Hi

I am new to the forum as of maybe 3 days I think.
Well today is the day I started my new life. Yes...eating healthier and becoming active. MONDAY ...starting fresh
So far things are going good. Not as perfect as I would like to be, but well.
I have been drinking water all day. And tonight I am going for a walk with a friend. Something I rarely do.
These are my plans to change my lifestyle:

1) Drink Water
2) Cut out pop and chocolate
3) Get outside more..walking and in the fresh air
4) Everyday I am going to walk...walk & walk
5) Eat less portions at mealtime
6) Bake instead of deep fry if possible
7) Go to bed early...(One of my biggest habbits is staying up late and watching television then I feel like I need to munch)
8) And just take up hobbies that will keep me busy so I dont think of stuffing my face.

These might think of minor things for some people, but for me they are very hard and very important acomplishments to achieve. I am use to being lazy with my thought patterns. I am changing for me and setting an example for my children who I tell everyday they can be who they wanna be. I wanna be thin and I am going to work hard to proove my point to them & me.
Thanks for listening. Oh yes ...please add anything that might help me change for the better
Faith

Dear Island Girl:

Welcome aboard and here are a few things that have really helped an old veteran dieter like me who didn't really want to do it one more time. I found a therapist who specialized in eating disorders (I am over 100 lbs. overweight..so my eating is definitely not normal) and am working through several issues with her.

2nd: Don't give up the pop and chocolate just yet, ease into it. IF you drink sugared soda, start mixing like have diet coke and half coke and wean yourself off the sugared stuff that way. Adding a little more non-sugared stuff each week. With the chocolate there are some really delicous sugarless puddings that should satisfy your need for chocolate. What I have found with the sugarless chocolate pudding is without the sugar it actually has more of a sugat taste.

Or make your own pudding fresh and use Splenda for the sugar as it is sugar but missing some molocules so it doesn't have the carbs or the calories. Also stays weet liek sugar when it is used in hot foods and baking.

Make sure you have protein and carbs and a little fat at each meal or you will be starving all the time.

Make sure you eat a big lunch so that you won't go nuts at dinner. Also I use fat free cheese on my cheeseburgers, and hot this stuff is just like the real stuff.

Good luck and right me at [email protected] if you need more advice.

Thanks for the input there housewife!
I am not actually cutting out everything all at once...actually I have substituted. For my sugar, I now use "Equate" (low callorie sugar substitute) and for chocolate....I am using the low in fat energy bars. They make me feel like I am still getting something of a treat. I had to do it this way as I am a high risk for becoming a diabetic. I had gestational diabities with two of my pregnancies and chances of becoming a full time diabetic are great. I guess another reason to start choosing a healthy life style.
Thanks again
Islandgurl29

Hello,
Just wanted to welcome you aboard!
I was also gestational diabetic with both of my children-they didn't catch it the first time, and I ended up with a 10lb4oz 23inches long girl! (I was not happy)
The second time around, with blood sugar monitoring and lots of ultrasound, I had a 9lb4oz boy induced a month early-he would have been bigger than his sister!
I am at a very high risk for diabetes also-we are inthe same boat.
The goals you have set are not small at all! You are doing good to try to set basic ones, such as the water drinking, and getting daily exercise-such as walking. If your climate permits it all year, great-if not, I would suggest buying a treadmill for snowey weather if you can afford it-check out the classified newspapers.
There are plenty of light cookbooks out there to help you with cooking unfried foods in a flavorful way.
Diet sodas are getting so tasty now, it shouldn't be that hard to switch over-I actually do not like the syrupy feel a regualr soda leaves in my mouth now...and I do have chocolate occasionally, just in very small amounts, like a Hershey Kiss, or like you do in a protein bar or Slim-Fast bar.
Once you get these changes in your system, you will be ready to take a more streamlined approach to lose weight, such as doing other exercise, or counting your calories in what you are eating. Keep doing what you are doing now, and when you are comfortable with those changes-I will be happy to help you in any way possible.
You are welcome to join the thread I post on, "Doin it the Old fashioned Way"-we are a group of girls losing weight and getting fit by eating in a more balanced way, and exercising-no fad diets, pills, or anything like that. Slow and steady wins the race.
I am rooting for you!
Aphil

HI Aphil.
And thank you for you post.
With my first pregnancy they caught it my diabeties almost too late and I had a 9lb, 13oz boy by Csection after 27hrs of labour and only getting to 9cm dialated. Ahhhh!! But my second one, was a girl and my gestational diabeties didn't show up until the 6th month. I was sure I wasn't gonna get it. So they took precautions and they sectioned me 2 weeks earlier and she was 8lbs, 13oz and if I'd have went the full 2 weeks, she would have been over 10lbs..bigger than her brother. Big babies are so much easier to handle, but harder to have.
Thank you for inviting me into your group and I will definately consider it and thanks also for the advise.
Islandgurl