New, not sure where to start
 

Hello,
I am overweight --> 224 lbs.
I've never been this heavy before in my life. I think I always knew it. Yesterday, my doctor diagnosed me with OBESITY due to my BMI. I think this was a wake up call.
I understand I have to eat healthy, fruits and vegetables.
I just don't know where to start. How have you guys been successful?
Hoping to learn more....
Thank you
:hug:

Welcome dreamlove!

Yes, you can definitely be successful. The trick is to set reasonable goals and not punish yourself. Make a series of small changes instead of jumping on an all-or-nothing fad. Suggestions for small changes to get you started:

• Stop drinking calories - limit or eliminate alcohol, soda, and other high-calorie drinks. Drink water or teas
• Instead of candy or sweets, substitute fruit.
• More veggies, more high protein meals like eggs, fish, chicken, etc.
• You don't need to count carbs necessarily, but you can limit them - stuff like bread, bagels, chips, big servings of pasta or rice aren't great nutritionally.
• No snacking after dinner.
• No eating in front of the tv or your computer or while surfing on your phone. (Helps being mindful of eating when you aren't actually hungry)
• Increase activity - no you don't have to punish yourself at the gym for 1.5 hours 5x a week. Simple activities such as a walk around the block 2-3 times a week could do wonders.

Again, these are just suggestions to get you started. You don't have to do all day 1. Absolutely look around at other threads. Welcome again!

Thank you for a quick motivation

Really motivational information.

Welcome to the forum, dreamlove! :hug:

I'm fairly new here as well, but people have been really kind and supportive so far. It's great to hear that you've decided to move towards a healthier lifestyle. I had a similar experience of visiting my GP and being diagnosed with obesity. It's truly a reality check. Since then, I've successfully lost weight via intermittent fasting; only eating one big (minimally processed) meal per day. Keeping myself busy with stuff that I'm passionate about has also aided in keeping my thoughts off of food. Other than that, I've decided on not keeping food around that I'm likely to binge on, like bread and pasta. Beware, not all of these lifestyle changes will work for all people; you might have to experiment a little bit and see what works for you. In the post above, leopardspots gave some good general tips, though.

Good luck on your weight loss journey. :angel:

Potatoes definitely count as carbs, but potato chips consist of nearly 60% fat. Are they really "carbs"? :?:

Although fat is not the bad guy it used to be, potato chips are still carbs. There are 14 gm of carbs in a little single serve bag of chips. You know, the ones that contain 8-10 chips. Plus they contain no nutrition that your body needs.

Really motivational information.