Hi everyone.. I came to 3fc about 2 weeks-ish ago and after an introduction and some other random visits i havent exactly gotten anywhere. That is mostly because I haven't actively been posting on here, but I'm back and I want to go somewhere with this.

Someone suggested I monitor my food intake and take things one step at a time. That worked well for a week and then I slacked off because I lost motivation, and I lost motivation because I have no plan of attack. I have no idea about truly eating healthy and when I convince myself I'm eating healthy usually the reality is I am not.

The good thing is that the week I did monitor my food, I was more aware of what was going in and started to shape my intake more actively . The bad thing is that I have no idea where to start with really knowing what to eat and what is not a good choice aside from the very obvious ones like junk food and pop.

I also have no idea what to do for exercise. I live in the country so that is plenty room to walk, but I do not feel comfortable walking alone in a large stretch of road and land where not a whole lot of people live. This is because if I hurt myself, like fall or something, or the unthinkable- someone should do something to me, there is a smaller chance of someone seeing something going on or whatever. I have friends :P but our schedules clash and live on that threshold of 'too far away' to really do anything together on a really regular basis like every day or every other day. Anyway.. I guess the bottom line is that I don't have any idea where to start and I need some help

First of all let me say welcome back

You have a lot of things going there in your post let me see if I can give you some ideas.

First, what to eat. That all depends on what kind of eating routine you want to start. Do you want a set plan like weight watchers or Atkins? Or do you want something like low carb or counting calories. There are many choices. I happen to count calories and allow myself a general range of calories, carbs and fat. I use a free online site called fitday to keep track of what I eat and I looked up the food pyramid on line and found out how much I need to eat out of each of the four basic food groups. I was very surprised how much I needed to eat in some groups and how little I needed to eat in other groups. Now I stay within the general ranges I set for myself and I eat the required amounts of the four basic food groups each day. Look around the site. You will find people doing all different kinds of things.

Second thing exercise. I do understand not wanting to walk out where there really is no one to help you if something should happen. I happen to live out in the country and while there are people here the roads really are not walker friendly. I happen to do Leslie Sansone walking/aerobic videos. I find them a good workout and fun to do. Also, I can do my workouts in the privacy of my own home and at the my pace and schedule.

No matter what choices you make you are on the right track looking for information. Please check out the different links. You will find lots of great people ready and willing to give you advice and all the encouragement you need.

Thank you Shy I live in Ohio too! So we are defiantly on the same page about what the roads are like and stuff... I guess what im looking for is not necessarily a set diet or plan, and not really counting calories. Calorie counting scares me to death, mostly because I still live at home with my parents (im in college) and eat a lot of home cooking where I dont know the calorie or fat content etc of the food and I know myself enough to know that trying to make myself stick to a certain plan exactly wont result well. I am looking more for guidelines

I would be very glad to get a dog to help with the exercise... we had a dog for 10 years that we had to get put down last May because she had arthritis and major tumor growth .. My parents will not allow another dog because they are going to be getting older and my first place on my own is likely to be a 'no pet' apartment and I may also transfer to a college farther away..so they would likely be taking care of it when I am not around. Along with that, we have 7 cats now! How we got 7 cats is a long story, but the obvious thing is that its really expensive to (properly) care for 7 cats, let alone a dog. I have a really screwly sleeping pattern as a college student and that kind of limits my activities and stuff and so many other things are in my way, but im sure that coming here is where i will find the tools to succeed

i found reading books on dieting really gave me a feel for what kind of diet plan i wanted to follow, skim a few of them and chose one that makes sense to you. there are some really good books out there, but some not so good ones as well... so um, dont get suckered into reading too much of those (i dont consider them very good if they dont make sense to me, or are boaring to read)

we all slack off sometimes, in fact, i think staying motivated is the hardest part!! seriously.

if you want some accountibility buddies you should check out the accountibility/menu/support thread. you can get a feel of what other people are eating and excersing and what is working for them.

glad to see you give it another try. the more times you try the more likely you are to succed right? well thats my motto anyways, i keep crawling back one lb at a time!

good luck!

First of all welcome! Coming here is a good step in the right direction. Maybe since you do eat alot of cooking that someone else is doing you could just try to portion your plate. Maybe like 1/2 (or more even) of your plate should be veggies (not white potatoes though), a peice of meat should be about the size of a deck of cards.. that is usually 4oz, and about 1/2 cup of "carbs" either some mashed potatoes, rice, pasta or even a slice of whole wheat bread. Try to eat smaller meals several times a day. You may also want to learn about the calorie contents of foods.. esp. the ones that are served the most.. and where those calories are coming from (fat, protien or carbs).

Try to get in some exercise.. I know what you mean about walking the roads. While there are plenty of people where I live, I live on a mountain on a twisty turny road with no berm... and the people think it's a race track! I would let myself become a million pounds before I took my kids out on that road for a walk. I do the Leslie Sansone walking videos twice a week and Richard Simmons Sweatin to the Oldies 3 days and then on the weekends I try to get the family to do something energetic.. doesn't always happen, but I try hard to make it.

Good luck, and stick around, you will find your niche quickly I'm sure!

That's exactly what I would have said and I follow what you call a "low carb" diet. I think the hard part of that is to find 1/2 a plate of vegetables in the meals people cook. Even "skinny" people don't eat that many vegetables. You can make that happen though even when others are cooking. I would say that in addition to potatoes, I wouldn't count the following as veggies either: corn and peas.

Buy yourself some microwave steam bags and in them you can cook frozen or fresh vegetables. Once you force yourself to eat veggies in their plain form (steamed) you get used to the taste and then you grow to love and need them. At least that happened to me and I found nothing grosser than veggies before.

i aso grew up in a very rural part of ohio, woodsfield to be exact (the name says it all lol) anyway i have since moved to a town called bellaire which sits just across the river from wheeling wv, still very small but it seems like a metropolis compared to woodsfield.

i would maybe suggest picking up exercise videos from walmart or somewhere like that, they are relatively cheap and you can do all sorts of different exercises at home.

i do ww and i love it, it gives me simple structure that i so need to stay in control of my eating. but with your age (you sound young) and depending on how rural of an area you live in, it may be difficult for you to find a meeting or even get to one. some people do ww from home, maybe someone will come along and give you more info on that. i also find the calorie counters very interesting, and that may be more simple to do from home. anyway the choice is completely up to you, just try to pick a plan for your lifestyle, and try to pick something that is sustainable and convenient for you.

very best of luck to you, keep thinking positive thoughts and

welcome back Good for you for coming BACK so soon and not letting it slide - that's an accomplishment believe me!

Everyone has such good advice, I don't really have much to add except that I've been there too. I agree with everything pretty much. I hate walking outside in the city, because I can't really get to it til late evening and I'm a scaredy cat!!! so the walkin' in the living room is a god send!

The biggest (and best!) things I did for myself were to cut out junk entirely, no more crap-snacks at night watching tv, eating a good breakfast with some protein, cutting out the "whites" bread, rice, potatoes, etc. and replacing them with whole wheat versions - takes a while but you get used to it -- and now the taste of white bread or rice is vile -- ate a lot of lean chicken, turkey, etc. and loaded up the plate with veggies...made a lot of clear veggie soup to have before meals, that helped a lot.

My recommendation for what it's worth, is to make small sustainable changes. The scale won't move like POW!!! but it'll move, steadily, and in the right direction!

Hi Phoenix,
Welcome to 3FC!! You have gotten some great advice! I have a little bit of tough love for you....cause I have been in the same mentality as you before....Kill the excuses!

Each person has her own challenges. Some of us are students, mothers, work two or three jobs, live in the city, live in the country, live in Canada where there is 900 feet of snow, work 24 hour shifts, have triplet toddlers, have partners in Iraq, have kids with nutritional allergies, have husbands who won't touch anything green or with turkey, have mothers who cook for us using a stick of butter to cook a chicken breast, have restrictive budgets for food, who have medical or physical barriers to health.

You have your own story and set of excuses. Identify them (you have), acknowledge them (you have), and kill them.

Yup, kill 'em.

Excuses suck (can I say that?).

Behaviors are what are important. Walk in place, walk around your yard, read some of the threads that describe what other losers are eating and how they are moving, and incorporate those behaviors into your life.

I'm glad you are here!! Best of luck to you!

I wanted to add that my motto is "I am allowed one 'reason', anything else is an excuse'." Think about what you really want. You can find a way or you can find an excuse, but it is really hard to do both.

i've done many many diets over the years. I have finally come up with something for me that is working. But there have been times when I needed the structure of something (or someone) to tell me when to eat, how much, and what. I'll agree with the others that you may need to find a plan (be it WW, jenny craig, nutrisystem, Dr. Phil, Bob Greene, etc.) that can get you started. If you feel like you are being deprived in any way then that plan probably isn't working and you need to find something else.

oh and back

You've been given some fantastic suggestions. I'd like to add something to the list. In order to be successful with your weight loss, it's important to avoid the concept of a 'diet' and think more along the lines of a lifestyle change. If you 'diet' chances are that the weight will come back. If you make a lifestyle change, you're creating good eating and exercise habits that will keep you healthy for the rest of your life.

One change I recently made that has really helped me with food intake is simply eating slower. I make sure to put my fork/food down in between bites. It allows me to actually taste my food because I tend to be a fast eater. I've found that I've consumed much less and it has helped my weight loss.

You'll do fine. Just find what works best for you.

Dorys
You are absolutely right. Doesn't everyone remember their mother telling them to chew each mouth full of food 28 times. I do that. We do not diet. Diets don't work. We now look at, think about and eat food differently than we once did. We don't do without a thing but we stay within some general good ranges of what we eat. The changes we make last a life time, just just until we hit a magic number on the scale.

Phenonix
I remember the days of college while having two children under the age of 5 lol. I remember 10 hour days at work. I remember working 3 or 4 am till 2 or 4 pm so the kids didn't even really know I was gone lol. Schedules can be tough. Since you don't really cook for yourself portion sizes might be the key for you. Exercise is real important. Doesn't really help me lose weight but the toning it does for my body and all the other health benefits are sure worth the time and energy it takes. Do you have steps in your house? Do you have any idea how good walking up and down those stairs with a can of soup in each hand is for you? There are a ton of little inexpensive things a person can do. When I first started to exercise again. I sure didn't have any money. Had a couple of old Richard Simmons tapes ( oh but I love to sweat to the oldies still ) and a couple of bottles that held 16oz of water. That was my exercise equipment. I have now hit the big time lol and own a set of dumbbells lol.

Trazey - The scale won't move like POW!!!

and

midwife- your post in generall .. especially the "Yup, kill 'em. Excuses suck (can I say that?)."

This made me laugh out loud made my day I needed a laugh because today was sort of a roller coaster for emotions..

Thank you everyone so much for your help and advice. The portions thing is probably really the way I want to go. I have tried to do this, especially the week I monitored food. I also have lots of trouble with junk food cuz im a computer and TV junkie in the evenings :P I get into this stage of seeing something, thinking, 'eh, its not healthy, but if i just eat some its not going to do any harm, just for this night' and I do it all over again the next day. Portions I can do!

Next chalenge is going to be the comming quarter of college. I will be spending lunch out at the campus every day, and they ahve a caffetieria with some okay food but I dont have a whole lot of plans to actually eat here. This quarter i scheduled (yes on purpose) so that i could go and eat with one of my friends at lunch. Now that I am getting into the healthy eating I feel like its going to be a nightmare but i really really really want to have this time so we can hang out. Like i said, they live far enough away otherwise that its kind of an inconvenience for us to try and organize doing stuff together because of gas prices etc. I want this time really bad so i guess I will have to figure out what works for me when we eat and learn alittle about eating healthier at fast food, if its possible.

again thank you all for the support! reading this was just what i needed for today

Since the weather is warming up, maybe you could pack a couple of sandwiches and meet your friend for a walk over lunch? A turkey sandwich and an apple is portable and you could walk, eat, walk and get your exercise in and have plenty of time to chat with your friend???

I guess these are the things I consider lifestyle changes. Yes to having lunch with the friend, no to doing it with fast food.

Just an idea!