[MarinePrincess]

Hi everyone. My name is Amber and I'd like to lose some weight!

My story: I've been overweight my whole life. My mom's overweight; her mom's overweight...yay genetics! But I can't blame it all on genetics. I can blame it on me though. I am unashamedly lazy. The smallest I've ever been in my adult life is 190 pounds, size 14. I am now 318 pounds, size 24.
I'm 23 years old and married to the Marine Corps. His name is Louis and he's wonderful. We're stationed in Okinawa, Japan right now. I've spent most of my time here watching my Friends DVDs and playing games on the computer. I finally got off my butt last year; I got a job and went back to school. I'm still working and going to school. Now I'd like to lose some weight too.

My goals: I want to go to the beach! We live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth for snorkeling, scuba diving, and swimming...I've been to the beach once in a year and a half. I just can't go. I'm the biggest person there and am so self-conscious about it.
I want to jog with my husband! He's a Marine; they run every single day. I want to be able to say, "Honey, let's go for a run." and be able to keep up with him.
I want to wear cute clothes! Right now, my wardrobe consists of jeans and t-shirts. I want to wear shorts when its 90+ degrees with 90%+ humidity outside. I want to wear skirts because I'm feeling girly one day. I want to wear beautiful dresses to the USMC Ball every year and look good in them.

My obstacles: Aside from my laziness issue, I really don't know where to start. I've lost weight semi-successfully before (40 pounds...gained it all back with interest), but I did it the bad way...barely eating and taking a lot of diet pills.
I really don't like going to the gym on base here. It's full of Marines and every time I've gone in there in the past, they kind of look at me funny. Once again, I'm the biggest person there when I go. I'd like to start doing some at-home stuff and after I lose some weight and gain some confidance, then go to the gym.
I love soda. If I'm not careful, I will drink 5 or 6 cans of soda in one day. I'd like to get back in the habit of drinking juices and water.

Basically, I'm looking for some advice. What you guys have tried and prefer, both in excercise and diet. You guys seem like a great group of people and I'm really looking forward to getting to know you all! It will be nice to have some support when all I want to do is run to the fridge. Thanks in advance for that.

[zenor77]

Amber!

Not only do you live in a beautiful place, but you live where some of the worlds most healthy people live! Do you like the local food? Personally, I LOVE Japanese food and I've been trying to learn how to cook their home-style type of cuisine.

Everyone is different in regards to what will work for them, but I'll tell you what I do and you can glean whatever information you'd like. Here's what works for me:

~I'm a calorie counter. Regardless of what "plan" you try, it all boils down to calories in vs calories out. Personally, I'm not one for formal "plans" (can't stand being told what to do) so I eat what I want within my alloted calories.

~I started out slow. At first I didn't count I just ate the same foods I normally ate in smaller portions. As I started losing I got really motivated and started counting for more accuracy.

~Currently I eat 1400-1500 calories per day.

~I log in fitday.com everything I eat. You don't have to have a computer log though. Just writing down on paper what you are eating may be a real eye opener. It sure was for me! I had no clue what a real portion looked like before I started.

~If I have a bad day and splurge, I try really hard not to beat myself up over it. I don't view this as a diet, but a lifestyle change (yes I will be able to eat a bit more when I'm done losing, but I still view this as a change not diet.) Tomorrow is always another day and I can continue on if I goof up. I found that if I didn't beat myself up over a splurge day then I was less likely to give up.

~For exercise I walk. I refuse to pay for a gym membership (I'm cheap) and I find videos boring. I love my walks! Not only to I get to see the beauty in the world around me, but walking clears my mind, helps me de-stress, and burns a few calories.

I know you said you are lazy (I can identify!) Do you have a friend on base that can help keep you accountable? Sometimes confiding in someone and having them check in on you is great for motivation.

I hope this is helpful! This forum is awesome and I'm sure you will find something that is the right fit for you here.

Just in case you are interesting in eating like the locals, here is a link to the Okinawa food pyramid http://www.okinawa-diet.com/okinawa_...d_pyramid.html
If the link gets taken down, just google it.

[bargoo]

I am a calorie counter, too. I find it to be very effective and best of all it is free.I eat healthy, well balanced meals staying in my calorie allotment.Many people on these forums use fitday. I have used it but I mostly refer to book of calorie counts as I don't have to be online to check on calories iin certain foods.All diets are based on lowering calories no matter what they call it.You should be able to get some exercise DVD's to help your weight loss.

[Amberoo]

Welcome MarinePrincess! You've come to a great place of support. There's SO much info on weight-loss methods here....if you browse around the different forums you may find something that sounds good to you.

bargoo is right, all diets are about calorie restriction. Burn more calories than you take in. But I needed some structure - it just wasn't working on my own. I had done SO much research that I confused myself to no end, had information overload and was just stuck. Fed up, I drove to my local Weight Watchers and signed up; I had always been interested in it but never thought I'd give it a try - I don't join things, I do stuff on my own, I don't want to pay to lose weight. BUT...what a great thing that I went against my usual thinking and just gave it a whirl. I've finally found something that is not only very doable but so far, works!!! I need to relearn how to eat and move my body, after several years of food abuse and no exericse. WW does that. It forces you to be super aware of all you put into your body. It teaches you portions and makes you look at what you're eating. It's helping me gain control for the first time in a very long time. And the great thing, I don't have to give up certain foods. (I'm on the points system) Although I can eat my favorite things I have to be within my allowance therefore I have to be accountable. And it makes you want to eat lower-point foods, more and more of them - and of course those are the healthiest foods, therefore you will lose weight! Haha...I'm still new, but as you can hear I'm excited about it. I've been in such a depressing rut for so long, I finally have hope.
They have an at home program if you don't have local meetings there and want more privacy.

You sound just like me, well, the old me I should say - with the soda. I cld easily guzzle down 5-6 cans of Coke or Dr Pepper a day. Horrible. It was like medicine to me. Helped with any ailment. Made me feel good. It was my first big goal, my first serious LETS DO THIS thing and guess what, I've gone over a month w/out a SIP since the day I decided NO MORE! And I was addicted. Really damn addicted. So when I say if I can do it, you can, it's the truth. You'll not only probably lose weight right away but you'll feel so much more in control. I knew it was the first thing I needed to do to start off my weigh-loss journey to health.

Heck, I don't blame you for not wanting to go to a gym where a bunch of super-fit marines are working out!! Jeez. I feel overwhelmingly self-conscious at my local ymca! So don't feel badly about that.... I shld tell you to NOT care and just DO IT for yourself, they may look at you funny (or you may IMAGINE they are) but that doesnt matter 'cos you're there to get healthy and there's nothing funny or odd about that!

You could go to a bookstore and get a few books out just to get some info, to refresh your memory of what it is to eat healthy, what foods help with weight loss and which hinder it. Obviously fruits and veggies - the more veggies the better. Lean protein, healthy fats. High fiber. Drink water. And move your body - any way you can, even for just a few minutes a day to start.