[theonlywayisdown]

Hello - wanted to introduce myself properly....

I am another one looking to make good on her new year resolutions. Having weighed in at anything from 135lbs-175lbs during my adult life I have found myself on the upwards gain for the last six months. I am sure you all recognise the pattern... an ok 150lbs turns into 155lbs following a stressful time at work then summer ends and the winter clothes come out and you can cover-up more...suddenly you are 158lbs and the holidays are upon us...you try to be good but parties, vacations, family events and lots of yummy left-overs all conspire against you and before you know it, its 5 January and you are 164lbs wondering if leggings are suitable work attire (they are certainly not in my profession!).

In my younger years I would have simply dukan'd for a month, upped the cardio and cut back on the vino but now that I am 36 my body does not really work that way and so I am trying to embrace a more holistic long term change in the hope that (i) it works; and (ii) it works permanently.

I think I have read every post on buzzfeed about dieting, gone through all my diet books and back-issues of Shape and Women's Health and have a pretty good plan of how I am going to reach my goal to weigh 115lbs (a loss of 49lbs) - this time I am combining a number of ideas and changes all of which I know are sustainable for me....

1. Diet: (i) out with all refined carbs and instead incorporate small portions of unrefined grains, nuts, beans & seeds in one/two meals a day; (ii) waaaaaaaaay more veggies, like 70% of each plate needs to be vegetables instead of 20% of the plate; (iii) careful with the vino, ok more than careful really cut-back; (iv) up the lean protein and reduce portion size of meat; (v) watch for the hidden calories in dressings, sauces, marinades, starbucks etc etc; and (vi) treat cheese as a treat and not a staple (of almost every meal).

2. Lifestyle: (i) plan meals in advance (especially weekday lunch where I tend to fall off the wagon most); (ii) record everything I eat & drink; (iii) wear and pay attention to my fitbit; (iv) reward myself with small (non-food or drink) treats when I reach an interim goal; and (v) ask those around me to support my change, not persuade me that 1 bottle/pizza/burger is 'ok'.

3. Exercise: (i) use my cross-trainer at home - even just a short work out whilst watching tv is better than sitting on the couch; (ii) stretch and listen to my body by warming up and cooling down; (iii) mix up the work outs and don't skimp on resistance training/weights; (iv) find a team sport or activity I enjoy that works with my lifestyle; (v) pick a fitness goal and stick to it (last June I cycled from Boston to New York over 3 days...thats 100 miles a day...this year I think its going to be climbing Mt Kilamanjaro in April but I need to lock this down)

Anyway - that was super helpful for me to write this all down. Would love to hear feedback or any advice/critique.

[faiora]

Hi and welcome! Glad you're here, because having new people around is great.

Your plan sounds great to me. For me the "record everything I eat and drink" thing is the biggest (I use MyFitnessPal and calorie count) but even if you don't calorie count I think it's super helpful. My husband really loves his fitbit and gets his 10,000 steps in every day by walking me to work and back, so I think it can be really motivating. For example, if he's at 9000 steps he's likely to go for a walk to get the last 1000. So that's awesome.

Personally I'm not starting to exercise yet (saving it for when I plateau, kind of ) but I bet recording your exercise would be helpful too, so you can see how much you've done and haven't done, by looking back. I guess the fitbit does that for you.

I wish you all the best and hope to see you around here more. ^_^

[theonlywayisdown]

Hi Faiora - thank you for replying and your feedback.

I downloaded "Loose It" and was so surprised how quickly the calories and fat add up. Also keeping a record really made me focus on portion sizes...my goodness, I might have been eating healthy food in the past but each plate was 1.5/2x more than what a portion should be. Lesson seriously learned!

Fitbit is great, if you use it and listen to it. Mine has gathered dust for a bit so its time to put it on and go the extra mile (literally) when needed! I do agree that tracking exercise is a good idea too - hopefully I can start to see some patterns as some time I love to work out but on other occasions I cannot even be bothered to do some stretching in front of the TV.

Really appreciate the support