I'm Jenn, I am 29, and I am done being overweight.
I am 5'1", and have reached 155 lbs. I have never been superskinny, but this is a lot of weight to drag around. My goal weight would be 120 lbs.
Last year I tried to lose weight, and I started going to the gym twice a week (from a complete ZERO workouts), but I did not lose a single pound in 5 months and I got very discouraged.
I have no idea where to start. I feel like I need advice in terms of what food to eat as well as workout routines. I don't have any kind of health issues, but would like to get rid of the extra pounds before my health gets affected.
I also don't know how to stay on track, how to resist cravings, especially when I am out with friends or bored at home watching some TV at night before going to sleep.
My days are quite hectic. I own a business with ten people working for me. That gets really stressful at time, and has been especially stressful this past year trying to keep the business afloat with the recession and everything else going on. This means that I work long hours, and don't have the luxury of taking breaks whenever I'd like or planning my days. I get to the office around 7am every morning (I always try to eat breakfast, but has to be sth quick), usually have a morning meeting with my staff at 9:30 am (bagels and pastries are a staple, my staff really appreciates it -- what could be healthier alternatives???) and then get busy. I always grab lunch out, usually a sandwich or a salad (don't like salads much, though), and I often have lunch meetings at restaurants, so I can't really make my own lunch. I usually don't get home before 8 or 9 pm and I know it gets really late for dinner, so I am starting to think that perhaps I can pack my own dinner at least. But I don't know what to make. I hate cooking. I rarely use my kitchen (usually it's for brewing tea..).
So, this is my brief story. Any help, suggestion, advice would be greatly appreciated. I really need to lose weight, but I can't do this all by myself. don't even know where to start or what to buy at the store.......
Welcome! My work used to be very sweets oriented but a lot of us got sick of it. Especially after they got donuts to welcome back the guy who had heart surgery. Seriously guys? lol Anyway now we have fruits and veggies, granola bars, and juices. If your employees are used to the sweets and wont want to give them up maybe you can make it a once a month (or whatever) kind of thing. If you don't like to cook I would suggest looking at the healthy frozen meal options. Some of them are really pretty good. My big thing at work is getting up and taking a quick 15 min walk from time to time. I get at least 2 in every day. It doesn't seem like much but it gets your heart going and it really does help.
have you looked into meal delivery programs? nutrisystem, freshology, etc?
they are expensive, but may help if someone with your kind of schedule. it also helps take all the guess work out of meals.
To KayNicole: I will try that and see how it goes.
To fillupthesky: I had thought about that, but I hesitated because of the price and because I am often out for lunch with clients, and I can't really take the food with me... Plus, I am a little embarrassed of having to get pre-made food, showing everyone in my building that I simply can't cook...
portion is really the key here and making small changes. For instance, use I can't believe it's not butter instead of butter. Use real fruit on top of HALF of a whole wheat bagel instead of cream cheese. Or just bring a few packets of oatmeal from home and a box of cereal to eat for a quick breakfast.
When you're out at a restaurant, look at the calorie range of what you're ordering. Seafood is always a good one to get. Restaurants usually give you a portion big enough for two people. Either eat half or if you aren't embarrassed, do what I do lol, I immediately ask for a to go box and put half in there and then eat the other half. It's less embarrassing to me to do THIS rather then sit there and eat the whole thing while the people across from me are only eating half of their food.
For exercising, 2 times a week isn't really going to do much. I recommend 3-6x a week. If you do three, make sure it's an hour each time. If you can wake up 30 minutes earlier and get in some weight training (5-10lb weights) one day, cardio the next and so on and so forth for 5x a week at 30minutes each day...you will see the pounds fall off in no time!
I went from not exercising EVER IN MY LIFE and being 220 to immediately exercising 5x a week for an hour. Trust. I know this is cliche but if I can do it, anyone can. Seriously. Life is always busy but we just gotta take steps out to say okay, this is what I have to do so I'm just gonna do it.
You don't have far to go at all and if you dedicate yourself for a few months, imagine where you could be in say 5 months!
I wish you much luck and look forward to seeing more of you on the boards!
Last edited by Krizstyling; 01-09-2011 at 10:05 AM.
Ok, I might be jumping in late here, but looking at what you said a few things stood out in your post:
1. You are busy and have little time
2. You hate/can't cook
3. You worked out a little for a short period of time
4. High fat/high calorie foods are readily available to you most of the time
You seem to be a very straightforward, critical thinking person, so I'm going to address those concerns directly. These reasons seem to be what you would look at as roadblocks to your weight loss. So here are some choices you could make to break through those:
1. Everyone is busy. Making time for yourself is a choice we all make when decide to lose weight. It's not easy, and it takes time. Oh, and you will have missteps, and there will be times when you are out to lunch with a client and you don't have a healthy option. Don't let this throw you off of your end goal.
2. I assume you live and work in an area that has lots of restaurants. Since ordering from a foodservice is not an option you want to entertain, maybe trying to make healthier choices at restaurants and take out places. We eat out a LOT too, with a busy work and social schedule. Check out the books "Eat This, Not That" for great ways to make healthier selections at restaurants and fast food places. Don't be afraid to ask for sauces or dressings on the side, or lighter versions of food. I've never had a restaurant say they couldn't do that.
3. What intensity level were you working out at? Would have to know more about what you were doing to know why it wasn't working, because it's not just the fact that you're working out, it's how you're working out and what you're doing. The only thing that kick starts my weight loss is incorporating weight lifting into my workouts. Cardio alone is not enough. By lifting weights you raise your resting metabolism because you build more muscle, so you burn more calories throughout the day without having to work out for longer.
4. Love Kay's idea about having healthier alternatives at work. Instead of cream cheese maybe have reduced sugar jams or jellies or lowfat peanut butter, and whole grain bagels or english muffins (way lower in calories!). These at least have a bit more nutritional value. I assume tea and coffee are available all the time, those are great things to have to try to kick a craving or if you think you're hungry, but really not. Love flavored teas with a little Truvia sweetener (0 calories).
I'm by no means an expert, but these are a few things that have worked for me to lose 50 pounds. The one thing I've learned that helps me the most is to remember that weight loss is about making healthier choices. A series of healthier choices that lead to a healthier you. Don't beat yourself up for one bad choice, just get back on the bandwagon! Good luck to you on your journey!
Hi there, you made the first step and that's coming to these boards! The people here are wonderful and really are a support system.
I used to be a personal trainer and can give you some advice on things.
First of all breakfast is huge, you must make sure you eat a healthy breakfast. So try taking oatmeal packets to work or have cereal on hand to munch on. If you do like taking things in for meatings try adding fruit and granola bars that way you can have your oatmeal and then in your meeting you can have an apple or something. Perhaps having whole wheat bread and other breads and cold meats there too so people can make sandwiches. You could have two whole wheat slices of bread with light turkey and some tomato and lettuce. Or how about some yogurt with granola mixed in.
If lunch is usually out then make lunch your main meal of the day. In Europe people eat their largest meal at lunch time and its a great way to actually lose weight. If salad is not your thing then have grilled fish or chicken with veggies.
For dinner you could take soup to work with you and heat it up. Soup is so good and filling and easy. I used to do that all the time. I would buy low fat soup in bulk and always have it on hand at the office, so if I had to work late I wouldn't have to worry.
As snacks you could have almond packets, fruit, yogurt there are many 100 calorie pre-packaged options. Personally I prefer fresh fruit but thats just me! You can also have a latte with skim milk to get your calcium in.
Make sure you drink WATER! When you wake up the first thing you should do is drink a glass of water, it cleanses your system and gets your organs working. Try drinking 6-8 glasses of water.
Now as far as woking out, I had clients who would came in Mondays and Wednesdays and then Saturday and Sunday. That way you are working out four days a week but only two of those days are work days. It is do-able! You need to work out at least four days per week for an hour. Cardio is really good when you are trying to lose weight because you can burn calories. Also many people think that because they worked out they can eat more. Think about it you can run on the treadmill for 45min and only loose about 250-300 calories, thats a donut. Not much.
I wish you the best of luck and please come back if u have questions.
Wow, thank you all for your suggestions! Changing my life-style is a little overwheming and I am afraid I will not be able to go through with it, but I will try making small changes every day and see how things go.
Failing is my biggest fear...
Thanks so much again for all of you who have responded to my post! I will definitely keep you updated -- :-)
also, since you do eat out a lot, you can check out hungrygirl.com
you can sign up for daily emails. she also has survival guides to a lot of chain restaurants, smart options to order, and a lot of cool ideas for easy snacks and stuff on the go.
and like everyone has said- you can do this. any kind of change takes effort at first, but then it kind of becomes second nature
good luck and def keep us updated!
and coming on the boards is a great way to keep motivated and find new ideas!
Jenn - Just to follow-up, I've been where you are and I know how you feel. It's a pain in the butt to have to order the grilled chicken when the fried chicken looks SO GOOD. (I live in the south, so a lot of places don't even SERVE grilled food . But just looking back, it is overwhelming for sure. And trust me, I did not just wake up one morning and boom, make all these changes. I added one a week. The first week, I ate more veggies and fruit. The second week I started on an exercise program, easing into it, stepping it up a little each week. The third week, I started allowing myself one "cheat" meal a week. This is my treat to myself for making all of those good choices all week. That helped me say no when something would come up, like chips and salsa at our Mexican joint, because I would remember, if I eat this, then I can't have chips and rotel dip and some pizza on Sunday for the football game. Don't let yourself feel deprived. No one can keep that up forever. The idea is to come up with something you can live with
The only way you may possibly fail is if you expect big numbers right away, or if you push yourself too hard you'll burn out.
You said you worked out twice a week and didn't lose a pound in 5months. Well what were your workouts like, how long did you work out for how intense was it? Not to mention what were you eating on a regular basis?
This is about a lifestyle change, it's about feeling better and more comfortable and confident in yourself. If you're looking for a fast action approach that may lead to failure but if your in it for the long hull and it's something you really want you will not fail. Failure doesn't happen unless you allow it to happen.
as for eatting out...make healthier choices. I used to hate salads but thats only because I made them boring. I began spicing them up with tones of bell peppers cucumbers, cheese some spices and sometimes I add meat to it. I was having turkey lunch meat about to spoil in two days and I knew I wouldn't eat it all so I chopped it up into pieces and added it to my salad. I must say Salads have become one of my favourite foods. I don't even eat salad dressing with it.
Also don't think Diet I can't eat a yummy chocolate bar once in a while, or whatever sweets you crave. Start of with one day a week where you can enjoy a tasty treat of some sort and work your way down.
I wouldn't jump right into it in hoping that your old habits are going to go away within one day. It's going to take time, motivation and commitment on your part. Remember people aren't going to tell you not to eat that twinkie or whatever you have to be able to put it down yourself.
Good luck you can do this and remember just come on here you'll have tones of support from everyone
I need lots of help....
