[jacquelinerose]

I'm not quite new here to 3FC... I've been quite a bit of a lurker

Although I do not intend to start my 'lifestyle change' until 90 days from now, I am preparing myself and motivating myself in those directions, so I thought, why not start here! I'm 26 years old, and 5'2½" - 5'3" (depending on what Doctor you talk to ). I have seen a dietitian before, and with the program I was on, I was able to shed 30 lbs in a month. My highest weight was 330, and my last known weight was 300. I plan on restarting myself on that track in July, complete with a posting of my starting weight on my journey. With that being said, I hope you all are having wonderful weeks, and I hope to get to know each and everyone of you guys!

[Pattience]

Hi there and welcome.

[nonameslob]

Hello! Welcome!

Just curious, why are you starting 90 days from now instead of today?

You should pop over to the 20-somethings side of this forum sometime

[jacquelinerose]

noname- Thank you for the welcome! I'm starting 90 days from now because it would also be the day after my birthday, and in the time til then, I'm mental preparing myself to stick with this change, and read up as much as I can! I have been lurking in the 20 somethings forums as well, just haven't made an initial post there yet.

Patti Thanks!

[Kscott]

Originally Posted by jacquelinerose

noname- Thank you for the welcome! I'm starting 90 days from now because it would also be the day after my birthday, and in the time til then, I'm mental preparing myself to stick with this change, and read up as much as I can! I have been lurking in the 20 somethings forums as well, just haven't made an initial post there yet.

Patti Thanks!

If you're in your 20's? Hopefully, you're going to have to deal with a lot of birthdays--starting in just 365 days after the one you're having in July. The positive attitude would be I am starting today and I am going to lose some weight prior to my birthday in July.

Obesity is a disease that can kill you. There's nothing in the stats that says you're safe from getting type 2 diabetes, a horrible disease that you get to live with the rest of your life, (if you don't already have it?) Instead of worrying about your birthday in July, you should be worrying about how many birthdays you will have left if you don't take off this weight.

You're not going to lose all of your weight before July--but you won't be able to do it prior to the following birthday either. You didn't gain all this weight overnight--and you're certainly not going to lose it overnight. It's going to take time, maybe even years.

It is a lifestyle change--and that means for a lifetime regardless of birthdays, holidays or whatever may be coming up.

To start--you need to know where you're at. That means getting on a scale today to determine how much you weigh and then you can follow this easy to use BMI calculator--that can guide you through the process.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/calc-bmi-plus

Now let's see how tough you really are:

[TheSatinPumpkin]

Welcome to the forum!

[jacquelinerose]

[QUOTE=Kscott;4995298]If you're in your 20's? Hopefully, you're going to have to deal with a lot of birthdays--starting in just 365 days after the one you're having in July. The positive attitude would be I am starting today and I am going to lose some weight prior to my birthday in July.

Obesity is a disease that can kill you. There's nothing in the stats that says you're safe from getting type 2 diabetes, a horrible disease that you get to live with the rest of your life, (if you don't already have it?) Instead of worrying about your birthday in July, you should be worrying about how many birthdays you will have left if you don't take off this weight.

You're not going to lose all of your weight before July--but you won't be able to do it prior to the following birthday either. You didn't gain all this weight overnight--and you're certainly not going to lose it overnight. It's going to take time, maybe even years.

It is a lifestyle change--and that means for a lifetime regardless of birthdays, holidays or whatever may be coming up.

To start--you need to know where you're at. That means getting on a scale today to determine how much you weigh and then you can follow this easy to use BMI calculator--that can guide you through the process.
*doesn't let me post links just yet*

Now let's see how tough you really are:

*doesn't let me post links just yet*

Kscott - Thanks for your warm welcome! Not sure if there is some communications from my initial post, though. I love the no more excuses image!

TheSatinPumpkin - Thanks!

[Brandis]

Hi and welcome! I am not new here, I have been gaining and losing the same weight for my entire life. I made the decision to give it another go, and darnit I am sticking to it this time! Forever!

I do think you would be better off knowing where you are starting, weight wise. I don't think getting mentally prepared is a bad idea, but maybe 90 days is a long time...just a thought. How about if, after you weigh in, you make a decision to do something small until your birthday? Say, something like eating a healthy breakfast and going for a walk every day? If you stick with it, after two weeks maybe you could up the ante and do breakfast and lunch, along with walking and some weights? If that goes well, you might be surprised how motivated you are to eat three healthy meals and exercise every day. After all, this is the lifetime goal.

If you made just one or two small (but consistent) changes, you may very well wake up on your birthday and realize you gave yourself a really great gift- ahead start on a lifetime of healthy living. Good luck! You will find lots of motivation here, and I hope that you don't end up ninety days from now wishing you had put that motivation into motion. Get going!

[Pattience]

I am inclined to agree with Brandis by taking a gentle approach.

But my idea is this if you want to consider giving it a go.
1. read the book french women don't get fat. Read it more for motivation, good ideas and good sense and to learn about how food can equal pleasure without pain.
2. Weigh yourself first thing tomorrow morning, figure out your maintenance calories based on no exercise and your current weight using an online calculator
3. Decide to try to eat up to those calories every day. This will enable you to avoid hunger.
4. in the three months leading up to your start date, work on improving the quality of the foods you eat. Do that by increasing your fruit and vegetables and reducing your refined carbs, processed foods, junk foods, takeaway foods. If you want a lot of calories you can top them up with quality cheese, nuts and seeds in addition to the other whole foods you are eating more of rather than all the stuff that causes cravings and regrets.

5. Develop your cooking skills. Don't go for fancy stuff. Focus first and foremost on cooking vegetables in interesting ways. They can be mixed with meats but start with your veggie foods. I mean don't start by saying i'm having chicken for dinner how to cook it with vegies start by saying, i've got aubergines and zucchinis, how'm i going to cook it. My hint is to experiment with mediterranean foods - greek, french, spanish, italian, as your first because of all the exotics its probably closest to the way most westerners eat most of the time. And then branch out into into trying middle eastern, indian, and other asian cuisines, not to mention south american. Try to learn how to cook beans and lentils and have a few meals based on those each week because they are high in protein and fibre and are very very good for you. Use recipes books or good online sites for your recipes. Don't think you have to make it all up all the time. Once you've used recipes a lot you get a feel for what's going to work.

7. When choosing recipe books, look for something that seems like it could be more traditional. Who's written it? Is it someone with a background or experience in that culture. Some food tv shows have websites with their recipes. In Australia SBS is one of our best for authentic recipes i think. Avoid the sort of cook books that seem to be straining after being restaurant degree fancy. Go for tradition instead

8. With your cooking, focus on savoury foods, avoid all the dessert things. You can come back to that in the future when you've made a lot more progress and you have trained yourself into better eating habits.

You probably didn't want all this advice. But well if you've been lurking, by now you must know that some of us love to give it. Its only because we want us all to succeed.

9. For sweetness to help minimise all the junky foods, eat a lot of fruit. And try stewing fruits like pears, apples, rhubarb, plums and other stone fruits. Make fruit salad or mix fruit into your savoury salads. You can afford to eat a a lot of fruit. It won't hurt you and when you severely cut down on the highly sweetened foods you buy, you will find the sweetness of fruit perfectly satisfying.

[jacquelinerose]

I must of miscommunicated my thought process on my initial post! Sorry for the confusion, guys! But thank you all for the warm welcomes!