Eloquent One-
I believe you've arrived at the right place. This is a great forum with lots of folks who have learned lots of useful things about diet and fitness and there is so much support for people here.
I'm a 48 yo female, 5' ft 3 ", started at about 190 lbs, am now at 180 1/2, based on a weigh-in this morning at my Curves Club,
and have been going at this since sometime in Mid-May. I started w/Calorie Counting and have been limiting myself to about 1700 calories a day. I chose the calorie counting approach because with this approach there are no "off-limits" foods.
In addition to calorie counting i'm working towards eating the recommended # of daily servings from the various food groups. Of course what the recommended # is and how big the servings are(the serving size less so) changes depending on your source.
Right now i'm reading a couple of very useful books called: "Superfood RX:Fourteen foods that will change your life" and "The Portion Teller". Superfoods is all about these 14 different foods and their "substitutes" that have lots of really beneficial nutrients and how you can and should make them into an integral part of your diet. The Portion Teller is all about how "super-sized" our diets have become-particularly when eating out-and how simply scaling back to reasonable portions and eating a diet that is made up of an appropriate balance of foods from the different food groups can be all it takes to lose the weight you need to lose. I've been thinking that an approach like that would be easier to stick to over time but transitioning to it, and getting the portion sizes memorized, (a walnutful of peanut butter, a baseball of blueberries, etc.) is a bit challenging, but i'm confident and determined that i will work it out.
I'm also working towards 3 Curves workouts a week and 3 30 minute brisk walks a week.
Of course that's just me. I don't know how much reading of the forums you've done yet, but there is a huge diversity of weight-loss approaches and support groups. There are 20-somethings, 30-somethings, a South Beach forum, Calorie Counting forum, different exercise forums, forums for menu-planning, etc. You'll have to read around and see how you want to approach your weight-loss and exercise.
I would recommend finding a group to home-base with(like 20 somethings) because you'll be able to learn lots from the other folks on your "home"Forum
So again
and
GREAT
to you on your journey to a healthy weight and physical fitness.
New and Trying to Get Into Shape!
Are you a military wife??
