Need to see a change!

tooky23

I have just turned 52, and know I need to stick to this somehow. I lost my sister to cancer a month ago. We found out in March, and I have used food to deal with everything. Time to move on, and I know I need help.

SueInAz

So sorry to hear about your sister! You've come to the right place if you're ready to make a change that will lead to better health and fitness.

The best way to start is to simply make small changes and keep doing those things until they become habit. Then add another change. Right now, that change should be getting into the habit of weighing and measuring your food and logging every single thing you eat and drink; everything down to chewing gum and vitamins. You don't need to change what you're eating or how much you're eating yet, just log it all and be brutally honest with yourself. You may not like what you're seeing but you'll learn a lot more if you can correlate what you're eating, with how many calories it contains.

If you don't own a kitchen scale, buy one and use it. Most food should be weighed, not measured, even salad dressing and peanut butter packaging gives servings in grams. If you're inaccurate with your logging your results will not be what you think they should be.

After a week or so of logging, look back over your diary and figure out where you can make some substitutions that will have big impact. Smaller portions at meals. Swapping one or two sweetened drinks with water or something zero calorie. Strive to stay at or just under the calorie goal MFP sets for you every single day. Don't worry about sugar, carbs, fat and protein for now. Once you get logging and staying under your calorie goal you can focus on those things including figuring out your TDEE, BMR, etc.

Exercise isn't needed for weight loss but it's important for fitness and overall health. You don't need to join a gym right away (babysteps!) just start moving more. Park at the back of the parking lot, take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk on your breaks at work. Later, find an exercise activity that you like whether that's walking, running, swimming, biking, Zumba, or whatever. If you like it you'll be more likely to stick with it. Working out shouldn't be something you dread each day.

Consider strength training right from the start, it has huge benefits. You'll not only lose more fat but your metabolism will be higher. Maintaining muscle is much easier than building new muscle and your body has built up extra to carry your excess weight. If you can keep most of the muscle you already have while losing fat, you're going to look amazing when you get to your goal weight!

Take "before" pictures so you can better judge your progress visually. Results on the measuring tape are more important than those on the bathroom scale. Measure your chest, waist, hips, thighs and any other body part you want to track and start recording them in MFP now. When the scale isn't moving your body might still be shrinking especially if you're lifting weights.

The most important thing right now is that what you're doing is sustainable. You shouldn't be trying to reach an end goal weight but changing your eating habits for life so you don't gain the weight back. That means that whichever way you're eating while you lose weight should be the way you plan to eat once you reach your goal, just a little more of it.