[indiansummer]

Good morning, ladies. I've spent the past few hours reading threads all over this forum and it's really inspired me to take control of my life and make some changes. Therefore, I'd really like to get back in shape and start dieting, in particular Calorie Counting. Many of my co-workers have had a lot of success with it.

I've never dieted before and I've never had to, but over the past 2 years I've put on a serious amount of weight, approximately 30 lbs due to stress and work. (Probably)

Does anyone have any advice about some of the following obstacles I'm already facing?

Mini Meals in between Meals
So all the health experts say 3 square meals a day is not the best way to go. This is easy on my days off. But... I work over 50 hours a week in a super corporate environment. We are allotted a 1 hour lunch break (or less) per shift. I work in a super competitive sales environment and food and drink (With the exception of a bottled water) are not allowed on the "sales floor." So where can these mini meals and/or snacks be placed?!

Water Consumption
Experts also say I should have several glasses of water a day. And I do- when I'm hungover! Otherwise, how have you guys trained yourself to consume water all day?! Even when you're not thirsty.

How do you motivate yourself to force exercise into an already crammed routine?
Like I mentioned before, I work a lot. I can easily squeeze a bike ride here or there on my day off, but if I'm going to make this work, I need to dedicate A LOT more time to exercise. Walking my dog in the morning and evening will not be enough.
When I get home from work, I am exhausted. I stand and walk around for 9-10 hours a day, and easily walk a couple miles. (We are not allowed to sit down EVER with the exception of our lunch break)
I've considered getting some of those Skechers Shape Up Shoes to wear at work. Are these any good or are they a scam?


The Energy Drink Addiction!
In our high paced, competitive environment at work, we compete for the same dollar, which makes a super aggressive, bring your A game type of environment. Management often feeds us energy drinks relentlessly on big days. And it generally does result in a significant jump in numbers! Does anyone have any substitute for the energy drink? I've found that the calories in an energy drink are the same as a whole meal!

Alcohol
So after is all said and done at work, and I've recovered from my day, it is time to hit the bars downtown as I play in a band by night. We stay out late, but the money is good and the drinks are comped. Alcohol DESTROYS my calorie budget. A few beers and half my day is gone! Even light beers still do some damage. Are there drinks that are less detrimental than others? I think I can contribute a lot of my weight gain to alcohol, but perhaps if I can exercise more, it could balance out.

Time for cooking?
How does one really make good, healthy eating decisions without truly being able to cook (Although I can follow an online recipe), but most importantly, not having the time! With my schedule, I can allot at most 20-30 minutes to eating/prep at a time! That's not always enough time to prepare a meal with the exception of simple things... like grilled cheese or salad. How have you ladies overcome this and still stick to a budget? How do you count calories when you eat out?

Someone to challenge you
Living alone provides a lot of time to munch while vegging out once in awhile, and really provides no one to hold you accountable. Most of the people in my life can consume whatever they want, whenever they want. Some friends have suggested becoming vegetarians like them. Yet, they look extremely weak and feeble. I still want to be VERY strong and LOOK healthy. How do you deal with not having someone in your life to hold you accountable?

Thank you all for the advice, and allowing me to be a part of this incredible community.

[zoodoo613]

Welcome! You can't change everything over night. Rather, you can try, but too much too soon can be overwhelming and many people find themselves slipping back to their old ways. Here are my opinions on your points.

Mini-meals: I don't actually think you need them. I think a lot of the reason behind them is to keep yourself from being too hungry between meals. If you eater foods that are higher in protein and/or fiber, cut down on refined sugars, you can keep yourself going for longer periods.

Water: I know I'm going against the grain here, but I believe thirst IS a good indicator. It's the signal our bodies where designed to recognize.

Exercise: Exercise is great. It's good for your heart, lungs, muscles, bones, brains. It keeps you motivated. That said, you can lose weight without a lick of exercise. Walking your dog in the morning and evening is a great place to start. When you're ready, make those walks a little longer, a little faster. Maybe further on down the road you'll figure out where you can add more intensive exercise.

Energy drinks and booze: I think here's where you'll have to focus most of your effort in the beginning. Winnowing out the empty calories will be crucial. If you can't go cold turkey, at least slow it down.

Time for cooking: You don't have to have extravagant meals. Look at what you currently eat and fine tune it. Add some chicken to your salad and make it an actual meal. Use whole grain bread and have toasted cheese sandwich instead of frying it in butter. Make a pot of soup on your day off to have on hand.

Someone to challenge you: Come here. I've got people at home, but they don't help me stay on track at all, quite the opposite.

Here's the thing. Changing your lifestyle will be hard. We all have challenges we face at work/friends/home. We can all find excuses. You just need to find a way to do it, make it a priority. But you don't have to to it overnight. Start with small changes and work your way up.

[manders01]

First of all, welcome and good luck on your CC journey!

While I can give plenty of opinions, in the end, what works best for you is going to be the true answer. Hopefully, this can help as a starting point:

• Mini Meals - How many meals you eat a day should really be determined by how you feel. I do not eat mini meals, I'm a 3 meal a day kinda gal. And have been since before changing my eating habits. It totally works for me and I don't think it's been any sort of a hindrance.
• Water Consumption - Before changing my eating habits, I basically didn't drink water. But I found that when I started, I became so thirsty for it, it was easy to drink. However, that was when I was at a desk job. Now that I work for myself from home, water isn't what I'm looking for. I use 0 calorie Target drink mixes to get my fill of water. 0 calorie, sugar free Kool Aid? Yes please!
• Exercise - It sounds like you lead a very active lifestyle. While exercise would certainly be beneficial, I think it might be possible for you to get by without adding a lot and still see results. Although I'm sure you just want to collapse by the time you do get home, investing in some workout DVDs might be a good option for you. It will not involve you having to factor in time to get to and from a gym. As little as 20 minutes will probably help out a lot. I can't really help on the motivation front cause there are many times I'm not but somehow still do. I have the Reebok shaping sneakers and I really have noticed no difference. Anymore, I wear them cause they look good.
• Energy Drinks - Black coffee or with sweetener and low-cal creamers. I'd consider getting rid of the energy drinks all together even if the bosses are trying to get you to drink them. You can be fast paced without them.
• Alcohol - It doesn't have to be banished all together but it can certainly be quite the calorie adder. Consider liquor with diet drinks (drinks are about 70 calories a piece) or super low-cal beers (Bud Select 55 or MGD 64). Also, switch off between alcohol and water throughout the night. A full glass of water before you can move to your next alcoholic beverage. That can cut out half of the calories you can consume.
• Cooking - Sometimes I take my time in the kitchen, other times it's on the quick. Consider prepping and / or cooking meals over the weekend to pop in the micro during the week. I can easily get good, healthy food made in 30 minutes. Maybe invest in a Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals cookbook and use them as a basis for meals. All recipes can be tweaked to be low-cal. As far as eating out, I almost always check the restaurant websites for their menu and nutrition information before going out. There also the Healthy Dining Finder which takes less time to look things up. If there's no nutrition information, it's typically still fairly easy to tell what might be low-cal or can easily be revised to be such.
• Accountability - I live alone as well. I am accountable to myself. Sometimes, it doesn't always work. But the majority of the time, it absolutely does. And this site is extremely helpful

Hope those help! And again, good luck!