My name is jenn, I'm 23, from brooklyn ny and am at my heaviest weight approx 315-330. I have no idea where to start and I am looking for advice.
Anyone else from brooklyn ny? Looking for a weight loss buddy? Which diet plans? Excercise workouts? Diet pills? Work best?
I know to maintain healthy weightloss it takes time, but what should I do first to kickstart?
Thanks

I know it's hard not to be over whelmed when looking at the big picture, for me i only worry about the present, as in today and making good choices that will accumulate with time, tomorrow i will worry about tomorrow.

Just concentrate on one day at a time. Come up with a plan and stick with it through thick and thin.

HI Jenn!, Another Jen here... and we're the same height too!
The trick is I think you just have to start... it doesn't really matter what, just do something. Everybody is so different. For me, I focused on one thing at a time. I started with food. I stopped eating fast food and started eating healthy portion-controlled meals. (I went with a mail-order delivery service, which made it easier to learn portion control, but it can be done without! I still use them about 70% of the time.)
Then I started keeping track of the calories and writing down everything I ate.
Then I stopped drinking soda and started drinking lots of water.
Then I started thinking about hunger levels and trying not to munch food when I wasn't hungry. I really focused on creating new healthy habits that are permanent. I don't think of it as a diet; a diet has an ending point. I'm never going to revert back to my old ways. It's been long enough now that a greasy fastfood burger doesn't even sound that good. There are still some bugers worth making room in my calorie allotment for, but I do so consciously and rarely.
I'm right now, at 7 months and 60 lb in, just starting to think about really getting at the exercise piece. But each step has felt like an extension of the last and I didn't try to do them all at once.
I DO think that making a drastic, sudden and complete change in what I ate made a difference. I've tried losing a couple times in the past, but I never really tried hard enough. I would just eat less fast food or less of my un-balanced meals, and it worked a bit, but never really changed my habits.
Anyways, that's what's working for me. You'll have to experiment and see what works for you. Find a thread or support group to post with here, 3FCers are incredibly supportive!! Good luck!

Hi jenn! Welcome to 3FC!

Small steps are the way to go. Make changes you can live with for the rest of your life and then add to those. Every change, every pound, adds up and you'll be amazed a year from now how different you look and feel.

I would recommend against anything too radical - a very low calorie count or a vow to never ever eat xyz again because it's easy to slip up, feel like a failure, and throw up your hands in despair. None of us got fat overnight and losing it takes time as well. Slow and steady really is the way to win this race!

Jenn..

You've made the most important step,having the desire and willingness to want to change your way of eating.You've received great advise,the only thing i can add is Just start.. put your whole mind and spirit into it...you are in control of what you put in your mouth.You've got to really,really want to change your lifestyle and your can do it! keep a good mindset and learn about all the healthy foods you can eat.Enjoy your Journey

Welcome!!!

There are tons of ways to start -- no single right way. I started by bringing my lunch and snacks to work and watching portion control. After a month or so I started calorie counting.

I think the key is to start making changes that are sustainable over a long term. That's not diet pills!

And if you're looking for buddies, please feel free to join the ongoing threads: a monthly one and a "positive" one.

Start small. Don't do anything that you're not prepared to do for a very long time (forever). If you feel you have to exercise (over and above the exercise of carrying your own weight around) then start by just walking a short distance and build on that. Concentrate on eating around the outside edges of your grocery store (fruit, veg, meat, dairy). Drink water instead of anything else. Forget the pills. Lower carbs + calorie counting or the weight watchers program seem to work well for beginners.

In my experience fad diets and diet pills have proven to be bad ideas. There's a lot of great meal ideas in the recipe thread. Also, if you are unsure of what you want to do for a food plan you could check out the General Diet Plans and Questions section. I would suggest reading up on the different methods folks around here have found successful and try one that you feel you could stick with.
With exercise, if you haven't been active for awhile it can be easier to build it up rather than jumping into a hard routine. Walking is a great activity because you can easily increase the intensity and length as you move forward. It doesn't take special equipment and you don't need a gym membership to do it either. There are no easy answers as to what will work for you because everyone is different, but it is great that you've reached out for support. It really helps talking to others that are going through the same things. I look forward to your posts and good luck.

Log...every...single...bite. I know I was eating more than I realized. Skip the diet pills--they're pointless. Walk as much as you can. Drink plenty of water.

Don't start your calories too low. It's counter-intuitive, but when you're at 300 lbs, a lot of calories are needed just for basic body functions. Starting at 1800 calories gives you room to reduces, if needed, when you approach the lower weights.

Hi Jenn,

You've made the first move towards a new you merely by coming to 3FCs and asking for ideas. It has been my experience that our fellow FCs are one of the best cheer squads a person can have. They know how hard it is.

My advice is firstly, have a look (an honest look) at how bad your food choices are to start with. For me, it included too much bread, cake, chocolate and other stodge. Removing bread, cake and chocolate hasn't been a drama for me as I shouldn't eat the stuff anyway. I'm allergic to bread and chocolate give me head aches (even though I loved the stuff).

Drink lots of water. Go for fresh fruits and vegetables. Knock out salt. If you must have sugar in tea or coffee or on your cereal, use splenda. If you work, take all your snacks and lunch etc from home, this avoids a lot of the temptation which is placed in front of us when we go the take-aways or cafes. You can control what you are going to have.

Initially measure and record everything. Once you get used to the portion sizes, it's not such a drama. It's amazing how small that portion of steak really should be. Definitely ditch the junk food. There is nothing on fast food alley worth taking home or paying good money for. Once you have gone low sugar for a while, the sweet stuff has little appeal. I found myself turning up my nose at icecream the other night. It was just too sweet - sickeningly sweet.

If you are determined, you can do this! Chart your course and maintain it. (literally, I've set up an Excel spreadsheet for myself which shows possible sensible weight loss over the duration of my journey then I've plotted my actual weekly loss. It sure does motivate. There is even a section for notations - feelings, blowouts, comments etc. It's taken on a journal perspective for me and has kept me honest to a large extent.

Best of luck with everything. Please let us know how you get on.

TOTALLY agree! Doing this made a HUGE difference for me. I have Excel charts with planned and actual weights. And another to track calories each day, used that for awhile... it's not as necessary now. And I kept a food journal on an online blog. Made a workd of difference!

Thanks so much everyone.
I have cut out the soda and snacks, and have been trying portion control. I really need to get rid of the bread, but right now I switched to whole wheat and limit myself. I also just signed up for a gym membership with a friend. I love spreadsheets so thanks Meggie Girl and Jen516, I will definitely create my own for weight loss. Best of luck to all of you on your journey and I will be updating and looking/participating in other groups and forums.