Hi I am new to this. I was in a wedding last year and lost fifty lbs. I got burnt out on my program and quit. I have gained back about 35 lbs. I want to get started again, but have no motivation. My family supports my goals, but do eat right themselves so it makes it hard. I keep tring to go to the gym then easily get discouraged. So I thought I would try this website. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get started?

Hi Kristy....Motivation is sooo hard to find and you really have to believe in yourself to find it. You need to wake up every morning and say "I am going to lose the weight!" It is hard, I know because I have been doing the upwards crawl all summer. The weight has been creeping back on and I am feeling a little desperate myself.

I wish you the best of luck with your weight loss. Just believe in yourself and keep working at it! You can do it! judy

Hi Kristy! I'm living elsewhere at the moment, but I grew up near Parkersburg. What a small world! :-)

To get started, I would suggest you start watching your calories by keeping a food journal. You can keep it in a notebook or on a blog here or on LiveJournal, Xanga, or MySpace. There are also tons of websites out there that are specifically for dieting blogs. I'm on LiveJournal at the moment, and there are a couple really supportive communities on there.

I'd also suggest walking several times a week. I started out walking a mile each day, but within a week, I started walking two miles a day or three miles on the weekend nights. Walking is a low intensity workout, but it does burn way the fat. I just recently started lifting some two pound weights for a few minutes each day and doing some easy exercises like leg lifts and crunches.

Joining a gym isn't really something I want to do. I might join one when I drop at least 70 pounds of this weight, but I've been talking to a woman outside this forum that was able to lose 70 without a gym. She watched her calories and did Dance Dance Revolution everyday. So, if the gym isn't your thing, then you can lose without the use of one.

Thank you ladies for your help. I will check out the food journals. Also, Dance Dance revolution is a great way to lose weight also there is a game call kinetic with eyetoy on playstation 2. THis game is alot of fun.