going?
