Hi everyone,

My name is Amy and I'm 21 and from Shropshire. I need help. I'm a size 22/24 and I'm so unhappy. I need the help and guidance to lose this weight! Exercise is my main problem. I can't walk about alone where i live because it's not safe and i have no one that will come with me and i'm not in a situation financially to afford to go to the gym. I need help for exercise ideas at home and just general support. I'm so upset with the way i look and feel. I hate being so unhealthy.
Any bits of help or support would be so very much appreciated.

Amy
xxx

Hi Amy. I've just gone down to a 24(ish).

Exercise wise I mainly do dvds at home. Read all the forums and you'll find plenty of helpful advice and come and join us on the UK forum too

There are some great walk at home videos, even some free online ones. I know walking at home may seem kinda lame, but it is really effective. I use it because it is so darn hot here that walking outside just does not seem like a good idea. Leslie Sansone has the a great line that does 1, 2 and 3 mile walking. You can try an online video and see how you like it. http://www.mystartonline.org/res_exercisetv.jsp if you look at the side scroll you can find the 1 mile walk at the bottom of the list. If nothing else it is something til you find something you like.

Hi Amy! Welcome to the board! I second the exercise dvd thing. They can be great workouts. My favorites are power yoga ones and Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred.
Hope to see you around.

Welcome!

If you have more than 100lbs to lose, come join us in the 100lbs club. It's really active and incredibly supportive!

I love Leslie Sansone. I got one of her dvds from the lbrary, actually.

What's your eating plan?

I wish I didn't battle my weight all through my 20's and into my 30s. Sad it's taken me this long to finally loose the weight once and for all. Gosh, your so smart and lucky to be doing this now while your only 21. I wish I did! First off, do what you know you'll stick to. For me I knew I'd never keep on weight watchers forever, and I'd never stick to major work outs. I just knew I wasn't going to. Want to know my secret? The last 10 months I've counted calories and logged everything that passed my lips in a food journal online.
www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate
It's free. and I bought a pedometer I could keep in my pocket ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...nosim/arm06-20) every single day from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed. I do 10,000 steps a day all around my house and anywhere I can squeeze them in. I sometimes pace circles in front of the tv so the time flys by. Silly it seems, but I've lost 109 pounds over the last 10 months. You might say why $32 for a pedometer? Because this one is the best on the market, the only brand that works inside your pocket with out a clip, and syncs to your home computer to make graphs to record your progress.
I'm 13 pounds from my goal. You can do it too.

Hi Amy,

First, I want to congratulate you on making the decision to have a healthier lifestyle!!!! Buy an exercise ball or a yoga kit that includes an exercise ball, mine had an exercise DVD inside which I loved. It also had a poster with all types of exercises you could do at home with things around the house! Lift weights with can goods, using you chair to do lunges as well as using the exercise ball to workout with. I am not sure if you have cable or something but perhaps there are exercise channels or shows on your television at times.

You can do it!!!!

Hi Amy and

I sure relate to how you feel about yourself. I lost weight, then started to slide....again. I am commited to getting and staying back on plan.

One thing I do when I am out, is if taking the bus (and I'm somewhere safe) I get off 1 stop early and walk to my destination. When I go to the grocery I park at the end of the lot and grab a cart to bring back in instead of looking for the closest place to park.

Best wishes! I know you can find a plan that works for you and there are alot of great friends here to support you along the way.

Thank you so much for all your replies! I'm feeling extremely positive right now and i'm going to keep coming here everyday. You're all so lovely!!
Thanks you for all the ideas and advice.
xx

Hi Amy! I'm in a similar situation... I'm 21 in two weeks and around the same size (well I'm anywhere between a 20-24 on top and 26 on the bottom!).

If you ever want to chat let me know! Maybe you can try exercise DVDs at home? I've tried quite a few of them and also have some links that might be of interest to you.

Hiya amy i'm 19 and an uk girl too and i absolutly hate exercising outside so i'm with ya girly! I don't like dvds so i actually run around the living room or up and down the stairs numerous amounts of times and i just bought 1kg weight from tesco's for £3.00 that i've been using and increasing the reps. Hope that's helped a bit love to chat more chick xx

Welcome Amy! I'm a little bit older than you (25) but am about the same size (24/26). When I was your age I was living in a situation very similar to yours. It wasn't safe to walk outside and money for any 21 is slim to none. My solutions then were the exercise DvDs (Walk Away the Pounds, the biggest loser series, etc) as well as driving to a local park every evening where I felt safe to walk.

Besides exercise, have you picked an approach or plan for the nutrition side of things?

Hi Amy, I'm Amy too! I'm also new to these boards and find them to be so inspiring. Like the others who have posted, I have found exercise tapes great. There are some really good walking ones. If money is an issue I can always find great ones at my local thrift shops. If you have stairs in your house walk they can become your stair master. Just walk up and down several times. Put on some great music and that will help.

You can do it! It's hard work but it's totally worth it!

Welcome! And congrats on taking the first step! You will find all the inspiration and motivation you need here at 3FC to reach your goal!

Hey Amy!

I can definitely relate to you, we're the same age and I wear a size 18/20 in jeans. Alana said she uses Walk Away The Pounds, and so do I! You don't realize how powerful walking is until you're actually doing it, and you feel great afterward. Two miles takes half an hour to do, and it goes by in a snap. If you wanna chat feel free to private message me :]