Hello, I'm new here. I've made the decision of changing my lifestyle, in terms of what I eat and what I do. I have just given up smoking, which is proving not to be easy. I began last week, by trying to eat healthier foods, and then a friend doctor gave me a food plan, so I am hoping I will stick to it.
I guess the next step will be excercise... however I don't really think i can handle all these changes at once! I have been promising myself I will be fit by my (oooohhh... scary...) 40th bday! and I swear, I'm fed up with breaking my own promises...
I've felt overweight all my life, although actually I was not overweight when I was young(er ha!). But now I am, and I'm scared I will spend the rest of my life feeling uncomfortable about myself and then one day I will just regret that I never did anything about it.
I know it's up to me, it's my decision, it's my struggle. But I also know women can lend very strong helping hands, so please, lend me yours and wish me luck!

Hi Nightingale! You sound a lot like me. I would give anything to be the weight I was when I got married, and I thought I was fat then. Ha!

In my opinion, you are wise to recognize that sometimes changing everything about your habits and lifestyle at one time may be too much. So just take it one step at a time, adding exercise as you go, or cutting out bad food choices one by one. No sense making yourself miserable.

With the exercise, one thing that helps me is to get on my elliptical for the time it takes for 1 or 2 songs play on my iPod. Then the next day do 3 songs, then 4, etc. The slow increase in time spent exercising is hardly noticeable that way.

Welcome and stick around!

Glad to have you here! Good for you for gaining control of your eating habits and exercise. It's scariest at first, but you'll get over the overwhelmingness of it all. For exercise it can be easy to start with smaller steps, maybe some walking or invest in a few workout DVDs. Check out the exercise forum here on 3fc, there are a few sub topics that you might find very helpful. We're glad to have you here!

Hey Nightingale!

The important thing is that you've made the 1st step, and that's realizing you need to do something for you and your health.

Guess what? I'm from Guatemala too! I moved to the US 15 yrs ago, and I still miss it like it was yesterday.

I have a lot of family and friends there. How's the weather?!

Welcome to 3FC! You'll love this website!