Lifestyle change
 

Hi everyone,

I decided to join this community so I could get support along my goal to lose weight. I'm 36 years old, have been married to my husband for over 13 years, and we have 5 and 7 year old girls.

Both my husband and I are trying to lose weight. He's mainly put on weight throughout adulthood, I've been overweight all of my life. I've done nearly every diet imaginable, South Beach, Adkins, Low GI, low carb, no carb, Weight Watchers.

But this time I'm trying something different. I am trying to lose weight, definitely, but instead of going on a diet, I'm telling myself that I'm doing a lifestyle change. Because I have finally accepted that I will need to manage my weight my entire life, since every time I lose weight I just gain it back. So even if I "diet" and somehow make it to my ideal weight, if I don't keep up healthy practices it will all come back. So I'm not following a specific diet, but I've thought a lot about the things I want to change. So my plan so far is:

1. No fast food (at least not for a long time, and then only occasionally).

2. Meal planning - we end up getting fast food when we don't plan out our meals, so we'll need to do this much more.

3. Eating less processed foods - I'm not planning to eliminate all processed items all together, but the goal is to eliminate as much as possible and eat more whole, natural foods.

4. Cooking more - goes along with meal planning and no fast food.

5. Eating more fruits and vegetables - because we just don't eat enough.

6. Eating more protein - because it helps me stay full and I've realized how much it can help with weight loss too.

7. Eating "better" carbs - I've been on too many diets that restricted carbs and I have never been able to sustain weight loss. So I'm just going to focus on whole grain, high fiber carbs. My goal is that in eating more fruits and vegetables and more protein I'll eat less carbs naturally.

Looking forward to getting to know people!

That should do it. Nice.

Try to keep your portion sizes under control as well.

And throw in some exercise when you are ready.

I started to run after losing 60lbs and then going to the gym after losing 70lbs. Exercise can help speed things up. And it firms you up too. But no rush.

As above. Welcome and best wishes moving forward and downward.

Sounds like a good plan. Temporary diets don't work. It has to be permanent healthy lifestyle changes. Another good one is to make sure to drink plenty of water!