[wvugirl]

Married to a wonderful man and have two kids, 15 son, 13 daughter. Life has been very stressful and emotionally draining the last 4 years, I've gained so much weight that I really hate to look at myself. My waist has dun lapped my jeans and my chin is doubling up, oh I need help. I want to lose 45 pounds and get into shape, I would love to start jogging, hiking and mountain biking one of these days. Thinking about trying to WW but don't have the money to keep it up everyweek. Please if anyone on here can help point me into the right direction I'd be grateful, what all should I be doing to start with Exercising (what kind for how long) should I stick to 1200 calorie diet?

[midwife]

Welcome to 3FC!!

There are lots of moms on here, so you're in good company.

We do have a weight watchers forum, but it is my understanding that weight watchers is just a way of calorie counting. Calorie counting is free and works really well.

1200 tends to be the minimum recommended, so I'm not sure you need to start there. A good starting point might be 1600 or 1800 calories of fruit, veggies, lean protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats. Stay with that for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If you can lose eating 1800, eat 1800!

A lot of people start exercising by walking. Walk around your neighborhood. See if you can add speed or distance.

Good luck!

[jamsk8r]

Come join us over on the Calorie Counters forum in Diet Central. As Midwife said, 1200 is very low. Start with 1800 and don't go below that unless you need to. Gives you some wiggle room for later, in case you get stuck, you can cut it to 1700 or 1600 and get the weight loss going again. Any type of exercise you can stick with is best. I like skating, weight lifting, and running. I do some elliptical or stationary bike, too, when I need variety, but mostly those bore me to tears. Some folks like exercise videos. Then there are all kinds of sports or active things you can do like hiking, skiing, tennis, basketball, walking the dog, cycling, swimming...whatever inspires you, do that!

[Willow98248]

Welcome to 3FC!!