Butterfly, I hope you don't mind me putting my two cents in because you may look at my ticker and think that I don't have a lot to lose so what the **** do I know, but I am a fitness instructor and my job is try and help people get fit.....and happy so I"m going to interject here.
There is equation that helps you determine what your calorie level would be....it goes by your activity level, your current weight, etc. I wouldn't make myself nuts with that at first. What I would do is make small changes at first. Do y'all eat a lot of vegetables, salad, lean proteins? Start changing how the whole family eats this way you won't be tempted to eat something high in fat and carbs. STart drinking half your body weight in ounces of water. Make some small changes for a week or two and see if it makes a difference....then at that point figure out how many calories you need to be at ...and start logging everything you eat somewhere..it can be on a notebook or better yet in something like fatsecret.com. That's what I use and it is FREE!!!
It doens't sound like youi have a lot of money to t hrow around on Weight Watchers but that is also a good program to help you make the changes you need to make. I personally like low carb programs like doing Atkins the right way but I am not a nutritionist so I won't make a suggestion. Trying to feed a family of five on 400 bucks...girl, I give you credit for being able to do that. But eating cheaply does not necessarily mean eating badly. Processed foods wind up costing more than fresh vegetables, fruits and lean meats in the long run. I noticed that when I look over my food bills,,,not that i eat much processed food now.
You live in South Carolina, not much snow there so try and just get out and walk.....build up stamina...don't try and do this by diet alone....make it easier for yourself by exercising and walking is a good exercise. I tell my students to add that to t heir week and they'll be surprised at how much better they will feel.
My mother let herself go...she is obese and now at the age of 74 has high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis from her joints not being able to carry all that fat around etc. I hate to see how she has killed herself slowly with food. So yeah, you should be scared and I like that that show had an impact on you and you're taking the steps you need to make sure you stay healthy......there is no price you can put on your health. You can do this!!!
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For every 5lbs Lost 
