How do I do it?

nikineophytou101

hi everyone. so it is time for me to lose weight. I don't have the money to join any groups so I just need to do it by myself. I am thinking to try and just calorie count and drink lots of water. but to be honest I don't know where to start. I have not been focusing on eating health for a while. does anyone have any advice what is everyone doing yo help then lose weight.
hope this makes sense.

Thanks

JeromeBarry1

Open your diary and log your food. All of it. That might seem scary, what with anybody able to cast a judgement upon you, but the point of this is that you have to be honest with yourself. Once you admit that you ate that, and how much of that you ate, you control it. Then your public diary becomes your proclamation of your power over food. Can little pile of sugar control you? No way.

sijomial

My suggestion of where to start is just calorie counting eating the foods you enjoy but in smaller amounts - automatic cost saving plus eating foods you like makes it easier to adhere to.
You can make it more complex if you wish but even your "drink lots of water" isn't necessary.

Staying active and doing exercise you enjoy has health benefits plus builds good habits for life.

ARGriffy

Trial and error to start with! Eat what YOU consider to be healthy, log it acurately in here and learn what has the most/least calories, sugar and fat you will soon see patterns and learn what works for you. Find members on the forums with open diaries to peek into for inspiration too and drink lots of water if you are dehydrated your body will struggle to function and that includes burning fat good luck! Feel free to add me for advice / support xx

lc355

Log everything that passes your lips, it's amazing how quickly just by logging it you start question whether you really need that second cookie/pack of crisps/potato.

booksandchocolate12

When you signed up here, did you set up a profile? I thought that when I signed up, you had to do that; maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

Anyway....put in your stats (height, weight, etc.). MFP will tell you how many calories you should consume per day. Start with that. Use that number for a few weeks and tweak as necessary.

mzfrizz15

Begin logging your food, every bite. It will become a habit and therefore easier to do.

Measure your food. If you have a scale, use it. If not, surely you have measuring cups?

Going outside and going for a walk doesn't cost a penny. If you have a safe place to go do it, get out there and do a few blocks or laps!

godlikepoetyes

This will take time, but teach yourself to see losing weight as a process. Don't fall into the trap of having a bad day and giving up. You will have lots of bad days. But you'll have lots of good days. Eventually you will have more good days than bad days.

The most important thing for me is to log everything I eat. Every day. Every bite. Without fail. No skipping days. No taking vacations. No cheat days.

For me, there are no "forbidden" foods. If a food is "bad" or "off limits" I just want it more. And if I can't have the things I love, then I am setting myself up for failure. I am in this for the rest of my life. There is no stopping point. This will not end when I hit my goal weight. This is a process that will continue for the rest of my life.

Be honest with yourself. Log everything without shame. You do not have to be ashamed that you ate three donuts. Just be honest, log it, and move on. Be proud that you showed up and logged your food.

Be kind to yourself. When you fail to meet your own expectations, AND YOU WILL, be kind. Do not beat yourself up.

When you don't lose weight, don't beat yourself up. When you gain weight, don't beat yourself up. If you do, you are more likely to give up.

When you weigh, weigh ONE TIME. Don't play games with the scale, stepping off and stepping on again to see if the number changes. And use ONE SCALE. That scale, whether it's at home, at the gym, at the doctor, is the only scale that counts.

If really have no idea where to start, I wonder if you know anything about nutrition. I have a friend who knows very little. My advice is to talk to a nutritionist, just to get started. And make it clear that you are interested in losing weight. It was important for me to not concentrate too much on being "healthy" at first. For me it was enough to get used to logging my food and being kind to myself.

And if you don't know much about nutrition, do not fall into the trap of fad diets. You will hear a lot about them on MFP--low-carb, low-fat, high-fat, high-protein, Paleo, vegan, raw, etc., etc. Don't listen. Look for sensible advice on WEB MD, Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical, Cleveland Clinic, American Heart Association.

And I don't agree with the posters here--I found that having an open diary made me nuts, too exposed. I also don't post my height and weight. Losing weight has to be about more than my appearance.

Lastly, don't get caught up in listening too much to folks, like me, on MFP. We all have advice but it's based on what works for us. What will work for you may be very different.

cbihatt

nikineophytou101 wrote: »

hi everyone. so it is time for me to lose weight. I don't have the money to join any groups so I just need to do it by myself. I am thinking to try and just calorie count and drink lots of water. but to be honest I don't know where to start. I have not been focusing on eating health for a while. does anyone have any advice what is everyone doing yo help then lose weight.
hope this makes sense.

Thanks

The part in bold implies that you have focused on eating healthy in the past. So, I assume you do have some idea of what is healthy and what isn't. That being said, you should really strive for eating healthy about 80% of the time. The other 20% allows room for not so healthy choices that even the healthiest eater will make on occasion. The main point being, you don't have to limit yourself to eating only salad and fat free yogurt (or whatever). As long as you stay near your calorie goal, you will lose weight.

As you spend more time counting calories, you will discover which foods are better at keeping you satisfied and which foods you would like to avoid. You may remember things about "eating healthy" that you thought you forgot.

Spend some time reading the message boards here. You will learn a lot from other people here, even when you don't have a question. But, like @godlikepoetyes said, take advice with a grain of salt. Most of it is good, but some of it is crap. You have to learn to sift through and take out what is useful for you.

frankiesgirlie

godlikepoetyes wrote: »

This will take time, but teach yourself to see losing weight as a process. Don't fall into the trap of having a bad day and giving up. You will have lots of bad days. But you'll have lots of good days. Eventually you will have more good days than bad days.

The most important thing for me is to log everything I eat. Every day. Every bite. Without fail. No skipping days. No taking vacations. No cheat days.

For me, there are no "forbidden" foods. If a food is "bad" or "off limits" I just want it more. And if I can't have the things I love, then I am setting myself up for failure. I am in this for the rest of my life. There is no stopping point. This will not end when I hit my goal weight. This is a process that will continue for the rest of my life.

Be honest with yourself. Log everything without shame. You do not have to be ashamed that you ate three donuts. Just be honest, log it, and move on. Be proud that you showed up and logged your food.

Be kind to yourself. When you fail to meet your own expectations, AND YOU WILL, be kind. Do not beat yourself up.

When you don't lose weight, don't beat yourself up. When you gain weight, don't beat yourself up. If you do, you are more likely to give up.

When you weigh, weigh ONE TIME. Don't play games with the scale, stepping off and stepping on again to see if the number changes. And use ONE SCALE. That scale, whether it's at home, at the gym, at the doctor, is the only scale that counts.

If really have no idea where to start, I wonder if you know anything about nutrition. I have a friend who knows very little. My advice is to talk to a nutritionist, just to get started. And make it clear that you are interested in losing weight. It was important for me to not concentrate too much on being "healthy" at first. For me it was enough to get used to logging my food and being kind to myself.

And if you don't know much about nutrition, do not fall into the trap of fad diets. You will hear a lot about them on MFP--low-carb, low-fat, high-fat, high-protein, Paleo, vegan, raw, etc., etc. Don't listen. Look for sensible advice on WEB MD, Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical, Cleveland Clinic, American Heart Association.

And I don't agree with the posters here--I found that having an open diary made me nuts, too exposed. I also don't post my height and weight. Losing weight has to be about more than my appearance.

Lastly, don't get caught up in listening too much to folks, like me, on MFP. We all have advice but it's based on what works for us. What will work for you may be very different.

godlikepoetyes wrote: »

This will take time, but teach yourself to see losing weight as a process. Don't fall into the trap of having a bad day and giving up. You will have lots of bad days. But you'll have lots of good days. Eventually you will have more good days than bad days.

The most important thing for me is to log everything I eat. Every day. Every bite. Without fail. No skipping days. No taking vacations. No cheat days.

For me, there are no "forbidden" foods. If a food is "bad" or "off limits" I just want it more. And if I can't have the things I love, then I am setting myself up for failure. I am in this for the rest of my life. There is no stopping point. This will not end when I hit my goal weight. This is a process that will continue for the rest of my life.

Be honest with yourself. Log everything without shame. You do not have to be ashamed that you ate three donuts. Just be honest, log it, and move on. Be proud that you showed up and logged your food.

Be kind to yourself. When you fail to meet your own expectations, AND YOU WILL, be kind. Do not beat yourself up.

When you don't lose weight, don't beat yourself up. When you gain weight, don't beat yourself up. If you do, you are more likely to give up.

When you weigh, weigh ONE TIME. Don't play games with the scale, stepping off and stepping on again to see if the number changes. And use ONE SCALE. That scale, whether it's at home, at the gym, at the doctor, is the only scale that counts.

If really have no idea where to start, I wonder if you know anything about nutrition. I have a friend who knows very little. My advice is to talk to a nutritionist, just to get started. And make it clear that you are interested in losing weight. It was important for me to not concentrate too much on being "healthy" at first. For me it was enough to get used to logging my food and being kind to myself.

And if you don't know much about nutrition, do not fall into the trap of fad diets. You will hear a lot about them on MFP--low-carb, low-fat, high-fat, high-protein, Paleo, vegan, raw, etc., etc. Don't listen. Look for sensible advice on WEB MD, Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical, Cleveland Clinic, American Heart Association.

And I don't agree with the posters here--I found that having an open diary made me nuts, too exposed. I also don't post my height and weight. Losing weight has to be about more than my appearance.

Lastly, don't get caught up in listening too much to folks, like me, on MFP. We all have advice but it's based on what works for us. What will work for you may be very different.

This is one of the smartest posts I've ever seen on MFP.

MissusMoon

godlikepoetyes wrote: »

This will take time, but teach yourself to see losing weight as a process. Don't fall into the trap of having a bad day and giving up. You will have lots of bad days. But you'll have lots of good days. Eventually you will have more good days than bad days.

The most important thing for me is to log everything I eat. Every day. Every bite. Without fail. No skipping days. No taking vacations. No cheat days.

For me, there are no "forbidden" foods. If a food is "bad" or "off limits" I just want it more. And if I can't have the things I love, then I am setting myself up for failure. I am in this for the rest of my life. There is no stopping point. This will not end when I hit my goal weight. This is a process that will continue for the rest of my life.

Be honest with yourself. Log everything without shame. You do not have to be ashamed that you ate three donuts. Just be honest, log it, and move on. Be proud that you showed up and logged your food.

Be kind to yourself. When you fail to meet your own expectations, AND YOU WILL, be kind. Do not beat yourself up.

When you don't lose weight, don't beat yourself up. When you gain weight, don't beat yourself up. If you do, you are more likely to give up.

When you weigh, weigh ONE TIME. Don't play games with the scale, stepping off and stepping on again to see if the number changes. And use ONE SCALE. That scale, whether it's at home, at the gym, at the doctor, is the only scale that counts.

If really have no idea where to start, I wonder if you know anything about nutrition. I have a friend who knows very little. My advice is to talk to a nutritionist, just to get started. And make it clear that you are interested in losing weight. It was important for me to not concentrate too much on being "healthy" at first. For me it was enough to get used to logging my food and being kind to myself.

And if you don't know much about nutrition, do not fall into the trap of fad diets. You will hear a lot about them on MFP--low-carb, low-fat, high-fat, high-protein, Paleo, vegan, raw, etc., etc. Don't listen. Look for sensible advice on WEB MD, Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical, Cleveland Clinic, American Heart Association.

And I don't agree with the posters here--I found that having an open diary made me nuts, too exposed. I also don't post my height and weight. Losing weight has to be about more than my appearance.

Lastly, don't get caught up in listening too much to folks, like me, on MFP. We all have advice but it's based on what works for us. What will work for you may be very different.

To the OP, THIS. So much this!!!!!

typeitdaily

godlikepoetyes wrote: »

This will take time, but teach yourself to see losing weight as a process. Don't fall into the trap of having a bad day and giving up. You will have lots of bad days. But you'll have lots of good days. Eventually you will have more good days than bad days.

The most important thing for me is to log everything I eat. Every day. Every bite. Without fail. No skipping days. No taking vacations. No cheat days.

For me, there are no "forbidden" foods. If a food is "bad" or "off limits" I just want it more. And if I can't have the things I love, then I am setting myself up for failure. I am in this for the rest of my life. There is no stopping point. This will not end when I hit my goal weight. This is a process that will continue for the rest of my life.

Be honest with yourself. Log everything without shame. You do not have to be ashamed that you ate three donuts. Just be honest, log it, and move on. Be proud that you showed up and logged your food.

Be kind to yourself. When you fail to meet your own expectations, AND YOU WILL, be kind. Do not beat yourself up.

When you don't lose weight, don't beat yourself up. When you gain weight, don't beat yourself up. If you do, you are more likely to give up.

When you weigh, weigh ONE TIME. Don't play games with the scale, stepping off and stepping on again to see if the number changes. And use ONE SCALE. That scale, whether it's at home, at the gym, at the doctor, is the only scale that counts.

If really have no idea where to start, I wonder if you know anything about nutrition. I have a friend who knows very little. My advice is to talk to a nutritionist, just to get started. And make it clear that you are interested in losing weight. It was important for me to not concentrate too much on being "healthy" at first. For me it was enough to get used to logging my food and being kind to myself.

And if you don't know much about nutrition, do not fall into the trap of fad diets. You will hear a lot about them on MFP--low-carb, low-fat, high-fat, high-protein, Paleo, vegan, raw, etc., etc. Don't listen. Look for sensible advice on WEB MD, Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical, Cleveland Clinic, American Heart Association.

And I don't agree with the posters here--I found that having an open diary made me nuts, too exposed. I also don't post my height and weight. Losing weight has to be about more than my appearance.

Lastly, don't get caught up in listening too much to folks, like me, on MFP. We all have advice but it's based on what works for us. What will work for you may be very different.

Wonderful advive! I'm new and taking it to heart!