I had sat since Summer thinking of going on a diet, and then in November my BF forced me to join the gym (mainly because he was getting lonely... *eye roll*)

So from then, I just made the decision that me and him were just going to have to eat different meals, and the rest is history!

I decided to do it, and 10 minutes later I was on my way to the gym

When I got home, I got an account on here and created a blog so I could write down all my calories for the day, and my exercise for the day. It's pretty basic, I don't keep it to write about my life really, I just use it as a journal since it's easier for me.

The first thing I did was clear out all of the junk food and cut WAY WAY back on sugar. The second thing I did was started counting calories using a site called everydayhealth. The next thing I did was started walking around the neighborhood for an hour and then I joined this forum(this all happened in about a month) The only thing that has changed since then is my exercise, I've increased it slowly over the past 11 months.

I am NOT a baby steps kind of person. After deciding that THIS IS IT, I cooked healthy food for dinner, and then went grocery shopping (while still full) and picked out healthy foods. I made a plan for what i would every meal for a week, including snacks, and purchased everything i would need. After the grocery store, i threw away all of the unhealthy stuff in my pantry like cookies and boxed mac n cheese. Then I took the trash out to the dumpster LOL. THEN i put on workout clothes and running shoes and went to the gym and used the treadmill for 20 mins.

Those 2 hours changed my life

1. Decided that I cannot look at nutrition and fitness separately, i.e. have to address both at the same time.

2. Came up with plans for improving both nutrition and fitness with the tools to track (I use MyDailyPlate for counting).

3. Examined all the things that have caused me to fail in the past (complacency when progress slows, binge eating while travelling, portion control at dinners), and made plans for how to address each of those.

I set my mind on that next meal. I've never been able to think much farther than the next meal, the next trip to the gym. It's worked well for me and I'm going to stay on that same track!

Hi Megan, thanks for your ideas and come to think of it, maybe its time for going out all the way, full stop instead of baby steps, for similar reasons. Would you mind giving me an idea of your eating plan you came up with? Thank you, Clare

I started by cutting out sweets and liquor, and counting calories. Then I took up yoga. Then walking. And so on. It's still a work in progress.

I have taken liquor back up, by the by - sweets, I still stay away from, except on holidays, or if it's dark chocolate and I can eat.just.one.serving.
Which is becoming shockingly more frequent. (The ability to eat one serving, not the holidays, thankfully!)

I also did a lot of the "small changes" too - adding in water, parking as far as possible from my destination, and those things really became habits, and made me feel good about myself, which in turn helped me further myself along this path. Now I'm off to master the hard steps, and drop the last 20-40lbs.

Strangely, my situation mirrors yours.

I made the decision (and, yes, it had to be all or nothing with me), I gave away the junk I had in my apartment, I planned out meals, bought healthy foods, started working out etc.

I joined Weight Watchers online and started logging everything I put in my mouth. I concur that the first few days were hardest (though certainly not unbearable) and after that initial hump it got increasingly easier to stick to plan.

I'm only now finding it to be challenging again (at 4 lbs from goal). I need to tighten up my eating since I've been eating at maintenance level as of late and I need to pick up my exercising again.

I think you'll be surprised at how easy going all out actually is. Healthy choices (take the stairs, eat veggies, milk instead of pop etc) are no longer a deviation from your routine, it's just your lifestyle. Believe me, I am NOT one to change easily. It took me years to finally kick myself into gear, but once I did, I found it was ridiculously easy.

I'm a poor college kid and this has helped me and hindered me as far as eating plans go. It has made it harder because I frankly don't have the time or money to devote to preparing healthy creative dishes everyday. I've tried pre-preparing and portioning and freezing and that works sometimes. But it has helped me because I am just feeding me, not an entire family.

My meals are VERY simple, even boring, and also repetitive. Every single day for breakfast I eat 1 cup shredded wheat cereal with 1 cup skim milk and a handful of berries. Everyday for lunch I alternate between a Lean Cuisine or a salad + protein (whatever green veggies I want to throw in there, a dash of fat free dressing, and 2-3oz of chicken, boiled egg whites, tuna or whatever I have on hand). Between lunch and dinner I have some celery and a handful of nuts. For dinner I have 3-5oz of meat (usually chicken, turkey, fish...sometimes beef), and two different colored vegetable sides. For example, orange sweet potatos and green pepper slices. Or red tomatos and corn...you get the idea. I have 1 cup skim milk with dinner. About an hour after dinner I have a smoothie with 1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup unsweetened OJ, handfull of berries, 1/4 cup oats, and 1/2 banana. I do NOT calorie count anymore, but I did for about a month and since all my meals are roughly the same, I have a good idea of what I'm eating. It's between 1200-1800 everyday.

Again, my eating is pretty boring, but it's simple and I haven't had a problem staying on plan in the least. I'm honestly not that hardcore about working out. I have an active job outside with lots of lifting and walking, so I burn calories from that. And then I do real workouts with cardio and weights about 3-4 times/week, maybe 30 min each.

To get me started figuring out how much of what I should be eating, I used this website. http://www.mypyramid.gov/ On the left, click on Menu Planner.

Thanks a lot for posting that. I am definitely on a budget so it sounds affordable, and I don't have a lot of time or much space to cook so it sounds good for that too. Thanks and I will start to apply to my life as it works.

I made up my mind to lose weight. I didn't have a goal--my goal was to go minute to minute, hour to hour and cut back on my calories. I gave up foods of limited nutritional value. Other than frozen meals, I didn't buy anything special. I didn't even start to exercise right away. Once I had lost about 20 pounds, it motivated me to get moving.

That is a great question btw.

ETA: One of my MAJOR times to binge and my absolute favorite time to binge was/is late night. I started going to bed with the rest of my family 99% of the time. The extra sleep made me feel better and allowed me to eventually get up very early and exercise. Of course, I also began skipping all the late night calories--around 1000 up every night!!!!

YES, YES, YES!!!!!