your 11 yr old daughter tells you she's "tired of hearing about it" when you talk about losing weight...lol
I've decided to give another go...this time I hope i've got it right....fruits.. veggies....lean meats and exercises....should do the trick....now the real trick is sticking to it! any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I have a 10 y/o daughter and I know what you mean. She can be brutal without even realizing it!
My advice to you is to only pick foods to eat that you like. You can stock up on a lot of great foods to eat, health wise, but if you have to force yourself to eat them, you'll quickly stop. It's a whole lot easier to stay on plan and stick within your calorie range if you are not feeling deprived. Also, pick foods that are going to fill you up for less calories. My favs are pinapples, microwavable popcorn (94% Kettle Corn is to die for!), and lean cuisine pinines (sp?). Yum and filling! I never get hungry and I always stay under 1500 cal. a day. Some days I do slip (whoops!) but I just count those calories I overeat and ave. it into my week's total.
Yes, finding things you can do for life is important. It's not like you can go back to old habits once you lose the weight!
So, you're making a commitment to yourself!
As for sticking with it, what are the areas you think you need to work on first, to make this happen? For me, it was bringing my snacks and lunches to work. I tackled other issues later...
I have a very intelligent 6-1/2 year old son who wasn't that forward, but he has said some things that have made it painfully obvious that mommy can't do some things because she has a big tummy.
As for suggestions, the best trick for me so far is marking every single thing down that I eat and watching my fat (low) and protein (high) intake. I used thedailyplate.com but have used fitday.com in the past.
I agree with writing it all down...usually on my fitday.com account, and making changes/choices that you can stick with. If i threw out everything in my fridge and brought home tons of fruits and veggies, i probably wouldn't eat over half of it. Small changes in foods were the key to me. Start with healthy foods i know i like then try a new veggie one at a time and see if liked it or did i even know how to cook it. But you should definately start with a set calorie intake and work on sticking to it. the healthier you eat, the more volumn of food you can eat. and you should not go more than about 3 hours without some sort of snack during the daytime. i always plan a fruit and a cup of yogurt into my day as snacks. Good luck!!
Thank you all for your insight....it really helps to have support! The first step I've taken is getting rid of soda....that's such a 4 letter word!! I had no idea how many empty calories I was taking in...i'm drinking water in place of the soda so i'm actually feeling full faster and longer...that makes sense I think..lol I'm trying to find out about where my calorie count should be...in what range...I was thinking of 1200...but i've seen that some say that's too low...i'm 5'3 and weigh 240....what do you all think? Is there a program to knowing how many calories to take in each day??
Personally, I think at your starting weight, 1200 calories is too low, for several reasons.
First, if you eat too little, you are MORE likely to binge and feel defeated, etc.
Second, it's harder to get in all the nutrition you need if you eat too little.
Third, it often helps people to start higher and then drop calories a little as they lose. If you start near the bottom, you have nowhere to go. People who weigh more burn more calories doing EVERYTHING they do.
Why not start out somewhere higher... maybe 1600 calories/day on average? Try that. Log everything you eat (fitday is helpful here) and see what happens over the next few weeks. Give it a while!
There are calculators you can try, but it seems that even then, it's trial and error, as they are estimates anyway.
I agree with starting out around 1600 calories a day. That's where I am at right now, and it seems to be okay for me right now. At 1100 calories a day (where I first started), I was always starving.
I stay around 1500 calories a day. Some days I go over, some days I'm under, but usually stay around that amount. The key is writing down EVERYTHING you eat in a diary (I use CalorieKing). There are many online, free diaries to chose from.
Also, exercise is the real key to losing weight. Make sure you find something you enjoy. I like the treadmill (with my iPod, of course!). But whatever it is, like with food, it has to be something you enjoy or you'll get tired of it real quickly.
I'm reading "The Best Life Diet" by Bob Greene. I had read one of his earlier books and didn't care for it. But this book is more down to earth, in my opinion. His plan is nothing new. No new gimmicks, etc. He just starts you out slower without making all of the changes on day 1. There are three phases. The first phase consists of drinking your water, eating three meals/two snacks, exercising and not eating two hours before you go to bed. That's it, period. He doesn't tell you what to eat, just that you need to eat. Once you mastered phase one, you move into phase two where you start paying attention to what you are eating. Your calorie intake is also based on your activity level. I'm still in phase one and haven't finished reading phase two nor have I even started reading phase three.
Anyhow, maybe instead of trying to make ALL of the changes right away, what about starting out slow so that it's more do-able? I just know that when I do the "all or nothing" approach, I tend to side with the "or nothing" part within a few weeks because I mess something up and feel like a failure.
Thank you all again for your help. I've been at around 1200-1300 for 2 days now...it's been ok but I am going to shoot for 1500 and see how that goes...i'm keeping everything logged on fitday so i'm not guessing at where I stand.
Kimberly...I just saw Oprah where Bob Greene was on there...I really thought about getting his book but I thought I should at least try this myself...I just have to eat right and exercise...I should be able to handle that...I hope!! I really did like what he said about taking little steps....my 1st little step was to give up soda...i've had none for 3 days now.....whew...what a job that was...lol but.....if I want this...I have do it..no one is going to do it for me.
I think you are off to a great start using the 'replacing bad habits with good ones' idea. Pop for water is a great decision. The new decision I made this week was that when I start roaming around the kitchen, I get a piece of fruit first. If I am still hungry 20 minutes after I finish it, I get something more substantial, like a small bowl of cereal.
I cannot stress the importance of writing it all down.
I think Dr. Wansink is a genius. He wrote Mindless Eating. If you like to read about food issues, this one is excellent.
A couple of good habits to get into:
ALWAYS use a salad plate
Use a coffee mug for cereal instead of a bowl. (I only use a bowl if I am doing 1/2 cup fruit with 1/2 cup cereal).
Use the 1/2 1/4 1/4 method. Your plate should be half full of veggies, a quarter of protein and 1/4 of carbs.
Measure your food until you are sure you know how much a 1/4 cup of rice is, 1 cup of cereal, 4 ounces of milk....whatever it is that you eat a lot of. I can eyeball most things, but I still have to measure my cheese. I love it so much. I will always try to cheat.
Put your food into portions sizes when you bring it home from the grocery. I cut a brick of cheese into 8 sections when I get it home. I put pretzels or nuts into one-ounces portions in little containers.
Put the calorie amount on a post-it and put it on the food. It will make you things twice. I used to grab a handful of this, a handful of that. I measured how much that was and how many calories. It was shocking.
It is a lot of little changes that will make a huge difference.
Most important for me it to move. You cannot underestimate the power of exercise.
You know it's time when.....
