Well I started counting calories today I decided to start out at 1500 then in a month go to 1200. I have also cut down my serving sizes. I have been exercising on the gazelle 3-5 times a day for 3-4 mins each time. Thats about as long as my feet can handle. I have also made a list for when I go grocery shopping to ONLY get healthy things. I am also going to start drinking some type of shake just now sure which one yet. This is so hard to get started. I LOVE to walk but no one to go with me. As sad as it sounds I have no friends here lol. Walking with 5 kids is NOT easy!!

Any tips on Calorie counting?

Hi there =)

Write it down or track it online. Have someplace to look (at the very least for the first while) so you can go over the food choices you've made. Measure and track. It helps keep you mindful, and if a problem should arise you have a record to go through and scrutinize.

This is different per person, but you might want to consider keeping your calories higher and only dropping them when your weight loss slows/stops. 1,200 calories is not a whole lot for someone at our size, and there are others out there who eat 1,800 a day, weigh less than 300 and are still enjoying normal weight loss. Just a suggestion, but again everyone is different.

What you eat is going to matter, and changing up to healthy things is great! Remember that lean proteins, fruits and veggies and fiber foods may help keep you full longer, while usually being "more bang for your caloric buck".

I think your exercise is great! As your feet can handle it longer, then build up. But, there's no need to rush it =)

Best of luck! You can so do this!

Welcome!!

1500 is actually on the low side calorie wise for someone in the 300's. You can likely lose well on 2000 and then go down from there as you lose.

My biggest recommendation is to find a tracker you like - fitday, sparkpeople, livestrong/dailyplate - whatever works for you. Then the next big thing is to actually measure things. I know I have a terrible eye at what I think a serving should be. "Woah, THAT is a serving size of cereal?"

You can also walk at home if going out is too hard. There are some great videos like Walk Away the Pounds.

I agree with starting as high as you can. Not so much to prevent "starvation mode," but because, in my experience, when I take a huge leap in calories, my bloodsugar and mood go with it. Stepping down gradually doesn't mess with my hormones, blood sugar and emotions the way bigger changes do.

This may not be true for you, so I'd suggest experimenting with different calorie levels, but especially if you're trying to add in significant exercise, you may do better with 1800 - 2000 calories.

I will start at 2000 then as go from there. I am the type of person that if I dont see results like ASAP I give up I know thats not good but I do. I get so frustrated with it and always feel like a failure.

I have to agree with the others- good luck but I really would start off eating around 2200 calories a day. For your weight you were probably consuming closer to 3800 calories a day, going down to 1500 is just too little, and 1200 is practically nothing. Reducing calories that dramatically and working out will only make you become exhausted and hungry and may have you slip up.

Try 2 weeks at 2000 calories and see how it goes- I'm sure you'll see a big loss if you stick to those numbers Also don't burn out on exercising if you aren't used to doing so much. I built up my exercise over time- when I did too much too fast I burnt out really quickly

I use sparkpeople.com to calorie count

If you have ondemand the freezone has a ton of free workout videos- you could probably do those from home if you can't easily get out to exercise

GOOD LUCK! And remember it took time to gain that weight it'll take time to lose it. Average weight loss is 2-3 lbs a week for a healthy pace. You'll see larger results at first but when it slows down don't give up! It's taken me over 2 years to lose the weight I have but I know it's NOT coming back.

The thing about starting higher is that it is much easier to stick with. I think one of the places that many people fall down is trying to start off with something too restrictive or too ambitious. "I'm going to go from not watching what I eat at all to this tiny number of calories right away!" or "I'm going to go from totally sedentary to gym rat overnight!" Some people might be able to do that, but it is a really select few. Most of us won't be able to maintain it and then feel like we have failed.

It is also really important to have a realistic weight loss expectation. The average loss per week is one to two pounds. Larger people often get higher numbers than that, but not always. For everyone weight loss has to be for the long haul, but for someone with half of themselves to lose, even moreso.

Now is the time to nip that behavior in the bud!

Success isn't only measured by how much we've lost on the scale, but also by how we feel.

Don't commit based on the scale. Commit day by day. Week by week.

I promise you that if you are committed, one year from today you'll be happy you started and kept with it.

Set yourself up so that you can't be a failure. Set goals that have nothing to do with the scale and everything to do with what you can control. Such as staying within your daily calories. Eating vegetables with every meal. Or adding a minute to your exercise routine for a week. Those are things you can do and track.

The scale, while a convenient way of measuring a type of success, is a poor judge of most other successes when it comes to getting healthier =)

All these ladies have given some good advice. My caloric intake for a day is 1800. But I watch my carbs mostly because I am diabetic. Water is a key ingredient to weight loss.

Lynn

Ty all so much. I know I can do this. Its just getting my mind set to it and sticking with it. I know I will this time cuz this is the biggest I have been and I hate it!!! Everyone keeps telling me to give it time that I just had a baby 3 months ago but well 3 months is plenty of time to have lost my baby weight. So now comes to actually busting my butt to get it off. I can already tell a difference in my stomach. My top roll is getting smaller LOL!

This really is something you will have to change about yourself, because no matter how few calories you eat (even if it's zero) there will come a time when your results will slow or stall. If you judge your success purely by the scale, even if you eat absolutely nothing, you will eventually see and feel failure and frustration.

I've been on the diet rollercoaster since I was 5 years old, and I always felt as you do, and the frustration drove me off every diet I ever attempted except this current one (and I'm succeeding at this current one, only because I changed my expectations and definitions of success).

It's inevitable (if your expectation is steady, constant, "motivating" weight loss) to reach that point where you think "at this rate, I'll never lose all the weight I need to. I'm working this hard to only lose 1/2 a pound, it's just not worth it, if I'm going to be fat forever, at least if I stop dieting I'll get to enjoy eating what I want to."


I firmly believe the ONLY way to lose weight, is to refuse to give in to frustration and the easiest way to do that is to eliminate the frustration. Frustration is a choice, because frustration can only occur when reality doesn't meet your expectations. YOu can prevent frustration entirely by changing your expectations, and with weight loss if you expect constant, consistent, rapid, ASAP results, you are going to eventually be so disappointed and frustrated that you're going to quit. If you "need" ASAP results, you're going to eventually fail, because ASAP almost never is sustainable for the long haul.

I was like you for more than 30 years (since I was 5 years old and put on my first diet) and frustration drove me off every diet I ever attempted, because eventually weight loss slowed to the point that the effort didn't seem worth the results. The frustration tempted me into more and more extreme and unhealthy diets because I ASSUMED I needed fast results to stay motivated. The more extremely you diet, the more extremely you have to diet "the next time" to see results comparable to the first time. It means each diet is harder and more frustrating than the last, and giving up is inevitable because there's no way to sustain "motivating" weight loss results.

It sadly took me 35 years to realize that all I needed for success was to change my expectations. Believing that I needed rapid weight loss to stay motivated, insured that I would never stay motivated, because rapid weight loss can almost never be achieved all the way to goal. You're dooming yourself to failure if you've decided that you can't succeed without rapid weight loss.

unjury is one of the best protein shake mixes I have tried.

I know when I was losing at my best a tape measure was my best friend, it told alot more and faster what was going on than the scales did.

Time to change that way of thinking. Weight loss is never easy, consistent or perfect to plan. Don't rely totally on the results being just the number on the scale, there are all kinds of healthful changes going on inside your body that cannot be measured on a scale. The most important aspect of losing weight is simply sticking to it, day in and day out, through all the stuff life throws at you when you least expect it.

Giving up at the slightest set back or frustration will keep us locked in the cycle of obesity through weight gains for the rest of our lives. I am 55...NEVER believed I would hit over 300 pounds after losing 120 pounds in the 1980's. I maintained that weight loss for 7 years and then GAVE UP all the work of maintenance over time because I just wanted to eat as I pleased. Well that kind of thinking brought me back all the misery of obesity PLUS more weight than ever before. I have realized that now, even with weight loss under my belt, that at any moment and time...I could give it all up because I "wanted" to eat more than I wanted to work my diet. I check my "mindset" every day and work through my impulses and self defeating talk.