Hello all, I'm not really new here. I've posted a few times and been lurking around for a while. I've tried to start my lifestyle change several time in the last year. I have failed each time. I do good with the exercising but not so much the food. Portion control is what really gets me. I've never had to diet. Befor I had my 1st son I weighed 115. After delivery I weighed about 160 and got down to 140 and was happy. After my 2nd sons delivery I weighed 190 and had a lot of issues with my heart and blood pressure. Stopping sodas and sugar I got down to 160 with no exercise. But once I figured out I COULD eat sugar with no problems I went back and the weight came back. Now I'm at 192 and I'm ready to do something about it. I'm miserable. I also think the anti depressant I'm on, celexa and the beta blocker for my heart are against me a little bit. I've decided to do this alone, no ww or other set plans. I've tried to find info on how to keep a journal but it all goes with a plan. Could someone please tell me what exactly I need to keep up with? I'm really lousy at counting calories. A friend of mine does ww and I think once I get in a routine of my own I'll do that with her but no meetings. I thought if start with keeping up with what I've eaten and drank. What exercise ice done, is there anything else I need to keep in my home made journal? I Also have a gym membership but can only go on Fridays, so I've decided to cancell that membership and stick to my dvds. The gym I used had childcare but all of a sudden stopped it to add on to their aerobics room so now gpace no where for the kids to go. Which sucks because I really enjoyed going! I really want this to work this time! Thanks in advance!
Brandy

Hi Brandy,
You've got a lot on your plate, but it's possible to get back on track. Don't be so hard on yourself and make this a life change, not a diet. It's easier to think that you're doing this for your future life, not for the scale.
As for the journal, I keep one. It's a spiral notebook. On the first page is a picture of myself from last year. I looked better than I did when I was almost 200, but I hadn't made it to my goal weight yet. And I'm in a sports bra and track capris - not a pretty picture, but a real one. That reminds me of what I looked like and how I never want to look like that again.
The next few pages have my goals and my challenges: What do I want to accomplish? How will I get there? What activities can I do to help get me there? Why should I not quit? In particular, I want to run some races this year. It's not about weight loss, it's about adding a healthy activity and weight loss will be an added bonus. I have the dates of the runs I want to do and went to the Runner's World site to get a good idea of how many calories I should be eating every day. It's all in my journal.
After that, I have a page for every day where I log everything I put in my trap (mouth). My coffee with milk, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, everything. If I work out that day, I write down what it was and for how long. If I had a good day, I get a couple of stickers - the kind you buy at Walmart that say "Wow!" and "Good Job!". Kinda cheesy but it works.
When I have a bad day, I write down why and how I feel about it. From Christmas till January 1, I didn't write down what I ate and I gorged myself. But I wrote down how I felt about it all.
I write down my calories and use a food scale to weigh everything. There's a lot of great calorie counting sites (including this one) that can help you do that. With kids, it might be difficult to log on and check out calorie counts after every meal but you have to remind yourself that you are important, too. You can also keep Lean Cuisines or some other packaged frozen meal handy - the calories are right on the packaging and you usually get a full serving of carbs, protein, and fat in one serving.
I know this was long, but I hope it helps!

Thanks hotstuff! Exactly what I was looking for! Except for I'm not sure where to start with goals..... Ww is pretty easy for me, I've done it here and there, but I do need a food scale. The online calorie sites I have checked out. Our computer is crashed so I'm doing this on my blackberry and the sites don't work on it. Also during the day at work I'm with patients all day and have absolutely no use of internet then. So it seems ww is my best bet.... At least to make sure I'm getting enough and not too much, right?

You say that WW is easy for you, so why wait?

I am not a calorie counter. That's not to say that I don't read labels (I read every single label I get my hands on) and that I'm not accountable, but as far as writing everything down? No, not me. I've tried. Fitday, Daily Plate, etc...

However, if you think it would help you, Fitday or Daily Plate is an awesome resource for being accountable. It is kind of neat to see your protein-fat-carb ratios broken up, too.

I know with your gym being difficult to get to and being a mom and such, it is tough, but you must prioritize this in order for it to work. And we're all here to see you through it

You're right Junebug. I should just do it. I just need to figure out if I can do it at home. The last time I started I got obsessed with it. If you don't count calories what do you do? And how did you get started?

You could think about not counting every calorie, but making sure you get a balanced 300-400 calories in each meal plus snacks. You might also think about making food goals: mine right now is to eat at least one piece of fruit per day. In a few weeks, I might add eating two different colors of vegetables each day. This way, I make good habits without thinking of it!
As far as goals, that's up to you. Maybe you want to be able to learn how to lift weights or you want to walk for one hour with your kids in the park or you want to fit in a certain pair of jeans - whatever your goal, it's up to you!

I did make sure I was accounting for everything I ate. No more eating in the dark, so to speak. I had to know how many calories were in what I was eating... which does sound like counting, doesn't it?

I had to eliminate a lot of stuff at first, just because it was so overwhelming. That naturally brought me into a whole foods way of eating. I found it much easier to be accountable that way.

I have logged my food before in order to see where my macros were at, but it never lasted. Beyond reading all the labels and knowing about how many calories are in stuff, I also focused on portion sizes. Since I'm into volume, I had to find foods that would leave me satisfied and full. Big salads with a protein has been a staple of mine for years.

Since I'm carb sensitive, I also cut my carbs way back. I don't count fruits and veggies, but limit breads and pastas. They just make me too darn hungry!

I think trying to eat more smaller meals throughout the day is great advice. I'm more of a 3-squares kind of girl (my biggest meal is lunch), but lots of people have found a lot of balance in this.

The important thing to remember is that this is not one size fits all. If you aren't a food logger and it just drives you nuts to do it, there are ways to teach yourself how to get around it, but you have to be mindful. And always be accountable.

Find what works for you and always eat your vegetables is really the best advice I have

Since you have a Blackberry, here's an article from the NYTimes on calorie counting applications that you can download:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/te...se%20it&st=cse

I've been pretty successful using Lose It on my iPhone - in fact, that's what got me started and made me realize that I could make a change.

Good luck!