Gosh so how do you all do it? How do you get started??? I always want to and say oh I'll start a diet or I'm going to lose weight and don't and I just see so many of you with your starting weights and current and goals and have no idea how you make it... I try and try and try its just like a losing battle and its just so stressful and I don't think I'll ever be able to start cause even the first day there's a bump in the road.
Road's full of bumps but they're easier to deal with the longer you go on and the lighter you get.
My best advice would be to have today eating what you normally would but making a note of every single bite or sip. Best of all, log those sips and bites on something like sparkpeople.com or daily plate - free sites that will show you how many calories you ate, plus how many nutrients too. It's an eye opener.
I'd suggest doing the same the next day and the next. TBH, when I start like that, I'm so appalled by what I ate, even when I thought I was eating 'healthily' that I very soon start making choices to try and improve the calorie/nutrition results I'm seeing.
These sites ask you to enter your height and weight. This is good too, don't be scared of the scales! However awful the number, it will be good in future weeks to look back and see where you came from.
Once you've done a couple of days of logging, have a read around the way of losing weight that seems best to you. For a lot of people (me included) calorie counting is the simplest. Don't go too low - it won't make you lose weight any faster, quite the contrary in fact.
You will need to make a plan you can stick to; you'll need to become very focussed on what you eat; it takes a dvil of a lot of work but it really does get easier to stick to the longer you go on. Well, sometimes it's extremely difficult but I find that the thought of not wanting to spoil what I've already lost does wonders for my stickability - although not always for my temper!
I think if youi only have a few pounds to lose then yeah, sure, you can diet them off. You'll probably gain them back again but then you can diet them off again. But if you have a bunch of pounds to lose - 30, 50, 100+ then it's not a diet, not if you're serious about it because it wasn't just a short while of unhealthy choices that got you where you are.
You have to get to the point where being healthy is more important than just making the same old easy choices you've been making for ages. You can do it gradually (cut out sugars, cut out soda, cut out fried things, etc) or you can "just do it" cold turkey but really, after the first week or so it's just not that hard, not of you really want that healthier self. And you'll have plenty of time to learn how to make healthy choices and figure out what works for you (cheat days? treats?) and how to forgive yourself and get back to making healthy choices when you inevitably slip up. You're training new good habits to replace the old bad ones and this takes time and practice but it's soooo worth it in the end.
Second, I agree with what others have said already. Count those calories and cut them back! And get on a good scale often! If you're eating correctly for your body, you'll see weight loss from the first day. Seeing the loss will help motivate you, and so will your friends here encouraging you.
Welcome Patchouli - How to get started?
It's only myself that I can speak for and what I was interested in was learning about weight loss for myself. I read about weight loss and nutrition and fitness to start out with. It seemed to help motivate me and gave me a wider lens to understand what might be going on with my own body. There are so many resources out there that it can be confusing so I guess that's why I wanted to know before I started anything or gave anyone money . So I guess I'm cheap. lol.
Anyways best of luck!
T
Welcome back to 3FC, we are glad you are here and know that you will find great support here! I was on a good track for about 3 months, then lost my job, got sidetracked for a few weeks and now I am back on track. What you do is be kind to yourself, give yourself a break and know that if you mess up today there is always tomorrow
Thanks for all the kind words everyone I've got to get serious some how. I think a big problem is I have a night job so I sleep all during the day and then work at night and stay up at night and I need to be able to get up early and exercise and eat breakfast but I'm so tired. I'm trying to find a job that makes it easier for me to change my lifestyle and I know I can't just blame it on my job but I do think it would make things somewhat easier. But thank you again to all of you and hopefully I can get focused!
Patchouli, I'm just popping back in to this thread and saw you're a shift worker - that brings up a whole pile of other issues around weight loss. I've worked third shift for the last 10 years and losing weight while working nights is hard. Hard HARD HAAARRD.
But it is possible. I've lost nearly 80 pounds this year all while working nights and being over 50.
Two super important things to all weight loss but especially for us shiftworkers where sleep deprivation and hormones are going to make you crave carbs (and lots of them!) and always be nearly too tired to exercise - get plenty of sleep and plan plan plan your meals and snacks.
If you don't get enough sleep the leptin hormone is going to make you want to eat eat eat - especially carbs. And the ghrelin hormone will tell you aren't full, you're never full. Those two together really take a toll on shiftworkers but if you get enough sleep you'll really increase your odds of being able to overcome the signals they are sending to your brain.
And plan your food - bring meals and snacks to work. Do NOT leave it to chance because there are no good chances in the middle of the night. I've already plotted today's expected calories into "myplate" and I knew before I came in to work last night what I was likely to have today since I brought food options with me.
As for exercise - somtimes when I get home walking from the truck to the house uses up just about all the energy I have left. Sometimes the dogs get a good walk then, sometimes I sleep for about 4 hours and then they get a good walk. But my official exercise is right before I come in to work. Which means I have to drag my sad tired self outta bed an hour earlier than I'd prefer but I it's the only time during my work week I actually can manage the gym without killnig myself on the equipment. But then, after swimming and showering I actually feel pretty perky when i roll in to work.
Anyway, be kind to your body. You are doing unhealthy unnatural things just doing shiftwork.
Last edited by Vladadog; 10-12-2010 at 06:17 AM.
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Dhani 
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