Hi all. I'm Julie. I've been here before, first as an Allicat, then on Medifast. I'm back, not to start a new diet, but to make some positive, life-long changes, and I could really use your help.

Over the past few months, I have been doing some reading and thinking everything through. I want to improve my relationship with food and incorporate exercise. Of course, I hope to lose weight, but I am not setting weight loss goals for each month, at least not right now. My weight is a symptom and NOT the problem. The way I have been living--sedentary, stuffing my face full of low-quality, fat-filled, over-processed junk to hide from my feelings and stressors--THAT is the problem. THAT is what I need to fix. I have to believe that if I stick with a healthy plan, I AM going to lose weight. My body is going to naturally seek a new set point for my caloric intake and activity level as I change my lifestyle. This is going to be a forever kinda thing. Here's what I've come up with. Please tell me what you think....

Nutrition:
--Eat 3 meals and 3 snacks each day, as CLEAN as possible--shoot for 75-
85%
--Shift between 1400 and 1800 calories daily
--Eat some form of lean, high-quality protein at every meal
--Shoot for 5 servings of veggies and 3 fruits each day
--Choose complex, whole grain, non-processed carbs
--Consume 3 servings daily of low-fat dairy products
--Drink 80-100 oz. water daily
--Phase-out diet pop, salt
--Choose healthy, delicious foods that I love, including a treat each day of
some kind

Planning:
--Use Sundays to prepare! Make menu and grocery list; get groceries, pack
lunches, make/package oatmeal for breakfast, prepare veggies/fruits, cook
dinners for the week if possible
--Make a weekly menu ahead of time, complete with calorie counts, then
STICK TO IT
--Record every bite in a journal, then transfer it each night to Fitday

Exercise:
--Aerobic workout in am--walk, treadmill or dvd workout (build up to 30-45
min.)
--Strength training in the am (30-45 min.)
--walk dogs in pm (light workout to boost metabolism)

Other:
--Get to bed on time!
--Weigh once a week
--Record thoughts, moods, etc. in journal as well
--Take measurements 1st of each month
--Reward myself for weeks I stay on track, meeting fitness goals, etc.
(manicure, perfume, music, clothes, etc)
--Do not expect more than a pound a week!

Maybe it sounds like I am over-thinking this, but I know myself well enough to know I have to have a plan to make something happen. Any feedback you could give would be appreciated. I want to improve this as I go :0)

I think it all sounds fine - sounds a lot like what I've done the last nearly 2 years.

However there is one thing that I think you're going to need to adjust:
--Do not expect more than a pound a day!

A pound a day is a totally unreasonable expectation for healthy weight loss. A healthy goal is to expect to lose about 1% of your bodyweight per week. At your current weight you should expect between 2 and 2.5 lbs per week.

BUT. You cannot even really 100% count on that because there are tons of things that will have an influence on the scale - your period, ovulation, how much salt you've eaten, the weather, etc., etc. So I'd say expect about 2lbs a week and if you don't make that one week, don't let it frustrate you or make you give up.

That's the hardest part for most people ... expecting too much and then giving up if they don't see the results they think they should see.

So hang in there and have reasonable expectations of yourself. Remember you didn't put the weight on a pound a day, you're not going to take it off that fast.

.

Yes, a pound a day is a really unreasonable goal. Weight loss will be faster in the beginning, but it will slow down later (1-2 lbs per week).

Also, if you are going to strength train, do it on your cardio days off. If you do cardio and strength in the same day, well, after a while you'll overuse them and you'll be in big trouble. Alternate!

Other than that, everything else is a good positive step towards your weight loss future!

BTW - Where are you in Michigan? Just curious!

Whoops! Typo!
I meant 1 pound per WEEK
1 per day? Yeah, that's not so good :0)

Weeeeellll ... not necessarily.

You can do both on the same day. I do ss-cardio after I lift (3x per week) and then HIIT cardio on alternate days.

There's no reason you can't do both, but pay attention to your body and make sure that you're not overtraining.

.

Thanks for the vote of encouragement and the advice.
RN--I am from Jackson, home of the Cascade Falls!

I think your plan is excellent. I would only remind, however, that that is LOT of changes. Don't expect yourself to do ALL of that, ALL the time, from the very beginning. We're all different, but be especially careful if you're the type that goes off plan in some small way, and then thinks, well, the day is blown, I may as well skip the gym and have ice cream for dessert!

Oh very good point!

Or as kaplods says: If you trip on the top step, don't throw yourself down the whole staircase.

.

Great point. Maybe I will choose 1 or two things to work on each week. Thanks for your feedback :0)

Or as kaplods says: If you trip on the top step, don't throw yourself down the whole staircase.
_________________________________________
Oh yeah--Been there, done that.

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From her post she wants to do 30-45 minutes of cardio and 30-45 minutes of strength training. It seems a bit much IMHO, but it all depends on what kind of strength training she will be doing.

At my gym, women's days are only Mon Wed Fri so many of us are stuck with doing strength training and cardio in the same day. So if I do a bunch of cardio, i'll just do strength training on my upper body, then the next day do cardio (walk the dog etc), then next day do lower body strength training.

If she insists on doing both in the same day, I'd do one am and one pm.

Oh, that's funny. I meant to say ice cream for dinner. I'm going to choose to believe that slip is due to how firmly my new habits are established, that I don't ever even think of having ice cream for dinner anymore. As if

Yes!!! Ice cream for dinner.. tsk tsk!!!

But yeah it's sooo important to also plan for setbacks, they are so inevitable. make a written plan on how you'd conquer them

A couple of questions:
Have you completely given up sweets? That is something about which I can't make up my mind. Maybe it would be more realistic to plan for a chocolate attack by ending the day with lo cal pudding or a snack pack instead of waiting for a chocolate chip cookie craving to derail me.

Do you stick to the same calories each day, or stay within a range? I've heard a lot of good things about shifting calories--some have sworn that they have avoided plateaus. I've never tried it before, but I think that it wouldn't hurt to try. Any thoughts?

As for exercising, I think I will shorten up the cardio on strength training days
(15-20 min.) and keep the pm session each day. The pm session is going to be more of a stroll--it is really for my dogs and to help me boost my metabolism and CHILL after wrangling 25+ fifth graders all day :0)