Hi everyone,

I'm new here, and after several short starts and even longer stops, I feel like I'm ready to start making changes to the way I eat. I'm a chronic dieter, constantly going on and off the newest thing, then regaining all I'd lost plus some more. It's taken me a really long time to admit that the latest fads are not going to get me thin and healthy. I've been overweight and dieting from the age of 12, so that's a very hard thing to do - give up the idea of the magic pill. To give you an idea of what's gotten me to this weight, I'm not just an overeater, I'm a high-volume eater. This is what a normal day looks like for me - this is just one day from my journal:

Breakfast - 3/4 of a huge salad made with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, bacon bits, cheese, 3 eggs and lots of Ranch dressing.

Snack #1 - 2 large slices of cake

Lunch - The rest of my salad from breakfast and another piece of cake

Snack #2 - 6 slices of summer sausage with hot pepper cheese and mustard on top of each

Dinner - Battered and fried chicken breast with corn (in lots of butter), home fries made from 3 potatoes coated in olive oil and seasonings)

Snack #3 - 2 more pieces of cake covered with heavy cream and Splenda

This isn't as bad as some days are. As you see, I have my work cut out for me. I want to take this in small steps. Lowering calories and working on portions, doing away with sodas, adding in exercise, etc. To get myself off to a good start today, I took a regular serving size of Kix cereal to work. I only had regular milk at home, so I stopped at the corner store near work to get skim, but they only had 2% in the individual sizes. I also bought an apple for breakfast, but I'm holding out to see just how long this normal sized bowl of cereal will last me. Surprisingly, I ate it at about 8am, it's 10:40am now, and I'm doing fine. I don't want to get too busy that I forget to have my apple and then be famished and make a bad decision, so I plan on having the apple at around 11. Here is the rest of what I have planned on my menu today:

Snack #1: 1 apple

Lunch: 3 oz baked chicken breast (boneless, no skin) with a big bowl of homemade soup (chicken broth, mixed frozen veggies (the bag had a small amount of lima beans in it), onions, tomato, bell pepper and thyme for seasoning - no fat added!)

Snack #2: 1 cup plain yogurt with 5 frozen chopped strawberries and sweetener

Dinner - chicken breast and veggie stir fry (made with soy sauce and 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil)

I don't exactly know how many calories I should be consuming, and I haven't yet counted my menu for today. But today is a huge improvement over my high-volume days.

Onward and downward for me. I'm excited!

Well, you *ARE* determined! What a drastic change in diet! GOOD for you

You need to be sure you never go under 1200 but higher than that is best, really. You can figure out your BMR and see how many calories you'd need to maintain your weight and cut it down accordingly, factoring in exercise etc.

Best of luck and you'll find lots of support and information here!

Thanks for the tips guys! I really appreciate it.

I ran everything but my veggie soup through Fitday, and total calories are less than 1,000, so I need to add more so that I'm over 1200 for the day. I really do need to learn to round out my meals. I rarely eat a meal that is rounded out. Like I could make a whole meal of potatoes and want nothing else. I think that would help up my calorie intake.

Welcome, and good luck to you...just remember when cutting calories for a long term weight loss, make sure what your eating is "doable" for the long term...I mean anyone can cut to 500 cals/day for a week and drop 10lbs, BUT....something like that is not a feasable way to loose weight for the long term. Im sure you are making smarter choices and that is what this is about, we all got in this boat by making poor nutritional choices and by wising up and realizing that we need to make better choices for us/our children/our family, we will hopefully break any cycles of obesity that linger in our families due to poor eating habits.

Again, congrats, welcome and please join in and post away!!!

Whoa! That is a big change!!
I wish you the best of luck and support.
If you're used the the regular milk, cutting down to 2% for a while might not be a bad idea. From what I understand, a few changes at a time make it easier to stick with things in the long run.
I'm excited to see how this all turns out! Hooray!